Pearl white coupe revival

[Jaswan]

Would you like a euro rear number plate surround?

[ottawa coupe]

So, an interesting series of developments sine i was last here. The caliper adapters got me thinking. Made up the cad models from the drawings i got from brydon and sent them out for quptes from local machine shops.

Holy crap.

Even those online machine shops the machine them in china weren't particularly cheap either. What to do?

Well, hopped on kijiji (online private sale ads, no idea what the euro equivalent would be) and whaddya know, there's a small cnc mill that will do steel in light passes for all of $200 more than my quotes. I've always wanted to learn this stuff and i have more parts for other projects on the drawing board....

So i'm currently not turning wrenches but sitting in front of a screen learning the cam functionality in fusion 360 instead. I think i am making some progress. I figure i should get a handle on the software before i buy the spendy tool that would end up collecting dust if it turns out i am too dumb for it lol.

By chance, i believe i will be heading to the area the mill is currently located for a work trip in a coupla weeks.

So, could be an interesting winter making chips and sanding bodywork this year....

[ottawa coupe]

Well, to get my mind off potential regs issues, decided to try n make things a bit prettier. Polished one of the tailights to see if they would still come up well and quite happy how well they are under the crud.

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Also finished up the headlight washer delete panels on the front bumper, turned out pretty well.

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unfortunately i feel that this means the procrastination is over and i hafta get on with the sanding

[ottawa coupe]

Well, not so fast. It would seem i will have to play a bit of a game.

The root of the issue is they use the term "oem standard" for a lot of things. They define that term and it boils down to using oem or quality parts. I can prove that pretty easily for all things with 2 exceptions. The brake ciper adapters i will have made for the front and the wheel spacers needed for the 5x112 conversion.

Rarity of the car may be on my side so what i COULD do for the caliper adapter is get a number punch set and stamp them with the rs2 adapter part number and say it's a rare european part. That should sort it. Maybe.

I will have to confirm with a shop their stance on wheel spacers. I would really prefer NOT to buy a set of wheels with the right offset just to roll thru the safety.

The engine swap should be ok as it will be brought over whole hog from a newer car and i won't be altering it or deleting emissions equipment. The exhaust has a resonator and muffler just like the original so that should pass too.

So, i need to play a game to a level that a mechanic is willing to stand behind and support me in fighting the man.

The rules as written are reasonable and i should be compliant with quality parts. But it will just take one paper pushing dipsh!t at the ministry to ruin my day it seems.....

ORRRRRRR. I act now and get a "safety certificate" online. Not really into that idea but hard to know how screwed i will be otherwise.....

[newsh]

well, maybe much pearl clutching for no reason. the inspection standard will not change, but the ministry will be remotely looking over the mechanic's shoulder while performing the inspection. big brother and all......

the inspection standard as written is actually pretty reasonable and leaves things pretty open and define what OEM standard means. so, given that i am using 99.99% oem parts (just from 14 different cars lol) i should be ok.

basically, i am not scared enough to burn the midnight oil and get this running by december. whew!

That's a relief!

[ottawa coupe]

well, maybe much pearl clutching for no reason. the inspection standard will not change, but the ministry will be remotely looking over the mechanic's shoulder while performing the inspection. big brother and all......

the inspection standard as written is actually pretty reasonable and leaves things pretty open and define what OEM standard means. so, given that i am using 99.99% oem parts (just from 14 different cars lol) i should be ok.

basically, i am not scared enough to burn the midnight oil and get this running by december. whew!

[Rikki Kitto]

Wow that's some intensive work going on there buddy well done

[ottawa coupe]

Well, heard something today that could very well kill this whole project.....

Supposedly the rules for safety inspection are changing in the new year and they are going to be insanely strict. They say that if the car is not 100% stock, then you're not get a license plate. 100% is an impossibility of course.

So now i gotta decide if i just toss primer at the bare metal, throw it together and get it thru before the rules change or slow it right down and wait till it is realized that the proposed plan is unworkable and common sense rises to the top....

downsides to rushing are once the windshield is in, it's not coming out. I cut the cabby's wiring harness in the back seat so i need to splice in the coupe's rear section as well as remove the roof and automatic transmission wiring. That'll take time to study up on.

What will probably be the biggest problem in terms time will be front brakes. While i have drawings for them, getting them machined in a timely fashion locally is unlikely....

Ugh.

They REALLY want us to go broke buying new cars.....

[ottawa coupe]

Pulled a long shift last night and got the tail lights with their many broken posts sorted out. I will need to polish them though as they have definitely seen some things lol. Dunno what happened to the left reverse light but given that they are unicirn tears to replace, i guess it'll be the way it goes lol. Still need to figure out a solution fir the licence plate mounts.

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also in the list of broken unobtanium are the headlight washers. Had a thought as a result of my recent successes with hot staple plastic repairs. Pictures are worth 1000 words and all....

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20240910_155428.jpg made the correct bend in steel sheet, cut a strip of plastic off, melty melty and let gravity do the rest.

Plus it'll be one less thing that breaks later lol

[ottawa coupe]

Well, plastic welding the front bumper surround was surprisingly effective and quick. I made a braket to support the lower part so it now significantly sturdier that previously.

I decided to toss the rest of the panels back on today at lunch.... need a bit of inspriation at the moment before i get truely stuck into the sanding lol. Can't find the brackets for the leading edge of the rear bumper so tape will do for the moment and i have many broken studs to repair on the taillights.... once i find the missing brackets, i may toss the coils on and get a proper idea of what the final result will look like.

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EDIT: the rear wheels seem goofy. back when i put the rear subframe together, it seemed to me the control arms were symmetrical. but now that i look, there are PNs for left and right.... is that why they seem pushed fwd in the arch? the balljoint is oriented correctly.

[ottawa coupe]

Right, productive weekend. Got the drivers side dent 90% sorted. All the edges are right, would like to work the flat area some more. Went ahead and pulled on the passenger rear arch and it immediatly went 90% back to the correct shape. For both areas i'm essentially down to "how thin will the filler be?" The only real concern on passenger side at the moment is that the bodyline isn't as sharp as it should be. I suspect that will take a lot of time to get right. Perhaps more skill than i posess too. Doors are now lined up really well and today i fixed a few rotted mounting holes on the fenders. Gonna leave the studs in the rear for now and will go back every couple days to progress it. The final challenge in terms of actual body repair lies in the annoying front bumper surround "featured" on north american spec bumpers. Typical crack and the plastic mounting holes broke because the corresponding bolts seized and snapped in the fenders. So now i get to play with the plastic welder i got off amazon.... pray for me lol.

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[ottawa coupe]

End of day one's pulling. Close now. I think i will have to weld a tab to the first bend inside the jam in order to get the last mm out of it without distorting the corner radius.

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Had to twist the passenger door a bit but it now fits perfectly.

Should be able to have the metal moved on the drivers side by the end of the week. Probably a bigger challenge awaits next week on the passenger side rear arch where it suffered a small crunch. I must say though it's going better than i feared.

[ottawa coupe]

So, may not need to pull as much as i feared. Spent some time aligning the undamaged passenger side and the early 90s tolerances are a little less tight than today lol

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Compared to my progress

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Gonna stop for now. I'm going to play with door alignment and see how i feel. The rest of the quarter needs love still but this is the stiffest part to deal with.

[ottawa coupe]

Clearly i was a redneck in a previous life. The other end of the strap is looped around a tree....

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Started pulling things. Slide hammer didn't move things in the area i am working as it's too strong an area, studs just ripped out. Soooooo break out the big guns lol.

At any rate, it's sitting in tension as i write this while dialing into a work meeting (my wife says i should multitask more right??).

First pull gets me to here, but it springs back a bit so i need to work it more. I need to put more studs in below the trim line and maybe a few above.

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It's a very strong area as you would hope so there's every possibility i need to weld beefier tabs on to pull from. I am going to take a few days on this, the consequences of error are significant lol.

[ottawa coupe]

got it on it's wheels and hung the doors so it was easier to get everything out of them. looks like i have more work on the rear quarter than i had previously thought.... the door jamb got pushed in as well and as a result the drivers door looks a little wonky.... i have borrowed my friend's stud welder/puller though i have never used one before.

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this is gonna be interesting......