Some light pre-Christmas modding

[culprit]

Afternoon all,

Not posted for a while; thought I would show the fruits of recent labours - I love my Cali!

I was originally going down the Euro look route, never felt fully happy with it so decided on a different course of action!

The van has been lowered on factory springs, had a new set of Sportline Rims and rubber and a lick of black paint applied to the OEM bike rack - am really pleased with the look now; I have never been happy with the way the van always appears to sit high at the front, the factory springs cured this. The ride has improved significantly, no more harsh than before but body roll has reduced dramatically.

After getting various horrific quotes to paint the rack I decided to have a go myself. It was reasonably involved but I am very happy with the end result; there are one or two runs in the lacquer which I will need to flat out and re do and a few chips from re-assembly but other than that all is good! I did it all with Halfords own branded rattle cans, 2 each of etch primer, satin black and clear lacquer.

In the new year I will be getting a limo tint applied over the factory tint for the rear windows, having the wing mirrors and inside of the Sportline rims painted in OEM viper green and having the VW badges and California boot badge (currently off the van) painted in a black chrome paint.

(If anyone needs a set of 17inch steels with winters on drop me a PM - they still look brand new!)

Let me know what you think :smile




(I no she's dirty, she had a pre winter detail and I don't like over cleaning through the winter months. The paint work under all that muck is safe and sound)

Merry Christmas one and all!

 

[calikev]

Great work love the bike rack well done for giving it a go
I would like to see some close ups of the rack

 

[culprit]

Great work love the bike rack well done for giving it a go
I would like to see some close ups of the rack

Cheers!

The van is backed up against the garage door however this is shows the finish. You can make out the run in the lacquer I was referring; its half way down right in the middle of the picture, I ended up with a couple of these and some chips where the two sections bolt together (a real pig to re-assemble as the rubber spacers expand when out of the frame)

I stripped it down as far as I could taking off the plastic ends to the wheel trays and separating the two halves. I did try and separate the wheel trays off from the frame but the torx bolts just ended up rotating in their seats so I sprayed it as a complete section.

I spent two weeks painting it in total allowing for a good deal of curing time in between coats and stages - 1 can per coat allowing a day between coates and then 2/3 days between each stage to allow for curing; I also took the frames into the house as the temps at this time of year don't allow for proper hardening. If you were doing it in the summer it would be a lot faster I think



It is a fair bit glossier than I would have liked but that was always going to be unavoidable when lacquering; there isn't much available on the DIY market to achieve a satin finish that doesn't cost a fortune or produce patchy results. If I was doing it again I would probably use matte paint as the base.

Now my rattle can skills are becoming honed I am going to work on the roof bars! The garage gets massively dusty though from the rattle can residual spray - it doesn't stick but it is a ball ache of a clean up job!

Ultimately it is very satisfying to do, just take your time with each stage and you will get a professional result.

My top tips / learnings / suggestions:

- Wash the rack with fairy as thoroughly as you can
- Rough the surface properly with coarse wet and dry (I would use a DA if doing again)
- Mask off all plastic parts with auto grade masking tape - I took almost 2 hours making sure all fit lines were followed meticulously and everything was stuck properly (I ended up with one small area of bleed)
- Prep with paint surface cleaner
- Don't bother flatting off between coats - pro painters will wince at this but I tried it and ended up either taking too much paint off or leaving visible marks in the finish. The end result I achieved feels stable / tough enough but only time will tell. I found that both etch and paint stages were slightly rough to the touch when dry (completely dust free due to the speed of drying - minutes literally) so the subsequent stage seemed to bind well without flatting off.
- get a 3rd can of each of the stages and take it back of you don't need it!
- Etch and paint stages can be sprayed in short but regular back and forth movements, Lacquer needs to be one long continuous flow to get a silky smooth finsih

 

[calikev]

Looks good I would be interested to see how hard wearing it is I have heard of a paint that
Forms like a rubber coating can't remember what it's called

 

[owen_h]

Looks good I would be interested to see how hard wearing it is I have heard of a paint that
Forms like a rubber coating can't remember what it's called

Plastidip I think. I was looking into it for a different purpose and in the research found it is used as an alternative to wrapping vehicles.

Mods to the van look great and glad to hear that factory lowering doesn't make the ride harsh.

 

[Custardtart]

Nice looking Van.

Mine's Olympian Blue. It's lowered and waiting for delivery of some anthracite sportline alloys. Should look very similar to yours. I'll be happy if it does!

:cool

 

[calikev]

Looks good I would be interested to see how hard wearing it is I have heard of a paint that
Forms like a rubber coating can't remember what it's called

Plastidip I think. I was looking into it for a different purpose and in the research found it is used as an alternative to wrapping vehicles.

Mods to the van look great and glad to hear that factory lowering doesn't make the ride harsh.

That's it I wonder how durable it is :?: I think a black rack would look good on my silver van

 

[culprit]

Not plastidip.....paint all the way!

 

[culprit]

Looks good I would be interested to see how hard wearing it is I have heard of a paint that
Forms like a rubber coating can't remember what it's called

Plastidip I think. I was looking into it for a different purpose and in the research found it is used as an alternative to wrapping vehicles.

Mods to the van look great and glad to hear that factory lowering doesn't make the ride harsh.

The other major benefit of lowering is the eradication of the mild judder through the steering wheel at the mid end (max torque) of the rev range; I can only put this down to a reduction in the angle of the drive shafts reducing the effect of any torque steer. It drives perfectly now, much more car like with a more direct feel to the steering.

 

[Gary&Heather]

Wow that's really nice you really did a good job there nice looking Cali by the way Love the colour.

G&H

 

[Brent]

Hi love the look is it Olympic blue ?
thanks

 

[culprit]

Hi Brent,

No, this is a very dirty Night Blue. We love it but it is a pig to keep clean; it is the primary transport at the moment however we have ordered a new car and once recieved the California will be relegated from daily driver duties which means it will get much more of a pampering.

Once the roof has been sorted it will be getting a full professional detail - when its showroom clean the blue looks stunning.

 

[Brent]

Hi Brent,

No, this is a very dirty Night Blue. We love it but it is a pig to keep clean; it is the primary transport at the moment however we have ordered a new car and once recieved the California will be relegated from daily driver duties which means it will get much more of a pampering.

Once the roof has been sorted it will be getting a full professional detail - when its showroom clean the blue looks stunning.

looks good as it is, has it got roof pox ? looks almost new.