Practically Classics Forum

Have you considered sending an email / pm to Fuzz at Westgate? It can't hurt to ask what it would cost to have them go over and sort out any issues.

TerryG wrote:Have you considered sending an email / pm to Fuzz at Westgate? It can't hurt to ask what it would cost to have them go over and sort out any issues.

Too faraway, for the time being I'm not letting it out of my sight again.

It was bad enough it being 35miles away from me while it was being painted and that turned out being a bad choice.

I've got the same problem now trying to find a trimmer who will come to me to fit a headlining for me.

Unless of course you mean Westgate could send a crew up and sort out issues I have with the paint shop? can't really picture fuzz with a baseball bat in hand though

Mark - You have my full sympathy and full backing behind your rant - Name & Shame because the body shop that's turned this out are just lazy bodging bar stewards - pretty typical of the trade though - quote several weeks that become months - owner desperate to get the motor back and its all too easy to miss the faults on collection - then comes the clear light of day - I would not trust them with the motor again - they already have your money and are just going to bodge it some more - take pics of all faults and go and seek some legal advice - you might just be surprised at what recall you have - good luck

Chris

Thanks Chris,

I've considered the legal route but frankly don't want to put myself through it, they are someone in the scene and I will end up bumping into them again.

In the whole of the 9 month experience he only contacted me twice and one of those occasions was to say it was ready to be collected. I've been crafty in that I would only text him and not speak to him on the phone, which apart from frustrating the hell out of him its given me a log of the entire conversation I've had with them. I'd leave it's few weeks then start the conversation "8 weeks in, have we started?"' "it's been 15 weeks, any updates?" etc.

When I had it out with him and said he'd quoted 4-6 weeks and we were 6 months in and thought he was taking the piss he actually tried telling me... " no that means 4-6 weeks worth of work" to which I replied, you said when you collected it that it would be done end of April when they didn't start it till May!

How stupid do I feel now telling them to just call it 8 weeks! When they took it.

8 weeks in I chased them after no contact from them, thinking they would be chasing me any day for a colour code (hadn't even finalised the colour by then) to be told. "We haven't touched it" and sent these photos..



Alarm bells should of been ringing and it's my own fault tbh,but once I'd decided to take it off them they had bare metalled the entire body so it sort of forced my hand a little but I did think.. It's bare metal now they should crack on... Roll on 6 months

So sorry to hear (and see) the problems you have and I can appreciate why you don't want to go back there again.

What is it about 'experts' who just can't seem to get things right?

About five years ago my son bought a 1978 Mini that needed some bodywork doing - he was still at school and I had never worked on cars before - end result is that we paid a few thousand to have it sorted - they stripped it back to bare shell , replaced many panels and gave a full respray, rebuilt it and I went to collect. Never driven an old car up until then and had no idea what to expect - came home about 40 miles and felt it was a bit unstable. Got home OK and other son took it for run around the block and came straight back to say there was something seriously wrong - found front left wheel was loose as there was no split pin in the castle nut Don't know if that worked loose on the journey back or if it was never there in the first place.

Had a number of electrical issues once he started using it regularly with battery not charging. Google search and reading forums indicated a possible earthing fault - how right we were as there wasn't an earth strap between the engine and the body - sorted that and no problems since.

Third fault was suspension - the new rubber cones were very hard and didn't settle so we went back (big mistake) to get adjustable HiLo units fitted. After time the suspension settled down a bit so my son went to make some adjustments to find that there was no thread on one unit as it must have been too high so the butchers had cut it down with an angle grinder to make it fit which meant it was only held on by one thread which soon gave up holding the weight of that side.

Still see them at Mini shows and we know of others who have had no problems at all including some that are used for track days - but what was it about ours that just went so wrong. Couldn't fault their bodywork but mechanically it was a nightmare . . .

I don't blame you one jot for being ****ed off with the result, especially when you pay good money for what is supposed to be a professional show standard job, that's something I'd expect for a home respray not one done in a pro shop. I certainly hope you get it sorted to your satisfaction one way or another.

Cheers guys,

Well it might not look it! But the wiring is more or less done, I just need to sort out the dashboard itself now to be able to fit it in and get all the switches etc wired up.

I've ran an extra 12 core cable front to back along with a heavier battery cable for the leisure battery (going to run various things up front on from the leisure bat, mainly the radio though)



And unfortunately more and more of this...

My quality 9 month paint job

Impossible to photo but way way way! To much filler for a supposedly professional resprayed.











Me bitter... If I could get my hands on that painter right now!

That's a nightmare with the bodyshop. I know how much these jobs cost and stories like this make me very nervous about saving up and giving my car to someone else. I hope that it's just poorly applied paint and not compounded with bad prep too. On mine, a really appalling paintjob was done many years before I bought it and in places the paint has peeled off from the spray filler which hadn't been prepared at all. Your swage lines at least look the shape they should, but on mine many of the creases are rounded and even slightly saggy in places because of how much spray filler and then paint has been applied.

Don't be disheartened too much by it though. You know you've got a lot of good work done on the van and there's every chance that if they've produced some very good vehicles that they might be able to rectify the problems you're having. If I were in their position I'd be bending over backwards to sort that mess out for you, a good reputation is as easily lost as a bad one is gained, they should be aware of this.

Do you know anyone else who's vehicle has been done by the same shop? If so, might be worth finding out if you can see the work they've done there and what problems, if any, were experienced. You might find you're not quite as alone with the problems you're facing as you think. Don't give up though, as horrible a situation as it is to see money wasted, this is obviously something you've put a lot of time and effort into and the cock ups of someone else should not prevent you from enjoying your van.

Thanks for that,

I think that's one of the major things I didn't do when choosing them was to look at more of the stuff they had painted.

They have agreed to rectify any issues but I can't see them stripping the rear corner back down and repairing the wonky body line that I now know is crafted in filler. This annoys me more than anything else as I had pointed it out when it was all in bare steel.

I've got to go up and see them but I'm letting them stew for a bit, really it needs to go back now before anymore parts get fitted to the shell that there only going to have to take off again.

Onwards and upwards,

All my airings now done but I'm trying to find a trimmer to recover my dashboard as this is now holding me up with completing the wiring.

Can't wait for the nec show now either, lots of parts required

Been a while since I touched the van, mainly with work and decorating at home but being honest I am loosing interest quickly and I'm having to really motivate myself to go out into the garage

I've started on the dashboard, I was going to have a go at trimming it myself but have decided against this now as with it being padded it's a little more tricky than I first thought.





Trying to find a trimmer now who will take it on, as need to get the dash in so I can finish all the wiring off.

Today I have been sorting through all my bits that need to go off for powder coating,

Pile of parts to get through which is just getting bigger,



Now it's dirty, noisy and sh**y but I'd have to say that if your restoring anything you have to get yourself a shot blaster. Strictly speaking I could leave this for the powder coaters to do but I'm hoping it speeds things up and lowers the costs too.

Before..





After..







And after a quick wire brush to take the dust off.



Can you spot the odd one out



On a note of powder coating, it's been a fair few years since I had anything done. Just so I don't get my pants pulled down what do people guesstimate the cost for my first batch? Just done in gloss black. Hopefully everything will be shot blasted ready too.