Hi Gents,
Ok, I know it's been a while since I last posted. I have still been browsing the site daily but two things have hampered this. First being Marks house.... Pretty much finished now after four years of my life trying to help him get done what we can, but as it is with us, if we didn't have bad luck we wouldn't have any luck at all.... The old saying, one step forward, two steps back.... Second was Photobucket making you have to pay to post your pics on a third party's website. This got me down a bit as my posts are quite picture heavy and would take me forever to change them all to another hosting site. However, as I've just previously said I've spent quite a bit of time helping Mark with his house, so I'll just get him to do it for me. Let's face it, it won't take him four years to do it !!! ha... So happy in the knowledge its going to get sorted I thought I'd continue from where I left off middle of last year.
So last post was just before doing the NC500 with a few friends. The car was pretty much fully sorted at this point, just waiting for the day to come. I was speaking to a friend who'd already done the 500 and he asked if I'd raised my suspension, to which I said no. He said that some of the roads are quite bad and I would without doubt bottom out. With this in mind I set about raising the car. I noticed that the drivers side was lower than the passenger side and the tension on both springs were about the same. For now though all I could do was raise both sides up a bit but raise the driver's side a little more. That done, the car was washed and put away waiting for the off.
The NC500 was great, weather was pretty excellent so got to put the car through it's paces. I couldn't believe how good it felt. Everything id done to the car to that point was totally worth it.
One thing I was talking to Mark about on the road was the difference in the height of the front suspension. We came to the conclusion that the drivers side spring must have weakened, possibly just with age or maybe the heat process from being powder coated. Anyway, I rang KW and ordered a pair of new front springs.
Next on the list which was really getting to me was the dashboard. The leather that was fitted during its retrim had come loose. It had shrunk and pulled itself back from under the front demister strips. This was most likely from the sun constantly beating down through the windscreen.
I rang a few places trying to get prices etc for the repair. As the part that had come loose was so close to the screen there wasn't any room to get in, so I came up with the idea of having the front screen removed and seeing if someone could repair it that way. So, after a few phone calls, most of which didn't even seem interested in doing it regardless of how it was to be done, i.e. dash in or out of the car. I was left with two possibilities. Southbound Trimmers that wanted about £2.5k but were booked up nearly a year in advance, or a guy who was relatively local to me and actually sounded like he was up for the challenge either way but said he'd have to have a look first to see the job in person. He told me to get back in touch once the car was at my works depot as he only lived 10 mins up the road.
I got the car to work and rang the guy to come along, the following day he popped in to have a look. After inspecting it he pointed out that the previous re-trimmer had used the two-part method, using a double-sided foam to give it a much nicer finish and it was in fact that which had come away so the whole dashboard would need to be removed and retrimmed 'properly" he said.
Now, at this point after how good he seemed and the knowledge he showed, I asked if this was a job he'd undertake. He said absolutely, not a problem at all, just Let him get a price on all the parts needed (Leather hide and glue etc) and he'd get back to me. Sure enough, the following day he got back to me with the price obviously having to take the dashboard out myself, I agreed to let him do it and said id contact him just as soon as the dashboard was out.
The following Saturday armed with a box of tools, my printed out 'how to" guides off the tinterweb, and Mark as backup, what with his eagle eyes and his computer like memory, we started to strip the car down. Steering wheel was first, side vents, radio, speakers, heater controls/centre vent and switch gear etc, then centre console and front console delete until we got down to just the dashboard and a crap load of wires.
I wouldn't say it was a hard job to be fair, most things seem really daunting before you start them, but once you are finished you realise as long as you have a little hands-on knowledge its more just about remembering where that mountain of bloody screws go back back....
So, the dashboard was out so I rang the guy to come pick it up and get to fitting the new leather hide.
There were a few other jobs I wanted done which he also quoted for, the alcantera on the dash pod over the clocks had faded a bit in the sun, it was a kind of greenish colour so he was going to dye that black again and also there was a very small cigarette burn on the carpet which I wanted repaired, this was there from when I bought the car. He done those jobs when he came to pick up the dashboard. These turned out to be a nice repair so was looking forward to seeing the outcome of the dashboard.
I asked him if he could have the dashboard done within a week so that myself and Mark still had an idea of how things came apart and would go back together, so it was still fresh in our minds. But I said, do not rush the job for this, I'd rather wait a few extra days and have the job done right rather than rushed. He said it would be an easy job and would have it back to me by the middle of the following week. Yipeeeeee !
Friday comes around and in walks the guy with my dashboard. Perfectly on time so we could have it refitted on Saturday morning. On first inspection it looked really good, maybe not quite as good as it was done the first time by Cobra Seats, but for the price I paid compared to what other people wanted to charge me I was happy with it.
Well, for all of about 10 minutes. This is where things take a turn for the worst, what a bloody surprise. I should be used to these things happening to me by now, nothing ever goes right.
So, the guy had left with payment in his back pocket. As he was leaving I got a call come through so had to take that, once finished I went back to have another look at the dashboard when I noticed that some of the pieces were coming unstuck. I thought that the glue must have still be wet so tried sticking them down again. Some did, some didn't. I thought it best to just ring the guy and ask why this was happening.
His Phone was turned off. Oh crap.
After an hour of constantly trying him I eventually got through. He said that shouldn't have happened and would happily come back and have a look but as he was on his way to his caravan up in Scotland with his son it wouldn't be till Monday/Tuesday. Just great, so much for having it fitted on Saturday, but at least he said he'd come and sort it, couldn't complain at that. Maybe I was wrong thinking it was going to turn out to be a nightmare and it was just a genuine mistake like the glue was faulty or something.
Tuesday comes and in pops the guy to look at the dash. He looked at it and straight away said himself that it shouldn't have happened and he would sort it straight away. To give him his dues, he held his hands up and said it was his mistake. Fair enough, take your time and get it right this time.
By the Friday I'd not heard from him so gave him a call. He said that he tried to stick it down again but it kept coming away still so decided to order a new tub of glue that was coming from Germany or some place like that, but it would be a few days before it arrived. I said fine, not a problem, speak to you next week.
The following Wednesday comes around and I'd not heard from him so gave him a call, he said he'd just been doing it the night before and it looked amazing, everything was still stuck down this morning when he checked on it so all good, he said he had a few jobs to do so was going to check on it when he got home and if all was good would drop it off Friday. At bloody last.
He comes in Friday, beaming smile on his face, dead proud of himself and places the dashboard down. Straight away I noticed that there were bits that weren't stuck down. I asked what the hell was going on? He told me that this new glue was heat activated and to just fit the dashboard then he'd come back with his heat gun and fix any little unstuck pieces. Then once he brought the passenger side airbag in I nearly hit the roof. I'll let the pictures do the talking.
After a little arguing, as he'd said he hadn't done anything to it and that's how he been given it, he said he'd have to sort something later as he had other jobs to this morning and had to go, so off he goes and I'm left looking at what utter crap he'd left me with. After about 20 minutes and a coffee to help calm the anger, I went back to have a look again and sure enough, it was all coming unstuck again. I was absolutely livid by this point.
I Rang him up and demanded a FULL refund, the job was bloody awful. I asked how he could make a living charging people for this quality of work. He again said, just fit it all and I'll come back and have it perfect, trust me, I said that I'm not fitting this in its current condition because first of all it shouldn't be like this and if you can't stick it back down after I've fitted it all again I'd then have to pull the whole thing out again and I'm not doing that. Just give me a refund NOW and I'll take my business to a professional who at least has some knowledge on how to retrim a dashboard.
This is when he says that he'd been a little quiet lately and it would take him a few weeks to get the cash back together, I said he have two weeks before I start looking into taking legal advice.
At this point I was really stuck. I started looking at second hand dashboards on eBay etc, but none of them had the Nappa leather and alcantera combination. The only thing was going to be to pay the £2.5k for Southbound to do, however, Southbound would now not take on the job as I'd gone elsewhere first and also that they weren't prepared to fix some other guys mistakes as they had no idea what he'd done to the dash. For this I couldn't blame them to be honest.
After getting home that evening sick of my life, I ended up talking to my neighbour of many talents about it, he told me to take the dashboard along to his so he could have a look himself. Totally shocked by the quality of workmanship, he just pulled on one corner of the leather and the whole thing just peeled off like it was stuck on with pritstick. After he'd pulled the new leather cover off it was totally apparent there and then why it wasn't sticking down. The guy hadn't removed the old foam that went between the dash and leather.
When new, the foam has a plastic kind of layer both sides for the glue to stick to. When the old leather was removed it had pulled the plastic layer off from the top side and left the bare foam, so when trying to stick the leather down it just couldn't bond to the bare foam.
This foam was all over the dash and needed to be removed. The only thing at this point was to try and do it myself (with help from my neighbour of course). The following Monday I ordered a Nappa leather hide and tin of high temperature paint on contact adhesive. Next was to get the foam off the dashboard.
What a bloody nightmare it was, must have took me 6 or so hours of rubbing, scratching and sanding to get it off, but I managed it and got it to a point where I could actually look at fitting a top cover to it.
After watching a few videos on you tube I decided to just stick the leather straight to the dash without a foam centre piece, I thought this the best way and with the foam being the reason it let go in the first place it was the right thing to do. The only reason I could find that you would use the foam is that if the dash has an imprint like the Porsche dashboards do, it sometimes it can show through. I didn't think it would.
Once all the items needed arrived, we got to work.
Having never done anything like this before, I have to say (without blowing my own trumpet) We done an amazing job, especially compared to what I'd been given from a so called professional. I was over the moon with how it came out and also the fact we managed to saved my original dash.
I left the dash in my living room for a week where it was nice and warm so the glue could set, and after that week I tried to pull a small piece of leather away and it would not budge, it was stuck down solid. Another thing fixed by doing it yourself.
So, basically to save going on and on about this, I did eventually get a refund, albeit it 3 weeks after and not the total amount I paid but close enough. In all it cost me in bits about £105.00 to do myself. So even though I didn't get full refund I was still well up so all good.
Now it was the simple task of refitting. As I saw the car in bits everyday as it was at my works depot, it was becoming more and more daunting at the prospect of refitting everything and remembering where everything went. So, after checking Mark was free, we agreed that 'the sooner the better" so best to refit it at the weekend. Kind of excited worried at this point. Ha.
As it turned out, it went back together really well, we'd bagged most things off together so we got the right screws for the right place and with the right amount that needed fitted. We also just used the strip down guide backwards which helped.
The finished job looked amazing, I'm not saying there aren't any discrepancies, in some light if you look really close you can see one point where I glued up to, to do one section and where I'd continued on from, but that's it, and it was all still stuck down perfectly. Chuffed to bits.
Whilst everything was apart I had a few things painted body colour, centre strips, steering column cover and alarm sensor trim.
After all the stress I'd been through trying to sort that mess out, I felt I deserved a little treat, so when some front and rear carbon fibre strut braces popped up for sale I thought why the hell not.
Now back to the new front springs, it was an easy job as everything had recently been apart so it only took about 45 minutes a side and it was all back together. I fitted the strut braces at the same time.
You can see the difference in spring heights between old and new. This is to be expected though over time with the weight of the car constantly pushing down on them.
I'd not used the car much since doing the above, and forgot to stick the optimiser back so when I went to take the car for a little run before putting it away for the rest of the year it wouldn't start. I was sure that the car should be able to sit for two weeks and still have enough charge to turn it over, I leave it in the garage without the alarm on so nothing should be draining the battery. I stuck the charger on for an hour or so and went back to try it, sure enough it fired up straight away. I had the battery checked out and it looked like it had a dead cell, apparently batteries only have five year life span and the current battery was just over that so as this is an important part in the running of a car, I got a new one.
That sums up 2017 for me, highlight being the NC500, the drive from Cramlington, up to hartside for breakfast then out the back to join up with the M6 to head north was great fun. In fact, the whole west coast all the way up to the most northern point at up to John O'Grotes was excellent, lovely roads all the way. However, the drive back down the East side was quite dreary and boring. Was all straight roads and just miles and miles of average speed cameras. Not much fun at all, but all in all it was an excellent trip, all well planned out by Jamie at Nelsons
Thanks for reading, I know it's a long one but things never seem to go right for me. At this point there wasn't too much more I could do to the car, new radiators and air con condensers all round fit centre rad and a few other mods and powder coating to be done and then the only thing left after that is a little bit of paint work I need done and that'll be pretty much it. Other than go around and replace all the new bits I've just fitted.
Luckily for me though I won't get bored as Mark has a list as long as mine, probably even longer to be fair with stuff he wants done to his, saves me having to buy something new to fiddle with I suppose.
Thanks again, and if anyone needs any help or has any questions about anything I've done then please don't hesitate to ask. I'm in no way a professional at anything, but happy to pass on what I've learnt along the way.
Take it easy
Craig