My GTS25T Restoration & Conversion
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More progress on Matts 33 last week.
So we got the drivers side wheel arch stripped back completely to clean metal, it was much much easier to see what needed fixing.
This stuff could so easily go un noticed! especially if it was just sprayed over with underseal.
Up close you can see the corrosion clearly needs sorting out.
Inside the drivers arch and around the strut top was the same.
So as always we cut out the bad and replace with new metal.
Starting with the drivers side strut top.
It was clear it was going to be funky under the top layer of metal.
So we drilled out the factory spot welds.
Drill out the spot welds
Always crazy to see what hides underneath.
So we got the drivers side wheel arch stripped back completely to clean metal, it was much much easier to see what needed fixing.
This stuff could so easily go un noticed! especially if it was just sprayed over with underseal.
Up close you can see the corrosion clearly needs sorting out.
Inside the drivers arch and around the strut top was the same.
So as always we cut out the bad and replace with new metal.
Starting with the drivers side strut top.
It was clear it was going to be funky under the top layer of metal.
So we drilled out the factory spot welds.
Drill out the spot welds
Always crazy to see what hides underneath.
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5,726 Posts
In the mean time we started to do the same with the donor strut tops Matt provided for us to aid repairs.
Considering how good this one looks it just goes to show even good looking strut tops can be hiding a time bomb alas!
Original at the top, donor at the bottom, you cant see it necessarily from the pic but the donor was still way better! :wavey:
Meanwhile the original strut to was cleaned back of all rust to bright clean metal.
Same was done to the strut top and then it was treated with a rust eating acid to pull all of the rust out of the metal once and for good!
Scrubbed and treated until totally clean!
You can see the rust being drawn out from the metal up close.
Same treatment for the strut tower on the car.
The treatment actively cleaning the metal.
Once spotless the metal is protected and ready to be reinstated.
Another section towards the scuttle panel that needed addressing too.
Yuk!!!!!
Clean up, cut out new panels fabricated and welded in and arrrrhhhh much better! :wavey:
And refitting the panel back in that was taken out and cleaned up to allow us to remove the strut top.
It's very satisfying getting rid of all of the rust that's developed over the years knowing this is going to be one solid car when done!!!!
More to come....
:thumbsup:
bob
Considering how good this one looks it just goes to show even good looking strut tops can be hiding a time bomb alas!
Original at the top, donor at the bottom, you cant see it necessarily from the pic but the donor was still way better! :wavey:
Meanwhile the original strut to was cleaned back of all rust to bright clean metal.
Same was done to the strut top and then it was treated with a rust eating acid to pull all of the rust out of the metal once and for good!
Scrubbed and treated until totally clean!
You can see the rust being drawn out from the metal up close.
Same treatment for the strut tower on the car.
The treatment actively cleaning the metal.
Once spotless the metal is protected and ready to be reinstated.
Another section towards the scuttle panel that needed addressing too.
Yuk!!!!!
Clean up, cut out new panels fabricated and welded in and arrrrhhhh much better! :wavey:
And refitting the panel back in that was taken out and cleaned up to allow us to remove the strut top.
It's very satisfying getting rid of all of the rust that's developed over the years knowing this is going to be one solid car when done!!!!
More to come....
:thumbsup:
bob
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154 Posts
Great work as always mate. It's coming along very nicely.
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5,726 Posts
Time for another update on Matt's 33.:thumbsup:
So we've finally got rid of every last bit of rust in and around the front wheel arches, engine bay,
front lower cross member, you name it, it's done.
So before we move onto the underside this will give you an idea of the work involved and hopefully highlight throughout
Matt's build some of the week points on the 33 where rust can develop.
(although on the whole Matt's car is far from bad rust wise, have seen much much worse).
You can see here how clean she's looking now, the right hand side of the strut front is repaired here but the opposite, (rear is still to be done).
The lower section between the suspension mounting uprights is a week spot, very common to find rust popping through here, where it expand between the panels.
Once revealed you can see how far it had spread into the seam.
To fix these areas, both side need to be cut out and all of the rust deleted!:banned:
Cut out the bad stuff so we end up only with solid metal.
Repairs inner and outer with new fabricated panels.:wavey:
Still more clean up to come.
Much better!
And the repair to the section in between the suspension mounts, both layers cut out and fixed!
The other side of the suspension mount needed to be repaired too, (seen earlier in the second pic in the series) after initial clean up, looking a bit sorry.
Out it comes.
This is what was hiding, this could so easily have been overlooked or worse just undersealed over only to continue to corrode.:flame:
Inside layer repair with new panels.
Some clean up still to go but looks a lot cleaner and solid!
Inside
Another section where the rust has crept between the panels on the strut tower.
In this pic it might look like Jay is asleep
But hes actually working in the really tight space behind the driver strut tower to fix the above panels and a few more around that area.
Clean up after welding/fabrication.
Inside.
There was more rust in the lower front crossmemeber and chassis rail areas but alas the battery in my camera went,
but Im happy to say we can now move onto the underside of the car now as the front end is rust free!!!!
:clap::clap::clap:
Cheers
:thumbsup:
bob
So we've finally got rid of every last bit of rust in and around the front wheel arches, engine bay,
front lower cross member, you name it, it's done.
So before we move onto the underside this will give you an idea of the work involved and hopefully highlight throughout
Matt's build some of the week points on the 33 where rust can develop.
(although on the whole Matt's car is far from bad rust wise, have seen much much worse).
You can see here how clean she's looking now, the right hand side of the strut front is repaired here but the opposite, (rear is still to be done).
The lower section between the suspension mounting uprights is a week spot, very common to find rust popping through here, where it expand between the panels.
Once revealed you can see how far it had spread into the seam.
To fix these areas, both side need to be cut out and all of the rust deleted!:banned:
Cut out the bad stuff so we end up only with solid metal.
Repairs inner and outer with new fabricated panels.:wavey:
Still more clean up to come.
Much better!
And the repair to the section in between the suspension mounts, both layers cut out and fixed!
The other side of the suspension mount needed to be repaired too, (seen earlier in the second pic in the series) after initial clean up, looking a bit sorry.
Out it comes.
This is what was hiding, this could so easily have been overlooked or worse just undersealed over only to continue to corrode.:flame:
Inside layer repair with new panels.
Some clean up still to go but looks a lot cleaner and solid!
Inside
Another section where the rust has crept between the panels on the strut tower.
In this pic it might look like Jay is asleep
But hes actually working in the really tight space behind the driver strut tower to fix the above panels and a few more around that area.
Clean up after welding/fabrication.
Inside.
There was more rust in the lower front crossmemeber and chassis rail areas but alas the battery in my camera went,
but Im happy to say we can now move onto the underside of the car now as the front end is rust free!!!!
:clap::clap::clap:
Cheers
:thumbsup:
bob
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5,726 Posts
more....
:thumbsup: ^^^
Time for another weekly update on progress with Matt's 33 build.
So more rust located in the front drivers arch/body area.
You can see once the underseal is cleaned back where the panels are suffering.
Only thing for it is to cut out and repair.
Every bit of rust removed as with any internal rust!
Cut out, the level of interior rust is now evident.
Brand new metal panel fabricated and welded in, cleaned up and protected.
Much better!!!!
We could also see once cleaned back the front lower cross member where the radiator mounts was starting to bulge from rust between the layers.
You can also see the blistering on the surface in the pic above.
From another angle you can see the problem better between the metal layers.
With the panel removed you can see how the rust had started to spread.
All rust cleaned up and treated before the new panel goes in to replace the rusted one.
Perfect again!
Another area effected by rust was the area where the steel gts front wings had rusted through
and were touching the front of the sills.
Out you come!
clean up of the interior of the sill was much easier with this access too!
Other side wasn't as bad.
But still needed attention.
Now for the long and messy job of removing all of the factory underseal to see what's hiding below.
At this point we start to really be able to judge the condition of the underside.
One of the worse parts to suffer rust on an R33
(apart from the strut tops) Is the rear 'L' Bracket areas, where the rear subframe support braces mount.
Matt's were quite bad, but fortunately because the car hadn't been plastered with underseal it had been allowed to dry out so was quite localised.
Again cut out the bad stuff to investigate the extent of the rust.
Clean back all of the surface rust.
Marked off the mounting points so we can line up the captive nut when we're replacing the panel.
Cut out to make proper repairs.
The other side was the same story alas, (usually the case).
As you can see on the whole Matt's 33 is super solid!:bowdown1:
New metal being fabricated by Jay.
Old panel was cut out, media blasted back to clean metal, repaired and then reinstated.
With the new fab'd outer panel in place shes as solid as new! No more subframe bracing flex here.
:thumbsup: ^^^
Time for another weekly update on progress with Matt's 33 build.
So more rust located in the front drivers arch/body area.
You can see once the underseal is cleaned back where the panels are suffering.
Only thing for it is to cut out and repair.
Every bit of rust removed as with any internal rust!
Cut out, the level of interior rust is now evident.
Brand new metal panel fabricated and welded in, cleaned up and protected.
Much better!!!!
We could also see once cleaned back the front lower cross member where the radiator mounts was starting to bulge from rust between the layers.
You can also see the blistering on the surface in the pic above.
From another angle you can see the problem better between the metal layers.
With the panel removed you can see how the rust had started to spread.
All rust cleaned up and treated before the new panel goes in to replace the rusted one.
Perfect again!
Another area effected by rust was the area where the steel gts front wings had rusted through
and were touching the front of the sills.
Out you come!
clean up of the interior of the sill was much easier with this access too!
Other side wasn't as bad.
But still needed attention.
Now for the long and messy job of removing all of the factory underseal to see what's hiding below.
At this point we start to really be able to judge the condition of the underside.
One of the worse parts to suffer rust on an R33
(apart from the strut tops) Is the rear 'L' Bracket areas, where the rear subframe support braces mount.
Matt's were quite bad, but fortunately because the car hadn't been plastered with underseal it had been allowed to dry out so was quite localised.
Again cut out the bad stuff to investigate the extent of the rust.
Clean back all of the surface rust.
Marked off the mounting points so we can line up the captive nut when we're replacing the panel.
Cut out to make proper repairs.
The other side was the same story alas, (usually the case).
As you can see on the whole Matt's 33 is super solid!:bowdown1:
New metal being fabricated by Jay.
Old panel was cut out, media blasted back to clean metal, repaired and then reinstated.
With the new fab'd outer panel in place shes as solid as new! No more subframe bracing flex here.
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Continued....
Other side taking shape nicely.
Ok back to the clean up.
Rear arches stripped back to bare metal.
You can see a light level of surface rust around the rear chassis rails, but nothing shocking at all.
Might seem a bit unorthodox but this is a good way of avoiding back and next pain with hours and hours of underbody clean up. (please don't try this at home Jay is a professional! :wavey::chuckle.
Getting there.
Nicely
Now.
Working on the inner sill rust removal, passengers side looks good!
Needs more cleaning but pleased with the first stages.
Boot floor is good, only a few spots need fixing, (another place that 33's tend to suffer with rust).
Under the fuel tank is all great!
Small areas that will need our attention before coating with epoxy.
Drivers side sill.
This area at the front was a bit worse than the other parts but nothing compared to most 33's of this age! :wavey:
Most of it came up good, a few sections need small repairs (will show that on next update).
Really please with the overall condition of Matt's 33 underside.
Means we can get the small repairs which needed sorting fixed and get on and apply the protection!
Oh and as another bonus the other side complete R33 GTR rear quarter panel came yesterday from Nissan Japan! :clap:
(not the best packaging but it made it from the land of the rising sun undamaged).
:thumbsup:
bob
Other side taking shape nicely.
Ok back to the clean up.
Rear arches stripped back to bare metal.
You can see a light level of surface rust around the rear chassis rails, but nothing shocking at all.
Might seem a bit unorthodox but this is a good way of avoiding back and next pain with hours and hours of underbody clean up. (please don't try this at home Jay is a professional! :wavey::chuckle
.
Getting there.
Nicely
Now.
Working on the inner sill rust removal, passengers side looks good!
Needs more cleaning but pleased with the first stages.
Boot floor is good, only a few spots need fixing, (another place that 33's tend to suffer with rust).
Under the fuel tank is all great!
Small areas that will need our attention before coating with epoxy.
Drivers side sill.
This area at the front was a bit worse than the other parts but nothing compared to most 33's of this age! :wavey:
Most of it came up good, a few sections need small repairs (will show that on next update).
Really please with the overall condition of Matt's 33 underside.
Means we can get the small repairs which needed sorting fixed and get on and apply the protection!
Oh and as another bonus the other side complete R33 GTR rear quarter panel came yesterday from Nissan Japan! :clap:
(not the best packaging but it made it from the land of the rising sun undamaged).
:thumbsup:
bob
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5,726 Posts
Cheers bud, really is no point doing it if you don't do it right and so it lasts I guess.So thorough!
:wavey:
bob
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154 Posts
It's going to look immense :bowdown1:
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1,402 Posts
Excellent work as usual Bob, will look fantastic once it's done!!!
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55 Posts
I can't believe they managed to spot those rust and not only that, repaired those to a top notch condition. Wow, it is quite a progress, being one of the earliest poster like two months or so, The car looks "reborn"... Fascinating!
:bowdown1::bowdown1::bowdown1:
Did Bob work on the engine yet? I'm looking forward to the engine parts... :chuckle:
:bowdown1::bowdown1::bowdown1:
Did Bob work on the engine yet? I'm looking forward to the engine parts... :chuckle:
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154 Posts
No engine work as of yet. I don't have big plans for the engine at the moment, just a polish, clean and paint plus manifold replacement. However, in the future, I'm thinking about uprating things a bit but it's still, very much, at thinking stage! lol
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Hi, matt! How's it going? :wavey:
I see, I thought you are going to fit in a large turbo... LOL :chuckle: Any future projects to modify the exterior?
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154 Posts
I'm really good thanks. Large turbo...Nah as much as I'd love to I wouldn't fit one without doing all the other bits and pieces to go with it, forged internals and such.
One of the objectives of this project is to fit GTR front wings and rear quarter panels. There is also a full GTR body kit to go on too and then finally a full re-spray.
Joined
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5,726 Posts
Another update on the progress on Matt's 33.:wavey:
So last week was spent doing final fine wire wheel clean up on the underside also repairing the small amount of localized rusted areas throughout the chassis floor.
There were a few others that were fixed, (rear chassis legs and boot floor) but these were the only ones we managed to get pictures of in the camera.
As you can see the rusted area weren't terrible the overall condition of Matt's 33 is superb, but as you'd expect we want her to be 100% solid for the future.
Rear wheel arch chassis leg area we found this corrosion, doesn't look too bad but we could tell from the metal surface there would be more under the metal layers.
Cut out you can see how its slowly spread between the layers.
The metal had become quite thin in places due to the rust attacking it.
So we cut out both the inner and outer sections cleaned and treated the metal in between that had suffered and made new panels out of clean bright metal.
Inner layer buzzed in.
With inner layer cleaned back and level we could then add the outer layer.
Cleaned back and protected, she's good and solid now.
There was a bit of rust between the floor layers at the front near the drivers and passengers foot well area too.
As always this was cut out to allow us to clean all of the rust out from below and repair to as good as new.
Cut out cleaned up and protected!
New panel was fab'd and welded in.
Nice and clean! (we did both sides, driver and pass. of this section as they both looked a bit suspect).
Back to that front section on the inner sill we showed last time, cut out the rot!!!!
You can also see in this pic the way the Phos Acid Kleen has drawn out extra corrosion from the surface over a few days, (darker areas)
this will get a final good once over again with the MBX metal blaster prior to Epoxy coating.:wavey:
So now we're very happy to say apart from a very few small sections which will be easier to access once we replace the rear quarters,
Matt's 33 chassis is now totally solid!!!!:bowdown1::runaway::wavey:
We're really delighted with the way the build has moved forward, the whole underside is coated with Phos Kleen B so as to protect the bare metal.
Once we are ready to Epoxy, the metal will be stripped back to clean bright metal once more to get all of the contaminants from the surface.
More to come.....
:thumbsup:
bob
So last week was spent doing final fine wire wheel clean up on the underside also repairing the small amount of localized rusted areas throughout the chassis floor.
There were a few others that were fixed, (rear chassis legs and boot floor) but these were the only ones we managed to get pictures of in the camera.
As you can see the rusted area weren't terrible the overall condition of Matt's 33 is superb, but as you'd expect we want her to be 100% solid for the future.
Rear wheel arch chassis leg area we found this corrosion, doesn't look too bad but we could tell from the metal surface there would be more under the metal layers.
Cut out you can see how its slowly spread between the layers.
The metal had become quite thin in places due to the rust attacking it.
So we cut out both the inner and outer sections cleaned and treated the metal in between that had suffered and made new panels out of clean bright metal.
Inner layer buzzed in.
With inner layer cleaned back and level we could then add the outer layer.
Cleaned back and protected, she's good and solid now.
There was a bit of rust between the floor layers at the front near the drivers and passengers foot well area too.
As always this was cut out to allow us to clean all of the rust out from below and repair to as good as new.
Cut out cleaned up and protected!
New panel was fab'd and welded in.
Nice and clean! (we did both sides, driver and pass. of this section as they both looked a bit suspect).
Back to that front section on the inner sill we showed last time, cut out the rot!!!!
You can also see in this pic the way the Phos Acid Kleen has drawn out extra corrosion from the surface over a few days, (darker areas)
this will get a final good once over again with the MBX metal blaster prior to Epoxy coating.:wavey:
So now we're very happy to say apart from a very few small sections which will be easier to access once we replace the rear quarters,
Matt's 33 chassis is now totally solid!!!!:bowdown1::runaway::wavey:
We're really delighted with the way the build has moved forward, the whole underside is coated with Phos Kleen B so as to protect the bare metal.
Once we are ready to Epoxy, the metal will be stripped back to clean bright metal once more to get all of the contaminants from the surface.
More to come.....
:thumbsup:
bob
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