Plod's HDi 140

[plod]

Had the car for 3.5 years now, and bought off a mate who had it for 3 years prior in which time he fitted the 17" wheels and had the ECU remapped to 140bhp.

Not really done anything with it until now, but decided to spruce her up a bit.

No interior pics at mo, as still fitting leather in - fitted wiring in for seats this morning, and just need to fit a inline fuse holder in the engine bay to get power, and awaiting ecu tray from Ade ( coupe breaker on coupe forum ) as didn't know I needed one till last night ( again, "needed" isn't strictly necessary but would like it right )

Started by removing the B pillar decals that were cracked and peeling.

Had a big chip missing off the lower section of the grille and few scuffs on front bumper, and at same time wanted to make the car less dated, so had some paint thrown round it including colour coding the mouldings. There is still a few bits that need doing - chip on drivers door, and few scuffs in rear bumper, but overall, very pleased.
Had the spoiler I had off Mountain painted and fitted whilst at it.
Also bought some clear indicators off the bay including chrome orange bulbs













Work to be done:
Paint rear bumper
Fix rear sunblind - had broken one off Omega, and have taken the clips out of it, and need to use one of them to fit into mine
Fit leather steering wheel
Refurb the wheels - possibly paint anthracite or something
Lower it around 40mm
Tint windows
Paint wing mirrors
Paint wiper arms
Find decent boot badge

[HimBigChief]

Nice, does need lowering though! I do quite like that rear spoiler, so I should probably get mine sprayed up and fitted! So it was originally a D8 110 HDi (didn't think they made them )? Or did it have an HDi fitted at a later date?

[plod]

Very late D8's had them fitted, and as mine is a 1999 and change over year, then I guess I got lucky - or not as the case may be and should of been a D9
Yes it is a 110, but the previous owner had the ecu remapped to 140.
I've even got a disc of the original settings should I wish to return it to normal - yeah right !

I've refrained from lowering for ages, because as a professional driver, I like my comfort when driving for myself, but if I can lower it a tad without compromising comfort, then all's good.


Forgot to fit my newly acquired sticker



Had a look at fixing the sunscreen

The one I got from Omega, the clips were secured by a triangular shaped section of the metal rail pressed into the aperture in the clip.
Tried forcing this triangular section out, but little luck so drilled through it to release the clip.
I hadn't even looked at mine, and expected it to be the same, but the design has obviously changed.
I slipped the end plate off, and saw nothing obvious holding it in, and rotated in within the rail and low and behold, 90 degrees later, it allowed it to slide out.
Good thing is, it means it is very easy to change the clip
Bad news, is the ones I got are no good, but i'm fine with that, as I took a gamble - some times you win, sometimes you lose

Will have to try and find one in a scrappy with sunblind and slip clips off me thinks

Anyway, pic of the 2 different clips

[Doggy]

Very smart motah, sir.

[teamster1975]

Very smart indeed!

[plod]

Cheers guys

The respraying of the bonnet, wings, spoiler and colour coding of the inserts cost a little more than i'd be happy with an 11year old car, but still got it done cheaper than full rates.
My mate said he'd probably charge around £600 for the work he did, so guess I should be more then happy with the £350 I got it done for.

Only problem now, is he said someone has painted the passenger side previously as the paint matches up perfectly on the drivers side, but is a tad off on the other.
If funds allow "if" work picks up, then i'll have the passenger side repainted along with the rear bumper.

Again, the money could probably been wiser spent updating to a newer car, but touch wood, she's been uber reliable, and required little in the way of repairs since i've had her, so thought i'd treat her

[mjb]

That looks very nice. Those alloys and the spoiler go with the colour very nicely. Don't ruin it by lowering it though!!!

[Blue406]

I'd have had the silver inserts on the bumper and door mouldings masked off for painting myself.
Other than that... she's looking good!

[plod]

Got the wiring into position for the electric seats on saturday, and tonight fitted a inline fuse holder off the fuse box next to the battery, so just waiting for the ecu tray to arrive from Ade off the coupeclub and finally have the leather all in.

Next step is fit the leather steering wheel.

[plod]

Got the ecu tray today, but the way it positions the ecu isn't what I expected, and meant I've had to re-position the wiring.

I had the wiring as far to the drivers side as I could with the plug going to the passenger seat.
However with the wiring loom I bought, you need to run the wiring round the back of the floor support, up onto the sill and back down the other way, but there just isn't enough wiring to do that.

The wiring for the passenger seat now finishes where the fuel flap pull is, so i've got to extend it big time.
Especially if I do it correctly as it will need to go from one side of the car to the other, onto the sill and back towards the passenger seat, so good 7 or 8 feet

However started raining here, so had to put the velour seat back in quickly and attempt again another night

One of these days, i'll get the job done

[Gary406]

your pictures have answered my question in the interior section

thanks mate,

the rear shelf. i have just bought one of them and wanted to know if they fitted in a D8 ,

the shelf is the same as in your car with storage in the middle,

thanks for the post mate

[Gary406]

hi plod, was removing the B pillar decals easy ? and what did you use after you removed them to polish paint back up ?

thanks Gary

[Blue406]

I used a heat gun on its lowest setting, then attacked the sticky left overs with methylated spirits, Autoglym tar remover, followed by autoglym paint restorer and a generous polish and wax. An hour or so in total. Jobs a good 'un.

[Gary406]

thanks again mate, thats defo a job for the weekend, rear shelf is 1st, its grey but gonna spray it matt black

thanks again for replys

[plod]

As blue said, heat gun, then a little thinners, and finally polished