Trunk lid blocked out with 400 dry. Pretty happy with how it turned out.
Stripped the drivers fender of its many layers of paint. Its super straight and zero rust. Ready to prime tomorrow.
Dan
Damn dude. Loving the updates. Looks like (IG) the other fender ain't that bad, either.
Its a lot worse since I tried to hammer it out. Ended up with 3-4 holes from the weld on dent pull studs and hidden rust. Its a mess.Originally Posted by maxwell
Im likely going to section that area out and weld in a new formed piece. At least thats my current plan, hah.
Dan
Epoxy and 2k primed the fender last saturday. Turned out nice. I havent blocked it out yet, but it should be close, maybe just a little glaze around the area where I shaved the marker lights.
Then it was back to the trunk. The inside has just as much bad paint as the outside, along with a few dents. Spent forever stripping the inside and repairing the dents in prep for primers.
Sanded it out. Ready for the last coat of primer.
Just had to toss it on quick to see how it looks. Diggin it.
I was tired of sanding so last night I decided to focus on the hood latch. My oe one was a rusty mess so I sourced a German aftermarket one from Poland.
Years back I modded the oe one to release through the grille like the early rabbits. The job I did on it sucked so I fixed that up last night and mated it to the new latch.
Its basically just a tab welded to the release where normally the cable would hook to. I cut off anything associated with the cable and drilled a new hole for the spring.
Also added nutserts for mounting the base to the core support.
Naturally the safety catch hook hit the heat exchanger, which I knew would be close. Luckily it was just low enough a small clearance through the top plate gave it enough room. I also trimmed the catch a tiny bit for added clearance (not shown in the second pic)
Then I pulled it all apart so it will be ready for nickel plating.
Dan
man oh man the attention to *cough OCD cough* detail here is amazing.
I def have a problem
EDIT: I didnt show it, but I was sure to buff out any shear marks in the edges of the latch pieces and rounded over all the edges so one side wasnt sharper than the other from when it was stamped.
Last edited by juicedz4; 02-02-2018 at 02:48 PM.
Primed the inside of the trunk. Its now ready for seam sealer.
Pass fender stripped. Didnt find any other surprises so I decided to fix the previously hacked repair on the front corner.
With the rest of the 1/8" of mud ground off it was a huge mess. The backside was quite rusty as well. Stupid dent pullers. You can see some leftovers of the one stud, top left of the damaged area. The top of the fender behind the damage was also pushed up quite a bit so I hammered that flat using a poster board template of the drivers fender.
Cut out the old repair
Hammered a replacement piece to shape.
Welded it in place and sanded it out.
Last night I shaved the marker light holes and got it glassed in. Its not a great shot of it, but you can see just how little filler the front repair I made needed. A little better than the original repair.
Dan
Last edited by juicedz4; 02-05-2018 at 04:37 PM.
Took a break from sanding and started on the catch can.
Naturally I couldnt just make a square box. I wanted the one corner to be rounded.
Bent up some 0.090" to a 1.5" radius on our little Baleigh brake at work.
Then cut and fit all the other pieces and got most of it tacked up. Im still waiting on the top panel that a guy I work with is cutting on his cnc for me. Should have that tomorrow.
Ill try to explain how this is going to work. The large oem vent in the block is going to attach to a tube in the chamber with the rounded corner. The air will travel up over the first wall, under the second, over the third, and then there will be an opening in the bottom of the front most chamber. The whole thing will be filled with ss wool to capture the vapors. The bottom is angled to funnel the captured oil where there will be a drain. Its hard to see but the first interior wall is flat at the bottom allowing oil to go under it but most of the air to be directed over it. The third interior wall follows the contour of the bottom panel so I can seal it to hold the oil within the first three chambers. Phew. It should make more sense as it comes together.
Dan
Realized wed am that I welded the damn mounting flange of the tank on upside down. UGH. Last night I cut all the tacks off, cleaned up the panels and flipped it over the right way. Took about an hour, so not SO bad.
Then added a bung for the drain and the inlet tube and welded it all up.
Welded a piece of rectangle tube to the side of the HX to attach the tank to. The tab out the side should make sense now.
Up next was the drain. The drain will double as a secondary mount for the tank, I still need to weld on a mounting tab that will bolt to the frame rail. That groove in the frame rail was meant to be there I guess. It took me a while to get the bends right for the drain. I also had to trim the tube sleeves so Id have enough room for the flare tool dies but I think it worked out pretty slick.
The inlet tube is 1.25" to match the oe breather on the block, and is angled to go under the upper radiator hose. Ill connect the two with a 1.25" silicone 90.
Drain will get a male plug.
I now have the top plate back from my CNC buddy so I should be able to get that welded on this afternoon.
Dan
Catch can lid welded on (note groove for sealing o-ring), output slot cut in the bottom, and a mounting tab for the drain line welded on.
I also tweaked the drain line spacing to the frame rail for all you that were super concerned.
Will drill the frame once the motor is out next time.
Next I need to decide if/how Im going to fit a breather line or two to the valve cover.
Dan
Silicone 90 for the crank case vent trimmed and in place. Itll sit straighter once clamped (not that youll ever see it again).
Ive been hating the fuel press regulator cup on the end of the fuel rail for a while now. The original plan was it would be simple, "cheap", and require less fittings. But now it just annoys me and I feel that Id prefer to have some control over fuel pressure if needed.
So last night I hacked the cup off and welded a -6 fitting on. Its so much cleaner. Im going to mount the small Fuel Lab FPR under the fram rail. Sure it wont be the easiest to access but it should be a set it and forget it deal.
Before
After
Dan
Big update:
Finished up the catch can. I decided to add one breather to the valve cover. Not so much for the vent but that I needed a place to fill oil since I shaved the oe fill cap. haha
Fitting welded and smoothed.
To keep the hose as long as possible to compensate for engine movement I welded a piece of tube to the catch can the hose slips over, vs a bung and fitting. Also did a little bump in the hose. I did use silicone hose I had lying around which is not lined correctly so Ill need to either source some lined hose or just use standard pushloc hose when it comes to the final install.
Finished up the hood latch mods. Originally the pivot for the safety catch was staked in. I needed to remove it in order to be able to nickel plate everything so a new pivot was required. I sourced a internally threaded shoulder "bolt", drilled it out from 8-32 to 1/4-20 and turned the knurling / labeling off. Not shown: drilled out the hole in the safety catch to fit the shoulder bolt and welded extra material to the edge to compensate for the larger hole.
Original pivot ground off
Shoulder bolt before
Everything modded and assembled complete with ss ARP 12 point bolt.
Next was to finish up the revamped fuel system. The Fuel Lab FPR fit nicely under the frame rail. I just needed to make a little adapter plate to mount it to and redo the lines quick. Ill rivet this in after the chassis is painted hence the temporary clecos
And last but not least FINALLY got the header and down pipe fully welded.
First time welding a header like this. It was a total pain trying to do it all in one piece, but I thought I could without separating the runners and I wanted to try and minimize warping by keeping it on the jig.
Thankfully the Monster 14 cup didnt disappoint and I was able to have huge tungsten stickout while maintaining a clean weld.
All welded up. It probably took me a good 5 hours of welding 3/4" , re-position manifold, weld antoher 3/4", repeat infinity times. Its not the best job ever but itll certainly pass.
It did pull a tiny bit on the jig but nothing to worry about. The head flange was also pretty flat. Nothing I cant sand out quick on my big belt sander.
Then it was the down pipe's turn. Had to make a jig to weld the turbo v-band flange. Both to hold it flat and to be able to purge it properly. I was quite pleased with this weld.
For the saddle O2 bung the fit wasnt quite right so I welded the sides and then used a hammer and punch to adjust the edges for a tight fit.
All done.
Still fits!
And with that i THINK im done with the motor / turbo fabrication. Tonight Im going to do a once over everything an then it should be time to remove the motor and get cranking on the body!
Dan
Took a good look over everything last night and decided it was close enough to pull the motor. There is still a few things to do but they will be easier with the motor out than in.
And after a short 60 mins it was bare again
I stared at the turbo water ports for a bit and got frustrated trying to fig out exactly how to run them so I decided to tackle the charge pipe and compressor elbow instead. I was a little nervous about welding to the compressor housing but it went fairly well.
Next is the turbo oil drain and water lines.
Dan
89,760
Last edited by juicedz4; 02-21-2018 at 10:37 AM.
Damn that looks good. I don't know how you have the patience for this. I would just want to get the thing together and running of sorts at this point.
X...
That was me once too. But Im tired of redoing things so Im trying to do this one right, once. Its def a lot of hours logged, but I love doing it so...
Dan
Remarkable...
Engine/trans ready to get rebuilt? Loving the updates on this.
Not just yet. Mainly b/c I dont have the money right now. haha.
However, before they go out they need a lot of work anyway. Im going to do a bit of shaving on the block and trans cases first. Mostly just mold lines and what not. There are a few on the trans especially that could cut you so bad youd wish they didnt cut you so bad.
EDIT: Also Im thinking its going to a big chunk of time / money to get the body finished.
Dan
Last edited by juicedz4; 02-22-2018 at 05:21 PM.
Stainless turbo water hardlines are done. Took a few hours but I managed to do them without a rev 2. Which is good because I literally had just enough tubing left.
Im not super in love with the 180 for the return but a banjo would sit too high I feel like.
Its hard to get in pics how they really look so I took a quick vid.
https://youtu.be/bXrAjS4l0Nc
Dan
Last edited by juicedz4; 02-23-2018 at 10:37 AM.
I like that 180 hard line because it matches the height of the braided one. you could always paint / powerdercoat / wrap it black if you want to make it disappear.
Yea, I dont mind that part of it, i just wish it didnt stick out the back so far. Funny, I had this bend and flare already done that I was trying to use for the fuel rail.... i wonder if i COULD have cut it back more at the flare. You can really only do so much as the tube nut has to obviously be on before you flare and still leave room for the flare tool clamp. Ive trimmed tube nuts before to get them on further but meh
Last edited by juicedz4; 02-23-2018 at 10:47 AM.
Since I swapped transmission I no longer needed the clutch cable hole in the firewall, so it had to go.
I also wanted to flatten the RHD column feature so Id have more room for a heat shield.
Both meant having to cut into the already primed firewall, but it had to be done.
Grind it out and make a template.
Bend up a piece and weld it in.
Same for the RHD column
Nice and flat compared to the LHD column bump you can see in the distance
Filled and sanded.
Finally primed.
And with that the engine bay is more or less ready for a final sand and paint. Im sure there are a few spots that might need a little going over but its prob 97% there.
I spent most of the rest of the weekend stripping the body back to just the shell, sorting and organizing parts, trying to fig out what needs what coating, and finding places to put everything.
Also started setting the "booth" back up so I can get cracking on the door jambs and quarter panels.
Dan
Small update.
I hated the white spring retainer on the hood latch so I turned a black one from ABS. Much better.
Sat am I dropped off a pile of parts to the powder coater. All these will be wrinkle black.
I was a little leery about them masking and blasting the fuel rail correctly so I decided to VHT wrinkle paint it instead. Was my first time working with it and it turned out great and should hold up.
Then I expoxy and 2k primed a few parts. Charge pipe, radiator trim panel and the pass fender.
Starting to look a little like a car.
Dan
I may have missed it along the way, but do you have a choice for exterior color selected yet?
I am so pumped to see the final product of this and it looks like it might be soon! I want to be left to the exterior styling choices
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2012 Lotus Evora S GP, 1995 Lotus Esprit S4, 1991 Toyota MR2, 1987 Renault GTA 
