Grill and Steering Wheel

Hi

We have had a few days of nice weather so we have been out and about but today I got some work done. I still have not found the Log book for the car so have had to bite the bullet and pay out the £25 for a new V5C so just waiting for it to arrive.

I now have the car insured and tried a few insurance companies but none could beat Lancaster Insurance which is advertised in the club magazine.

I got Fully Comprehensive with Breakdown, Legal plus agreed valuation and a host of other things for £184  and because I was a club member I also got £30 discount so £154, cheapest I have ever had.

While waiting for the V5 to arrive I thought I would get on with things I was going to wait for so yesterday morning I called Bruno and at 0930 this morning a new shiny grill arrived.

I first had to remove the original chip cutter grill and the 2 brackets riveted to the sides.

After offering it up I realised that the grill is just a basic shape and needs a few tweaks to get it to fit or maybe its perfect and just my grill hole thats a little out (most likely) anyway didn't take long and I had it reshaped to fit pretty perfect.

I decided where the brackets should go and slotted them into position first.

I then offered it up and marked the bottom hole and drilled it for a 5mm bolt, I then bolted it in position and was able to mark one of the side brackets for drilling.

Things went pretty smoothly and only ended up with one scratch to the paint work.

Still like the chip cutter but he stainless does look good.

I said when I found that the TVR seats did not work for me that at least I had learnt how to colour leather well today that training proved itself as I thought I would have a go at the steering wheel.

The colour just didn't match at all.

So I started by masking off the red.

I had to thin down the colorant as it had thickened up a lot and I have found out an important tip since doing the seats that instead of using water to thin the colorant I should use the gloss final coat as this lends a toughness to the colour that water does not.

I prepped the leather surface by first cleaning it then using a solvent I removed the old surface finish and then sanding the leather with 800 before giving it a light misting with the colorant.

I dried each coat and checked the finish to see if any more sanding was required but all seemed ok so carried on.

I dried between each coat until I thought it was close then tried it in place.

It looked just about right so I stopped there and gave it 3 coats of satin sealer.

The centre piece had the badge removed and the same treatment.

I removed all of the masking and cleaned of the bits of colour that got through the masking and it looked great.

Bit of a difference.

I fit it to the car but shall fit the centre badge tomorrow as it takes a bit of a knock to position it so I shall let it harden off a bit longer.

Great match.
Now I have the air brush out I will start on the scratches I have managed to collect by working in such cramped conditions for so long.

See ya Paul