Lake District Figaro Rally 2013

Just registered for my first Classic Car Rally! Heading up to the Lake District in September with my Dad. Doing 180 miles of scary passes through the mountains for 2 days with 40+ other figaros. All for a car sticker!!! Exciting! 

If you are a figaro owner then why not check out this event. See you there!

http://www.figaroownersclub.com/events/lake-district-rally-2013/

"Join us over the weekend of the 7th/8th of September 2013 to explore some of the biggest mountains and picturesque lakes in England. The two routes takes us through stunning scenery in gentle valley settings; around them wind picturesque rivers; their lower slopes clocked in forests abounding with wildlife."

Realigned the Bonnet (Hood)

One thing that bugged me about my car was the bonnet being out of alignment.  Thanks to the helpful people over at the Figaro Owners Club Forum I was informed that I was missing 2 rubber bungs, Nissan code 65822M7000. 

Quick call to my local dealer and I picked up a couple of new ones. Screwed them into place in about 2 minutes and problem solved. No more misalignment and rattling!

In a past life

Thanks to this really useful guide: http://www.gjnorthall.com/upload/BODY%20COLOURS.pdf

I found out that my Figaro used to be Lapis Grey before it had a custom paint job.

Once upon a time...

Video: Cruising in the Nissan Figaro

Black & White Nissan Figaro - Photos

I gave my Figaro a wash and wax and took a few photos. Here they are, click to enlarge:

Fixing rust patches in the roof gutter - Part 1

So, as perfect as my lovely Figaro is there was a couple of patches of rust in the roof gutter area.

Here is what I was faced with, dirt, leaves, gunk and patches of surface rust.

Also a nasty patch of rust bubbling under the paint that threatened to get worse in this often wet area of the car.

I pulled back the seal and cleaned up all the muck, this took ages as it was pretty well bonded into the rubber after years of being ignored. I sanded the paint back as much as I could with wire wool and sand paper, I coated the sanded back rusty area with Kurust formula and then sprayed it with Zinc based primer, being VERY careful to mask off the roof and cover everything I didn't want paint on.  Here is the result:

(oops didn't mask the white rubber seal, got a few spatters on there, guess I will fix with white trainer dye)

Next phase is to paint with a close matching white colour, stick the roof seal back down with bostick glue and finally fill in any gaps between the seal and bodywork with a silicon based sealant. Then hopefully we should be good. I will post the final result in part 2 of this post.

Fitting a Small Car in a Small Garage - Innovations

Here are some innovations I installed in my garage to help me avoid any scratches or bangs.

You can see, not the world's biggest garage but it fits!

First things first, a reminder on the wall not to come in too fast. (I promise this wasn't pinched, it was bought for my 30th birthday) 

 My favourite item. A dangerometer. From my driver seat I reverse making sure I keep the mirror stalk in the green "safe" zone.

As I have to come in at a bit of an angle, I have some foam just in case I touch the corner.

Foam on the wall for the driver side door and proven invaluable.

Driver side mirror helps me avoid my wives ceramic wheel thing.

Rear wall mirror helps me avoid hitting her kiln.

My "Stopaball" (pat pending). Credit goes to my friend Jill.  Is a tennis ball on a rope attached to the ceiling, it lets me know when I should stop, i.e when it touches the glass I have 10 cm to go.

10cm... <gulp>

Anyway, my wife is happy because her ceramic stuff still lives in the garage with my figaro. 

Lots of measuring but worth it in the long run.