The main loom has already been removed completely from the car (came out in one piece, no cuts) and outsourced to a my buddy who is going to be depinning all the plugs and rewiring the lot. Just bit the bullet and confirmed my bodywork guy for two/three weeks from now; looks like my chassis is getting seam welded. I crunched the numbers last week after finding a local supplier of chassis foam and it looks like there'll be a decent 40-50 KG in it to do it properly, so if I can get that stiffness without the weight gain it's win win (and no intrusive cage). Car is completely stripped on stands so I just have to remove some of the sound deadener and wire wheel the pain seams. -A
more fed up than keen getting through the seam welding prep; my bodywork buddy is coming this Sunday. had a 15 amp power outlet put in this morning and I'm just about finished stripping the seam paint/seam sealer/sound deadener off of all the streams in the interior. Imagine the drunkest little boy's room trip you've ever made... this is at least twice as messy as that. -A
Now that you are doing it, what's the best technique you have picked up to remove the tar that you didn't know of before starting?
not sure what you mean? I planned to use a wire wheel, started with two high carbon steel wire wheels and am continuing to use them. tears the tar and seam sealer up quick smart
As in while you were taking it off, did you learn different little things to get it off quicker and cleaner? Or have you just done the same technique the whole way through? But you above post answer it.
by the look of it, he's only cleaning the seams off not completely removing the sound ending i don't think complete removal with a wire wheel would leave anybody sane p.s. if this is the case.. wear a gas mask when in the car welding.. that tar that close to the welding will smoulder and gas ya
Ah ok, thanks. I thought he was removing all of the sound deadener. I should have read this bit more carefully.
I'm pretty sure he's keeping the sound deadening. Stripping the seams to have it all seam welded tomorrow, but I think some level of comfort is still required, as it is still going to be a street car
that's the one Logan - keeping the deadening where it doesn't cover the seams. getting welded up on Sunday so it's a tight deadline stripping it all. haven't even started on the underbody yet
for your information though.. i did remove all the sound ending in my zed.. dry ice the floor, blow torch the vertical stuff 5kg of dry ice easy did the floor.. 5 kg of dry ice barely did half of one side of the tranny tunnell.. hit it with one of those bunnings propane blow torches for about 20 seconds.. softened the glue enough to pull it off in one piece with a chisel as a scraper.. leaves a sticky residue behind that comes off with acetone.. the floor doesnt come off with the torch though.. i thing the vertical stuff is glued on and the floor stuff is just stuck down with its own stickyness and 25 years of feet
all in the name of progress update time... chassis is now completely prepped for seam welding. unfortunately my guy that I had coming yesterday cancelled at the last moment, which did nothing to aid my no-sleep-because-I-was-up-all-night-with-a-grinder induced mood. anyway, it's done at least. when all is said and done, this will be an inexpensive exercise to obtain a considerable amount of drivability in the form of a good chassis. I recommend it. but I will say it is absolutely shitting awful carrying out the prep work with only axle stands and a wire wheel equipped grinder. it's fun in a way; excavating out all the seams from whatever seam sealer/sound deadener tar they're buried beneath. eventually however the novelty wears off and it's just plain filthy. anyway, on to some photographs I just scrubbed and repainted all the wheel wells too :\ (look how nice they are!) The wire wheels make quick work of all gunk, they do however love to disintegrate through use (as they all do). over the last two days I have routinely pulled wire splinters out of my arms and legs, at times up to 10mm deep The whole interior from rear strut towers (and slightly beyond) to fire wall is stripped, whole under body and all four wheel wells too. the rear sub frame is still present all metal work above it will be standard; when I pull it out for a reco (no real plans at this point) I'll do the seams there too. the engine bay can wait, since it's headed for a complete bare metal overhaul at a later date anyway. doing this you really get an idea of how flimsily the standard chassis is put together... the OEM welds really are pretty tragic, and in places downright unprofessional. on another note, in an absolute miracle of an opportunity I managed to finally find an uncracked ADM front bar. i nearly cried it's immaculate; never bent, cracked or repaired. apparently came off of a car which had recently had a front end repair; the bar was purchased new not long ago. as a result it seems to never have had stone guard on the lower lip. bonus! it took me more than a year to get this - more than any of the old school jap parts I'm so partial to. lastly, I have acquired the first component for my long term project. I picked up a few Modenas off of a member for the cost of postage (thank you!). formally drift spares with curb-kissed barrels all 'round, they'll serve as a more than adequate starting point for me. a bespoke car needs bespoke wheels, and these will be just that - double stepped lip up to 18" (no Modena ever came taller than 17"), stretched out to 11" front and 12" rear and dolled up to suit. I received three and have a final on its way to me from the land of the rising sun as we speak. good old yahoo - the only place you can pick up a single discontinued jap wheel with relative ease. unfortunately one of the three I have already received turned out to have been hit so hard that a spoke is slightly bent. I'll be seeing if it can be straightened out soon. let me be clear (convincing myself here) that these will be nothing but wall decoration until well after the car is done, painted and being daily driven. you should see the front brake clearance... i'll have to get a pic. so yes, soldiering on. as soon as the car's welded up (next weekend) I can start putting the interior and various other components back in (haven't had a carpet in the car for months!) and focus on other things. I've ordered all my engine rebuild components from CZP and am waiting on a set of ARP head studs to arrive to him before my order can be sent out to me. another 3.2k down, urgh. lastly, I've decided to have my rings/bottom end bearings/crank WPC treated. WPC is a metal surface treatment carried out through micro shot peening. it massively reduces friction for metal on metal contact, so should help my motor to survive for the long term. there's only one english speaking place that can do it (japanese practise), located in california. since bottom ends are big and heavy I've sourced my new crank from somebody over in the states. the seller was nice enough to send me close ups of each journal to confirm its condition. he'll be posting it straight to the WPC place for me. moving forward. -A
It can alter the crank surface by up to 0.001016mm. Softer surfaces such as piston skirts can be altered up to 0.002032mm.
depends what you call street use and yes, after seeing how the chassis is held together at the moment, absolutely. even if it's only slight while daily driving.
So it can alter crank journals upto 1 thou And bearing surfaces another 1 thou + What happens if you assemble your engine and the clearances are too big?
That's MM, not thousandths of an inch. WPC Treatment state +/- 0.00004 inches for a crank, or 4 one hundred thousandths.
re. the seam welding. Have you decided which welding process? I know there are a few different ways, stich welding with a mig, additional spot welds or full length tig welding. I dont know which is best for each application. Also in regards to clearances. i dont know the metric system conversions very well but i think thats more like half a thou? Either way any clearance needs to be taken in to account, maybe the OEM graded bearings should be used. At the moment there seems to be some USA led obsession with coatings and treatments and other wank to reduce friction adn prolong component life but in the case of crankshafts 90% of the cranks in VG30's havent even been ground once in 20 years of use, ive built my engine probably 4 times around a stock crank, i dunno how much more life can be expected than that !!
