1988 Mk2 Cavalier 1.8GLi

[sleag40]

Offside was finished off today.



The nearside was given its final rub up as far as the rear quarter.



The dolly has been fabricated, just need to shorten the uprights a little, then bolt the wheels on and the shell will be mobile.

[sleag40]

Nearside rear quarter finished off this week.



Identified some low spots in the rear valance, they were given a thin skim of fine filler.



Then rubbed and primed again.



The dolly was shortened and bolted on today, surprisingly it fitted absolutely perfectly - wasn't expecting that!





After that was done, good tidy up and vacuum session happened - it was incredibly dusty in the shed.



Once that was done, I continued taping up the inner front wings in preparation for fettling up the front end. Just got to give the rear panel its final block/rub and I can switch ends.

[shielsy68]

cracking job

[sleag40]

Managed to get a couple of hours on this today to get the back end rubbed out.



Just got the top edge adjacent to the boot seal to do, then with a bit of luck this weekend I'll be getting stuck in to fettling the front end up to the same stage as the rest.

[sleag40]

A refreshing change of scenery today -



Front panels got a few skims of filler here and there to tidy up some of the welds, then it all got a good rub in preparation for another coat of epoxy primer.

I thought it was probably a good idea to finish masking off the inner wings before throwing any paint about -





This used up my available time, so I'll have to get stuck in on my way home from work in the coming week.

[sleag40]

This week's evenings didn't go as planned. I did get a second coat of epoxy primer on there on tuesday.





The Mrs' car then disgraced itself and took up the rest of the evenings to fix. Should get a decent bit of time on it tomorrow to block and rub though - the slam panel is especially fiddly to do properly, I expect it to eat up a lot of the weekend too.

[sleag40]

Got a grey primer guide coat on there and began rubbing on Friday afternoon. Began with the fiddly slam panel.





This was as far as I got on friday afternoon, but I managed to finish it off today.



Seen here not long before finishing it off.

Should get another coat of epoxy primer on there tomorrow, and once it's been rubbed again, I can get stuck in to the last area for paint preparation - the engine bay.

[stealthstylz]

Great to see that you're still progressing. Are you going to paint every surface properly or miss all the hard to get to bits for factory authenticity?

[sleag40]

Jun 26, 2021 21:30:38 GMT stealthstylz said:

Great to see that you're still progressing. Are you going to paint every surface properly or miss all the hard to get to bits for factory authenticity?

Gonna make as good a job of it as I can chief. As it's done in epoxy first, any bits that do get missed should stay rust free!
Got another coat on this and rubbed it back during the week.



Finished rubbing on Friday.



Another bit ready for the paint bloke.

Before getting stuck in to the engine bay, I thought I'd better try fitting the doors to make sure the arches line up right. The nearside was spot on, but the offside was a bit off.



It looks like I put the arch profile a little low at the front of the quarter panel. It was only 2 or 3 mm out, but it would have bugged the hell out of me if I didnt correct it, so that's what I did next.

The front of the arch was re-shaped with a little filler, then blocked into the correct shape.



When satisfied it all lined up, I splashed a bit of grey primer on it while I get round to re epoxying the quarter panel.



Back to the engine bay next.

[shielsy68]

body work takes so much time that no one sees

[novamadash]

Top job your doing on this cav. Will be a showstopper when finished.

[sleag40]

Jul 7, 2021 10:20:22 GMT novamadash said:

Top job your doing on this cav. Will be a showstopper when finished.

Thank you kindly!
Been doing a bit of rubbing in here on the way home from work.



Extremely bored of paint preparation now - fortunately it should be ready to go over to the paint bloke by the end of the month.

[mattfletcher]

End of the month!! I want to see it painted already!

[sleag40]

After more than enough rubbing, it was all thoroughly cleaned and masked up.



And after another coat of epoxy primer.





After taking care of some chores, I still had enough time left to re do the offside rear quarter after it was fettled.



Back to rubbing again tomorrow.

[sleag40]

Rear quarter was rubbed out at the weekend, then plonked the door on today to have a weigh up.





It's a lot better, but not quite 100%. I may have another little fettle at some point time permitting.

The nearside is pretty much spot on.





Very pleased with this side.

After playing with doors + umming and ahhing for a while, I got a bit of guide coat on in the engine bay, then made a start on rubbing it again.

[sleag40]

It's been a bit warmer than is comfortable in the shed of late, but I still managed to get a bit of rubbing done. The offside is mostly done.



Got started with the nearside turret, and ran out of time.



Should get back on it over the weekend.

[sleag40]

First job of the day, the heater blower/ scuttle area was cleaned up. After all the muck was removed, it looked fresh, so this area will be masked off and left as is.



Nearside of engine bay now rubbed out.



Just the bottom half of the bulkhead left to rub.



Should get that finished up one evening in the week.

[sleag40]

This week I have mostly been taking the shine off the bits that are still blue. Still got a lot of rubbing to do, but the end is in sight. Today I also dug out the build plate and riveted it back on to the slam panel so it can be painted as it was originally.

[skodacious]

Epic as always - love the attention to detail 👍

[sleag40]

Been grabbing the odd hour on this here and there this week, the c-pillars and offside are pretty much done, this picture was taken after making a start on the nearside.



The roof was also finished up this week.



I finished up the a-pillars and scuttle today, but I'll be giving everything another going over tomorrow and Saturday so it should be ready for the paint bloke on Sunday/Monday. (fingers crossed!)