Replacement of the entire chassis - "built over"

2327 Views 13 Replies 7 Participants Last post by dynamic73, Oct 11, 2003

supra2800turbo

Discussion Starter · Oct 10, 2003

Hey,

My Supra has now entered the age where a complete restoration is needed! However, such project will easily cost $1500 usd, since I cant fix rust myself, nor do the paint job etc.

But, I found a *very* cheap chassis with minimal rust (only a few spots in the front of the chassis has rust, below the radiator and so) - for only $100 !! I was thinking of buying it, since the chassis has already been trough the "restoration process" (but the car was never finished, so it has been sold in seperat parts). Is it possible, to rip my own Supra completely, and built it over in the new chassis? Or will this simply be too big a project?

I mean - a complete restoration will include removal of engine, seats, dash board etc etc - so everything will need to get out, and in, no matter what...

Comments please

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dogstar

· #2 · Oct 10, 2003

if its a complete body and chassis, id say go for it, IF you can afford to have your car out of service for a long time.

if youve never done work like this, keep in mind, itll seem like a HUGE project.

my advice is to do it in sections, and probably start with the interior first, drivers side in particular.

that way when your getting frustrated and thinking its never going to be done, just sit in the drivers seat and go for a pretend drive... remember what it was like, and smile for five minutes, then getting back to work isnt such a major chore

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supra2800turbo

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 10, 2003

dogstar said:
that way when your getting frustrated and thinking its never going to be done, just sit in the drivers seat and go for a pretend drive... remember what it was like, and smile for five minutes, then getting back to work isnt such a major chore

haha

nice one! That I will do

Yes its a huge project - but I can easily afford not having the car for a while. There hasnt been license plates on it for a year now, so half a year longer is fine by me - I have plenty of time

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supra2800turbo

Discussion Starter · #4 · Oct 10, 2003

By the way - my supra is an 84 - but the chassis im buying is an 83.... can I easily built my 84 over in the 83 chassis?

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SupraFiend

· #5 · Oct 10, 2003

you should be able to. THis is just a completely stripped shell right? Because if you want to use all of your 84 electronics you'll have to swap the whole wiring harnesses over, which is a huge job unto itself. The only other major difference that might bite you is the front end. If you want to use your 84 bumpers and turn signals you'll have to switch your fenders too. It will be a huge chore, but if you end up with a perfect completely rust free chasis in the end its worth it. good luck!

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supra2800turbo

Discussion Starter · #6 · Oct 10, 2003

yes the chassis is completely stripped., so the wiring harness will need to be installed too.

Bottom line - will it be easier to swap the car onto the new and rustfree chassis, rather than stripping my own car and make every bit of rust in my current chassis? (it will sure be cheaper! - but will the work time be worth it?)

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SupraFiend

· #7 · Oct 10, 2003

depends how bad your rust is. If its so bad that the whole engine bay and interior needs to be pulled anyways to fix all of the rust then its definatly worth it. Pulling the whole interior isn't that big of a job either, you could have the whole thing out in a day and back in in 1 to 2. Its the mechancial and wiring thats time consuming. Is this a rolling chasis? Does it have suspension, crossmembers etc?

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supra2800turbo

Discussion Starter · #8 · Oct 10, 2003

no unfortunately its not rolling - its completely stripped.
I think im gonna go for it.

we expect the project to take 2 weekends and 20-30 beers

-- then comes painting of the chassis (which of course I will do first), and maybe if some minor repairs/modifications is needed.

But ..... I have white leather interior now (not stock of course), I would very much like to keep it that way. However, removing the entire interior will probably make it very difficulty to have the white leather look great again - and if I have white interior, I will need the car to be kept in white paint also. What do you think? I would like to paint it "lamborghini deep blue" or something, but white interior will *NOT* look good in that combination im affraid.

(sorry for my bad english)

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dogstar

· #9 · Oct 10, 2003

dont worry about the english... yours is MUCH better than some of the people who im assuming are english first language folks.

:lol:

white would look good with a light blue, but dark blue, thats kind of tough to make look good.

if you want a good combo, white and black arent bad, and white with a charcoal grey metallic looks good.

id say go for it, if anything itll teach you everything about your car

and IMHO a completely rust free shell is worth it.

best of luck and keep us advised :d

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pdupler

· #10 · Oct 11, 2003

Sounds like you have a unique opportunity to make everything pristine. I have this dream of someday building a mk2 "trailer queen" show car - the kind you put ropes around and mirrors underneath so everyone can admire the cake decoration welds on the polished stainless exhaust. This sort of project starts with a stripped and dipped chassis. I don't know if you want to go that far, but you can definately make everything you want perfect when starting from "scratch". Do the paint BEFORE putting the interior in. You have to remove nearly all of it to get all the trim off anyway, plus you won't have any chance of getting overspray on that white leather. I don't know why but I seem to associate white interiors with convertibles that also have white tops. In that situation I've seen it with lots of colors that looked good, even dark blue. It's just kind of hard to imagine white seats in a mk2. Mabe one of our artistic members could photoshop it?

Phil D.

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artm

· #11 · Oct 11, 2003

Man, I've done this with a rustang - wanted to build a drag car - took the car, stripped it down to the chasis, sent it to be acid dipped and rebuilt/restored and painted and redid interior without the back which went cause I needed tubs to clear the slicks. This is one hell of a job I'd figure at least 40 beers - good luck - I'd love to see pics when you're done.

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Dean

· #12 · Oct 11, 2003

I think it will take more than 40 beers! :lol:

Rob (Eurosupra) and I tore apart an 84 Supra a few weeks ago. We spent 4 hours the first night, 5 hours the next night, then 10 hours the next day and we had the car completely stripped of everything we wanted. The only things we left in the car were windshield, rear quarter windows and front and rear bumper reinforcement bars, since I already have spares of all those items. Nice leather interior, front and rear subframes, crossmembers, control arms etc, were all removed. By the way, many of these parts are for sale, just email me if you need anything.

So, 2 guys, 19 hours of labour each, total of 38 hours labour to completely strip a Mk2.
Putting a Mk2 back together will take a bit more time than tearing one apart. We spent another 10 hour day putting the front and rear suspension, brakes, diff, and a few other goodies on Rob's 84 Supra.
We went through about 40 beers (and a bottle of red wine with a nice steak dinner, thanks Rob!) to do the job. So I think you should budget for more beer for your project. :lol:

I don't want to discourage you, I just want you to budget the right amount of time and beer :beer: :drinking: to get everything done. :lol:

Good luck on the project!

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supra2800turbo

Discussion Starter · #13 · Oct 11, 2003

Nice on Dean

Thanks for all your replies, guys!

Just for the record - my seats are stock, not white leather, only the dash board and the A-borders, doors and so, has been reattached with white leather. I think (not that I know it for sure) that there's the stock leather (or whatever it is) underneath the white... I was thinking of a black paintjob too, with white interior - that must be cool

I'll upload some pictures when ever I start the project, probably in 3 months or so. I expect to recieve pictures of the stripped chassis in a few days - I will of course upload it all to my website www.toyotasupra.dk (which unfortunately is not avaible for the next 20 days or so)

Regarding how far I want to go - well, I already added the turbo and polished intercooler pipes etc, now I just need a stainless exhaust to be custom made, so thats about it :lol:

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dynamic73

· #14 · Oct 11, 2003

The project is something I'd like to do also. It would be a great feeling to know every part. On the car was removed and reinstalled. To make it a new and as clean as possible. The inside will be really easy. Compaired to doing the suspension and drive train. As I'm sure you'll find a lot of pieces that need replaced. As the project developes. Keep us up to date with pictures and all. It could be some very valuable information to us all. Good Luck :3gears:

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