139/1000 Rebuild

[NateCrisman]

I picked up #139/1000 this last weekend. The car was previously Turbotommy's car from NJ, then it went to Maryland for some lawn ornament time.

The body is really really nice, two single dings (rear pass door and under the pass tail light) and only a couple scratches. Interior is very very nice, but is currently full of parts. Bought the car as a rolling chassis, needing an engine/trans, fuel parts, ecu, and all engine accessories. 86k miles on the chassis.

My plan is to swap all the parts I need from the GVR4 Im currently driving, 931/2000 once I get it cleaned up. 931 is a mechanically sound car, but the body is pretty rough. 931 is getting a 60-1 turbo, tube header, new o2 housing, and aluminum ic pipes next weekend, so those parts will go into 139 when I swap the drivetrain later.

This weekend Im planning to organize parts, start reassembly of the interior, then get started on brakes/suspension assembly. Hope to have the chassis ready for a motor in a couple weeks.

Goal for this car is a solid 11 second pumpgas car and super clean exterior/interior.

So anyway, for a first post, here's some pics as it sits. I don't think the car has been washed since it was parted out in like 2007.

It's pretty empty under the hood. Unfortunately, the wiring has been taken apart. so I'm going through it for sure before goes in. Might remove the harness and paint the engine bay while it's empty.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gifWay to mangle a perfect hood to glue in vents. Looks to have been cut with a sawzall. Guess that's something else needed, another hood.

I got a nice uncut white front bumper and white roof strips, so those need to be painted.

 

[Andy_S]

Eww at that hood. Looks like a nice clean car though. Your goals sound very familiar to my own.

BTW, I just noticed your numbers are 931 and 139. Thats quite a coincidence.

 

[NateCrisman]

I got #139 into the garage today and up on the lift to check out the situation. Emptied the interior of misc parts and started organizing. The interior is pretty much together other than rear seats, radio, and ecu. Undercarriage has a bit more rusty stuff than #931, mostly on the subframes and suspension members. Steering rack is leaking bad and looks beat.

So my plan now is to swap even more out of 931 Thinking of removing the complete engine/trans/xcase and all of the front subframes, steering rack, control arms, hubs, axles in one big monster unit. Most of those parts are in better or non rusty condition on 931.
[*] disconnect the engine wiring, radiator & heater hoses, shifter cables, clutch slave, side engine mounts, steering shaft, strut tops, wheels, brake lines all from the top.
[*] lower the car on the lift until the subframes are on a rolling dolly.
[*] unbolt the subframes from the unibody
[*] lift the unibody up.
[*] roll the whole front end away.
[*] swap cars on the lift and set the new car down onto the complete front end assembly and bolt it up
[/list]

Tentativly Im thinking of doing the drivetrain swap around the weekend of May 23. I think I can get everything out of 931 and have 139 atleast rolling in one weekend. The the next week I should be able to button it up and have the car running.

Anyway, here's some pics from tonight:

General undercarriage pics. Rust is really not too bad.
Unfortunatly, Tomas cut off the stock fuel feed line, so Im forced to do AN feed line. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif

clear silicone covered SS brake lines. Never seen this before. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

Q: How much do I trust welded suspension that was done by the person who hacked that hood /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Wow. Clear plastic lens.

Headliner is absolutely mint. I'm floored by this as the one in 931 is all stained and groddy.

Dash in in great shape, no bubbling by the vents. I haven't found any cracks or imperfections yet.

Trunk and rear seat area has been gone over with some sort of undercoating that is hard and sandpaper like. It looks decent and clean.
The guy I bought the car from did a good job with the trunk mounted battery and running the cables, but I think Im going to remove it and use the lawnmower size battery mounted to the steering rack subframe. (lighter and no NHRA issues with the cutoff)

 

[G]

Nice save, looks like a nice project. I like the way the 1gb wheels look.

 

[NateCrisman]

heh, you know, they wouldn't be so bad if there were 4 of them. the drivers front wheel is a 1gA swirly that's reverse of the other 3. I'm going to use the aftermarket 16x7 wheels that are currently on 931.

 

[Adorsey]

looks like it'll be a fun one.

lol on the hood cut out. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Romanova]

Wow, that looks really good!

 

[NateCrisman]

So today's progress:

After I gutted the engine bay. Removed the engine wiring harness, throttle and shifter cables, clutch master, brake master, brake booster, detached most of the chassis wiring harness, wiper motor, and bunch of misc other crap.

That got me to here:

Then a generous soaking of simple green, a box of brillo dish pads, and a long ass time of bending over:

So, while it came out pretty clean, I still need to sand some rust in a few spots. Majorly under the oem battery spot, that's going to need some wire wheel work. wonder if I can get close enough to a match of the stock green or just go black engine bay?

That kinda sucks. The sending unit and the -8 feed line are hacked up. Stock fuel line is gone. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[BoostedAWD91]

looks good so far nate, glad to see u building a galant instead of parting it out /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[NYC86ZC]

Very nice progress in a short period of time. Man, i wish i had a lift.

 

[mean_green]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/applause.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/applause.gif

Nice Work,
-Alan

 

[NateCrisman]

Quoting BoostedAWD91:
looks good so far nate, glad to see u building a galant instead of parting it out /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif



I think sometimes that you guys really misunderstand me. I really like these cars, granted, Im not anywhere near the delusional state that some people here are in, but yeah, these cars are super fun. I got into 931 last fall with intentions of restoring the body and modding the drivetrain to suit. Ends up that the far easier route was to buy a better body rather than repair/paint 931. Pretty much "everything" from 931 is going into 139.

Unfortunatly that means 931/2000 becomes a parts car in 3 weeks. When I'm done with it I may offer it up for free if someone wants to try and save it, but it will likely be no more than a bare unibody with dented panels and "should" become a steel pancake.

But one really nice GVR4 will come out of it all, much nicer than the one it replaced, so the breed is improved.

I'm hoping that 931 will get one last hurah on May 20th, to go to the dragstrip with the t3t4 setup, improved pipes, and better setup. Maybe it can crack of an 11 and 120mph before it becomes an organ doner the following day.

 

[BoostedAWD91]

yeah i understand what ur doing, i just meant its nice to see u building a car from the bottom up

 

[blacksheep]

Is that AN line your fuel feed?

 

[atc250r]

That is a fuel feed that Tommy put in. Its a 1/2" aluminum line with #8 AN lines on it.

John

 

[NateCrisman]

Quoting blacksheep:
Is that AN line your fuel feed?



That line is going to get removed, Im going to put a stock feed line in. Personally I have no use for monster fuel lines, the stock line will do fine for the power Im planning to make.

 

[NateCrisman]

So here's the paint results:

The seam of the paint on the fender attachment area. The line goes right down the 90* corner. That spot seemed like the least noticable place and it was easy to tape. really, the best option would have been to take the fenders off, but this isn't too bad.

The subframes are still groddy and rusty, Im going to swap those with #931 next weekend with the entire drivetrain, engine wiring harness, fuel system, brakes, suspension, and all 931's modifications.

 

[BoostedAWD91]

looks alot better nate!!! Did u paint that yourself?

 

[NateCrisman]

yeah. degreased and washed it one day. This monday I scuffed the engine bay with 180 grit sandpaper after wire wheeling the rusty sections down to decent metal. Had to sand some rust spots by hand and that took a while. Then another wash & rinse with simple green. Sat for an afternoon to try. Quick mask with tape and newpaper to cover the fenders and windshield. Three cans of Dupli-color 500* engine block paint in Semi-Gloss Black. It came out decent although I really wish I had been able to find a close enough green to look correct. Oh well, black is fine too.

Tomorrow Im going to start putting the engine bay back together, wiring harness zip tied back in, brake master, clutch master, that kinda stuff.

Also gotta sand and paint the cowl cover, wiper blades, hood hinges & latch. Have a ton of things to clean/sand/paint and get ready for the big swap on 23rd.

 

[Adorsey]

this looks awsome man. i hope everything goes well. GL.