So, I’ve made some inquiries, acquired a lot of bodywork to replace panels that are damaged beyond repair and provisionally booked a date for the coop to go in for three weeks for a full re-spray!!

I’ve got a few jobs to do before it can go in. Namely, I have to:
Fit new bonnet
Fit new driver’s door
Fit new passenger wing
Fit new boot lid
Fit new rear bumper
Change locks over for door and boot
Remove interior trim
Loosen screws on anything that needs to be removed

The job
Sanded back and primed with 2k / 2 pack re-spray in Sprint Blue
Painted sills (like Per did if anyone knows what that means)
Fit honeycomb grille
I’m having all glass removed so hopefully, if I can arrange it, having a new windscreen fitted at the time

Is there anything else I should be thinking about or doing? It’s due to go in on 1st March at the moment dependant on how my prep goes.

I'd be making sure she's not got any rot whatsoever before booking a re-spray.

Awful lot of money to spend on something that could potentially be rotting away somewhere you can't see.

Why are you fitting all the new parts before the respray? Would it not be easier to give them to the body shop off the car?

Short answer: He doesn't want to fit them or rather his price to do so would ramp the price up too much. He also said he'd remove the front and rear bumpers to respray them but the rest are easier to paint on the car.

So it's all done and I've had it back for over a month so figured I post up some photos. I took these after a long drive so there are a fair few flattened creepy crawlies over the front, but you get the gist.

It's had a new honeycomb grille fitted since this!











Thanks to Per for the part painted sills idea. I saw this on his car maybe 5 years ago and always wanted to go for it. Soo glad I eventually had the opportunity to and did it!

Wow looks brand new

Absolutely lovely.
Very jealous!!!

Very very nice mate.

Looking very nice

Hopefully mine will be looking great later this year

Looks good, works really well

Very nice Trappy

Looks great Trappy.

Do you have a FMIC fitted? I've noticed on a lot of coupes, with the FMIC installed and the foam removed from the bumper, you get a bit of drooping under the front grille.
I bought a piece of square section (1.5cm) alloy tube and secured it under the bumper beneath the black section of the bumper that the grille sits on. It lifts the area up and eliminates the droopy look.

I'm a freaky perfectionist though.

Thanks for all the comments guys! I've been sticking doggedly to my 'modifiying mantra' - 'How it should have been' and this seemed like a natural choice. I think it looks a little more modern while not going down the aftermarket bodykit route. I also feel that the 20vT6 style painted sills looks a little unresolved; like it wasn't thought through properly. I'm very happy with the results on mine

Jimbo, you're right in that it has sagged because of the FMIC. Luckily, the front bumper is coming off to have new towing eye 'male' bracket and bumper bracket fitted shortly. I'll look at fitting something similar on mine at the same time - thanks for the tip

Looks great I just had my silver coupe sprayed in sprint blue I love it

Gets a lot of attention

Looks great and I like the painted sills idea.

very nice

Cool!

Lovely result!, How much did the respray come in at?

A shade under £2,000 but I had a few other bits done at the same time - A little bit of corrosion inside the rear bumper and where the side Pinninfarina badges 'used' to be as well as under the bonnet around some of the brackets.

On the badge note, some may have noticed that it's been completely de-badged. No opportunity for water ingress in these areas now

Interesting. Looking at an Autumn respray for mine. I was going down the full sill and bumper colour coding but your variant has me in a quandary. I was going to get the grille sprayed body colour too, along with the insides of the lights. Less moding and more "updating".

Fantastic outcome Trappy, mind if I ask where you had it re-sprayed?

Holy thread resurrection! 4 years on and I wonder if the paint is still looking as fresh?

Hopefully, it still looks as good now.
Certainly was a tidy job.

It was a place in Canvey. If I'm honest, I wouldn't recommend it with hindsight.

Here's an update I made a year ago. I've only washed it a handful of times since (it's been SORN for 8 months) but does look nice when all cleaned up. It does need another re-spray to get perfect but, as explained in the thread I just linked to, it shouldn't be that big a job.