Got some more work done on Pearl this weekend. Nick had started reassembling the front end, mounting in the various radiators and brackets.
I popped over after laying down the PVA on the moulds to tackle the exhaust system which I thought was just cut at the rear after the previous owner removed the tip. Low and behold, the idiots tried to remove the pipe work just after the muffler with a sabre saw, basically leaving the whole rear section an absolute mess to clean up !@#$
Easiest thing to do will be to source a whole rear muffler section as there is too much work to fix it all up grrr. Luckily I know where a whole muffler system is and the owner has kindly said I can take the lot
Will get some pics of the mess later.
Anyway, back to the front end. Firstly I used some polyurethane to cover the weld holes and a horizontal gap that toyota normally urethanes. Got to get it back to what it was.
Then we looked at the other brackets at the front of the car. There is a vertical support for the horizontal plastic trim that was crumpled in the crash. I had a replacement one from a standard GT Four but the support is different on the RC. The vertical portion allows for mounting the water to air heat exchanger so we decided to take the good horizontal portion and put it on the RC vertical support.
Nick drilled out the spots welds for the brackets and I welded the non crumbled piece back to the RC vertical support. Had to use Nick's saw horse as a temp welding station lol.
Got a couple of spots on with with the tig and that was that
Gave it a brush down and painted it black to protect the exposed metal.
The drivers side guard also had a crumbled bracket and some slight panel work to remedy. Nick got on with bending the vertical lip which was pushed back and I got on with prepping the bracket and guard for welding.
I had previously removed these brackets from some NA guards so I could make moulds for the wide wide body guards for the Elephant. The plan was to fix the crumbled bracket, so as I had my moulds, time to repair the guard.
Original bracket on the left, replacement on the right.
Hmm.. a lovely twisted mess
But this is better
And a bunch of clamps to hold it all into place while I weld. Of note, while I have a Mig, I use the Tig as I don't have gas for the Mig yet. Panel steel isn't easy to Tig as the steel just burns up any time I put some current in, and in this case, I managed to get some spots down to hold it together.
And the front end starting to look like a car again.
Pearl's front end is pretty much fixed up now. I had some fibreglass copies of the RC bonnet and bumper made for Pearl so it can pretty much go all back together.
Things to do:
- install RC bumper support properly (that bolt is somewhere..)
- fix the wiring loom which goes to the alternator
- install headlights, plastic trim, etc
- reinstall various brackets, components, airbox, overflow bottle (need to remove the rad it seems - not much room around that area) around the engine bay which we disassembled to do the repair
- cut various holes into the bonnet and bumper for mounting accessories, trim etc.
- buy some mesh and poly into the various vents/holes
- install some replacement under body panels under the front end
- maybe fix the saggy front and rear engine mounts
- scavenge the exhaust to fix the rear section of the muffler system
- re- install the interior
- fix the drivers seat foam and a leather patch to cover the hole
Not sure if I want to spend money on painting the front end to be perfectly honest. I just want to get rid of the car and push it off. I may paint it if I bother to keep it as a run around, but we'll see.
I'll calculate the total cost thus far and see if it is worth keeping. The notchy gear engagement is a bit annoying, but I'll try some fixes before I remove the short shifter kit and replace it with something smoother.
For a moment I was thinking of breaking the car as the exhaust system issue was looking to cost far too much to repair.
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GT Four
Adovansu
"I want to enjoy the powerful and nimble agility behavior."