Galant VR-4 Restoration #129/1458

[techboy]

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.

I've only used two products for undercoating - the Rustoleum and POR15. POR15 is great, but it's expensive and you really need to be much more meticulous and thorough about your surface prep. I used in the firewall and trans tunnel of my Starion restoration.

I've used the Rustoleum on 2 other restos, 3 if you count this one. One dates all the way back to 2016. I did my 2G in 2019 and all have held up phenomenally. Although - I will be honest and say my cars are all garage kept and never see winter weather. So, there's that.

I've seen people use truck bed liner before, and the thing I don't like about it (and this is my opinion) is that it's textured - so it traps a ton of dirt and looks really dirty very quickly. It's same reason I stopped having textured powdercoating done. It looks cool for a while, but then it gets dirty and it's difficult to wipe down. Smooth and glossy cleans real easy.

 

[DreamChaser7]

FWIW I used Eastwood Rust Encapsulator Platinum on my underside before primer, paint, and clear. Really love that stuff and will use again! It’s smooth like paint. Not that anyone was asking me.

 

[techboy]

FWIW I used Eastwood Rust Encapsulator Platinum on my underside before primer, paint, and clear. Really love that stuff and will use again! It’s smooth like paint. Not that anyone was asking me.

I was actually recently just introduced to Eastwood products. I got to go to their warehouse a few months back. I was definitely impressed. I was doing some research on their Rust Encapsulator which looks like pretty decent stuff. Haven't tried it myself, but I wouldn't be afraid to.

 

[techboy]

So I think I mentioned the exhaust before somewhere in this build thread. We knew we had a aftermarket exhaust on the parts car, what we didn't know until recently is that it is a home-built all one piece, turbo-to-exit, that someone welded up. Our plan is to cut it up into more manageable sections so if he wants to swap mufflers or run a different downpipe or something he can more easily.

We started out by laying the homemade and OEM side by side so we could see where an intelligent spot to cut would be. (Side note - when I get the chance I'll probably cut the OEM at the rusted flanges as well and keep it - I can't imagine there's too many complete OEM VR4 exhausts in existence anymore)

We marked 2 spots with tape and marker. One at the cat - essentially giving us a downpipe, and one back at the muffler. That will give us 3 total sections - a downpipe, mid-pipe, and muffler.

Then we drove over to my work and cut it on the horizontal bandsaw to ensure we got perfectly square cuts.

Here's our downpipe section.

I suspected there was going to be some rust and debris inside from the car sitting. That's another reason I wanted to cut it up - so we could get that junk out.

This is a much more manageable system now. We'll order up some 3" flanges and weld them on and be back in business.

 

[DreamChaser7]

I was actually recently just introduced to Eastwood products. I got to go to their warehouse a few months back. I was definitely impressed. I was doing some research on their Rust Encapsulator which looks like pretty decent stuff. Haven't tried it myself, but I wouldn't be afraid to.

That’s awesome!

 

[techboy]

With the valve cover back from powder and a month of summer left, I really want to get this motor installed before my son heads back to school and football practice starts taking up the majority of his time. So last week we spent some time back on the motor buttoning up a few things.

We never torqued down the high oil pressure thingy on the head, so we had to do that.

Then it was time to learn how to put a valve cover gasket in place.

Put some dabs of RTV on the various spots the FSM calls for.

And here on the 1/2 moon.

All done.

Then we learned how to VERY gently and evenly bolt one of these down. First one of these I ever bolted down back in the early 2000's I cracked - so I've been extra careful since then.

We wrapped up our evening work session by bolting the exhaust manifold back on too.