[nick420gsit]

agree with andy your car just gets to look better and better real nice job you are doing

[tompinney]

i much prefer the black bumper/trim inserts than the chrome.

Me too. Have the side trims just been painted? Or did you find ones to colour code? Ditto the black inserts? Are they the originals painted of a substitute?

Those are my old black trims repainted in nightfire. Rover did do coloured trims on the early GTis, however nightfire was never one of them.

As for the black inserts, again, Rover did make black trims, but I was unable to find any so I ended up covering some trims in black vinyl.

[tompinney]

Bit of a status update since my last post.

The exterior of the car is now pretty much finished and in that time I've been using the car on a daily basis again. Over the last couple of weeks I've refitted the alloy wheels, fitted the front fog lights and new door weatherstrips.


Since I've got some time off work for Christmas I've taken the opportunity to complete as much as I can of the exterior and get some protection on the paint for the winter.

This is the car as it stood as of yesterday morning:






First task was to make the slots in the rear bumper for the trim insert. Because the rear bumper was a fibre-glass replica of the original, the slots hadn't been cut out, however their location was visible.

After a short time with the dremel this is what I was left with. Its not pretty, but it does the job.


After that task was complete I washed the car using the two bucket method and Zaino shampoo. The car was clayed with sonus green clay and then washed again. This is only a quick wash and protection detail today, I'm leaving the full detail until the spring; the photos do flatter it somewhat, because the paint finish is far from blemish free.

The door surrounds were then given a quick going over with AutoGlym Super Resin Polish, by hand, to spruce up then dull faded paint.
50:50

All sorted


Next up I cleaned the wheels with Bilberry Wheel Cleaner, dried them and dressed the tyres with Megs Endurance Gel.




Finally I cleaned the paint with Jeffs Acrylic Prime and then applied a couple of coats of Acrylic Jett Trigger, treated the trim with Einszett Vinyl Gel and polished the tailpipe with Autosol. Having refitted the grille, boot badge and rear bumper trim insert, this is what I was left with:





I also fitted some new floor mats I've had kicking about for some time now after vacuuming the interior.




I'm still waiting for some trim clips to arrive from Rover to refit the rear window surround and one of the roof stips, but otherwise the exterior is now complete, pending a full detail in the new year

Here are a few parting shots...

[Smithy]

Looks great Tom.

[Trouble]

mate.. thats absolutley amazing for sum reason - i can't work out why, but it just looks sooo sexy! *laughs*

dunt spose u wanna sell ur old wheels do u?? luv em long time..
if not cld u tell me what wheels they r off, and what tyre size they had on?
tar
ivan

[tompinney]

mate.. thats absolutley amazing for sum reason - i can't work out why, but it just looks sooo sexy! *laughs*

dunt spose u wanna sell ur old wheels do u?? luv em long time..
if not cld u tell me what wheels they r off, and what tyre size they had on?
tar
ivan

Sadly they're not up for sale; they're my spare rims.

They're BSA 178 'Cobra' alloys. The tyres on them in those photos are 205/50R15.

[carl747]

As said on RT great you must be very happy now sell it to me *laughs*

[Fatdave]

this has got to be one of the best looking 400's ive ever seen. those rims really suit it too. good work.
any thing else planned.

[tiagojpt]

Your car looks great!

Can you let me know the part number of all of those doors weather strips? I need to replace mine!

[tompinney]

Can you let me know the part number of all of those doors weather strips? I need to replace mine!

Front Right: DDC10032 - NLA (I'll get the Honda part number off the invoise when I get home from work)
Front Left: DDC10033
Rear Right: DDE10026
Rear Left: DDE10027