1989 Skoda 120L5 - 136 Engine&Bike carbs - 2023 Winter Jobs

[lewist123]

Hi All

Making some more progress, although two steps forward, one step back.

I added a bit more paint around windows and to lower sills and them removed all the masking to the car. Was looking good.

I then went on to wet sanding (I am glad I did before starting to hang parts back on the car) as I found that the paint is a bit thin in places. I wet sanded a fair amount of the shell at 2k grit (although perhaps I should have gone 1200 grit as it took ages.

I decided to take one of the rear quartets all the way and polish it before going any futher just in case there were any problems. Glad I did. Whilst it is starting to look really good, I noticed a slight grey halo through the white - paint too thin

So I have re-keyed the paint with a wet 320 sponge and will re-mask it all and add another 4 coats or more, paying attention to really start to build up the film thickness.

Annoying, but I would rather re-do it now, than have problems or regrets in the future. This will set me back a few weeks, but my plan is to try and get ready for paint on Friday - due to be really hot and dry so should be good painting weather.

Pics below - on the vertical looking down shot, you might just about be able to see a faint grey halo.

[HARDCORE]

Do it once, do it right then come and paint a car for me

[lewist123]

Yeah I would rather spend the extra time now.

As for painting a car, I spoke to Colon before embarking on this, and he said he had always chickened out and used rattle cans. I have been suprised how 'not difficult' this was. I don't want to say it was easy because it wasn't. But equally it wasnt hard, just time consuming!

[jamesd1972]

Will pay off in the end - better than new must be the aim !
James

[lewist123]

Hey gang.

Re-masked the car over the weekend and managed to get some more paint on this this morning. Late last week I also put a few coats of paint on the front valance (I had previously cleaned, primed and sanded it). I fitted that to the car too before getting another 5 coats on it.

I think last time I was too paranoid about getting runs and so went too gentle on the paint with a too wide pattern on the gun. I had quite a rough texture straigh off the gun last time, I think because I was misting too gently.

Not wanting to make the same mistake again, i went with 4 much heavier coats. I think I got more paint on the car in those 4 coats than I did last time with 6. I also did a 5th coat with paint thinned right down to 1/3rd paint, 2/3rds thinner. I had read somewhere on the internet that a very mixed down final coat can help to wet out the previous layers and get a better finish.

This time I have a much smoother and flatter finish off the gun, so I have high hopes this will sand and polish out nicely, without going through it. Will give it a few days to fully harden and then start the process of flatting it again.

I also have the rear valance, boot and bonnet ready to go with colour. Not started on the doors yet though.

[lewist123]

Quick update - lots of wet sanding, with lots still to do. However, things are starting to look promising. Weather is due to be rubbish for the next week, so not sure when I will be able to get on and paint the bonnet and boot etc.

[jamesd1972]

Better than new for sure !
Nice.
James

[lewist123]

Thanks - not 100% sure it will be better than factory. Its pretty good but not perfect. Having said that, there are quite a few factory runs in places, so it wasn't perfect when new!

Got Friday off, so if the weather stays dry I am going to push to get some more panels in final top coat. This evening I started stripping down one of the doors ready for sanding and primer.

L

[lewist123]

Hi All

Progress - slowly but surely.

Bonnet, boot and rear panel painted and re-fitted. Still got some more sanding and polishing to get it better, but looking good, even if I do say so myself.

I would be happy if she is a 6 footer, but I think I might be able to get it up to a 3 footer

[skodacious]

Looking great 😎

[lewist123]

Some slow progress.

Paint is polished enough for the time being. I have used cutting compound, but not yet gone back with finishing compound - I will wait until the doors are on before finishing the polish. Starting doing bits and bobs like re-fitting some parts like the scuttle drains, lights, door seals etc.






The nearside door is stripped down, sanded, filled and ready to prime. I have also been re-painting some of the plastic parts which had faded, such as handles, mirrors etc.




I have started on the offside front door - the offside doors had both taken a bit of a scrape in the past so I have been trying to bash the worst of the dents out. I have a full set of spare doors, but I think the offside front door is in worse condition than the original one.

Original Door with dent...






'Spare door' - I think it will be harder to fix than the current one. Plus it is beige and been badly painted white in the past. Rather not deal with that!






Going to try and get the door fixed over the weekend as well as prepping the others and try and paint next week - will need to wait for a cooler day.

I painted the boot lid with it in full sun on a hot day, and the paint doesn't appear to polish up quite as well as the rest of the bits I painted on colder and less sunny days. I guess the painted kicked too hard in the bright sun. Worst comes to worst I will take the boot lid back off and blow over it again at some point.

[lewist123]

Hi all

Just a quick update - time off with family etc and the hot weather has slowed pace a bit. However, got the front two doors painted and hung, just working on the rear two now. Also been painting some other parts and doing odd jobs. I will need to work on a better attachment for the carbs as they fell off the intake manifold the other day as i was moving the car around.






Hope to have the rear doors done within a week and then I can re-fit the glass and door hardware. I really need to get the car sealed back up again and the paint 100% sorted, polished and ceramic coated before the weather turns for autumn.

L

[lewist123]

Hey All

Summer holiday and work shenanigans so progress has been a bit slow. Plus all that rain a while back slowed me down.

I have managed to paint the rear doors and started on the final polishing process. I re-flatted the whole car using 2000 and then 2500 wet and dry and get out some of the last paint dimples and issues. I also got some more aggressive compound and have done the initial wet polish with that.








I am now going to go over the whole thing with finishing compound on my big DA polisher.

Although I bought a big DA polisher, I have been a lot of the polishing with a small 3 inch pad on a right angle drill. I bought this drill a while back from Lidl for other reasons, and it has been a fantastic addition to the tool box. Super handy for using small wire wheels to get into tight spaces (in many ways, better than my die grinders), plus its quiet and works really well as a small rotary polisher. Cheep too if you already have a battery for it!



Edited to add - I have ordered some graphics for the doors. Not sure I am going to use them, but I got some gloss black stripes to put on the doors below the mid-height swage line.

[lewist123]

Hi all - I managed to do final polish on the car today. I ended up going with fast cut compound, then finishing compound, then Autoglym super resin polish and then finally Autoglym rapid cermic coating.

There are a few imperfections here and there, but overall I am really happy with how it came out. I could keep going with cutting compound, but I am worried about going too far - I think I have hit a good compromise!




















Now on to some more reassembly. Got the window bars painted and ready to go in along with re-painted front door handles and wing mirros. Going to focus on getting the glass back in before the weather really turns for winter.

[teaboy]

It looks great Dude, well done.

[jamesd1972]

Smart that.
Nice job.
James

[horrido]

Very nice!

[dikkehemaworst]

Wow!!

[HARDCORE]

Looks fab dude!

[lewist123]

Sorry for the lack of recent updates - I have made some progress but a few other things have got in the way.

I decided to change jobs a while back and accepted an offer in September and put in my 3 months notice. New job doesn't come with a company car (I have had company cars for nearly 18 years now) so had to spend some time sorting out money and then went car shopping. New job is home based so didn't need something new/economical/comfy so instead went looking for something interesting.

I spent quite a long time looking for a decent mid-2000 Audi S4 in budget (Manual 4.2l V8 'super saloon') but didn't manage to find a good enough one/didn't end up being brave enough (they have an expensive habit of eating timing chain tensioners which require engine-out to replace).

In the end I went for a Mini Cooper S. I had fancied one of the Gen1 supercharged ones for a while now and managed to find a pretty good one in budget. There is a sweet spot for these year wise - in 2004 they had a face lift which also went with a closer-ratio gear box, a teflon-coated supercharger and a different engine map. I found a July registered 2006 car (just before they released the Gen2 with a turbocharged pugeot engine which I didn't really want). This also has factory spec'd John Cooper Works wheels and aero body kit along with a factory spec'd limited slip diff.

Appears to be a well cared for example which had just had a new PAS pump, tyres, brakes, engine mounts a clutch and flywheel along with some other money spent. Paint was also in good nick and little to no rust underneath. I have done a few jobs like doing an oil service, replacing the timing chain tensioner (cheap insurance), adding bluetooth connectivity to the standard head unit etc.

I start the new job in 10 days, so life should settle back down and I will get back to the Skoda with the target of spring still in mind.

Not a retro (yet) but some pics of the mini for your troubles.