Micra man's car bodywork and general update 2...

Lol, then again though if they said that people would go elsewhere. Its just a thing with bodyshops, not much you can do about it. :)
 
along as you dont give them any money upfront then thats ok. maybe if you dont like their work you can just pull out of a bodyshop and take your car without paying them anything, as in the way you can legally do this in a restaurant if you dont like the food.
 
nizzanz1 said:
if this is how bodyshops run then i am criticising all of them. all available man power should be spent on the car that 1st came into the shop. until it is finished. another car could be worked on, but only if nothing can be done to the 1st car, ie when the paint is drying or whatever. this is the correct way it should be done. perhaps if complaint were made, a regulating organisation could be made, and bodyshops would have to register with it to be legal.
there should no instances of dan walking in to see his car and not seeing all the staff working on it, unless as said it cant be touched as part of the process.
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You simply cannot regulate something that has no said timescale, no bodyshop can state it will take x amount of time to complete a job, they can only estimate it... For simple straight forward jobs then estimating the timescale involved is far easier, but for the work involved on Dan's it's more difficult to do so.

Every bodyshop in the UK works the same way, it's standard practice, so yes your criticising the trade in general.

A bodyshop will allocate it's resources among several jobs, and yes this will make timescales of the individual jobs longer but they simply cannot work on one job at time as they will loose business from not taking on more jobs at once.

I still state the timescale involved in Dan's car is not out of the ordinary as long as it's completed soon.

I have been involved in this industry for quite a few years now and had good and bad experiences and seen first hand custom bodywork and paintwork and know how long these processes can take.

Kev
 
they woudnt lose business allocating as much resource to one car at a time if the industry was regulated. then all bodyshops could say we will work on your car until its finished.
i dont have a problem with not estimating a time scale for custom work. only that they dont work on it 100%.
 
surely if time isnt shared between cars - each car in turn would then be completed in the shortest ammount of time..?
 
Kev said:
You simply cannot regulate something that has no said timescale, no bodyshop can state it will take x amount of time to complete a job, they can only estimate it...

Every bodyshop in the UK works the same way, it's standard practice, so yes your criticising the trade in general.

A bodyshop will allocate it's resources among several jobs, and yes this will make timescales of the individual jobs longer but they simply cannot work on one job at time as they will loose business from not taking on more jobs at once.
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This is 100% correct, due to the nature of some of the materials used. There are times when you can litterly do a 5 minute job then have to wait 2 hours..

Kev said:
To fit a wide arch kit is pretty straight forward in comparison to:

- stripping five layers of paint.
- re-fitting arches
- re-building bonnet
- re-moulding front bumper
- aligning and re-fitting front lights
- re-building rear of the car
- aligning and re-fitting rear lights
- re-building tailgate
- customising the rear bumper
- paint stages.
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Im afraid the FULL wide arch kit that mine has was not pretty straight forward at all..

Unforseen work:


- Complete rebuild of fuel filler pipe with sparco fitments and flush with new arch
- Rebuild of front end for realiging front lights. (When so much of the bodywork is new and/or custom. things dont line up 1st time around..)
- cleareance issues with rear spoiler!! had to come off and on 6 times.. Still not 100%
- Smoothing of all skirts to car.
- Bracket reinforcment under skirts as unforseen weakpoints..
- modification to rear bumper to insert 'march nipples' for number plate lighting..
-MOT'ing the car before the bodywork was finished and the mot center cracking all of one skirt with their 4post ramp..

These are a few of the extras on top of the, 'in no way minor' work that as being done to the car....

Still...

....if your not bothered about how long it takes then get a 'shop to do it...

If you want it done quickly but to a high standard too... then you will have to do it yourself or pay through the nose for it..
 
A few progress pics of the front bumper for you anyway. Basically it has been extended to compensate for the angle that the lights will point at, and the centre opening bottom has been turned upside down to stop me hitting it off speed humps hehe. :D Wasn't going to post these up but just to give you an insight into the work been carried out. Should look very kool, and certainly a one off front end. :D
 

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far too much time spent commenting on the time being taken, instead the thread should be left for dan to update us as and when he can, i cant bear to imagine how you feel - i will be down at bassmechanix all the time lol for the fortnight when mines in
 
time spent on the discussion is keeping the thread alive while all the waiting goes on. forums are for discussion, and its relevent to his experiences. and the possible future experiences of others thinking of doing body work. could be merged to another new post maybe though.
 
nizzanz1 said:
time spent on the discussion is keeping the thread alive while all the waiting goes on. forums are for discussion, and its relevent to his experiences. and the possible future experiences of others thinking of doing body work. could be merged to another new post maybe though.
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your just annoying
 
Lol you say you should let me update then you all talk #### hehe. :p Joking lol, I don't mind, all of your "constructive" opinions are welcome and its nice to hear comments. :) How do you all like the bumper then??
 
whats to like lol? i dont want to comment coz it will probably dishearten you, nah man theres not much to say really though, - just looks a mess lol
 
See past the mess and imagine it all beautiful and finished and back on the car looking as nice as a bacon butty!!! :D Now do you like it?? :p

Damn guys... you can tell that there aint many of you who have had bodywork done!!! Everything starts off a mess til it gets tidied up and finished. :p
 
yeah i see what u mean lol but its like posting a pic of a stone and then saying imagine the final castle it will end up in lol, will be better to see the final resul + i dont actualy see whats different with the bumper
 
Lol ok I'll give you that one. I should leave it for Kev to explain what is different with the bumper hehe ;) but basically the whole front end of the bumper has been extended so it matches the alignment of the lights, the registartion recess has been removed so it looks totally smooth without the registration plates, and also the middle slat at the bottom of the bumper has been inverted so I don't hit it off speed bumps lol, and also to add something a bit different. :)
 
micra man said:
Lol ok I'll give you that one. I should leave it for Kev to explain what is different with the bumper hehe ;) but basically the whole front end of the bumper has been extended so it matches the alignment of the lights, the registartion recess has been removed so it looks totally smooth without the registration plates, and also the middle slat at the bottom of the bumper has been inverted so I don't hit it off speed bumps lol, and also to add something a bit different. :)
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Dan has it spot on.

All I'll say is that bumper is a work of art, it was originally half the size. It was extended in the middle by 2 1/2 inches to give the wide mouth, re-moulded from a nova to fit a K10. Also when it was repaired from an accident.

Now it's been smoothed and extended across the front.

A lot of work has gone into that bumper, coming on nicely Dan :)

Kev
 
Kev said:
Dan has it spot on.

All I'll say is that bumper is a work of art, it was originally half the size. It was extended in the middle by 2 1/2 inches to give the wide mouth, re-moulded from a nova to fit a K10. Also when it was repaired from an accident.

Now it's been smoothed and extended across the front.

A lot of work has gone into that bumper, coming on nicely Dan :)

Kev
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couple of points though? since its been fiddled with so much i.e. accident, widened, widened again, bits moved etc... wont it be very weak now?? Also i can see why youve moved that middle bit but wont the outside edges stil catch?
 
Big_ben said:
couple of points though? since its been fiddled with so much i.e. accident, widened, widened again, bits moved etc... wont it be very weak now?? Also i can see why youve moved that middle bit but wont the outside edges stil catch?
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Not at all no.

It's in fact far stronger then it was before. When the wide mouth was customised it was re-built from behind the bumper. Also to determine how strong fibreglass really is, it's not how thick it is but how well it's been mixed together and moulded.

A lot of people have the miss conception that thicker equals stronger, that isn't the case at all. Thicker firbeglass will cause the surface area to shatter more as fibreglass doesn't flex like the plastic compound used on oem bumpers.

In any case fibreglass will always crack on impact, but if you re-inforce too much it will cause more damage to the surface area and surrounding weak points.

Kev
 
I think the problem with jobs taking longer than they should is seen throughout anything that consumers deal with; plumbers, builders, computer work, garages etc. It is because there is no penalty or comeback when the deadline passes. Even in industry where it could be costing you over $100k a day past a deadline, delays still happen...
 
Andrew said:
I think the problem with jobs taking longer than they should is seen throughout anything that consumers deal with; plumbers, builders, computer work, garages etc. It is because there is no penalty or comeback when the deadline passes. Even in industry where it could be costing you over $100k a day past a deadline, delays still happen...
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yeah just look at wembly stadium :D
 
Kev said:
Not at all no.

It's in fact far stronger then it was before. When the wide mouth was customised it was re-built from behind the bumper. Also to determine how strong fibreglass really is, it's not how thick it is but how well it's been mixed together and moulded.

A lot of people have the miss conception that thicker equals stronger, that isn't the case at all. Thicker firbeglass will cause the surface area to shatter more as fibreglass doesn't flex like the plastic compound used on oem bumpers.

In any case fibreglass will always crack on impact, but if you re-inforce too much it will cause more damage to the surface area and surrounding weak points.

Kev
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Yeah thats the thing with Will, he is really good with fg, and already you can tell that the bumper feels solid. I can just about guarentee also that when its done there will not be a bumper like this on any car in the world. :D
 
dan, that focus u posted that was done at CATS, its now belonging to one of the lasses of the local site lol
 
Yeah lol. He's sold it as he is getting a Skyline imported shortly. What sites she on?? Don't like the styling too much but the work that has gone into it is good, although it was butchered a few times by the bodyshop before Will did it. :)
 
i she had it back into the bodyshop coz it was still not the best like apparently, door kept hitting bodywork and install needed redoing :p
 
Yeah he had it in the unit opposite redoing the front bumper and boot where some guy pulled a compressor across the front bumper when it had just been done. The guy opposite also did the install lol. ;) That was a mess, as he sprayed it the night before the show without sanding it properly. I must state that this was not Wills work lol.
 
I'm sick!!! The ####er has broke his hand and he's taking the ####!!! He's now said he wants out and I can have my car back but how the #### does that help me!?!?!? Why do I keep choosing unreliable ####ers to do my car, who work at snails pace and can't do thier bastard jobs!!! Sorry for the swearing but he has really ####ed me off... GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! Screw it im gunna scrap it!!! :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(
 
No way don't take it out on the car, just say your not paying for half the work they have done. It take's the #### how long it's been already, don't give in now. Sleep on it b4 u decide anythin.
 
if i was you i would go through with it, not only will you have the best looking k10 in the whole of the uk/europe (unless there are any hidden away!) but you will inspire sooooooo many other people to mod k10's if they can see what can be done with them. I am not the greatest fan of the k10 but looks wise on yours i think your car has single handly changed my whole opinion on the k10.
 
Glenn said:
if i was you i would go through with it, not only will you have the best looking k10 in the whole of the uk/europe (unless there are any hidden away!) but you will inspire sooooooo many other people to mod k10's if they can see what can be done with them. I am not the greatest fan of the k10 but looks wise on yours i think your car has single handly changed my whole opinion on the k10.
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the guy speaks the truth!!
 
dont give up just yet dan

why dont you get it down barwell bodyshop, as least they have a good rep and good quality work
 
Thanks for the support guys. Kinda keeps me wanting to go on with it, its just with the hassle I have had with it and the money that I have spent it just makes me think its maybe just not meant to be. I'm still not sure if the bodyshop wants to go ahead with doing it now after tonights events, but only time will tell, I want it done for shows and stuff, but maybe its better that it just gets done right... who knows!?!?!? :S I will text him or ring him in a bit and see if he replies and see what he says. I wana get it done but its just not helping anyone, things been like this. :(
 
this sure is bad news mate and i hate to disagree with everyone here as id love to see here finished but its not worth getting into huge debt over a 16 year old car, if your had money to waste id say do it! but think of the bigger picture mate... i hope you didnt part with too much money either :(

i have some very good bodyshop contacts down my way if i can help at all let me know
 
micra man said:
I'm sick!!! The ####er has broke his hand and he's taking the ####!!! He's now said he wants out and I can have my car back but how the #### does that help me!?!?!? Why do I keep choosing unreliable ####ers to do my car, who work at snails pace and can't do thier bastard jobs!!! Sorry for the swearing but he has really ####ed me off... GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! Screw it im gunna scrap it!!! :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(
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Dan,

Seriously take it to Melton Fibre Glass and once all the crap is sorted Steve will respray it for you at Barwell.

If you need any help, get in touch

Kev
 
Dan i hate to say i told you so but there you go...my point over

I cant tell you what to do but i think if i was in your position i would seriously consider scrapping it and starting over. I know you have spent loads on the car but possibly the damage that has been done is too much to repair, and when you consider the car is possibly not even worth £1 in its given state it would be something worth considering....

however, if you do intend on continuing and the bodyshop your at is not up to scratch get in touch and i can point you in the direction of a few local places but as Kev Said Melton & Barwell hae the respect and knowledge.

Als i hope your not pulling another "oh my car has been torched" stunt!
 
I wish I was Ben!!! I'm gunna do my best to get things sorted with the bodyshop as them giving me the car back as it is benefits neither of us really. I will see what happens as there is still alot of bodywork to do but thanks Kev I will see whats what and let you know. :)
 
micra man said:
I wish I was Ben!!! I'm gunna do my best to get things sorted with the bodyshop as them giving me the car back as it is benefits neither of us really. I will see what happens as there is still alot of bodywork to do but thanks Kev I will see whats what and let you know. :)
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Dan, as always if you need any help what so ever, just ask.

Just remember the state the car was in after Wayne's attempts on the bodywork and where it is now. OK so they might be a long way to go to get it finished and you might be having issues with the current bodyshop, but hang in there with it.

I wouldn't give up now when you think of the finished product, NO other K10 would have ever had this amount of extensive bodywork and it SHOULD have the quality to go with it once it's done!

Just goes to show how your choices can affect the outcome, if you would have gone to Melton and Barwell your car would have been done months ago.

Anyway keep us posted and do what ever you feel is best for you.

Kev
 

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