Mad tyte KDM build

[1mellowkid]

nice progress.
kinda looked like a theft recovery while it was on the jack stands

[andybob]

Bit of an update. Spent yesterday cleaning under the car and stuff 'cause i usually do it every spring and I had to put my new brakes and shit on.

Got it up on stands and tore it all down. Bumpers, splash guards, all that stuff came off. Also pulled off my intake to clean my K&N air filter and so I could wash under the hood.

Ended up with this:



Old brakes. Lasted like 3 years I think and about 50 some odd thousand miles so I got my money's worth out of them. Front pads still had 50% life left in them but were heatcracked all to shit. It was def time for brakes.



Painted my swaybar too. Can't believe how bad it looked:



All my stuff scattered about:



I had shit everywhere:



So I degreased the engine bay with some stuff and then washed that first. Then sprayed under the car with degreaser and while that was soaking, I cleaned the bumpers and splash guards. Once done with those, I went to town under the car with the presser washer.

While that was all drying, I started cleaning my air filter and got that done. Thing was filthy, even with a pre-filter over it, it was still caked with shit.

Once that was done, I ground all the old paint and rust off my swaybar, hung it in a tree, sprayed it with some self-etch primer, then threw a few coats of some flat black Rustoleum.

Then I moved back over to the car. I found a couple cans of rubberized undercoating and figured what the hell, might as well do the wheel wells, so I did. Also touched up a few other chassis parts with some flat black I had left over from the spray bar.

During all of this I was drinking and by the time I got done I was pretty drunk and it was dark. I had planned to do more on the wheels, but that didn't happen. lol

This morning I was back outside by 8:30 and started on the calipers. Hit them with a wire wheel, got the slide pins moving real nice, found some caliper paint in the cabinet, so I decided I might as well paint them, so I did.



Then did the calipers:



The finished swaybar:



Also had to pick up new endlinks as the old ones were shot.

While the calipers and everything were drying, I got to work putting in my new wheel speed sensor. Yesterday I broke the bolt off in the spindle that holds it in, so I went to the store, got another bolt and a helicoil kit. Got that all done yesterday so all I had to do was pop in the sensor and route the wire away from everything.

Once everything was I dry, I put my new brakes on:





Then put my intake and filter back on after I had re-oiled the filter earlier:



2 litres of pure fury. lol

Once all that was done it was pretty simple, throw everything body wise back on and set the car back on the ground:



Got done with all that at about 3:30 today, cleaned up all my tools, powerwashed the driveway quick, then went back to work on my wheels.

Last week when I started on my wheels I was pondering how I'd clean all the bolts and my dad said give them a try in the brass tumbler. It's usually used for cleaning brass bullet shells after shooting so we can reload them again:



Bolts before:



Threw 20 in for an hour to see what they would look like. Had to take some steel wool on some of the thicker gunk but they turned out really good. Saved me a lot of time from having to clean them by hand.



While the blots were cleaning, I kept going on the wheels. Had one of the fronts done with 1000 and the other 1200. Did the one wheel in 1200, 1500, and finally 2000. Threw another batch of bolts in, then did the other wheel with 1500 before calling it a day:



Tomorrow morning I'll finish the last wheel with 2000, then it's time to start buffing.

Wheels will be on next week. It's been a hell of a couple days, but as they say, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. lol

[Evil Panda]

You should try some Killerwaxx metal polish on the lips. Stuff is ridiculous!

[andybob]

Thanks guys.

Rears are done with 2000 and look super good now. One of the fronts is done with 600 and the other 400. Once all the wheels are done with 2000 I'll get to buffing/polishing.

Tomorrow the car is going on stands outside, bumpers are getting dropped, brakes are coming off, and it's getting power washed underneath. Also dropping the rear swaybar and paining that matte black. Also going to touch up the subframes with some black to cover up rust.

Wednesday the new brakes will be going on and I'll throw everything back together. Next Tuesday hopefully I'll be done polishing the wheels so I can assemble them then get the tires put back on Wednesday and have them on the car then.

Only thing left to do will be claybar the outside of the car and throw a bit of wax on it.

Then at some point this summer I'll take a day and do the timing belt. Then the only thing left to do is the clutch.

[jdel]

Those look great man.

[GaugeDoisher]

This is pretty sick!

[Dudermagee]

[andybob]

Little update. Having a hard time finding 800 grit wet paper around here. One place could get me some, but in a box of 50. Not trying to do that.

Here are some pics:

One on the right is 1000:



Again:



1200:



1500:



Then hit it with the compound and polish in a little spot to see what it looks like:







It looks pretty decent, but not quite good enough for me. You can still see the sanding scratches. Not having 800 grit paper is going to make the jump from 600 to 1000 a bit more work. I'll have to really hit them good with 600 before going to 1000. Then it looks like I'll be taking them all to 2000 then polishing from there. That should hopefully get me the result I am looking for.

This'll be the last update until I get the brakes on and get the wheels pretty much done.

[andybob]

Also, I got the rest of my parts in. Akebone ceramic pads and my timing belt kit.

It's going to be nice next week (Tuesday and Wednesday) so I'll put my car on jack stands outside, drop the front/rear bumpers, all the splash guards, and I'll power wash under the car. Also plan to take off my rear swaybar and paint it because it's rusty as shit. While it's all apart I'll also do a little more unsercoating with some spray can shit i have laying around.

Then Wednesday I'll put the new brakes on, put the bumpers back on, and get everything else back together. I'll do the outside stuff during the day and they wheel sanding at night.

Then the only thing left to do is finish the wheels, put them together, and get the tires back on. I also plan to clay bar my car, and give it some wax.

[MommysLittleMonster]

Looking good dude.

[andybob]

Little update.

Got one of the wheels done last night with 320 and 400. I think the one to 400 is on the right:



Got the other one done this morning with 320, 400, and 600. It's on the left in this pic:



Then got the other one done with 600, so they're both at 600 now:



Realized I don't have 800 grit paper this morning. There is a Napa on my way to work so hopefully that have some. I want to get these done with 800 tonight.

I want to get the rears done with 1500, then I'll do the fronts with 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, and finally 1500. Then I can clean up all my wetsanding shit and start polishing with the compounds.

Total time spend thus far on them, 17 hours.

[NorCalFocus]

All those bottles made a huge difference
we actually had to shift that shit around
good times lol

#problemsofthelowlife

[Dudermagee]

All those bottles made a huge difference
we actually had to shift that shit around
good times lol

[andybob]

Made some progress this afternoon after having a bit of a set-back.

I put the paint stripper on the wheels and it didn't do shit. So I figured the clear would sand off with 400 fairly easy. So I grab some 400 wet and get to work and after sanding, and sanding, and sanding I'm finally getting through in a little spot.

At this point I said fuck it, grabbed the 180 wet and got to work. 180 barely took it off as well, that's when I came to the conclusion I'm pretty sure the wheels were chromed.

Here are some pics:

Getting started:



Towards the top in this pic is raw aluminum, the bottom I'm pretty sure is chrome:



Another:



Finally all the way down to raw aluminum. Took an hour and a half:



So I grabbed some elbow grease:



Did the other front wheel in a little over an hour and got going on the rears. The rear outer lips were gouged from hitting the quarters on large bumps. A lot of it happened to/from SoWo with me, a dudeman, all our shit, and of course tools and alcohol. lol

That came out a lot easier than the chrome did with 180 grit:







Then it started to rain so I picked up, went inside, grabbed some food, and got back at it.

Grabbed some more elbow grease:



Also threw on a glove as my fingertips are now raw.

Got the 2 rears done with 180 all around and all the gouges are out. Tomorrow morning I'll get to work on them with 320 and go from there.

The 2 rears done:



In the last 2 days I've put 14 hours into the wheels. I'm guessing it'll take close to 40 all said and done.

[FunfGang]

Waiting patiently to see these done and back on