- Thread starter Japtastic
- Start date
Vapour blasting is do much better than sand blasting.
Been a while, lol. As usual, the normal culprits take my time! Had a chance to put a few days in over the last few months but progress has been slow and I've even gone backwards. The last few days I've put into it have led to frustration and disappointment which then killed my ambition to get out there and spend any more time so I had to bite the bullet and make a decision.
I had been trying to re-create the rear arch + inner wheel house as you know but this has proved too hard me for and my skills with metal fab. I even spoke to some bodyshops who said they wouldn't attempt it, and only the old timers (who have now retired) with decades of experience could do a decent enough job to recreate the whole thing from scratch.
So with no other option, I put the feelers out for the replacement rear 1/4's again to see if there was anyone that could get them cheaper. Turns out there was and after a few emails back and forth to Japan, I managed to get both delivered for around the £3k mark. Still a crazy eye-watering price for some 1/4's but it was the right thing to do for me and the car, and the prices for these are only going one way, and soon enough the consensus is they won't be available at all. The current great GBP/YEN exchange also helped.
So, onwards and upwards! I've started removing the spot welds yesterday and have some glass removal tools arriving today. I'll cut the existing panel quite high up on the C pillar as is the norm for this repair on these cars.
I'll still have to make a piece and repair the inner wheel house, but I'm confident that it's doable, especially with the new panel to work off and the fact it won't be seen so can hide some imperfections.
I had been trying to re-create the rear arch + inner wheel house as you know but this has proved too hard me for and my skills with metal fab. I even spoke to some bodyshops who said they wouldn't attempt it, and only the old timers (who have now retired) with decades of experience could do a decent enough job to recreate the whole thing from scratch.
So with no other option, I put the feelers out for the replacement rear 1/4's again to see if there was anyone that could get them cheaper. Turns out there was and after a few emails back and forth to Japan, I managed to get both delivered for around the £3k mark. Still a crazy eye-watering price for some 1/4's but it was the right thing to do for me and the car, and the prices for these are only going one way, and soon enough the consensus is they won't be available at all. The current great GBP/YEN exchange also helped.
So, onwards and upwards! I've started removing the spot welds yesterday and have some glass removal tools arriving today. I'll cut the existing panel quite high up on the C pillar as is the norm for this repair on these cars.
I'll still have to make a piece and repair the inner wheel house, but I'm confident that it's doable, especially with the new panel to work off and the fact it won't be seen so can hide some imperfections.
Managed to get out the 1/4 panel glass and rear glass yesterday. Only issue I had was the rubber seal around the 1/4 glass was very degraded and brittle/hard and in generally poor condition after 32 years and fell apart with the wire going past no matter how careful I was. It didn’t help that it had been over sprayed before.
And guess what, Nissan don’t sell this separately so all my hard work might be in vane and I may need new glass anyway
The rear looks all good and is reusable and the rubbers are available.
I’m becoming more glad that that I’m removing this 1/4 as look at the rust it was hiding. Will be nice to remove all that!
And guess what, Nissan don’t sell this separately so all my hard work might be in vane and I may need new glass anyway
The rear looks all good and is reusable and the rubbers are available. I’m becoming more glad that that I’m removing this 1/4 as look at the rust it was hiding. Will be nice to remove all that!
Assume you're going to treat that inner wing (outer side) before welding anything back on? Looks like a fair bit of surface rust that you can get at and hopefully buy a good few years out of if dealt with now.
Brave man doing surgery at this scale (on such a great car) - but will be well worth it once done if right.
Brave man doing surgery at this scale (on such a great car) - but will be well worth it once done if right.
