Saved another one; Revival of 50/1000

[jepherz]

Back in September, I purchased 50/1000. It's a pretty interesting story, but I won't go in to details. Basically the car sat in a crappy dealership lot in the ghetto for at least 5 years. It was a Texas car originally but the original owner brought it up to Kansas at some point. I can't say exactly what order everything hit the fan in, but when I purchased the car, the dealer told me that it had a bad headgasket.

Over the last few months I've done the following and more:
Fixed all of dings.
New Kensington Gray paint.
Used, rebuilt head as all 8 exhaust valves were bent on the original.
New water pump.
New timing belt.
New alternator belt.
New power steering belt.
OEM Fuel pump out of my other car.
OEM MAF out of my other car.
Refinished and sealed the gas tank as the varnish had rusted it.
Installed a cd player because the stock one was stolen.
Removed bubbled, purple tint.
Replaced the viscous coupler because the car was towed on two wheels.
Had the center diff rebuilt because the car was towed on two wheels.
Cleaned and/or painted all black trim.

I had everything off the car for paint including all side panels/molding to make sure there was no rust on the car.

To-do list:
Fix fuel gauge/sender.
Re-install the front and rear window trim.
Wash the carpet.
Install rear spoiler.
Remove balance shafts.
Install new fuel filler hose.
Install new thermostat.
Tint windows.
Install rear dog-legs.
Spray on new undercoating.
Have transfer case recall done.
Install some gvr4.org stickers /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

At this point, I'm not totally sure what I'm going to do with this car. I think I'm going to use it as a daily for a while, as I've been wanting a 4 door AWD car for a while. Or, I may see if I can sell it and find something else. We'll see.

On to the pics (Sorry for the crappy quality!)


Pics from shortly after I got the car:





After throwing it back together and preparing for a trip to MN over Christmas:





Fog lights have since been installed:


The best external mod you can do to a vr4:





Car had just over 82k on it when I bought it:


Seats have amazingly soft leather:


Restoring a car is a lot of work!

 

Wow, night and day difference. Bless your heart, that paint looks fantastic. And thanks for including a dash badge pic, I constantly hunt for pics of them to save to a specific folder. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[fivestardsm]

Very nice!

 

[mean_green]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/applause.gif

 

[icurunnin]

thats piant looks great. How much did it set you back or did you do the work yourself? I still need to go outside and rip off my damn spoiler /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif

 

[91GSR]

holy jeebus!!! thats sexy. was that actually bare metal on the hood when u bought it? very nice ride bro

 

[iceman69510]

Excellent work Jeff. Not sure about the paint, but I have my own DD project on my green '92 to do this summer.

 

[Polish]

The painted door handles do look nice, great job. I applaud your efforts sir, looks good.

 

Great save man!

 

[deez]

Nice car! I agree about painting the handles. That was one of the first "mods" I did to my white car along with painting the badges. Made it look 100 times better.

 

[HHIVR4]

Nice save Jeff.
Hows she drive?

 

[BoostedAWD91]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/applause.gif Love to see guys still restoring gvr4's instead of junking them

 

[jepherz]

Quoting icurunnin:
thats piant looks great. How much did it set you back or did you do the work yourself? I still need to go outside and rip off my damn spoiler /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif


Did all of the prep and paint work myself, so not nearly as much as it would have cost for someone else to do it. No idea on how many hours I put in to it, and I'm sure I didn't do it all in the most efficient manner, but I spent several weeks on it working most nights during the week and a good chunk of time on the weekends.

Quoting 91GSR:
holy jeebus!!! thats sexy. was that actually bare metal on the hood when u bought it? very nice ride bro


It looks like it, but that was actually just the base-coat after the clear was all baked off.

Quoting iceman69510:
Excellent work Jeff. Not sure about the paint, but I have my own DD project on my green '92 to do this summer.


Good luck, Dave. If you end up painting it, you can call on me for moral support! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Quoting HHIVR4:
Nice save Jeff.
Hows she drive?


Drives great! It's weird driving my other car since this one has stock steering, power, clutch, etc. It's fun in the snow too! Just goes to show you these cars can be reliable; its maiden voyage was over 1000 miles!

 

[HHIVR4]

1000 miles in an unkown VR4..Your a brave man my friend. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worthy.gif

 

[jepherz]

Yeah, I'm not quite sure what I was thining /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[iceman69510]

Quoting jepherz:

Quoting iceman69510:
Excellent work Jeff. Not sure about the paint, but I have my own DD project on my green '92 to do this summer.


Good luck, Dave. If you end up painting it, you can call on me for moral support! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif



I was kinda thinking a trip to KC and a drop off the trailer...

 

[NYC86ZC]

Quoting jepherz:
[Did all of the prep and paint work myself, so not nearly as much as it would have cost for someone else to do it. No idea on how many hours I put in to it, and I'm sure I didn't do it all in the most efficient manner, but I spent several weeks on it working most nights during the week and a good chunk of time on the weekends.



Do you do paint and body work for a living?

I have some body work to do on 541 along with some paint. Only problem is I have no clue where to begin. The car was already painted once and shortly thereafter it was "keyed" down to the metal.

Any tips? Books you've used?
Any advice? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[iceman69510]

Elbow brace and lots of sandpaper.

 

[464/2K]

Quoting jepherz:
Yeah, I'm not quite sure what I was thining /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif



same here, Denver to Los Angeles /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/uhh.gif car runs like a champ still and i do a few runs to San Diego in it a month.

 

[jepherz]

Nope, I sit at a desk all day for a living /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hsugh.gif

This was the first whole car I painted and had only done individual panels in the past. On this project I found that the gun you're spraying with DOES matter sometimes, and that the type of paint can influence the difficulty. There were certain panels on this paint job that I had to redo with a $500 spray gun because the metallic didn't flow out correctly with my paint gun.

I can give you LOTS of tips if you decide to pursue. Just keep in mind that it is not cheap, so I'd only pursue if you want to learn; not just to save money on one paint job. I've also found that it can be frustrating/discouraging at times when you have to redo something more than once, but as long as you are willing to put in the time, you can come out with near professional quality paint.