Carotman's 1987 hatchback project

[markmdz89hatch]

and why don't you just get a hatch from down south in the US?

I admire your work and dedication here. I have to admit I'd be pretty close to throwing in the towel if I had something so bad as a core to work from. But props to you (again) for keeping this one from a certain junkheap.

[carotman]

Bah, When I'll be finished with this one it will look brand new. If I got a hatch from down south, I'll probably have to work on it too anyway to fix some things.

Isn't the fun part about cars is working on them? Plus, the experience I get from this is priceless (just like the Visa ads hehe)

The only thing that scares me a bit is the outside wheel arches. I'll have to made extra caution not to warp the metal when welding.

Did I mention I want to rebuild the stock carb? Yeah, I know I'm crazy!

[markmdz89hatch]

Bah, When I'll be finished with this one it will look brand new. If I got a hatch from down south, I'll probably have to work on it too anyway to fix some things.

Isn't the fun part about cars is working on them? Plus, the experience I get from this is priceless (just like the Visa ads hehe)

The only thing that scares me a bit is the outside wheel arches. I'll have to made extra caution not to warp the metal when welding.

Did I mention I want to rebuild the stock carb? Yeah, I know I'm crazy!

Rebuilding the carb is the easiest part of this whole project you got going on.

If you want, i have a spare carb i'll send you for free to tinker with. It's of no use to me anymore.

[carotman]

I wish I could use your carb but the Canadian 86-87 carb is different than the rest of what you guys got. There's no O2 sensor on the manifold and the carb lacks the A B C ports tp change the mixture.

I have a spare carb to work on anyway.

Can you beleive I drove this car to Wildowwd 3 years ago? It was it's last trip before the overhaul.

[thegreatdane]

wait, are you saying that you've cleaned that whole area of the subframe using only WD40?
From an aerosol can? And didn't that require a ridiculously large amount of WD40? I didnt think you could clean stuff like that with WD40.
Whatever you've done looks like it's done a good job.

Doesn't look too bad though. I was expecting to see all the crossmembers rusted through. I've had a couple of 3gees whose subframe would make yours look the mintiest ever lol.

Btw. a little word of advice I should have given myself when I started on my Aerodeck, you might as well strip everything off the car from the beginning as you'll probably end up removing all of it bit by bit down the road anyway. It makes working on the car easier not having to dodge things (like that exhaust you've got hanging there) all the time. And you wont have to worry about destroying interior pieces or making them dirty and stuff like that.

[carotman]

Haha no, it's not in an aerosol can. I bought a 4L container and use a sprayer.

I know what you mean by taking everything apart. I've got most of the stuff out but I'm afraid I'll just have an empty shell in the end!

[thegreatdane]

Sweet. They only sell the aerosol cans here though and they are expensive enough already.
I find it effective using WD40 to soak pieces like the hood hinges to clear out the rust from the joint where you cant get to otherwise.

[hammer3rd]

Did you ever get the pieces for the rear suspension?

[carotman]

I haven't worked on the car since... Winter blues they say.

The project isn't dead anyway.

I just got my hands on these:

Genuine JDM (OMG) Coupe/Aerodeck Window visors.



They fit pretty well and will look awesome once they're repolished with Meguiar's Plast-X

[markmdz89hatch]

I feel very privileged to say I've seen this hatch in person... ...and the rust is really not as bad ::cough:: as it looks in the pics. Thanks again for the hospitality and show&tell on the JDM parts. ...dammit.

[gtmst3]

i would like those visors for my new coupe

[carotman]

I repaired the right side rear frame rust last week. Was a pain to do but it's now solid again.

I'll work on the left side in the comming weeks.

Sorry, no pictures yet (Yeah I know it's boring).

I'll take pictures when it's all repaired. I need to finish this ASAP so I can move the car out of the garage again.

[carotman]

Ok, here are some updates on the project.

I managed to completely sandblast the fuel tank/subframe area and paint it with POR-15 (awesome stuff). I still need to apply seam sealer to the welds and joints.

Underside:


Left sub frame section:


Right sub frame section:

I had to weld some reinforcements there. It's now very solid and should be good for a long time now.


Wheel wells:


No more rust! In this area at least.

[import racer]

Hey Carotman I don't know about where you're at but in Nova Scotia you can't run copper brake lines.

[carotman]

I plan to buy a brake line loom at Napa or something and make a new one. I DID find one in the states tough but it's 80 bucks plus shipping... I'm an OEM parts freak but 80 bucks for a single line is a bit expensive.

[Civic Accord Honda]

damn your putting alot of work in to it ^_^ theses are the kinda of threads i like to see!

[carotman]

Oh

The car is back on it's wheels, brake lines are completely redone.

Next step is the rocker panels.

I got a zinc plating kit too. It's just awesome

[HERBERT]

Did this ever get finished????

[Xaisk]

Thats amazing.. The snowblower tank as a temporary fuel tank. Man thats great.

[gp02a0083]

Oh

The car is back on it's wheels, brake lines are completely redone.

Next step is the rocker panels.

I got a zinc plating kit too. It's just awesome

nice , what does the kit consist of?

[carotman]

The project is still rolling. I've been lazy and I keep postponing stuff. I've been busy at work too.

I should finish the lower panels before winter kicks in. This project is taking wayy too long to complete. Once the unibody is finished, the rest will be a piece of cake.

The Zinc kit if from caswell plating
http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/zinc.htm

I bought the 3 gallon kit.

[import racer]

Hey Carotman,where did you buy the por-15.I've heard of it before but have not been able to find it anywhere.

[carotman]

I got these yesterday:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120886812257...84.m1423.l2649

It will serve as a power window conversion on my hatch

[obdriver6]

WOW! You sure are dedicated to this project, keep it up!

[A18A]

Do you plan on making it looks OEM?