lupine-punto.png

Punto (Mk2/2b) Wolfish MKII Punto

Introduction

So it's a 5 door petrol manual 1.2l Active Punto, 2002 registered with 64,000 miles on the clock. It's actually arriving in front of the house on Tuesday, but I've got the one photo so I thought I'd share...

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I'm planning on doing Stuff to it once it arrives (well, I can't drive it until I pass my practical, so it gives me something to do with it :D)

I'm not particularly interested in modifying the external appearance - I already love the shape, and I don't want to vulgarify it with lowerings and additions and weirdings and the like.

When I looked at it last week, the paint seemed a bit scuffed - no chips or anything, just tiny scratches. So making it shiny again is a priority.

A giant batman sticker on the bonnet is tempting, but I suspect it doesn't pass the vulgarity test ;). Ditto for smaller ones on the doors.

Lots of stuff to do to the inside, though - limited only by time and money, I guess.

* Carputer is probably going to be a big project, get it in with a screen (maybe detachable, mounted on a rail so driver or passenger can pull it over to their side, or replace speedo+rev counter with it; I don't want to replace the air vents! with it like the guide on this forum suggests) + bluetooth for the phone + GPS + OBD-II + sound control. Trip computer functions too, why not?

* If I could get away with it, and it were vaguely possible, I'd see about getting a Jaguar J-gate gearbox installed. But this is a manual car and I doubt it's vaguely possible ;).

* Possible bonnet & bumper cameras, parking sensors, handled by the carputer. Cameras would be handy for stuff, especially if they came with an IR mode and fish-eye lens. Would be cool to hide the camera behind the fiat badge, and make the badge act like a lens cover - so slide it up, out of the way, before you start to drive ;).

* Change the upholstery/seats/trim for something... else. Make the sun visors actually work (I'm entirely the wrong height, when I can reach the pedals the visor covers my entire view when down!) Current interior is grey cloth. It's fine... just not particularly exciting.

All very pie-in-the-sky stuff. I need to actually get the car and play around with mockups and maybe some GIMP for ideas!

Like I said, I'm not really up for making the outside vulgar... although tasteful suggestions are welcome ;). Doesn't have to be 'add walnut panelling'-style tasteful, just not... "neons, lowering, phat tyres, massive alloys, wide-ass exhaust" kind of stuff ;).
Whatever you do, don't forget about insurance (y)

Other than that...Batman logo sounds tempting :p
 
Heh, yes - the insurance is going to be about a grand, not so bad... the money's squirreled away, nice and safe.

I photoshopped a couple of bat-logos onto the car, I have to say, it doesn't look like it passes the vulgarity test /at all/ :(. Never mind!

Some kind of HUD implementation as a monitor alternative for the carputer popped into mind, too - it seems possible to do a reflective HUD without much hassle, but I'm unsure of how practical it really is. Maybe worth further investigation....

Hurry up Tuesday!
 
Nah, like I said, batman stickers don't seem do-able due to the vulgarity constraint...

Although that was the old-style batman sticker, black&yellow. Wonder if the new-style would work better...
 
OK, car is parked outside :D. I actually got it last night...

More photos after work, maybe. It's not too exciting at the moment since it's entirely bog-standard.

On a semi-related note, seems I was breaking the law last night by parking it on a public road with tax, but no insurance! I've now got insurance for it :D. Actually cheaper to insure it as a provisional driver than a full driver - funny old world.
 
Blarg. So my battery upped and died yesterday. At first I thought it was flat, so I got a voltmeter and a jump-start thingy and a charger. Checked the voltage on the battery, it was stupidly low, so took the battery to halfords and got a brand new one.

Eighty quid!

Plus about a hundred quid for the rest of the stuff. At least now I'm set for an actual flat battery!

Also, my paint is a lot more scuffed than I thought it was. Suggestions for making it super-shiny? :)
 
Blarg. So my battery upped and died yesterday. At first I thought it was flat, so I got a voltmeter and a jump-start thingy and a charger. Checked the voltage on the battery, it was stupidly low, so took the battery to halfords and got a brand new one.

Eighty quid!

Plus about a hundred quid for the rest of the stuff. At least now I'm set for an actual flat battery!

Also, my paint is a lot more scuffed than I thought it was. Suggestions for making it super-shiny? :)


autoglym super resin polish and lots of elbow grease :)

get some pics up!
 
looks like a good base project :)

ive never really rated t-cut, but i'd give super resin polish a go and im sure it'll give good results!

if your only considering doing things on the inside then have a little look at my thread :)

some interior things to consider can be:

sueded headlining and a/b/c pillers and matching door cards
alfa 147 leather interior

thanks,
Carl.
 
looks like a good base project :)

ive never really rated t-cut, but i'd give super resin polish a go and im sure it'll give good results!

if your only considering doing things on the inside then have a little look at my thread :)

some interior things to consider can be:

sueded headlining and a/b/c pillers and matching door cards
alfa 147 leather interior

thanks,
Carl.

CARL!!

how do you remove the C pillar trims ( is it different for 3dr and 5 dr??)

mine the speaker pod thing is connected but thats not the problem...the seatbelt runns through it and niether endwill fit through the gap once unbolted :(

cheers mate
brin
 
CARL!!

how do you remove the C pillar trims ( is it different for 3dr and 5 dr??)

mine the speaker pod thing is connected but thats not the problem...the seatbelt runns through it and niether endwill fit through the gap once unbolted :(

cheers mate
brin

i dont know if 3 and 5 door c pillers are differnt but all i done was undo the screw, undo the seatbelt bolt and then unclipped it from behind. seemed to work fine for me :confused:

thanks,
Carl.
 
Arr, well, I don't really like the interior - blue cloth, a bit faded, not great. I'm unsure about the leather alfa interior, though - hot & sticky in the sun? Who knows. Maybe I could reupholster the lot in crushed purple velvet.... :p

Right now, focus is definitely on the dashboard. I'm unconvinced by the slide-out screens, so I might need to chop up the centre console to turn the 1DIN into a 2DIN without removing the air vents (I like having as much ventilation as possible :D).

I drove it for the first time earlier! Had to get it out of my parking bay at home due to stupid parking suspension for gully sweeping... so trusty random qualified driver in the other seat, I got to do a horrible 3-point turn (random driving instructor car in exactly the wrong place!) and a short drive to leave it in work's car park overnight. The accelerator is crazy responsive, and the brakes crazy unresponsive, compared to the Yaris I've been learning in... I much prefer the feel of the clutch though :D.

Oh, and I bought a pressure washer from Morrisons today - fifty quid at the moment, mains-powered, takes water from a garden hose and can suck in cleaning stuff as well. I'm thinking a decent bargain :). I shall give the car a clean and have a go at polishing it at the weekend, assuming the weather holds out. Rain seems to cling to the windows and body at the moment, not great. The rear wiper, in particular, seems utterly useless.
 
Oh, during the monster 3-point turn I had to make use of my over-the-road-neighbour's driveway, and managed to scrape the right wing mirror against the house! Not badly, it just gouged the plastic a tiny bit.

Had to get out of the car via the passenger seat to fold the mirror away before I could do the second leg of the 3-pointer. Then almost drove away with it still folded, d'oh.

It's fiiiiiiiiiiiiiine.
 
I made it clean!

The weather just about held; got a few drops of rain as I was polishing the roof, but I just sped up and got finished in double-quick time... then the rain stopped again :D

Result:
clean-car.jpg


Method:
Pressure washer! Good fun :). Made all the car wet. Didn't have any foam stuff, apparently you can put it through the pressure washer, didn't much fancy giving that a go.

Autoglym car shampoo&conditioner goo + warm water + sponge + elbow grease

Pressure wash again! Bye suds

Autoglym fast glass stuff on all the windows and mirrors, polish off with kitchen roll & a cotton cloth while waiting for the rest of the car to dry

Watch all the water on the roof run down my clean windows :(. D'oh.

Repolish windows, yay!

Autoglym super resin polish all over the car. How many cars is one little bottle meant to do? I seem to be about 3/4ths through. Top tip for the future: make sure the whole car's actually dry before starting...

Leave to dry, polish off with the cotton cloths, gloat.
 
Long time no post - I've been pouring all my energies into actually passing the driving test, which I've managed today :). So now I can actually make this beast go places.

And maybe now I'm spending time in it, I'll feel the urge to continue on with the improvements of it, too.

I have bought a satnav - TomTom Via - can't really recommend it so far. In four miles, it's made three major mistakes. Luckily, I'm not relying on it :p

It's being quite condensation-tastic, which was entertaining to discover - the hard way. Must find a way to get the dehumidifier running inside of it, as suggested in other threads...
 
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