[Texasissouth]

Hey everyone, I'm new here. I bought a 1986 MKII rolling shell a month or so ago, but just got the title today.
I'm going to be putting a lot of work into this, the plan moving forward will be dropping in a mildly modded 5.3 LS into it.
That being said, I need to check and possibly fix any rust, redo the suspension, as well as re-do the interior in addition, so this will be a long slow journey.
I have no clue what I'm doing, but we'll see how it goes.

 

[supkar]

Welcome. Don't have a clue? I mean, do you have and knowledge or experience repairing cars or are you just joking? Don't bite off more than you can chew.

 

[Texasissouth]

I've done a few things on my daily driver, intake, exhaust, high pressure fuel pump, as well as a majority of maintenance. I'm not clueless, but I will absolutely be learning a lot of new things for this project. Definitely need to up my welding skills.

 

[gsagunner]

Good luck with the journey, would be a good read once you are finished.

 

[ddd228]

You may as well start a build thread,when you are ready.
Practice your welding skills and see what you can do and how to do it.
Rust issues?Check our restoration threads. There are a lot of them and they are a gold mine of information.There are few Texas boys on this forum!:salute:

 

[mutantcolors]

LS is cool but there's a LOT to like about a Lexus 1UZ-FE 4 liter V8. My two cents. Look into them, they're a dime a dozen and proven to go 300K miles consistently.

 

[Texasissouth]

Yeah, I'm hoping rust will be minimal, as this was a So Cal car (I'm in VA). However I did see a lot of resto threads where rust was still an issue. I definitely have minimal welding experience, so that's going to be the major challenge. I've lurked on a few resto threads, as well as the two detailed LS swaps DiscoElk and another I can't remember, red supra in Florida.

 

[Texasissouth]

I apparently don't have enough posts here to directly link images yet. I've started pulling things off the car, it didn't come with an engine/transmission to begin with, so I didn't have to worry about that. The previous owner had fabbed himself up some NRG brand seats. He did not do a good job of this at all, and the seats were basically wobbly deathtraps. I got one out so far. I haven't seen much rust yet, so that's good, reading SupraFiends posts, I know I will find some near the shock towers probably. The one spot that is rusty is a drain hole in the spare tire well. I'll have to cut and patch that and hole saw a new drain hole. The hatch itself is in good shape, I might sell it and put those dollars toward a carbon one.

The bad stuff is only, the windshield is not properly installed, at all, so I'll need to redo that. I'm missing some weird stuff like the windshield surrounding trim, the heating controls. And the roof is dented pretty bad from where the PO had his hood fly up on him.
Here's an imgur album I'll try to update as things go along.

 

[Texasissouth]

Found a bit more rust. I knew the area behind the passenger door had been repaired with Bondo. What I didn't know was that they had cut and welded in a replacement panel.. without any sort of primer or rust prevention. I'm not sure if just scraping it off and POR-15 on the inside would be enough for this or if more drastic action is needed. I guess it depends on if bondo/ paint will keep the other side from rusting.
I'm sure SupraFiend could chime in, if he sees this.

 

[ddd228]

Found a bit more rust. I knew the area behind the passenger door had been repaired with Bondo. What I didn't know was that they had cut and welded in a replacement panel.. without any sort of primer or rust prevention. I'm not sure if just scraping it off and POR-15 on the inside would be enough for this or if more drastic action is needed. I guess it depends on if bondo/ paint will keep the other side from rusting.
I'm sure SupraFiend could chime in, if he sees this.
again, I can't post pictures or links yet, but if you go to imgur then add this to the url /a/6v4iN that's the album of this panel.

I tried to find the images....
No luck. Anyone else want to try?

 

[Texasissouth]

Hey, should be imgur .com/a/6v4iN
Without the space before the period
The other album is
imgur .com/a/TNQj0
It says that some other people have viewed it, so I think it's working

 

[Texasissouth]

Quick Update for all of noone following this thread, I haven't taken any pictures in a minute. Removed all the rear suspension, fuel tank, brake and fuel lines. Going to start removing the factory undercoating. I ordered some POR15 for when I eventually re-do the bottom. However, basing it off previous threads, there will most likely be some metal replacement needed, which means I need to start practicing welding, and getting supplies for that. It looks fine now, with the coating on, but I guess most do. I'm still weighing my options on that damaged rear quarter panel. It actually interferes a little bit on the control arm attachment in the rear. I might remove the paint in that section just to see what it looks like.

 

[grav]

Keep on progressing, you have some lurkers here. Don't give up or slow down, it will be worth it in the end!

 

[ddd228]

Later in your thread,you will be able to share what you are doing.
Yes,we all want to know! The MODS are the things that want to know about,totally.
Metal replacement? We are a captured audience,as always.:thumbsup:
MODS? I'm all over the metal replacements and methods involved.
When you get an opportunity,show us your RUST,please. I'm interested to see how you will attack that issue,as we all are.
ALL of our 30+ year old cars have RUST.
Some,more than other owners.

 

[Texasissouth]

Eventually I'll have enough posts on here to be able to put direct links. It's hard to tell from pictures, but here is a quick comparison of the undamaged vs damaged side. It's hard to tell how they fixed it, but I'm going to assume they did it poorly. I definitely have rust in my pinch welds where they've been manhandled.I'm still slightly going back and forth between wanting to keep a Toyota powerplant and being tempted by the dark side of how light, cheap and powerful LSx options are. Naturally aspirated is a preference, my DD is a turbo.

 

[grav]

You can try photobucket for embed pictures, or google photos. Those sites will put the picture in your post with a link for anyone to click on if that makes any sense.

I would also try to stick an inline 6 in the car, it was made with a i6 in mind so you will probably run into *less* issues. The whole 2 headers to cram into a bay really designed for one etc. It can be done, but I believe the firewall will have to be cut if it is a gm v8 (lt1 if I can recall correctly). I am not sure about the 90's 5.0

Also, it is somewhat difficult to understand the location/nature of the damage and rust, but that is just me, im sure other more experienced memebers could understand what they are looking at.

 

[Texasissouth]

There's a few people on here who have successfully done LS swaps, Discoelk and someone in florida in the least. There seems to be an easy way and a harder way, but the only body shaping needed is to bang out a couple spots in the trans tunnel. And your header options are limited by the steering rod.
I tried direct posting images here but I hadn't had enough posts at the beginning, so it wouldn't let me. I don't know what the limit for that is, but I'll try again in a little bit.
Also Katies c&c is worth making the early morning drive for sure.
I went a lil crazy last night, George from raptor racing said the price of carbon fiber parts was set to jump 25% in the next few days... so I ordered a hood and hatch from him, they're already cheaper than Advan's website. I figure if something somehow doesn't work out I can always sell them for no loss. Also I can sell my stock hatch to recoup some since it's in pretty good shape.

 

[gamble]

You'll love the carbon parts, I love mine. Def recommend hood pins, the thing flaps at highway speeds enough that i wouldn't trust just the stock latch. Source a hatch glass without the rod support hole for the big early style spoiler so you are ready to go, also make sure you order a new gasket from Raptor too.

 

[Texasissouth]

Ah yeah I'll probably need a new gasket, I forgot about that.
Which rod support? I have the dual level spoiler that covers the whole side pretty much. I'm also stuck with the middle brake light in the back as mine is an '86.
I'm absolutely getting hood pins though

 

[gamble]

Ok yeah the 85/86 hatches don't have the hole in the glass, the little wing doesn't need the extra support. This big ole 84 and before NEEDS the support rod that goes from the middle of the spoiler aka sunshade to the hatch glass which has a hole for it.

Honestly unless your stock hatch is wrecked i'd suggest sourcing a new glass. New glass is cheap, and removing your old one without messing it up is tricky, plus you can then write off the stock hatch at that point. You gonna run a wing on the cf one? I went with no extra holes on mine, love it.