GT mediated Awesomeness

[saintjamesy89]

Not much occuring on the GT front recently, waiting for some monies to get her running, i'm watching a coil and IM on ebay atm that i'll purchase at some point. The tax man has rather set me back for the last 4 months, ever since starting my current job, I have been paying £250-350 tax a month (not including NI!), and last month a collegue the same age as me (also with a student loan) let me see his wage slip and he was paying £80 tax AND NI!
So I rings the tax man up, apparently I have 4 jobs (two current and two previous) and they had the garden centre (saturday job, £50 a week earnings) as my main job that had all the tax allowance. Needless to say I soon corrected that, as we're near the end of the tax year, the kind lady put me on a 1month/1week style tax rate as it'll all be sorted out by 4th april anyway, and I should have a decent tax return cheque, or lf not (I sincerely hope I do) a letter expaining what i've paid and what I should have paid.
£80 should get the GT running again, change the oil and LHM then we're off to be MOT'd (and cambelt/exhaust manifold, unless I have a go at these again). It'll be tight, but really really hope to get her to the Bristol classic show, mainly so I can finally enjoy driving her and secondly because it's only 20 miles away, and a closer show, i'll never likely find!

Whilst at the garage today (Mike and I were playing with Tim's estate) I pulled off the painted over, crazed c pillar trims. Literally pulled off, with aid of a very small screwdriver. There was all sorts of messy sticky/hard foamy stuff under there, so when i'm next down i'll clean it up and have a go at putting a new one on, seeming as I bought some black silicone stuff (sikaflex I think) to mend the TXD's sunroof. That'll work right?

Until early April then.

[Tim Leech]

My windows in the GT and DTR were fitted with sikaflex!, just make sure that you degrease the new windows and the car where they sit, thinners would be a good idea

[saintjamesy89]

Got some white spririt lying around in the shed, should do the job? Sikaflex is good then!

[mat_fenwick]

To be pedantic, Sikaflex is just a brand so whether you've got the right adhesive for the job depends on the grade you have. But it's an adhesive rather than just a sealant, so is likely to do a better job than a silicone sealant (which itself can be widely varying - high/low modulus, neutral cure etc.) White spirit is less volatile than thinners, so may leave a bit of an oily residue - best to suck it and see.

Hope you get a nice big bumper cheque soon!

[saintjamesy89]

To be pedantic, Sikaflex is just a brand so whether you've got the right adhesive for the job depends on the grade you have. But it's an adhesive rather than just a sealant, so is likely to do a better job than a silicone sealant (which itself can be widely varying - high/low modulus, neutral cure etc.) White spirit is less volatile than thinners, so may leave a bit of an oily residue - best to suck it and see.

Hope you get a nice big bumper cheque soon!

Thanks Mat, me too! Although there are bills etc to sort out first.

I remember buying the sikaflex to sort the sunroof to keep water out, but it hasn't leaked since then. I bought sikaflex 221, just looked at my ebay feedback to check. On looking it up, it seems to be a sealant, rather than adhesive but we'll see what happens. If it doesn't stick, then i'll try something else.

[mat_fenwick]

Definitely an adhesive sealant! Similar to 512 although slightly more elastic. I've used it for bonding metal to various plastics, and it has stuck well.

[mds141]

Re degreasing mediums. I find the medi wipes to be excellent. I think the active ingredient is Isopropyl Alcohol. I suppose the 'pre-paint' used in body shops would be suitable as well.

[saintjamesy89]

Brilliant, cheers Mat. A very instructive link! We have some of those wipes at work (in the lab), but i've used white spriti as a de-greaser when I painted all the Astra's plastics and th paint stuck very well, so i'll use it and hope all is good! Let's hope for some warm weather in the near future so the 221 will cure well.

[saintjamesy89]

Much to my own surprise I meandered down to the GT today (having had today and yesterday off as it was my weekend to work) to see about these C pillar windows. First I unwrapped them, and this took a good 5 minutes as they were so superbly wrapped, not only in bubble wrap but something like sticky bubble wrap, doubled up, and a pocket stuck in for the windows at the very middle. Then I had a good scrub of the car where all the stucky/foam stuff was. Had to use my fingernails on some of it, there must have been 5 or 6 types of sealant on there!

It's just such a lovely looking front end this, although I have noticed the GT stickers on the bonnet have been damaged at some point in my ownership without me realising.


New windows!


Before scrubbing.


After scrubbing.


Other side off.


This side didn't come off in one piece, though I may have been a little less delicate as I needed a wee by this point!


New window on! Hooray! But I dodn't come prepared with any clamps etc, and because of the aformentioned reason, I was NOT going to stand there for an hour while the stuff bonds. So I had to improvise with whatever I had lying around... Namely my jump leads and some washer fliud piping. Worked ratehr well in the end I think, was able to wiggle it gently into the right place once clamped.



When all bonded on, I may go around the edges with a thin line of clear sealant to anchor the egdes into place, and tidy it all up a bit. I am feeling impatient to have the stickyback off to see these lovely new windows!

[saintjamesy89]

Just remembered that I forgot to clean the inside of the new window... Oh well, we'll see how it sticks! I won't be forgetting the other side.

[Tim Leech]

Loving the bloke improvised sellotape!

[vulgalour]

I probably missed something here, but what was wrong with the old windows?

[Tim Leech]

I probably missed something here, but what was wrong with the old windows?

One models fitted with the little opera windows go opaque and hard and brittle (later models seem to be made out of different material and last better), Tom's had been sprayed the same colour as the car to disguise the fact but looked rather silly. Thankfully the car came with a new pair which are made of unobtainium and very hard to find.....ive been looking for a drivers one for years.

[MULLEY]

I'm surprised that anyone who wants these little windows doesn't just get some glass one's made instead rather than waiting for these v-rare plastic one's to eventually turn up. Smoked glass will not fade.

[citsncycles]

I believe they may have a slight curve to them, making them expensive to make in glass. I seem to remember someone on here haveing some plastic ones made up a few years back that looked good, and there was talk of costing up a batch but nothing came of it