D.I.Y. Mik

Stuff was done......

Too busy to notice.......

Done........ When its nice and cured ill buff it.

Yay! Internet is back, i broke the modem mid post, last week sometime.

What's the compression? How much for just the long motor? I dont need anything else, ill keep it as a spare/project.

Sanded half the car again today as i used a dodgy bit of sandpaper yesterday and scratched it all up. Making a few mistakes then fixing it up makes it take a while, but im learning from each fk up. I think i have the spraygun sorted out, but ill do final tests to make sure. So finally now its all smooth, clean and wrapped up ready for a sunny day to put on the final coats. Making a cattle grid type thing to take the dip out of my garage entrance, so the car can go over, but still have the water drain away.

Good to know. Plenty of good tools are cheap, but knowing which ones is the trick. I like Kinchrome level of quality, and some things i want nice i get Sidchrome. Snap-on and such prices are a joke.

Made a condenser for the spray gun.

You want to be careful with the cheap stuff, ratchet handles and such tend to break. Cheap sockets and spanners are fine as long as they are a good fit, you have to check how well the hex bit is shaped. Maybe think about what tools you want to be good and what tools you can handle being cheap, then build up a set. I dont mind spending $100+ on a set of nice spanners. And yeah af is useless unless you have some old or weird sht to fix. A condensor for spraying at home. A copy of dads, his is much neater, mine works fine. Bunnings copper pipe and air line fittings, Supercheap regulator/trap, plumbing shop brass fittings to adapt to the air fittings, and some bits from the junkpile to make a stand for it.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Quiafe-6-Speed-H-Pattern-Dog-Box-/141269329718?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276

Have complete HICAS system from R32 gtst. Free.

Are you doing them? They are quite tough to fit. In hindsight i should have bought the fitting spanners and vice sleeve too. Your workbench needs to be heavy or youll lift it off the floor trying to do up the fittings. Also think about an appropriate cutting tool/technique for the hose. Wayward steel strands are the devil when doing them up. I have Speedflow and Chinaflow fittings, they are different in how they work but both just as hard to do up. And wd40 helps. Ps: When i set mine up i found the Earls thermostat shipped from the US was the cheapest.

Jealous, she would kill me if i had another 32. Would like: Rhs door trim, rhs a and b pillar trim.

Had a bit of a crappy spray last coats of primer i put on. Finally worked out ( I hope) the spray gun, had to watch a couple of long tutorials on spraying to work it out. Its a big difference in the amount of paint coming out, i can go a lot faster now. And now the weather is going to be cold and wet for a week at least. Today is a great day to spray, but lining up free time and good weather is tricky. If i was an expert spray painter i could just do it and cope with problems using skill. Im not a good spray painter so i have to set it up for minimum hassle or i wont be able to do a good job. It shows how good i am when every second time i touch the car i make a problem to fix. But im getting better and working out how to do it properly.

Big silicone hose from Bunnings fits watertight in mine. Nice 34 Dan, the front bar is a very modern style i think. Vent for the intercooler, it must all be ducted, nice! Put some primer on everything today, looks like a week of rain coming up. More sanding to do........

Its nearly impossible to bleed it fully once. You need to do it two or three times, each time making sure the bleed is at the top (usually car facing uphill) and yeah it has to warm up so the thermostat opens. Theres another bleed at the back of the head, for the heater system. Its a total pain to get at. On my HCR32 its a rubber nipple like a closed off hose, on the heater hoses that run behind the head. You want the heater on hot so it lets any air through. And intake leaks will make it lean under vacuum and rich under boost. Lean is hot and detonating. Bad.

Masked it up it up and went to the paint shop for final bits and pieces. The guy said at these temps i might have to wait a few weeks before buffing. The longer i wait the better. Oh well, ill just have to do some other things to it while i wait. Swaybars need re-bushing, diff seal needs replacing, brakes need a flush, pads and air deflectors, interior needs a clean up and making/repairing bits. Hope i can get the clear on in the next 6-7 days and make it to Shannons open day.

BMC! Cool. Heres what i did to mine............ Nearly finished, a couple of weeks and ill have some new pics.

Only young hey? Go to tech and get it out of the way asap. Keep looking and asking and you will find a job as a mechanic. Do diesel plant etc and go back to the mines. Some of us older guys go for a second trade, it makes life interesting. So you can always change later. Dunno why youd want to be a mechanic when you could be a plumber...... Seriously but... theres usually a bit of work in construction in canberra. Mechanic job would be harder to find. Mainly though...... Good luck with whatever you do.

The cheapest bracing is a $250 mig welder and some steel, you can have all the bracing you want. I couldnt weld before, but its easy as.A mates 31 strut brace i made: Im going through the same thing with bracing, and i think all the braces do is stop sideways slop for cornering at the track. Think about how they are all in a flat plane along the bottom of the car. A rollcage would give the most twisting rigidity, because its a box not a flat brace. Bond in Sydney do them, CAMS approved, bolt in, about $600 for half cage. (r32) Id also recomend a HICAS eliminator that eliminates the old ball joints too, like the Driftworks one. You can make a bearing/bushing press with an old bottle jack and some steel. You can buy a set of press bits cheap on ebay. (the round bits to push on the bearing/bushing) Bad driveway? How long are you going to own cars? If your not renting.... get your pick and shovel out and make it a home. If you can do that you will have a place to do anything you want to your car.

Bootlid sanded ready for primer and experiments. Washed everything, including all the sludge off the floor, need a clean environment for final coats. Inspecting the car while its wet and found a dent i didnt fill properly. Hope its the only one, didnt see anything else that was too bad. A quick fill and sand thisarvo and itll be fine. Its not perfect, but it should be good enough. Getting it perfect would take an extra 80+ hours. But if i want to make it perfect in the future, i know the paint is ALL acrylic and i can just start blocking it back and go from there. I wont have to strip all the paint off and begin again. I think id get a good straight shell for starters if i wanted perfection. Gotta go to the paintshop, should have gone yesterday. Oops.

Nice wheels Chris, good choice. Finished the majority of sanding. As far as i can tell its ready for final coats (primer/sealer, colour, clears) So no more block sanding. Only careful rubbing off the rough surface after each coat. I will have to experiment on the spare bootlid and see if i can do the pearl the way i want.

Its time to start the final coats. Its not perfect, and i hope most people wont see the defects. Painters and such will notice the flaws, and it would be nice to impress them too, but its my first time and i think its good enough. So im going incognito until its done and buffed. Then ill take some pics. This is whats left to do: Clean everything, mask car Spray prime/sealer Rub with 800-1000 Clean Spray colour Rub with 1000 Clean and mask Spray pearl and clear Wait a week or more to cure and harden Rub with 2000 and buff Assemble car Detail window trims, wheels etc.

Yes, wet sanding is good. Dont need a mask, paper doesnt clog up and it leaves a nice finish. All my sanding finer than 180 is wet. I only dry sand to grind back bog and old paint etc. Primed and guide coat on the 3 damage areas today. Ill let it dry and block it back tonight.