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Argh was hoping to get the inside stitch welding finished today but about half way through I ran out of gas and of course it’s Sunday so can’t get anymore until at least tomorrow. At least it’s a nice half hour drive to the place to get it but on the other hand it’s a half hour drive each way to get it!
Few more jobs ticked off the list. First was finishing off the WRX brakes in some paint.
Haven’t got the new seals and pistons yet but I wanted to test out the paint to see what the colour was like. Pictures don’t do it justice, it’s bright! After deciding I’m happy with the colour I committed to buying a bigger tin of normal stuff rather than the expensive heat resistant stuff to do this:
Again the pictures don’t do it justice. It’s actually very bright and glossy almost like a high vis jacket.
Also committed to some flocking but decided to buy a machine to do it myself. So far I’ve done the A pillars and boot cover. Happy how the pillars came out but the boot cover wasn’t so great. Just getting to grips with the epoxy. Problem I’ve come across was the epoxy running as it cured so I think slightly less thinners and maybe a slightly thinner coat next time.
And lastly I had an impulse buy on eBay for an STI Wagon second wing for the boot which I fitted today. Definitely wasn’t nervous about getting the holes just right for it...
Obviously it’s going to be painted the correct colour at some point. Seriously considering ditching the roof rails now. I doubt I’ll ever use them.
Made a start fixing the rear arches/sills yesterday. The drivers side is by far the worst so I though lets start with that. First job was to cut out all the corrosion:
Then add some good metal:
And finish off with some zinc primer:
It's really not neat but it's better than a big hole. I may get myself a finger sander to neaten it up a bit but I don't think you'll even be able to see that mess once it's covered in seam sealer and stone chip.
The passenger side just needs a small patch on the bottom in that spot then I'll get on with replacing the drivers outer arch.
And a bonus pic of my little helper in her new favourite napping spot:
Got myself a new toy to help with a few little jobs:
Should be better than the 40+ year old one dad bought when he was around 10 for his railway sets. Still prefer crimps for most jobs but there's a few bits and pieces that soldering will work better or at all for.
Also started stripping the Brembo's down for paint. Can you guess what colour they'll be?
Brakes are stripped and had a little JB Weld applied to the rears to fill in the worst of the corrosion. It wasn’t particularly bad but it was noticeable. I haven’t smoothed it back perfectly because I’m being lazy and know nobody is going to see it other than me anyway.
Also made a start making some reinforcing plates for the strut tops out of some 3mm steel. Only took about an hour with the hole saw to make that hole. Wish I had a plasma cutter.
Just need to copy that for the other side then onto the rears. They’ll get tacked into place then bashed/bent into shape before being fully welded.
Made a start prepping the strut tower for the first plate. Removed all the seam sealer and filled the big gap with some weld to seal it back up and stitch welded the very top just to help with the stiffness and tidied it up with the grinder before some zinc primer to stop it rusting until I fit the plate.
I gave up trying to bash the plate into shape on the car and decided it was far easier to bend it in the vice. Forgot to take a picture of how the plate is looking now but you'll see when I've welded it together. It's got a very slight overlap so I should be able to grind it back fairly flush once it's finished.
Got both front strut plates all welded up and a good chunk of the engine bay done too. Might tidy some of the really ugly welds when it comes time to paint the engine bay but for now they’re staying as they are.
Finally decided on a name I’m happy with too. Say hello to Project Vulpix.
Which zinc primer are you using mate is it an aerosol? Also which rust remover did you use?
Sorry if you’ve mentioned above pal
Project Vulpix 👌👌👌👌
Bilt Hamber Electrox. I’m using a mix of aerosols and tins in a spray gun. Aerosols are more convenient for small things and covering up after welding etc but get much better coverage using a proper spray gun. Rust removal is a mix of wire brushes, strip discs and flap discs on various grinders and die grinders as well as the sand blaster earlier in the thread.
Pretty happy with how these have turned out. No they’re not as perfect as if I’d sent them off to Scoobyworx but I’ve done all 4 calipers with new seals for about a fifth of the cost.
Rear decals aren’t perfectly placed but not enough anybody but me will notice on the car. I did have some lovely brand new front bolts painted to match the new rear bolts but it turns out the flange is ever so slightly larger than the originals and will ruin the paint tightening up so I’ll clean up the old bolts at some point.
Got both front wheel arches looking like that yesterday and the rest of the joins at the firewall done. Made a start on the underneath too. Starting to feel like I'm making some progress with the welding on the outside. Obviously the gas supply place is not used to seeing people more than once a year as they were rather shocked to see me back after only a week for even more gas. I must admit even I'm shocked how much gas is being used. I thought one cylinder would last me forever but I'm on my fourth already but then I was only going off of other peoples opinions online who probably aren't stitch welding a whole chassis together.
02 August 2020, 05:29 PM
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