I'll have to give those a try. I have another set of calipers I'm going to rebuild and try the G2 paint.

I've had good results with VHT ceramic paint. 4+ years on one vehicle (so far) and 3 years on another (so far). The paint holds up well. I wash it every car wash and have touched up one or two chips with a small brush since originally painting them in March '16.

I've heard good things about G2 as well, but no personal experience with it.

https://i370.photobucket.com/albums/...rakes%2007.jpg

https://i370.photobucket.com/albums/...rakes%2013.jpg

For you fellas that have to deal with rust and want to take it off easily, you can use phosphoric acid. It is used as a metal prep before you paint and takes the hard work out of removing the rust from components. Local hardware stores should carry it.

I'm looking at you, C-bass. Those pulleys in your engine bay look like they would eat belts in a hurry!

I've used phosphoric, oxalic, sulphuric/muriatic and for the most part I find it a pain in the ass to deal with and it takes long.

This isn't a complete restoration project and I'm more so looking to clean things up a little bit. Like I said 10 minutes worth of work to clean them up to more than satisfactory for me.

I'm going for the "patina" finish :D

Also, I'm not sure what you're seeing with my belt eating pulleys but aside from the usual surface rust on the face (yes the alternator one looks extra coral-y) the actual belt contact area of the pulley is nice and smooth :dunno: Am I missing something?

I had a quick pop in to the pic n save yard looking for a couple parts. I needed a window regulator and was trying to hunt down an air box that isn't cracked.

It's VERY rare to see convertibles

https://i.imgur.com/UGMsXBu.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/nHX6ek1.jpg

Not sure what they were after here...but I'm guessing they go it

https://i.imgur.com/KZtpaVf.jpg

Here's our window regulator donor

https://i.imgur.com/7OARGzf.jpg

I found an X5 with the factory subwoofer and was planning on scooping it up but they wanted $40 for it and I didn't feel it was worth that kind of money. That will probably prove to me a mistake later on, but at the time I wasn't that interested.

https://i.imgur.com/NmzTADI.jpg


The BIG score, and totally unexpected..

https://i.imgur.com/Y9WDwOV.jpg

Full set of factory winter mats!! WOOOT!! WOOOT!!! Just what swampy needs after all that carpet cleaning. SCORE!!!

I ended up with a window regulator (which happened to be recently replaced so it was much newer than 2006) The floor mats, a cam position sensor and a couple pieces of interior trim for $63.

https://i.imgur.com/avzJ0u2.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/S5WjsWL.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/UzQelO6.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/YlKu2r7.jpg

Who would have though that floor mats would make me so happy

Brother that thing is looking amazing! Super nice job on getting the bits and pieces all back together!

And... it’s always the little, unexpected things that being is the most joy [emoji38]. Nice find on those mats!




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Little unexpected things you say??


:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire
:pullhair::pullhair::pullhair::pullhair:


https://i.imgur.com/U1n3n9z.jpg


:wow::wow::wow::wow:


https://i.imgur.com/sOtFhys.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/BHDQN2M.jpg


:bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce:
:cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer:
:strut::strut::strut::strut:
:woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:

Those came out sweeeet!!

If I was to give painting calipers another try I would probably like to start off with something new if not in MUCH better condition than what I have to work with.

Maybe I can just clear coat them and go for the "rat rod" look?

Oh man! You had to buy lock grommets too... I broke one of mine, or it was broken, when I did my passenger door carrier. Looked them up on FCP and found those little suckers for $21 a piece!!! What!!!$21 bucks! Ended up finding them for $4 on an old Bav Auto link, FCP didn’t match them... but they did end up coming down to $10 a piece, which still blew my mind for that tiny little piece of plastic [emoji50]


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I found a guy on Kijiji selling a new fan clutch and fan, and seeing that a used fan clutch (if you can find one) at the pic n pull yard is $23 let's see what $40 gets me. :popcorn:

The fan clutch is a "Topaz" brand which as per usual has reviews ranging from works 100% OEM to this fan clutch burned my car down.


https://i.imgur.com/NHxiZHb.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/v2CvIQ7.jpg


Fan is the ever popular for all the wrong reasons URO brand.


https://i.imgur.com/5HHYDYN.jpg


Looks like the fan definitely made some contact with the shroud but the OEM fan blades weren't damaged or were replaced.


https://i.imgur.com/Mzp76L6.jpg


I was having a hard time holding the fan shroud and trying to screw the fan clutch of and couldn't quite figure it out for a minute....

Oh....right....


https://i.imgur.com/B71smIx.jpg


OEM


https://i.imgur.com/PxoXxwm.jpg


URO


https://i.imgur.com/ZgNC1TY.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/M9tGodE.jpg


So I'm hoping this fan is NOT for the 3.0 M54 and maybe the 8s?? Who knows? I did a quick google and couldn't find anything to do with the number on the URO fan and I lost interest since it won't fit anway.


So back to the OEM fan we go


https://i.imgur.com/naH2rmW.jpg


Also since I kept looking at it I decided to give the alternator a quick clean


https://i.imgur.com/iWkzMuA.jpg


Better :thumbup:


https://i.imgur.com/O81GrBi.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/2a7QtC9.jpg