Ae82 Gokai - It May As Well Be A Wife.

[azza91]

Great write up mate can't wait to see the end result

[carbonboy]

Tremendous effort so far, I bet you won't be parking this one in a shopping centre carpark. I look forward to following the progress as I have a white AE80 hatch also that is a gunnado project.

 

Cheers mate, I do what I gotta do :)

As for parking in shopping centre carparks? Only in the furtherest possible spot from anyone else, I don't care if I have to walk 10mins to get inside. People around here could not park properly to save themselves! I think I'll cry at my first stone chip... :sob:

 

I intended to have it on full rego but is more than likely headed for Club permit as the cost of two full registrations per year is doable for me but I cannot justify it. Not at over $600 a pop no!

 

Great write up mate can't wait to see the end result

 

You & me both man, you & me both! I have the image of the final result in my head, hopefully it turns out to somewhat resemble that lol.

 

Sorry if this thread contains a bit too much personal non-car stuff & not enough technical information. Just wanted to try & give my story a little bit of depth & some insight into the trials & tribulations of a first major car build. Feel free to ask questions about anything & (constructive) feedback is ALWAYS appreciated. I'm no expert, half this stuff I'm still learning along the way. But as they say, there aint nothing to it but to do it!

Edited March 23, 2011 by carbonboy

[KEhendo]

don't worry about all the non car related stuff. i enjoy a good story. you'll be happy it's all documented when it's done. i just noticed you have me favourite wheels ever on the 82 in the striping down photos. those strange 6 spoked fin things are so period perfect for the car. i've been looking for a set in 4x114.3pcd for my van but can only find them in 4x100 and fwd offset. might just have to get myself a cheap ae82 from somewhere just so i can buy a set. :P

[carbonboy]

don't worry about all the non car related stuff. i enjoy a good story. you'll be happy it's all documented when it's done. i just noticed you have me favourite wheels ever on the 82 in the striping down photos. those strange 6 spoked fin things are so period perfect for the car. i've been looking for a set in 4x114.3pcd for my van but can only find them in 4x100 and fwd offset. might just have to get myself a cheap ae82 from somewhere just so i can buy a set. :P

 

The annoying part about those rims is it only came with 3!! I searched the entire wreckers including the scrap bins but to no avail. They're also directional wheels (like directional tyres, I'm assuming because of the fins), though I'm not sure which side I have 2 of... I think they'd look horn on a KE30-55 2 door but yeah, stud pattern fail. :(

 

Oh well, (handbrake assisted) burnout rims!!!! :wink:

[KEhendo]

haha. yes. they should have marked on them the direction of rotation. either stamped or a sticker. the idea is to blow cool air on the brakes as you drive. i reckon a white set on my white panno would be 80's-tastic. :P

[carbonboy]

Time for another update methinks.

 

Rust is a pain in the proverbial, no sooner than I finish working on one particular area than the one I was working on previously has decided to lose its shiny grey metal loveliness & go a nasty rust brown. :( This cars turning into the Sydney Harbour Bridge, no sooner than you finish at one end...

 

 

So I decided to concentrate my efforts on the front end of the car, from the firewall forward leaving the A pillars to be done after rust treatment. Speaking of which it was a hit of rust converter on all rust affected areas on the front of the car then back into sanding. The only thing I don't like about rust converter (aside from the smell) is the 3 stage wash process afterwards, with water rag, metho rag then dry rag. Its okay for small areas but when doing large areas its a time consuming affair!

 

 

Applying more bog as needed.

 

 

Sure the brake booster will hide this area but while I'm here.....

 

 

This area of the firewall near the main chassis rail was an absolute *insert nasty word here* to deal with, it bulges out like this to accomodate the heater/air-con unit. It was difficult to get to to grind, messy to bog & PAINFUL to sand (my fingers are too big). I was not going to have it as the only ugly spot in the engine bay. I picked up on a seam in the interior I had missed shortly before I was going to spray primer, thought about not doing it & realised I would probably see that seam every time I looked in the rear view mirror, it would annoy me, so it was bogged & sanded. :)

 

 

 

The black crosses were my reminder of where to do little spot fills , whether I'd under-bogged, over-sanded, missed a spot or had an air bubble. There were lots & lots of these & after staring at grey metal for hours on end, they can be very easily missed & yet ANOTHER mix of bog has to be made! :laff:

 

 

Found more bits I didnt like, little ripples formed in the metal underneath where my ignition coil is mounted have a habit of collecting dirt there, so out with the bog & time to smooth it out.

 

[78_7kRolla]

C'mon Luke....

 

[carbonboy]

The strut towers hadnt come up as smooth as I'd like, so yet another hit of bog.

 

 

 

Yet more rust that had formed & needed treating...grr!!! :abuse:

 

 

 

After sanding.

 

 

Still not happy with this one, so more bog!

 

 

A close up of the pain in the rear section of the firewall I mentioned a little earlier.

 

 

Some shots taken prior to rust converter treatment.

 

Front passenger wheelarch.

 

 

Front drivers wheelarch.

 

 

Drivers strut tower.

 

 

Passenger strut tower.

 

 

Firewall.

 

 

AFTER rust treatment.

 

 

Pain in arse area.

 

 

Drivers side equivalent.

 

 

Drivers side chassis rail area.

 

[carbonboy]

After the hit of rust converter & the wash off, it was a quick rub over everywhere with finer grit paper just to scuff up the surface nice & fresh for primer.

 

 

Ooh...shiny!

 

 

Blurry, but shiny. :)

 

 

Had to get a shot of me in the engine bay, have been inside this thing for what seems like forever & am glad to soon be out of it!

 

 

Front end passenger side.

 

 

Front end drivers side.

 

 

So here comes the good bits, I now have primer on the front end!!! :dance: :dance:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upon closer inspection with a bright light the next day I had discovered that I had missed a few bits that were near impossible to get to with the spray gun I was using. :( So I spent the whole day scuffing up all these areas plus a few other areas I wasnt happy with, dusted it all off, washed it down & set about doing touch ups with both pressure pack primer & spray putty for the bits I felt needed a bit more meat.

 

 

Apologies for the strange appearance of these shots, the light I was using was flickering like a mofo!

 

 

[carbonboy]

Ran out of upload space in the last post, continuing on here. By the by the greeny-grey is the orginal primer I sprayed, the grey stuff is the pressure pack primer for touch ups & the pink stuff is spray putty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yes can't forget, the time consuming job of running a tap through all the threads in the front end prior to primer. Using a small brush to solvent wash them out was fun too!

 

 

By the by for those that have been following along, this build thread is now UP TO DATE! :yes: :y: :yes: Completed the primer works over Thursday/Friday/Saturday, today is my rest day. Next plan of attack is to do the cut n shut of the rusty spare wheel tub & the 'adjustment' of the hole for the sunroof. :wink:

 

Oh, getting rid of the rust around the windscreen too!!!

Edited April 3, 2011 by carbonboy

[carbonboy]

Leftover pics to due to upload limts. :wink:

 

This spot needs a little more than spray putty to make disappear methinks...lol

 

 

Yes I made allowances for my strut braces to bolt on & not damage this. :wink:

 

 

 

 

[KEhendo]

mate, you're going to have the straightest ae82 in the world at this rate. might have to make it into a show car. :P

[67Rolla-Ken]

I don't think I've ever seen so many photo's for an engine bay :lol:

 

So what's the next step??

 

Edit: Sorry... should read all the words :P cut & shut rust spare wheel tub. ;)

Edited April 3, 2011 by 67Rolla-Ken

[carbonboy]

mate, you're going to have the straightest ae82 in the world at this rate. might have to make it into a show car. :P

 

In my previous job we made the masts & booms for racing sailing yachts in the 30-100 foot size range. The most common one we built was for a 49 footer, the mast alone cost $180k+ & the yacht it went into cost aroud $2.3million with sails. This meant ugly sections were NOT ALLOWED! Then again if I shelled out that kinda money I'd be picky about the finish too :laff: Alas the GFC kicked in & $2m yachts became a 'want' not a 'need', work dried out so I found a new career. Wasnt picky as long as it paid the rent & funded the project. :wink:

 

A lot of this work 99.99% of people wont see unless they're helping me service it (i.e the underbody), but I sleep better at night knowing its done. :P

 

Show car? Well I would like to show off my handiwork once its done so HOPING to have it out & about for the next Picnic At Hanging Rock Show (with the TCCAV crew of course!). Not destined for that entirely though, its the 'weekender/trackday hack'.

Edited April 3, 2011 by carbonboy

[carbonboy]

I don't think I've ever seen so many photo's for an engine bay :lol:

 

So what's the next step??

 

Edit: Sorry... should read all the words :P cut & shut rust spare wheel tub. ;)

 

I figured that I was gonna be doing a lot of staring at the engine bay in the near future so I may as well make it pretty... :lolcry:

 

Yup yup, still practising butt welding 1mm steel with oxygen/acetylene to do the sunroof infill piece. Almost got the hang of it, its a matter of getting the fitment perfect & the technique right, have gone through lots of strips of offcuts from wrecked panels to come to this conclusion lol. Fortunately the spare wheel tub is 2.5mm steel so it is a heck of a lot easier to do without blowing holes or distorting the snot out of it all. :glare:

Edited April 3, 2011 by carbonboy