SR ROLLA Posted September 1, 2018 Author Share Posted September 1, 2018 Been getting further and further into the stripping Ended up finding a few patches where some repairs and ripples have been skimmed over and smoothed out with filler straight over bare metal. Very light rust between the filler and panel. Bummer. So I've ended up stripping quite a lot back to bare metal, which I was hoping I wouldn't have to do. The plan is to get some good rust killer to make sure it's all cleaned up good then etch prime, thin skim of filler for the low spots and then back to sanding sanding sanding. Looks like there has been repairs under both tail lights, slightly munty welding, but nothing too bad, hidden with bog over bare metal again so that will need a bit of careful shaping to get it all straight and nice. Then there's this: Not quite sure what I'm looking at. Is the black corrosion? or some kind of rust-proofing layer? black primer? and why the bubbly/spotty texture? Can anyone identify what's going on here, do I need to strip all of this area back too? Any thoughts chat HERE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted September 28, 2018 Author Share Posted September 28, 2018 Finally took the sunroof out. Was a little worried about that job but it came out easy as. Unfortunately skills and budget both prevent the removal of this hole, so it will be going back in later. Slowly getting there, found a couple more patches of filler on metal and light corrosion under the paint, so a few more bare metal patches but all looking okay so far, nothing I shouldn't be able to fix myself. The drivers door and rear quarter, the back and the boot are all done and looking okay. About halfway through the roof too which is looking pretty straight and good for the most part. The larger, flatter panels like the boot and roof are coming together much quicker than all the complicated shaped bits around the back half of the car. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted March 26, 2019 Author Share Posted March 26, 2019 So, 6 months later, I still haven't quite finished all the stripping. Found a few interesting things lurking under then paint. Nothing drastic, but things I'd rather not be there. So quite a bit more bare metal than originally intended, but meh, better to know there's no timebombs under the new paint I guess. The passenger side guard had a skim coat of something pink which had rust starting under it. Not great. Also, i found that once I got an edge going I could flake big chunks of the top coat off easily, so that all had to go. Fender top by Thomas Addison, on Flickr Fender side by Thomas Addison, on Flickr I also started taking back the area at the bottom of the guard, which was one of the bits I paid to get repaired at a bodyshop, before it came off the road. I could see that their filler was going over the pink stuff, so thought I better see how far down it went. Fender bottom by Thomas Addison, on Flickr hmmm. bog about 8mm thick over the whole area. The bodyshop were supposed to give the car back to me with no filler (partly to save on cost, partly because I'll need to be going over the whole car anyway and would rather have a good idea what's underneath). I guess this is why they decided to fill their repairs at no extra charge before giving me the car back. Not ideal. Fender repair by Thomas Addison, on Flickr Anyway, sexy all-nude fender now. Bare fender by Thomas Addison, on Flickr Quite keen for a bare metal GTO, but probably best not follow that line of thinking too far… Also, the wobbly, chip-guard covered front valance is now stripped back. Pretty wavy and dinged up but should come up okay, it cuts back under the car at a pretty extreme angle, so you don't really see much of it anyway. Valance by Thomas Addison, on Flickr I discovered when I took the passenger side glass out that the bracket which runs along the bottom of the glass was totally poked. Must have had water sitting in it for a decent amount of time at some stage, rotten as and split most of the way in half. Even the rubber was encrusted with rusty bits welded onto it. Luckily one of the GCs on the GTO FB group had mint one which he dug out and got off to me quick as. So all awesome again now. Glass bracket by Thomas Addison, on Flickr Just the bonnet to go now, so fingers crossed that comes up good without more than a light sand, then It'll be time to prime the whole dang thing! Looking forward to that. Even though there will be a lot more sanding at that stage it should be a dream compared to the ballache that has been getting through all this stuff. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SR ROLLA Posted April 11, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 11, 2019 Looks like i-force has pooped itself and all my images are gone. Bummer. Anyway, drove out of the garage for the first time in who knows how long to give it a bit of a rinse and rearrange the garage. Got a real ratrod vibe going on here. Out and about 1 by Thomas Addison, on Flickr Out and about 2 by Thomas Addison, on Flickr Pretty much done with stripping now, just finishing up the underside of the bonnet. This is the first thing I will paint, get some practice in with the paint gun on a big area that doesn't matter much. I've also been buying things. Found a single NOS fender mirror. These are usually astronomically priced for a pair, on the rare occasion they turn up at all. This one was surprisingly cheap and is super mint. There's one slight scuff on the side which I think will probably polish off completely. Nice. NOS mirror by Thomas Addison, on Flickr Got a cool gear knob to match my kitty cat headlights. Gear stick by Thomas Addison, on Flickr And lastly some 70s galant hubcaps. Really tidy and shiney. One has some curb scuffage, but no big deal. They came up on TM pretty cheap and I thought they make for another nice nanna spec wheel option. My current thinking is to have these, widen some steel wheels with the little centre caps and trim rings I have now and get a set of 14 inch japanese, period appropriate mags, as wide as poss without flaring the guards hubcaps by Thomas Addison, on Flickr 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SR ROLLA Posted November 19, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 19, 2019 So, still chugging away on this, finding all sorts under the paint. Nothing major, just annoying. All in all, very straight and rust free. I have been getting some spray gun tips from a friend, so far so good. A few patches of paint from one of the old resprays reacted weirdly, so had to re-strip back further in those areas. Front guards and both sides of the bonnet are primed and looking good. The rest of the car is all masked up, hoping to get it primed this week. Not very exciting really, but will be a big milestone for me to have it all covered and one colour again. Starting to feel like the end is in sight. Also I figured that while it's still a garage queen for a wee bit longer I might go ahead and get some of these. Will get the paint done, everything back together and warranted. Then, when that's done, fit these and sort out the new suspension. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SR ROLLA Posted December 2, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 2, 2019 Well, hallelujah, real progress that actually looks like something, for once! The car is so small that the actual painting takes very little time. So, after months of slow stripping and prepping, all of a sudden it's starting to feel like it might actually be done one day. Next up is a coat or two of filler primer to sand back and get everything as straight and sharp as poss, then colour. 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted December 5, 2019 Author Share Posted December 5, 2019 Mesh filters for the carbs arrived yesterday. Should be pretty cool. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SR ROLLA Posted February 18, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 18, 2020 I have finally managed to get most of the shaping/repairs done, a few wavy bits and a couple of dings here and there, sorted now. I was also having some problems with leftovers from the old respray reacting with the primer and wrinkling on the roof. I solved the problem by bare metalling the whole roof and starting again, to be sure there was nothing underneath. All good now. So now it's all painted up in filler primer, ready for blocking. It's looking quite good already, pretty crisp and straight. Bonnet and guards not attached properly here, which is why the alignment of the front end is all off. Not bad for a noob effort, I think. There's a tiny bit of fine tuning needed, shapewise, a couple of things which weren't easily visible until it was all light grey. But in general looking pretty good, will block it back and get it as straight as poss, then time for colour, at long last. 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SR ROLLA Posted March 26, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 26, 2020 So, I have had some time here and there to work on this lately. Did a couple of small jobs I had been worried about. Drilled out two snapped-off bolts in the front valance. I've never had much success with screw extraction but i managed to drill these out with no real damage. The thread of both holes is still good enough to hold their bolts so I'll take that as a win. The next thing was to roll the rear guards. This was something the body shop was supposed to do but didn't, so I thought I'd give it a go myself. Better to do it now rather than paint everything and wish I'd done it later when I need 5mm extra to fit wide wheels or something. Got some technique advice from @sheepers and got to it slowly with tiny tap tap taps. Took a while and I was bricking it the whole time, but managed to get the lips all rolled up nicely without fucking anything up. Hooray! GTO arches are double walled so probably harder to muck up than on a lot of cars. I gained about 12mm extra space, which is better than nothing. I pinched the previously done front guards up a bit more too for max space possible, without flares. I also got some paint matched up and finally started getting colour back on the car. I've started with the underside of the bonnet, inside the petrol flap and the top parts of the engine bay etc (not doing the full bay for now, maybe one day if the engine has to come out for anything) to test out the colour and my technique. Looking good so far I think. The colour does not match the original that well but looks really cool. Deep, dark blue inside but more purpleish and grey outside in the bright sun. Quite hard to capture in photos. 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SR ROLLA Posted June 10, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 10, 2020 After all manner of little set backs (and, to be honest, cock ups due to me not really knowing what I'm doing) I was starting to feel like this job was never going to be done and then all of a sudden, here we are. I have a blue car again. Managed to surprise myself by getting around the whole car with no major issues. The colour looks crazy different in bright light versus shade, it's very cool, I like it. The finish is a bit orange peely but I prefer fixing that to runs and there should be plenty of clear for me to cut that back and remove dust specks and whatnot to end up with a fairly nice, shiney, garage paint job. It's far from perfect but heaps better than it was beforehand, so for a first ever attempt I'm going to take that as a win. Once it has had a little time to fully harden I will cut it back, buff and polish it up and then reassemble with the many restored and NOS parts I have been working away on gathering for the last couple of years. 35 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SR ROLLA Posted September 23, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 23, 2020 So, I've been busy with lots of little jobs during the reassembly. Refurbing badges and fitting them, along with a fair few NOS ones too Lots of NOS lenses and lights Had to make up seals for some of them I found a really good plastic restoration product for pieces like the louvers And fitted them up While de-orange peeling I managed to sand through the clearcoat on the passenger door, was fuming. So I had to repaint that. Then it was time to get everything running nicely again so I can get back to driving it! I've been starting the engine up pretty regularly, so it's still running quite well. However I was having a problem with the throttle sticking, which seemed to be caused by one of the carb mechanisms being quite gunked up. When I tried to clean it all up the bloody things fell off. Luckily I had these things lying around the garage and wouldn't you know it, they fit pretty well. So I got them on with the help of a mechanic friend and managed to learn enough about carbs to roughly tune them myself via YouTube tutorials. They sound awesome. Far from optimal but smooth enough to drive around the neighbourhood for the first time in a couple of years. Was feeling pretty fucking chuffed with myself, I don't mind telling you. So, WOF tomorrow, fix any issues that come up there, then a proper dyno tune. I'm interested to see how much difference there is compared to the factory set up. Then drive the shit out of it. Also need to clean it properly before I take some decent photos of the new paintjob in the sun… 25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SR ROLLA Posted September 25, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 25, 2020 Fluids and filters changed, tank of gas, air in the tyres and off it went for a warrant. I was expecting there to be at least a few minor bugs. But nope. I'm all legal and good to go. 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SR ROLLA Posted November 16, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 16, 2020 I have been driving this around a bunch and got it tuned up by some people who know what they are doing (possibly). Pretty happy with that. 110hp is up 10hp on the old set up. With a bit of welly it pulls noticeably harder than before and sounds absolutely glorious. When going for a bit of a zoom it feels like it really wants to go and go, love it. However, it is hard to start and when sitting still it runs like it is a gnat's dick away from stalling. If you give it a little blip on the gas it will splutter and almost die as it comes back down. It's nearly impossible to pull away gently, the throttle response is quite all-or-nothing. It's easy to stall when manoeuvring and a couple of times when pulling out in traffic it has given a big lurch and then died right away, resulting in a panicked flooring and big rev-up to get out of the way of oncoming traffic. When I took it to the tuner I told him it was running rough and rich (my YouTube tune) and I wanted it easy to start and smooth through the range, for daily driving. He seems to have gone for max power performance at the higher end. I expected a bit of a trade-off when going to a more race-oriented carb but this seems a bit much. No vacuum advance doesn't help either I guess. Is it just tough cookies? or have I got a bad tune for my needs and it could be tweaked to better suit round town driving? I have no other experience of owning a car with a set up like this, so don't really know exactly what is possible. Any carb gurus out there have insight? The specs are: 32mm venturi Main Jet #130 Air Corrector #200 Idel Jet #50F9 Emulsion Tube F16 Here's some non-boring images 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SR ROLLA Posted December 18, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 18, 2020 The GTO is getting its stripes put back on today, pretty keen to see how that comes out. Once I finished painting the car I decided to build an oldschool BMX as a companion piece. I got a cheap frame off TradeMe and set about collecting all the various bits and pieces from all over the internet. The frame was in pretty good nick, no damage, just some scrapes and scratches in the paint. A quick strip back and respray in GTO blue and it was looking all good. A few minor hiccups at assembly time but came together mostly pretty easily. Here she is: 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted December 24, 2020 Author Share Posted December 24, 2020 Stripes back on. Should go much faster now. I'm only about 80% happy with them. They are quite a bit wider than the original, even though I gave them very precise measurements. The shape is mostly good, but not totally right and they have heaps of tiny air bubbles in them. Apparently, those should 'just go away' so we'll see. I think it does look better than without anything though. I've also been trying to find someone to sort the suspension but I seem to be having a hard time trying to get someone to take my money. It appears that if it's not an off-the-shelf job or a full air suspension build no one is interested. Two shops have said it's too hard basket, one doesn't reply to enquiries and the other originally said they could do it but then wouldn't give a price or time to do it and haven't replied to any follow up contact in the last few weeks. So if anyone has recommendations for good suspension shops for oldschool cars in Auckland, let me know. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted March 4, 2021 Author Share Posted March 4, 2021 I've been driving the GTO a lot lately. Small tweaks to idle speed have made it a bit more manageable and I'm getting used to the hair-trigger throttle. Still stall a bit when low speed manoeuvring, so ideally the tune still needs some attention. I was in the Ellerslie Car Show a couple weeks back, along with 4 other GTOs 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted March 4, 2021 Author Share Posted March 4, 2021 I also got another set of wheels, Enkei Mosports. Bigger diameter (14x6) with lower profile tyres = huge guard gap. I will give them a good polish up and 2 could do with new tyres, hopefully with some increased lowness they should look pretty good. I'm on the look out for another, single wheel in the same size (doesn't have to be a Mosport, because what are the chances of that) so I can have a spare wheel with the same rolling diameter, just in case. 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SR ROLLA Posted March 8, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 8, 2021 And while those are getting tarted up I swapped on my even more nanna spec Galant hubcaps, just for a change. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SR ROLLA Posted April 1, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 1, 2021 I went along to Caffeine & Classics on the weekend with the GTO and BMX. 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SR ROLLA Posted April 8, 2021 Author Share Posted April 8, 2021 Been driving lots. It's such a little car, it really looks tiny when parked next to even 'small' modern cars. Sailed through the warrant the other day, all good. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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