My Granada Mk1 and an 'RO Performance' Restoration - angry and disappointed, money lost

 There was nothing obviously wrong with the bearings but I wanted to clean the rusty housing up and so had my local engineer press them out. Good old Gunk.  This is the proper stuff not the water-based version. Just ready for grease now. I've run out so will have to get some tomorrow. The bearing on the other side all looked OK until I spotted the broken cage.  Luckily I had a NOS SKF bearing which is also now ready for new grease after cleaning the old grease out.

Car mover from CJ Autos (Heywood) now setup so I can easily move the back of the car to give me access in my single garage.  Works a treat. 😀 Partially stripped.  The driveshaft bolts at the diff end were loose on this side too.  Another half a job Rob. 🙄

 This has now been stripped but cannot yet be removed until the beam is dropped.  I need a 'car mover' so I can slide the rear of the car side-to-side for access - a local firm sells them so I'll be calling on Monday. The handbrake cable was seized in the backplate and had to be cut and drilled out.  The backplate will get blasted and powder coated. The new cable has been tested for fit and is OK.

Access is needed to clean and make minor repairs to chassis rail. A previous repair needs to be cut out to prepare for the removal of the diff beam. I've removed the spring, shock, exhaust back box and driveshaft. The driveshaft bolts at the diff end were only hand tight 😯🙄. The other end was OK so at least RO did half a job right.

 Floor now painted and bitumen type sound proofing fitted to replace what I had to remove. NS chassis rail is in better condition than the OS.  There's more to clean up yet but OK so far.

 This has now had wire wheel and "Deox" treatment and looks much better. Epoxy primer drying as I write this... These fillers was part of the wing/sill alignment.. No idea why they did this at the bottom of the wing.

 This where the floor meets the wheel arch inside the car. It wasn't terrible but needing sorting to prevent rust spreading. Will be painted once the seam sealer has dried and the factory grommet refitted. This is the last bit of welding on the OS of the car. I'll need to move the car over in the garage to check the other side.

 I've wire-wheeled and painted the edge. No rust now and it didn't take long at all.

Was it really too much effort to paint the end of this new front valance? Even a coat of Zinc primer would be OK. Does the RO welder only have one setting?  I'll have to neaten up and seal all this properly. 

 I've just discovered today that the idiot's apprentices AKA RO Performance  have damaged my boot lid trim whilst taking it off when they attempted the boot lid paint blisters repair.😡😡😡😡 I've manage to ease the dents a little with a  lightweight hammer. The dents are from the inside outwards caused when they hammered the plastic fixings from inside the boot trying to release the trim. 🤬

 Wing has been sanded and wire wheeled (knotted type).  No soaking in Deox with plastic covering to keep the gel wet.  Hopefully by morning it should look even better. Boot lid is also having some Deox treatment too.

 It was well worth getting the wing back to bare metal.  It didn't take too long once I'd chemically removed the restorer's Dulux. There some pitting to deal with before the epoxy primer goes on particularly where the paint was bubbling.

 Must have been a bolt shortage! Must tidy up that edge before the wing goes back on. and drill for a bolt. And drill for a bolt here as well. No idea where the surface rust starts and stops so the wing has to be taken back to metal.  And this was simply primed and painted! Under that arches paintwork...bank robbery money. 😠 Got to DA this tomorrow. The remaining paint is soft from the chemical stripper. This needs a clean and Hammerite too. There less silicone sealant in my bathroom than they put on my car!  

 I think it's sorted. Got a warm feeling about this.☺ Today I'll be removing the masking paper and getting ready for the next bout of welding - this time inside the car.

 I tried the MIPA Epoxy and got similar results - the reaction is on the edge where the bare metal meets paint so I'm going to have to take it back to bare metal.  It's strange , there are also some bare metal areas above the swage line and at the bottom of the quarter and these haven't reacted. I've ordered some powerful Steyer paint stripper as Nitromors is a waste of time these days! B&Qs own brand Diall is more effective. I've stripped back some more of the wing and revealed more rust. They must have looked at the instructions for Hammerite - "wire brush loose rust and paint". The visible sanding marks are mine removing paint and rust and as can be seen there is more to get to yet. At least they have closed down now so they can't mess up anybody else's car!