Refurbished Calipers

So I got the brake Callipers back today, they look amazing! (big thanks to company called Big Redd) So I have had them fully refurbished, all cleaned up, all new pistons, seals etc...

I'll let the pictures do the talking. So now I'm waiting on the adapter plates for the front calipers and also the rear calipers (to push the Calipers out further for bigger discs).

the hubs went off today to be shot blasted and powder coated as well as some suspension parts. I need to consider do I go for colours, Like orange suspension arms to give it that extra look. I'll be doing some research into what it may look like.

Fan restore

Next the fan shrouds were in Poor condition with surface rust, so required wire brushes, wire wool scrubbing and then finally painting with rust convertor.

This then restored the look further, I still may long term replace the fan with some similar after market jobbies as this makes the radiator assembly quite bulky!

Cooling System

The DDR kit comes with the majority of the cooling pipework. What is required from the mr2 is the radiator and fans. Luckily my radiator was in great condition with very low amount of rust and also very few broken coooling fins.

I then decided to paint it black and apply an emblem stencilled on (it is in the middle the photo angle makes it look like it is not). I will now work on refurbishing the fans or may move to buy some new ones.

Steering Rack refurbishment

Completed the Steering Rack refurb today and also removed the handbrake cables from the underneath of the car. On the mr2 the handbrake does not have its own drum or separate shoes, It uses a cable to apply pressure into the calliper and effectively apply the brakes.

When the brakes are back from being refurbished I will be able to show the mechanism. In the meantime this is the refurbished steering rack, when i refurbish the item i make sure the whole thread can be used as I dont know how much adjustment will be required when refitted.

Often there is a high level of rust, so the best way to remove this and set the thread back is using the nut itself simply twist it back and forth, going a little further each time and it effectively re-cuts the track and removes the loose rust.

Steering Rack and Column

So following the front suspension being off I wanted to get out the steering rack, steering column and finally the PAS system. I will be leaving the electronics till last to do it all together (my weakest point).

So first I dropped the rack out, very simple, held in via 4 bolts on brackets and two pipes leading to the rack and a small bolt inside the front boot where it joins the column.

TIP: undo the large bolt on the rack before fully dropping it, it can be quite tight and the PAS fluid will need to drain out, to help it drain keeping turning from lock to lock to get it all out. Once out it will be like the below;

Next I moved on to the column itself, again another small bolt will need to be undone on the column so the swivel joint can come off. when you pull the column through to the cabin area.

Next you will need to remove the lower half of the dash around the wheel which will be held in with a few screws. Once off remove the plastic around the column as well. The first step is to disconnect the electrics, what you do now may save hours later...so get into the habit. I simply wrap masking tape around the wires and on the loom end put a description and number 'Ignition 1' and on the ignition end just put a 1...I know its the ignition....its attached to it!

The column is held in with 4x 14mm nuts on studs, when you undo them the column will fall to the floor, so be ready! this is what it looked like when removed.

Not exactly clean looking for your new kitcar is it. Rust gets everywhere even if light surface rust so first i used a paint brush to remove fluff etc... and then a cloth for excess grease, don't remove all grease it is needed on the parts. Following that I wanted to paint it to give it a better look, so I used rust inhibitor / converter  Basically you paint it on and it stops it rusting and gives it a nice finish, you can paint over the top again if you wish, I don't need to on these parts.

I then decided on areas I wanted to paint, I didn't paint the main area in the middle due to its use and grease around there, but I may change my mind and do it later, below is how the piece came out, as you can see, much better. I will be using the rust converter paint a lot and then spraying silver in some cases as we go along....

TIP: You will see I redid the masking tape and numbers before I went and stored this piece away with the nuts for this piece in a bag tidied round the column.

next...
remove the PAS motor and piping.

Learn something new everyday - Suspension

As I previously mentioned I was removing the parts of the suspension required and it into a knowledge session rather than manual labour.

The Mr2's suspension changed between Revision1 and the Revision2 of the Mk2 model. My donor car had previous crash damage so I had a Rev1 front tension bar (threaded rod and bolt) one side and a rev2 the other side (standard bush style arm). It took a lot of investigating to get to the bottom of the issue.

I was in touch with Diego from DDR Motorsports and we discussed the suspension and that i'd be needing the Rev1 suspension. So I will just source a passenger side lower arm and go from there. I must say Diego has been excellent, im not officially a customer yet as I just don't have the space to order the kit whilst I have the donor car but as I say he has been helpful through out.

Once the arm was off I needed to remove the bush as I will be replacing all of mine for new (like anyone should in my eyes) so out came the blow torch to burn it out, after 5 - 10mins I was far enough through that a mallet and screwdriver pushed the rest out. Next...shot blasting and powder coating and then fitting the new bushes.

I would have a picture but my camera died at this moment....typical!

As you strip you learn..

So Ive got the car into my small garage now and off of the driveway ready for the weather change in the UK. not that we've had a summer.

So I got the car on to axle stands and started to strip the front suspension. I was once told you'll learn things you know and things you dont want to know about your car when taking it apart.

this statement is true, rust, seized bolts are just too of my problems as well as the requirement for a 22mm deep socket. Something I didnt have. I also broke my breaker bar on one of the last nuts so ordered a new one as well.

The hubs are now off and have gone to have the bearings pressed out, I will then have them shot blasted and powder coated, the nback to have the bearings replaced.

The 200SX upgrade calipers and mr2 rear brakes are currently being refurbished and  will have them back in just over a week.

Next is to finish the removal of the front suspension and then the steering rack.