Matt's Red GN

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d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

I blundered around and managed to close some holes up.
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A lot more work to go. Banking more upsets for when I wrap it around a tree.
d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

I found a pic from over 3 years ago where somebody posted the exact car I ended up buying on my wall!
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I know some of this part wasn't rusted and probably didn't need cutting, but I wanted to do something about the rust festering underneath so I cut it all out.
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I had plans to try and save some of the piece removed, and needed to remove the rust. Mecahnical rust removal would have destroyed it so I tried electrolytic.
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The part was pretty well too far gone to use, I nearly gassed myself and damaged my power supply but it was still a fun experiment.
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As you don't really see this part I thought i'd just bash one out. I was kind of on auto pilot.
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It' came out ok. I'm sure I'll get better as I gain more skills and tools. I need to file out the clip holes.
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d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

On the other side, after removing a huge chunk of filler crap, I discovered this deep cavity that reminded me of tooth decay. I tried to get as much rust out as i could but was not prepared to cut it right out. At least 6 layers of metal came together there.
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I decided that all I could do was just seal the rust in there with a shit load of filler. This was horrible as the rust basically explodes and acts like thermite with a tig.
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The rest of this patch was rough as guts so I thought I'd keep the theme going.
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I lack the ability to work in a tidy linear fashion
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It was late and I was out of powerfile belts so I left it at that.
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This bit was just a straightforward repair.
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I still have some little spots around the window to do, but I think I might use solder in those places as it should be a bit easier and not burn back as much as using the tig. I also need to do the sills. Passenger side is ok-ish, but i need to decide if i cut and replace some of the driver side or just patch it with cloth and bitumous paint after stripping and rust converting. You dont see it as it's under the guard.
Superscan811
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by Superscan811 »

Have you ever tried TIG brazing with Silicon bronze?

Same settings as AC (but using a red tip tungsten) with high cleaning pulse. You use the arc just to heat the steel but to melt the Silicon bronze.

Comes up pretty good.

Might be an option.




Cheers.
d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

It is silicon bronze. I used AC but it sucked.
d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

Also I only have it in 3.2mm so it goes on pretty heavy.
Superscan811
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by Superscan811 »

Wasn't sure, thought it might have been heat discolouration. :D

3.2mm is a bit heavy, but it's the cleaning pulse that will help it "flow".


Cheers.
d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

I understand, but I tried both and it flows better with DC.
d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

Last major rust I'm worrying about. The guards need work too but hopefully I can just rust convert and fill them. Full respray will come one day, but I need to get the S13 rolling again before I even consider it.
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I just used a cheap panel beating kit and a random chunk of round bar (about 2") to shape the patch
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Looks worse in the photo than it does to real eyes. Regardless it's way better than it was and I have gotten my rust patching skills to a point where they are good enough and quick enough for my purposes. When I started this process I thought it was going to suck, It was actually really straightforward by the end.
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d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

Not much to report. Waiting on advice from my spraypainter mate about what to do next. I need to fill the pitting that is left with some sort of filler. Not sure if I should use bog or some sort of epoxy.
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Scorpma82
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by Scorpma82 »

Ask ur spraypainter friend what he recommends.....he'll know which product (bog or epoxy) will give a better paint finish once it's painted
Built with pride, Driven in anger
d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

I went to the paint shop and they sold me a great big tub of aluminium based 2 part body filler.
d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

Last night I bogged around the windscreen. I also filed out the clip holes for the vents. I then got sick of it and watched a movie. Bad form.
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At least I don't feel like scrapping it any more.
d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

:( :( :(

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Scorpma82
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by Scorpma82 »

Don't feel too down about the rust there......its such a common spot that rare spares sells the repair sections brand new off the shelf......fairly quick and easy fix as far as rust removal is concerned
Built with pride, Driven in anger
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Sigmaproject
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by Sigmaproject »

yes it was a shit of a design. All of the dirt ..leaves and rubbish that enters the plenum finishes up trapped at the bottom of the guard with no escape route once it is blocked up.
The guy i bought the wagon from used to unbolt the bottom of the guard every couple of years to clean it out. :thumpsup:
C_Fernance
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by C_Fernance »

I have an unused pair of guard lowers here. Bought them from a company that was clearing out some of their old stock, so I got the pair for $10 They say GJ Sigma on them, but I'm fairly sure they would suit a GN too if you want them for the $10 +postage.
d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

C_Fernance wrote:I have an unused pair of guard lowers here. Bought them from a company that was clearing out some of their old stock, so I got the pair for $10 They say GJ Sigma on them, but I'm fairly sure they would suit a GN too if you want them for the $10 +postage.
I will take you upon that. I have another good guard but I still think this one is worth fixing.
d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

Heater core was definitely gone. This also confirms that GK heater cores are exactly the same despite what the ebay seller told me.
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Next problem with the heater is the valve. It does not work at all. I have got a universal unit but it will not easily fit. I think it will need to add a secondary cable either to the linkage or to a manual actuator somewhere.

The wereck out the back had a resonable guard on it. Spots of rust coming through the paint but should be fine if i strip it back to metal and paint it. C_Fernance has also been kind enough to send me some lower guard sections so i can repair the red one easily.
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My mate sprayed 2 pack primer for me. I eneded up rubbing through in a couple of spots unfortunately and still had to build others up. I've just used acrylic for this but I think it will be ok as its only a couple of patches and not in the spots where the rust starts. Top coat will be acrylic anyway.
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d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

Started stripping the guard. No bog!
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Rust a lot better than the other
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Blocking this bit back shitted me
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But I got it close enough.
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Maybe some colour tonight; on the frame anyway.
d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

Dab of colour,
Probably get the gaurd stripped and primed tomorrow night
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d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

Paint Stripper works wonders!
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Bit of stoneguard.
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Finished stripping the guard
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Windscreen back in, was pretty happy to see this.
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Always make sure you clean your spraygun
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Came up OK.
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Triton and sigma aircon. Think I will just use Sigma
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did i mention i was shit at housekeeping
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Loom needs extending to run up through the gaurd so I can recover the holes for the aircon. Hopefully I can make it a bit nicer.
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Luckily I had already adjusted the aircon bracket when i first intalled EFI. I had totally forgotten.
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Tight fit! Had to shorten one of the bolts as it was hard to get in due to fouling on the inlet.
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Repco had a sale on degreaser
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Extended lower intercooler brackets, need to be even longer though.
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Just used bits an pieces on had for the top brackets. Kind of cool though. Will replcae the clutch fan on the engine with an electric one and use that for the aircon as well. Left a bit of a v-gap so that airflow through the intercooler isn't too restricted.
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d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

Not many updates of late; but anyway, here I go. I'll pretend it's even worthwhile.

I had to enlarge the piping holes in the support. They are getting fairly large now. I used a drill nibbler attachment to remove most of the metal.
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This looked like a good place for the dryer. I mounted it by installing a riv-nut in the chassis rail.
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Yet another bit of metal out of the firewall. I used a pipe cutter and flaring tool to modify the old lines. It is at about this time when I'm scheming to try and charge the system with my barbecue gas.
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As I couldn't install the aircon aux fan, I changed the engine fan to an electric one. This will be activated by ECU or the AC. I didn't bother with a shroud because i didn't want to impose any more restriction to the intercooler and I mostly couldn't be bothered. The same fan used to cool my drift car quite well without a shroud. I decided against mounting through the fins of the radiator as I didn't wan't it to eventually crack.
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Starting to get very cramped. The engine loom will also need to share the same space pictures as the AC has reclaimed its hole in the firewall.
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Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of 'Matt's Crappy Sigma' where the heating system gets rebuilt with bike parts and domestic plumbing supplies!
d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

The inside of the heater box was freaking diguisting. It was very difficult to stop myself from scraping the lot out with my tongue.
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I decided I had more degreaser than saliva anyway.
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I soaked the old foam off with thinners and used a wire wheel on the drill whilst submerged to get rid of the adhesive. I replaced the adhesive with strip i found at the hardware store.
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Tongue didn't quite reach down into all the crevices.
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This was broken, luckily one was easily salvaged from the spare sigma.
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More foaming. Core look innocent there but it caused me two days of suffering.
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Looks simple right?
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Looks really simple.
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This setup actually worked. Pity it worked in reverse, turning the valve on with the cold setting.
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Revision 2. This literally took hours to get working properly. Cable outer is bicycle gear cable. Inner is mig wire. Lever ratio was a total guess but was perfect. Outer bracket is tigged to core retainer bracket.
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I couldn't recycle the old pipework or bend new copper on a tight enough radius so I just used plumbing crap from the hardware store. It a larger diamter than the original pipe but that's what I could get. Soldering was achieved with a pencil torch and took forever. I sanded the surface off the valve, sleeved it into the pipework and filled the shit out of it with solder.
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I ended up gridning some metal off the valve to make it fit nicely.
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Fan motor was full of crap due to the shitty ventilation design. I ended up using parts from a spare unit i got from the wreckers.
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I just used sandpaper on a flat block to clean up the commutator. I lubed all the bearings with heavy duty bike chain lubricant.
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Fan had more flaps that had to be foamed
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I stuck the windings of the fan resistor back together with some muffler putty.
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Lots of thick foam is important here as its a crap fit to the aircon from factory. I also found this with some of the ducting which i taped.
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Finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
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ddt
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by ddt »

nicely documented repairs :thumpsup:
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'Member's Rides' Link for LIL RED WGN: http://www.sigma-galant.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=4742
d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

ddt wrote:nicely documented repairs :thumpsup:
Thanks DDT!

The heater valve repair was quite a PITA to figure out, so I thought I'd take a few pictures in hope of helping somebody else.
d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

I had to extend the loom quite a bit to use the same routing Cottees used in his EFI conversion.
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Many of these clipse were broken. They were also hard to source. Replicating them took many attemps and I had to change the design to suit the capabilities of 3D printed ABS.
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I did a quick tidy up of the passenger guard with a couple of rattle cans and an airbrush. Pain was missin in several places from lipping the guard and from where the LCA was oringally bent.
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I redid the intercooler mounts because the mechano set ones looked like shit and caused clearance problems.
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It finally looks a bit like a car again.
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Unfortunately troubles sourcing a decent clutch looks like it won't be working this year however.
d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

(Please edit this to be the last photo)
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d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

I had to add some more sicaflex to the window trim. I cleaned the excess off with metho. Of course the paint came with it. I just get the airbrush out again i suppose.
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Attempted to print the stereo fascia. Of course, that also turned to shit.
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Made a bracket to support the ECU above the glovebox. Idea stolen from Cottees. I was going to mount it in the glovebox, but there was a lot more space above it than i expected. Bracket is not much, but just stops it from falling when you are putting the glovebox back in.
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d3v147
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Re: Matt's Red GN

Post by d3v147 »

I gave up on the 3D printed fascia after I boxed the printer in and the heat warped the x axis carriage. This solution is more usable and I think it still screams 80s.
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All tested and working well. It is unfortunate that the top of the dash covers the speakers as it makes them sound a lot worse.
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