1988 Dynamic 4 restoration / VR4 conversion (pictures)

[r4pt0x]

I finished the left side sill yesterday, removed the car bench tools and sealed all folds and seams with owatrol oil so today the first 2 layers of primer were applied:

Starts to look like a car again /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I have to remove the windscreen this week and fix some small rust at the A-pillars, then I'll paint the upper part of the firewall up to the windscreen and the a-pillar/crossmember joint.
I also found a good solution how to route all the brake/steering/fuel-lines through the firewall and rear floor so I'll spend some more money in goodridge parts next week /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

New windscreen trims already arrived - I already had a brand new trim for the hatchback, but they are completely different from the limousine, so they will join the ever-growing collection of brand parts in my basement. Someday I can build a whole car out of brand new parts - a new 6G72 DOHC engine is already in my collection /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[turbowop]

Dude... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worthy.gif

 

[the_underdog]

Incredible effort! Well done and I love the updates.

 

[r4pt0x]

As I have to rebuild an evo2 rally car engine which died because of ECU failure The progresses are a little bit smaller than hoped - but heres a little update:


Sealant and the final layer of silver chassis-paint applied to the front:

(I'm not sure yet if I should keep the insulation mat in place or drop it...)

Interior painted and with new noise-dampening mats:

Rear axle finally assembled, with all new bolts/nuts and joints:

Currently i'm painting the front axle/subframe parts:

After priming with owatrol oil:

And after the first layer of paint:

Ordered another ~200 EUR worth of bolts/nuts/washers/brackets/rubber bushings/etc from mitsubishi - hopefully everything will arrive within the next week. Already got all the ball joints for rear and front suspension and steering - only the rear steering link bellows are still missing.
Target for next weekend is to fit the brake/steering/fuel lines and get the car back on it's own wheels so I can move it to another lift.

I also finally received the bolts for the modified rear diff, so I'll post some pictures of it as soon as I assembled it.

 

[jcrimboli]

After the frustration that came with the minuscule amount of tweaking and straightening I had to do to my front end, I'm extremely impressed. Keep it up, looking forward to more updates.

 

[boostback]

That is amazing. Going to the extreme but it will be nice when it's done.

 

[r4pt0x]

Shiny /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif


I also put in the steering column + wheel so I can move it tomorrow as soon as the front axle is on the car...

 

[MellowVR4]

F'N AMAZING good job /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worthy.gif

 

[bobdole]

I am loving this build. Awesome work.

 

[r4pt0x]

Pwesents /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Aaaand, it's back on its own wheels

(well, not quite - the wheeels are from a carisma, but they fit /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif)

And here i've hidden all the new parts from 1st pic of this post:

Some bolts and rubber shims are on backorder, but they should arrive within the next ~2 weeks...


And (again?) the rear axle:

I also assembled the rear LSD. I'll have to wait for the bearings to arrive, then I can install it to the housing:

(Sorry for the bad quality, but the cam didn't want to focus properly...)


All 4 suspension struts and the front knuckles are only for moving the car. I'm waiting for the evo/galant/eibach suspension to arrive and will use the front knuckles from my FWD E33 as the wheel bearings in them are only ~10k kms old...

 

[1dvsdsm]

Those rims look a lot like the O.Z. Superturismo GT I been looking at, and they look great!

 

[r4pt0x]

Those are 15" rims I think from some special edition of the Carisma. Nothing special, very heavy for 15"...
I have OZ 5-Spoke in 16" and 15" for summer/winter which will get new paint /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Wookalar]

Great job on restoring that chassis., it looks new. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

 

[r4pt0x]

Rebuilt the rear steering rack today:

Installation with the rear axle already on the car is a major PITA... I test-mounted the steering rack before I installed the rear axle to make sure the slight angle of the mounting brackets won't make problems - back then it was a perfect fit on all 4 bolts. Today it took >1h to get that bastard bolted on the rear axle... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

I also started to install the new fuel lines but forgot to take pictures... I'm using polyetylene lines for fuel and feed/return of the rear steering as they are a charm to work with and ethanol resistant. Brake and steering control will be made from copper/nickel alloy, as the flexible parts of the control lines are all damaged/rusted beyond repair, I will get some lines built at a workshop where they fix hydraulics for construction machinery. Will be much cheaper than from mitsu and I can get them at precisely the lenghts I need.
The rear steel lines to the control cylinder I have ordered, have been cancelled by mitsubishi (no longer available/out of production), so maybe they can also provide me with some good replacement for these...

I have to do suspension measurement and setup on 2 cars tomorrow, but I hope I can finish at least the fuel, brake and the low-pressure steering lines so I can fix the a-pillars on sunday and finish painting the upper part of the firewall and outer crossmembers...

 

[r4pt0x]

Only a small update - didn't got quite as much done as I wanted to. had to do this yesterday and the day before:

Suspension setup on a Honda integra type R and S2000 (both ghym khana / slalom cars). The integra is by far the best FWD car i've ever driven - great rear axle on that car! Combined with Toyo R888s it's insanely fast and agile around corners...

But back to the Galant:

I cut open the right A-pillar to remove some small rust. Will be welded as soon as the rust-converter has done it's job.
Meanwhile i've installed the brake and fuel lines and tried to find a good position for rear brake pressure regulator.

Had to go through the floor as the upright part is double-walled and blends into the rear crossmember. I wanted to add some underbody-protection / mudflaps in front of the rear axle anyways, so I'll built it to protect these lines as well.

The brake pressure regulator will get the rotary knob instead of the lever and go into the center console box. So it's hidden and always accessible.
For the hydraulic handbrake i will most likely cut out a small part of the center console on the right side of the shifter - but this will be done when everything is in place - maybe i find another solution without cutting the console...


The rear brake pads also arrived a few days ago.

Wasn't that easy to get them, as they went out of production ~5 years ago according to a Pagid engineer I had contact with...

 

[r4pt0x]

I was quite busy the last few weekends, but some small progress has been made:

Fixed the rust on the right rear:

and rebuilt the liftjack reinforcement within the side sill:

the piece on the right was left of the reinforcement, on the left my newly manufactured piece

and welded in place:

You always have either your hand, the lamp or the welding gun in your sight. so it was mostly welded blindly (and with lots of cursing and swearing involved /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif )


I also put on some parts that will be re-painted:

definatley looks like a galant again /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I'll put on the doors tomorrow, remove the plastic panels and get everything ready for the paintshop.
The lower plastic parts will be painted anthracite, the body will remain silver, just like my FWD GTI was painted:

The dynamic 4 was advertised in this colour combination at the cover of the 1988 brochure, but never sold in this combination - only white and silver were available in germany. But I like the combination and because it was available on the GTI I think its legitimate on the vr4 as well /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[cheekychimp]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worthy.gif for two tone Galants

 

[r4pt0x]

Sweet - thats nearly the same as mine will look! Even the rims are the same! (OZ 5-spoke) Only the bumpers (FWD?) and red trim line are different. But perfect preview for me as I never saw a 2-tone salook, only hatchbacks..

 

[r4pt0x]

prepared the car today for the paintshop:

Have to remove the (completely rusty) front & rear bumper supports, rear window moulding and sunroof gasket tomorrow evening and then it will be off to the paintshop on thursday /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Redlinegvr4]

Just wow...