SlowPoke's Make Over - Interior Commence.

[SlowPoke]

Hi everyone, i joined up over a year ago when i first got my lupo and for a whole year i've done absolutely nothing with it, it was in a sorry state and its time i did something with it, so work began on it this friday, keep up

Firstly ill show you some pictures of my old sadly missed car (my impreza) Just links im afraid as ill exceed my picture allowance on here

http://i654.photobuc.../IMG_0297-1.jpg

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Im a vehicle wrapper/signwriter by trade here's my best handywork (shameless plug)

Car started looking like this:

http://i654.photobuc...85/IMG_0463.jpg

And was fully wrapped in 3m carbon

http://i654.photobuc...85/IMG_0464.jpg

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Right then on with the lupo! - sadly i have no pictures of when i first bought it, but it was in a bad way, every panel had a ding, front wing and light surround was smashed, roof laquer was peeling.

My temporary fix (black gloss vinyl) comes off

****ed roof

Workmate drove his astravan down the side of it!

Smoothed Badge, Delocking the tailgate soon as my remote locking arrives.

Passanger door had a different locking barrel and no key so bye bye!

Smoothed

Bumper Smoothed

Lots of Dings to sort

Wheels came off!

For these, (Adjuster spring came out after i was instantly disappointed with the lack of lows)

Removed the inner arches, anyone planing on making their car lighter might want to consider what lies inside the sills...

It weighed quite alot!!

New front wing and light surround on, Front wing was a pig to fit so many hard to get to starbolts of varying sizes!

Sitting lower, still very far from happy!!

Joey'd the headlights

Tyres yet to arrive but test fitted the rears..hmm poke

More poke..Can you guess what they are yet?..

15x8 et25 schmidt modern lines.

Loads more work to go but as you can see for 2 days i've not done too bad! ill post up more as and when i've made more progress. Tyres arrive tuesday hopefully, (185.45's) and then the arch bashing can commence! - my favourite!

Then colour change (full vinyl wrap) i have a few ideas but still mulling them over. Complete interior strip out, then half cage for more rigidness because it still feels soft as sh*t on the TA's!

Umm also need to get lower probably source some FK's for the rears, anyone shed some light on how to get the fronts even lower? i've removed the helper just the main spring and C adjusters remain right down the bottom of the strut, is that right for max low? these coilovers are nothing like my old subaru's.. Cheers in advance.

Edited June 7, 2012 by SlowPoke

[Lupo-Joe]

Woow... I'm defiantly looking forward to seeing more of this!

[ElZ 16v]

good progress

[patroddy]

woaah thats alot of work done there and i love the scooby however it didnt look right without a spoiler

[Muffin]

Looking good! Look forward too seeing more. your scooby was a beaut, what happened with it?

[blister]

if you want to go lower your right in thinking FK rear springs but have you thought about modifing the rear beam?

cut the spring mounting platforms and add a 1" band lower so the springs platform is mounted 1" lower? then modify the shock absorber lower mount by again welding a bit onto the beam resulting in a lower mounting point of the rear shocks?

with the front coilovers not going how low you want have you thought about getting custom springs made up? also check to make sure you are not sitting on bump stops all round as these will stop the car going any lower but they are there for a reason! i removed mine and my front shock did pop!

oh and if you dont like the spongyness the TAs give you a i dont think a rollcage will help much if at all? look into a rear Anti roll bar that will help things alot!

[SlowPoke]

Cheers guys, the subie caused alot of upset despoilered with the purists! But I was going for the American look at the time & it really grew on me

Had to sell it though as it was a massive money drain, and I wasn't happy with standard power after all the cosmetics, you need deep pockets with big toys! Hense the 1.0 Eco lupo

Any thoughts on this colour? It's a new vinyl from arlon.

[patroddy]

aaaah thats a nice colour!!

[blister]

do the whole car in bmw sparkle graphite!

[SlowPoke]

£30 a metre plus vat reckon i'll need around 8 possibly 10.. i'd rather wrap it though for a mint finish, i don't think ill be happy spraying it myself.

Avery do a metalic graphite but its just not sparky enough lol

Edited May 6, 2012 by SlowPoke

[blister]

£30 a metre plus vat reckon i'll need around 8 possibly 10.. i'd rather wrap it though for a mint finish, i don't think ill be happy spraying it myself.

Avery do a metalic graphite but its just not sparky enough lol

i bought some vinyl from ebay (ireland) and recieved it last week it was so damaged as they wrapped it in brown paper! so i sent it back and only got a refund for item and postage to me! wasted £15 sending it to them! ah cut story short!

where do you get your vinyl and how hard is it to wrap a lupos roof?

[SlowPoke]

i bought some vinyl from ebay (ireland) and recieved it last week it was so damaged as they wrapped it in brown paper! so i sent it back and only got a refund for item and postage to me! wasted £15 sending it to them! ah cut story short!

where do you get your vinyl and how hard is it to wrap a lupos roof?

All depends on what vinyl you use matie, if you buy something like Avery Supreme Wrap you really cant go wrong as its really easy to work with (has special glue system that allows you to reposition its very forgiving), youtube some videos. take the roof gutter rubbers out so you can tuck it in so the edges will be out of sight, use a heat gun to help you on the corners, ideally remove the arial if possible, if not cut a small hole in the vinyl slightly smaller than the arial before you remove the backing sheet this will make it easier when you lay it on, and you can then heat it around the arial and trim the excess. Best off practicing on something small, its all about having confidence and patients, i've been doing it 10 years now practice makes perfect give me a shout if you want any advice.

Oh and as im trade i get it through a company called spandex, i think however they accept credit cards etc, just have to email them you're requirements.

Edited May 6, 2012 by SlowPoke

[SlowPoke]

Little more progress today, scissor jacked the wheel arches out, and hammered the lip ready for the wheels & primed the car..

Helpful uncle

Fingers crossed tyres arrive tomorrow so i can get zee wheels on!

[Rowan S Jones]

good progress! have you decided on a colour yet?

[SlowPoke]

Well i was going to do it that aztec bronze, but a friend informed me that only a week ago the vinyl was £20 per metre, and ive been quoted £30+vat 50% increase, i asked them if i could have it for the old price and they said no it was just an introductory price so **** paying what they want. Anyway i was really annoyed i had planned to go over the primer in satin black so the vinyl would adhere better, and after painting it satin black im actually quite taken by it! So now looks like ill be just painting the whole car inside and out. Satin black all round, except the roof and bonnet which will be ridiculously high gloss possibly with some metal flake/pearl haven't decided yet. anyway heres some progress pictures.

Still needs a few inches out the back, i wants the rim 10mm from the arch

Who would have thought a lupo could look quite mean

Spacers needed up front, slightly catching the struts.

Arches turned out pretty perfect, using just a hammer a heat gun and a scissor jack in the archwell, just wanted the lip of the wheel showing, think i've achieved it

This was the point when i thought i have to do gloss black against the satin, the contrast is so sexy!

Lucky for me my uncles a perfectionist, the paints being built up slowly and all high and low spots are being sorted as we go.

Also i cut my springs a wee bit, they wont be staying in though, custom ones to be made, just wanted to see what hight i need them.

Input will be appreciated but not necessarily paid attention too

[ElZ 16v]

sits well on the cut springs! the finished article will look ace

Edited May 10, 2012 by ElZ 16v

[jamiea7x]

im digging it apart from the single handle look,

[MiiTCH-TDi]

Looks sick

[mphgoose]

My input = Looks amazing so far, Keep up the good work!

[Koop]

Can't fault it personally, satin finish is beautiful & the contrast with the gloss is great. One to watch imo.

[Batesy]

Love the wheels, if only i had a set

[CPall]

what offset are the wheels? how much did you space them up front to prevent catching on the strut?

Also are they 185/45 nankangs?

looks cool!

[SlowPoke]

Cheers for the input guys! Hoping to start rubbing down the inside this weekend and get it all matching.

Wheels are ET25 all round 8x15, I'm going to try 10mm up front to space it from the strut and yeah they're gash nangkan 45's.

I'm thinking about changing my coilovers and getting KW variant 1's am I right in thinking I can get it on the deck "safely" with these? Or am I best off getting custom springs made up?

[CPall]

Cheers for the input guys! Hoping to start rubbing down the inside this weekend and get it all matching.

Wheels are ET25 all round 8x15, I'm going to try 10mm up front to space it from the strut and yeah they're gash nangkan 45's.

I'm thinking about changing my coilovers and getting KW variant 1's am I right in thinking I can get it on the deck "safely" with these? Or am I best off getting custom springs made up?

Ahhh right cool! let me know how it goes with the spacers

thinking of getting similar sized wheels and heard about the catching on the strut issues

also thinking about what size tyres, i reckon ill need to go for 165's but I'm a tad scared of that much stretch! haha

[morganvw1]

Strong work !!