Trueno resto: 11 weeks later..

..and we have the birth of a new Trueno! We spent last saturday fitting the last of the parts back on the car, cleaned and refitted the interior, and of course mounted the new TE37V for the first time under the new colour. They sit so perfectly under the car, slight mixup with tire sizes 195/60/14 rubs everything so my old Yoko 185/55 are on the front, and I must order some more for the back and centre the axle while I'm at it.

I'm absolutely in love with the new colour, it came out very well, unfortunately the camera (or Irish weather!) don't do it justice but Ill do my best here... But the bodywork is done now, its brilliant having a real car back, and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into the next few jobs on the running gear. Had to give the rear boot lid trim a little coat of satin black so not many pics of the rear end but when I catch a sunny evening I will take some more shots. Ill let the pics say the rest for now!

Trueno resto: update #4

What a weekend.. Finally saw the new colour in the flesh for the first time.. Its a special graphite grey, the code of which shall remain secret but I am really really happy with it, it's exactly what I wanted. The phone camera does not do it justice, a proper photoshoot will be most definitely be in the works when the paint is fully finished and the car is rebuilt and back on the road. This is the finish straight off the gun, the car still has to be "flicked" back and polished up again, and the bumpers, doors, skirts, bonnet etc still have yet to be done.

 

 Also got the new 195/60 Falken ZE912's exploded onto the TE37V's with the help of a bead-blaster, they survived the experience unscathed and have a perfect amount of balloony tyre stretch.. Works very well for the all important Arch/Tyre/Wheel fitment triangle!! These next shots were taken a few days after the earlier shots so the car is quite a bit dustier now, and again the camera does not do the colour justice but the fitment is clearly visible :)

 

All painting and final polishing should be completed by this Friday, and I plan to start rebuilding the car early next week! More pics then. Hope you like the progress so far!

Trueno resto: update #3

Time for another update, I got to see the car on saturday afternoon and I was delighted with the progress!

• small hole in roof spot welded
• all arches repaired, flared, and primed
• rear 1/4 panel dent fixed
• front bumper and splitter repaired and primed
• rear bumper repaired and primed
• boot lid primed
• new rear panel primed

 

trim panel has since been removed, the hole for the non existant lock is getting filled

Its looking great as a work in progress thats really taking shape sooner than I thought! I also Confirmed my colour choice too after a good look at the colour card and a million pics on the net so I'm confident I made a nice choice. I will miss the black over graphite alot but I think its time for the car to evolve a little bit, I have a vision in my head I have to create! I also offered the TE37V up to their new home...

A couple of other small jobs yet to do but the body of the car should mostly be painted by next weekend, the bonnet will be fitted unpainted and lined up afterwards so they can properly fit the new Aero-catches Ive had for ages , then the bonnet will be painted last and hopefully we can start putting it all back together again maybe in a fortnight or so!

Trueno resto: it begins

Wednesday afternoon, call received, a few hours later I was at the bodyshop where the Trueno spent the weekend. 3 hours after our arrival,  my 2 door Sprinter was stripped down and ready for paint prep!

 

 Luckily my rear quarter dent didnt extend to the pocket area, and only a little bit of rust was found under the boot lid seal near the lid striker.

Removing the skirts and arches thankfully revealed no suprises, all sills and panels in pretty good shape for 24 years old! Just one or two small seams starting to go so its a great time to stop the rust before it takes hold.

 

Doors were stripped of interior trim, glass, regulators, locks and handles.. and added to the pile of body parts..

It was really weird driving the car with no bodywork! with no doors or hood you can really feel how small and narrow these cars are..

All clean around the lights, fuel door, and right side pocket!

Here was one thing I was expecting.. The rear lower panel was quite flakey, and even worse underneath..

So a new one was ordered from Toyota, and will arrive on monday or tuesday. Amazing to still be able get new panels for old hachis :) The rest of the back panel area was in great condition so this repair will keep the car in good health for many years.

 

The last view I have of her, next time I take a picture there will be some nice changes, which will all be revealed in good time :) 

Big thanks to Kev and Anonymouse for the mega help!

** Getting ready for Paint!!!

few progress pic's of body prep........

passenger wing and door nearly done

there was 4 spots of rust where the boot seal goes down , 
I posted two pic's of before we cut out the rusty metal and here is them two repaired with new metal and being sanded down..

but there is still two more spots on the other side that we just cut out tonight...

the rest is being sanded down....

while sanding I found a small spot on the back panel and a nasty little bit behind where the ecu would be, but all in not too bad for a 25 y/o shell!!?
so them two bits will be sorted now as well.

wheel rims back next weekend

***2x1 love..

Today my Trueno got a little treat. The 23 year old paintwork was starting to show the years. The bonnet (or hood for international readers!) was getting quite dull and faded from the heat of its eager little 16v,

 
and there were lots of swirl marks and general ageing on nearly every panel...
 

 So it turned out the guy who did the excellent job on my front bumper and splitter (the splitter which is subsequently showing some battle scars earned during an interesting street parking manoeuvre lol) also does some excellent paintwork correction with a machine polisher and various cutting compounds and magical potions. So after a quick wash my Trueno was locked into a shed with Mr.Paintwork Guy and the results a few hours later speak for themselves :)

The car is so shiny now its actually hard to take a photo of it, and the "black" part of 2x1 black over graphite is a really interesting highly metallic colour, that can look black, dark green, and even a purplish brown depending on the lighting. Just waiting for a nice sunny day, 2011 maybe, and my camera back from Kev *ahem... and we'll get some good shots. Big thanks again to Shane for the excellent work on the bumper and polishing :)