This is a read-only archive of the old Madabout Kitcars forum. New posts and replies are no longer possible, but every thread is still here to browse and read.
Will have to see how it pans out with the filler cap location, might need to shift it along the rear wing a little, you don't want to have to take the roof off every time you fill up!
How illegal is this front number plate and how long do you think I could get away with just sticking letters onto the grill on my MX before Mr Plod tells me off?
I don't think that the Lotus plate is illegal FB, but if the plate is solid, the radiator may suffer from lack of airflow. It certainly does on Spitfires and GT6's because I tried it.
I was into this subject some years ago, because I came unstuck with a miserable plodl
The Law actually states "the front number plate must be on the first flat vertical surface"
Well on some cars, there is no flat vertical surface as in this case, but usually the law turns a blind eye, for example, 99% of all E Types have stick-on numbers on the bonnet.
As I did on my GT6, but it is illegal, and the policeman that gave me a hard time had the law on his side.
I tried what is in the Lotus pic, and suffered overheating, my answer was to pin individual letters and numbers onto a piece of black gauze, using as silver surround.
The gauze allowed air to pass through and cured the overheating problem.
I know for a fact that done correctly with the proper spacing
of letters and figures it is not illegal, and I ran my GT6 this way for many years.
Not quite sure how the Lotus does not overheat though?
I think those are just white letters stuck on a black grill Scottie so you still get the air flow. Perhaps I'll look at this for show plates.
Yes you are right, that is how they were fitted on Elans. The letters were just attached to the mesh grill. This did not cause any overheating problems.
I think if you are sensible you can get away with a lot, if you are using an illegal font, miss spaced on a pimped out Corsa you will get done quite quickly.
I used to have a flexible magnetic (I know, useless on a GRP car) numberplate for my E-Type, after having a bare metal respray I just couldn't bring myself to use a stick on numberplate. At about 60mph it used to start to slide up the bonnet so I used to just leave it on the passenger seat and just fit it for the MOT.
I used it for 3 years commuting from Hemel Hempstead to Windsor and was never once pulled for no front number plate.
My little car goes down to Chris next week for the roof mods and I've been pleasantly surprised this week as I've taken the opportunity to drive it about with lots of questions and comments from various people wondering what the hell it is. Hopefully I won't run in to that truck driver again ;-)
Still have the car but a combination of mechanical problems and a lack of cash have stopped things. I'm currently working on bonding the MX hard top on, Chris didn't have the time to make the mods I wanted so I'm just going to stick with the hard top as is.
I also replaced the suspension with coilovers to get the ride height right for the wheels and tyres I have chosen and, just to help things along, the steering rack sprang a leak so I have had to replace all the pipe work and the rack itself.
Also doing some work on the interior, lining the doors with alcantara and then going to do the dash and binnacle. I hope to get it painted this year, finally decided on yellow as it will make it stand out.
With all the recent discussions on painting on here I thought I'd post a the start of my budget effort on getting some colour on my MX.
[IMG][/IMG]
In case you are confused, the car will be yellow not grey. Just to get some colour I've decided to roller it and have tried things out on the bonnet. After a few cock ups I finally got a half decent finish, at least from a few feet away.
One thing I just noticed......on the mk2 mx250 kit, the headlights are more recessed than on the mk1 kit, is there a reason for this? Maybe a clearance problem for the headlamp bowls?
I'm using Rustoleum 7300 and plan to roller the whole car. The rollering leaves very bad orange peel but I put a thick layer on the bonnet, let it harden and then cut the orange peel back with 240 grit dry then went through the different grit levels wet until it was ready to be T Cut and then polished.
It's not perfect but I can't afford a pro job so this will do until I can. I estimate that the entire job, paint and consumables, will cost about £300.
mazdarazmataz you are spot on with your assumption the mk1 fro t panel is square where as the mk2 slopes back for mounting the headlights.
Keen to see you progress fatbloke remember to take lots of pictures, with a number of people considering this route to paint it would be very handy to see your process.
No there's a thing. When I put the first coats of primer on I used thinner bought from the same company. First two coats went on okay and then I left it to dry overnight. When I put the next coat on the next day, after a light sanding, the thinned paint started to strip the first coats off so I am now putting the paint on without thinning.
For info the thinners I bought was Rustoleum 160 which says it's for thinning Combicolour paint for spraying so I'm not sure what went wrong. Applying the colour not thinned seems to work so I'm going to go with that for the rest of the car.
I used a roller and painted a MK1 Escort . The paint was Dulux gloss !
It was my Autograss car, it looked ok from 20 feet ! I'm sure that with better paint and taking your time to wet and dry it back , followed by T cut and polish you will get a good result. Not sure how hard your paint will go , it might take a long time. Perhaps an acrylic paint would work better ?
It's not perfect but I can't afford a pro job so this will do until I can. I estimate that the entire job, paint and consumables, will cost about £300.
Fatbloke - The way I look at it, what have you got to lose?
So what if it is not perfect, you will still have a car that stands out from the crowd.
If it helps, my paint was supplied to be brushed/rollered straight from the tin, but needs thinners for spraying.
I'm still a long way from paint, but I will not be using thinner when I apply it with a brush/roller (TBC).
