New Owner Of 1546/2000

[iceman69510]

Quoting GSTwithPSI:
This car warrants a factory restoration. I have zero plans or interest in modding this. Possibly wheels and suspension, but that'd be about the extent of it. I doubt I'll even do that, though.

Here's my current goal for 1546: click



Agreed. Better snag those minty seats from the dude in Florida.

 

[badams]

I have an extra complete interior. Let me know if you want it.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

I gave 1546 a good wash over the weekend. The car looks like it's going to clean up really well. I'll need to respray the roof, front bumper and probably the cladding. Hopefully I can get started on the motor as soon as time and money allow.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Well, I finally pulled 1546 in the garage tonight to start the restoration work. It just didn't feel quite right without a Galant on jack stands taking up space in the garage /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/roll.gif

Step 1, evaluation. East coast Galants = rust.

When I bought this car, I was well aware of what to look for regarding rust. When I gave it a once over in person, I knew I'd be cleaning up rust to some extent. The pinch welds had the typical surface rust, and you could see crap pinned inside the fender when you opened the door. But, the car looked pretty good overall, so I bought it anyways hoping for the best.

Today I pulled the front clip apart to evaluate the extent of the rust. I got really lucky, as there was hardly any damage save a bit of surface rust. No rot, and cleanup on this car should be a breeze.

For the love of god, people, pull your fenders. Your Galant could quite literally be rotting away right under your nose.

Overall, the car is pretty clean. It definitely needs some love, but that's just business as usual. The front clip will get cleaned, rust proofed, and painted. The the motor will come out and a new long block will go in. The interior is a disaster, so it will also come out and be replaced with nicer stuff. Yanno, just replacing everything on the entire car, per the usual.

I've decided on a complete factory restoration for this car. Showroom ready is the goal for this one.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Shaping up to to look like a real motor.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Once again, the Military has plans to move me, so this project got cut short of where I hoped to take it. I simply won't have the time to dedicate to finishing the car, so I sold it to a good friend in the local area. He's currently having a 2.3 stroker motor built, which I believe will end up in the Galant. His plans for this car are much more ambitious than the stock restoration I had planned. Most importantly, this car went to a good home, so I'm looking forward to seeing where he takes the build.

 

[89Mirageman]

Sucks but completely understandable. So you coming to NC?

 

[pot]

I called the Pentagon today and also had my Secretary with long legs "buzz" the Marine Corps Commandant to have his Orders redirected here to NC. You can thank me later Brett. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif

 

[GSTwithPSI]

IDK, guys. Preferably I'd like to go back to SoCal, but the Marine Corps doesn't care about my "wants". It's looking like San Diego, Jacksonville, or maybe even Okinawa /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/noes.gif

If Okinawa, 1546 probably won't be the only Galant getting sold...

 

[faqinshiet]

Oh man when it this supposed to happen? I'd like to swing by and meet up! Work and holidays have been crazy!

 

[ob1murry]

Well, I know that Brett is going to have a heart attack if I don't start updating this thread.

It's been kind of slow going so far, as I have struggled to find the time and energy to spend a bunch of time in the garage over the last week and a half or so. Then again, maybe I got turned off, since literally as soon as I put the car into the garage, it started leaking all over my floor.

The first thing I did was tackle the rusty rockers, cleaning them up and taking them down to bare metal, scuffing up the rest of the front clip and hitting it all with some POR-15. Unfortunately, since I don't have a spray gun with a tip big enough to spray something so thick, I decided to just brush it on. Unfortunately, I only took pics of the passenger side.

I was also able to go and pick up the new 2.3 shortblock from the machine shop, however, there seems to be an issue with the crank that is going to hold me up a bit on this. The engine is a 2.3 stroker using an OEM 6 bolt 100mm crank, Manley rods, .020 over 8.8:1 Wiseco pistons, Kiggly girdle, and ARP main studs.

Unfortunately, upon picking up the motor from the machine shop, there is definitely an issue with excessive rod side clearance, the shop told me beforehand, but I didn't realize how bad it was until I saw it for myself. Luckily, I was able to find another 6 bolt 100mm crank online at a decent price to buy, so hopefully this issue will be resolved quickly, and I can focus on finding a nice head a trans to mate up to the shortblock.

I imagine that the next job will be pulling out the rear subframe to upgrade the rear to a 4 bolt, and to delete the 4ws, followed by rust proofing the underside of the car. After that, I'll probably move up to the bay, remove the engine, and get the bay ready to be resprayed before the new engine and trans go in.

I'll probably do some work on the car in the other half of the garage first though to try and create enough space that I can spread some parts out and really get cranking on this project though, as I'm pretty anxious to get it done and back on the road. With any luck, it won't take too long, and Brett will get to see it get done before he leaves for where it is that he may be going.

 

[ob1murry]

So, progress has been a little slow while I wait for some tax money to come in and deal with some of the bigger things the car needs, but I was able to find some time to work on the car a bit over the last few weekends.

Engine and transmission have been removed:

The new paint, and some goodies for the front subframe should be delivered this week, so the current plan is to strip the rest of the bay, drop the front subframe, and prep the bay for paint.

The head and the new crank for the stroker got dropped off at the machine shop earlier this week for some work. Hopefully the bay and subframe will be completed and back in place by the time the shop is done with it, and I can start reassembling the front half of the car rather than continuing to tear it down.

 

[ApexHunter]

Yo! I'm glad to see the updates! Thank you!!!
The pics came out mega gigantic and it's tough to read. Maybe resize next time?
Keep up the good work.

 

[ob1murry]

Apologies. I use a massive 4K TV as my monitor at home, and didn't realize just how huge the pictures were until I saw them on the screen at work. I went ahead and resized them at the source, so they should be much better now.

All of the subframe bushings (minus the actual rear subframe bushings) arrived last night, the paint is scheduled for delivery tomorrow, and the machine shop just called to let me know that the head and crank are ready to be picked up. I'm really hopeful that at the end of the weekend I will have made some decent progress, unfortunately I'm going to have to put in some work on the other car in the garage to move it outside before I start spraying any paint and burning out old bushings.

 

[ApexHunter]

Nice! I can see it all now!! Haha. Looks like the car found its way into good hands!

 

[faqinshiet]

That's awesome! Glad it stayed in the area!

 

[ob1murry]

Alright guys, I know it's been a while since I updated this, but I'm finally starting to get that overlap of free time, energy and money to pick up working on the car again.

Not a whole lot to update since the last time, except I ordered a bunch of parts to start buttoning up the engine.

New front case with BSE and water pump installed

GSC S2 cams and fidanza adjustable gears

New JMF Billet Race Intake Manifold

FP3065 Turbo Setup

There are a few more things that I forgot to grab pics of, including the head back from the machine shop with a light port & polish, as well as a new 5 angle valve job, the BC springs and retainers, and an ETS front mount for when everything gets buttoned up.

Like I said, progress has been kind of slow, but I'm hoping to pick it up a bit here now and try to get some work done over the next few weeks.

 

[T3mp0r]

It is really weird to see the turbo in someone elses's pictures. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Good luck with the build and progress!

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Hurry the f*** up, Dan.