RetroPug's Ph.1 Diablo Gti-6

[ozonehostile]

our minds work in similar ways when it comes to engine dressing haha, thats exactly what ill be doing to mine, fresh silver inlet with cherry red detail

[RetroPug]

In case you want the specific colour it is halfords' toolbox red. Shame it got ruined.

Love a good, shiny engine!

[RetroPug]

All running again, ready to go and be MOT'd.
I also got some very rare Ph.1 headlight protectors in the post but unfortunately Royal Fail have snapped one in half!

Some nice flocked dash bits are also fitted.

[gretsch-drummer]

I got offered a set of OEM foglight covers on Pistonheads if you want them?

[RetroPug]

Thanks. I've got Cibie ones on at the moment and I rather like them.
I didn't realise that there were OEM foglight covers for Ph.1 cars.

Are they going cheaply?

[RetroPug]

Gave the car a wash and wax ready to be MOT'd tomorrow. Also sorted the airbag light coming on due to the horrendous phase 1 connectors.









I also prepped and painted my spare exhaust heatshield ready to go on the car.

Before, from a previous post in this thread:


After:

[Poodle]

There can't be much left to spruce up on this the rate you're going.

[RetroPug]

Another year of MOT:

There can't be much left to spruce up on this the rate you're going.

There's either loads left to do or I have OCD.... I've got to paint the other heatshield for a start!
There's so much I'd be cracking on with if this wasn't a daily driver.

Sadly the engine bay is back to looking drab as the painted manifold turned out to be warped.

[gretsch-drummer]

These are what the dudes selling:



Think he was after ~£30, me being a tight Northener.....I declined.

[Curt]

There's either loads left to do or I have OCD....

I think it may be the latter... .

It looks really tidy though. Nice one on the MOT, too.

[RetroPug]

Think he was after ~£30, me being a tight Northener.....I declined.

Ahh, I saw those on ebay since you mentioned them.
I think I'll stick with the Cibies for now as I rather like them!

I think it may be the latter... .

It looks really tidy though. Nice one on the MOT, too.

I really like your old(?) gti-6, especially on the pro race 3s, I wanted a white set of those as well but my wallet had other ideas!

[Curt]

Yeah I do miss the old girl, would be buying it back if it were at all possible... They came up on eBay in as new condition, with tyres, for a fraction of the new price and I couldn't refuse . They do suit phase 1s really well!

[RetroPug]

Yeah I do miss the old girl, would be buying it back if it were at all possible... They came up on eBay in as new condition, with tyres, for a fraction of the new price and I couldn't refuse . They do suit phase 1s really well!

I'll have to keep my eyes open!

I love driving this car...always a good time.

[RetroPug]

Lacquer peel on the bootlid is gone, replaced the tailgate. The car also has an SP-Pack spoiler now with a working 3rd brake light.

Got quoted 250 to sort the lacquer peel around the sunroof (full roof respray) which is a bit too much for me!

[RetroPug]

Currently away but the rear end looked like this just before I left:


No more tailgate cquer peel.

Will take pictures of the OEM mountings when I get back in case anybody is interested.

[ozonehostile]

ahhhhh perfection

[procta]

that's come on really well! Did you sort out the leaks? as I remember on my Phase 1 Dturbo, mine would leak like hell, I thought it was the sun roof, and ariel but it wasn't, it turned out that I had a hole behind the window screen, so if it happens again, get them to whip the front window screen and check behind.

[RetroPug]

Thanks.

It is no longer leaking. The seals on the rear lights were rock hard, vaseline softened them right up, the rear window seals weren't really seated well and the boot one wasn't great either. The sunroof never did unblock one of the drain pipes no matter how much compressed air I put down it.

Not sure what to do about it, but it hasn't leaked for ages either.

[RetroPug]

Got back from being on holiday last night. Went for a drive this morning and reaffirmed how much I love this car.
Spent a fair bit of today debadging a grille and sanding it all down, removing all the stonechips etc.

[Pebbles167]

Coming along well buddy

[RetroPug]

Thanks.


I really just wanted to have a go at doing this as I've never done any bodywork and this was a good beginner project.
Anyway, I finished it:







I'm not very happy with the paint finish, but for a first time go at bodywork & done in a day it was alright. I can always sand it back down and repaint it in the future.
I enjoyed making it though, which is the main thing.

[Pebbles167]

Experience is important, you get better each time. I'd certainly make a hash of most of the jobs you've done!

Will certainly look interesting, a de badged phase 1!

[Curt]

Looks good, although I was never a fan or the de-badged grill I had one my old DT, and put a standard one on instead. Paint doesn't look too bad to me... Let it harden and then get some 1500/2000 grit on it and some compound. It'll probably come up well!

[RetroPug]

There's one in this thread:
http://306oc.co.uk/forum/thread-11928.html
I do still have the standard one, haven't put this on yet, might end up hating it anyway!

I make a hash of most things as well, I just upload the photo of it fixed at the end after I've lost my patience and used a mallet and make it seem like it was easy.

[Pebbles167]

Unlike most people i think I actually prefer the de badge on the p1 to the p2

[RetroPug]

Fitted. I can't decide whether I like it or not. In any case, the paint-matching isn't good at all, even using red primer as directed, I've had better results in the past with grey.

[Pebbles167]

I like it, but it does look a touch bland.

[MisterGTR]

I like it. But then I've always debadged my cars where possible/easy.

Shame about the colour match. But I guess that's the difficulty with aged paint.

---

I like it. But then I've always debadged my cars where possible/easy.

Shame about the colour match. But I guess that's the difficulty with aged paint.

[ozonehostile]

I much prefer ph1 with the badge tbh, they're such a handsome car with that front end.

debadge grills always look like the cars in insurance ads, looks like you're trying to avoid paying the copyright haha

[RetroPug]

I know what you mean about cars in adverts, I did think that as well. It does look a bit empty and it definitely does look good with the badge, still undecided on this! Still got the original grille in the garage and it is a 2 minute swap.

You can see the bad match in the 3rd picture a bit, the problem isn't aged paint: paint lightens with age due to UV exposure, the grille is a shade too light, whenever I have used grey primer in the past the match has been good and the paint has come out dark, metallic red, but this time I used red as instructed and it is too light.

I might just go back to halfords, explain the primer differences and that in the past the match has been great but this time it was off, and see if they'll give me some more paint and primer. I did everything as instructed with their red primer. Typically if you complain they just replace things without giving you any hassle.