The garage in Swindon will be refinishing the wheels on the Fiesta tomorrow, prior to me sorting the car out properly. It needs tracking and several panels aligning which seems to be par for the course for a mk8. I was rather surprised by it as my last one was really straight with every panel and shut line perfect. The requirement for a specification demanded that I bought this one but it will need a lot of work. The scratches will largely polish out once the car is mopped and then it shoulld be as I want it to be. That is for the future, though. Tomorrow I have to spend a day in the town so the Museum of Computing, the GWR museum, the designer outlet as I need some new shoes and a good lunch should keep me busy while the wheels are made good.

7 minutes ago, anon said:

It needs tracking and several panels aligning

Speaking from a point of complete ignorance wrt bodywork, how do you "re-align" panels?  

Re-hang doors? unbolt wings, oval out holes and re-bolt?

The panels will have a certain amount of fitting tolerance. I plan to start by slackening the passenger door bolts and moving the top out  a little more than the bottom to match the wing line which will correct the rear of the door which will now be equally proud from top to bottom. The catch can now be pulled in to align the door. The bonnet  alignment is poor. There is no collision damage, just a car built before tea break. The passenger side hinge needs to be slackened and the bonnet lifted to fit smoothly into the screen pillar and  the front bumper and bonnet both need to be raised slightly. A day of gentle fettling should see it right.

Looking at the hinges, it appears that the hinge pivot is eccentrically mounted. Below the hinge pivot bolt there is a hexagonal fitting that looks like a half nut. I am GUESSING that this can be rotated and would move the door forwards, inwards, outwards and backwards. If it does, I expect that it is necessary to work them in pairs to avoid straining the door on the hinge pins and to get a good quality of closure. If anybody knows about this, I would be glad to know before I go in mob handed!

The biblical rain spoiled the day as it took  four hours to cover the 69 miles home. The clever little mammals were avoiding puddles by crossing into the path of the oncoming traffic so there were three head ones on the way home, The Salisbury road was closed at Fordingbridge and by the time I was home, I had had enough  as well as getting soaked to the skin. The GWR museum was well worth a visit, the designer outlet wasn't.