Ae92 - Painting The Plastic !

[dreamcatcher]

Hi,

New to this forum but not to Corollas.

Previously owned a White AE-82 (wish I'd kept that !!) and now on my second AE-92.

My last GTi was the Pearl Blue colour, which was great apart from the fact that it came from the factory with black plastic bumpers and skirts :(

Fortunately, I corrected this by spraying them to match the body colour which made the car look much better.

When I did this I had the benefit of a very helpful paint supplier who supplied me with a clear primer which was sprayed onto the plastic parts prior to normal primer/paint.

Unfortunately, this supplier has now long gone, and I haven't got the foggiest what this stuff was called !!

My new baby is an '89 TViS powered model in Black (the sutlest metallic I've ever seen) and I'm soon to fit a new tailgate - which needs painting first to match. So, I thought I'd maybe do the bumpers and skirts at the same time. Anyone got any advice on the pre-paint prep and treatment required ? All the parts are unpainted plastic.

And, whilst we're talking paint etc. I need a sunroof panel (yeah, I know, who doesn't ?) to rebuild or use as a pattern to fabricate a new one. Anyone breaking an AE-92 ??

Thanks

Pete

[dawesy]

plastic primer is the stuff you need, youll get it from any automotive paint supplier or in aerosols from Halfords

nice looking GTi you have there

[dreamcatcher]

nice looking GTi you have there

Thanks, that's the one that I used to own unfortunately !!

I had to get rid of it to free up some space after it sat garaged for 18 months due to me having a company car. Shame really, as I never got to finish it - apart from the paintwork, it had a full Janspeed system and the 7 x 15 RH Alurad alloys (if anyone knows where I can get another set of those I'd appreciate the info).

The latest one has a reasonable bodyshell - apart from the o/s rear arch needing some attention, and the tailgate getting replaced, it's just the usual corners of the sunroof that have suffered. I can't decide whether to leave it black or maybe go for a full respray in something a bit brighter at the moment.

It had a set of lowered springs fitted by the previous owner but retains the standard shocks and doesn't feel like the chassis is set up right - I'll be looking to redo the whole suspension in the future as I'm not impressed with the current ride/handling.

I've already junked the Mongoose system that was fitted as it was too loud for the missus's fragile ears. For the time being I've reverted to a std system, but that Jaspeed I had on the old one was sweet and I'll be looking in that direction once again when the time comes to get the engine sorted.

Will post pics from time to time when things get done.

And dawesy, I've seen yours................and "nice" just doesn't come close. Good job mate.

Pete

[dawesy]

cheers buddy.

suspension wise 20% uprated and 30mm drop with koni adjustables all round works well but the koni's are a little dear . rear antiroll bar stifens up the rear nicely too which gives a little more tailhappyness and reduces understeer.

personaly i loved my mongoose when i had it but they can drone a bit.

good luck with the body work mine had a 15 mth sell up rebuild to sort the rust (got it all now though) only way is cut it out weld in new steel and waxoil