Galant VR-4 Restoration #129/1458

[techboy]

Back to our regular programming ....

Before reinstalling the gas tank we want to undercoat this section of the car. That means some grinding. I've done this before inside the garage, but it's a total mess. So, this time I wanted to put the car up in the air outside. So we rolled the back of the car out of the garage. Basically left the front wheels on the edge of the concrete.

Up the air, here's the underside of the gas tank area.

Shot of the drivers side and the frame rail.

Passenger side. That is an original OEM muffler. Not sure how many VR4 exhausts exist out there anymore.

So after about an hour or so of grinding, here's what we got. Note ... all we're trying to do here is knock off the rust and clean up the undercarriage dirt so we can apply paint.

Frame rail again.

Passenger side

If you get inspired to attempt this, I highly recommend safety glasses and a mask. You're gonna get a lot of junk flying around that you'll be covered in. My guess is breathing it is probably not the best idea.
I noticed when under the car there was a ton of just plain dirt under there. I don't know if someone was trying to rally this car, or whether it was parked in a dirt for a time, but I decided to just get a regular hose and some degreaser and wash what I could of the underside while it was outside.

I'm not sure if we're gonna drop the subframe as part of this restoration or not. It'll really depend on how much time we have later in the process.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Gotta love new parts, man.

I don't know what's better. Actually driving the car after the new parts are installed, or that first moment of receiving new parts you just ordered. Both are awesome.

 

[techboy]

Gotta love new parts, man.

I don't know what's better. Actually driving the car after the new parts are installed, or that first moment of receiving new parts you just ordered. Both are awesome.

I never really thought about that before ... but I think you are spot on. Both of them are pretty awesome.

 

[techboy]

Monday night we started working on the undercoating process. In another life I'd own a lift and the equipment necessary to spray. And even though I know some people with a lift that would let me do it, it's always a pain moving a car that doesn't run from location to location. So, on the ground by hand is how things get done.

This is the just the beginning of applying the undercoating.

And here we are a little bit later with just about the rear bumper to rear sub-frame done.

I'll take some more pics and post them when I get a chance to snap a few more under that car again.

 

[techboy]

While the underside of the car undercoat is drying, it's time to start working on installing the new fuel pump.

Ordered up a new Walbro 255 and install kit from Extreme. I've one is these in my Eclipse for almost 20 years - no problems.

Here's our hanger assembly

There's some funk on this thing, so we're just gonna take a dremel with a soft pad on it and clean it up a bit.

In order to get the old pump out, first thing we need to do is get this screw out. Once that's out, the pump slides out from the top.

Next, cut the old wiring connectors and remove the ground screw.

The Walbro comes with a ringlet on the negative already, so that's nice. I just soldered up the hot wire and added some shrink tube.

Here's our new connector.

Next we pressed on the filter with the little snap ring provided.

Next you need the o-ring and the plastic cap. (Note: in this pic there's a another plastic piece that's not installed yet that pushes the o-ring into business)

We could not get the o-ring to seat correct, the grey plastic pc was hitting the metal tube, we ended up having to notch the tube in order to push the o-ring in far enough.

Added the provided zip tie to hold everything and that was that.

Ready to go back in the tank.

 

[techboy]

Before we could drop the fuel pump back in the tank, we had to do a minor repair. There was already a stud snapped when we dropped the tank and another one snapped when we removed the pump, so we're gonna have to drill some holes and tap.
Here's the two snapped studs.

Cut everything flat.

Drill holes.

Tap. This is a M5 X 60 ptich

Nice threads.

An 8mm threads in really nice like it should.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Really great tip on the sending unit studs. When I eventually remove mine to look inside and possibly upgrade fuel pumps(if I ever go E85) and I snap them, I'll do this.


Good work!

 

[techboy]

Really great tip on the sending unit studs. When I eventually remove mine to look inside and possibly upgrade fuel pumps(if I ever go E85) and I snap them, I'll do this.


Good work!

I was originally thinking of drilling out the hole and putting an 8mm stud up through the inside of the tank and tacking it in place like OEM, but my FIL suggested I just tap it and put a bolt in from top down. Way easier. I apparently was thinking waaay too hard about this.

 

[CrackedDSM]

I was originally thinking of drilling out the hole and putting an 8mm stud up through the inside of the tank and tacking it in place like OEM, but my FIL suggested I just tap it and put a bolt in from top down. Way easier. I apparently was thinking waaay too hard about this.

One thing I’m kinda proud of myself about, is I’m usually pretty good at the KISS method. A lot of times people overthink and overengineer things. The same is true for everything, even in medicine. Medics will jump to all the advanced scenarios and complex things, and sometimes need a good solid voice to say “uh..wanna just try some narcan first?”

If it’s stupid but it works, it ain’t stupid! (As long as it’s not hacked together)

 

[techboy]

Now that we've got everything situated, it's time to put the tank back in. First, I made sure we clean out the inside really well, didn't want to leave any metal flakes or anything in there.

My son getting the hanger situated and dropped back in place.

Fresh hardware we picked up at the local Ma and Pa shop.

Bolted back in place.

Vent line and check-valve back on.

One my picture of the underside we re-did and undercoated b/c (hopefully) we won't be looking at this again for a long time.

Tank going back up.

Bolted up. Check it off the list.

 

[techboy]

With the tank back under the car we started cleaning up the transmission. Most of the transmissions I've cleaned up in my life have been pretty nasty. This one I think was probably cleaned at some point by someone else a little bit - at least to get the nasty grim off.

This one just has a lot of dirt and dust on it.

Based on my research this is in fact a VR4 trans with the taller 1st gear. Not sure if it's the original out of the car, but I suspect it probably is.

Some engine degreaser, brake clean, old tooth brushes and scrub brushes.

Not too bad for an hour or so of work.

 

[Pjj]

With the tank back under the car we started cleaning up the transmission. Most of the transmissions I've cleaned up in my life have been pretty nasty. This one I think was probably cleaned at some point by someone else a little bit - at least to get the nasty grim off.
View attachment 735461
This one just has a lot of dirt and dust on it.
View attachment 735462
Based on my research this is in fact a VR4 trans with the taller 1st gear. Not sure if it's the original out of the car, but I suspect it probably is.
View attachment 735463
Some engine degreaser, brake clean, old tooth brushes and scrub brushes.
View attachment 735464
Not too bad for an hour or so of work.
View attachment 735465

if you want to know if its numbers matching, look on the bell housing closer to the front of the car side. the VIN is stamped on it

 

[techboy]

Oh cool. I didn't realize that about early Mitsu's
I'll have to check that out.

 

[Pjj]

Oh cool. I didn't realize that about early Mitsu's
I'll have to check that out.

even on the 90s you can see the VIN stsmped on it. dont be too agressive with the clean they arent stamped deep inside

 

[techboy]

even on the 90s you can see the VIN stsmped on it. dont be too agressive with the clean they arent stamped deep inside

Now that you're saying this I feel like I kinda remember seeing a VIN stamped on the AWD trans I installed into my GST when I AWD swapped that car.

 

[techboy]

This week we spent just a little bit more time cleaning up the transmission before jumping to paint. Just had a little bit more grime in some of the corners.

Once we were happy with it we started taping a few things off and removing all the rubber breathers.

Now it's finally time for some primer.

My son picked out this Drivetrain Cast Paint I've never used before at the store. I was anxious to see how it looked. I like it.

Here's a zoomed-in look of the paint. It actually has some metal flake in it.

Final look.

Ordered up new axle seals, drain / fill plugs, and crush washers from Extreme. We'll replace those quick and the trans should be ready to go. We're shooting for mid to end of July for dropping the motor in. Just need to tie up a few more loose ends.

 

[techboy]

Popped over to where the parts car is stored earlier this week too and grabbed a few things we need. We also removed the carbon fiber hood. My son really wants to use this hood. I can't blame him, there's probably not too many of these left. It's pretty roached from neglect over the years but I'm hoping maybe we can hit it with multiple coats of primer, sand it smooth and maybe paint it flat back or something (??) Not really sure. Decisions like this are much further down the line, but at least it's home and in the garage.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Popped over to where the parts car is stored earlier this week too and grabbed a few things we need. We also removed the carbon fiber hood. My son really wants to use this hood. I can't blame him, there's probably not too many of these left. It's pretty roached from neglect over the years but I'm hoping maybe we can hit it with multiple coats of primer, sand it smooth and maybe paint it flat back or something (??) Not really sure. Decisions like this are much further down the line, but at least it's home and in the garage.
View attachment 736252
View attachment 736253
View attachment 736254

Sand it down and re-clear it. Or just get it wrapped in a gloss CF wrap. It's not ricey if it's actually CF under there. In my opinion at least.

 

[techboy]

Sand it down and re-clear it. Or just get it wrapped in a gloss CF wrap. It's not ricey if it's actually CF under there. In my opinion at least.

I actually suggest to my son about having it wrapped in a CF wrap for the exact reason you cited. I have almost no experience working with CF. I had a CF hood on my 2G years ago briefly, but I sold it b/c I didn't think it looked right on a black car. I think CF generally looks much better contrasted.

I think maybe we'll try sanding and some refinishing, and if it doesn't work out, we can always wrap. I know a place not far from here that does wraps.

On a side note - when we get the car painted (eventually) we'll have the metal hood painted to match, that way if the CF doesn't work out he'll always have an OEM hood to fall back on.

 

[techboy]

With the trans all painted up, we next wanted to replace some basic maintenance type things. This is the stuffs we ordered from ExtremePSI. L/R axle seals, and new drian / fill plugs with new crush washers.

Figured this would be a good opportunity to show my son how to use a seal puller.

No problems popping that one out.

Gently tapped in the new one after giving it a thin coat of black RTV.

Flip to the other side. This seal is a little different from Mitsu for some reason. It sits in a metal ring similar to a freeze plug. Had to get behind with a small pry bar to pop it out.

Here's the new one.

There's a notch in this thing, and if you look carefully opposite the notch you'll see a small oil weep hole. I had a feeling that was important, so a quick look in the FSM and we saw the notch goes up, oil weep hole down.

We used a 10mm socket and soft hammer and went around the metal outer ring to tap this into place.

Last we replaced the drain and fill plugs along with their new crush washers. I forgot to take a pic, but you get the idea. Don't know if this trans is good or not yet, but at least it should be leak free.

 

[techboy]

Picked up the valve cover from powder. Went very traditional. Looks fantastic.

 

[saturn345]

Who did that for you local to us?

 

[techboy]

Who did that for you local to us?

I use Hoffman Powdercoating in MaCungie PA. I'll PM you more info.

 

[m_0ney_pit]

Another paint question...what did you use for undercoating? One of my friends uses truckbed liner for almost everything so I was going to try for undercoating , but also was considering regular Rustoleum because its an Alkyd and pretty weatherable and durable.

 

[DreamChaser7]

If you’re going to use Rustoleum only use the Ultimate from what I heard on here.