James24785
|
| posted on 24/4/18 at 05:01 PM |
|
|
2011 GBS Zero Progress Thread
So I've been a member on here for a few months now, but never really introduced myself. James, 32, Stoke on Trent. Past vehicle history includes
Clio 172, Civic Type R, Impreza Turbo Wagon, BMW M3, and a few others that weren't good enough to remember.
Right, onto the current car..
Bought back in November from a chap just round the corner from me. He'd built it and registered it in 2011, and since then its only covered 2000
miles. It was built using brand new parts, and a crate Zetec engine from GBS.
This is how it looked when it arrived home...
As it was a November purchase, its pretty much stayed in the same position in my garage since then due to the weather.
I thought I may aswell put the few months of it being off the road to good use, and set out to make the car more my own.
As nice as it was, and a credit to Chris who built it, there were lots I wanted to change(and still do) as not everything was to my taste. I'm
not personally a fan of the polished metal look, so a colour change was definitely on the cards.
First things first, I needed a bit more room in the thing. Its a narrow body Zero, but I am far from a narrow body human unfortunately. I decided that
the original seats took up a bit too much room, and didn't allow my body to fully "sink" into the car due to the bolsters being
quite wide (oh and me being fat, but for now we shall blame the seats).
I picked up a set of GRP seats from the for sale section on here for a decent price, so out with the old..
annnd in with the new (just test fitting)
They're still a bit snug, but only on my thighs which I'm working on in the gym.
The garage floor was getting a little uncomfortable at this point, so floor tiles were required
I felt there was a bit too much redness going on in the interior, so I decided the something had to be done about the dash. I'd love to be able
to afford real carbon bits, however the fake wrap stuff will have to do.
Dash out..
Wrap laid on
Working the vinyl with some heat
And finished and built back up
Testing the look (I'd also done the tunnel covers in carbon)
Picked up a few other bits and bobs ready for it to be all built back up
Sport wheel arches
New Brembo discs
I've also got some Mintex 1144 pads to go in
Some part worn track rubber. These were too cheap to turn down. Nankang NS2Rs
Started to primer the windscreen related bits n bobs. These will be going matte black
As I mentioned earlier, the main thing I wasn't a fan of, was the polished metal look of the body. I'm a "give it a go" kind
of person, so I decided I was going to try and vinyl wrap the car myself. How hard could it be? Answer? Pretty easy on the main body. The rear arches,
not so! Infact I've given up with the rear arches and sourced some already in black instead. God knows what I'm going to do about the nose
cone 
There was actually more work than met the eye when it came to wrapping it. The full exhaust had to come off, including manifold, as did the front
suspension arms. There was no way you'd wrap round it all, so I just removed it all instead.
Ordered the wrap from my vinyl suppliers (I own a vinyl sticker/custom clothing company so use these guys all the time), and start work on the car.
Few pics of it below
Not bad at all! Onto the body...
I didn't get a picture of the passenger side finished, but that is now how the car currently stands. I've got the rear to wrap this
weekend, and a few more interior bits to finish off.
Things still to do...
Fit new arches and new rear lights
Fit a load of new switches
Bolt seats in
Get diffuser painted black
Get it MOT'd
Hopefully be back on the road in a couple of weeks ready to enjoy some sun!
If you've made it this far, cheers for reading  will update this as I go, as I always like something to look back on myself
|
|
|
|
|
CosKev3
|
| posted on 24/4/18 at 07:03 PM |
|
|
Looking really good,massive improvement over the polished look (I'm not a fan either)
Be careful on those Yoko Parada Spec-2's if you encounter a damp road,they were lethal on my car,like driving on ice.
The Nankangs you've got are really good I found .
[Edited on 24/4/18 by CosKev3]
|
|
|
James24785
|
| posted on 24/4/18 at 07:09 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by CosKev3
Looking really good,massive improvement over the polished look (I'm not a fan either)
Be careful on those Yoko Parada Spec-2's if you encounter a damp road,they were lethal on my car,like driving on ice.
The Nankangs you've got are really good I found .
[Edited on 24/4/18 by CosKev3]
Yeah I've had the Yoko's before and they're crap on anything other than a warm dry day!
I doubt the nankangs are going to be any better in the wet, but drive to the conditions and all that
|
|
|
CosKev3
|
| posted on 24/4/18 at 07:23 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by James24785
quote:
Originally posted by CosKev3
Looking really good,massive improvement over the polished look (I'm not a fan either)
Be careful on those Yoko Parada Spec-2's if you encounter a damp road,they were lethal on my car,like driving on ice.
The Nankangs you've got are really good I found .
[Edited on 24/4/18 by CosKev3]
Yeah I've had the Yoko's before and they're crap on anything other than a warm dry day!
I doubt the nankangs are going to be any better in the wet, but drive to the conditions and all that
You will be surprised how much better they are than the Yokos in the wet!
|
|
|
James24785
|
| posted on 24/4/18 at 07:30 PM |
|
|
That's good to hear then, thanks mate
|
|
|
miskit
|
| posted on 24/4/18 at 11:25 PM |
|
|
Liking the grey wrap/carbon a lot.
Good write up , look forward to more 
|
|
|
James24785
|
| posted on 25/4/18 at 08:38 AM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by miskit
Liking the grey wrap/carbon a lot.
Good write up , look forward to more
Cheers mate
|
|
|
ReMan
|
| posted on 25/4/18 at 09:39 AM |
|
|
Another supporter.
Not a stainless fan, Good work
www.plusnine.co.uk
|
|
|
James24785
|
| posted on 27/4/18 at 03:55 PM |
|
|
A bit more wrapping done today. This just leaves the bonnet and nose cone left to do now. I'm not going to lie...I am DREADING attempting the
nose cone! Think I may have to do that in two halves, and cover the join with a vinyl stripe or something.
I'll be moving the rear fog light and reverse lights onto the arches, so I've also pulled through the cables to the correct place.
New numberplate light on order, along with a fresh rear plate
Next job is to attack the dash wiring. Its bit of a mess, and I also want to add in a few new switches
|
|
|
CosKev3
|
| posted on 27/4/18 at 09:36 PM |
|
|
My cars wrapped,done by a 3M trained fitter with 5 years of experience.
He couldn't do the nose cone in one piece,he had to put a small piece in at the bottom,due to the excess wrap after working it around the cut
out in the front.
|
|
|
James24785
|
| posted on 27/4/18 at 09:47 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by CosKev3
My cars wrapped,done by a 3M trained fitter with 5 years of experience.
He couldn't do the nose cone in one piece,he had to put a small piece in at the bottom,due to the excess wrap after working it around the cut
out in the front.
Well that doesn't fill me with confidence haha! Gonna end up looking like a patchwork quilt 
Or I just buy a new black one hmmm
|
|
|
James24785
|
| posted on 18/5/18 at 08:25 PM |
|
|
Bit more progress on this the past couple of weeks. Finally managed to get the brakes to bleed up properly. Ended up ditching the easi-bleed and went
back to the old method of a one way valve and pumping the pedal. A LOT of air came out the rears, and I finally had a decent brake pedal back! Two
litres of fluid, and many hours messing about!
Fitted my new headlight one night after work. Also changed the headlight connectors to something a little better than the standard stuff. Waterproof
ish too
After that a much needed beer...
I gave up trying to wrap my rear arches in black, so I purchased a new set instead.
Set about getting those fitted last sunday...
Been so used to seeing it without arches on for months that I'd forgotten just how wide the thing was!
New rear lights on...
Thats how it currently sits. This weekend is tackle a bit of dash wiring and hopefully get the front arches fitted.
I still havent attempted to wrap the nose cone yet. Really need to bite the bullet at some point and give it a go!
|
|
|
Mike Bentley
|
| posted on 20/5/18 at 02:21 PM |
|
|
Wrapping
The wrapping is looking good I want to wrap mine, but the nose cone worries me as well.
Cant wait to see how you get on
|
|
|
James24785
|
| posted on 20/5/18 at 03:50 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by Mike Bentley
The wrapping is looking good I want to wrap mine, but the nose cone worries me as well.
Cant wait to see how you get on
Yeah, its not gone well lol!
Absolutely no chance of doing it in one piece, so theres a join down the middle (which will be covered by a stripe anyway)
and then the front face is done seperate aswell.
I've spent about three hours on it today and still not finished it. Ran out of vinyl so need to pop to get another bit.
I'll try an get some pics at some point
|
|
|
tims31
|
| posted on 20/5/18 at 03:59 PM |
|
|
Cars looking really nice, look forward to seeing it finished
Build: http://www.martinsfurybuild.co.uk/
|
|
|
James24785
|
| posted on 20/5/18 at 05:10 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by tims31
Cars looking really nice, look forward to seeing it finished
Thanks mate. Hopefully get it in for MOT in a couple of weeks
|
|
|
Gre3D
|
| posted on 29/5/18 at 09:05 PM |
|
|
looking good, nice car!
any idea what kind of radiator that is? i have something looking a lot like it, but it's not up for the job of cooling my engine
----------------------------
running a duratec ST engine'd locost for belgian slalom championship
|
|
|
James24785
|
| posted on 29/5/18 at 10:07 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by Gre3D
looking good, nice car!
any idea what kind of radiator that is? i have something looking a lot like it, but it's not up for the job of cooling my engine
I have no idea sorry mate. Just the standard Zero one whatever it is they fit
|
|
|
James24785
|
| posted on 25/6/18 at 06:24 PM |
|
|
It actually saw daylight for the first time in 6 months this weekend!
Just the passenger seat and the windscreen to refit now
|
|
|
James24785
|
| posted on 6/7/18 at 11:22 PM |
|
|
Booked in for MOT Thursday.
Can't wait!
|
|
|
