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So I decided to start a worklog, keep in mind that I am supporting a family on what I make so its gonna be slow but I finally got the cash for a paint job and did some work on a car for the body guys so labor was free for this one. I will start with some stock pics here;
Here is the cardomain site for how the car looked when I first got it; http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3200408 and now with some pics prior to paint;




Gauge pod I put in about 6 months ago, got it for steal of a deal,

now since then I had some rust issues, I had to get a new set of rocker panels put in which the same body guys who are working on the car now did for me last year and saved me a bundle, car passed the oop inspection no problem back then. Currently when we started sanding on it we found some rust holes on the rear 1/4 panels that were a decent size, we welded in some new metal and started the body filler process so here are the pics with some sanding and filler put on;






I also had some minor hail damage to the hood and roof areas and that rear bumper was a pain in the butt to get off, the center clips were the hardest to remove but long story short it came off and she is in the sanding stages finally, I will add more pics in the next few days to show progress, paint scheme is the same base color but with more metal flake and pearl added to give it a lil more punch. So here is she sits comments are welcome. All the badges are going to be removed from the rear of the car the only emblem staying is the hood one.

Not bad looking at all. What are you using for the filler? Bondo?

Looks like your having a s--tload of fun.Keep up the good work. When we dropped mine,we under coated the crap out of the wheel wells.They seem to rust fast as you can see with yours.

I forgot to say.Metal flake is a nice add,but make dam sure you keep the exact mixture of flake you added so you can fix it up if ever have some damage later.Nice ,but a pain in the a--. It may be easier to find a color with alot of flake or sparkle in it allready.Just in case you want to add things later.Like a body kit or what have you.Just some stupid things to think about or mabye I will keep my big mouth shut.

Yeah the body guys are looking after that side of it I am just there as a helper sanding and making sure that its good for them, the guys painting it are old pros, dude has been doing it for over 50 years and his buddy has over 30 years at it, I have seen both their work on some pretty nice cars and they have the paint details for any touch ups needed later on down the road. They are using fiberglass reinforced filler for any rough spots and the plastic stuff for the small dents here and there. I am not going to be one spraying it just helping along as needed. This is the first time I have had the chance to get a car done body wise with a new paint job and am ultra excited to see how it turns out. I stirred the paint and took a small swatch out into the light and it looked really sweet, its subtle enough where you need to be closer to see it but it really makes it pop over the stock color.

ok so here are the pics of the car painted, keep in mind that I can not wash her good yet just rinse her until the paint has fully hardened, and in about 2 weeks time I am going to have her buffed up to a glossy shine. So without further ado here she is;









So I still need to take care of the 2 rust spots on the black part of the doors and repaint them. I had to totally rebuild the brackets for the bumper as the studs broke off during disasembly, I will do that just before I take her in for buffing. I am still not totally happy with how the front bumper does not follow the fender curve the way I think it should and that was after I had bent them to make it a closer fit. I may tinker with that down the road. I also painted the grill insert a metallic silver, I did not like the black as much so its a personal taste thing.

Very nice! I love how you can see the purple in it more. Can't wait to see it fully shined up!!

Looking good!!

so I picked up a killer deal today a set of front and rear strut tower bars ractive ones for $20 cdn off kijiji. I am going to clean them up remove the stickers and then polish them again prior to install. Not to sure if I want to do the rear one yet and I am going to be modding the front one to fit the v6 (ended up not having to mod it at all did a test fit and it went in there without a hitch). I will be posting picks once its done.

Newfie_dan wrote:so I picked up a killer deal today a set of front and rear strut tower bars ractive ones for $20 cdn off kijiji. I am going to clean them up remove the stickers and then polish them again prior to install. Not to sure if I want to do the rear one yet and I am going to be modding the front one to fit the v6. I will be posting picks once its done.

IMO the rear STB is more useful then the front, for handling at least. It kinda gets in the way tho if you are trying to haul stuff with the seat down.

So today when I was out and about I got in an accident with my beloved mx3 3 weeks after body and paint, long story short green light at a t intersection we started to go when someone ran a red making the person in front of me stop I stopped about 1.5 cars behind the guy since I saw the van run the light and got rear ended pretty hard by a 91 chev 1500. Smaller rear window smashed, hatch bent up, unibody bent in the rear end and I bumped the guy in front as a result of getting nailed and broke the plastic on the front bumper of my car and some very light damage to the guy in front of me. It sucks big time but such is life.

That sh*t will buff right out.
Sorry to hear bout that. Sucks right after a paint job. Sometimes I'm afraid to even drive mine.