Saving an AE86. Rust repair and paint.

[laextreme5]

So yes, another build thread. This one isn't mine tho, promise. Its a friends/customers car.

Ive had the car for few months now. Its a toyota Ae86 (clearly) lol. I dont know the year. Story on the car is the owner plans on keeping this car for a very long time and wanted to get it repaired before it got too bad. This past summer the motor let go and it provided the opportune time for him to bring the car by for the repairs and paint work.

Basically what I'm doing is rust repair and then a full paint. Engine bay, jams the whole shebang. Interior won't get painted as he is going the same red and he is putting full interior back in anyway.

To start off with, the rust really isn't terrible by any means. Not NEARLY as bad as my 66 truck by far.

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[laextreme5]

With the car in the garage, up on rollers, and damage identified, it was time to start on the work.

A while back i had picked up a hand held sand blaster and i finally had a chance to really use it. Rust is a fickle thing. If you leave ANY trace of it, sealed under paint or not, it will spread. So when repairing it, you must with 100% confidence remove any and all traces of it. Simply grinding on it with a grinder is simply not good enough. There is still small amounts let in the metal. There are two ways to completely remove it. Acid dipping, which works absolutely FANTASTIC, but is also absolutely ridiculous expensive. Or sandblasting. Clearly i chose the latter. We have a small cabinet at the shop for smaller pieces that recycles the sand, and we also have large unit that you use in the atmosphere like my small hand held one here. Ill be using the two of those on my truck repairs in the future.


I chose to use my small handheld one inside my garage. It has a tip on it that if you hold it flush against the surface your shooting it collects a large amount of it in a bag, similar to how the cabinet recycles it. It keeps the mess down a good bit, however you can't quite put the tup flush on every working area, so you still end up making quite a mess haha

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Some areas are quite easy fixes. such as flat areas that have major surface rust but dont penetrate the entire depth of the metal and dont require patches.

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And then some areas are obvious a patch panel will be needed, some complicated some not. Luckily the owner has a rotting chassis that I'm using as a parts car so i can cut a section how, have the same thickness, curved, and shape metal i need for the more complex areas.

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AND THEN there are areas that are decieving. From the outside they dont look so bad. And then as you get into it, it begins to rear its ugly head. Case in point, the area on the driver qtr on the bottom edge under the qtr glass. It looked very similar to what the part by the back glass. However once i started sandblasting it, it became clear it was much worse, and even someone had attempted a repair in the past by simply putting body filler over the rust holes. Sorry previous repairman, that dont work lol You can see in the corresponding photos as i revisited the same spot i found it worse and worse. When i finally had all the body filler removed, i used my unibit on my drill and made the holes larger by drilling until the thinned out metal via the rust was gone. So that when i weld in the new patch panel i dont burn through in multiple places due to metal thickness inconsistency.

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[hinrichs]

Totally skipped over the first part but then went back, was just thinking....not another build haha

[laextreme5]

Totally skipped over the first part but then went back, was just thinking....not another build haha

Absolutely not lol im tapped out on money and space for anymore projects

[heeter_33]

I was hoping you would start a thread on the Corolla since seeing it in your other build threads. I'm one of those weirdoes that likes body work, so looking forward to this. Hoping you keep the great descriptions going forward!

[190Evan]

I don't know much about rust repair and body work so this is a good chance to watch it done!

[laextreme5]

I was hoping you would start a thread on the Corolla since seeing it in your other build threads. I'm one of those weirdoes that likes body work, so looking forward to this. Hoping you keep the great descriptions going forward!

I don't know much about rust repair and body work so this is a good chance to watch it done!

Im no expert by any means, but ill explain my best!

[rice4life]

Looks like fun!

Is it an SR5 or gts? can't tell without the bumpers.

[laextreme5]

Uh, yes? haha i have no idea. ill ask

[leaferiksin]

yaaaaaas, I love these OCD builds of yours.

[rice4life]

Uh, yes? haha i have no idea. ill ask

easiest way to check(assuming he hasn't swapped it) is that if it has drum rears and a solid axle it's an SR5.

While you're in there you should ask him if you could rivet the strut towers and door seams(assuming it's not too much work). AE86's are made of rather thin metal, and the chassis gets real flimsy over the years. It used to be a really popular mod back when ae86's were everywhere on the roads and it doesn't cost much or require any crazy skills. It only takes a couple of hours and is well worth it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v519/sachagreenz/180SX/DCP_2927.jpg

[laextreme5]

yaaaaaas, I love these OCD builds of yours.

easiest way to check(assuming he hasn't swapped it) is that if it has drum rears and a solid axle it's an SR5.

While you're in there you should ask him if you could rivet the strut towers and door seams(assuming it's not too much work). AE86's are made of rather thin metal, and the chassis gets real flimsy over the years. It used to be a really popular mod back when ae86's were everywhere on the roads and it doesn't cost much or require any crazy skills. It only takes a couple of hours and is well worth it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...X/DCP_2927.jpg

Its all in the details




And i will pass that info along to him to see if he is interested, thanks!

[laextreme5]

With everything identified it was now time to start the repairs. The goldfish orange colored primer you see is a weed through primer, works great for areas you can't get to after welding. I started by removing all the rust from the inner panel and coating it in the weld through primer, getting it ready for the patch panel to be welded in.

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After making the wheelhouse patch panel i moved onto the side markers that needed to be shaved. Fitment is key to making your life easier when welding up the patch pieces. I can already tell its going to be a bitch of a time welding in these panels as this metal is SUPER thin. have a feeling the weld job isn't going to be the greatest due to this. But ill make it work.

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[DUTCHswift]

I love real body work threads. So much to learn.

[I_Haz.:R32]

What brand of weld through primer do you use? and where do you get it? I've been looking to get some for ages but I can't justify paying shipping from ordering it online.