My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

User avatar
Grant
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 407
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:42 pm
Location: Upstate New York

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Grant » Thu Nov 20, 2014 5:05 pm

Well not too many updates with my car lately. Some should be coming soon hopefully.

I did however take this neat picture of my hatch next to my other vehicle which also happens to be the same age (built in 1986). Can you guess what it is? :P
Image

corolla_lover
Club4AG Regular
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Oct 29, 2014 8:57 am
Location: Pennsylvania

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby corolla_lover » Thu Nov 20, 2014 7:27 pm

Nice work! i know how hard it is to find clean cars here in salt land. I live in southeastern PA and i waited years till i found mine, and it still is way rustier than yours. But better than no 86

User avatar
Grant
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 407
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:42 pm
Location: Upstate New York

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Grant » Fri Nov 21, 2014 3:11 pm

corolla_lover wrote:Nice work! i know how hard it is to find clean cars here in salt land. I live in southeastern PA and i waited years till i found mine, and it still is way rustier than yours. But better than no 86

I thought they only used sand in PA? I'm honestly not sure why my car is so clean, maybe they just didn't drive it often. It has a little rust on the right rear fender which I'm in the process of fixing.

corolla_lover
Club4AG Regular
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Oct 29, 2014 8:57 am
Location: Pennsylvania

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby corolla_lover » Sat Nov 22, 2014 10:52 am

depending on the county most use salt, some use a magnesium based solution that is worse for your car. Regardless i am fixing my rust and mine is not going to see another salty road in its life.

User avatar
RuizXIII
Club4AG Enthusiast
Posts: 165
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2013 7:33 pm
Location: Smell Ya Later, NJ

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby RuizXIII » Wed Nov 26, 2014 8:55 am

Old 'salt state' cars are always usually really punished!
Hey, old cars are not as fun without all that wonderful rust, right? =)

Anyway good work cleaning this one up!
irony.cc

corollafrs
Club4AG Enthusiast
Posts: 95
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2013 1:19 pm

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby corollafrs » Wed Nov 26, 2014 12:42 pm

Grant wrote:Well not too many updates with my car lately. Some should be coming soon hopefully.

I did however take this neat picture of my hatch next to my other vehicle which also happens to be the same age (built in 1986). Can you guess what it is? :P
Image



tin top sammy...

User avatar
Grant
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 407
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:42 pm
Location: Upstate New York

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Grant » Thu Nov 27, 2014 12:24 pm

corollafrs wrote:tin top sammy...

Yep, a 1986 Suzuki Samurai. It's a great little jeep, almost like the AE86 of offroading. I think I better sell it soon though before I'm tempted to put money into it. I don't want my hatch to get jealous. :lol:

User avatar
Grant
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 407
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:42 pm
Location: Upstate New York

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Grant » Mon Dec 15, 2014 2:20 pm

Now that winter is here my car will be hibernating for a few months, so I have time to do some larger maintenance I've been planning. I am in the process of pulling all the parts off the rear end, cleaning them up, and painting them.

Image
I pulled off the rear axle. Pretty easy since I didn't encounter any stuck bolts. :P

Image
I got new seals for the rear axle, and new bushings for the whole car! The rear was especially squeaky, so I'm guessing the new bushings should make a big difference.
Bushings are from here by the way: https://technotoytuning.com/toyota/ae86 ... 86-corolla

Image
Just using a wire wheel does a pretty decent job cleaning the parts up. I'm debating whether to paint them or powder coat them.
I have some POR-15 already, so I may just use that. I know some people don't like that stuff, but I have not had bad luck with it yet.

User avatar
riddleyo
Club4AG Enthusiast
Posts: 106
Joined: Sun Mar 24, 2013 4:48 pm
Location: Ohio

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby riddleyo » Fri Dec 26, 2014 7:03 pm

Looking good man. I want to see that pretty POR-15 rear end!

User avatar
Grant
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 407
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:42 pm
Location: Upstate New York

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Grant » Sat Jan 03, 2015 8:46 pm

riddleyo wrote:Looking good man. I want to see that pretty POR-15 rear end!

I'm getting there...

Image
Sandblasted the parts that I can't really get clean with a wire wheel and sandpaper. In hindsight I should have just had everything sandblasted because I'm lazy...

Image
Painting stuff. My ghetto hanging rack worked out pretty well. :P

More to come soon...

User avatar
riddleyo
Club4AG Enthusiast
Posts: 106
Joined: Sun Mar 24, 2013 4:48 pm
Location: Ohio

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby riddleyo » Sun Jan 04, 2015 6:01 pm

Awesome, looking good!

User avatar
Grant
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 407
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:42 pm
Location: Upstate New York

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Grant » Sun Jan 11, 2015 12:28 pm

Okay well... I'm done with the POR-15. It's quite a mess...
Image

All done.
Image

A few things to note if anyone else decides to use POR-15 for this kind of thing:
  • Clean out any threads before the paint dries, otherwise you'll have to carefully scrap it off them without damaging the threads.
  • Wear gloves and long sleeves, seriously, if this stuff gets on your skin it will stay there for at least a week if not more.
  • Don't use too much, you can spread it pretty thin and it is "self leveling" so your brush strokes disappear. If you slop a ton on it will just drip everywhere and leave hardened "drops" on the metal.

Other than that just follow the directions, it's pretty simple. :)

One more thing to note is that POR-15 is sensitive to UV radiation, so they suggest you put some kind of top coat over it. I'm just using cheap krylon stuff. The white I'm going to spray on first lightly as a "guide coat" otherwise I won't know where I painted with black on black. :P
Image

Next things I'm going to do are:
  • Put all the new bushings in
  • Take the gas tank off and clean/reseal it
  • Touch up all the undercoating before putting everything back

I'm taking my time with this stuff because even if I finish it all it'll still be winter.... I can't wait for spring again! 8-)

User avatar
grappletech
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 344
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2013 12:13 pm

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby grappletech » Sun Jan 11, 2015 1:49 pm

Did you use a wire cup brush or twisted one? it looks great BTW.

Im thinking about using a cheap HLVP spray gun, or por 15 in a spray can.
87 GTS Coupe stock and Super Duper Clean
87 GTS Coupe Beams 3sge (under construction cuz I'm slow and lazy and broke-FML)
87 SR5 Coupe Shell. (Sold)
86 SR5 Hatch Shell
86 GT-SR5 Coupe 20v Swap

User avatar
Grant
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 407
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:42 pm
Location: Upstate New York

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Grant » Sun Jan 11, 2015 3:27 pm

grappletech wrote:Did you use a wire cup brush or twisted one? it looks great BTW.

Im thinking about using a cheap HLVP spray gun, or por 15 in a spray can.


Just a wire cup brush. Although if I did it over again I would probably just have everything sandblasted and saved myself trouble.

I like the paint can because you can make the POR-15 go a long way (it's pretty expensive compared to other stuff). That and I don't have a spray gun. :P

POR-15 also says to paint a "tie-coat" on first before top coating the POR-15, but I decided to skip that step.

http://www.por15.com/TIE-COAT-PRIMER_p_34.html

I'll probably regret it, but oh well. If the top coat really starts to fall off I can always scuff up the POR-15 and redo the top coat.

User avatar
grappletech
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 344
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2013 12:13 pm

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby grappletech » Sun Jan 11, 2015 5:06 pm

I'm seriously thinking about applying it how you did. I im almost too lazy to sit back and do all the thinning, and spraying,... It's just a lot of extra steps lol
87 GTS Coupe stock and Super Duper Clean
87 GTS Coupe Beams 3sge (under construction cuz I'm slow and lazy and broke-FML)
87 SR5 Coupe Shell. (Sold)
86 SR5 Hatch Shell
86 GT-SR5 Coupe 20v Swap

User avatar
Grant
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 407
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:42 pm
Location: Upstate New York

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Grant » Sun Jan 11, 2015 6:28 pm

Yea, there are enough steps already if you do it by the book. :P

  • Degrease
  • Sandblast/clean metal
  • Degrease/clean again
  • Apply the POR-15 metal prep etching stuff
  • Paint with POR-15
  • Prime and apply top coat

I only got lazy with the top coat because all those parts are going to be underneath the car, and the car will be in the garage when not driven, so I don't think UV will be an issue.

User avatar
Grant
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 407
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:42 pm
Location: Upstate New York

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Grant » Mon Jan 19, 2015 3:49 pm

I found something interesting today while looking over the parts for my axle...

Here is the right axle shaft:
Image

Here is the left axle shaft:
Image

Do you see the difference? I am pretty sure the right one is kouki, and the left one is zenki.
Is this a problem? I have been driving it like this, so I guess it's not a huge issue.

I now have find a complete set because this kind of thing will bother me until I get matching parts... :?

EDIT:
After some searching, it seems that zenki and kouki axles are NOT interchangeable, so what is going on here?

User avatar
Grant
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 407
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:42 pm
Location: Upstate New York

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Grant » Sat Mar 28, 2015 7:57 pm

Well it's been a while since I've made an update here. To continue from the previous post, I measured the axles with some calipers and discovered they were both Zenki, so that means some of the information out there about being able to tell by looking at them is incorrect. Just be aware of that.

Anyway, onto the progress. Winter is finally almost over so I'm preparing to get everything back on the car.

I took the gas tank off, which was very crusty and dirty, not too much rust, but it was starting so I cleaned it all up and painted POR15 over the exposed metal.
Image

I also painted the rear brake parts just to keep them looking clean. I was looking for a flat grey color, but silver is all I could find. Red is overrated and looks ricey, also I don't have brembos. :lol:
Image
Image

Everything on the rear axle is sealed back up with new gaskets and everything is ready to go. :D
Image

I also started sanding/prepping the rear bumper for paint (it was very sun burned and faded).
I am using products from "Automotive Touchup" because I have heard good things about them.
http://www.automotivetouchup.com/spray- ... moter.aspx
http://www.automotivetouchup.com/spray_paint_trim.aspx

Image
I'll upload a finished picture for you all to compare when I get there. :P

Basically I cannot wait to get this car back on the road.... I'm sure some of you other guys feel the same way.

User avatar
Grant
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 407
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:42 pm
Location: Upstate New York

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Grant » Sat May 09, 2015 7:01 pm

Time for an update! I've been busy driving the car, so I haven't gotten around to posting anything. :P

I got my rear-end put back in. Ignore that rusty exhaust. It will be going away in time. ;)
Image

Image

I also finished painting my rear bumper. Actually I did a pretty crap job... but it is an improvement compared to what it looked like before. I put on the "adhesive promoter" on too heavy, so the bumper/trim paint didn't dry as smoothly as I hoped.
Image

Here is the front for comparison. I'll be painting that next, and being a lot more careful.
Image

Anyway, that's all for now. I really need to start tackling some bodywork issues soon, but for now I'm really just enjoying driving the car! 8-)
Image

-zenki-
Club4AG Enthusiast
Posts: 97
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2013 11:22 am

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby -zenki- » Sun May 10, 2015 10:48 am

The por15'd suspension stuff looks great. How's the paint holding up so far? I've used it on the inside and some of the bodywork with success.
FLAWLESS VICTORY
Image

User avatar
Grant
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 407
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:42 pm
Location: Upstate New York

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Grant » Tue May 12, 2015 7:51 pm

So far no issues at all. About two years ago when I got the car I put some POR15 over some exposed metal on the rear fender to keep rust from spreading before I can do bodywork, and it's still holding on well and looks like the day I painted it.

Kind of sad I've been procrastinating about the body work so long though. :(

User avatar
Grant
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 407
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:42 pm
Location: Upstate New York

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Grant » Fri Jul 10, 2015 1:00 pm

Well another update. I've been playing with the AC system again... by the time I'm done with it I should just open my own AC repair shop. :P

Both schrader valves in the service ports broke into two pieces when I tried to replace them, so I had to source two new lines and was thankfully able to get the valves out and put in new ones.
Every o-ring has been replaced, and the system held vacuum for days without a problem, so I figure I might as well go all the way and charge it.

Unfortunately with project cars most of you know the path to success is never smooth. :P
It took about half a can of refrigerant. Pressures went up to about 60 psi (probably the pressure the can was at), but the AC compressor never kicked on. At this point I just have to get my multimeter and the FSM and start tracing wires and testing...

If anyone else has any experience with AC clutch problems or tips let me know. :)

User avatar
Grant
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 407
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:42 pm
Location: Upstate New York

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Grant » Fri Jul 10, 2015 7:08 pm

I finally have the AC working! 8-) 8-) 8-)

I tracked down the issue to the low pressure switch, which was not plugged in. Actually it's still not plugged in... so in order to finish charging the system I jumped the wires in the low pressure switch connector (since I knew there was pressure).

Does anyone know where this connector plugs in?
Image
Image

Is the plug on the evaporator unit somewhere? :?

EDIT:
Found it. Good luck getting to it though... I was just barely able to plug it in.
The switch is on the high side line between the firewall and the evaporator housing. It does not matter which way the connector goes on, it just needs to close the circuit.
Image
Image

trigun402
Club4AG Enthusiast
Posts: 98
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2013 5:53 pm
Location: Nebraska

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby trigun402 » Sat Jul 11, 2015 6:05 am

Nice detective skills.

goofesgts
Club4AG Enthusiast
Posts: 147
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2013 9:59 pm

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby goofesgts » Wed Aug 05, 2015 9:00 pm

very nice job, keep it up... wish I was that detailed...
how can i go to heaven? accepting jesus christ as youre savior!! thats youre ticket to heaven!

User avatar
Grant
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 407
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:42 pm
Location: Upstate New York

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Grant » Fri Aug 07, 2015 8:37 am

Thanks you guys. I'm just trying to keep records for myself and maybe other people who might run into similar issues. :P

Next on my TODO list:
  • Remove and repaint the front bumper
  • Remove and repaint all the front end suspension/steering parts, while also replacing the bushings.

Hopefully that should all be doable in a week so I can continue driving it until the winter. :)

User avatar
Grant
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 407
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:42 pm
Location: Upstate New York

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Grant » Wed Dec 02, 2015 6:31 pm

The third winter I've had my car is approaching, so it's time to get started on more restoration work. This time I'm focusing on the front of the car. I am still debating whether I want to sandblast everything and paint with POR-15, or sandblast everything and powdercoat. I'm thinking POR-15 is still the more durable coating, but I may have to do some more research into both options.

As you can see there are a lot of dirty parts that need refreshing.
Image

This was easier to get off than I expected.
Image

Current TODO list:
  • Remove and repaint all the front end suspension/steering parts, while also replacing the bushings with prothane ones
  • Remove crossmember and repaint, and probably replace engine mounts
  • Remove and repaint the front bumper skin and probably the whole front bumper if it needs repainting
  • Replace the rusty power steering lines
  • Touch up undercoating in the front before reassembly

That should keep me busy this winter if I take my time. 8-)
I have a lot of other goodies for the car, but I'm not ready to do anything with them yet, so I'll wait on posting any plans for them.

User avatar
Grant
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 407
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:42 pm
Location: Upstate New York

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Grant » Mon Dec 07, 2015 4:10 pm

More progress removing parts...

Image

Eibach springs just like the rear. I've heard these are decent so no reason to upgrade yet. :)
Image

That's about all the parts I can remove for now without an engine hoist for removing the crossmember, so I'll start disassembling them and cleaning them up.
I'm looking forward to nice new looking parts. 8-)

shagymc
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 353
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:43 pm

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby shagymc » Thu Dec 10, 2015 6:20 pm

Really clean, big fan of the clean restos. Keep it up!

Abe Cruz
Club4AG Enthusiast
Posts: 56
Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2015 9:02 am

Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Abe Cruz » Sun Jan 03, 2016 9:00 pm

Thank you for the compliment on my build! Really like how your corolla is coming along as well!

On the zenki axles pic that you posted, I believe you have open diff and lsd axles. If you have an differential with lsd, the open diff axles wont fit. If you have open diff, both axles should fit no problem.

Open diff axles are slightly longer if I remember correctly and can be cut to fit on an lsd setup.