Niiiiiiice you finally got a build thread. I wish you and I much luck on our endeavors to restore these old things. While you are down there, I would clean it and shoot it with some herculiner and some rubberized undercoat

 

I think I am actually going to pull the engine and tranny out and clean, repair, replace everything the right way. I have a ton of Z32 parts still floating around, and I know a lot of them work on the S14 as well, so that is a plus. I am going to clean, and undercoat most of the front end, just for aesthetics sake mostly. My OCD gets pretty bad.

Mike- You know the old adage "He who dies with the most toys, wins"

 

Sweet dude! The Texas sun is a bitch- but it's GREAT for keeping things rust-free=) That's a lot of toys... I respect your dedication!

 

Awesome, thanks mike. I pulled off my front end today, down to the core support at least, found a lot of issues. It has been hit in the front, I know. The bolts and studs for the bumper support are all broken and missing lol. I cut out a lot of the crap and will be making brackets for replacements. I will get the front end lined up if it's the last thing I do. Pics to follow when I get home.

 

Ok, a little progress has been made. I got the front end as squared away as it is going to get without cutting everything off and welding on a new front end. Stripped out all the lights, spoiler, door handles, mirrors, and bumpers to prep for primer and body work. I have a nifty sanding setup that hooks to my shop vac and my air compressor and is virtually dustless Love it! For the most part I am sanding down to the original base coat, except on the bumpers and spoiler and such. Those are getting stripped 100%. I may decide to strip to the metal and proceed. We shall see. Here are some pics.

And the biggest trouble spot. I am not sure how this happened, but it is obvious that the PO sucked at life and wanted a quick sale. There was no primer to speak of under the filler, so there is some surface rust on the roof skin. There is no way to get behind it to knock it out with a dolly since there is a support beam there. May have to cut the skin off and repair then weld back in, we shall see.

i still need to mess with the windows and take em all out. Not looking forward to that

Thanks for looking. I am going to prime it as soon as I get it stripped, and then do the body work, then primer sealer and I think I will try out a single stage urethane. Texas sun is evil on clear coat, so maybe the SS will help out. Anyone have any ideas on the roof thing??

 

Just pull the windows or have someone come to pull them for you. It shouldn't be much to have them come out. By the pics it looks like just surface rust. I'd plan for a lot of sanding and shit but I don't think it has gone all the way thru.


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It is definitely only surface rust. I guess the real issue is the fact that it is rather crumpled in. I am not really wanting to use 4lbs of filler on it, but I guess if I have to, I will.

 

Oh I didnt realize it was crumbled in a little. I would just take it to some body shops and ask what they can do for you. If you can get off a lot of the filler and take it down to metal, the body shop should be able to make it smooth again with a slide hammer but just ask.

The roof skin is really thin that is why welding it would be really iffy. The metal will deform when you weld it so i would just see what they can do. 3M makes really good sandpaper and I'd just hack away at that filler.

Also when you sand and stuff, do not use any kind of media blasting or chemical strippers. Just do it by hand or with sanders and stuff. The short explanation is that there is no foolproof way to make sure you neutralized the chemicals and stuff so just do it by hand and spend the 20-40 hours that you need to on prepwork.

I do not look forward to sanding either but since that is the time tested way to do it, thats the way you should do it.

 

Nice Kouki someday I will get one

 

thanks sanddog. She is a work in progress.

I am sanding by hand, I have a 8" da, a 4" rotary, and a 9" orbital. All of them hook directly to my shop vac and suck all the dust up. Wonderful tools. I was debating the slide hammer, just need to find a welder to fill the holes correctly. I have a tig at work, might try that. My goal with this is to learn to do this all my self. I am a mechanic, just don't know a lot about auto body.

 

There is a wonderful tool called a stud gun . It is used to weld small studs to the crumpled panel and then a specific slide hammer is used to pull the dent out . The idea behind this is to not drill holes all in the body . I have done my fair share of body work , just something else to think about .

 

yeah I have seen those. I have seen they have attachments for a mig. I wonder if they are compatible with a flux core mig. Keep down cost before my wife kills me. Lol

 

So I wanted to get my wheels stripped down and powdercoated before I had to go back to work, so I took this week to start on that. Here is what I Have so far.

I started off with bronze Gram Light 57C wheels. The paint had seen better day to say the least. I started sanding the wheel down a bit.

The lip had a bit of curb rash on it, but I took care of that too.

Finally after all the sanding and stripping was done, I ended up with this.

And now I am here

A freshly powder coated Satin Black Wheel. I am going to order the little Gram Lights stickers for it, and get new black center caps in black and red. I like it Its nice having your own powder coating facility for sure.

Oh, and I picked this up for the 240 as well

Full GTO 5.7L Drivetrain, all accessories, T56 tranny, everything. I have a few parts I need to get her going, but for the most part it is all there. More to follow on that.

 

SIKKY swap kit is going to go well with that

 

I think I am actually going to do it all myself. The entire reason for all this is to learn to do everything myself. I retire from the Army in 8 years and would like to open a shop at that point. So, learning experience is key.

 

Nono, the kit. Not the labor.

Mount Kits :: High Performance Mount Kits

 

ugh another lsx swap -_-

 

yes, an ls swap. At this point in time, unless I bought a Ferrari or Porsche engine, all swaps are played out. And for the price I paid ( just traded random z parts for everything I need) I am not complaining.

 

regasket and full tune up is a no brainer at this point!

 

Don't mind D, he's on his what, 3rd or 4th SR swap? None of which drive.

Be nice to see this when it's done.