Popular Post Stu Posted September 20, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted September 20, 2022 I thought I'd separate this out from the other project thread as its not a keeper car compared to the AE86 and the 4agte EP71. So I picked this up for a steal off a mate who had acquired it off marketplace where it had been floundering for quite some time. It was originally a 1300 carby 2E-LU car, and from what I understand somewhere along the line Spec2 put a Silvertop 4age in it. They did an OK job of mounting the engine (I've seen worse) and its got some semi ok gear in it like Link G4 and NZEFI wiring loom, D2 coil overs, disc brake rear, Si interior, LSD, and most importantly its certified and the rego is on hold. It drives pretty good all things considered except the suspension is stupid stiff. Bad news though, the body was pretty fucked which is why it was cheap. The doors, guards, hatch, front valence, passenger sill and passenger rear quarter were all in a bad way. My original idea was to part it out, or build another car on the cheap using the parts as a dedicated track car. Anyway, feast your eyes on the state of it when I got it... the closer you look the worse it is. Yeah, she's a pearler mate, that'll buff out... So this thing was never really supposed to be looked at and I had put it away in storage and had high hopes of forgetting about it for a few years. But then, while showing photos of it to one of the guys at work and laughing about the state of it, he offered to take a look and possibly take it on as a home job. He's completed a whole heap of car restorations over the years so was competent enough to try and recover this thing from eventually being sent to the scrappies. I should state that I can weld pretty well and have been fabricating and building cars for years, but I have zero panel working skills and its something that historically I avoid like the plague. He took a look and agreed to take it on and tick away at it when he could. First things first I hauled it to a mates shed and we ripped it apart and threw away everything that wasn't needed I took it for a drive like this which was hilarious - the weight loss made it quite a bit quicker (if you can call a 20v fast...) I dropped the car over to my workmate, and then popped around occasionally to help when I could. Over the next few months the rusty parts all dissapeared... I don't have too many photos but the passenger sill had a small patch and got straightened, the passenger rear quarter got swapped out, the center section at the top of the hatch opening got swapped out, and some small patches got done under the tail lights etc. We slammed some primer on to protect things and that basically took care of the body work. I took the car over to my Dads and squeezed it in between all his cars/tractors and stationary engines, and we've been ticking away at the finishing work and prep for painting. I really dislike panel work and mainly its because I'm a pedantic fucker and have been filling every little imperfection, plus im slow so its taking a while. As it currently sits the front guards, doors, hatch, side skirts and front lip, and the passenger side are all smoothed off and had some high build primer sprayed on so they getting pretty close. There are a couple of areas that need some minor filling, smoothing back and another coat of high build, but next time I'm over there I'll be mainly focusing on the drivers side that needs sanding, prepping and a first layer of high build. I'm expecting that there will be a few more high build layers and blocking back needed across the whole car but its good to see that its actually getting somewhere. I quite dislike panel work so will be very happy once its painted and presentable, then I can get on with mods! Im hunting for some different wheels and also need some softer rate springs as the front coil overs have 12kg ones in there! Anyway, that's the photo dump for now... I'll get a couple of photos of Dad's stationary engines and crap too, he's got quite a collection. 31 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Stu Posted October 3, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 3, 2022 Quick update: Had some spare colour left over from another painting job so splashed some down on the skirts and one of the guards. Pleasantly surprised how well they came out and the finish is pretty good. There are a couple of tiny tiny spots where the guard needs some final touching up but I'm really stoked with the how things are progressing. The plan now is to continue to get everything finished off and prepped, and spray the engine bay, door jams, exposed inside panels, underside of the bonnet and inside of the doors etc. Ive tee'd up a car painter mate of mine to bomb the whole car in his booth for a very reasonable price. Will be spraying the car in Toyota 038 white. Onwards! Oh, and here's a few shots of some of the old mans stationary engines. Excuse all the dust... This one is a 1908 Keeley 5hp hit and miss And this one is a 1954 Norman horizontally opposed petrol Will clean them up and get some running videos one day. He's got 7 or 8 more. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Stu Posted October 17, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 17, 2022 Have I mentioned I don't particularly like bodywork? Engine bay partially stripped and etch primed: Then two layers of Toyota 038 in the bay (looks a bit weird in the photos but is lush in real life), plus the rest of the car in high fill: I've also prepped all the exposed interior panels, refurbished and painted the brake booster, wiper motor and engine mounts. More to follow. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Stu Posted October 19, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 19, 2022 Took a break from body work and made some gauges fit into the dash 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Stu Posted October 30, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 30, 2022 More bodywork... yay! I'm really getting quite accustomed to not liking bodywork Externally the whole car has been sanded back, tiny imperfections sorted, high filled again and then smoothed back with 240grit dry. There's no touch ups that need attending to now, well, none that Dad and I can see, so we are currently blocking it back with 400grit to make it smooth as a babies bum. The underside of the bonnet, inside of the doors, inside of the hatch, and exposed interior panels are all in colour now too. Its suuuuuuper close to going to the booth which is the light at the end of the tunnel for me. As mentioned last time the engine bay is also done and Ive started putting it back together. Engine mounts, brake booster, wiper motor, hard lines all painted and back in. The list of things that I want to change and tidy up is growing day by day but for now the plan is to get it running again so its easily driven onto the trailer to take it to the booth. The biggest sin I want to sort post painting is the radiator setup as it deleted the vertical radiator support and the bonnet latch and they used bonnet pins. I've got a replacement latch and support to go in so once its back from the booth I'll somehow make a civic radiator or something else fit. The wiring is also atrocious. Why they did it the way they did is beyond me - there is sooo much complication for what was really a super simple job. Having wired dozens and dozens of ecu's over the years I've got a reasonably high level of OCD when it comes to wiring so I see a full strip back and redo on the cards at some stage. Anyway, only a couple of photos but believe me hours of work have gone into this thing. Will get liberal with painting cam covers and cleaning things up etc post body painting and once is all assembled and mobile again. Will be on the hunt for a different set of 15 inch wheels if anyone has anything period correct floating around, or a better set of EP71/82/91 coil overs as I'm not a fan of the D2's currently in it. Also if anyone has the plastic grill that fits below the bumper and above the valence on the Si models I would be very interested! Till next time... 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted December 7, 2022 Author Share Posted December 7, 2022 Sadly no photos but this thing is now in the paintshop and hope to have it all in colour the weekend after next - can't wait! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Stu Posted December 20, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 20, 2022 Christmas came early and its been painted - picked it up yesterday. Now the fun begins! 23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Stu Posted January 9, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 9, 2023 Assembly begins 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Stu Posted March 14, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 14, 2023 Sheesh, been a while since I've made any post worthy progress on this thing. I've been ticking away slowly as time allows and trying not to let my OCD kick in too much. All the glass is now in but not before spending considerable periods of time removing old tint from the windows that was wrinkled and just generally shit. I'd like to re tint the car at some stage but that can wait until its back on the road. I gave all the rubber seals and slides a good clean and lube up while I was at it. For a while I had miss-placed one of the rear quarter pop out window latches which resulted in many hours of trolling the internet trying to find someone with one spare to no avail. Its surprisingly hard to find spare parts for these cars now which serves me right for throwing out all the spares I had years ago, to be fair I didn't think I would ever have another one. All the doors and guards got temporarily hung so to see how things would line up as they were all from the parts car - I really should have pre-fitted everything before paint in hindsight as there were a few small things to sort out. The lower guard fixing point behind the passenger side wheel was a bit of a dick with the previous owners snapping a bolt off in there so that was carefully drilled and tapped. Also the front left body outer wing that supports the bracket on the front guard where the bumper bracket bolts on was bent back about 8mm from where it needed to be for some reason. Measuring the rest of the front and its straight so I think it might have just been knocked out of alignment a bit somehow - its only light panel steel quite separate from the main body so it was easy enough to bend back. All easy stuff to fix but time consuming. Here's it with a few bits hanging on it. With the return to a standard hood latch and center radiator support the old radiator setup got thrown in the bin. I got given a very used ali Honda radiator fits behind the radiator support with a few mods. I had to relocate the inlet/outlet, move the lower mounting pin, and make up a couple of tabs at the top. Didn't take many photos of this part. Also had to make up a new water neck off the head - same as Ive done on the 4agte EP71. The radiator is now in and I picked up some rubber pipes from Supercheap that fitted with some trimming. I'll probably make up some flat bar straps in front of the radiator that the fan mounts onto next. While it I was at it I wrapped the headers in heat wrap - probably wont help much but at least they don't look quite as shit. The bumpers were looking pretty tired and no amount of cleaning would get them back to a nice black, so the heat gun got brought out for a dust over which actually worked pretty well! With some light tire black treatment they have come up good enough for now. The front lip was in a similar state and after some work and a light coat of satin black it came up really well and got fitted. Last year I managed to pick up some side skirts that were factory white so they got painted at the same time as the shell. I was thinking about changing them to be black but for now they are refitted and I'll re think this once I've got the car back on the road and thought about the wheel situation some more. All the locks were stuffed with only one working and even then only marginally, and with original locks really hard to find second hand with matching keys I took the easy way out and fitted Solexs haha! I bled up the radiator and drove it out of the shed for a quick wash and a couple of photos. Then tucked it back away till next time. The interior is 90% in and partially cleaned. Im missing heaps of fittings so hunting for some of these to get finish off the door cars - if anyone knows of a source please let me know. I mainly need the blue inserts but complete sets would be handy. Until next time... 13 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Stu Posted May 14, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 14, 2023 I really have an issue... So somehow this rusty pile of turd ended up in my possession. It doesn't look that great but it does however supply me with all of the small bits and pieces that I've been looking for. The back of it is filled with a myriad of parts so once Ive used all the bits I need I'll aim to move the rest on to get my money back. It actually runs and drives and the rego is on hold, buuuut she's well beyond saving. Being an Si Limited its actually quite rare and I've had a couple of people show interest. First swap over swapping over the front end. The head lights are way better than the original ones... The bumper and grill were also much nicer so got swapped over and lightly cleaned. Also fitted the lower front grill which is super hard to find these days. Indicators are also not too bad once cleaned up. I didn't really give them much effort so will properly polish them at a later date. Also swapped in heaps of small stuff like the boot trims - none of which have been cleaned properly yet but its starting to take shape. Worked on heaps of other small bits and pieces then got a bit bored and swapped the wheels over. Im not convinced I like the look but they are marginally better than the old TSW's although weak width and offset. Also dug my Wedsports out for a trial fit - they are filthy and the tyres are garked but 15x7 so a little wider. White on white Im not sure about. Anyway, this is how it sits at the moment - will keep ticking away as time allows. The new coil overs should be here in a month or so and ideally want to fit them then take it for a WOF so theres a fair bit of small stuff still to go. 19 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Stu Posted September 21, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 21, 2023 New parts = rad! Will be fitting these at the first chance I get and then its just fiddly tidy ups and clean the wiring up before heading to a wof. Also started a discussion/abuse thread... woops, thought I had at the beginning. 11 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Stu Posted November 12, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 12, 2023 I havent forgotten about this thing but at this time of year my workload always goes a bit mental and with the summer kid activities also in full swing I don't get alot of time. Saying that I have finally moved the car home which has made things alot easier. Its been a bit hard to get motivated but I have been sneaking the odd hour in here and there to work on it. The parts car has now made its way off to the scrap man which is one less headache to deal with - it surrendered heaps of small bits and pieces that I needed and I still have an Si interior to sell which are super hard to find these days. I should have kept things like the aircon, pedals and shifter cables but how much stuff do I really need to horde taking up space? First up was rear suspension change to the new coil overs that I got through my mate at Speedscience. There are a few small differences in the rear suspension/brakes on this car as its got disc brake rear that no EP71 had - even the Turbo S was drum brake rear. Its a common misconception that the EP82 disc brake rear bolts onto the EP71 stub axle, but while the outer bearing is fine the inner bearing is tapered vs flat and different size with no off the shelf bearing able to solve the issue. Plus the handbrake mounting/cables are different etc etc. The one bolt on disc brake solution is from a EL31 Corsa GP Turbo which are rare as rocking horse shit - this is what is on the blue car. I have the idea that whoever built the car originally has swapped in an entire EL31 beam or something similar as the lower strut brackets are further appart than any of the other EP models. Also the brackets have been drilled out to an M12 bolt for some reason. Im not exactly sure but it all works and was certified so it doesnt really matter. As the new coil overs are for the standard EP M10 lowerbolt and I didnt want to drill them out incase I ever sold them, so machined up some new insets which are also slightly wider to make everything work. Super easy and now fitted. Along with what I scrounged off the parts car I also picked up a few bits and pieces off a guy that should hopefully mean I have everything I need to finish the assembly. Some facelift tail lights got a bit of a clean up - they still need a polish but have come up pretty good so far. They're not perfect but its not a show car at the end of the day. Also got another parcel tray bracket to replace the broken one I then spend a fair bit of time cleaning up the back end of the car - swapped in the above, ripped out all the boot carpet and put it through the washing machine, remounted the battery box and made a basic battery clamp, made up a spare wheel cover, rewired the battery ground so its hidden and instead of going to the strut top, and then refitted everything. Theres a few more things to do like I'm missing a parcel tray but have the one from the blue car to copy so will get onto that at some stage, and also fit the spoiler to the top of the hatch. DaveScienceTM aka @Roman is printing me some trumpets for the quads so will be making a start on engine bay tidy ups soon. I took it for a quick hoon and its pretty funny to drive but the tune needs a few tweaks which I will sort once the trumpets are on. Tucked away again untill the next time I get some spare time. 15 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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