EM1 Long term build (sideline EG track build)


So this brings me pretty much up to last week, when the weather had finally got to the point I could spend a few days outside working on her again (having just got myself a different house I've only got a yard to work on until I get my garage built).

Its a bit of a squeeze but not a bad place to work :)



the old damaged arch liner ready to come off, and some small rust patches spotted



So treated and painted them first..

 
Last edited:
Then with old arch liner off I discovered a load more on the inner arch.. not looking good and I'll need to deal with it properly at some point. For now I've just treated with Kurust, primed and given it a quick top coat - should hopefully slow it down!



new arch liner in...



and new wing fitted, next to my old re-shaped and patched wing (looks much worse in the flesh :) ..)

 
After a 'spirited' b-road blast recently I felt the steering was well off - real vague and gave me no confidence, so thought it was def time to replace the original track rods and inner tie rods (only 136k miles on them!)

Went for First Line parts as I get them cheaper than cheap from a good lad in the trade and they've done me fine so far.



old track rod end - not looking healthy..



the play in them was ridiculous, no wonder she was twitchy and tramlining!

If like me your a stupid c*nt and forget to fully loosen the nut on your ball joint before cracking it.. this is a good tip using the balljoint cracker upside down to put pressure on the ball joint and stop the stud from spinning.

 
Another minor detail that had been really bugging me was the tatty wiper arms so decided to clean them up and give them a coat of satin black - v minor job but makes a big difference visually!

 
So I decided I wanted to give the EK9 DIY headlights a try... didn't want to risk permanently damaging my perfectly good OEM lights, so picked up a spare set off a breaker friend for pennies.

With the bumper off it was a case of more iron-oxide surprises...



very little metal left on this bracket!



and a little odd as the other side is near mint..

 
So following a couple of very useful online DIY threads I got to work splitting the 'new' lights for the transformation to begin - must be the strangest thing I've ever put in my oven!



prepped the inserts and masked off the reflectors, then gave a few coats of primer and gunmetal grey before clear coating them - I was very happy with the colour - wanted it looking as near OEM as possible (without the price tag!)

 
Crucial lesson learnt for anyone else attempting this - Before you mask off your reflectors de-stick the masking tape (on your jumper/your dog, what ever's near by ..) otherwise you'll be repairing the reflectors after the tape peels some of the chrome off, just like me!
 
Needed a little help from a younger sibling to get the old girl fired up..



and first look with the lights in..

 
And a closer shot, they're definitely not perfect but I was more than happy with the result for ~£40 all in, including the lights!



Need to renovate the lenses but ran out of time at the weekend..
 
Great work mate, will look sweet when its all back together :D
 
Final result - I do actually love my stock VTi grill, I know I'm in the minority and I'm not usually a chrome fan - I'm not a fan of the mesh grills on a coupe - but I'm not sure that the chrome and gunmetal go well together so am looking for a SiR single bar facelift grill, but it might be a while!



So that brings me up to date.... for now.
 
Last edited:
Gav-EK9 said:
Great work mate, will look sweet when its all back together :D
Click to expand...

Thanks man :) got a few little bits to do at the weekend, like fit the bumper bracket so the lines are truer, and then I'm going to go for some nice shots at a sweet location I've spotted
 
Last edited:
Nice little build so far.

Sorting the right bits so keep up the good work. :nice:

Headlights look spot on too! not gone too dark with the grey.
 
Read this build on my phone last night, Some good work gone into this!
 
thanks for the feedback guys :) It's all fairly basic stuff, but I want the chassis, body and interior sound before I go hunting for more horses.. plus the more I do, the more confidence I gain and lessons I learn.
 
love the whole look of the car :) it looks immaculate by the looks o some of the metal wouldnt be suprized if the previous owner lived down by the sea or used it frequently in the winter lol
 
Very nice looking coupe sorta the look im going for with my hatch, i think the bronze is great against the blue thinking of getting bronze wheels myself :D
 
jordan101 said:
love the whole look of the car :) it looks immaculate by the looks o some of the metal wouldnt be suprized if the previous owner lived down by the sea or used it frequently in the winter lol
Click to expand...

Think she's been a daily all her life come rain or snow :) Picking up a winter hack next weekend (yeah I know its spring...), so her life should get a bit easier..
 
Dave. said:
Very nice looking coupe sorta the look im going for with my hatch, i think the bronze is great against the blue thinking of getting bronze wheels myself :D
Click to expand...

Yeah I love the bronze on blue, great combination. Had a quick look at your thread - they are some lovely looking SSR's, never seen them before!

Also as people are saying, I'd stick with the OEM RTA bushes - one part of my build I'd change, but having had my alignment done twice in a few months they're staying put for now. Haven't noticed issues on braking from the solid RTAs as yet, but the polys are certainly firm (confirmed by rear passengers on a regular basis :blabla: )
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top