Another Holset TIII..

[rx2mazda]

Made some good progress today. Got the car in and fixed the strut tower separation. We also reinforced the the passenger side strut tower. Added a extra spot weld in between each factory weld on both sides. After all the welding we wire wheeled, primered and undercoat underneath. Now I just need to paint underhood so I can get my motor in there. Here are some pics......


You can see I added a GLH-T decal kit from FWDPefomance and Bosch fog light covers in this pic...


Drilled holes for spot welds




All welded up....






In this pic you can see where the spot welds broke loose and the sheet metal is separated...


We used a tie strap and a block of wood to clamp the tower back down into place to be welded...



Here it is in position after welding it down...





I also wanted to seal up the area where the firewall and inner fenders meet the frame. There was a lot of ---- in there when I first cleaned the engine bay and I don't need a spot for wet leaves and dirt to hang out and start a rust party




Little more filler, putty, primer, sanding and she'll be ready for paint, etc!

[iTurbo]

Wow it's amazing how far the car has already come! I wish my projects would move that fast. Car is looking great BTW. I'm afraid to look at my strut towers and inner fenders now..

[rx2mazda]

Wow it's amazing how far the car has already come! I wish my projects would move that fast. Car is looking great BTW. I'm afraid to look at my strut towers and inner fenders now..

Thanks! To accomplish this speedy build - my bank account is shrinking exponentially......

[92spiritrt]

looks great. i'm almost done pc'ing your parts. everything is blasted, so you should be seeing them soon.

[Pat]

Looking good!

[omni_840]

^^Agreed

[turbo2point2]

Sweet!! Coming along nice

[rx2mazda]

looks great. i'm almost done pc'ing your parts. everything is blasted, so you should be seeing them soon.

Sweet, then I can put all the crap back on the motor and get it ready to install.

[glhturbo1985]

I'm sure this'll be done for SDAC, Carroll. Very nice craftsmanship, as you've been told hundreds of times I'm sure. T3'n that thing will make every set of eyes at SDAC stare in awe. Best of luck with the bank account, lol. This hobby is can be more expensive than a drug addiction.

[rx2mazda]

I'm sure this'll be done for SDAC, Carroll. Very nice craftsmanship, as you've been told hundreds of times I'm sure. T3'n that thing will make every set of eyes at SDAC stare in awe. Best of luck with the bank account, lol. This hobby is can be more expensive than a drug addiction.

So true! SDAC will be a blast..

[rx2mazda]

Took one more step back on the car

I knew the bottom of the A-pillars needed a little work before I bought the car but, it didn't look bad. There was a small pin hole where it had rusted through on the passenger side and the drivers side was a little sloppy but no visible holes. Since the guys had gotten busy again, the plan was to just fix the strut towers and paint under hood so I could move forward with the engine install etc. I was gonna bring the car back once it was under its own power and let them fix the A-pillars then. That WAS the plan! I started prepping the windshield channel so I could have the windshield put back in when I found some Bondo near the drivers lowers corner of the channel. As I kept digging, I found a hole and rust and old welding slag. The channel had been repaired before but not good. The hole ended up being the size of a nickel with pitting around it, ---- never ends! So there was no way I was gonna re-bondo it and put the windshield back in.

Today we got it just about done! Cut out all the bad metal and made a new piece that we welded in. I forgot my camera so I don't have any pics but, I'll have some tomorrow. Only thing left to do is add some fiberglass and remold the bottom of the pillars and channel. The passenger side ended up being way better than the drivers side. There was just a small hole that we scraped to bare metal and welded shut. Hopefully we can get it painted this weekend so I can get it back to the shop and do the real fun work I still need to put the fuel tank back in, run the 1/2 aluminum fuel lines, mount both external fuel pumps, install the motor and trans, put all the brake lines, prop valve, and new boost & master cylinder, wire the stand-alone etc, etc.....pretty much everything!

[rx2mazda]

Not sure if anyone is even enjoying/following these body work updates but, here goes as promised...

Here is where we left off yesterday, got the drivers side hole patched.





Fiberglass stage...




Putty stage......




Nearly finished, just one more light coat of putty and then primer!





Here's the passenger side going through it's stages...











Also cleaned out the entire windshield channel so I wouldn't have any "suprises" later. Overall, it was in really good condition. I got a lot of hands on experience working with my buddy. Best thing is he didn't charge me a dime. Said I just had to take him racing with me once I got it running. I am going to take care of him anyway. Only thing left to do is paint. Hopefully she gets painted on Monday/Tuesday so the fun stuff can begin.

[Abkshelby]

I'm still glad to see this car coming back together. Rather surprised about that strut tower that had broke loose. I guess bad roads down here did that. This car never really saw any hard abuse as far as I knew. The windshield pillar rust is typical L-body stuff. But it should be perfect when your done. Wish I had access to all these bodywork people down here. I have to do it the expensive way it seems.

[rx2mazda]

I'm still glad to see this car coming back together. Rather surprised about that strut tower that had broke loose. I guess bad roads down here did that. This car never really saw any hard abuse as far as I knew. The windshield pillar rust is typical L-body stuff. But it should be perfect when your done. Wish I had access to all these bodywork people down here. I have to do it the expensive way it seems.

Sweet! I looked closely at the pics I took before I bought the car and I could see that the strut tower was separated. I looked everywhere but there, this was my first L-body buy so I had no idea to check that area! I'm sure you never got that close to see it either and you were very honest about all the cars issues(however minor). I am more than happy with the car! We figure a hard bump at speed like a pot hole or something cause the separation. Now, get to work on ONE of your cars before a tree falls on them lol

[Abkshelby]

Sweet! I looked closely at the pics I took before I bought the car and I could see that the strut tower was separated. I looked everywhere but there, this was my first L-body buy so I had no idea to check that area! I'm sure you never got that close to see it either and you were very honest about all the cars issues(however minor). I am more than happy with the car! We figure a hard bump at speed like a pot hole or something cause the separation. Now, get to work on ONE of your cars before a tree falls on them lol

HAHAHA. Oh I'm making some progress down here.
My good '86 Daytona turned into a free '89 Daytona Shelby I used to own.
Buddy wanted my '86 so I traded. (Gotta do a trans conversion though on the '86)
My Charger will hopefully come back to life this year.
I'm trying to make it to SDAC this year likely with my CSX may drive a Daytona though not sure.
I'm trying to keep up with your progress on the GLH.
It's going way faster than I expected and is great so far.
Keep up the good work!

[glhturbo1985]

We appreciate this thread. Only suggestion I have is to somehow have the GLH progess put in the projects thread. This truely deserves it's own thread.

I'm impressed with how fast the progress has come. I wish I could get my projects rolling along as quickly, but money and time are always the deterants.

[omni_840]

We appreciate this thread. Only suggestion I have is to somehow have the GLH progess put in the projects thread. This truely deserves it's own thread.

+1 I mentioned this earlier in this thread

[rx2mazda]

We appreciate this thread. Only suggestion I have is to somehow have the GLH progess put in the projects thread. This truely deserves it's own thread.

I'm impressed with how fast the progress has come. I wish I could get my projects rolling along as quickly, but money and time are always the deterants.

Thanks for the kind words. It's still just "Another holset TIII"...lol.

+1 I mentioned this earlier in this thread

I know I know, this car definitely deserves its own spotlight. I just like seeing the progression(of the powertrain)in one thread. BUT, I think i'm going to ask JT to move it into another thread!

[Shadow]

Always little "surprizes" around every corner when your taking things this far apart. We went through all of this on the SC that we're TIII'ing over the last year so things will actually look like there moving pretty fast now because most of the "ground work" has already been done. Looking good!

[BadAssPerformance]

Continued discussion in the new Plog thread

http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=46424