Base to VR4 Swap + Complete Restoration

[99ishVR-4]

Get ready, long post: Thanks for all the comments everyone, it really is motivating which I need lately. I am starting to run out of stuff on the shelf to powder coat, which means I will have to tackle some other type of project and I'm not sure how to go about everything yet. I still have to figure out paint, the wiring harness, and re-plating all of my hardware.

The biggest challenge is going to be painting. I bought an hvlp gun to play around with, but the more I research, the more I feel like I am in over my head. I have never painted before, so I figured I would just practice on some sheet metal, old computer cases or something and after I got the hang of it, I can shoot the interior of my car so I can actually start putting some things back together. I also would like to paint the things that I can't powder coat due to heat or size, but I would like to use real paint, I think I am officially done with spray paint. It just doesn't have any durability at all. Planning on doing the front and rear subframes, transmission, underbody fuel/brake lines, ect. I think I just need to make a trip to a bodyshop supply store and have a talk with them to figure out what I need to get. If the interior comes out good, as well as all of the engine, underbody stuff, I may consider painting the outside myself, but I would like to have all of the dents worked out by a paintless dent removal guy instead of using body filler, but I may be completely off there. Any painters in Central Florida? Ill trade your paint skills for some powder coating If not, any painters reading this thread? I have a list of questions, lol.

As for the wiring harness, I would like to strip out the wires for the stuff that won't exist in my car anymore, replace some wires, and then re-loom it with SOMETHING??
I have spent hours researching different wire coverings and can't make up my mind. I could just imitate the factory harness with new materials but if I could give it a cleaner look, that would make me happy. The options are:

- Raychem heatshrink the whole harness like all the fancy race cars do, pros: looks great, wires are protected, cons: Expensive, Hard to make future repairs, overkill considering the stock harness is wrapped in tape.



- Techflex braided sleeving - Pros, looks good(not as nice as the heatshrink), cheap, lighter. Cons: no real protection, seems like it would get dirty fast and no real easy way to clean, also hard to make repairs later as I would heatshrink the ends.



- Split loom - Pros: light, really cheap, looks oem, easy later repairs, cons: looks cheap, bulky

So far, none of them stand out as being the perfect choice to me yet. Any other ideas? Whatever I use, it will be black.

And for the re-plating the fasteners, I am very nervous about taking all of my bolts out of their labeled baggies and throwing them all in a bucket to give to the platers. I plan on taking a picture of all the bolts in their bags and also making a huge list of every bolt's size, grade, lenght and where it goes. I would also like to plate the hardware from individual items like the alternator, power steering pump, ac compressor, throttle body,ect. That makes me even more nervous to have all of that stuff apart at the same time. This is what is making me continue to put it off, when really, it should have been the first thing I did so I could put stuff together and know I don't have to take it apart again later.

Also can't decide what to re-plate it with, I have done a lot of research and straight zinc does not seem to be the best choice. Finishing.com is a great resourse I came across and it seems to be the general consensus that just zinc plating is not meant for outdoors, and our cars seem to be a great example of that. Compare the plated parts in the engine bay with the plated parts from the interior of the car, the interior stuff looks brand new still, the engine bay bolts are rusting.

-Tin-zinc or Zinc-nickel offer longer corrosion resistance and I would pick them first but no one local does it so I would have to send it out. Great, now I have to put every bolt and fastener that is responsible for holding my car together and put it in the mail and hope it comes back to me, I can just picture the box getting torn open on the conveyor belts at the shipping place and leaking 1,000 bolts all over the place.

Electroless nickel looks great, but have been reading conflicting arguments that its too thick for a bolt and it will no longer thread in

Cadmium is the most durable, but it has gotten very expensive because of how toxic the process is, and people say handling the fasteners can cause health effects. No thanks

So as you can see, I have some decisions to make to get the project really going, and the more research I do, the more confused I get. Sometimes I miss 5 years ago when I just bolted rusty shit together and let the grease it was covered it keep it from rusting away. I'm trying to learn how to be an engineer from google and all its doing is keeping me from getting anything done and I am probably nit-picking on this stuff more than I would ever need to, I just want everything I do to last and stay looking good for longer than a year.

Sorry for the long ass post, just needed to get my options typed out in front of me and share them with someone, can't talk to my friends about this stuff as they have no idea what I am talking about. Hoping to get some advice from some people here that may be experienced with any of this.

[Street_Chally73]

Honestly, I would grab a pen & some paper & go through Eastwood's website (Eastwood.com), writing down all of the potential possibilities. I've been very happy with what I've bought as far as painting supplies go, plus they have an awesome tech line you can call to get pointers/tips.

I have some of their vinyl wiring harness wrap here & I have to say that it looks pretty good (matches many OEM wraps), is easy enough to use, and it is always removable should you ever need to access the wires for some reason. You do have to shrink-wrap the edges to get it to stay & look clean, though, but other than that I think it looks great & covers well.

As for your plating goes, why not give their at-home tin-zinc electroplating kit a try? I actually just ordered one from them (though they're back-ordered until the 2nd) & it appears to be a great option if you have access to a blaster (which you do) and the results look to be really good so long as you put the time into polishing them up afterwards.


Sent from the garage

[green-lantern]

I am trying to figure out how to do all that stuff myself because my budget is peanuts compared to theirs.

Seems like you are on the right track. Stick with it, you are motivating me to do more.

And for the re-plating the fasteners, I am very nervous about taking all of my bolts out of their labeled baggies and throwing them all in a bucket to give to the platers.

Cant you do one or two bags at a time?

[n2nsanity]

Been quiet for a while. Looking forward to some updates

[fastfalcon94]

I remember you from the other forum with your fwd TT. It looked a lot like mine (black vr4 w/ 99 conversion, front mount, and moda r6 wheels). You definitely pay attention to detail. As for using a spray gun it's really not that bad. I had no idea how to use a gun before I painted my car. I watched a few youtube videos on adjusting a gun, mixing paint, and cleaning a gun then it was fairly straight forward. You should youtube molasses or apple cider vinegar for removing rust. It can get into places that are hard to reach with a blaster and it won't pit the metal. Looking forward to more pics!

[99ishVR-4]

Been quiet for a while. Looking forward to some updates

I don't have too many updates unfortunately. The car budget was depleted so I'm doing some powder coating for some locals currently. Hang in there, I will not forget about this thread, when I get some more work done, I'll post some pics.

I remember you from the other forum with your fwd TT. It looked a lot like mine (black vr4 w/ 99 conversion, front mount, and moda r6 wheels). You definitely pay attention to detail. As for using a spray gun it's really not that bad. I had no idea how to use a gun before I painted my car. I watched a few youtube videos on adjusting a gun, mixing paint, and cleaning a gun then it was fairly straight forward. You should youtube molasses or apple cider vinegar for removing rust. It can get into places that are hard to reach with a blaster and it won't pit the metal. Looking forward to more pics!

Yeah, I have read through your recent build thread quite a few times myself since our cars are basically identical visually. You have good tastes sir.

That is good to know about the the paint gun. I picked up a harbor freight gun package a couple weeks ago to play around with but I have yet to get over to the local paint supply place to pick up some cheap paint to practice with. I will definitely get my youtube education before I start painting anything that matters.

I have definitely used the vinegar method for rust removal, I actually did that for the steering knuckles at the very beginning of this thread(didn't have a blaster at that time). It works, but takes a couple days, and without any air source to dry the part off, it seemed to flash rust very quickly after the rinse. I tried the rust electrolysis after that and it did about the same thing as vinegar. So far, I have yet to deal with a crevice that I cannot get my blaster into, but for those without a compressor, vinegar works and is dirt cheap. Thanks for the tips. I hope you stick around for advice when I get to the painting portion.

[Greg E]

I'll have to look into the cider vinegar! Never heard of using that.

[Uniuno]

When you go to actually paint your car, don't skimp on the clear coat quality. The paint supply store that I frequent carries three grades. I used to use the mid grade because I'm cheap, then I used the good stuff, now I'll never go back. It is definitely worth the money. That being said, if you get good practicing with the cheap stuff, laying out the quality material will be cake!

[99ishVR-4]

When you go to actually paint your car, don't skimp on the clear coat quality. The paint supply store that I frequent carries three grades. I used to use the mid grade because I'm cheap, then I used the good stuff, now I'll never go back. It is definitely worth the money. That being said, if you get good practicing with the cheap stuff, laying out the quality material will be cake!

I think I have my materials and process picked out. Please feel free to critique if you have any experience with the products.

-First I will start out by having a paintless dent removal guy come over and remove as many of the dents as possible before I even touch a piece of sandpaper.

-Sand everything to the factory primer, remove all body pieces and sand entire shell, interior, ect.

Thats as far as I have planned at this point.

Materials so far are:
Spi w/g remover
spi epoxy primer
spi 2k urethane primer
ppg deltron base coat
spi universal clear

I am assuming I wont get away with painting the car with the harbor freight paint gun, I will find out after I paint some test pieces, but I am thinking of the devibliss finishline4. I will definitely need to figure out a better moisture removal system with my compressor and there does not seem to be any cheap way to go about it unfortunately.

I have been spending more time on the autobody101 forums than here lately. Trying to learn as much as possible until work picks up and I can actually afford to buy some supplies.

[Uniuno]

Autobody is one of those things I have to research every time I do it. There are so many dos and don'ts I just can't remember them all. Most of the time you'll get conflicting advice and it makes you want to tear your hair out.

I'm not sure how SPI paints lay out, I've never used them. PPG is the brand my local store carries. I bought their spray gun kit for 250, it came with a base, clear, and a touch up gun.

I don't have a dryer on my compressor at home so I tried painting on dry days. I also haven't painted a full car in my home garage, so the compressor wasn't running all that long at a single time.

After you get the dents removed and the body sanded down I like to use polyester filler. It is very easy to work with and leaves the panel perfect. It is good for filling very small scratches and dings. Pros shape with bondo then finish with polyester.

It is something I enjoy and want to do more of, but the weather keeps me from doing as much as I want at home. I'll enjoy watching your progress.