AE86 booter project

[Myles1970]

Found these three pieces on the floor, the belong on the underside of the spare wheel well. I suspect that they're for the exhaust...



Below, the upper rear bumper mount on the good side (!)... it's a bit sketchy, so off it comes



.....what lies beneath

 

[Myles1970]

So carrying on, I've welded a little patch into the inner section without banging my head off the panhard tower too many times.... (access is really awkward here, especially with a welding mask on), when what did I see?:

Apologies for the poor camera work, but this is the inner skin of the "good" wheel arch, and it's peppered.
The only way to get access to it is by cutting the outer skin, which seems 100%. It's not so bad though as this bit will be hidden by the rear bumper
On examination, the corrosion seems to be localised to under the black sticky packing that Toyota have used around the arches:

....it seems to be quite sponge-like, so I imagine it would hold water and rust from the inside out

This is the piece I was trying to get to... As it turns out, what I thought was sound metal that I cut away for access, is pitted along the flange and has a couple of pin-holes

 

[Myles1970]

Now this repair section was awkward, both getting the shape fairly close, and getting in close enough to dress the welds







I'm afraid I rushed getting the paint on there, but it was cold out there tonight

 

[Myles1970]

Hrmmm!


Worn pillowball bearing was reluctant to come out....took part of the ally casing with it. Hopefully if I can get replacement bearing a few tacks will hold it

 

[Myles1970]

^^^ old pin-holed piece on the left, new flange welded on on the right...


This was a bit of an experiment. Seems to have worked out ok though




It took a lot of to-ing and fro-ing (?) to get the curves right, but it's sitting now weld weld-thru primer on the inside drying ready to go in

 

[Myles1970]

So it started with me putting my thermals on back to front .... Dropped a piece of scrap that I'd been welding in my air-line ....and ran out of abrasive bands for the power-file





.... anyway, that's it for now

 

[Myles1970]

Ok, so I took a bit of a break while the weather has been too cold for painting… it’s been below 10c until yesterday. Anyway, it’s been a while since the 2k epoxy primer went on so I set about giving it a key.



That’s when I came across some cracks in the primer. A set back, no doubt of my own making. Poor prep in places meant poor adhesion



So I had at it with the needle scaler around these areas; mostly areas where access is tight and some previous coating remained





Oh well, probably best dealing with it now than later

 

[conor1n]

Very interesting..

I've been getting myself ready to paint for ages now.. and how to scuff / paint the hard to reach areas is a concern of mine.

I don't want it flaking out of those areas.

 

[Nick DV]

Just caught up - again! Keep up the good work and keep posting updates

 

[Myles1970]

Cheers @Nick DV

 

[Nick DV]

Cheers @Nick DV

You're welcome

 

[Myles1970]

After spending weeks (a little bit at a time) blasting the front subframe in the blasting cabinet, I decided to take the axle, and four-links, anti-roll bars and other bits to a local firm. I didn’t realise there was one so nearby. While that’s being done I cracked on with the underside of the shell, preparing for 2k epoxy priming the remainder. I also need to re-apply it to the areas where it crazed and flaked off by razor blade and needle scaler:



….. it has occurred to me that I might be better taking it to the blaster and getting the underside stripped and going again with the 2k epoxy. This time I may go down the Lechler or Jotn route. Upon closer examination of the locally sourced epoxy, I see no mention of zinc phosphate in the tds, so while it may seal the metal, it might not be as good at keeping the tin worm at bay….

Any thoughts?

 

[Domdom]

Well, when I put the Jotun 87 on the Sierra underside I discovered that if you get it on your skin you have 2 options for getting it off. 1 use a grinder, or 2. grow new skin and look like a garage mechanic for 6 weeks.

Then I let it go hard so I could sand it back and key it for the next coat. Yeah, turns out I need some diamond grit paper.

Based on the above I can recommend it for durability

 

[Myles1970]

@Domdom would you not have gone wet on wet? That’s what I was thinking of doing …

 

[Domdom]

If I had the time, yes. Just that work and life get in the way and before I know it 6 weeks have gone by.

 

[Myles1970]

If I had the time, yes. Just that work and life get in the way and before I know it 6 weeks have gone by.

Tell me about it! This would have been the perfect weekend to get a lot of work done but no…. Glorified taxi driver here

 

[Myles1970]

So, front suspension/cradle/subframe broken down, blasted and painted. Rear axle and trailing links too:





Did the steering rack brackets and radiator brackets too:



And after ordering one off eBay from Dubai which failed to materialise, I got one from Flos.ie in Galway. A genuine Toyota engine rebuild gasket kit …

Now just waiting for the bush kit to arrive from AE86world.net, then the only thing keeping me from getting it rolling will be the paint issues on the underside …… to blast, or not to blast? That’s the question

 

[Myles1970]

BLASTED THINGS!!!!



……or should I say: things that I have blasted

 

[conor1n]

BLASTED THINGS!!!!

View attachment 345093

……or should I say: things that I have blasted

Great stuff, what type of blaster did you use and do you know how many CFM your compressor outputs? Curious. Thanks

..Isn't blasting so satisfying?

May I also ask.. have you gotten any opinions on why the Epoxy Primer came off? I am about to lay down some Rustbuster Epoxy Mastic and have cleaned and cleaned.. I am dreading it coming off like yours.

 

[Myles1970]

Hi @conor1n , it’s an Sgs sc100v, which supposedly outputs 14.6cfm, which is not enough; blast for two minutes and then wait for two minutes to give the compressor a chance to catch up . But yes, it is satisfying!

As regards the epoxy primer, I’m not 100% sure. I think some areas were down to a lack of tooth in the surface. It chipped off inside the strut towers where there was still some of the original finish. It also came off the fresh steel that went onto the drivers footwell. That was one of my first repair patches and I didn’t DA the steel before I formed it. Generally it seemed to come of from inside the ends of the ridges where they may not have been as thoroughly keyed due to access:



I’m gonna have the underside blasted by a local blasting firm and try again. The stuff stuck to the sills like sh1t to a blanket, so I’m not concerned about the flatter panels.

I believe the em121 is more surface tolerant, but even still, I’d be paying a lot of attention to the troughs and valleys