Saturday, June 18, 2011

Pretty Much Done..

Today felt like finishing the job so here's some progress. Seriously without mood, I cannot do it. That's why it is pretty slow progress. Plus I am a busy person (Ahaks!).

Paint stripping. Safety first! Glove only. Should wear long sleeve, long pants and something to cover up my face.

Old silicone that I used years ago had harden. So bought a new silicone sealant.


The RX3 grill had been resprayed to black color.


Here's the almost finish parts of RX3. Quite happy when it shine.


Fitting back the lense with new sealant.


Should be water-tight now.


Now only left the fitting of the cover and walla, it's new!


Some AutoSol will bring the shine back. Hopefully.
http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/262277_10150222610377002_643222001_7205476_3586787_n.jpg

Friday, June 10, 2011

DIY : Tail Lamp Restoration.

*I actually had done this DIY process few years ago. You guys can check it out here for more further step explanation:
Part 1.
Part 2.
Part 3.

Stuffs for this DIY process are:

*Spray can. Bought two silver and one black color.
*Autosol.
*Sand paper (400 and 1000)
*Paint stripper and brush.

Carefully remove the lenses as it will crack if you push it. Don't try your luck especially if its a pretty rare stuffs.

Clean all the stuffs and let it dry. Only after that you can judge if its restore able or not worth trying. In this case, everything are in good shape and I am pretty confident and with my previous experience, I can refurbish all of these hopefully. What make this project special is that the car sport a facelift of RX3, and to be exact the 10A facelift. Take note that the facelift itself cost thousands of Ringgit if you wanna buy it.

We manage to score a new set of front bumper signal. Thanks to the Ipoh trip and Wan DV for helping us sourcing stuffs.

Autosol is a great stuff. It can shine almost everything. This is due to its abrasive feature. What I don't like about it is that this thing eventually will 'polisht' up your skin too during the polishing process. Now I am in pain.

The cleaned lamp cover was sprayed to silver color to reflect the light bulb better.

And one of the worst thing I had experience was the paint removal of the bumper. Its my first time working with the paint removal and only after it touch my skin I know how corrosive this thing is! God I hate this thing. Time consuming and I only manage to do 1/3 of the bumper.

For the lenses restoration, what I did first was using the Autosol to rub off the top layer. I did my best for like two or three times before polishing it with Headlamp Polish. What differ these two polishing liquid are its abrasive grade. Autosol is pretty much coarse while the headlamp polish is fine. Shine effect can only be achieved after the fine grade of polish process.

Emblem done. For the second time, I manage to restore it again. Pretty happy with it.

My first attempt was two years ago. Heck, it was coincidence that both photo look similar!
[DSC_0478+copy.jpg]

The tail lamp cover. The right one had been restored to its glorious state while the left one havent. Cant do it today coz my hand hurt from too much exposure from Autosol.

One side done! :)

Two years ago, I restored these:
[DSC_0471+copy.jpg]

While it was on my Bee. I love this square tail lamp. Really muscular looking for Mazda 808.
[DSC_0472+copy.jpg]

Project RX808 : Began.

Anyway, the project had already began last week actually. Just I kept the story till I got some updates so that I can put some photos with it.

Here's the project car owner, Farhan. He owned the car and pretty much everything. So where did I fit in? The one who will finished the project with my creativity (Hopefully) with a budget given. We went to Ipoh to find some stuffs. Met him up there after my Pangkor trip.
http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/254929_10150213886717002_643222001_7127716_3014693_n.jpg

He found a replacement hood for the car.
http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/251224_10150213887352002_643222001_7127720_601107_n.jpg

All the goodies I took back home.

Oh, I still haven't shared the car's photo. Here it is. Currently still in Perak for bodywork process. While waiting, I can restore all the parts.

I hope I can finished the project this time.With this, I am pleased to tell y'all that my old blog of Bumble Bee is gonna filled with the car's process.