After multiple passes, the quarters and fenders are finally done! | |
The rear deck was severly damaged when welding in the metal patches. | |
As a result, lots of hammering and bondo was used to give it a new surface. This is a particularly difficult multiple-curved surface, which took a while to smoothen.... | |
...but it turned out nice! | |
Ahhh yes, working at home in your parents garage. This is usually what the place looked like before I started work. | |
Sandblasting caused warpage, so had to do work on the hood. | |
This was tough. All had to be done by hand, multiple concave surfaces with ruts and valleys. Ung. | |
...but it turned out nice! | |
This is epoxy primer. The inner quarters and wheel housings are finished aswell, so the metal is seamless. | |
At this point the car is finished all the rough work. Its outside being blown out for final coat of finishing Sikkens primer. | |
Sikkens colour-build black primer. It was supposed to fill up all the pin-holes. | |
I noticed the sand-blasting in the trunk caused warpage on the rear filler panel, ,so I had to work it. | |
The trunk lid was nasty, sand-blasting(again) caused nasty warpage, and also the lip was rusted through, especially at the corners. I looked around, but a replacement that was pretty good was very expensive, so I decided to try fixing and see how it turned out. | |
I patched and welded new metal around the lip. Finishing the flat surface was impossible. The tools were not enough.... | |
..so I made my own tool. This was an experiment, and I later went on to make a tool much better and usable. I was thinking of patenting the new design. I dont know how to this problem without my tool!? | |
The lid came out perfect. I later found out that primer shrinks, and the waves came back, however I will buy a good lid one day. | |
There were soooo many pinholes, ,and the only way I could think of to fill them was to use a toothpick and a can of primer. I later found out that there is a proper filler for this specific application. | |
More sanding. I thought that it was OK before, but upon final inspection, I thought I could do better. | |
I dont know how many times I went over the 1/4s. | |
At this point I stopped buying expensive primer because I seemed to be continually sanding it off. So I started putting the lacquer primer. | |
I stripped off all the old asbestos in the ceiling. | |
I shot it directly with Sikkens blue paint. It was the colour I was originally thinking of painting the car. | |
Everytime something went wrong with the family car, I had to move my un-protected rolling chassis outside (by hand) in the snow/rain/wind. It doesn't get much better than this. | |
I shot the trunk with one-step Sherwin Williams paint. | |
Finished sanded the engine bay by hand. I had bruised knuckles and sanded fingertips for days. | |
Baught a heavy duty engine stand to put the engine on. It's been sitting for 3 years, wonder if it still starts? | |
Taped off the whole car, ,to prep for engine bay painting. | |
Shot the engine bay with a one-step synthetic paint by Sherwin-Williams. | |
Prepped both lids and front valence. | |
Painted the under sides of both lids with the same synthetic paint. |
Sent the car out to Holden Collision to paint the car with base-clear black. Painting alone cost a grand. | |
Finally starts looking like a real car. | |
I took the steering column apart and adapted to fit for a manual steering box. The rebuilt manual box is sitting on the can. | |
I needed a battery with a vent tube, so the trunk wouldnt smell. Only Mercedes, BMW, and Audi has batteries like that. This is from a 1987 Audi. | |
I relocated the old fuse box, all relays, and flasher units to the trunk. I now have room for 21 fuses. I am thinking of selling this package on the market. | |
I took the instruments out and installed a tach. One day I'll replace all to match. | |
Put the rear glass in, thats my brother Yan. | |
Front glass is in. | |
Rear 1/4 window weather striping, and window trim. | |
This is a remote-drive power antannea by Heratta. I made a custom bracket and installed the motor in the cabin beside the heater box. That way it will always be nice and dry. The mast is outside, replacing the original. I drilled out a chrome drawer handle to replace the weathered original antannea base. | |
This is what an-protected surface looks like after years of over-spray. | |
I replaced all the wather striping on the doors and windows, in and out. | |
I used paint stripper chemicals to clean the glass and chrome. | |
Almost done. | |
Stripped the engine appart. | |
Going by a picture I took 2 years ago, I decided to gamble and modify the headers before finishing them. | |
Steel weld. | |
Sandblasted the engine, headers, and all pulleys and brackets. | |
Used a high-heat manifold paint to finish the headers. | |
Shot the naked yellow with "Screaming Yellow" paint. | |
Replaced all the gaskets and seals with a kit from Mopar Performance. | |
Assembled the pulleys and brackets and shot it again. | |
Finished assembling the engine. This sucker's gonna run! Also installed a custom dip-stick out of a brake line. Much smoother than original. | |
Dropping in the engine. | |
Supported it with a make-shift wooden cross-member. | |
Dug up the old exhaust system from the basement. Notice the rust on the aluminised pipes and mufflers! | |
Sandblasted the rims and finished with "PC-Glitter" from POR-15, very good product. Then baught 230/60R15 slicks from BF-Goodrich. | |
The old header. | |
Baught some new carpet underpadding to insulate and sound-deaden the ceiling. | |
New headliner. This is hard to install. i dont know how they do it easily. | |
New carppet. | |
Cleaned and painted the old gas filler neck. I used custom 1/8" rubber stock in abd out to make the new filler seal. Topped it off with roofer tar, new tank seal, and sending unit. | |
Baught a 3-core rad, custom modified to fit this application. I replaced the original clutch fan with this aluminum spacer/plastic high-flo fan. Also instaklled a stainless steel boat horn and universal windshield washer system behind the grill. |
This was the week before Moparfest 2001. I took the week off work to fix the car up before the show. There was much criticism from friends and family, saying I'd never finish this car, so I took a hard deadline which was the show.
I worked my ass off, but unfortunately, I couldnt make it because of a failed inspection, suspension problems, cooling problems and a bad transmission.