R32 Gts4 - Restoration/rebuild

[Chris Rogers]

You're really doing this well and I admire it. Despite this, I am glad that mine came with very few body defects.

to be honest I have worked on much worse over the years that people were still driving around.

a FC holden wagon springs to mind. this came into a strathfield workshop in sydney and you could see through the floor once they moved the sheet of plywood around!!

the areas I can doing on this car are getting done because I want a straigh clean car. somthing I cannot find as most of the cars I have worked on in the last 11 years (I am talking 32's here) were rusted on the rear window, sills or cut/shut. that applied a LOT more to green plate cars.

as you can tell its all about the experience. I am not a chequebook racer and anything I can do myself I will.

those that know me personally pick up on that immediately.

the only part of this I cam not doing is spot welding it back together and painting - simply because I do not have a stable enough hand to wield a paint gun - frank at GT motors does!

[Chris Rogers]

2nd shot of roof panel being removed. there are at least 30 spot welds across the front of that. I have got the use of this cutter down to an art now.

the lower support panel does not have a single mistake in it.

another shot.

the brass seams are going to be cut with a dremel tool. a die grinder will be too big to trim those 4 points loose. the front corners are about 4 cm long and those will be fairly easy to do. the rear sides are 15 cm and possibly a pain in the butt. we'll see.

[Nee-san]

How are you going about the issue with the sunroof as per our discussion mate ?

Its good to see you are really pulling it down and getting the dodgy spots sorted, I hate seeing stuff just bogged up !

Im going to have to get my sills looked at at some point because idiotic previous owners of my car, decided that the little seem that runs along the bottom of the sill is an awesome place to jack the car from, Que surface rust.....

Edited March 26, 2011 by Nee-san

[Chris Rogers]

sorted. I found a roof panel (new) with the hole for it. as for the sunroof assembly - mine is fine. I have a glass for it.

[Chris Rogers]

How are you going about the issue with the sunroof as per our discussion mate ?

Its good to see you are really pulling it down and getting the dodgy spots sorted, I hate seeing stuff just bogged up !

Im going to have to get my sills looked at at some point because idiotic previous owners of my car, decided that the little seem that runs along the bottom of the sill is an awesome place to jack the car from, Que surface rust.....

thats what was done here. believe me if the panel shop had to cut that car apart then reassemble it the cost would be a 5 figure exercise. I already know the cost of the panels involved (its the entire drivers side) and that isn't exactly cheap. in regard to crushed sills - cue $1k in sill panels and another $1k or so to fit them.. I am doing the cutting on mine and the panel guy is going to put them back. saves some of that bill.

[Chris Rogers]

after 10 minutes with a angle grinder GENTLY trimming around the brass marked edges of the roof panel - its loose.

and its off.

side shot. drip rails (top middle of door frame) still need cleaning out.

right side shot

right side front corner - the goldish line is brass filling. I still have to clean that up so the new panel fits correctly

upright shot. this is more for my reference to mark what the panel looks like. note rust spot in top right corner,

rust spot as seen from the bottom. this is the reason I pulled this panel off for replacement. it would cost as much to fix it (and have it rust again) as a new panel would cost. so I cut this off off. my aim is to do this once only.

removed panel. the worst part about getting this thing off were the areas around the drip rails at in the top middle of the door glass. they are VERY small spot welds and to get them off properly requires a dremel. angle grinder is too heavy for the job.

rear drivers quarter is next once I get my panel dimensions book. until then it gets a car cover tossed over it. I will still be working on it but in smaller ways. all the small brackets are going to be bought whilst I wait for this book to arrive.

[Chris Rogers]

for those that are looking for the chassis domensions:

found this:

[Chris Rogers]

R33 is here:

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h191/hakosukajd/R33dim.jpg

R34:

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h191/hakosukajd/R34dim.jpg

thats PART of what I am looking for. I still need more and the points that they use to measure from. the diagram is a bit vague to me.

[NA_Goodness]

Thats one hell of a sun roof...

[Chris Rogers]

yep. thats the way it stays for a bit.

[SKITTLES]

yep. thats the way it stays for a bit.

Make it convertible.. DO IT

[Chris Rogers]

Make it convertible.. DO IT

and where would I put the seatbelt anchor points ?

[Nee-san]

on the rear roll hoop you would need to get it engineered Lol.

[Chris Rogers]

pass. if I wanted a convertible I would have kept a varietta for a bit longer. I have a RAW that keeps giving them to me for a few weeks at a time. thats about as long as I can stand them - no space for anything.

[Ten Four]

+1 to convertible, DO IT!!

Loving the amazing level of dedication man. I couldn't do this... So glad my 32 is rust free... (AFAIK, hahaha)

Edited April 3, 2011 by Ten Four

[Chris Rogers]

yep. I'm not one to back down once I start something.

new dash,carpet,boot trim/carpet etc - arranged

no to the convertible idea. this thing twists enough with the roof panel off ..

[SKITTLES]

Yeah i was joking about the convertible thing dw

I want you to know that reading your threads burns me greatly... I've wanted to do one of these for around 7 years now.

[Chris Rogers]

as I first stated I have been around of under them for 11 years. always been asked if I owned one - now I can say yes

[mico]

yep. I'm not one to back down once I start something.

new dash,carpet,boot trim/carpet etc - arranged

no to the convertible idea. this thing twists enough with the roof panel off ..

lucky u never started smoking

[Chris Rogers]

nup. not for me.