My nightmare... errr restoration thread.

[Brap_Brap]

The cost was $240 for the pair, plus another $40 to burn out the old crud so the inside could be done as well. Well worth it for the heat reduction under the bonnet.

And now to update the topic.

I took out a $7500 loan from Wells Fargo to make sure I have enough to do the job and to do it right. I'm getting the front/back coilover kit Steve Heath sells, the rose jointed torsion links for the rear suspension, rose jointed drop links, new clutch/plate/bearing, new track rod ends, and new bushings throughout. Marshall Moore said I could save a few bucks ordering through him.

I've sent the alternator and starter off to be rebuilt whether it needs it or not. The headers are currently at the coatings shop. The guy who runs the coatings shop saw my bare chassis in a picture and he said he'd powder coat it for $350, two coats.

Today I'm pulling out the radiator so it can be re-cored this time in aluminium, as well as sending off my old hoses to a local place called Ability Hose. The hose place can form any rubber hoses that need formed. I also will be replacing the oil cooler and PAS hoses with custom stainless steel replacements.

Yesterday I spent roughly 4 hours detailing my engine and does it ever look clean and shiny. (I'd eat off of it) After degreasing the block I got out a 1" wire wheel and polished up the block as best I could, then afterwards began polishing all the nooks and crannys with a little quarter inch wire bit. The effort is well worth it and I'll be posting a pic of it later to encourage others to consider the same. I also polished up the pulleys and the various sending units. (sensors) The pulleys and sensors I will paint "gun metal" grey.

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Aye, that's the car, and my ugly mug behind the wheel.
That was the day it arrived; and one of the happiest of my life. ...and then it morphed into a pickpocket and began robbing me blind. I've nicknamed it Fagan, after the crook in Oliver Twist. My friend Jay who's loaned me his garage for this job has nicknamed it the Exxon Valdez for all the stains it's dribbled on his concrete floor.

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adam quantrill said:

Hi Mike, what's a "muffler"? Do you mean a "silencer"??

It's a wedge. What do you mean by silencer??? :P

If you call 110db at 1 meter silent, you're past the point of needing a hearing check-up.

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The filthy pig before I cleaned it up.


Afterwards... I even painted the rusty old frost plugs in the block.


Polishing the plenum. It came out very nice.

A word of caution, if you do this with a stainless steel wire wheel, keep the wire strands 45deg or closer to perpendicular with the surface to be worked on or you risk scratching the surface, even if it is pitted casting. If you're careful and don't press hard a brilliant shine will result.



A little attention to detail with both the wire brush and some paint leaves a pleasing finish, as shown with this thingmajig on the valve cover and the sending unit from the oil pump. Both were 3/4's rust and peeling paint before this.


My PAS pump bracket freshly painted in gun metal grey engine enamel.
I like this color a lot better than the original black, although the pump itself will be repainted black.


A fuel tank, bell housing inspection cover, PAS bracket and dipstick (&tube) painted and ready for reassembly. Small details like the black dipstick handle contrasted by the gun metal grey dipstick tube look awesome when reassembled. Please don't paint anything in your engine, red or yellow! (ie: pulleys, brackets and such... I've seen you do it, you know who you are. Shame one you.)


This one pulley alone took me roughly 25 minutes with a very narrow wire brush in my drill to drive out every last trace of rust. Before it was a peeling paint and bubbly rust PoS, now it looks perrrdy!


If you restore your wedge, don't scrimp on hoses. This one looked perfectly fine until I bent it backwards. I'll be replacing them with custom stainless steel braided units.

I never did get my rad out today... I fell into the wee hole atop my beer can and never pulled myself back out. Maybe tomorrow...

Edited by Brap_Brap on Friday 26th June 03:45

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I got the rad out today and it was in horrible condition! The left side is the bottom. The fins go from no rows to 1 core deep, then 2 cores deep, then near the top of the rad 3 cores worth of fins barely exist

The local rad shop that does recoring told me to leave it with them and they'd give me a price in a few days. I'm hoping for $250 or less.


My PAS lines had rubbed on each other for 22 years; time for replacement. I wanted to do custom stainless lines but unfortunately the hose shop informed me that the fittings required were incompatible with stainless unless I went Uber custom (fittings) and expensive.


I got these made up instead. They're not as pretty as stainless, but then again they we're very reasonably priced.

I also bought 10 feet of generic oil/petrol hose like which runs from the engine to the filter to the cooler. I wanted those in stainless too but they told me that they didn't even have the fittings. While they do carry metric and imperial in stock, it seems to be a nonstandard fitting. I'll simply have to polish up the old fittings and buy some new hose clamps.

I'm rather disappointed. I wanted that stainless bling.

[edit] All in all the two custom PAS hoses and 10 feet of oil cooler hose only cost me $78.

Edited by Brap_Brap on Saturday 27th June 02:22

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I still wanted my stainless steel lines, so I did the fakery route. I polished and painted my old fittings, bought a stainless sleeve kit and made these...


Not quite perfect, but nice.


Here's my nasty injector gear versus refurbed by me. I polished the stuff up, and painted the steel parts. I'll replace the bolts with stainless steel.


The injectors were rusty in places so I gave them some loving too. The o-rings I treated with tyre cleaning foam and that made them black and supple again.


I even went so far as to take an eigth inch brass wire brush and polish up the brass hose fitting. It doesn't look perfect, but it does look better than the still grungy one


Afterwards it was time to clean the intake. It was disgusting to look at.


It's not done yet, but all I can say so far is WOW!



It sure looks pretty on the production line.



I'd only polished a quarter of the intake before I was curious to see the final result. IMHO, fabulous.

I also bought some other goodies...


Some new spark plug wires by MSD.


A few condoms for my new wires.


Some plastic conduit to redo my wiring loom.

Unfortunately I discovered a rusted through section of my intake manifold's lower gasket, the section that covers the valley. Then again, better to learn about it now when it's right there exposed to replace.

To be continued...

Edited by Brap_Brap on Monday 29th June 09:51

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The rad shop just called me with their estimate to fix my rad; $440 with "high efficiency fins" as opposed to what? Normal efficiency fins? Is there even such a things as high efficiency fins? Closer spacing maybe?
Am I being scammed?

I also called the shop rebuilding my alt and starter to see how things were going. Apparently the guts for a 45amp LUCASfer can no longer be had new, but the guts for a 75amp model will fit in my casing. The price remains the same, and I get an upgrade.



[edit]Apparently the high efficiency rad core is not a scam after all. It has closer tube spacing which equals more tubes, and more coolant in the rad to cool. It's a bit pricey but it's worth the performance and peace of mind to me.


Option-1:
O.E.M. Type, Tube & Center

Standard automotive core serpentine fin, with in-line tube construction 1/2" tubes on 9/16" centers. Available in normal duty, heavy duty and Desert Cooler®


Option-2:
High Efficiency

High efficiency automotive core utilizing close tube centers. Serpentine fins, with in-line tube construction 1/2" tubes on 3/8" tube centers. Available in normal duty, heavy duty and Desert Cooler®
[/edit]

Edited by Brap_Brap on Monday 29th June 19:22

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adam quantrill said:

It deos sound rather expensive, Mike. Why not just get a better/double fan?

I don't really have the choice about expense. As the car sat 3 months ago I'd be lucky to sell it as a $3k project to someone. It cost me $21.5k in all to get the car from Jim's driveway to mine, so it would be a huge loss, or a PoS that I couldn't drive and only stare and weep at.

The expense really isn't that bad compared to paying to have it done, and by the time I'm done it'll be worth more than I've put into it. It's just a matter of a lot more elbow grease and less beer.

Long story short, I've got the only known road worthy 390 in the western hemisphere. I'm betting that putting it back to pristine condition and having the full work history on the car plus new paint and leather/carpets/hood could easily see it fetch $40,000 here.

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Wedg1e said:

Brap_Brap said:

Some plastic conduit to redo my wiring loom.

That stuff's bloody horrible. I used it on places on my car; by the time you get it to follow the route you need it has more gaps than a Microsoft product. You end up taping it every 6 inches to keep it in shape.

Edit: anyway, blue?!. That's as bad as painting your pulleys red...

Edited by Wedg1e on Monday 29th June 23:32

Considering the car is blue, I've been wondering if it's overkill.

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I went back to work on my intake today, finished the top and started on the bottom. The piping that runs beneath the intake was pretty corroded, but I make things nice.


The underside polished, pipes painted then reassembled. It looks good.

I also managed to buy a new intake gasket today for only $26.

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350Matt said:

also while you've got the intake off I'd say chop 25mm off all the trumpets, for a cheap power boost.

And what's the powerband trade off? Top end? Bottom end? Mid range?


On another note, my headers came back today and they look fabulous, and feel far smoother, almost with a silk like feel to them. I'm really itching for the day I bolt so many clean and shiny parts back together.

I'm still not happy with my intake on the upper side. In the deep recesses there's still a lot of corrosion even the smallest brush wont reach. I know a guy with a glass beading machine though, and I've already spent close to $12k at his shop on the RX-7's I've owned, so I'm pretty confident as a good customer he'll rent it out to me on the cheap.

I'm not quite sure what to do with the valve covers. Original black but in high gloss ceramic? Ceramic satin coat? Something shinier? Just strip the paint and polish them up? Any ideas guys?

Edited by Brap_Brap on Tuesday 30th June 22:05

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mike.williams said:

They look great!
Can you tell me what effect the operating heat will have on their looks? Will they stay like that??
p.s. great work so far...
Don't make it too shiney... just in case you don't want to get it dirty!!!

According to this FAQ http://www.moorepower.com/frequently_asked_questio...

[i]Q. I've seen headers at car shows that look like the coating is dull and grey looking near the top of the header. Why is that, and can your coatings do that?

A. The reason for this is that all metallic ceramic coatings, that have a polished aluminum to chrome finish have aluminum in the coating for the chrome look. Aluminum burns at 1300f. That is why the metalic ceramic coatings are rated at 1300f. At 1300f the aluminum in the coating burns and turns to a dull color. Yes ours, like ALL OTHER metallic ceramic coatings will go flat at over 1300f base metal temperature. We at least have the honesty to tell you this and explain why this happens! We can also advise you how to help avoid the problem from occuring.

Q. What can I do to help avoid the coating from burning?

A. The first thing is to avoid fuels with ethanol in them. The ethanol adds oxygen to the fuel which can raise the exhaust gas temperature above the limit for the coating. Tests have shown a 50f to 80f increase in egt with ethanol in fuel. Setting the ignition timing is also very important. Retarded ignition timing can actually cause some of the fuel mixture to burn in the header causing severly high egt's. Many of the universal electric choke carburators run very lean on the cruise circuit, which can often cause some burning of the coatings, that is ANY POLISHED LOOKING COATING. Richen the mixture up a couple of steps, and this is usually enough to take care of the issue. If you have an intake gasket leaking, there can be one of the cylinders running very lean causing one tube to burn.[/i]

Edited by Brap_Brap on Wednesday 1st July 15:48

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TVRleigh_BBWR said:

Look very nice, are they mild steel coated ?? if so maybe tempted to do the system on the racer, over the winter.

No, not mild steel. It's stainless underneath.

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Some very nasty looking stuff indeed. I couldn't let it remain like that.


Originally I'd painted the entire thing gun metal but upon seeing the end result it was too much of one colour. I stripped it clean one more time then painted the actuator arm thingys black to give them a pressed onto the shaft look. I think it's a nice touch.


The finished product.

If you paint your spring like I did, don't forget to paint it in an expanded state.

I can't wait to see all this back together. It's going to look astonishing for a DIY jobbie.

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adam quantrill said:

Mike, I think you should get something gold plated, if only the rocker cover bolts, or something like that ;^)

I think I detect envy, sarcasm, or both. :P I think we should have a "lift your bonnet - prettiest engine bay" contest, forum wide.

Pffft! :P It's all apart, wire brushes, paint and primer are dirt cheap. If there ever was a time to do this TLC to the car the time is right now. So right now is when I'm going to do it.

What can I say Adam? I love the car and I want to give it my 110%. *shrug*

Continuing on with the thread...





The whole thing installed came out very nicely. Doing the remaining plemun part of the throttle linkage and various piping took a a couple of hours but the result was worth it. Despite what Adam says... :P

Edited by Brap_Brap on Thursday 2nd July 00:58

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adam quantrill said:

Don't get me wrong, I think it'll look great when it's done, just don't overdo it, that's all.

Definitely a smiley face for mild sarcasm!

I know you were just teasing. OTOH, I've got a sense of humour too.
I've been considering having one single bolt gold plated, a plenum bolt or something, then naming the bolt Adam.

You just wait, I'll do it.

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rev-erend said:

Just sometimes - you yanks just don't get humour mixed with mild sarcasm..

Lovely job you are doing there..

Yank? OUCH! If you look in the western hemisphere on a globe, right above the 49th degree of latitude there's an insignificant "colony" of England called Canada.

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adam quantrill said:

Methinks the Right Rev knows exactly what Canada is, and he's pulling your chain...

Wasn't there a bit of France there too though?

Entschuldigung, Sie bitte? Ich verstehe nicht.

This country was built by Scots, Krauts, Chinese and Ukranians for the most part. All the frogs ever did was bh about it and try to tear the country to pieces, and triumph gay rights.

[Brap_Brap]

And now for today's adventure down the bottomless money pit...


Yuck!


*Puke*


This fitting was tighter than a chastite nun's C-word (that women hate so much) on a minus 35C day in December! After bending it, even with two wrenches, I got out the pneumatic impact gun... easy work of it.

• Note: If you have to remove your oil cooler lines and things look corroded, use air power for the certainty you wont damage anything. In my case I got lucky. A bicycle tire pump, air pressure gauge, valve and an end cap proved to me it holds it's pressure and doesn't leak, but it's a pain in the arse waste of time. Do it right, use a pneumatic impact gun.

Complete mounting holes turned to dust.

I was thinking of doing a complete "box in" of the mounts at both ends and that box I could drill new mount holes into. IE: a sheet metal wrap-around on both ends.


I'd already lightly sprayed the tubes/fins with a silver engine enamel, ever so lightly as to not plug up the air passages. I masked it off then painted the sides/top/bottom gun metal, the fittings on it I painted black.


I realise painting your oil cooler in three different colours is obsessive and perhaps even mentally deranged, but the more I work with the car the more it becomes artistry and less and less of craftsmanship. Any chimpanzee can spray paint something a solid colour.

I'll try not to fall overboard boys... but damn, this does look good.

[edit] Wow, this is my fifth edit. I need to get my st together.


I couldn't use a roll of masking tape today if my life depended on it. I'll have to sqaure things up tomorrow, but the over effect is very nice.

Yes, I do realise nobody will ever see this work, I'm just so sick of seeing corrosion of one sort or another it needs to be banished from my car.

[edit x6] Sixth edit, get your sh|t together Mike![/edit]

Edited by Brap_Brap on Friday 3rd July 02:39

Edited by Brap_Brap on Friday 3rd July 02:41

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V8TVR1978 said:

Hey Mikey: When you going to tell me where and WHEN your playing. ( You working a paying job still?????)

Hi Wayne, just getting back from Woodwork? Yeah, I'm still working. It's a nice balance of p/t work and wedge work. IOW, it's slow enough I can put in a couple hours every day.

Why don't you drop by for a beer and check things out?

466-MIKE, you know the area code.