'83 Starlet-Avoid the Noid! content

Ok, like I said, the sandblaster guy is cool-Pics of his stuff/home/shop: C.O.E. awning. $260 later, I was on my way with my much cleaner, yet already rusting car (TN humidity is no joke). He used sand for the chassis bits, and bead blasting-"the same stuff as light switch plates" for the more delicate bits. Before and after pics as promised.

Shot of bead blasted hood-I almost primed it before getting the shot. Right, so, as the English say, I was right well chuffed at that, so, I proceeded to use every bit of primer I had to get a bit of protection on all this porous, virgin metal. The Eastwood weld through where I plan to weld, Whatever I had on the rest. Some earlier pictures may have been primer, not bare. I was in a hurry.

A buddy stopped by, and asked how much the bare shell weighed.

My answer: Shameless GRM plug accomplished.

I've got ideas, but it never hurts to ask the hive-Advice on seam welding? Lets take tons of alternating spot welds as a given.

Seam welding on a street car always freaked me out, though if you're getting hit by anything in a 30 year old Starlet the chassis rigidity is probably not a significant factor in safety.

Sandblasting turned out great. Lots of healthy metal in there. What are you doing for the inside of body panels that you can't get paint into, cavity wax?

In response to ssswitch:

Eastwood is getting tons of my money. They make something like what young Master Suddard called body cavity spray. Basically, a rust inhibitor(encapsulator) designed specifically for those near impossible to paint areas

. Though, looking back, Eastwood's wax looks like a perfectly viable option. I also ordered more weld through primer, some POR-15, and a spot weld cutter.

Looking this car over, it is really hard to argue the seam welding idea. There are spot welds cracking in a bunch of places-seat mounts, cowl to inner panel junction (think where the windshield gasket rides). There is a small rip near where the brake booster mounts to the firewall. I'm afraid somebody got hurt in this one once upon a time. Between all those things, and basically the whole driver's side floor needing to be replaced, there is much welding to be done. Sub-frame connectors are an extremely likely event in this car's future, as well as the usual shock tower braces, camber plates, etc. Oh, and later down the road, there will be some of this;

I have used the Eastwood internal frame coating on rockers before, no complaints. It seems like it might be kind of scary if you ever have to do welding in the area afterward, but I'm not sure. I was debating putting Noxudol or an Eastwood wax on top of it but so far haven't seen much of a need to as the exterior metal is the real problem on those rockers.

I would say if the factory welds are already breaking, there can't possibly be harm in touching them up and seam welding as long as the welding is done right, has good penetration and doesn't knock the body out of square from heat. But I don't think that's a concern with you, as you are experienced.

ssswitch wrote: But I don't think that's a concern with you, as you are experienced.

Jinx! Thanks for the feedback. I have plenty to learn, and appreciate the input. Its funny how many "permanent" fixes I've had to get back into.

After a sweet weekend at BONAROO with some buddies, and the first day back at work, I was exhausted, but thought I should do something.

Take one ice ruptured length of pipe, some cutting tools, hammer and chisel, Beat, cut, and beat some more, and you have your basic brass spoon.-Edit, all except its copper! Duh... I had to try it out, as well as my weld through primer: More to follow...

Awesome idea. Ill have to steal that someday.

That truck is the most awesomely perfect thing I've ever seen.

Not much of an update-many machine failures at work, OT, and HAWT, but here's another tool being started: Section finished. Hint, it gets used with my trusty HF press. Oh, and I warped my hood like an idiot. Gonna grind and beat on it. Luckily, Burrito and NOHOME are discussing this very thing elsewhere on this forum...

The thing from the last post got some of this: and then, some of this: All the while. I was working on this: Which turned into this:

Which eventually led us here: Which, on closer inspection, looks tike this, right here: And there, you have your basic "Bead Press". The hope is that I can make corrugation in the floor pan I make. The problem, of course. is in the throat of the press. Not much leeway in movement between those two uprights. Never to fear, I have a back up plan. It is an acronym: First letter, B, second letter F, Last letter H. I have absolute confidence in my back up plan. I will attempt the civilized way first.

I promised myself I'd finish an ongoing art project before I returned to the Starlet in earnest, but sometimes, I break promises to myself. This thing really gives me a recharge, and after a rough couple of weeks, that is exactly what I needed on this rainy Sunday afternoon.

As such, the welder was loaded with .035 wire, and I have yet to try the .023 I recently got to try to improve my abysmal bodyworking skills. So, I decided to do something non-critical: The hole below the battery tray, and the hole for the now aborted passengers side turn indicator. I started out making it too hard on myself, and doing a 1/2" patch for that rust hole near dead center. ...and quickly figured out I was burning through all that thin, formerly rusted metal ...so, I cut some more, and made a bigger patch... ...which was working much better, and along with a hammer, and dolly, was getting me very acceptable results. I, however, lack patience sometimes, and came in to post while my welds cooled back down.

Notes for those even less experienced than myself:

Get thin wire, and maybe a 110 welder. Always use "the bottle", not flux core, if you can.

Cut more, rather than less. Make sure you get back to some solid metal rather than wasting your time. A small patch panel can be just as much work as a large one that may knock out multiple holes.

Listen to guys on this forum, and make cardboard templates(Do as I say, not as I do)

Use thick metal for patches. The side light hole was from a Geo Metro-read thin, and the other two 22 ga. Guess which was less trouble.

Well, until next time,Peace.

Today's mission was a simple one. Deceptively simple. I have to laugh at my naivete. I was already nasty from lawn work, and figured I'd just roll the Starlet out, and get all the media out of the nooks and crannies. And there's the rub. That little word-ALL. Impossible. I'll be happy with 80% of what I started with today. WOW, this stuff gets everywhere. When I brought the car home, the latch for the hatch wouldn't actuate, because there was so much blasting compound in there. That should have been a clue.

I started with compressed air. Blow a little, vac a little. I got a lot of it out. Then, I made an attachment for the shop vac to get back in deeper recesses. Wrapped in electrical tape, it looked more like this: I then proceeded to repeat each of the aforementioned steps several times, each rotation resulting in a virtual corn-A-copia of sand, plastic, and whatever else. I will repeat some more, but, I wanted to update this thread, and show my loyal readers some of the details I'm working with.

This is the torn Master Cylinder mount. not a big deal, as I am contemplating a Wilwood 3 M.C. situation. The power brakes and cable clutch gotta go one way or the other. And Here's the torn drivers seat mount. No big deal, but an indicator of just how hard a hit this thing took. Well, that, and the bent rearend I forgot to mention til now. Gave myself quite a scare on the first tow, as I thought I had forgotten to tighten lug nuts. No worries, the rearend is being replaced anyway.

Trans tunnel has a little rot. And this is the good (passenger's) floorboard. Certainly not the end of the world, but especially in light of my failure at the fireswamp (welding rusty metal, see above post), I'm hoping this thinner wire really makes the difference.

Now, to handle all that trapped media, the way I see it, I've got two options: hole-saw drain holes in the rockers, or Rotisserie. The likely truth is both, and I've been leaning towards rotisserie for some time. I've got an idea on that one....More later. I'll depart with one shot as it sits just for the heck of it.

A body roller may work for you being the car is light weight http://redwingsteelworksplans.com/tag/body-roller/

In reply to Lomaxmotorsports:

Neat-o, and very similar to a solution I had in mind. Thanks for the input.

Thanks for the progress report, looks like thing are coming along well. have you ever seen these camaro style rear louvers for these car? I had never seen them before, just thought I'd throw it out there, can't wait to see yours when it's done!!

In reply to DirtyDiesel:

BOSS LOUVERS, Dude!... Yours?

wheelsmithy wrote: In reply to DirtyDiesel: BOSS LOUVERS, Dude!... Yours?

I wish I had a Starlet first!, then maybe the louvers. I got the pic from an ebay auction.

I'm thinking some sort of home made, smaller version of this,

You know, for shade.

Awesome!!! Color me subscribed.

Fobroader wrote: Awesome!!! Color me subscribed.

As am I. For some reason, I remember the fuel injected versions of these had a really cool (tuned-looking w/ runners) intake manifold...which in the day of carburetted cars made an impression on me. Carry on.

<blockquote

As am I. For some reason, I remember the fuel injected versions of these had a really cool (tuned-looking w/ runners) intake manifold...which in the day of carburetted cars made an impression on me. Carry on.

Like this? I would gladly part with these for the price of an adult beverage. Chuppy guys, you reading? Free engine and transmission. Ran when pulled. Had a lifter tick, but seemed solid.4 speed also seemed good. Nashville TN area. Gotta hang on to the distributor.

Nobody asked for it, but here's what became of other starlet parts.Specifically, the cush-o-matic stock seats. Sweet, eh? that's the old driveshaft serving as foot bar, and a Tracker cupholder. And across the loft. Ending with some more product placement (brown nosing). Well, daylight's burning, and I haven't actually accomplished any kind of real update in some time.

Okay, maybe a little better an update: Cut back to good metal in the driver's floorboard. The "frame rail" looks good, and is pretty thick gauge metal. Some touch up welding, and encapsulator, and should be good to go.

I also cut back an exceptionally badly repaired section here. And cleaned up our old buddy the battery tray a bit better:

There are still a couple of pin holes, but it is OK. I'm learning. Also, using a cutting wheel instead of a grinding wheel seems to be working for me. $$$, but I am not as prone to create the rainbow that tells me I've over heated the metal.

wheelsmithy wrote: There are still a couple of pin holes, but it is OK. I'm learning. Also, using a cutting wheel instead of a grinding wheel seems to be working for me. $$$, but I am not as prone to create the rainbow that tells me I've over heated the metal.

Get you some flap wheels, you still can go to crazy if you try but they work way better than grinding stone wheels.

For this pin holes make you a copper plate on a stick to hold over the back of the hole as you weld and it will help keep your melted metal from falling through making a bigger hole.

Wish I was closer I would grab that running gear!

Plus one on the flap wheels. They are magic

Lomaxmotorsports wrote:

wheelsmithy wrote: There are still a couple of pin holes, but it is OK. I'm learning. Also, using a cutting wheel instead of a grinding wheel seems to be working for me. $$$, but I am not as prone to create the rainbow that tells me I've over heated the metal.

Get you some flap wheels, you still can go to crazy if you try but they work way better than grinding stone wheels. For this pin holes make you a copper plate on a stick to hold over the back of the hole as you weld and it will help keep your melted metal from falling through making a bigger hole. Wish I was closer I would grab that running gear!

Oh, I've got flap wheels, but my welds here were such chicken poop, I needed something to get it in shape before using them. Also, see copper spoon construction previously in thread. Thanks for the input. I am following your Tercel Build with great fascination.The Audi-like driveline layout in those really shocked me when I saw one a couple of years back at the PAP. Rock On.