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Im Officially Back! (and bringing my 7 back to life!)
Well, as some of you may have noticed (probably not many of you new faces), Ive been posting around the forum more and more lately...
Recently, I decided to finally do something with the shell that was left of my near mint 1983 GSL that was stolen 5 years ago (as of next month). It started out just poking around with what I had sitting around still, and I eventually found myself looking for parts here. Next thing I knew, I was picking up a running lower mileage long block 12A, Barely used Racing Beat Holly for a street port, and barely used Racing Beat street port exhaust. I will be rebuilding and porting the 12A to match the intake and exhaust and tossing it in the car. The intake and exhaust came off a semi fresh street ported and rebuilt engine that was putting down nearly 140 HP at the rear wheels, so Im aiming for about that as well to start with. Anyway, after picking those parts up, I ordered a new Holley fuel pump, regulator, and pressure gauge. I also ordered a new radiator, and all new belts, hoses, plugs, wires, filters, etc for the engine install. I still need to get my rebuild kit from Atkins, but thats coming soon. Hopefully I will be picking that up next week. I also need new seats since those were stolen as well. I have my eye on a set of nice cloth buckets that I think I might go with however. Before the car was stolen, I was running a Rotary Shack Weber 45 DCOE, DLIDFIS with 3 MSD coils, Racing Beat stock port exhaust, Centerforce clutch, front mount oil cooler, electric fan, etc all on a stock port engine. So, the Holley will be a whole new game for me, as will the ported engine. Future plans after its running include DLIDFIS again, electric fan again, wide band O2, repairing the stolen stereo, coil overs front and rear, camber plates, poly bushings, Tokico Illuminas, wheels, tires, brakes, blah blah. Im also thinking I might eventually go the route with the Holley I ORIGINALLY had planned with my Weber, which was a blow through turbo setup. You know, the usual mods :D Anyway, I just wanted to say hi to all the "old" people who know me, and a new "hello" to all the new faces that dont. ~T.J. |
Welcome back.
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Hmm, ok. Well, I actually might be able to find the time to head down to your place again, since I came up with something else I might need that might be more tricky... I need all the hard brake and fuel lines that run along the bottom of the car from the tank up, and from the rear axle up to the firewall. For some reason, they stole all those as well. I figure I can come down and pick it all up if thats ok?
~T.J. |
Originally Posted by REVHED
(Post 8412577)
Welcome back.
~T.J. |
The Holley and the exhaust that was sold to you was off my 7. When I owned it I loved the sound the exhaust gave the car. Real deep and mean and you could really hear the street port clearly. The holley's secondaries were really responsive. Hope to see what you'll do with everything and I hope you enjoy it!
- Josh |
Welcome back. I remember when your car got jacked by that redneck goofball. Then you were a MP for a while, now you're back? Thats cool, I've slowed down with RX-7 stuff for a while since I've been in the Army now myself.
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True. Im still an MP as well. Just finished up a year long mission on Ft Lewis doing garrison work. I might be here another year as well.
~T.J. |
Hey hey!
Good to hear that you're back in the game! Some of us old guys are still around. Holy crap man has it actually been 5 years since the car was stolen? Time flies. My car is running great and in fact I'm building a second one (do a quick search for Project Keiko, I'll be posting Part II of that project after I write this reply. Welcome back dude, good to hear that you're doing something to bring that car of yours back from the dead :) Jon |
Originally Posted by Anex 570
(Post 8416046)
... Then you were a MP for a while...
... okay someone define for me what Anex means by "an MP" Up in Canada an MP is a "Member of Parliament"... I guess you guys call them "Senators" or "Congressmen" or something down there. Either way I think I misunderstood because I'm pretty sure TJ was not present in the House of Commons since his car got jacked, lol Jon |
Jon, since Im in the Army here in the US, an MP is a Military Police officer. Basically, I work as a police officer on the military bases dealing with the speeders, fights, thefts, vandalism, etc :)
~T.J. |
Hey man hows it goin? Been a while since I saw your name come up ;) Glad to see your still in "the game" :)
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Everything old is made new again. :D Welcome back TJ! Seems like just yesterday that I was browsing through all the threads between you and Rx7Carl, with a POS 85 GS sitting out in my parents' garage. I think that I learned half of what I know about these cars from reading through all your old threads. You always did a great job of explaining things, and not giving up until you solved the problem.
Great to have you back. Be sure to post pics of the project! Jamie BTW: I'll never forget when your car was stolen and you recovered it. Best thread ever. |
Thanks guys. Glad to see some of the old names are still around. I will be documenting the progress for sure. It may be a slow build since Im stationed in the military an hour away from the car, but it will be done eventually I hope, haha.
~T.J. |
Hi there.
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There goes the neighborhood! LOL!
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Hey hey! Two more I know! Awesome!
~T.J. |
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DF, I sent you a PM. Thanks for the welcome... I think? :hahaha:
~T.J. |
Welcome back, T.J! What took ya so long? :lol:
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Originally Posted by gsl-se addict
(Post 8424075)
Welcome back, T.J! What took ya so long? :lol:
~T.J. |
Originally Posted by RotorMotorDriver
(Post 8425626)
Plus the girlfriend got sick of me saying I miss it and told me to work on it. I dont think she realizes what she started :hahaha:
~T.J. |
Yeah, thats about what went through my head too!
The pile of parts for the car is growing. Just ordered a new radiator the other day. Still on the lookout for an electric fan, and a set of seats. Otherwise, I just need to start the porting, and overall assembling of the car to see what Im missing along the way. ~T.J. |
Originally Posted by RotorMotorDriver
(Post 8412164)
Well, as some of you may have noticed (probably not many of you new faces), Ive been posting around the forum more and more lately...
Recently, I decided to finally do something with the shell that was left of my near mint 1983 GSL that was stolen 5 years ago (as of next month). It started out just poking around with what I had sitting around still, and I eventually found myself looking for parts here. Next thing I knew, I was picking up a running lower mileage long block 12A, Barely used Racing Beat Holly for a street port, and barely used Racing Beat street port exhaust. I will be rebuilding and porting the 12A to match the intake and exhaust and tossing it in the car. The intake and exhaust came off a semi fresh street ported and rebuilt engine that was putting down nearly 140 HP at the rear wheels, so Im aiming for about that as well to start with. Anyway, after picking those parts up, I ordered a new Holley fuel pump, regulator, and pressure gauge. I also ordered a new radiator, and all new belts, hoses, plugs, wires, filters, etc for the engine install. I still need to get my rebuild kit from Atkins, but thats coming soon. Hopefully I will be picking that up next week. I also need new seats since those were stolen as well. I have my eye on a set of nice cloth buckets that I think I might go with however. Before the car was stolen, I was running a Rotary Shack Weber 45 DCOE, DLIDFIS with 3 MSD coils, Racing Beat stock port exhaust, Centerforce clutch, front mount oil cooler, electric fan, etc all on a stock port engine. So, the Holley will be a whole new game for me, as will the ported engine. Future plans after its running include DLIDFIS again, electric fan again, wide band O2, repairing the stolen stereo, coil overs front and rear, camber plates, poly bushings, Tokico Illuminas, wheels, tires, brakes, blah blah. Im also thinking I might eventually go the route with the Holley I ORIGINALLY had planned with my Weber, which was a blow through turbo setup. You know, the usual mods :D Anyway, I just wanted to say hi to all the "old" people who know me, and a new "hello" to all the new faces that dont. ~T.J. Im still here :) Well sometimes I am. I check in here every once in a while. Nice to see you back. Of course Im still looking for a 7. Its getting harder and harder to find one tho. Is there nothing near Evansville, IN? Damn. Hell I have some high expectations tho. No, or damn near no rust, and a 1st gen. I guess most of them have been crushed by now :( |
Mike, glad to see youre still around also! Man, to this day I still wish I was able to buy your car. I was just looking at those videos you had posted of it not too long ago when I was motivating myself to work on mine again.
I feel your pain in the search. It seems to me that theyre getting harder and harder to find also, and when you do, people think theyre plated with gold. I remember buying a running driving complete car more than once for $500. Hell, I couldnt find a running ENGINE for that when I went looking, it took forever to get one I could afford. Anyway, good luck in your search! ~T.J. |
Ordered my Black Magic radiator fan today, so the list is getting shorter. From what I can think of off the top of my head, I still need the rebuild kit (just havent driven to get it from Atkins), ignition coils (for DLIDFIS), and some seats. I plan to re-build my front oil cooler lines as well, but for the most part, I have almost everything I need!
~T.J. |
Well, life got in the way as usual, and my "daily driver" WRX turned into an STi swapped car with a JDM motor after basically everything broke (new motor, transmission, drive line, rear diff, hubs, brakes, wheels, tires, etc). Now that Im done with that thing, I finally got around to dragging the RX7 out from where it was being kept.
I picked up a semi street ported motor (intake only) the other day for a good price. Its a Pineapple rebuilt motor, and seems to be in good shape. Came out of a running driving car and scooted along pretty well. I will be using the Holley intake and RB exhaust on this motor. Hopefully it serves me well. I have a pile of housings and plates as well as the RB porting templates so I can practice my own porting for my next motor I plan to build myself. Once I have it "perfected", I have a set of near perfect 12A plates and housings I will port and use in a motor. So, pictures? There are a lot... Here are pictures from today, recovering from its dormant state its been in for 7 years. Please note, the car was washed about 2 years ago, otherwise it would be much worse. This is the beginning of pulling it out (winch and snatch block, all 4 wheels siezed) https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1891.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1893.jpg Here its out a ways, but the driveline which was hanging down needed to be moved, so I had to try and get under there to deal with that https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1894.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1895.jpg Here we are out of the woods and into the cul de sac finally https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1896.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1897.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1900.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1901.jpg Prepping for loading onto the trailer https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1898.jpg Needed a little help from the winch to get all the way up there https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1903.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1904.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1906.jpg ~T.J. |
Now that it was on the trailer and out of deep storage, the first stop was the car wash of course! The ratchet straps across the hood are only holding the hood down since there is no latch or bolts holding it to the car, theyre not holding the car to the trailer, lol. Just wanted to point that out, lol.
https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1907.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1908.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1909.jpg After a little work with a pressure washer, heres what you get https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1912.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1913.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1914.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1915.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1916.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1921.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1922.jpg Once it finally arrived at home, I decided to spend a little time with the buffer and see how much more shine I could salvage from the paint (it needed paint/body before it was parked). I managed to get it rather clean, and plenty good for a "fun car" until I can get it comepletely resprayed. Its much more obvious in person, but in this picture you can see the blemishes in the paint its always had on the surface above the tail lights. A little work with the buffer and you can get a nice clean surface like the one on the top side above the body line. I did some more work on it around the roof, rear hatch, etc and will continue to restore the paint as much as I can. Its coming out pretty nice for sitting 7 years though! https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...7/IMG_1925.jpg ~T.J. |
For those who dont know, here are some before theft/after theft pictures...
Here she was not too long before she was stolen on the outside https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g.../DSC013201.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...e/DSC02168.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...sengerSide.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...e/DSC02155.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...riversSide.jpg Heres the inside https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...Dsc02156-1.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...Dsc02157-1.jpg And here is the old engine setup https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...e/DSC02159.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...e/Dsc02158.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...e/Dsc02160.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...e/Dsc02161.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...e/Dsc02166.jpg ~T.J. |
This is what it looked like after it was pulled out from behind the house of the fucktards that stole it from me
https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...t/Dsc02192.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...t/Dsc02191.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...t/Dsc02187.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...t/Dsc02186.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...t/Dsc02188.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...t/Dsc02189.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...t/Dsc02190.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...t/Dsc02193.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...t/Dsc02194.jpg |
omg.. ..just wow @ the growth on the car! :)
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So, currently as it sits, I picked up a good running motor the other day along with a new clutch. I also have a Racing Beat street port Holley intake system, race float bowl conversion, heat shields, etc. A Racing Beat street port exhaust system, Holley fuel pump, pressure regulator and under hood gauge, brand new Black Magic electric fan, all tune up parts to include belts and hoses, etc. I have a new steering column to replace the one the thieves destroyed, and matching locks for both doors and the hatch.
The main thing is going to be finishing the engine bay restoration with some paint so I can start piecing together where things go. Cleaning, painting, installing, etc. I also need to run all new fuel/brake lines under the chassis to the appropriate places, find out what else I need to order as far as master/slave cylinders, calipers, rotors, etc on top of what I already know I need (gaskets and things). I need to find some seats, get my other set of matching wheels for it, new tires eventually, etc. I even have some body work to do with some dents and dings. The list is long, but its a heck of a project for now. Should keep me busy for a long while! ~T.J. |
Originally Posted by hwnd
(Post 9834887)
omg.. ..just wow @ the growth on the car! :)
I have all the pictures from the FIRST time it was rebuilt when it came home from the junk yard with a blown motor and 80,000 original miles. It currently still only has about 100,000 miles on it, lol. ~T.J. |
Damn, sad seeing the car after it was stolen. How did you find them?
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Theres a long thread started by me years ago that details it. Heres the link: https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generation-specific-1979-1985-18/recovered-i-found-my-car-long-post-212837/
As for whats going on with the car now, here are some updates. Dont mind the camera phone pictures, and these are posts from my forum so Im just quoting whats been "missed" here. I started playing around with primer today. I need to do some real masking and get another can or two to finish it off. Im going to get the factory color mixed tomorrow at Wesco probably and put into spray cans so I can spray that. Once thats done, I will clear it all and I can start putting the engine bay back together. Dont judge this, it was done in the dark with no masking at all, haha. https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00228-1853.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00228-1853.jpg I need to lay out the harness and get it clamped/tied down in the factory spots, as well as start piecing together the brackets and such that need to go back in. At the same time, the motor will be cleaned up and dropped in along with the transmission once paint is done. After that, the intake and exhaust can go on the motor (and under the car), and I can start figuring out the plumbing for running the fuel lines from the tank all the way up, as well as the pump mounting, and regulator mounting under the hood (probably in the same spot it was with the Weber above). Im sure theres more that Im forgetting right now, but it will all come in time! |
Heres is a day or so later (yesterday)...
Well, I decided masking was too much work, so I did this. Sorry for the crappy cell pics with bad lighting. https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00303-1948.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00303-1948.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00303-1948.jpg In case you cant figure it out, I tore the whole front end off the car (fenders, header, pop up lights, bumper and covers, etc). In reality, I just decided that rather than have a masked paint edge where the bay meets the fenders, I wanted it to carry past (under) the fenders, and I wanted to get the core support and such painted at the same time which I couldnt do with the header panel or headlights in place. The plan now however, is to un-do all the primering I just did, haha. Ive decided against using a lacquer primer, and Im going to use an epoxy primer instead. Basically this stuff wipes right off with thinner, so its just going to be a little slow to remove, not a TON of work or anything. Then I will scuff it up and spray the epoxy primer. Once thats laid down, I will be using urethane paint (OEM color) and clear over it. I STILL need to pull some more parts off (steering column/box/idler, and clutch master), do some more prep work (areas now exposed behind bumper on the core support), etc. Once all thats done, I will be pulling the subframe areas and repainting those black (where there is overspray now). Mainly I was "experimenting" with this primer as I said, and have now come up with a hopefully better game plan of sorts. I will update as things progress.. |
And here we are currently (today)...
Well, Im not sure if you call this progress or not, but heres what happened tonight... This is what I started with (as you saw in the previous post), a fully primed engine bay https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00304-1537.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00304-1537.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00304-1537.jpg And this is what I ended with due to my change of heart on primer choice https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00304-1748.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00304-1748.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00304-2036.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00304-2037.jpg I stripped 99% of the lacquer primer off the car tonight so that I can spray a two part epoxy primer later. I also got the clutch master cylinder uninstalled, pulled the steering column, box, and idler arm as you can see in the last couple pictures. Now theres nothing in the way but the wiring harness and I will be able to spray everything all at once. As it stands now, I need to do a little more "washing down" with thinner to get the last little bits of the old primer, then I can re-sand the bay. Im going to hit it with 400 grit since its already been done with 320 once and I dont want to go too deep through the factory paint. Once thats all done, I picked up some PPG wax and grease remover to get the whole thing cleaned up and ready for the primer. As I said, I will be spraying a 2 part epoxy primer, so it should work really well rather than the cheaper less durable lacquer primer. Also, note to self (or anyone else), get a respirator. I was using my HVLP gun and thinner to get the old primer off, and when its misted and sprayed like that, look out. |
Heres the summary for the past weekend... Not much to report. Need some nice weather now.
As for this weekend, we drove down to Oregon on Saturday for a day trip to Cannon Beach. Had some good food and ice cream, walked the beach, etc then headed home. Slept in a little late Sunday, and had errands to run. I got some new tools and stuff for working on the 7, but didnt get much progress done. What I did however get done, was that I got some more undercoating stripped off (the last of it I think), got the areas where the idler arm, clutch master, and steering box were mounted scuff sanded, as well as got some more of the old primer off. Oh! Also, a while back I had bought a complete steering column with ignition, switch cluster, etc as well as both door locks and the rear hatch lock from a parts car. The catch was - the key was broken off in the ignition. I got the key out a while back, and finally got to the hardware store today to get a new one made. They were able to copy it perfectly fine, and the new key works great in the ignition and locks. So, I now have a complete set of locks for the car plus a working ignition. One less thing on the list. Basically now Im just waiting for nice weather. Once I get some decent temps (and humidity), I can do a little more thinner cleaning, a final soap/water wash down, then wax/grease remover, tack cloth, and spray the primer finally. Waiting on you mother nature... |
Looking good. Keep up the good work, that car has had a rough life.
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It sure has. Like I said, it will be nice once I finally get primer laid down in there, weather permitting. Then I can scuff it up and get color and clear in there, and start installing my stock pile of parts finally.
~T.J. |
Before primer semi-masked off and no strut assemblies. I decided to pull them for this evolution of primering/painting. Basically, this is how the car will remain until the final coat of clear goes on. https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00308-1311.jpg After spraying primer https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00308-1446.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00308-1446.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00308-1447.jpg ~T.J. |
So what is the reason for removing the undercoating? Just to save weight? Are you going to reapply? I have a FB that I'm in the process of restoring, but cant do much at the moment. Only the free stuff like shining parts and cleaning interior.
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I only removed the undercoating where it was "over sprayed" into the engine compartment. It was splattered all up the firewall, inner fenders, etc - its even on the underside of the hood. The car being white with black rubber splattered all over just didnt look good and never looked "clean". I just stripped it down so it would have a nice clean gloss look to the engine bay. If you look at a couple of the pictures I posted when it had the Weber side draft on it, you can see what I mean on the firewall where there is overspray.
The inner fenders and the sides of the "frame rails" on the engine bay side are stripped, but its still along the bottom and outsides. As for the firewall, I only went back to the first "hump" in the transmission tunnel. In the head on picture looking down the tunnel, you can see the "hump" Im talking about, from there back is still undercoated. In the last picture I posted if you look close in the tranny tunnel, you can actually see the texture where there is still undercoating, as well as the line on the inside of the frame rail where the coating starts under the car. I will actually be reapplying undercoating in the wheel wells after I reinstall the inner fenders in there. The car has virtually no rust, and I believe thats why. I had to break the seal of the stuff to get the plastic inner fenders out - nothing but dust in there behind the fenders. I was amazed. ~T.J. |
Well, not that you can see in those pictures, but the texture turned out like shit on the primer. I sprayed it too thick (obvious by the runs), so when it dried it wasnt good at all. I needed more primer and planned another coat anyway, so today after work I spent a few hours sanding it all down to a nice finish I can work with. Hopefully I dont fuck it up with the final coat, lol.
https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00309-1943.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00309-1944.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00309-1944.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00309-1944.jpg Just a couple overall shots so far https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00309-1945.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00309-1944.jpg One other thing I did, was I cleaned out the lettering for my VIN real fast with a pick. This primer is such a high build it was nearly filled in. I figure this way, I will have one coat over the numbers, and 2 coats on the rest. The numbers should still look good. Im a LOT happier with this primer though, it works SO much better than the other stuff I had on there. Workability, durability seems to be there, etc. I have hit it a few times with various tools including a wire wheel, steel wool, and 220 grit sand paper, etc to get some rust off, and the primer was hardly affected - the old stuff you could scratch with the strap of a wrist watch. I also did a thinner "rub test" with a clean rag and lacquer thinner, and I saw no color on the rag from the primer after about 30 seconds of rubbing - I took the old stuff off by simply applying thinner and wiping with a rag. It also seems impervious to the PPG wax and grease remover I have, which the old stuff wasnt. Makes it kinda hard to use the wax and grease remover to prep the primered surface for paint when the wax and grease remover REMOVES the primer, haha. I believe the new stuff is going to be rather durable for a long time to come. As I mentioned about the tools, I also got the rust cleaned up on both front bumper mount areas, so when I get more primer, I will spray a final coat on the whole engine bay, a couple on the bumper mount areas, and a couple on the final areas the fender mounts on right behind the doors which will require some creative masking and/or door disassembly. ~T.J. |
Yesterday the temps were good to spray primer, so I sprayed what I was hoping would be the last of it - I was wrong.
I need more primer yet again for areas I couldn't get to this time around (ran out, again), and I need to fix some "flaws" in the newly sprayed stuff. Apparently mother nature thought it would be funny to start blowing wind like mad right after, so I got shit from the tress all over the place, then it started to sprinkle with the wind. Now I have spots where water drops were on the primer. I got pissed and went to McLendons and bought some 6 mil plastic landscape sheeting and hung "walls" around where I'm working. So, once again, I'm just going to sand down those areas yet again, get more primer to fix that area and enough to spray the areas I didn't get to this last time, and maybe someday I will be done spraying primer... On one hand, I feel like this is a big waste of time, but the sanding, fixing these problems, etc will all eventually play into the quality and finish of the paint/clear. A pro might have not made the mistakes or whatever (or had a better environment), but I think overall I'm still on a good track. It just all played out faster in my head than its taking in reality. It also probably would have helped A LOT to have had a plan from the beginning about primer choice, how far I was going to take it apart, etc, haha. Oh well, at least now I also have a fairly decent "spray booth" when it times for color and clear. I will have pictures of the "booth" put up eventually, I have homework and class tonight. I also stopped and got some fresh new hardware for the brackets and things under the hood I will need, OEM styled flange head metric bolts and nuts, zinc plated for corrosion. Factory was that gold cadmium plating or whatever it is, but I plan to paint parts black that used to be grey or gold (water pipes, vacuum pipes, brackets, etc) so the silver will look better. Overall, it will be a white engine bay with black shrouds/brackets/pipes/whatever, and silver hardware. It should be nice looking. ~T.J. |
Im hoping to be driving it this summer. LOTS of work ahead of me to get that to happen though. Anyway, here are some pictures of what I was talking about in the last post. My new "paint booth" and just some general overall pictures of whats going on.
I did a little sanding again tonight and got some flaws taken care of I had been meaning to get to, but theres still more sanding to be done since I need more primer. Im hoping I will only have to spray primer one more time then I will be done with it and can spray color finally. ~T.J. https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00318-1950.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00316-1812.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00318-1950.jpg |
They always come back......
Welcome back |
Hopefully got the last of the primer sprayed today, including a second coat on the fender mounting area thats tucked up behind the doors. I also cleaned up and primed the battery tray so its ready to be painted also. All Im going to show is the battery tray because the car itself looks the same for the most part in the engine bay.
I plan to try and wet sand it tomorrow, and Im hoping I dont hit metal anywhere so I can finally spray some color on it. I really dont think I should, since there are no more "flaws" to fix that might require going all the way down to metal. If I do hit metal, its because I messed up and sanded the same spot too long because Im an amateur, haha. Oh yeah, and I tinkered with some mechanical stuff today. I got the transmission separated from the old blown motor, and all the aftermarket things off I need for the new motor, such as my oil cooler line adapter fittings, oil pressure gauge adapter block, etc. Also pulled the clutch off, since it only had about 20,000 miles on it when the car was stolen, it still looks new. The motor I bought supposedly has a good clutch also, but hey, the more the merrier. Just ask Ashley, I have 4 motors in various states of assembly right now for one car. Maybe I will start posting pictures of that stuff instead of just the same engine bay over and over again, lol. Anyway, hopefully the wet sanding goes well because then I can finally spray some color on it and see how it looks in its factory white paint again! ~T.J. EDIT: Crap! It just occurred to me the weather is supposed to be nice all weekend, and Wesco is closed I think. Meaning, even if I was ready for color, I cant get it until next week. Damn... https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00319-1837.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00319-1837.jpg |
Well, today after work I bought paint (PPG in my factory color code WT) and stuff and pretended to know what I was doing with my paint gun. Before that however, I did a final wet sand with 400 grit (per the tech sheet, which I had also planned anyway), dryed, wax and grease remover, etc and sprayed some color - finally. It went on well for the most part, but my inexperience created a run and a sag which Im going to need to take care of.
Unfortunately, during the disassembly and cleaning of my paint gun, it suffered a loss of a seal of some kind (it fell apart), so Im kind of stuck because I have less than 24 hours before I have to spray clear on my base coat or else I have to scuff and respray my base all over again (meaning more money for color). Im hoping I can sand the run out of the paint without screwing up the color and I can solve my gun problem to just spray clear. If I mess up the color sanding, then I need to buy more color so I can fix it of course, and I would still need to solve my gun problem. How frustrating the gun would die between the two times in its existence in the past 8 years Ive tried to use it... Anyway, here are some pictures of the color. It looks glossy in some spots and matte in others due to the drying process. It drys matte and will get its gloss after I spray clear, hopefully tomorrow. Yes, Im mixing paint in my super clean paint booth with a wood pile https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00323-1828.jpg Check out this action shot... https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00323-1838.jpg ...And another! https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00323-1842.jpg Heres what I ended up with after 2 coats I think it was https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00323-1901.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00323-1903.jpg https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...00323-1902.jpg ~T.J. |
Looks great man. That paint is formula white correct?
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Yes, Formula White. Its still "wet" in those pics which is whats giving it the gloss since I havent hit it with the clear yet. Its much whiter when painted "fresh" than the rest of the car by FAR, but its definitely not SUPER bright white like I think the Dover White is/would be. I used to think I wanted to repaint my car Dover White because the Formula White was too "off-white" - seeing it new kind of changes my mind.
T.J. |
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