81' FB restoration

[WE3RX7]

Nice.... yea, we went w/ 3 coats of clear in my engine bay.... a little added protection against fluids, lol. Although 2 will still be better than the stock paint....

[BigIslandSevens]

Here are some shots. I had a couple small runs that I may attack with the razor blade. They are on the passenger side. Still didn't get the "bad spots" perfectly. I think I need a airbrush to get in the real small areas. I'll live with it.

[BigIslandSevens]

Man I just really noticed that I need to clean the shop up bad after the last couple days of working. So sad. I hope I am doing the rotary gods happy with my undertaking. Reassembly of enginebay starts in a couple days after a good curing.

[WE3RX7]

Looks really good - the spots I noticed before look touched up and the rest you will probably never see... good job man!

[BigIslandSevens]

Made some progress today. I got a new puppy last Friday so my time has been busy trying to tame the poop/piss factory that is a little dog. Anyways, Applied 3 coats of "Plasti-Cote" truck bed liner. ( A gallon was 43 bucks) I used a 2 inch brush to cut in the corners and then a 3 inch roller to do the rest of it

A word on this, It is a absolute mess to work with. I like the end result, but it gets everywhere. Cleans up easy though. Also be warned it WILL come thru the seams at some points and the open holes into the enginebay. I taped all them off and was glad I did. The strut tower seams still leaked when I did the inside of them. Wiped it off easily. I also "pinned" the door hinges in preperation for removal to paint the inners and jams. Pinning them is drilling holes in the hinges so that when you re attach the doors. You stick a few "pins" into the holes and the doors are lined up rite off the bat.

Also, cleaned the crossmember, steering box, Motor mounts, steering shaft case, lower control arms, sway bar, and some steering links.. Then I sprayed them with gloss black rustoleum as I have used on all the other black parts so they match.

[WE3RX7]

Looking good... what kind of "rust prevention" or protection does the plasticoat offer? Not that I dont like POR, but i'm looking for something more "rough" to undercoat the belly of my FC and that stuff looks pretty rough....

[BigIslandSevens]

I would guess that the prevention abilities are limited to just keeping water off of the metal. I did it to protect from rocks and debris. More than that though it just gives a nice contrast in colors. And it looks more industrial rather than just a black spray bomb or base/clear. Really "most" of it will not even be visible to the outside world. As the inner fenders cover much of iit.

The truckbed coating is imprgenated with lots of plastic chunks. Which gives it the textured appearence. I am going to do the remainder of the underbody eventually. I need to get the car road worthy in the next week or so.

[BigIslandSevens]

labor Day weekend update#1

Making good progress today. I have the crossmember, lower control arms with RE-Speed bushings back in place. As well the sway bar mounts are in place but will be removed to actually mount the sway bar when it is dry enough( couple hours more) The struts and knuckles have been painted black as well as the debris gaurds.

Also I have installed the clutch and brake m/c's. That is the worst part of the whole job to me. I am a big guy at 6'2 and 2-210 lbs. So contorting myself into inverted chicken wing stance sucks But it is done.


Ah yes, I can't forget that I re-wrapped the entire enginebay wire harness main section so far. The plug on leads are next( Starter, etc..) That took a long ass time as well just sitting there burning thru 2 roles of electrical tape. But it is mucho bettero!! Lots of pics to come later on tonight. It may even be on the ground on it's wheels tonight. We'll see.

Still to do:

Clean and paint steering linkage parts.
Paint the tranny aluminum to match the engine.
Paint all the little brake line hold-down thingymabobs.
Install the engine and trans
Paint the headlight motors and brakets.

Something else,....hmmm, oh yeah fix the bloody radiator or replace it

[BigIslandSevens]

Pics as promised. Just a few shots of the progress. I like the way it is coming together with the color combo.

Master cylinders installed.

crossmember,steering linkage, steering box installed

Swaybar mounts, swaybar, and crossmember again

new swaybar end links, cleaned and painted suspension bits

[BigIslandSevens]

I ended up painting the tranny black, as that is what I had here and did not feel like going out to the store just for Aluminum color spray. The engine and trans will go in tomorrow. The headlight motors and brackets will be painted tomorrow as well.

Next big pieces to spray are the underside of the hood, brake calipers Front and rear. Then I will drive it for a bit as I am needing a FB fix bad.The next big thing will be the new LSD rear end with Disc brakes once it is cleaned and painted to match the car scheme.

[BigIslandSevens]

Engine, transmission, driveshaft are all back in place. Almost a runner again Couple more days hopefully.

[BigIslandSevens]

Just picked up a Kia Ring and pinion gear set( The entire third member) I plan on swapping over the gear sets into my carrier to see if it works with a small bearing carrier. I will post the details/results in Gravity Fed's Kia thread

Other than that I plan on starting the engine up today or tomorrow more likely. Tired from yanking the front axle apart laying on rocks at the junk yard

[Whizbang]

woo gearing!

[BigIslandSevens]

Yeah Gearing is a sweet thing. Here are some shots of recent progress.

from when the engine/trans went into the new shiny home.

With some parts on it now. S4 Alt, wiring harness simplified etc..




And the new gears awaiting disassembly

[Whizbang]

love the color