Supra LS-type restoration

82_in_FL said:

I have been working on gettting the plastic parts(flares and 85 spoiler) ready for paint. Also tackling a few other restoration jobs like the fuel filler splash guard. I posted a pic up earlier of the sorry state of my part. I found it is made from polyethylene and is heat weldable. So I ordered up a plastic fusion welder and some LDPE welding rod for $85. I was surprised at how well it works. This is what it the welder looks like.



And what I had to start with.



After starting on the major cracks I got good results. The inner mounting point got stainless mesh embedded in the back side to reinforce that area.




I then worked on the upper mount which also got the stainless mesh embedded on the backside.
The lower portion was a bit trickier as there was a lot of missing area. I had a piece of metal shaped for that area that I had riveted in during a previous repair and was able to use that as a shape form to melt in a bunch of filler rod to replace the missing area. It took a while but it came out well. I used a carbide burr on slow speed and a 3" roloc 60 grit to smooth it out a bit. Not real pretty, but functional!




Since nothing really sticks to polyethylene I am debating whether to sand it all and try to coat it with something or just leave it like it is and install it up under the fender where no will even see it.

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82_in_FL said:

Thought I would post an update of what is happening with my Supra project since I haven't updated in a few months. September 28th was a bad day for us here in the Naples/Ft Myers area of south Florida. Hurricane Ian decided to flood out my home with 3 feet of nasty saltwater so most all of my time has been spent dealing with insurance claims and cleaning out the house to prepare for repairs. The Supra is safe though in my shop at a different location. I just have not had the spare time to do any work on it. My finished car projects that were in the garage at the house did not make it out alive. My full custom 1949 Chevy pickup and my 1973 Trans Am were totaled out and sent off to the insurance auction along with around 70000-80000 other cars from the area. I just did not see me getting the time to rebuild these cars in the near future.

After having lived in the same house for 45 years and going through many hurricanes I can say I have never experienced anything close to what Ian did. The wind was not too bad but the storm surge came in so fast and unexpectedly that there was nothing to do but put the important stuff as high as you can and shut off all the circuit breakers.

The Trans Am was picked up from auction by a You Tuber and is up and running again but still needing a lot of work. They drained 6 gallons of saltwater out of the engine before any oil came out! Amazingly it actually ran well after a new ignition module, carb and fuel pump. The pickup is still stuck at Copart waiting to be auctioned.
I will post updates when I get back to working on the Supra.

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