CAR BRIEF
'PRE.Diddy' is my 1982 Honda Prelude (Aussie-Spec). A work-in-progress, and my first SOLO re-spraying attempt.
THE PURCHASE...
I hunted for a series 1 Prelude as a replacement car for my burnt-out Celica [My first love is a 1985 RA65 Celica, but her engine blew close to 2 years ago now and she's been sitting under-tarp since (miss her). Since then, I purchased this little beauty - Front-Wheel-Drive i know, but it's impossible to say anything bad about her styling].
PRE.Diddy was a saving grace, as i found her on the last day i had to find/purchase a car. Apart from some minor body troubles (tiny spots of surface-rust, and the occasional flake of paint missing), and a completely rusted boot-lid, she was in perfect condition. BUT the past couple of years took their toll, and the paint had started peeling off in sheets...like a bad banana in the sun (NOT GOOD).
Hence, time for some body-work and a new colour-coat!
THE (EPIC) RE-SPRAY...
What initially began, in March this year, as a "quick" touch-up to some minor dings and a crap paint-job soon became much more involved than i was hoping. Sanding was done pretty quickly, but the paint was actually holding a lot more of her together than i'd previously anticipated, so most of my holiday pay went on Fibre-glass, body-filler and primer (Woo-hoo).
There were a few new problem areas to fix up, as well as ones which i'd already planned to fix including...
(1) Passenger Door - Large ding in it near the handle (easily replacable).
(2) Passenger-Side Front Quarter Panel - Damaged behind the head-light while parked (bastards didn't even leave a note!).
(3) Under-Side of Driver's Door - Rust hole had formed around one of the central 'plug-holes' for the rubber-door-seal.
(4) Driver-Side Rear Quarter - Surface rust.
(5) Passenger-Side Rear Wheel Arch - Large rust-hole right through (only noticed once paint had been removed (SURPRISE!!)
(6) Plennum(?) Holes/Rust - Just plain ugly to look at.
(7) Roof - Surface rust between windshield and sunroof.
(8) Boot Lid - This thing has completely rusted out and i am currently on the hunt for a solid one to replace it (shouldn't be too hard).
(9) Bumper Bars The owner of the car before me told me that the car was reversed into in a car-park and that's what bent the bumpers... Me thinks this was bull as the front and rear b.bars are both bent like pretzels.
More pictures/information/pages to follow (when i get the time to upload the fresh pics)...
Page 1 - Car Brief...
Page 2 - The First Stages...
Last Update... 12.05.07 (that's 12th May here in Oz!)