more pics of the MG maestro needed tbh..

It's not worth doing that yet, I'll grab some pics when it's a bit further along the line. :)

I've not been able to get back up, but Adam's been taking pics over the last couple of days. And let's just say, they're not messing about!

Boot hole is welded up, needs tidying up, sealing and painting of course...

The dents have been removed from the bodywork, and then all of the uneven patches been blocked to make sure it's smooth.

Some of these I didn't even remember being there before, which shows how thorough they're being! It's gonna look awesome!

Wing aerial hole is now welded up, not filled with fibreglass, and has been given a rust treatment to stop the tinworm getting in again.

The a pillar has been treated too:

As has the bad patch on the passenger side rear quarter. The holes are being sorted in the next couple of days.

And all of the arches.

Should be getting its first coat of primer early next week. I can't wait to see!

Awesome!!!

Today's awesome weather is the first time I've really missed having the Polo back for some roof back, window down country lane ragging.

Keen to start honing my polishing skills before the shows, I thought I'd give the daily some love for once. Came out well too!

Wow!

Completely forgot to update this.

I had a text on Friday saying it's now ready for its second coat of primer and due to be painted by the end of this week, and they're ordering a fresh stock of LA7U Pearl Grey on Monday.

I'm so excited it's not even funny. :)

lack of pics is disturbing Alex.

I want pics from fastshow also lol

Been too busy to go and take any. TBH even getting there on Friday isn't 100%, but it should be happening.

Theres been a delay this week waiting on materials though, hence belated updates.

Didn't even go to the Fast Show today. Went for a drive in my fiancée's Z4 instead.

Great work so far, moving along nicely . She is going to look ace, need some freshly painted pics

Edited 1 April, 201115 yr by genesisGT

Today being my birthday, I couldn't think of a better way to spend the day than heading over to Perkins to check up on the latest progress.

Since I last visited they've finished the 914 and done all the welding on the MG Maestro, but the Polo had progressed too with all the rust holes patched up and given a skim of filler then block sanded. When I turned up this morning, Adam was busy in the booth finishing up the masking for its first layer of primer.

(Sorry for the slightly distorted and not very well cropped pics, it's a small spray booth so I couldn't get very far from the car)

All done and ready for the repairs to be primered. Check out my brown wheels!

With its first layer of primer I'm starting to get a glimpse of how perfect the bodywork will look when it's done. I can't wait!

Scan back to the first part of the bodyshop work and you'll see the arches were rusty, they're not now!

That large patch of tinworm on the rear quarter panel is fixed too.

And the rust spots around the windscreen are history.

The next step is checking for pinholes, filling them, priming again, rubbing the entire body down then it's ready for paint!

It's not looking likely that it'll be ready for Early Edition though. I've said to let the paint harden for a week before it's flatted and polished, which makes sense having waited this long. There are about two days of work involved in putting it all back together and cleaning it properly, and I'd rather not rush it despite how desperate I am to have it back home!

More updates as and when!

Looking good dude.

Can I ask why there's only patches of the car being sprayed?

Love the amount of work going into this, nice to see a good example being well cared for! One of my favourite mk3s I think it's safe to say!

Despite the few rust patches it looks in rather good nick, when I stripped my 6n last month there were some pretty nasty surprises lurking under the trim and bumpers

Office chair reminded me of this pic - http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-...4_7595508_n.jpg

Really wanted to make a top gear style sofa....

The whole car is being painted, but only the repaired patches are being primered. They're getting two coats, then it's being masked up again and the whole body is being rubbed down. :-)

Theres no need to prime the entire car.

I've seen people on here saying you need to do the entire car for it to match... load of bullshit.

I had patches of primer all over mine. you would never know that now. So long as you do enough coats of base coat. its all good.

Looking good though alex. Be exciting to see it in the booth for basecoat and clearcoat

From the bits that were rubbed down, I don't believe for one moment that it was fully primered before. And it wasn't patchy. The difference is this time there's a lot of effort going into the paint finish so it won't have orange peel under the rear lights and a flat bonnet. Or hidden rust.

Today's pleasing picture message from Ad at Perkins:

Being painted tomorrow! :-)

really can't wait to see this, I need to rebuild my gt in the future!

This is proving to be a MAJOR work distraction...

Productivity fail (I'm trying to write, but this is distracting me) but my god paint job win...

Base coat:

Clear coat:

I'm up to my eyeballs in work, but I think I'm going to take a break tomorrow morning to go and lick it.

Literally speechless with excitement!

looks good from what i can see. i remember how excited i was when i had mine painted. just remember to take you time when putting stuff back together as the smallest knock on fresh paint will leave you in tears as its so easy to chip.

It'll be a while before I can get up there to re-assemble anything tbh. I'd planned to get over there next weekend but I'm working now, so it'll be at least a week before anything goes near it.

I love sight of a car in a booth, in fresh, gleaming paint .

Looks good Alex. The fun part of putting it back together lay ahead of you. Then you can watch the hard work slowly come together :-).

Ooh that looks nice, deep reflections galore.

If its not oven baked on think it takes about 28days to fully cure/harden so should be safer for reasembly after that on risky items.

It's being baked on, but it's all academic anyway as I'm involved in the reassembly and can't do much for the next fortnight.

There are a few bits still left to be painted too. It may have taken a giant leap forward today, but it's not complete yet!