Thread: Big bird is now a Smoke Grey Bird

Hi all,
I've been a bit busy with the beast and we are nearly there.

Going back a little I had to learn how to weld panel steel with a MIG to repair the small rusty bits at the top and bottom of the A pillar, and the footwells. Turned out quite well.

Having a wonderful understanding wife I was lucky enough to get over too Germany for a mates wedding a few months ago. So the opportunity to grab a few bits was too much. 2 new complete door tops and all the rubbers i could find in the bag. Delivery from Paddocks to Germany was 2.50 and I checked the door tops as luggage! Easy, and waaaaaay cheaper.

Gave it all a good rub back to try and level the paint from where the stripes were and hit it with the big spray gun. I decided NOT to go for the 'new shiny' paint look so the guys at the paint shop mixed me up some Smoke Grey in a satin finish. I think the overall look is good, and like most near 50 year olds, we have a few wrinkles and blemishes.

Next up the electrics needed serious attention. Having a look around it was in a bad way. Not much worked and the mice had been having a nice feed on the insulation in places. Talking with a local autoelec we decided the best, easiest and therefore probably cheapest thing to do would be order a new harness and he could just fit it. Easy right?

Autosparks.co.uk was the supplier. Great website, lots of options but being paranoid I rang them just to confirm that I had the right harness. Alternator not Generator, headlights inside not outside etc. Arrived in a week great.

So I load the beast onto a tilt tray and drop her at the autoelecs. Long story short, nothing fitted.Wrong plugs, no plugs, no wire for this or that. A one day job ended up taking 3!!! In the end my man only used the front 3' of the harness and had to make the rest of it himself. Massively disappointing that 'the right harness' was a $500 waste of money. Not including the extra time it took to try and work it out. I haven't got the bill from the autoelec yet.......for sale one kidney, well used, one owner......

I will be strongly voicing my disappointment to Autosparks in the following week.

This week its a new exhaust. Its got extractors fitted, so we'll just add a proper system to the end of them.

Then its off too try and get a Blue Slip for rego. I'm thinking other things might need fixing first but fingers crossed.

Rear output seal on transfer case needs replacing and I think the front main seal on the engine is leaking judging by the spray pattern under the bonnet.

Nearly there.

Dave

Hi all,

I just used the colour code in the post at the top of the forum.
Smoke Grey BS-381C-692
Just went to the local paint shop and they mixed it up with a heap of flattener in it too make it satin finish.
I'll admit i expecting more grey and less blue, but I like it and think it looks good.

Local blokes fitted a new exhaust to it Monday, what a difference. I can only hear the whine in the boxes now and at least 50% of the fuelling/ignition carrying on dramas have gone. Amazing what a bit of back pressure will do.

Blue Slip Friday.

Dave