Several small reasons really, but mainly the fact that this block is technically only rated for 675BHP (Roughly 550WHP) and the Black will push it beyond that. Jr has tuned several Stg2 Tuff blocks to around 600whp with good results. So my thought was if I can reach the limit of the block on a stock location turbo, why not? Also cost of UP and DP and wait time for build (even though the cost could be somewhat offset by selling my UP and DP). Lastly, space in the engine bay. I have my AOS and turbo expansion tank in that area so I'd probably have to relocate both of those if I were to go with a rotated setup. Just using Subaru Nationals as an example, when you jump into the Rotated (64mm max) class you're up against cars in the 9's. Knowing my current setup isn't capable of that power, I'd rather stay in the stock location upgraded class as opposed to running a 6266 or something similar in the Rotated class, but make the same power and not be competitive. In reality the spool is only going to be a few hundred RPM slower than the 3.0xtr that I had on there, but the Black should hold power to 8k
I see, makes a lot of sense. All of the little things can add up quickly. And +1 for building your car for your competition class too...so many people modify first, then get into motorsports and discover their car is way outclassed (and usually outclassed for the driver's ability too).
Rotated turbo's allow larger inductions and other benefits so you can help it breathe. The straights clean 4" inlet helps quite a bit. A rotated turbo of this size would spool quicker. But that's a pretty big step not everyone is ready to take to achieve high hp numbers. But yes, building in your class and means is a great idea for sure!
I got my Radium double pump hanger installed this weekend. This thing is so pretty, it's a shame to have to hide it inside a fuel tank. Installation was very straight forward, no issues. Running twin Walbro 450 (F90000267) pumps. The main pump is hardwired on a relay and grounded back through the factory FPC so that it still retains the 3 second prime when the key is switched on and then only runs once the engine is running. The 2nd pump is on a separate relayed circuit and triggered by a 10psi Hobbs switch that will only kick on once boost hits 10psi. 10awg wire from battery to 30A inline fuses, to relays, to pumps Pump wiring (and dog snout) That should pretty much be it for installations/changes this winter. I still need to put the interior back together and get a base map from Junior for the new changes. I also need to find some front seats...I don't think a milk crate will work very well.
I opened a big ole' can of worms this weekend.... Windshield and door trim has been removed. It was a can of worms that eventually needed to be opened for some minor rust repair. Better to get it taken care of now before it gets any worse. A local guy who used to do windshields professionally for 20+ years was able to get the windshield removed for me and in one piece! Luckily, the only rust on the car is on the A-pillars (pictured above). I'm also going to do some other minor dent repair on the hood, front fenders, and passenger door. The biggest challenge will be the large dent in the passenger rear quarter in front of the wheel. I may need some professional help on that, but we'll see. Still debating if I want to paint the car myself or just have it wrapped for now. Can't afford a professional paint job at this point. I have some HVLP guns so I may try to paint a panel from the parts car and see how it goes and go from there.
Ideally, yes. I've never legit painted a car before. I did my engine bay with just POR15 and a HVLP gun and that turned out well, but that was a single stage application. I've never done body work, prep, primer, paint, sand, clear, sand, buff.... (I think that's the correct order of operations). It's kind of scary to think about, but I had to get this rust issue taken care of. I've thought about just getting the repairs I do into primer and then having the car wrapped, although I'm not certain that would be any cheaper to have done. Kind of torn on how to proceed to be honest. I'd like a gloss black finish as an ultimate goal...so I should probably stick to that goal.
You can do it!!!! prep, prep prep... just remember to keep a wet edge on the paint while spraying, use the appropriate reducer temp and it will be enough open time so you don't get the orange peel look. I would also rent a proper spray booth so all the dried mist floating around won't end up in the final spray
Gloss black is pretty much the hardest color to make look good. You'll see any imperfections in both the paint/clear as well as the body work underneath (which is really what makes a good paint job look good). I'd absolutely use a booth to do it if possible, just for the sake of cleanliness at least, but also so you get proper ventilation to allow the products to work properly.
Yeah I haven't even shopped around for a professional paint job. I already know it'll be more than what I want to pay right now. I know I can get all of the prep work done properly, just the painting I'm not so sure of. I've seen a few DIY paint booths so might have to look into that more. At this point, I'm not sure if I'm ready to completely strip the car and paint...I'm just looking for stuff to tide me over till spring. If I can't get a killer deal on a wrap (been talking to a couple of places, one of which is a potential sponsorship deal), I'll probably just seal my body work and shoot some black paint on the bare spots for now and call it good for this season. It'll be kinda fugly, but at least it will be rust free. I'll also be shaving the door trim holes and the antenna while I'm at it.
Update: Car is now in 100 pieces. That can of worms has now turned into a barrel of worms I finally got some Argon/CO2 for the MIG welder. It's really a night and day difference using gas and solid wire vs flux core wire. No slag, no splatter, not as much heat is needed and an overall better weld. After getting the welder dialed in I started filling door trim holes. Being a novice welder at best, there was definitely a learning curve, but I'm getting better. This is a handy tool for filling holes as long as you have access to them from the backside. The weld won't stick to the copper pad so it allows you to build up some material without it blowing through as easily. I had time to get 3 of 20 of the trim holes filled in last night. Then I also plan to shave the manual antenna on the driver side A pillar as well (2 holes and 1 oblong opening that I'll need to fill by welding in a little filler piece). My biggest challenge still lies ahead in fixing the damage to the passenger rear quarter and passenger door. I have a lead on an OEM rear quarter (possibly one of the only OEM ones left in existence), but I'm going to try to repair it before pursuing that further. Lots of work left to be done, but I think the final result will be worthwhile. This is all new to me so I'm learning as I go. That can be both fun and honestly kind of scary.
Good luck with everything, Joe. I'm hoping to be done with my Biscayne around the same time and from what I can see you have a little more left than I do.
Lol yeah, self shielded flux core on body panels would make more work than I even want to think about. esp on thin ass panels... just gotta stitch/skip around a lot
Looks great! FYI, they're not terribly rare. There are a total of 13 of the RH side in stock in US warehouses as of right now. 51403FA381 is specific to the 2-door RS, and has an MSRP of $499.99.
Good to know! He mentioned that he thought it was the last one in the US, but you're obviously more in-the-know. If I do go that route, at least I know I can get another one if I bugger this one up lol
Began work on the mega-dent this weekend. I'll be able to avoid having to hang a new quarter or piecing one together, luckily. Started with this.. I made a slide hammer out of a cheap vise grip, a steel rod, an old socket and the center part of a grenaded timing idler from my daily. It worked pretty well actually and I see it coming in handy for other things around the garage in the future. This was after paint removal and a couple pulls in the center of the dent Who needs a Unispotter stud welder...used roofing nails as studs to pull on. I got it this far. It could still use some massaging, but it's getting there. I'm planning on getting it a little closer then using some fiberglass reinforced body filler (aka Duraglas) to level everything out. Then some regular mud on top of that to make it all smooth. The tricky part now will be to get the door gap even and match the door profile to the rear quarter. I haven't started repairing the door yet. I also ordered this JDM flat fuel door from Flatirons Tuning and got it test fit installed. They sell a complete kit that includes the door, the cable, the lever assembly, the plastic lever assembly cover and the lever handles. Looks much cleaner than the stock door. Lots of body work fun left.
Your ingenuity with the slide hammer is awesome. Also, Duraglas ftw. That stuff is hard as hell to fine "shape", tho.
Haha thanks. It's kinda fugly, but gets the job done. And yeah, I've read that it can be a bitch to sand too. I'm just going to rough it in by filling the larger valleys then use some Rage Ultra filler over that to get it perfected. I'm going to skim coat all of my welds where I filled the trim holes with Duraglas too (probably even on the back sides) - just for extra insurance in case there are some pin holes I can't see as well as using it for its waterproofing qualities (compared to regular filler).
I commend you for using good products. It makes a huge difference (you obviously know this). I just can't stand hearing people refer to filler as Bondo, because Bondo brand is junk compared to the good stuff (I know it's kinda like Kleenex, but still).
I've been doing a lot of research lately. I've probably watched like 20 hours of youtube videos in the last couple of weeks on top of hours of researching forums etc. A good resource I've found actually is the "Auto Body and Paint" group on Facebook...learned a ton there already and easy to bounce questions off of people. You're right, the term "Bondo" is just like the term "Kleenex"...it's a brand name that became a blanket term for a certain type of product. And yes, I've read actual Bondo brand fillers are trash. I decided to go with Evercoat Rage Gold Ultra after some research - sands easy, very minimal pin holes, and less shrinkage (because we all know that's no good), compared to actual Bondo. I haven't actually used any yet, but looking forward to see if I can tell the difference vs. Bondo. Also, fwiw, I'm using Evercoat Everglass as a fiberglass filler. Duraglas is kinda like the term Bondo, but for fiberglass reinforced fillers, as you probably know. Anywho, this is all new stuff to me. Nothing like diving right in and learning on the fly. That how I've done everything else automotive related anyway . Any and all suggestions are welcome!
Awesome. Sounds like you're well on your way to success. And for the record, this is the Duraglas I was referring to (and honestly haven't heard that one specifically as a blanket term, yet). This is the stuff we used at the shop I worked at for a bit. For the few different kinds of "fiber" reinforced ones I've used, it seems like the most user friendly. Doesn't have what I would consider like noticeable "hairs" in it that can make spreading it smooth somewhat difficult, unlike some others. You can almost spread this stuff as nice as regular filler.
Yep, that's the stuff. I thought it might be better to stay in the same Evercoat product line so I went with their version instead. Hopefully that wasn't a mistake. I'll find out how it works soon!
A couple of before/after/in progress pics of the big crater. It still needs shaping, but it's pretty close. This Everglass surprisingly sands like butter!
aaaaaaand now you know why it costs so much for a good job and why you (usually) shouldn't jump on a cheap job lol Where are you at with things?
Yup! That's mainly the reason why I'd just prefer to do it myself. I'm not gunna pay high dollar (because I'm cheap and poor), but not going to go with a cheap-o (Maaco-like) job because I just know better Basically where I'm at and what I have left before anything gets shot with epoxy primer: I've got the passenger door and rear quarter pretty close to where I want it, needs a bit more fine tuning. The passenger fender is a mess...I'm considering buying a replacement...or even robbing the one off my daily because it's straight. I've been fighting with it because the sheet metal is so thin - I make an adjustment in one spot and it effects another so I'm chasing the same dent all around the area. Both front A-pillars are still a mess. I'm going to likely blast them to clean up all of the pitting but not excited to make an already big mess in my garage even bigger I have the trunk lid blocked pretty flat with 180, no low spots found. I still need to pull the lock cylinder out and shave it/mud that up The driver's side should be "easy" compared to the passenger side. Driver's rear quarter I've begun blocking with 180, found a couple of lows that need some attention. Also need to glass and mud the 3 molding holes. The driver door will need to be glassed and mudded where molding holes were filled. Not much for dents/dings on that side of the car aside from some slight warping from my amateur MIG skillz. The driver front fender is in pretty good shape The hood is in pretty good shape, one smallish ding and a decent size wave to fix. Roof has one wave that needs to be fixed. I still need to pull the sun roof panel out. Bumpers still need to be sanded, no damage. Will probably get a JDM smooth rear Still not 100% on color. It'll be black, but not sure which direction to go. I really like either Ford's UH Tuxedo Black or GM's Black Diamond. But with both being metallic/pearl colors, 3 stage paint applications, and me having never sprayed a car before, I'm not sure either of those is a good idea. Been debating just going with a single stage flat black, but that seems like an awful lot of effort to go through for just settling on an easy(er) to spray color...quite a bit cheaper though also. Been busy with other things lately and/or not home on the weekends. I just need a couple of weekends in the garage to give 'er hell and make some progress.
I just used Rustoleum Gloss Black on the trunk/spoiler of my Celica. Looks good, matches the Toyota 202 Black very well. I used Acetone to thin at first, and got some orange peel, but looked much better with Mineral Spirits. Not the greatest picture, but it's what I have. 2018-03-15_04-04-51 by Numbchux, on Flickr I painted the trunk lid, trunk spoiler section, and the near-side spoiler section (and fiberglassed over the hole where the antenna used to be on the side section).
That looks like it turned out pretty good! For $10/gal that's pretty hard to beat, but I have a metallic/pearl black base coat/clear coat stuck in my head so I'm kind of set on either that or a flat black single stage. I dunno...I just need to focus on getting body work done and the car into primer first!
Yea, I'm pretty impressed with it so far. Only negatives were my own lack of patience with prep (mostly should have sanded the orange peel more).
I used a GM black called Carbon Flash Metallic on my bugeye wheels, might be a little more metallic than you're going for but it has a pretty good pearl effect for only being a 2-stage (pic of a Corvette in that color below). You could always stick with Subaru and go with Crystal Black Silica but the pearl doesn't seem to show all that much.
Nice! That's about the right amount of metallic I think - I'll have to look into that one as well. I might have to go to the dealer and look at colors in person when it comes down to it. Where did you source the paint? Did you just give the paint code to a local shop and have them mix it for you? Did you use a HVLP gun to spray it? This is the "Tuxedo Black" that's on newer F150's, Explorers, Focus, probably others. Ford paint code UH
I I'm in body shops all the time so I just flipped through a paint code book until I found one I liked. It was mixed and sprayed in a booth at a shop with an HVLP gun. Paint code was 565Q, pretty sure it was a 2010-2012 Chevy color.
Took a pretty big step backward last night. I was pretty close to being happy with my passenger rear quarter (large dent damage), but there was one high spot on the quarter and another on the door. I hammered them down and ended up cracking my body filler on both the door and the quarter. I had to chisel off as much of the filler as I could in those areas and essentially start over on those spots. Dammit. I also gave up on the passenger front fender. Too many wrinkles and waves and wasting too much time trying to perfect it. The driver side isn't too bad, but is a little wrinkled up where it bolts to the pinch weld under the car near the door. So I said screw it and bought a pair of new front fenders - that should save me some time (hopefully) not having to do any body work to the new ones. All small dents have been repaired/filled on the car. Trunk lock has been shaved/filled, dings in trunk fixed/filled. Passenger side molding holes are nearly finished with smoothing. Driver side molding holes have only been welded up at this point...need to work on filling/smoothing those next. Still haven't touched the roof or hood. Debated getting a new OEM aluminum hood, but not sure saving 30lbs is worth ~$500...will probably pass. I'm kinda waiting for it to warm up a bit (and not have 10" of fresh snow on the ground) so I can roll the car out of the garage and finish blasting the windshield pinch weld. Before I can spray epoxy, the room temp (and panel temp) needs to be at least 65* consistently. So I have some time before I can even begin priming anyway. Tuning will likely be in early May...so I've got some work to do before then. There's a good possibility the car gets tuned while in primer... On a more positive note, I have a few goodies coming for the car. More updates soon...
New fenders were delivered Friday. I fitted the driver side because I already had the stock fender off the car at the time and it fit terribly (these are OEM reps, not an OEM part). I feared this when ordering them and I'm usually one who goes by the, "buy nice or buy twice" motto, but I cheaped out this time against my better judgement. I posted the pair up for sale on the facebooks that night. The next day I figured I'd at least try the passenger side (which is the side that I really needed to replace) and the fitment was surprisingly much better. I had to elongate every mounting hole to get the door/fender gap correct, but I'm happy with it. Of course, the new fender had a big dent in it so I had to fix that, but I'm in a better spot than I was with the stock one. The stock RH stock fender had a previous repair, which the pink filler I was seeing should have been a dead giveaway, but didn't dawn on me at the time. I think this is part of the reason I was having such a hard time getting the stock fender straight. There was a crease going all the way down the panel that was evident once I took the fender off and looked at the back of the panel. I'll use it as test panel for when I start painting. I thought I'd save time by replacing the driver fender because it has some light rust round the wheel well and several small dents, but with the aftermarket fender not fitting right, I went ahead and repaired all the dents on that panel. I'll pull it off again and sand out the surface rust. Before repairs: I decided to pass on the OEM aluminum hood, although tempting, just too expensive. I blocked my hood down, repaired several dents and all the rock chips. Hood is basically ready for paint. After my fiasco involving the rear quarter repair chipping out, I've been working to build that back...still have a little ways to go there. Passenger side door/molding holes are looking good. I have to smooth a couple spots and will be done on that side. Driver's side will be the next thing I work on. By the time that gets done, hopefully it's warmed up a bit and I can get the car outside to sandblast the windshield pinch weld. Other than that, i just have to remove the sunroof and sand down the roof/make repairs as needed.
I also picked up these beauties a couple of weekends ago and got a great deal on them I'm pretty pumped that they fit in my powdercoat oven - I didn't think they would. They won't fit hanging, but I can set them on the barrels of the rims on top of some blocks in the oven. I might make a metal "cradle" of sorts instead of using the bricks. These will eventually be powder coated gold. New track meats! 245/45/17 M&H Racemaster drag radials RIP stock axles. I'll be keeping my eye out for a couple of spare rear axles to have on hand.
