Restoring my 97 Mitsubishi FTO - Beginner so any help and feedback welcomed

[Cosantoir]

That last pic brings back memories of fitting a/c to a non a/c golf - stuff of nightmares, especially when it was someone else’s car

AHH man dash removed gives me seriously anxiety

Good move and don't blame you

Yea wanted it in there longer but with things going on the go slow from next month I needed to get some time at it

 

[conor1n]

Build is coming along nicely.

I've not done much to mine in months. (Life, new day job and other jobs to do....)

May I ask where you got the gold heat shield film please?

Keep up the good work.

 

[indy4x]

Today was one of those long tedious jobs that takes ages to do and nobody not even you will appreciate.

We have all watched Project Binky, including the multitude of brackets they made AND the wiring so pretty sure we appreciate that job

 

[stuvy]

We have all watched Project Binky, including the multitude of brackets they made AND the wiring so pretty sure we appreciate that job

I’m sure if you could fast forward it it would be much better

I’m not a lover of them and have said I met them before they looked liked rabbits in headlights at the race retro show

 

[Cosantoir]

May I ask where you got the gold heat shield film please?

It's dei reflect a gold bought ak my local Motorsport store

 

[conor1n]

Awesome thanks... seems like DEI is the last work in heat reflective film.

 

[Cosantoir]

Awesome thanks... seems like DEI is the last work in heat reflective film.

Yea there's a few brands. Just as a heads up if you wan to do a large surface particularly one that has lots of shape to it buy a roll and not a sheet.

I did mine with lots of vertical strips from top to bottom and then that way I had no bubbles or sections lifting and could conform to the shape better.

This pic shows the strips and also the difference shapes I had to try and navigate

 

[conor1n]

Yea there's a few brands. Just as a heads up if you wan to do a large surface particularly one that has lots of shape to it buy a roll and not a sheet.

I did mine with lots of vertical strips from top to bottom and then that way I had no bubbles or sections lifting and could conform to the shape better.

This pic shows the strips and also the difference shapes I had to try and navigate

Great tip thank you @Cosantoir

 

[Cosantoir]

So Ive finally finished the welding on the car by closing up the drivers side sill which felt like a huge moment.

Last the gearbox rebuild is also nearly finished and I'm hoping in the next week or 2 I can get it mated back to the engine and I can get it back into the car.

First batch of pictures from the gearbox rebuild

 

[Cosantoir]

Batch 2

 

[Cosantoir]

Batch 3

 

[Cosantoir]

Shimmed to 0.3mm

 

[Cosantoir]

Last step before I drop the engine back in is to get the underside and arches coated in stone chip protector. I'm using white raptor bed liner so not only do I now need to strip the entire suspension off the car I also need to sand everything with some 120 grit before paint. So some tedious work but will be exciting to get the underside fully finished off and I start moving to jobs that involve getting the car ready to do it's first little spin

 

[Cosantoir]

Today I started prepping to spray the underside and arches with stone chip protector. Until I noticed a small bubble/crack spread across 2 inches of paint in my passenger side wheel arch.


So I picked off the paint and I could tell the metal was in a bad way as it had stolen. So out with the screwdriver and....


Wel shoot!!!
I guess I've a bit more welding to do....
I'm sickened as I thought I was done with welding but I guess better to catch it now than before paint.

Also while OEM speck is black and it would hide rust spots, runs and dirt better I do get to see any issues cropping up way sooner as I'd have never noticed the little hairline crack in the paint otherwise

 

[Myles1970]

Like you say, better to catch it now

 

[Cosantoir]

Eyyy stripped this damn thing again...
You guys should really do a guide for the order stuff should be worked on ha!!

So yesterday I went through the car for a final sweep and started stripping it in advance of spraying stone chip protection into the arches and underside.

I had the rear arches repaired over the winter by "professionals" which hid their shoddy work under waxoil and then when I complained about the quality of the job/work not done they threw in a free Shultz of the rear wheel wells which easily peeled off as it was just sprayed over the waxoil so it had no adhesion.

Car stripped masked and ready for raptor


But first I need to address these two repairs.
Passenger side wheel arch.


And this pocket on the drivers side is about to go.

 

[atomant48]

Looking good - those repairs are hopefully easier than some youve had to do.

Hard to tell in the pic but it looks like you may have left your ratchet turned on

 

[Cosantoir]

Looking good - those repairs are hopefully easier than some youve had to do.

I'll find out this morning

 

[Cosantoir]

So the nasty pocket is no more!



You get the picture of what it was going to look like when done and the front arch was a simple fix only curve ball was that since it was the chasis rail it was 2mm but luckily I had a bit to hand so actually made things easier as its so much easier to weld than this 1mm stuff.

Then onto the main job that I was working towards over the past two days.
MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL WHO HAS THE CLEANEST ARCHES OF THEM ALL?



As the car had no suspension on it I was able to do the front arches the underside of the front crash bar, under the boot and as far forward as under the back seats of the car but from there to the front arches still has to be done on the underside and sills.
Also in my last pic you'll see the sill on the passenger side is rusting pretty badly this was my first repair and I've no idea why it's rusting so bad (maybe there's some bare metal or untreated metal behind it I'm not sure but id love to put a stop to that before I spray it as there's obviously an issue there.

I got the rear suspension put in place and hand-tightened the bolts so that's going to be my next job getting the suspension back together and correctly torqued.
There are 2-3 wires that I don't think are in use anymore but still have cables there where the connectors are damaged or the wire pulled out the connector, I'm going to put new connections on them just for good measure.
Then I'll get the arch liners in place (took a bit of effort to track down good-condition ones for all four corners.
Then I need to set the ride height the rear coilovers are set at two different heights and I believe they are also set lower than the front suspension so the rake of the car looks silly (also as this is the last time I plan to have the suspension off as part of getting ready for the road I'd like to get the car tracked.

I wired in two new HID ballasts for the headlights but cannot get them to work I've checked all the wiring and they are fine. I need to just check the polarity for the main connection maybe they are reversed if not that maybe the relay for the lights is gone.

 

[Cosantoir]

Today saw the gearbox rebuild come to a close.
This thing has been shimmed to an accuracy of 0.05mm which was a pain in the butt as I ended up buying 10-15 snap rings of each diameter for the 8 different ones used and then had to add some custom shims for the LSD when it went in.

So.... Picture time (I wish I had the time or effort to clean up the gearbox casing and it had done 2 rounds in the dishwasher but this is the best I could get.