Vtecmec's 4th Gen

[Vtecmec]

Cheers guys, I've been working like a dog on it this week so should have an update soon............

[Vtecmec]

OK, so I just could not help myself, and with some time off work, I spent a bit of it in the garage.

I started out just by pottering around, removing all these from the engine bay and replacing with stainless equivalents.



Then I moved on to de-rusting and painting some of the little brackets in the engine bay that needed attention. Including the bloody awful cruise control unit.







Looks a bit better, but shows that the alternator and power steering units now need attention, but I’ll do that another day.

I also found some remains whilst poking around under the cruise unit, I wonder if it’s UK or Jap?



Whilst removing one of the power steering pipe brackets, I noticed that the bolt threads were knackered in the valve cover, so I filled it with chemical metal, drilled and tapped it out and refitted.





I’ve also fitted the cooling plate, some new horns and some silicon radiator hoses, please forgive the months of garage dust and crap that now adorns the car.



Now onto the rear end, completing the build after the minimal assembly prior to my move.

On with the anti roll bar.



And the wiring and covers for the 4WS.



And the fuel pipes, wires, grommets, brakes and associated.







One of the rear ABS sensors was beyond saving as the rust had blown the plastic casing, so I picked up a replacement from Nuc, cheers. It was in very good condition, but still needed a little work.



Cleaned and bagged for de-rusting.



Rust free.



And painted ready for fitting.



And fitted.



I decided I wanted an exhaust heat shield to clean the bay up a little, but having an aftermarket manifold had no way of bolting it in place.

I bought a cover of the bay and set to it with a rubber hammer to make it fit the manifold, being quite thin steel, it was pretty straight forward.



Now to fab a few brackets to make it fit.





Sorted.

Moving onto the belly of the beast now, giving it the same treatment as the rear, both chassis legs were in need of attention, as well as the centre that houses the exhaust hangers.

Here’s how it looked to begin, you can see where I was able to remove the underseal with just my fingers.







A few hours with a scraper, chisels and other sharp objects to remove the underseal.









Then several more hours with a wire wheel on a drill…





And slapping on the rust removal gel.











That’s how it is for now, I’ll leave it for a week to do its thing, but will be applying more gel and working it in every day for that period.

Removing the side skirts showed how grotty they looked.



So I gave them a good clean with some surfex HD.



I’ve also cleaned up the boot carpet trims, the worst was the spare wheel cover.



After a clean it’s come up pretty well, it actually looks worse on the photo than in reality.



The mud flaps were looking really grotty.



I scrubbed them till I was blue in the face, but I just could not remove the rust residue so I sat them in a bucket of stuff to clean things up, along with the exhaust heat shield and a few other bits and bobs.




The heat shield is half done, as my bucket’s not big enough to fit it all in.



I would have done some more, but I’ve just literally come back from a 4 hour wait in the hospital to have a metal splinter removed from my iris, hurt like hell, need better goggles.

[nickyboy]

Rust removal gel? No such thing mate, you need to cut it out.

[stal1878]

Sorry to hear about your eye, it hurts

[Vtecmec]

Rust removal gel? No such thing mate, you need to cut it out.

I beg to differ........





Watch this space.

[stal1878]

Wow thats some good stuff, do you have a link for it?

[Vtecmec]

Sure do, http://www.bilthamber.com/corrosion-treatments/deox-gel

[RattyMcClelland]

Rust removal gel? No such thing mate, you need to cut it out.

Nonsense.
Bilt Hamber stuff is the absolute shizzle. So advanced in rust removal and car care protection.

[nickyboy]

Wow, that's good stuff. Noted

[stal1878]

Cheers!

Also, whats up with the red hoses, orange is the theme!