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SR ROLLA's 1974 Mitsi Colt GTO


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Been getting further and further into the stripping

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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.

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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:

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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

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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.

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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.

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  • 5 months later...

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.

40501893223_be73b4cf4a_b.jpgFender top by Thomas Addison, on Flickr

46744775054_83322ac9f9_b.jpgFender 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.

32526219607_2128b360c3_b.jpgFender 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.

32526219427_bb9efda156_b.jpgFender repair by Thomas Addison, on Flickr

 

Anyway, sexy all-nude fender now.

40501893303_36ef0df55e_b.jpgBare 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.

32526219197_29857fe0d0_b.jpgValance 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.

47415122602_98cb67a253_b.jpgGlass 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.

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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.

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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.

 

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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

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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.

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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.

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