"Just buy a VR4" build thread.

[Uniuno]

Got a decent amount done over the weekend. When I removed the rear bumper all but one of the bolts in the upper rail broke off. Got all but one of them out, score. Filled all the engine and rear diff mounts with window weld, cleaned up the front subframe and got some paint on it. It doesn't look all that great, it's really porous from the rust damage, but it will do.





I got excited and almost threw the axles in, but then I remembered I'm still waiting on new seals.



3 of the studs on the bottom broke off. Made some new ones. Going to cut them off later to the correct length.



I think these were bolts for the front driveshaft from my Dakota. Same M8 1.25 threads to match the original studs. I'll cut them to the correct length later.





I've definitely made prettier welds, but they'll hold.

[familyMAN]

Subframe looks great!

[Uniuno]

I appreciate what you're doing here. I've got a couple stock smic's that came off a 1993 Texas car (not mine). They're in above average condition and I don't mind splitting them up, but I'd prefer to ship both to get thme outta my garage. You cover shipping and I'll be happy. Pm me if interested.

Just received them yesterday. They are super clean, thank you so much!

If that's what cars look like in Texas I'm going to stop buying them from up here in Michigan.

[Uniuno]

Subframe looks great!

Thanks!

I'm working on cleaning up all the surface rust underneath the car so I can put the subframe back in. I need to go get new brake lines to run back there too.

[Chris@Rvengeperformance]

I know its a lot of work to do all of that and I really respect this kind of work. Anyone can bolt bigger injectors on to an old car, it is another thing to make a car "nice".

[CoreyB]

Looking great. Nice job saving it!

[AdamVR4]

Just received them yesterday. They are super clean, thank you so much!

If that's what cars look like in Texas I'm going to stop buying them from up here in Michigan.

Really glad to hear it! Looking forward to seeing pics of them cleaned up and installed.

Central Texas is pretty far from snow or seawater so yeah, the cars here show little to no rust. The wife really wants a home on the coast, so I perodically need to remind her why we'll just have to have 2

[Uniuno]

Small update. I got the underbody undercoated finally.

This is apparently the last picture from this angle I took before painting, It was much cleaner than this..



There was a little brown on the pinch welds, but the rest of it was surprisingly clean.



I must have gone through about four cans of rubberized undercoating. I didn't do the parts on each side because the factory undercoat was still in good shape. I hit the frame rails, the areas where the lines go, and the tunnel.







Overall I'm happy with how it turned out. It looks good, and it sounds slightly dampened when you knock on it. So hopefully it will help keep some road noise out.

Despite wearing eye protection I ended up getting a piece of metal in my eye. I usually can get that kind of thing out with a strong magnet. Unfortunately I blinked a few times and couldn't feel it anymore. Later that day it started bothering me a bit but I went to sleep anyway. Long story short I ended up going to an eye specialist and they had to drill the piece out of my eyeball. Fun times!

Family is coming in town tonight for my GF's law school graduation so I won't get to work on the car again until Monday.

[Uniuno]

Got the rear wheel wells undercoated and the very front subframe cross-member cleaned and painted.

Started pulling off some other parts on the front end last night so I can get it cleaned up and painted. Whoever did the headlight bucket replacement did a pretty crappy job. The bolts for the bumper didn't line up so they just put screws in it. They also didn't paint the welds on the underside which of course allowed it to rust.




I'll probably just clean it up and repaint it. I don't think it's worth the hassle of putting in a whole new bucket. If it comes to that I might get rid of the pop ups all together. But I kinda like the pop ups so they're staying for now.

[AdamVR4]

I think my jaw hit my desk reading about the eye-metal removal.

On those bucket welds, the inside will look similar, so exterior paint won't make it perfectly protected but it will help and certainly improve the aesthetics.