Being a member of the East Grinstead Capri Club, we have known Dave and his 2.8 for some time now. The car was in great condition,
but Dave had some areas which he was not happy with. The corrosion to the lower rear corners had been kept at bay for some time but with
some other issues also pending, Dave decided it was time for the car to have some restoration work.
The lower rear valance had started to go a bit thin in places so this was removed. The floor area had some slight surface rust so was
cleaned back prior to being sealed and re-underbody guarded. The lower rear panel was welded into position and blended into the original
rear panel. As can be seen, after striping the old paint and filler from the lower rear corner, the inner and outer needed attention.
The outer panel was first cut back to reveal the extent of corrosion to the inner.
Once the outer panel had been cut away the inner could be treated. The corroded section was cut out and a new section fabricated and welded into position. Once this had been sealed and primed, the new repair section was welded in and blended into the existing panel. It was much the same story with the other side with the same repair needed to both outer in inner lower rear corner.
The next area to be addressed was the section of quarter panel that sits on the sill. The lower part of the quarter panel was cut away to reveal the top section of the sill. This area had also corroded so a new section was fabricated and welded into position. The car has had sills previously, so apart from a little fetling nothing needed to be cut out from here. Once again the inner was all sealed and treated prior to the quarter panel section being repaired. Fortunatley Dave had managed to get a section of the quarter panel from Retroford International so this made our life a little easier. A similar repair was needed to the other side but not as much as this one.
Both rear wheelarches were in fantastic condition apart from a couple of very small areas. These were cut out and some sections of wheelarch welded in cut from some left over wheelarch repair panels we had.
The next area to be repaired was the offside turret. This had been previously plated to an MOT standard which Dave was not to happy with as it looked unsightly. The first job was to remove the plate to reveal the corrosion to the turret. The strengthener plate was removed to gain access to the actual turret itself. As is often the case with this area, it had sufferd quite badly with corrosion, so all the corroded area was cut out and repaired using a repair panel. Once this had been done, a reclaimed strengthener was welded onto the turret, not before being treated with a weld thru primer to protect this area.
Other than some general repair work to the body in general to eradicate some small dings and dents, it was into the booth to be masked in readiness for its primer. Once the primer had been applied, it was taken out of the booth and left for a while. This was to ensure the primer has fully cured. After being left for a week, the car was then prepared ready for its fresh paint. This was all done by block sanding as opposed to machine to ensure a nice ripple free finish to the final paint. The prep is one of the most important parts if not the most as far as paintwork is concerned.
Once again the car was back in the booth and masked ready for its new paint. This was completed in clear over base as opposed to solid coat as reds' can be renowned for bleaching. The car was refinished in its Cardinal red including all shuts and returns and the section to the inner wing which was repaired. The panels were painted seperately and once dried refitted to the car. It was then just a case of refitting the panels and any parts removed from the car, often not as easy as it sounds. The new decals were applied and the car cleaned and polished ready for Dave to collect.
