time for a new DD (honda EK project)

[dlo253]

Yeah the DA trailing arm bushings are different sized. Dont remember off top, but I think they are bigger? Hard Race has a nice pair of hardened rubber ones for like $66 from JHP.

 

[the ghoul]

Yeah the DA trailing arm bushings are different sized. Dont remember off top, but I think they are bigger? Hard Race has a nice pair of hardened rubber ones for like $66 from JHP.

Yeup, larger.
$40 for the poly ones. Just the labor that sucks to take it all apart again

 

[dlo253]

Yeah, I hear that. I've been putting mine off for a little while now..

 

[liquidh8]

How are you making out?

 

[the ghoul]

How are you making out?

How are you making out?

I'm not! Lol!
I went thru some tough times; slight re-alignment at work, pain from motorcycle accident that happened more than a year ago, late payments, collection calls, making the rough decision to part out the sunbeam alpine project I've had for more than 8years, beer, pain killers, regret for having spent so much on all the projects ect ect..

Upshot; OT kicked back up at work, the project car part out pulled me out of the red and allowed me to pay off two of the credit cards

That all took a lot of time and a few years off my body (threw my back out for the first time ever doing yard work).

Right now the car part out is nearly done; a buyer is comming out to pickup what's left on the 21st.
The bumpers and correct trailing arm bushings finally came in last weekend!
A buddy contacted me out of the blue looking for good condition tires and we ended up swapping his Delsol si rims and $40 for my rims and tires (now the rims will clear the front brakes).
I collected all the parts to throw a vtec head on my engine than decided to scale back the project and leave that stock for now.

Last weekend I did a test fit and discovered I had the wrong hood... Oh well, add it to the list!

 

[the ghoul]

OK,
Back at it hard. I still have the deadline of November!
got the firewall stripped out on the back side

got the engine compartment of cleared of all unnecessary brackets and threaded studs

finally found the proper hood, notice the "mouth" on the blue one is much wider

unfortunately it had a lot of sub-par paint on it, so it was time for a redneck BBQ!

So the mockup with all the proper bits, and stripped hood

with all the unnecessary holes and brackets welded and ground down I got some etching primer on every thing (BTW, not only was the hood wrong but the bumper mount tabs were wrong as well, so I got the proper ones welded on!)

Tomorrow I will get some mud on the rough bits and start the process of prepping for paint!

 

[the ghoul]

On a whim I decided to chip out all the sound deadening from the floor and was happy to find not a spot of rust!

I then gave the floor and firewall a good dose of por15 to keep the rust away.

and now I predict lots and lots of sanding in my future!

 

[the ghoul]

sanding went much quicker than I thought.
another round of etching primer, and its a subtle difference but I think one that is so far worth while.
hopefully by the weekend I will have some glazing putty on the still problem areas, and can shoot some of the high build primer I picked up.

 

[the ghoul]

been busting my *ss on this so I haven't updated for a bit..
since I got the second layer of primer on, I spot filled any remaining nasty spots with some glazing putty and sanded it down once it was cured.
I also cut out the horribly dented wheel well arch, and patched in the new one
Here you see the damaged one, and the new patch

the patch welded in and with the welds grinded down

and with first round of filler

and last bit of progress...
I pulled the front end out, got all the stock paint roughed up with some 120 grit, and cleaned up with some wax and grease remover

with any luck I will be able to get the shell painted with some high build primer

 

[the ghoul]

So geeked!
Got two good coats of PPG shopline 2k high build primer on the engine compartment, one coat on the rest of the body, and also stepped up my dry game.
What you see here is a garbage picked inline air dryer (helps to live around industrial buildings, know what you are lookin at, and how to change a fuse ) There is one big moisture trap on the compressor, and two on the regulators inline after the dryer.

yet another engine compartment pic

some bare shell shots


I am real pleased that the roof straightened out as well as it did.. a few divots but nothing too horrible

Looking so forward to slinging some paint... however there is still a lot of sanding and smoothing out to do!