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Voodoo Vix's Black Magic Project


Voodoo Vix

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Right-O, a little bit more of an update

 

About 6 weeks ago I had yet another box delivered

 

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And in it was one of these

 

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a Circuit Sports Strut Brace bought from Steve350z at Redline Styling :D

 

Now, orange wasn't really going to go in my engine bay, so off came the brackets:

 

which were sanded down

 

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primered

 

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and painted in yummy Berry Purple :D

 

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Looks a tad pink here but I assure you they are purple lol

 

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I then bought a purple Samco hose to replace the black AEM hose on the induction kit

 

As she currently stands :D

 

(pics are poor, combination of sun and crappy phone lol)

 

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At some point she will get a wash too lol

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  • 11 months later...

Its been a while since I've been able to update this, but, over the last few weeks I have been accumulating some new goodies for the Zed including

 

30mm Apex Springs and Eibach adjustable camber arms from CS

 

Clear front reflectors from Redline Styling (Steve350z)

 

Engine bay bolts from Ianphampton

 

Motorised number plate bracket from Tarmac Sportz

 

Volks GT-C from Jetpilot

 

Rays wheel nuts from Coord Sport/Part Box (locking wheel nuts on their way over from Japan)

 

93356D6D-517C-47D0-B67E-C9DFA6147965-4090-000001E3FE6B8EEF_zps5a31c407.jpg

 

CBDDF0C8-AC91-4DED-B334-7BC6F9D3E123-1813-000000EFD8E3EEA7_zps7ed65bfa.jpg

 

On Saturday I took her down to see Sly at Kaizer Motor Company to have the springs and camber arms fitted together with a pair of Falken FK453's on the front and a couple of hours later I was able to bring her home :D

 

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She may settle a bit more yet but i'm over the moon with all the work done so far and quite a bit more to go. As soon as I know whether my rear arches need rolling/cutting (cheap tyre on its way to check clearance) then she will be booked into Xquisite Automotive for a full respray, de-badge, remove the number plate plinth and the motorised one to be fitted with the clear reflectors. Wheels are also having a full refurb (and colour change) and have a few more bits and pieces to sort out in the engine bay, but she's coming along nicely so far. Hopefully I can get the engine bolts changed over this weekend and get rid of the horrible green ones at last!

Edited by Voodoo Vix
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  • 11 months later...

I'm a complete novice when it comes to polishing/painting but get massive satisfaction from doing things myself rather than just paying someone else to do it (not that there's anything wrong with that and I have had some help below).

 

I've learned a lot from doing this and although it was hard work I don't regret a minute of it and hope it will be of some use to other's on here, even if it's just for upkeep purposes than from scratch.

 

So here's a list of stuff of what I used:

 

Various grades of steel wool

Toothbrush

Autosol

Coke

Vinegar

Numerous microfibre cloths

Paint stripper (I attempted to use Nitro Mors)

Scrap of carpet

Mains powered drill

Polishing Kit (here http://www.thepolish...shing_Kits.html, the New Combi-Light 37pc kit) - If you don't have a polishing kit you can use various grades of sandpaper but for the price, I really would recommend the kit!

Poorboys Wheel Sealant

Thread lock

 

This does not include the paint and materials which Mike used at work, this list was purely for my preparation, polishing and finishing.

 

Here are the wheels which I started off with:

 

19x8.5 and 19x10.5 Volks GT-C's which had previously been powder coated black. Thankfully they had no tyres which meant they were lighter to move around (although not much!) but it did mean that I needed to be extra careful with the exposed rims.

 

206B439D-89D7-40A7-A854-5EF31D58718D_zps9mctowe1.jpg

 

Preparation

 

Stripping the powder coat off the wheels was never going to be an easy task but I had read that paint stripper would work, thankfully instead of wasting money Mike had some in his garage so I gave it a go with some Nitro Mors, a paintbrush, a scraper, some elbow grease and an awful lot of patience (of which generally I am quite short of).

 

Well it may work for paint, but not for powder coat, after an hour, this was as far as I got!

 

850F7691-F6D7-4B5D-91B6-70BB71169B9D-287-000000C378AA75FB_zpsc2cabeb7.jpg

 

I therefore gave up on the paint stripper idea and decided to get them acid dipped (we did try sandblasting but it didn't work very well on the powdercoat). I contacted Wicked Wheels in Guildford and spoke to Kevin who was extremely helpful and arranged to take the wheels down to him (with rim screws removed) so that they could be dipped which was a much quicker process (and cheaper considering the amount of paint stripper I would have had to use).

 

The following week Mike went and collected them and was greeted with these :scare:

 

4FC749DA-331F-40EE-B628-2181BC0303E7-287-000001349127B0AC_zps053888d6.jpg

 

Now the powder coat is finally gone I can inspect the wheels to make sure that it hasn't caused any cracks/fracturing due to the temperatures they have to be baked at. Thankfully, they are all clear of any damage (other than pitting after all the surface corrosion was removed), so I was free to carry on with the next steps.

 

Polishing

 

Rim Screws

 

Before polishing the rims, I decided to clean up the rims screws, as I couldn't get replacements; Rays only supply them if they are the ones refurbishing the wheels. I had read somewhere that the phosphoric acid in coca cola and malt vinegar were good cleaners and helped with surface rust so I thought "what the hell, I've got nothing to lose" (other than £2 on a bottle of coke and 80p for vinegar lol). So I put the first 20 from this wheel

 

CBDDF0C8-AC91-4DED-B334-7BC6F9D3E123-1813-000000EFD8E3EEA7_zps7ed65bfa.jpg

 

Into some coke for 24 hours (anymore and apparently it can pit the metal)

 

F0D044BC-44CD-4384-B413-77C7BE4FBC02_zpsnuz42dfv.jpg\

 

and then sat down in the garage with various grades of steel wool, a wire brush, toothbrushes, Autosol and soft cloth and this was the result

 

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Saying I was pleased is an understatement, but I still had 77 to go!

 

Unfortunately as you will see from the work on the wheels below I quickly ran out of time for getting the bolts done so took them to a plating company, to get the re-chromed. They are vastly improved, but not perfect, in time I will get them completely stripped back and redone. Here is the finished result

 

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Wheels

 

I had every intention of doing this the "sandpaper route" but as I had a birthday coming up I asked Mike for a metal polishing kit (as I could then re-do the wheels as needed together with the plenum, throttle body, air intake and strut brace, which are already polished, as needed), which he thought was hilarious as he never thought he would buy something like that for anyone, particularly his girlfriend lol But, I am pleased (and relieved), to say he did get me one which consisted of:

 

[Pasted from the Polishing Shop web page]

 

Instructions

Rigger Gloves

FFP1 Dust Mask- Better quality dust mask.

Vienna Lime Powder- Cleaning

1 off Standard Taper for 4" Mops

1 off Long taper 2" and smaller mops

4 off felt cones 1/4"x1/2"(6mm x 12mm)

4 off felt cones 3/8"x1/2"(10mm x 12mm)

4 off felt cones 1/2"x1" (12mm x 25mm)

(felt can be used for abrasive and polishing work, ideal for very awkward areas)

 

For Polishing:

1 off 4"x1" G loose mop (100mm x 25mm)

1 off 2"x1" G loose mop (50mm x 25mm)

1 off 1 1/2"x1" G Loose mop (38mm x 25mm)

1 off 1"x1" G Loose Mop (25mm x 25mm)

1 off 4"x1" 2 section white mop close stitch (100mm x 25mm)

1 off 2"x1" white mop (50mm x 25mm)

1 off 1 1/2"x1" white mop (38mm x 25mm)

1 off 1"x1" white mop (25mm x 25mm)

1 off 4"x1" 2 section sisal mop (100mm x 25mm)

1 off 2"x1" sisal mop (50mm x 25mm)

1 off 11/2"x1" sisal mop (38mm x 25mm)

1"x1" sisal mop (25mm x 25mm)

600 Gram Bar P164 Menzerna Polishing Compound General finishing compound

600 Gram Bar 439T Menzerna Polishing Compound Medium cutting & colouring compound

600 Gram Bar 523LBZ Menzerna Polishing Compound Grey heavy cutting compound

 

For Abrasive Work:

1 off 4"x1" section colour mops (100mm x 25mm)

1 off 2"x1" Colour mop (50mm x 25mm)

1 off 1 1/2"x1" Colour mops (38mm x 25mm)

1 off 1"x1" Colour mop (25mm x 25mm)

1 off 450gram 300grit abrasive compound

 

Those of you who read the "shopping list" above will note the "scrap of carpet", this was purely to protect the wheels when they were laid down so they weren't scratched up on the floor when being worked on/moved around.

 

As the wheels had been acid dipped all the surface corrosion had been removed but this left really bad pitting. Unfortunately for us that meant that they took a LOT of sanding! Mike had taken them to work and started with 80 grit on them to cut them back and then work his way up through the grit grades

 

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He also used 240, 300, 500 grits.

 

This was then sprayed with primer.

 

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As the lips were to be polished, we went for a flat silver, which was then sprayed and lacquered.

 

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Then it was my turn.

 

As I was starting of on a clean-ish surface (a surface with the equivalent of around 500 grit),

 

CC101534-F343-4B8A-88D5-EA04D2924288_zpservmwi4g.jpg

 

I could jump to the first stage of polishing (rather than using the cutting compound), which is the white sisal mop and grey compound (which still has a little cut).

 

1E6D0008-55F3-40A5-BFA1-20C7602D947C_zpsifrobzr7.jpg

 

Next I used the white stitched mop with the green compound

 

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Stay with me, we are nearly there!

 

For the final polish I used the loose cotton mop with the blue compound.

 

32479592-187B-4810-9910-0F5B635A15B9_zpsi9hnfioq.jpg

 

Up close the finish isn't perfect (and is still pitted) but in time I will take them to be machine polished where the pits can be taken back.

 

The wheels were then given a couple of coats of Poorboys Wheel Sealant and the rim screws were torqued to 25nm using threadlock.

 

5959CECD-6227-4EEE-B914-434D233D3C88_zpsjsznacd1.jpg

 

I then took the wheels to see Sly who fitted the tyres and did the alignment (a great job as usual, thanks Sly!!)

 

Here is a sneaky peak, as she is going to Xquisite Automotive for some TLC tomorrow, and will have their work in progress pics before her final reveal :teeth:

 

8b29e3b82a016a38d156533afe004552_zpsc4bca5eb.jpg

Edited by Voodoo Vix
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As a fellow Volk owner I can appreciate you bringing them back to their former glory.

I too have been there with having them polished back to bare metal and using Poorboys Wheel Sealant.

Just keep on top of applying the stuff weekly and you should be fine. Just got to be too much work for me in the end, hence I powder coated mine.

Love yours

 

Mind you, you said you had the wheels bolts recoated, would it be possible to do that to the barrels also?

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As a fellow Volk owner I can appreciate you bringing them back to their former glory.

I too have been there with having them polished back to bare metal and using Poorboys Wheel Sealant.

Just keep on top of applying the stuff weekly and you should be fine. Just got to be too much work for me in the end, hence I powder coated mine.

Love yours

 

Mind you, you said you had the wheels bolts recoated, would it be possible to do that to the barrels also?

 

They are going to be hard to keep on top of but as I don't drive daily I'm hoping they won't get too bad, I've also kept my other Rays for the winter!

 

Chroming would probably cost a lot of money to get them done properly. The bolts I had re-chromed but they weren't cut back to bare metal so were cheapish to do, as to have them cut back, cleaned, prepped and chromed properly was about £6 plus VAT per bolt and nut and with 80 of them I was looking at a lot of money, so to do the wheels would probably cost almost as much as they're worth lol

 

They can be anodised but they tend to look dull from the ones I've seen, but will be having a look at alternatives at keeping them polished, it's handy having a boyfriend in the business to help me out lol

Edited by Voodoo Vix
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Yeah, mines a daily driver.

 

TBH, on my fact finding, I did find out that the Volks are polished to a mirror finish and then very thinly clear anodised at the factory, few microns only.

This was confirmed when I had the barrels polished back originally and they said it was tough getting the anodized layer off.

Edited by BulletMagnet
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