Sigma-galant.com

Wow thats amazing so TJ wanna come help me with my GC im only few suburbs over haha

Life has a way of slipping out of your total control sometimes. It's not aided when you're a notorious procrastinator. The hardtop is never far from my mind, more so now that I have the bankroll to start making some progress, but alas, the car has not moved. The layer of dust grows ever thicker, not at all aided by home renovation projects requiring timber work to be carried out under the same carport.




Over the holidays we had friends over on multiple occasions, and one of them left me this little message;




Soon, my friend.

It's sad seeing her like that mate hope the progress goes smoothly

Tj. wrote:Life has a way of slipping out of your total control sometimes.



Over the holidays we had friends over on multiple occasions, and one of them left me this little message;




Soon, my friend.

I'm not too sure if any of you that have been following my thread have noticed but it may come as a bit of a surprise to find out that I'm somewhat of a procrastinator. Shocking, right?.

Anyway, this filthy habit extends well past my garage activities and blankets quite a bit of my working life and as such, just the other day I found myself at work at my desk avoiding the 40-odd degree weather outside by running mental lists of what I need for the coupe. In a sudden and unexpected burst of productivity I broke out the note pad and started writing it all down.

I'm sure you're all reading this and saying to your monitor "woah! slow down there big-shagger, you don't want to bust a vein or anything with all that work" but worry not friends as I was able to fill up a full A4 page without breaking much more of a sweat than the heat was already causing. I didn't make exceptions for what I think I already have in the shed at mum and dad's and simply compiled it from memory so there could be things listed that I already have, and things not listed that I don't.

Anyway, I thought I'd share this with you all, if for no other reason to encourage myself to not be such a lazy shit.

Stuff the Galant needs:
a list of items I need to repair the damage to the car

* Complete radiator support panel with headlight mounts and grille mounts (will basically need a stuffed GD shell to chop the front off)
* Bonnet with stainless steel trim
* Eyebrows (both) and blinker assembly (at least driver's side)
* Driver's side guard
* Lower valance
* Front bumper and light assemblies (GD type)
* Headlight buckets and headlights
* Radiator (was running GH Sigma but will probably go alloy)
* Thermofan
* Possibly a drivers side front chassis rail (will get cut out of the shell I chop the front off of)

Other Stuff
Not necessary but important none the less

* Rear bumper end piece (driver's side)
* Rear window rubber (I can dream, right? that said I've seen a trick for painting around window rubbers if they're not being removed )
* Front windscreen (doesn't have to be new, just in better condition)
* Fender mirrors (so I can fill the door holes before paint)
* New rear shocks
* Heater tap and reconditioning of the heater core
* A catch can setup
* A better airbox design and parts to relocate battery to the boot (which I should have done in the first place )

Oh and the engine is likely to need a freshen up after sitting so long.

I also wrote up a wish list of parts for future mods that will shape the outcome of this iteration of the car but I think I'm going to keep that to myself. The reason for this is that quite a while ago I read somewhere (I think Speedhunters) that the internet era's habit of detailing every tiny element of a build from start to finish is, while very interesting, getting kinda detracting from anticipation filled reveals. You already know what it looks like before it's rolled out of the garage the first time.

This got me thinking a little about this build and my thread. I want to share the experience with you. Getting it to where it is now, especially the adventure of the engine conversion was one of the most fulfilling things I've ever done. But the first time I took it to a meet, everyone knew every nut and bolt already because you would have read about them as I was turning them.

There's nothing wrong with that but I just have this feeling that I should keep at least some things from you until the end. So here's how I'm going to share this project, however long it's going to take to complete (very).

Firstly the repair of the front end damage I'll show in all it's gory detail. I owe you that much, plus it will build up to the blank slate that I intend to start with.
Once the shell is straight and striped, the pictures are going to become a little more discreet. Detail shots of jobs here and there, vague photos of cool parts just to get you interested.

And absolutely no talk of colour. Period.

Ambitious? Yeah. Annoying for you? Probably. Self absorbed? Well obviously. I just thought it'd be entertaining to try and approach the build thread idea a little differently. Oh and once the car is done, then I'll go into detail of various things. Just hope my memory holds up


There's one more thing that's worth mentioning before I wrap up this word assault. I had a chat to my folks just a moment ago and the caravan they've bought (and just taken delivery of) and were planing to fit in their garage has turned out to be a little taller than they had anticipated and will no longer be kept in the garage when not on the road but stored elsewhere. What does this mean? It means I'm in with a shot of calling dibs on some garage space while they're busy driving around the country. And that is the last piece that needed to fall into place before I could start work (if you'll remember I don't have a garage at my place, only a carport and nowhere to store delicate parts while the rebuild commences)

Finance: Check!
Parts: Partial Check!
Workspace: Should be a Check!

Getting excited.

Sounds good mate. There's nothing wrong with procrastination as long as the destination at the end is reached.

I like the idea with the future thread but just make sure you update it enough to keep us quiet watchers to be intrigued enough to hang in their haha.

Just an idea on the airbox issue, the VP - VR commodore box fits perfectly on the battery tray location and you'll just need a pipe to the plenum.

I know it does, I tried one but the factory AFM is a huge thing that sits inside a conical filter, not a small inline type that everyone else uses.
I'll have to get creative.

Tj. wrote:Life has a way of slipping out of your total control sometimes. It's not aided when you're a notorious procrastinator. The hardtop is never far from my mind, more so now that I have the bankroll to start making some progress, but alas, the car has not moved. The layer of dust grows ever thicker, not at all aided by home renovation projects requiring timber work to be carried out under the same carport.




Over the holidays we had friends over on multiple occasions, and one of them left me this little message;




Soon, my friend.

Kinda sad, but at the same time, inspirational.

Sounds great mate!!

You're going with the same approach as my thread... From now on, I'm keeping rather quiet with how she's coming along... We've seen the shots after the respray in its stripped state... Seen some cool parts, but that's it...

Looking forward to seeing the progress

No other AFM you could use?

I'm only a few suburbs over so if you need a hand getting her going again send me a pm

I'm only a few suburbs over so if you need a hand getting her going again send me a pm

Yer me too althought merv will have pic me up

So I'm hearing rumblings that in a few weeks there'll be a garage in Marayong that it's owners won't be using for a year and a bit and that there'll be a Galant shaped empty space under my carport

Holy balls you guys!! I worked on the car today!!

Its only taken me two years but work has begun.



I spent most of the time trying to figure out why it wont start. I still started and drove after the accident but I pulled the battery out after I found it was cracked and leaking but now it wont fire. We discovered it's not getting spark even though the coil has power. It was a new coil when I first built the car and I didn't think they were the sort of thing to shit themselves just sitting idle.
Anyhow, now that I know where the problem is, even though I'm not sure what it is I can pull the motor out and figure it out later.

Also, way back in May the awesome David (75Wagon) chopped the nose off a wagon shell he was trying to get rid of. It's absolutely perfect. We noticed it still had dimples in the bottom of the radiator mount panel which seems to indicate that it had never been in a front end prang.


(And yes it did fit in the boot of the 86. Don't let anyone tell you it's not a practical sports car )

I've got the week of work and the plan is to get the motor and gearbox out and give it a good clean up to get it ready to go to the body shop to have the new front end cut and shut onto it.

Once that's on I'll bring it back home and start to tidy up the engine bay properly. I'm not planning on smoothing it or tucking it dramatically but there's lots of superfluous holes and bumps and crap that can be cleaned up.

From there it's a matter of working out what panels I already have stashed away and what ones I still need to acquire and then the body work can start. I'm concerned there's a lot of bog already in this car. Looking up under the boot you can quite clearly see that it's been hit up the arse at some stage in it's life and I have no idea how good the repairs are. I'm preparing for the worst.

I'll keep you posted on how I go through the week.

TJ I had the same issue with my lancer and the 4g63.

I dropped the engine in and got it running. decided to move the battery to the boot and then it wouldn't start. it would crank but there was no spark. In the end I ended up fixing it with a microtech lt9c and ls2 coils. ran an after market computer and it solved everything. idk why it was getting spark to begin with but I didn't want to waste any more time. the computer and the loom cost me under $1,000 but then you need the tune.

its great to see some progress on your car. I will watch this space keenly

orangelancer wrote:Also, way back in May the awesome David (75Wagon) chopped the nose off a wagon shell he was trying to get rid of. It's absolutely perfect. We noticed it still had dimples in the bottom of the radiator mount panel which seems to indicate that it had never been in a front end prang.

No problem.
It's a shame that no one wanted that shell as it was. I tried for ages to give it away for free, but no one wanted it

Anyway, at least something from it is going to good use.

Dave...

Oi oi oi what's all this then?




PARTS CAR!!!

Better four and a half years late than never.

STAY TUNED!

That front bar look pretty straight.