Day 25: After taking a couple weeks off to get my family settled back into a routine after my wife gave birth to my son, I was finally able to get back out to the garage. I got the first rocker panel hole patched. I also got some of the undercoating done on the wheel wells and under body. Next up is the bigger patch, then some underbody patches and then it'll be time to prep for paint.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/bbe93798.jpg

Congrats on your son, make sure he grows up loving spinning triangles!

congrats on the son!

So it's been a while since I've updated the thread. Over the last few weeks I've been working on cleaning up the interior to prep for paint, cleaning up the underbody as well, and ordering parts.

I picked up new competition spec bushings for the front and rear control arms, rear subframe, front sway bar, and rear hubs. I also picked up braided brake lines and Hawk HP+ brake pads. All but the pads were sourced from Mazdatrix. Pads came from Corksport.

With the long weekend I plan to complete the undercarriage paint, swap out all my bushings and have the car back down on the suspension soon. I want to paint soon as well, since the weather here is getting decent...you know what they say about making hay.

Making babies? what?

LOL, yeah. I think of it as creating garage assistants from scratch, LOL.

Tonight the car really beat me up. I decided to try to break down the front brakes the rest of the way. I used my compressor to function check the calipers. Turns out my odd feeling brake pedal was probably caused by 5 of my 8 pistons being seized up. Also, my front rotors are seized on the hub. I'll probably have to break out a torch to get them off.

Drained a bit of my motivation.

Managed to snag both calipers for $17 ea...only crappy part is the $40 for shipping cause of living overseas. They always find some way to rip you off. Should have them next week...also got the clips and guide pins. Still got two "new" calipers for less than $100.

Also, finalizing the deal on a APR 200 wing for half of retail.

sounds great! don't let the motivation drop. I just started my engine/tranny swap on my vert, I need to see you finish so I don't lose the faith! :)

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I have finished the under carriage repairs. The only remaining welding work is the roll bar and the antenna shave. Tomorrow I'll spray bomb the under carriage with white paint and finish cleaning up the front suspension parts. I can't wait to finish putting it all together, it's going to look pretty cool.

Today marked 33 days of working on the car (non-consecutive). I spray bombed the undercarriage, pressed on some front bushings, and painted a few suspension components. Unfortunately I forgot a few of the rear suspension bushings and I already blew my budget for this paycheck on a APR 200 wing (remember the purpose of the build is for the 'Ring.) So I'll have to wait to order them, which pushes back the time line a bit of getting the car on it's own 4 wheels. I still feel pretty good about the progress of the whole build though.

Here's some pics:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/ea15364a.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/096860f0.jpg

looks great

yea,looks really good...make more money so i can see more pics soon..lol

Oh there's plenty of parts to still be put on.

Tonight I'm going to depower my steering rack and paint it. I also need to clean up the steering knuckles.

subscribing...

Received my $16 rebuilt calipers today. Need to get some caliper paint, so I can match em to the paint scheme. I also de-powered my steering rack last night. Only took me 2 hours (as opposed to the 4-5 suggested in the DIY archive thread). It was pretty easy...I'm pretty sure I have the 17:1 rack though, so if it's too rough then I'll just buy a 15:1 rack. I don't think it'll be bad though.

Tonight I'll be painting the rack and prepping/painting the spindles. I'd like to have the whole front subframe assembly together and the rear taken apart this weekend.

Looks awesome. Subscribing.

Define "too tough" .... You do realize that a lower ratio its more difficult to turn :wink:

I have the 15:1 power rack and its great, I replaced the rack and lines and rebuilt the pump about 3 years ago and I've had no problems. Its light in the parking lot and heavy in the twisties...perfect. Tthen again I'm notpushing 10/10ths on a race track w/ slicks, so perhaps the additional feedback from a manual rack has more value in that circumstance.

My first fc had the 20:1 manual rack and it was awful, like 3.5 turns lock to loc, felt like I was driving a bus. If I were going to de-power a p/s rack (the only way to go imo) I would go 17:1 for a street car (50% or more street driving) and 15:1 for a race car.

Well according to the archived DIY, I should have the 17:1 and the 15:1 is supposed to be the most livable one. Only time will tell. I do pretty minimal steering input while driving anyway.

Tonight I painted my brake calipers (since I only had an hour to work anyway). I used red high temp and white high temp. I used the white for the lettering.

Here's a pic before baking them:
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/fffa6830.jpg

BTW, the calipers have no problem handling the 160C bake, but the little plastic plug that they put in the threaded hole for the brake line to keep dirt out...not so much. Luckily it stayed in one piece and left only a small amount of residue. So, in the future, I'll be making sure I remove that before the bake, lol.

Tomorrow I should get most of the subframe assembly put back together.

Day 37: Tonight I got the front subframe partially reassembled. I'm waiting to put the hubs on till I get a chance to really clean them up. The rotors had seized onto the hubs and required a press to separate the two. I also need to get some anti-seize to coat the inside of the rotor hats. I also started to shave the factory spoiler holes and the antenna hole. Tomorrow I'll do the bondo and start looking into filling the sunroof hole.

Here's some pics:
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_1399.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_1403.jpg

Tonight I completed 80% of the bondo and power washed the rear subframe. Tomorrow I finish the bondo and prep the subframe for paint.

hurry up and then come work on mine, i am lazy :D

This weekend I cleaned the garage, stripped down the motor a bit and got the sun roof 90% welded in. I ran out of gas (as usual) so I couldn't finish the welding.

I need to get a new wire wheel so I can finish prepping the rear subframe for paint. I'll try to finish breaking down the rear control arms tomorrow so I can prep them for paint and get the new bushing pressed in.

Here's some pics:
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/fc6aaa6e.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/6b88d20c.jpg

lookin good! hey, how much did you pay for your rotisseries, and where did you get them?

150 for the rotisserie. Got it from a buddy in the Czech republic.

nice work, similar to my project, thanks for the inspiration!

Yesterday I broke down the rear control arms a bit and finished the bondo on the rear of the car.

I'm going on vacation for a few weeks in the states and then I'll take a week back here, at home, to work on the car. We'll see what I can get done when I get back.

I forgot to mention in my last update: When I removed the rear calipers to check their condition and function, one was seized. That brings my car-wide seized piston count to 6 out of 10. It's no wonder I had such crappy pedal feel. Should be 1000% better with all new calipers, hard lines, and stainless braided lines, and a rebuilt master cylinder.

Little mid-vacation update: During the Ohio leg of my vacation I managed to gather up all the tools I should need to finish the car (tubing bender, double flaring tool, etc). I also ransacked my old tool box that I forgot I had at my grandparent's house, that was just full of useful tools. I should be in good shape for making my mid-August Ramstein Car Show deadline.

On a separate note I found out I made Technical Sergeant (E-6) and should sew on my new rank (and receive my higher pay) by the end of the year...it's been a pretty good vacation so far.

Day 42: Today I got back to work on the car for the first time in almost month (vacation). My deadline looms ominously, 18 Aug. I finished welding in the sunroof, almost finished disassembling the rear control arms, and got all of my new tools put away. Tomorrow Higgi will be here, with some molds for me to make some pretty new parts. I'll also grind off the face of the welds and start bonding the roof and finish disassembly of the rear control arms. Hoping to be done with paint by the weekend.

Day 44: Over the last couple days I've been working on prepping the car for paint. I got my paint ordered and should be picking it up tomorrow. I also got the molds for the FC2000 bumper, OEM fenders, and URAS hood vent. I have to push my paint deadline to the weekend after this one, to give me enough time to fab up the parts and prep them for paint. Today I got the rear control arms completely disassembled and got the engine bay primed. Tomorrow I'll finish prepping the interior and prime it. I may try to paint the engine bay and interior their final color so the car can come off the rotisserie. Here's some pics:

Molds:
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_0335.jpg
Engine Bay:
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_0337.jpg
Welded in sunroof panel:
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_0338.jpg

I still can't believe how this build has spiraled out of control. Props!

LOL, the goal of the build is still the same, I just put a bit more effort towards reaching the goal.

I also think I have a goal lap time. A Bridge to Gantry time of around 8:00...that's pretty quick, lol. And since I have my GoPro, you can bet there will be lots of videos as I chronicle my quest to reach that goal.

Day 45: Yesterday I got the interior primed and picked up my paint. Because of the extra work I created for myself with making the bumper, fenders, and hood vent, I won't make my deadline to have the whole thing painted this weekend, but I should at least have the interior and engine bay sprayed. Then things can start going back together.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_0339.jpg

Day 47: Got the second coat of bondo applied and sanded off the roof. Also touched up some primer scuffing on the interior and sprayed the door jams a bit. Tomorrow the bondo will be done. Then it will be time to prime the rest of the main portion of the body. If I'm lucky I'll get some time with the doors. Not a ton of work to do there, but it's one step closer to paint.

I'm thinking about shaving the moldings/trim off the sides...thoughts?

Here's a pic of the roof:
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_0341.jpg

I've always thought that without the character lines of the side trim the FC looks "fat" from a profile view.
Whether the moldings are body color or black doesn't matter but eliminating them altogether looks wrong to me.

I wish I had the photoshop skills to do up a couple down and dirty pics with my bumper and wing added. I think the giant wing off the back will kinda balance it out. I'm just not sure though, and it will add a couple days to the build...and my deadline is bearing down on me pretty hard.

Pics with moldings shaved....

Workshop 59 - 16th of February 2004

Shaved mouldings look awful. Don't get carried away with your new body work skills and do something we'll all regret.

Thanks Higgi.

Sharingan, definitely nothing "new" about the skills, I've been doing body work for almost a decade now. I do agree though, without the lines the sides of the car look very bland. It was one of those "I'm doing this already, so why not do this as well" kind of things.

Lol, well I stand corrected. One out of two ain't bad haha, just so long as the car doesn't suffer.

+1

Day 48: Yesterday I spread on some more roof bondo. I decided to take a break from sanding though. I gutted out the doors and got them ready for paint. I also cleaned up the rear bumper. Maybe today I'll get back to sanding...my hands are raw, so my motivation is low on the sanding part. I need to get the door's cut up so maybe I'll do that instead.

Quick tip for those that don't know about MotoIQ.com: When you're working with the sealant that holds the vapor barrier crap to your door, it's a bitch to clean up. If you pull on it quickly you can get the majority of it off, then you can use WD-40 to clean the residue off...works amazingly well.

Day 49: Completed the work on one door. I cut out all the metal that wasn't necessary to the structure of the door or the function of the door handle and window.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_0346.jpg

Not a huge fan of shaved moldings. But your progress is amazing. Keep it up!

Day 50: Door number two is done and I now have the supplies to do the fiberglass body parts. Tomorrow I'll scuff the doors to prep them for paint. I'll also snag some degreaser and some tack clothes. Hoping to have the interior and engine bay painted this weekend (a week after my original goal).

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...4/IMG_0348.jpg

This thread makes me feel like I'm doing nothing with my life, lol. At least I should be done with paint first.

I'm lucky to have a very understanding wife, that is cool with me spending all day at work, then hitting the garage after dinner, until it's time for my 3 boys to go to bed. She knows I'll be absolutely miserable if I don't meet my deadline of 18 Aug. During the week I only really get an hour and a half to two hours in the garage, unless I get off work early.

Day 51: Today I had to make a supply run after work and I helped a buddy put his new steering wheel in his Skyline. So I got the doors scuffed and a little roof sanding done. I'm kinda at my wits end with the sanding...think I'm gonna borrow a DA, smooth it out and just prime it. Who cares if it's a bit wavy, it's a race car, lol.

As soon as the clear coat dries, you'll care. You've already put in the time an effort, just a little bit more and you'll be able to see your reward. It'll all be worth it in the end.

Well, see, we haven't had much discussion about the actual paint job itself. It's being painted a non-metallic, non-pearl, plain jane white. Then, after the clear coat is cured enough, everything from the molding line up is going to get wet sanded. Then from the high crown line that runs just above the door handle and through the fender, up, I'm doing a red design using sharpie paint pen. Once that's complete it will be re-cleared and wet sanded a final time to level everything out and polished. So between the second coat of clear and the red design, I'm pretty sure I can hide what little waves there end up being in the body work. I'm snagging a DA today, so we'll see.