Whilst waiting for GBS to sort themselves out with my bolt kit and various other little items which are kind of important (still waiting a month on from collection, which was ordered in November!!!) I decided to have a little play about with some stuff I planned to do after the build once IVA was complete and I had a little spare time to work on the aesthetics of the car. However, boredom got the better of me and the calipers and cam cover are getting a clean and painting.
As these 3 photos show, a bit in need of some TLC. Nothing major but a clean up and a paint should do the job nicely. So another trip to Halfords for some brake cleaner, a variety of wire brushes and some paint!
Not the best of cleaning jobs but has got the worst of it off. Tempted to leave them cleaned but why settle for clean when you can colour co-ordinate!
As I have got black rims and orange GRP, why not have orange brake calipers? Unfortunately, no one does orange caliper paint, or even metal paint! So a quick lesson learnt from finger painting at pre-school and yellow and red Hammerite Smooth Metal Paint was purchased and I a cut up 2 litre bottle for a mixing pot. This was going to be tricky as I only had one shot to make the right colour and making it again would be near enough impossible! So 750ml of yellow and 250ml of red should be ok (too much red and the colour would be lost).
A bit of a mix with a larger brush (ironically orange) and the mixture was made. Thinking off the top of my head, I thought the mixture would dry darker, and with the lighting conditions in my living room - yes living room - the photos have not come out too well. You'll just have to wait and see the real thing.
Anyway, stuck in two minds for thin and many layers or thick and few layers....I began with thin as I could always apply more. However, being slightly impatient (lesson learnt) I began applying it rather heavily. This was a mistake as I was left with little bumps and uneven drops. But as they are covered by the rims and require close inspection to see properly, so no problem really.
Again apologies for the photo quality.
A bit carried away meant the discs also got a bit of a lick...but not really impressed by these afterwards.
Decided that after all this, I'm no Picasso, but the left over paint will probably be used on the cam cover. Note to self: Take time with it and don't rush!
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