Base to VR4 Swap + Complete Restoration

[Jimvr4]

Agree! Moar pics please !!

[99ishVR-4]

So I have been slacking on the car lately, I still have several parts to collect bolts from before I go to the plating shop. When these bolts are done, it will be a huge relief and hopefully a lot of forward progress can be made. As I am taking all this stuff apart to get the bolts, I feel like I am going backwards.

I also have a shelf full of parts that need to be powder coated, another shelf of stuff that needs polishing. I disassembled both sub frames recently to clean them up and also start painting the underside of the car.

I need to make a couple of posts to get onto page 4 of this this thread, as it is, this page freezes almost every time I try to load it. I have tried to post several times in the past and firefox just freezes. I will have to limit the amount of pics in the future, or make them smaller, I guess.

[99ishVR-4]

Time for some pics. Some of these parts I did months ago but just never got around to posting them but I am re-motivated to get the car done. The shell is 100% stripped at this point and I need it to be a rolling chassis again by January 1st as we have to move again. I cannot believe this car has been down for 4 years, and this will be the 3rd move.

The main thing I have been doing is picturing and measuring every single fastener in the car. This is the bulk of them in this container, 54lbs so far. I have another container of bolts that will get a black chromate finish but not near as many bolts in it. I am waiting on some misc bolts that were missing or incorrect to be shipped before I can go to the platers. I cannot wait! I am so freaking tired of bolts. This has been the biggest single project on the car so far, but I without taking all the time to classify each one, the car would never go back together right.




Sadly, I have not been powder coating many parts lately, I didn't take pics of everything, but here's a few:

Starter:

I wasn't even going to attempt to mask that off, so I coated the whole thing, and wiped off the powder before I put it in the oven. It was a 2 coat job so I had to do it twice. 100 q-tips later:


I could not figure out how to take apart the starer solenoid so the its housing will have to be painted.


Random bumper and exhaust brackets:


This lower bumper brace tested the limits of my oven:


Corner to corner, about 1/4" of clearance:


Transmission/block plate before to after:




The bad looking area in the bottom left is not an issue with the powder, I didn't realize the plate had dents in it until it was one uniform color.


Started cleaning the engine up, this is as far as I am going to disassemble it, so unfortunately, I won't be able to apply the same level of detail to it. The heads were black from grease before I started.



This is about as clean as I have ever been able to get on cast aluminum. There are some spots that will not come clean no matter how long I scrub. Gasket surface still needs to be done.


The block will be painted before I put anything back together.

Tasks before I move:
-Plate bolts
- Powder coat everything that needs to be coated
- Strip and paint interior
- Strip, and paint underside
- Paint driveshaft, subframes & replace all worn bushings, awd delete
- Re-assemble engine
- Paint transmission
- Put interior back together
- Throw all the body panels back on so I can move it.


My goal is to not use spray paint throughout this build, so where I mentioned paint above, I will be using base/clear automotive paint. Unfortunately, the different colors really add up in price and I will need at least gloss black, flat black, and a silver for the transmission.

After the move, I get to re-strip it a 3rd time and I will be painting the remainder of the car.

[mb3000]

I wanted to use automotive paint instead of spray paint but I was worried about how well it would hold up to the heat.

[99ishVR-4]

I wanted to use automotive paint instead of spray paint but I was worried about how well it would hold up to the heat.

I have done some research into it and it seems to not be a problem. I can't find a report of anyone using it and having issues. I don't want to assume, but I am thinking that a catalyzed 2 part paint is probably better than a spray paint in every way except for being easy to use, lol. It can't hold up any worse than the duplicolor engine enamel I used during my last rebuild.

[99ishVR-4]

double post.

[IPD]

use hi-temp spray paint. the stuff designed for BBQ grills & so on. should work fine.

[fastbikes76]

EPIC project !!!!!!!!! This is what level of detail I used too do when I played with bikes, And the same I would do to my cars IF I had a garage to work in

Keep the porn, I mean pics coming

[Greg E]

Are you the guy writing the powder coating guides? They have been very helpful with my 99 restoration project. Just wanted to say thanks for all the tips!

Have you done a segment on hot flocking? The trickiest parts I've run into are the top coat powders (transparent colors sprayed over a base color). Seems my electrostatics don't work very well. Even with touching the ground wire for my gun directly to the parts. Coating the part hot has been the only fix. Problem with it is the coating seems uneven.

[99ishVR-4]

use hi-temp spray paint. the stuff designed for BBQ grills & so on. should work fine.

My goal is no spray paint.

EPIC project !!!!!!!!! This is what level of detail I used too do when I played with bikes, And the same I would do to my cars IF I had a garage to work in

Keep the porn, I mean pics coming

Thanks, Upgrading to a garage and having another car is the only reason why I'm able to take the time to do all this stuff.

Are you the guy writing the powder coating guides? They have been very helpful with my 99 restoration project. Just wanted to say thanks for all the tips!

Have you done a segment on hot flocking? The trickiest parts I've run into are the top coat powders (transparent colors sprayed over a base color). Seems my electrostatics don't work very well. Even with touching the ground wire for my gun directly to the parts. Coating the part hot has been the only fix. Problem with it is the coating seems uneven.

Yeah, I'm the writer of the guide, Its good to hear that its helpful. Unfortunately I can only seem to really focus on one project at a time, so now that I'm working on my car again, the website is getting neglected. I haven't written anything about hot-flocking yet mainly because I try to avoid it. It just piles on the powder so thick usually and when it gets that thick, its much easier to chip. I had lots of difficulty with 2 coats and 3 coats was impossible until I setup a grounding rod. Do you have one setup? Basically, instead of using your ground clip from your gun, you hammer a ground rod into the ground and hook your parts to that instead. 2 and 3 coats are now very possible with my little $45 powder coating gun, lol. Read more about it here if you don't have one set up yet: Powder Coating: The Complete Guide: Grounding Rod It was literally $20 in materials from Lowes.