Saved From The Crusher - 93 Stealth TT Rebuild/Restore

[jcr5186]

Awesome thread... Keep it going!

[L_P]

Very nice work and job. Keep it up!

[Atrosity]

Such a nice job! Drgonzo ftmfw!

[DrGonzo]

damn talk about getting alot done to it in such a short period of time. Hope it turns out how you want it to

The thread was copied over from 3si so I can track it on this site instead. I actually started the project last month. I had most of the parts already as I am using my old 92 R/T for parts. Plus it already had the TT motor.

DRGonzo, how do you like the prosport gauges? I went with aem gauges instead.

I like the Prosport Gauges. My only issue is that I bought two some time ago and when I finally got the last one it glows differently. they must have changes how they light up. I eventually want to move over to the "Peak/warn" series as I like how I can set the gauges to go red if something is out of spec.

I have some AEM gauges that are going to go into the radio din slot. WB/Fuel/Volt I would have used them in the cneter but they don't come in blue so it would not look right with the blue glow gauges/needles I have in the main cluster.

[DrGonzo]

So it's been a couple days since I updated this post. I have been doing a little here and there while waiting on parts to show up. Mostly prepping the body for paint.

The previous owner decided that the dent in the drivers corner panel was easily fixed by slapping on Bondo and painting over it without sanding it flat! Looked like complete shit! So I removed all the Bondo, pulled out the dent, and leveled off and straightened the panel. Also had to fix a crease/dent on the pass quarter panel right at the fuel door. I removed all the panels around the glass. Cleaned them all and removed all of the old molding tape. The side sail window panels where a pain as the damn screws holding the outer sail panel to the inner where locked tight! I had to cut the heads off two of them.

Had a local parts store get my rotors and pads. They also turned my flywheel and rear rotors for less than $40.00. I noticed they had some paint in stock but not the color I was looking for. The clerk told me that the NAPA across the street mixes paint. So I headed over there while waiting on the flywheel/rotors to get turned. I got lucky as they had flat black right on the shelf, but only one gallon! PCC Acrylic Enamel Flat Black. The gallon was $45.00 so what the hell. Total bill for paint, reducer and hardener was $97.00. The hardener and reducer is enough to do 3 gallons if mixed correctly. NAPA clerk told me they always keep a gallon of each color so they will be ordering more....YEAH!

So today was really busy for me. I was stoked about getting some parts painted. I build my own little paint booth using 2mm plastic drop and my canopy! Worked great and really contained the overspray and kept everything nice and clean.

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The gun I am using is nothing special. It;s an HVLP Harbor Freight special. I paid like $30.00 for it two days ago. It's a nice gun and sprays really clean and smooth. Set the regulator at 55psi and I got a good smooth 8-10" fan spray. It took me a little while to get the gun set correctly. Thank god my spare hood was out front. it made a good canvas for adjusting the gun.

I started off spraying the door caps as they are somewhat pretty flat and if the paint didn't go on smoothly they would be the easiest sand down if needed. Well after two solid coats they came out great! I am really surprised how good the color is and how smooth the paint went on. Granted there are a few spots that will need some attention but that's to be expected when painting outside.

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Here is my work area! Right in the front yard at the end of my driveway...LOL
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After my success with the door caps I moved up to something a little harder. The side skirts has a lot of inverted curves that can be tricky and cause runs if not sprayed right. I adjusted the spray pattern and lowered the paint flow so I could hit those tricky parts of the side skirts first. Then I laid down a solid spray over the whole panel. I had a small run develop by the vent hole. Nothing to major and after it dried you can barely notice it. I will still hit it when I start wet sanding the panels. Again the paint came out really consistent and smooth!

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Now on to a really tricky one, the front 99 bumper! Yeah......
This one took the most time with prepping, filling in the Mitsubishi logo, sanding again, etc. Luckily the table I build was just the right side to hold the bumper for easy painting.

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I used the same process I did with the side skirts. The only difference is that the first coat was a little light and I actually ran out of paint in the gun. The gun only holds 18oz. Since I am trying to conserve paint I am not mixing the full 18oz each time. I try to guesstimate how much I will use. I was a little off on the front bumper. So the front bumper actually got 2 1/2 coats for the most part!

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I also got a nice delivery from 3SX today! My caliper bolts, Throw out bearing and Radio/3 gauge bezel. So now I can finally get the front calipers on, Install the trans and finish installing the gauges......:P

So now I have to decide what I want to finish off first. I think I will finish painting what I can. I have about 1/2 gallon left so I will probably tackle the rear bumper, front fenders and wing. I'll wait to tackle the main body until I can get another full gallon of paint from NAPA.

Until next time....:P

[Primus101]

Great resurrection thread, Greg!
You can drastically reduce runs if you apply the first coat light(like a heavy dusting), let it tack up, and then hose on.
Subscribed for an awesome finished project-

[DrGonzo]

Didn't get a chance to do any painting today. I made a trip out to a local members to buy a set of aluminum VR-4 rims as none of the rims I have here would clear the calipers.

Since I wasn't able to do any painting I tackled installing the trans. Would have took me less that 20 min to install it but I was having some issues as it would not slide in all the way. I though that the clutch was not aligned correctly. I got under the car to see if I could tell where it was hanging up at. Well I didn't realize that the metal flywheel cover and metal gasket between the engine/trans are different between the N/A and TT. The output shaft for the transfer case was hitting the gaskets. So I removed the metal flywheel cover and bent the engine/trans gasket up out of the way. I'm going to have to go in and trim them a bit to compensate for the transfer case. I didn't spend much time on it. Just wanted to get it dropped in.



I was also able to button up the front brakes not that the shafts where in place. SS brake lines, new stock rotors, reconditioned the calipers themselves and Raybestos brake pads. Staying with the stock configuration as far as pads/rotors till I get the car good and running correctly!






I test fitted the 99 bumper as I wanted to see how it looked all painted up. WOW.... it makes the car look so mean!!!!!





Here are the 17" VR-4 rims I picked up. They have Fusion ZRI 245/45WR17 tires mounted on them. I will be replacing the Mitsu center caps with just plain chrome ones.



Here is what is left of my 92 Stealth R/T Targa! Looks pretty sad but I do plan on turning it into a tailor once the TT is on the road.



The Old and the New plus a pretty looking 91 R/T in the background...



Painted panels stored on the front porch so they don't get damaged.

[Nationalmilkman]

Going with the flat black? Looks good but I like the Gen2 Stealth side skirts with the 99 front better, but that's just me. Great job, this is something I'll use when I redo my car. Thanks for all the hard work and updates.

[CoreyB]

Thanks for adding this awesome restore thread to 3SGTO.org.

[Greg E]

Ah thank you for the link to the ziptie body clips!

Great thread too. I love reading about restoration builds like this. Soon I'll have a 98/99 which will go thru this process!