Front Bumper, Wheels and etching

First of all, If any followers are planning on heading to the Silverstone classic, then a kind Mclaren F1 owner is raffling off the chance to ride in his car at the event. Proceeds go to Charity so its for a good cause as well.
Check out the story on the below link

Mclaren F1 ride at Silverstone Classic


This week i put the throttle pedal back in and test fitted wit hthe multiplyer and it works perfectly in terms of opening the throttle fully and has a good feel. the pedal wobbles a bit too much for my liking...so just need to fix that last bit now!

A few weeks back I had requested a VIN number from the DVLA as I was told we are no longer allowed to assign what we want.(meeting the number requirements) true or not I don't know so I requested it so there was less potential for complications. The IVA manual states the requirements of the number (height, location, methods of attaching etc...) I went for the right hand drivers pillar and etched it in, once etched I put some clear gloss nail varnish over the top of it. The Pic below has all the numbers blocked out as after all it is the cars VIN and those letters are around 7 - 8mm tall, with the IVA stating minimum is 3mm.

Following that I got my wheels back as i had had them hydro dipped by a company called wicked coatings.

link ---> http://www.wickedcoatings.co.uk/

And they came back looking great, I can tell they are really going to suit the car and cant wait to fit the wheels properly to get a good look! I've gone for a good size tyre wall and not rubber band thin, the car will be rigid enough so a little give in the tyre will be good.

the new wheels although still 19" have raised the car a bit because of the higher sidewall especially with the wider rear tyre and hence side wall.So when setting up the car I will need to that into account but it should mean ground clearance is not too bad after all without looking its on stilts!

After checking the wheels I first fitted the mesh to the roof scoop, this is required for the IVA and I don't plan on having mesh on this scoop when the car is completed as it restricts air flow for no reason as this scoop is just functional for getting cooler air into the engine bay and not directly into a feed.

I then fitted the front bumper as I was happy I wont need to access anything else via the hole at the front as I hadn't for some time.

I also tidied up the car, cleaning it and removing the dust. I have loads of little jobs currently on going which I will continue with this week, this includes;
* fitting the door catches to the handles so they operate
* Door cards to cover the holes
* Missing Dash Panels
* Gaitors for handbrake and gear selector
* Speedo calibration

Its a case of working through the little jobs now and keeping it moving. There is not a lot to get ready for the test to be honest its just getting them done now so it passes the test and then doing it again afterwards on some to how I want it.

Hydro Dipping / Hydro Graphics Explained

I've had a few people email regarding the bit I put on Hydro dipping and what I was going to do with it, so rather then keep replying Ive done a quick post.

Well first of all hyrodipping is like putting an ink print on to an object. we've all seen motorbike fuel tanks with skulls all over it, there's a good chance that was done by hydrodipping. So for this project, I did want to do the whole car, but it turns out that was a step to far.

What ill be looking at getting dipped in a carbon fibre weave print are parts like, headlight covers, door handles, dash pieces and maybe the wheels, I think Carbon looking wheels will look good against a colour of the right choice!

You can get DIY kits, which is why I've used the video below to give you an idea of how it can be done at home. You can see in the below video the film breaks up which it shouldn't do yet still gets good results.

People hydrodip a lot of things, gun replicas, xbox controllers etc... hence ill be using it in this project. I hope that explains it more for the people who were asking.

The carbon weave print ill be going for I've seen in the flesh and it looks very good and not fake at all even looks like the texture exists under the lacquer. Hopefully the video below does a bit more explaining on the process.