cute wee gem Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 Here's the car that will be replacing the white TE Gemini. The aim is to get a reliable, fun, but tidy and sweet looking car for daily use. So a major body overhaul is to be done first thing. Engine options may come later, as for now it will get the G200Z from the TE Few bad pictures of the day after I got it. Previous owner tried painting it pink Very straight body work with a few issues underneath, nothing major though. I'll grab a few photo's tomorrow of progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute wee gem Posted December 24, 2008 Author Share Posted December 24, 2008 Fixed some rust in the door. Sandblasted underneath passenger guard. Best shit ever. This is how it looks when cleaned off and dried, the gold look is the zinc phosphate. Fixed rust in passenger sill, then applied por15 and primed. Bit of panel work on the passenger front door and guard. Holes for mirror welded up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute wee gem Posted December 30, 2008 Author Share Posted December 30, 2008 Rust in sills and inner guards all cut out and welded up. etch primed and chassis blacked. Just waiting on more sandblasting material then engine bay will be stripped and etch primed (my daily got pink stickered so need a ride to town) Will carry on with body work tomorrow and might start masking it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute wee gem Posted December 31, 2008 Author Share Posted December 31, 2008 Got my tyres mounted finally. 165/45/15 all round with a nice little stretch on the 7 and 7.5" rims This is hopefully the final ride height it gets certed at, mocked up on the TE. Have put my custom 20mm spacers on the front to bring them flush Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute wee gem Posted January 4, 2009 Author Share Posted January 4, 2009 Had a pretty good day today, sandblasted all under chassis rails and most of engine bay then por15'd and primed. and also patched up where some body sealer had flew off from sandblaster and all around the fuse box cover thinga ma bob where it had rusted. Primed up bare metal spots and body work. passenger side is 80% done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute wee gem Posted January 5, 2009 Author Share Posted January 5, 2009 Looks like it may be painted before I go back to work! (13th) Roof took about 5 minutes as it only had a few little dings. Most of the drivers side is done minus rear door and front guard. Sandblasted patches of rust in the boot and blah blah blah. Should have the whole car masked up ready to be primed tomorrow, might get my paint mixed up too. Then its block sand block sand block sand. Front valance needs a little attention and also rust in front guards need doing before primer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute wee gem Posted January 8, 2009 Author Share Posted January 8, 2009 Last few days I've worked pretty hardcore on the gem getting everything sweet, even finishing up at 10:30 last night for a 10-11 hour day Trying to get rid of all the rust I can find, even sandblasted the underside of front guards where they had surface rust and tidied them up a bit. Had to weld in decent size patches in the lower front guards. Sealed up and put guards back on yesterday, then did more body work on them as well as front and rear valances. Few boring pics.. Spent half a day doing tedious sanding on the door jambs and inside of doors, masking up etc. Then primed This afternoon I set out to pull the engine and gearbox from the TE as I need a car for work. Need to pull the pedal box out as the TX's one has been robbed (they started using the TX as a parts car, luckily got it before they stole the mint bumpers and ruined it even more) It's now out and on the engine stand ready for a quick clean up. Tomorrow I'll start block sanding and hopefully get it in its last primer coat by the end of the day. (was hoping to get it painted tomorrow but decided not to rush things..) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute wee gem Posted January 12, 2009 Author Share Posted January 12, 2009 Well I ended up spending the weekend away but spent about 10 hours on it today and will hopefully be fully painted one day after work this week (back to work tomorrow ftl) With a last minute decision I decided not to dye/paint all the interior black and am using the light blue stuff from the TE as it suits the final colour I reckon it'll look sweet. I'll just dye the carpets black. Started masking up for the black window surrounds, same as stock paint but a lot better (the factory can't make a straight line for shit) I'm also going to add a light blue pinstrip to break up any waviness in the masking to match the interior and blue pearl Here's how she looked at about 9 tonight. Just a couple of patches to quickly sand as well as all door jambs then it's ready to paint. I have painted the engine bay, under side of bonnet, boot jambs and underside of boot today but haven't got any decent pics as they're blurry. Colour is silver with a very mild blue pearl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute wee gem Posted January 13, 2009 Author Share Posted January 13, 2009 Turns out I didn't go to work today, I was gonna type a bunch of shit here but I don't think anyone will read it so here's some pics instead. Blacked window surrounds and base coats. Cleared coated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute wee gem Posted January 13, 2009 Author Share Posted January 13, 2009 Looked sweet with sun coming down tonight on the boot. Unmasked tonight and polished up a few bits like lenses and threw them on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute wee gem Posted January 25, 2009 Author Share Posted January 25, 2009 Going to go for wof tomorrow, it's going to fail for sure but hopefully not too badly! Edit: Paint came out pretty average, could have had another 5-10 hours on prep to be honest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute wee gem Posted February 1, 2009 Author Share Posted February 1, 2009 Well she's all warranted now Still needs a cut and polish, pinstripes, wheels spacers and various other things to do. Probably won't happen for a while now as I'd rather just be driving it Went with early V8 Commodore springs in the rear which have a better spring rate than the king springs, I want to upgrade to LC-LJ Torana springs up front also. TXs don't have a factory swaybar in the rear but it has a far snappier turn-in compared to the TE which suits my driving style a bit better, surprised with how well the 165's cope as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute wee gem Posted May 25, 2009 Author Share Posted May 25, 2009 Plans changed, going to be running a fairly standard 4zc1-t now instead of the g200z. The swap won't be till I get a new daily driver as I'll need to take it off the road to do the swap. Engine is from a turbo Piazza, and will most likely be running fairly standard boost from the tiny little IHI turbo for the mean time, atleast. Started stripping it down over the last week or so and started some port matching and a general tidy up of the casting marks and valve seats. Some photo's are a bit average, forgot to take some of it complete Here's one of the inlet ports 90% done. Scribed the exhaust ports and exhaust manifold then matched, still got a bit left to do on the exhaust side. Degreased and painted, bottom end all looks fine. It has had the big ends done at some stage as the bearings are .25 over size. Took a while to find a full gasket kit in NZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute wee gem Posted October 24, 2009 Author Share Posted October 24, 2009 Got some big end, main and thrust bearings for this and a VF24 on a top mount Honda manifold, which I'll chop up. Made a flange for the 4ZC1 head, just needs cutting to shape and tidying up, then fiddling to make it fit and weld together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute wee gem Posted January 26, 2010 Author Share Posted January 26, 2010 Ordered new pistons last night, $240 for 1mm oversize pistons and rings, should hopefully take it to engine builders on Friday to have them bore/hone, lighten flywheel, skim block & head. Might order a MLS gasket from Aus too. Bit of a mock up, engine's going to sit lower on land rover mounts (probably) just need to mod sump slightly as it fouls steering rack. No other cutting even for dizzy/heater fan as bringing it lower makes everything clear. Just need to relocate drivers side heater hose as it comes out right behind the dizzy. Getting argon bottle next week and will start fiddling with exhaust manifold ;D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute wee gem Posted April 6, 2010 Author Share Posted April 6, 2010 So my welder is a sack of shit that had to be sent back again, so I borrowed my mates mig and finished manifold Looks a bit yuck with gloss paint, but you get the idea. Will be heat wrapped anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute wee gem Posted April 26, 2010 Author Share Posted April 26, 2010 Bored out fuel rail to suit VR4 450cc injectors which have been cleaned and flow tested. I cleaned up the lower part of the manifold minus top gasket faces and painted both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute wee gem Posted May 1, 2010 Author Share Posted May 1, 2010 Alloy Civic radiator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute wee gem Posted February 12, 2012 Author Share Posted February 12, 2012 Almost 2 years since an update! Been piecing the engine together slowly this week, started making a front facing plenum from some scrap I got at work, pretty basic design Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute wee gem Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 This part actually has 2 flanges welded to it (vivid shape), which bolts to the lower half of the manifold Welds are getting better, this is one of the last/better ones Still a bit of work left to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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