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Thread: Project Stealth Machine a.k.a The Blackbird

  1. #141
    Member sx rider's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sean-B View Post
    Looks really nice this does, those sidelights look so much better than the clunky standard items.
    thanks mate I'd like change the chrome internals to black on the whole lot, but not sure if i have the nerve, dont want to mess up

  2. #142
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    Quote Originally Posted by sx rider r17t View Post
    thanks mate I'd like change the chrome internals to black on the whole lot, but not sure if i have the nerve, dont want to mess up
    Headlights are easy. Sidelights...not so much.

  3. #143
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    Could you not buy a set, do them and fit them then sell the originals on if it works. If you don't like the effect, revert to your originals and sell the black ones on ?

    Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

  4. #144
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sean-B View Post
    Headlights are easy. Sidelights...not so much.
    thats the bit that worries me but the crystal set cost less that £50, if it goes wrong it wouldnt be too bad. The idea of cooking the headlights in the oven still seems a bit out there

    Quote Originally Posted by Jonny Wilkinson View Post
    Could you not buy a set, do them and fit them then sell the originals on if it works. If you don't like the effect, revert to your originals and sell the black ones on ?
    Thats a great idea good plan as i've never seen a set like it in the flesh, only pics
    Last edited by sx rider r17t; 29-10-2016 at 10:08.

  5. #145
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    Quote Originally Posted by sx rider r17t View Post
    thats the bit that worries me but the crystal set cost less that £50, if it goes wrong it wouldnt be too bad. The idea of cooking the headlights in the oven still seems a bit out there



    Thats a great idea good plan as i've never seen a set like it in the flesh, only pics
    Don't worry to much about it. Go about 60-70deg for 10-15 mins. And just prise open very slowly with a stiff plastic...something

  6. #146
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sean-B View Post
    Don't worry to much about it. Go about 60-70deg for 10-15 mins. And just prise open very slowly with a stiff plastic...something
    Ok that seems easy enough think I'll go for it at somepoint then, cheers dude

  7. #147
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    The car has been out for a few weeks now....

    Service wise its had new engine oil, oil filter, gearbox oil and coolant. The diff was done not that long ago so left that off the list, just spark plugs left to do.

    Got rid of the scabby rear quarter window I was lumbered with after the original was popped by the lady next door.
    National windsccreens did the job in 45mins

    All done and looking awesome


    Changed the front coilover topmount bearings and the steering rack bushes with energy suspension bushes today.

    the old ones are pretty loose

    the old bushes needed to be replaced as steering wasn't inspiring much confidence.


    After taking the car down a few country lanes this eve, I reckon both of these are sorted now, there no knocking from the front coilovers and the steering is way better!! There was a slack and slight vagueness to it before but now its nice and tight :
    Last edited by sx rider r17t; 12-04-2017 at 18:43.

  8. #148
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    Looking really good mate, hope to be able to see it in the flesh again fairly soon.

    I may consider doing the steering bushes on mine at some point then, how long did it take you overall would you say?


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  9. #149
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    Thanks Andy! I'll be at the meet in the 23rd in Tunbridge, not sure if you can make that one?

    I'd say it's well worth changing, the energy suspension bushes were really cheap. It's a quick job once its in the air on stands. No more than an hour.
    Last edited by sx rider r17t; 14-04-2017 at 14:51.

  10. #150
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    todays effort just because




    Also a claybar and wax

    Last edited by sx rider; 13-11-2017 at 20:39.

  11. #151
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    That's so cool!

  12. #152
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    That's got better paintwork than some 4-5 year old cars I see driving around here

    Looks the sex mate. :SXOC:


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  13. #153
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sean-B View Post
    That's so cool!
    Quote Originally Posted by schumi84 View Post
    That's got better paintwork than some 4-5 year old cars I see driving around here

    Looks the sex mate.
    Thanks guys, really appreciate the kind words
    Last edited by sx rider; 20-10-2017 at 22:09.

  14. #154
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    Quote Originally Posted by sx rider r17t View Post




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  15. #155
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    Quote Originally Posted by JC SX View Post


    Took a trip to Cambridge to see a chap called Marcus about my brakes this morning, I've had a steering wheel vibration/judder during high speed braking for a while, so after a chat with him a couple of weeks ago I thought he'd be the one to sort it out.

    With the car up on a lift and after a few minutes he suspected there was an issue with the hub, he thought they could have be bent when the standard length studs were banged out for longer ones, but it turns out the person who fitted my brake disc's didnt use any copper grease between the hub and the back of the bell which lead to rust forming between the mating surfaces over a number of years.

    After cleaning the hub of rust he checked and it was inside tolerances during the run out test which was good, so not bent. With the brake disc's refitted he tested the run out and because they hadn't run true for so long there was enough movement to warrant skimming the discs. All in it was £115 which included properly cleaning the mating surfaces of rust, refitting with copper grease this time, and skimming both front disc's.

    On the journey back the brakes felt great, no vibrations at all so all fixed! Here's his website http://www.discskimmers.com/index.html if anyone is interested I would definitely recommend him, cheaper that new disc's thats for sure.

    few pictures


    All set up



    screen shot as the video is pretty dull



    all done

    Last edited by sx rider; 20-10-2017 at 22:14.

  16. #156
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    signed up to flicker now so just testing it out with a couple of shots from the weekender.

    Also fitted new spark plugs, went with ngk bkr7eix same as before.



    Last edited by sx rider; 09-08-2017 at 13:30.

  17. #157
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    Saw your car at the weekender. Looks really tidy

  18. #158
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brookie View Post
    Saw your car at the weekender. Looks really tidy
    thanks really needs some bits spraying to be fair though, the front bumper is a bit of a mess.

  19. #159
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    I took a trip to Lincolnshire this week to get my car undersealed and waxed by a company called Rusterbuster in Spalding. I spent the night there as it was a 2 day job but I reckon it was worth it and I'm really happy with the results. An added bonus is this helped with soundproofing the car a bit too.

    After removing the undertray and archliners they totally clean the underside to get rid of dirt and salt. Then its throughly dried by hot air. They grind of any rust and if required weld any holes (on mine they didn't find anything more than surface rust towards the front end which was great, I did the rear end plus the length of the sills front to back roughly 2 years ago so I wasn't expecting anything major anyways). Surface rust is taken back and they use a converter to stablise those areas. After that they mask up various bits before spraying the underseal which drys to a non tacky rubberised finish.

    As I have things like coilovers, alighment arms and colour painted parts they clear waxed the whole underside too.

    The final part of the process is to fog/spray wax into all the box sections, cavities on the underbody, subframes, boot, bonnet, wings, rear quarters, doors ect.

    The only thing about their process I didnt like was not being able to occasionally get under the car myself to have a look, especially to see the condition after the wash and dry stage. Health and safety meant I wasnt allowing into the workshop at all, even once it was done I couldn't get under there to have a look at the finished product which was a bit disappointing but nevermind.

    All the pic's below are from today as I had the car MOT'd and I had a chance to have a proper look, the finish in places is a bit messy but other than they've done a good job in my opinon, the mot tester couldn't believe how good it was and pointed out loads of places he thought they miss but had covered. Forgot my camera so iphone pics are the way and a bit crap.


















    No signs of deterioration on the painted bits or zinc coated heatshields and the heatwrap looks pretty much brand new 2 years on.

    Last edited by sx rider; 20-10-2017 at 22:21.

  20. #160
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    Decided to get some new coilovers, the Apex clearance sale was too good to pass up. Went with a set of limo's as the roads around my way are really bad.

    Last edited by sx rider; 04-11-2017 at 10:25.

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