AcidicDavey's 98 V70 AWD - The not an R or T5 thread!

[AcidicDavey]

Oi! Bloody love that Alfa

As you know James, I've wanted some Propus for a long time, got these in good nic (although they look terrible currently!) cheaply so I'll finish polishing the lips which'll take me week or months lol and put the tyres I got off Frankie on them

I started to make this thing shine for the first time today. Remember, I haven't washed it since last April and I have NEVER waxed or sealed it! It is terrible! The pics don't make it look too bad but you should have seen the colour of the water in the buckets!

Here it is before a wash...





And then after a wash and claying...





As you can see I've put on some badges I painted black (about a year ago now!) using measurements provided by Thantos (thanks Andy! ), I'm happy but yes I really really need to do something with the bumper! I also removed the In Memory Of 'Rob' sticker for a Black one reading the same, I think I need to replace it with something brighter though.



About 4.5 hours work so far just to get it looking like that! Going to have to spend a lot more time on it tomorrow, at least the clocks are going forward so I'll have more afternoon shade to work in

I'll update with my full regime and further pics

[Owengsi]

Interesting read Davey and you sound a bit like me with your cars (I currently have 6 taking my lifetime total to over 120 lol) - looks cracking after a wash and clay

Will check on in this thread regularly from now on.

[AcidicDavey]

Taa

In the end the car simply got too dirty to polish through the night so I'll have another wash on Friday hopefully, I might even wash the car too ! I'll stop being such a lazy git and do it all in one day!

Got the tax, surprised the price hadn't increased (haven't had to buy any tax since July and that was only a 6 monther due to all my swapping ). The car has done all of 7.6 miles since first started this year, it so far seems totally fine. Only warning light on is the washer fluid but that has been on for years due to a failed sensor I suppose, need to sort it .

Also need to do a few other things which I've been meaning to do for years.... Drivers' check strap (broken when we bought the car 7 years ago!), replace door cards with the 'luxury' extra stitched ones (again, I've had a set lying around for 2 years!), rear mudguard all snagged (bought like that). I'm doing a good job of making myself sound like a lazy git aren't I? Well, guess what? I am!

[jamesy12345]

Is this the engine in the Alfa, Davey? Very nice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_V6_engine

Just talking about V6s with my 960 owning pal

[AcidicDavey]

That's the one Jamesy, the Alfa Busso. In the 166 I have 3.0 24v V6 220bhp

The car has been running well until I lasted posted that, the next day (yesterday) the Lambda light came on, it's coughed once while sat in traffic, obviously need to read the codes but I'm guessing it's the MAF!

Grrrr!

[jamesy12345]

That's the one Jamesy, the Alfa Busso. In the 166 I have 3.0 24v V6 220bhp

The car has been running well until I lasted posted that, the next day (yesterday) the Lambda light came on, it's coughed once while sat in traffic, obviously need to read the codes but I'm guessing it's the MAF!

Grrrr!

OK I understand your choice a little more now ) maybe not entirely tho :p

[AcidicDavey]

You know the Alfa is(WAS) a bloody nice car James, wish I could say the same for this lol

We've done about 175 miles now, Lambda light on since 25 miles but only 2 coughs in that time.

Today though there is much more vibration coming from the engine, I think the front lower transmission mount may have failed, planned to swap it anyway along with the upper firewall bushes for Poly to match the upper engine mount the car already has

Here are a couple of random photos from the other day...

[AcidicDavey]

Done about 400 miles now, it's been going well apart from the (slightly better) vibration through the car and the lambda light on. Andy (Thanatos) has sold me an MAF which may fix the issue, if not then no worries as the car is currently running a cheap eBay MAF due to the original one failing.

Anyway, after a few hundred miles and that Saharan dust the car looked a state so today was the day to sort it! Done as detailed below...

- Clear arches of muck,
- Rinse and brush wheels with an old washing up brush,
- Rinse whole car,
- Wash car using the two bucket method with Bilt Hamber Shampoo in one bucket starting with the roof then windows, bonnet, front bumper, boot lid, drivers' side upper half then passenger's, rear bumper, drivers' lower half then passenger's.
- Rinse with the hose from the top of the car aiming down,
- Dry glass with micro fibre towel.
- Clay whole car one panel at a time using Bilt Hamber Soft Clay Bar and tap water as a lubricant in a water mister.
- Polish each panel one by one with Bilt Hamber Cleanser Polish on a sponge applicator and using a microfibre cloth to buff.
- A new one for me, I used Poor Boy's Black Hole Glaze to enhance the gloss, nice stuff to use and it smells lovely
- Seal each panel one by one with Bilt Hamber Auto Balm on a sponge applicator and using a microfibre cloth to buff off.
- Polish wheels with the above method,
- Dress tyres and mirror surrounds with Meguiars' Endurance Tyre Gel, I used a heat gun on the gutter trims and mudguards, the other plastics won't take it!
- Polish exhaust tips with Brassol on an old rag.
- Step back and be amazed!

It's nice to see the old bitch shining, all this was done with the reluctant help of a friend, made a seriously huge job done to a 5 hour shift or so

It's looking great (other than the rear bumper of course!), too clean to drive it too be honest!!

Here it is...

13-04-14 001 by AcidicDavey, on Flickr

13-04-14 002 by AcidicDavey, on Flickr

13-04-14 003 by AcidicDavey, on Flickr

13-04-14 004 by AcidicDavey, on Flickr

13-04-14 005 by AcidicDavey, on Flickr

She doesn't look too bad does she?

13-04-14 006 by AcidicDavey, on Flickr

13-04-14 007 by AcidicDavey, on Flickr

13-04-14 008 by AcidicDavey, on Flickr

13-04-14 009 by AcidicDavey, on Flickr

13-04-14 010 by AcidicDavey, on Flickr

13-04-14 011 by AcidicDavey, on Flickr

13-04-14 012 by AcidicDavey, on Flickr

13-04-14 013 by AcidicDavey, on Flickr

Just needs to be lower now...

[merc85]

always liked this car, lovely mate brushed up a goodin

[AcidicDavey]

Cheers mate

The years of neglect haven't done much harm it seems, although there are scratches near the rear spoiler where £££££££ cats have used the car to jump on the garage, little ££££ers!

Someone has offered to lend me their DA Polisher so I may have a go with that...

[Volvostorm]

Wow! That scrubs up well!

Stunning in that blue

[jamesy12345]

I've seen that in the flesh nice motor, looks really good now. You don't arf scrub a car up well, fella. I like the photo shoot locations too

[V70 Graham]

Looks very nice, love the colour

[M-R-P]

Not a fan of yellow fogs but looks awesome otherwise!

[V70 Graham]

Not a fan of yellow fogs but looks awesome otherwise!

Fair point, I was too busy looking at the colour to notice.....what's your plans for the rear bumper Davey ?

[M-R-P]

XC bumper would look cool

[V70 Graham]

XC bumper would look cool

Painted bumper would be a start lol.....

[abdul]

Looks stunning

[AcidicDavey]

Cheers you lot

I've got some plain gloss black Vinyl to cover the paint damage caused by that horrid Silver cover I had on the car previously!

T'was a lot of effort to clean this one up but it's been worth it, the next day though a bird had shat on it of course . The Nautic Blue is a nice colour cleaned up. Mind, isn't every colour?

What do you mean by an XC bumper? Front or rear? A fully painted front one could look cool I guess but I like my standard bumper with the rare as rocking horse poopoo Heico Lower Spoiler Flaps, it confuses people

Actually had someone come up to me the other day and say 'Those brakes look meaty pal!', 'They're just painted calipers lol!', made me chuckle

I'll get a friend to help do the bumper tomorrow, keep forgetting...

[AcidicDavey]

I've had the battery off the car a couple of times now, the Lambda light doesn't come on but then after a few miles it rears it's ugly head! That engine vibration is still present too but I'm going to Polybush all possible engine mounts and also install some subframe bush inserts, a worthwhile mod I'm told...

Yesterday I had the dash apart to wrap the dash and install some LED bulbs in the dash, only did the main dial backlights as I couldn't get the trip screen bulbs out of their holders and I didn't want to break them! I used some cheap as chips bulbs for them (about £2.80 for 20), they're great, I use them in the number plate lights too.

Here's the dash before...
Dash Trim 001 by AcidicDavey, on Flickr

And After...
Dash Trim 002 by AcidicDavey, on Flickr

Yep, just plain old Gloss Black. Did the Glovebox and centre console perfect but the radio surround is a bit of a mess as I tried to do it in situ, I might just get them dipped one day.

Here's the car the other day, she's looking great
15-04-14 006 by AcidicDavey, on Flickr

15-04-14 007 by AcidicDavey, on Flickr

Seriously starting to consider breaking the Alfa , definitely the alternator failed plus belts = £1000 or so plus brakes etc. I know it's for the best but it's just so pretty!!!!