Granitesilber Convertible: kinda ashy, kinda classy

[PaladinReed]

Figured I should move this over here from updates I was making in a member's rides thread.

Got this new little gem a couple months back. Still haven't done much. Drove it 10 hours back from Madison WI with my buddy Tim.

When I got it back my mechanic took a look at it and told me the tread depth sucked and the caps were faded.



How she looked when I got it home. In stock form with all her flaws.



Got some maintenance stuff



Got it on the ground



Home and looking meh. Really wish it weren't going into winter time. And until I get concrete laid and a stove in the garage tinkering is going to suck.





Yes my house is blue.



Current state of my garage









Tan leathers..

Also, apparently January 8th is a great day to wash your cars out in the yard in Southwest Missouri. Who knew?

My cabrio and my fiance has the two owner 328/4/5.















Thanks for looking

[PaladinReed]

Tried my hand at some paint correction today.


Choose your weapon


The objective was to get rid of some sap/leaf/bird shit that had infused itself into the paint. It sat under a tree in the PO's possession for some months and had become what seemed like a permanent defect.

It can be seen somewhat here (little brown spots all over)



My personal secret weapon


After the extensive claybar of this side


I gave it two manual polishes that were entirely ineffectual.




Had to bust out a product that requires a delicate touch. Applied by hand.

After the heavier compound the clear is noticeably marred and dull.

Back in with the polish

Coming along






3 hours and a ton of elbow grease. voila!


(Untouched fenders)


Time for the rear


After






Final thoughts:

1. I will be buying an orbital in the coming days. Without machine assistance this process took 6 hours and Im tuckered.

2. Granitesilber is a pretty incredible color up close.

cheers

[CrusherCurtis]

Nice. Springs? Coils?

[PaladinReed]

Nice. Springs? Coils?

I dare not say... Vogtlands... with a coil cut off the top haha. They were cheap low that I could throw on in about an hour. All of that is changing.

New updates coming.

[HerbReal]

I drool this car, reminds me of my buddy's. sell me that hardtop!! =)

[PaladinReed]

So I was really becoming bothered by these.


And These.



So I got some of these.



And did this.



And this.



While I was at it. The requisite cleaning and vaccuming out of the firewall space. Taking this,


To this :woowoo:



Engine bay needs work, but I have plans for that



No before pics, but after a bleach bath, these things can look great.


Gonna need to fix that...


Taking off the rear bumper annnd...


Built to last! Duralast! namsayin?

[PaladinReed]

Ok, so the car has been in the garage for the last couple months and the interestink stuff is about to begin.

First,

Just some of what I'm expecting in the mail



3 piece Racing Hart C2 Jap wheels from the 90's. Mainly for Honda fitments but I'll see what I can do to make them work. Definitely a good looking wheel. Dunno about the BBS centercaps however..


Test fit tease.




20mm spacers (Thanks EJ!). final offset will be et18. I'm thinking a 215/40/17


New wheel to boot.

[PaladinReed]

And this brings us more or less up to date..

New bench vice doin work.



These ole' things. Wire wheeled a bit. Need some paintage.



And I endeavored to clean up the subframe a bit while I had everything out for replacement.



My next few packages should be even more exciting :)

I'll have another set of wheels that are multipiece and will deserve the BBS caps that they wear unlike the Racing Harts ;)

[PaladinReed]

A special thanks so far to:

Levent of Gutenparts
EJ from raceskids
Aviator
JFarhanbod
Anton N.
BMA Parts
Damian
And my buddy Tim who's always good shop company

[canakami]

Damn dude, you're off to a good start. I must also say the current ride height/fitment is so choice.

[N2MYE30]

Stance is dead on. I'm going to be making some adjustments to mine soon. I did like the 16"ers better though.

[ak-]

I say you change the lips instead of getting spacers :p

Good job moving

[FredK]

Wow, welcome back dude! The car looks great, and I'm really digging that Granitesilber!

[PaladinReed]

I drool this car, reminds me of my buddy's. sell me that hardtop!! =)

Thanks man. I won't sell you the hard top but the whole car will be for sale next month most likely. I just put these cars together for fun and then sell them for a new project.
I'm engaged and I always tell my girl, "if I can't change chicks, ill just change up my cars" so that's the agreement more or less.

Damn dude, you're off to a good start. I must also say the current ride height/fitment is so choice.

I've got to admit its remarkably awesome height. The springs I'm using will be for sale soon if anyone is interested. I've got a different set up going on

Stance is dead on. I'm going to be making some adjustments to mine soon. I did like the 16"ers better though.

Hey bud. I like 'adjustments' haha ;) your convertible is so fresh I wouldn't change anything about it but I know you've probably got something up your sleeve. Can you give us some hints?

The 16s were ok, they looked good from afar but were curbed up and they are making way for better shoes

I say you change the lips instead of getting spacers :p

Good job moving

Now this man is a thinker...

I've mulled it over, but I've got some bbs rm on the way from Florida that are going to be completely redone. So there's that and I don't have a good connection on 36 bolt lips. These racing harts are kinda hard to find shit for despite the fact that they're not incredibly desirable in the euro scene. I will definitely be splitting them at some point for new paint, polish, and cleanings.

Wow, welcome back dude! The car looks great, and I'm really digging that Granitesilber!

What's up Fred? Always good to see you tooling around these parts :-D

Thanks for the compliment. The granitesilber is a pretty cool color. I didn't know if I'd like it or not until I got it cleaned up decently. The paint cleans up well. The car only has 78k on it but it has a couple of dings I'm dying to get taken care of.

What are you driving nowadays anyway?

[Cha Ching]

PR, great job! Question: How long do you soak the ww reservoir in bleach for?