My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

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Grant
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My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Grant » Tue Jan 07, 2014 11:29 am

I have been on the forums for quite a while, and I keep meaning to make a build thread. I keep forgetting, so I decided today is the day I start.

Living in Upstate NY is not a good place for old cars. The salt and winters here basically destroys everything unless you really go out of your way to maintain it.
I had been looking for an AE86 for a long time, and I was disappointed over and over again by rusted hack-jobs or half baked projects.

One day when I was browsing craigslist I saw a typical tagline: "Attn drifters" something something AE86. I thought "great another beaten on drift missle." I couldn't have been more wrong.

Picture time. :D
The car was pretty far from me, about 5 hours away, but I knew this would be my only chance without flying across the country.

The paint was in desperate need of attention.
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You west coast people might think the underside looks horrible, but this is actually very surprising for such an old car in a winter climate. Not bad at all.
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The interior was in really good condition, but it was dusty and dirty.
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The engine started right up and ran well, but it was also dirty and neglected. :cry:
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Long story short. I decided to take the plunge, and haul it back to NY from southern PA in early December. Towing a car through mountain roads was a rather interesting experience, but I got it home.

I wish I had taken more pictures, but anyway I had no garage for the car, so it had to sit in my Dad's driveway for the rest of the winter, but even frigid temperatures would not stop me from getting started!
This was my first time doing anything with a car besides maintainence, so I took pictures of basically everything as I disassembled it.

The climate control really needed a new faceplate...
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I could not figure out what the foam stuff was in the top right there until I looked at the foam section that was in the back of the hatch and noticed it had a large piece ripped out. Some animal started to build a home behind there! This got me worried about wiring and electronic issues.
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You can see part of the foam in the back there has been eaten. :?

I finally got most of the dash removed. The bags were put over that stuff because I didn't want dirt/dust getting all into the grease on those parts.... a bit strange I know.
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All the vents and ductwork were really nasty. I could not wait to clean them up.
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Almost everything was stripped and taken back to where I live to be cleaned.
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At this point the winter started to get really cold, so I wrapped the car up the best I could with a cover and prepared it for hibernation. :P

I spent the whole winter disassembling all the HVAC parts and interior parts and cleaning everything with soap and water.
Something was living in there for a short time, and it left a nasty smell that I had to get rid of.

Anyway, fast forward to spring. I finally had garage space for my car, so I had to drive it 50 miles back to where I lived, hoping it would make it.
I put the bare minimum of the interior in just enough to make it driveable. Was it even legal? I'm not really sure, but I didn't care either. :lol:

The trip back home reminded me that I had a lot of work left. The brakes were crap, suspension was kind of squeaky, the engine idled too high, but I was excited.

Before getting it inspected and on the road I did a few important things:
  • Replaced the calipers/rotors/brakes in all four corners
  • Replaced the rusty radiator and put in all new HPS 3-ply hoses
  • Get the horn working again (why would someone cut the wires anyway??)

Sure enough it passed inspection! No smog or emissions nonsense here though. It's a safety inspection only. 8-)
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In the very first picture of this post you can see how bad the paint looks, but after a polish and wax the shine really came back! I was pleasantly surprised. :D
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After getting the interior back in, I started cleaning up the engine and engine bay.

Starting with painting the valve covers.
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This is the current state of the engine bay as I clean all the intake parts.
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The manifold and T-VIS was pretty nasty. All the vacuum lines looked old as well, so all those were replaced.
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I got some more OEM parts that I was missing!

Intake and A/C parts
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Finally found some seats! My seats are fine now, but eventually I'll have these ones reupholstered...
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Nothing was ignored, not even that rusty charcoal canister. :P
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I sent my injectors back to Mr. Injector to be cleaned and rebuilt.
I heard about them from someone on this forum, but I forgot who. I highly recommend it, they came back looking brand new.
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Currently I'm planning on getting the car running again later this month to see how much cleaning the intake system helped.

My to-do list is pretty short right now, but I'm sure there are many things I am forgetting.
  • Replace the rusty exhaust system
  • Remove and repaint as many underbody parts as possible with something like POR-15 (rear axle, driveshaft, suspensions parts, etc)
  • Possibly redo the undercoating? It's starting to flake off, and I don't want chips in the paint
  • Install the A/C and get it working
  • Put in some new speakers, mine are original and very tired

If you managed to read through this, I'm impressed. :lol:
I'll continue doing small updates in the future. Starting is the hard part right?

Comments always welcome.
Last edited by Grant on Sat May 17, 2014 11:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

trigun402
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Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby trigun402 » Tue Jan 07, 2014 2:20 pm

Looking good. :D

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

Postby Jeonsah » Tue Jan 07, 2014 3:32 pm

Great work so far. I am very happy you stuck it out and waited for a clean one. Word of insight for you is:

Dont buy HPS silicon radiator hoses. They are expensive for what you get. The top hose does not fit correctly. You will have to cut it to make it fit. My suggestion is to get SAMCO hoses.

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

Postby Grant » Tue Jan 07, 2014 5:09 pm

Well both Samco and HPS were expensive, but I didn't have any issues with the hoses not fitting. You can actually see the top hose in the picture of my engine bay. I never had to cut any hoses (no leaks either).

Maybe someone had bad luck with them in the past?

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

Postby Jeonsah » Tue Jan 07, 2014 6:33 pm

Ah I just realized you have a stock radiator. I have a koyorad one. Mabe that has something to do with it.

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

Postby riddleyo » Tue Jan 07, 2014 6:46 pm

Looks great, keep up the good work.

sekang0
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Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby sekang0 » Wed Jan 08, 2014 10:38 pm

I like the thorough-ness!
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Deuce Cam
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Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Deuce Cam » Thu Jan 09, 2014 10:09 am

Maybe I shroud trying bringing my paint finish back to life like you did; it's not faded much worse than yours was. I imagine an electric polisher, orbital buffer, etc. was needed?

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

Postby grappletech » Thu Jan 09, 2014 10:51 am

Great stuff man. Did you order a new charcoal canister or did you clean that one up?

Your car will go from Rags to B*****S in no time
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

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

Postby Grant » Thu Jan 09, 2014 2:37 pm

Deuce Cam wrote:Maybe I shroud trying bringing my paint finish back to life like you did; it's not faded much worse than yours was. I imagine an electric polisher, orbital buffer, etc. was needed?

Yep I got a cheap orbital buffer, and Meguiar's clay and ultimate polishing compound. I just washed the car, took some stuck on debris off with the clay, and polished the entire car twice.
Then I washed it again and waxed it. I would suggest you to tape over the black trim along the windows before polishing, otherwise some color may rub off onto the trim.

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

Postby Grant » Thu Jan 09, 2014 2:46 pm

grappletech wrote:Great stuff man. Did you order a new charcoal canister or did you clean that one up?

Your car will go from Rags to B*****S in no time

Have you checked how expensive charcoal canisters are? I think almost $200, if they even have them in stock anymore...
I tested mine, and it wasn't clogged. I just used a dremel tool to grind off the surface rust and painted it. Not perfect, but it's good enough for me. :P

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

Postby Jeonsah » Thu Jan 09, 2014 3:14 pm

If your going to restore old paint that has faded, make sure you use some type of paint sealant (not wax, its actually called paint sealant). Otherwise the car will just turn pink again. Ive seen this happen on other AE86's as well.

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

Postby Grant » Thu Jan 09, 2014 4:05 pm

Ah, I think I heard of that before. I'll have to do that after winter is over. I believe they make blends as well that contain wax and sealant.

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

Postby TORPARTS » Sat Jan 11, 2014 5:42 am

great job!
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kmcn47
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Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby kmcn47 » Sat Jan 18, 2014 9:08 pm

hey glad to see the car getting some life breathed into it. good job red

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

Postby Grant » Tue Apr 08, 2014 10:31 pm

Well nothing much to update, but I recently got my car ready to drive again. (It's been in hibernation here in upstate NY until the nasty salt is washed off the roads).
I put all the cleaned intake parts back in along with the OEM stuff I aquired. It seems to run and idle more smoothly now. :D
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As the weather warms up a bit more I'll try and get more done... it's been a long winter. :(

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

Postby yellowsnow4free » Tue Apr 08, 2014 11:23 pm

Wow, nice build; I'm glad you found a nice one in your area :)

I can't believe how the paint came out; great job! :D

I'd say "keep up the good work" but I'm sure you will :)

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

Postby mideng » Wed May 21, 2014 4:27 pm

great work!

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

Postby Hanyang » Thu May 22, 2014 9:25 am

Nicely done.

Where do you get the A/C parts? Are they re-manufactured ones? I'm in MASS and i'm trying to rebuild the A/C too.

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

Postby Grant » Thu May 22, 2014 11:46 am

Hanyang wrote:Nicely done.

Where do you get the A/C parts? Are they re-manufactured ones? I'm in MASS and i'm trying to rebuild the A/C too.

I got them from someone on this forum, but I did buy new o-rings and a new A/C drier from rockauto and I know they have rebuilt compressors and some other A/C parts on there. Denso was the OE manufacturer I believe.

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

Postby Grant » Tue Jun 17, 2014 8:03 am

Well I made some progress, had some setbacks. I'll start with the progress. :P

I replaced the bulb behind the heater controls. Surprisingly Toyota didn't have to special order the bulb, they had it right in stock!
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Now back in the engine compartment... I have been slowly loosing oil.

Oil leaks from the distributor. This seems to be a common problem, but easy fix thankfully.
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Oil leaks from the oil cooler lines I think?
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Oil leaks around this area are very hard for me to track down because there is some oil residue from draining the oil filter, but the hose clamps on the lines were very loose, and the lines are pretty worn out. Maybe it's time for some braided steel lines? :)
Also, should I replace the crush washers around that banjo bolt?
How likely is a leak from the sandwich plate between the oil filter and block? I don't want to replace the lines and find that nothing is solved.

EDIT:
Well I ended up ordering a few things from kbox.ca:
Distributor rebuild kit: http://www.kbox.ca/catalog/product_info ... cts_id=213
Oil filter housing seals: http://www.kbox.ca/catalog/product_info ... cts_id=217

Hopefully replacing all those will fix my issues! 8-)

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

Postby Grant » Tue Jul 15, 2014 10:21 am

I finally got around to putting in more AC lines. It wasn't really hard, but very annoying trying to fish the lines around and get them to fit and line up with each other. Hopefully the new o-rings will do their job and I won't have to mess with the lines again. :)
At the moment I'm trying to figure out where to route the oil cooler lines so the last bit of AC lines can be put in.

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I also replaced my leaking radiator overflow. Now I need a new washer reservoir so the color matches. :P

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

Postby grappletech » Thu Jul 17, 2014 5:50 am

I took my AC lines out yesterday, it was a huge PITA! Snaking those hard lines were terrible... I have to get them back In eventually for the Beams swap
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)
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86 GT-SR5 Coupe 20v Swap

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

Postby Grant » Wed Aug 06, 2014 1:24 pm

Well I did more work in the engine bay lately...

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I got a "new" non-cracked exhaust manifold and another less rusted downpipe to put on. Hopefully it will help a bit with engine temperatures on the exhaust side.

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Might as well clean up all this nasty stuff while I can get to it.

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All clean! There was a ton of caked on dirt and grease.

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I got my A/C compressor in finally! Almost ready to tighten everything down and test the system. 8-)
You actually have to remove the whole oil filter sandwich plate to make room for the A/C compressor bracket.

Hopefully next time I post I'll be able to make a thermometer go down. :lol:

EDIT:
Another set back! :lol:
It turns out I really do have the wrong oil filter sandwich plate... from an AW11, so that is why I had to remove it to fit the compressor bracket on.

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

Postby saiGone » Thu Aug 07, 2014 10:19 am

Your climate control is really clean, did you replace it?
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Grant
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Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Grant » Fri Aug 08, 2014 7:40 am

saiGone wrote:Your climate control is really clean, did you replace it?

Yea I got a new faceplate sticker from Toyota. It was a pain to change because I had to scrape the old sticker off with a razor while being careful not to damage the plastic, but it really improved the look and only cost $25.

Here is a slightly better picture.
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Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby idreamofdrifting » Fri Aug 08, 2014 9:46 am

Very Nice! Keep up the great resto work!
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Grant
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Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Grant » Sat Aug 30, 2014 12:37 pm

Well.. I finally found the oil filter plate that fits along with the AC compressor.
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I got bored and painted the heat shields for the exhaust manifold. I know you won't even be able to see the lower one, but I had extra paint so why not.
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I don't even know how to explain this one... I tightened all my AC lines, and went to connect them to the compressor. One seems to fit... the other does not.
Regardless of how I maneuver the end it just won't fit. It looks like it fits, but it doesn't. I just got frustrated and gave up for now. I'm so tired of running into these issues.
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Re: My red hatch (fix-up and restoration)

Postby Candybeef » Wed Sep 03, 2014 11:32 pm

Hey bud, nice build. Where in upstate ny are you? Im in rochester and ive got an 85 hatch

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

Postby Grant » Sat Sep 06, 2014 7:42 pm

Candybeef wrote:Hey bud, nice build. Where in upstate ny are you? Im in rochester and ive got an 85 hatch

Sent you a PM.