DTMAce's project updated... June 17th... Going together!

Money pit Beretta · **Joined:** Thu Jul 26, 2007 3:36 pm **Location:** Kansas

Link works, thanks!

DTMAce · **Posted:** Mon Oct 27, 2008 12:46 am

Hello once again. More updates for you all. While I was gone, my help (my father) decided to get the rest of the core welded in and painted, and started work on the fender to prep it for painting as well.

Now I can go ahead and get the radiator and stuff back together so we can move the car around easier. Just have to change the tranny lines, put all the stuff back in, change the tranny filter, put in fluids, etc etc... Should be able to fire it back up tomorrow.

Here are the pictures:

Fender work... About ready to be painted

Shot of front with fixed corner/core support

Another shot of the core. Nice to see it painted. Can't even tell it has been torn apart and fixed!

Anyways, more updates tomorrow, once I get the guts back in the front end!

Kyle Anderson · **Posted:** Mon Oct 27, 2008 3:25 am

Nice!

The front end replacement looks professional... infact, I can't even tell where it's welded!

DTMAce · **Posted:** Mon Oct 27, 2008 4:31 am

Ummmm... That's the idea. Sheesh. LOL

Just got finished working on it a bit more. Going to have to use heat to get one of the tranny lines OFF the transmission, it's trying to round... Grrrrr Don't feel like it tonight. Installed the Vacuum tank, the Reservoir, changed a bent bracket for the headlight panel, (you can see the bent one in the pic above), leaked a couple quarts of tranny fluid all over the floor... (Didn't realize it was leaking after I pulled off one of the lines, saw it drip a bit, then thought it stopped. WRONG) Oh well, just had to clean it up.

Prepped the replacement radiator, don't see any cracks etc, but will know soon enough. It came from the base, and it looks good, but you never know. Want to get the tranny lines changed before I set it in there though. Once I get all that put back together, pull the tranny pan off, clean that, change the filter, put it all back together and start adding fluids.

Oyi! Lot of work to do on it tomorrow. Probably be working on it all afternoon/evening.

Bandit · **Posted:** Mon Oct 27, 2008 3:37 pm

Looks good. Keep it up and you might get her out once because that nasty four letter word flies.

Money pit Beretta · **Joined:** Thu Jul 26, 2007 3:36 pm **Location:** Kansas

It's a shame that you have to cover up all that nice work. Did you get the rust taken care of?

DTMAce · **Posted:** Tue Oct 28, 2008 2:52 am

We are working on the front end mostly at the moment, going to turn the car around soon and work on the rear end, (the worse part rust wise) and get it fixed.

Here are some more updates!

Radiator and various other stuff installed. Fender mounted, still have the bottom to attach. (jack is in the way) As you can see, large oil stain from the transmission work. Pay it no mind. lol

Better shot of the fender mounted, ready to be painted! Yay!

Hood. Needs a final sanding then ready for paint.

Tomorrow morning, I have to finish the tranny, (put the new filter in, bolt the pan back on) then fill tran and radiator and start her up. At the moment it is on stands, so I could get my large butt under it. lol

Paint day is WEDNESDAY. (best day for it, warm weather) I have to have this damn thing ready for paint by then.

And I haven't even touched the plastics yet. Going to be pulling the bumper covers from their bumpers tomorrow.

DTMAce · **Posted:** Tue Oct 28, 2008 6:10 pm

Actually I was wrong, paint day is Thursday. ÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š Anyway, been working on it most of today, pulled it out of the garage, and so far it is running just fine. ÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š Been topping off the coolant and transmission fluids. ÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š Here are some new shots of it:

Yes, that is a crack circled in the picture near the upper coolant intake. ÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š I hope I can patch it with some plastic weld, to make it last a while. ÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š But yeah, I will need another radiator one day or another. ÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š Didn't really show till I got her heated up. ÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š Funny thing was, it ran for over a half hour and never kicked the fan on, but never got hot enough to either. ÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š But I found that, so want to patch it before I put too much pressure on the system and split my tank.

Yes, I found my coolant leak that I had and couldn't find previously. ÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š And guess what? ÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š Looks to be an LIMG. ÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š I know what I will be doing soon. ÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š *sigh

Anyways, cleaned the garage a bit, put away some tools, and rolled her back in. ÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š Now to do some more body work. ÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š

Money pit Beretta · **Joined:** Thu Jul 26, 2007 3:36 pm **Location:** Kansas

T stat leak? I had it too, thought it was the intake gasket(glad it wasn't). Man, that's a bad crack on the radiator. Something about white light, you just can see cracks that well. I have a blue LED pin light and it shows more(rust shows very well with it). Found some rust in the inside of the quarter panel with it. Had to pull the vent off that you can see when you open the door. Hold up, what happened to the spoiler? Are the doors shut all the way?

DTMAce · **Posted:** Wed Oct 29, 2008 12:09 am

I wondered if it could be a thermostat as well, actually since I posted this. However, knowing it has over 212 thousand with the LIMG being the original one, I figure I will just replace that, put a new thermostat in and gasket for that, all at the same time, just to be sure. Will also tear apart and clean the EGR valve and tube then too. Going to be a long day sometime in the near winter. lol

Crack on the radiator is bad enough, same place my first radiator blew. Going to try to patch it for now, keep an eye on it. Will probably just put a new radiator in it later. Considering what I have in the parts from that base, I am not out much if this radiator goes south. Just the pain in the arse of swapping it.

Spoiler was removed, to make painting easier for both the deck lid and the spoiler. Don't worry, its going back. lol No the doors were not shut all the way. That was on purpose, we just didn't have them shut is all.

As of now, the hood is mounted and latch adjusted. Fits nice........ Though we had a ***** of a time at first, the driver's side hinge was severely bent up. Not to mention the factory stamp of it was wrong. The hinge hole is actually mis-stamped and the piece is physically longer than the left side. Was odd, but after we straightened the bracket back out, it actually all went together fine. So now the fenders are aligned, the hood is aligned, everything is straight and square. Got to love that.

Now I have a lot to do tomorrow. Prep of the bumper covers, the GEs, and finish removing whatever else needs taken off to facilitate painting. Have a few dents here and there to work over, the rust spot in the rear to fix, then prep, primer, prep and PAINT!

heheheh

Money pit Beretta · **Joined:** Thu Jul 26, 2007 3:36 pm **Location:** Kansas

Yea, best to change the intake gaskets now and not later.Had to ask on the spoiler, thoughts of the deer rolling over the roof came to mind. How did they get latch on at the factory? That's crazy, makes me think about what may be on my car.

DTMAce · **Posted:** Wed Oct 29, 2008 3:14 am

If that deer had rolled over my roof at 70mph, I probably would not be fixing the car. I would be selling it on here. lol

Well the gasket is going to have to wait till a bit later, but not overly so. Going to have to rebuild the tranny soon too. Probably going to do all the engine and tranny work at the same time. May just yank it all out, fix everything, put it back, who knows. Could upgrade too. LOL

For now its fine, it runs, and I am not overly worried yet.

What did you mean by "get latch on at the factory?"

Kyle Anderson · **Posted:** Wed Oct 29, 2008 4:17 am

Look good so far... can I suggest you remove more stuff though?

The window trim on the doors is pretty easy to take off, remove your aftermarket sunroof (it's only a couple dozen phillips screws, and the front and rear window trim. The most common places for repainted Berettas to chip off is around the front windows and top of the rear window where the trim is taped off.

I taped it off the first time when I did mine and it flaked off... I learned and had to repaint it again.

For some reason, I've never seen paint flake off around the quarter windows after a repaint... including mine for the 3 times it's been repainted.

DTMAce · **Posted:** Wed Oct 29, 2008 4:35 am

Ordinarily I would agree with you. lol

Front window trim at the top is already gone, the side strips in the seams above the rear windows are gone. The rest are staying put.

Actually this car was repainted with regards to the rear quarters once before, due to a rear end hit I had less then a month after I bought it. (talk about make you sick)

Anyways, never had trouble in 14 years after it from the work. Oh, the same person painted it then, though that was through his body shop, rather than home done. I would rather remove stuff and paint, however due to time constraints and limit of the help involved, I am unable to do it the way I want. LOL If I were to do it that way, the car would have been stripped bare, windows, interior, etc everything. Sandblasted the rust areas underneath and re coated, whatever. But. If it comes to that problem, I know I can still fix that, and blend it back in if need be.

I have a feeling I will have very little trouble with the paint peeling, due to the expertise of the painter. He used to do classic cars and other jobs for shows, so I am confident it will be fine. I already stripped off more than he initially wanted me too.. LOL Since he is painting it for nothing but materials, and we have a small time window, best it will have to be for now. Though I really doubt many would notice the difference when its done anyway. Most of the problem with the flaking is not getting it sanded enough, though you probably already know that.

I have to pay him back by doing some projects after this. Like building a pole barn. So fun stuff!

But I will be doing what I can in stages. Right now its the exterior, getting it to look as near to new as I can. Later this winter, pulling the interior all out, putting in the new carpet sitting in a box behind me, and dressing the insides nice. May even redo the seats a bit different. Not sure yet.

Not sure if I want a show car or just a car that looks like a new one again. ONE thing is for sure, I am going to get the insurance done different. I am not going through this mess again.

I do appreciate the advice, I need all I can get!

Thanks!

DTMAce · **Posted:** Thu Oct 30, 2008 1:10 am

Yes, more updates!!

As I stated earlier, the hood is installed, here is a pic of that:

Just finished sanding that before I took these and popped on here.

Front bumper, removed it from the inner bumper and stuff this evening, just have to finish cleaning then start sanding her down.

Rear bumper assembly, and the tail skirt? Never can remember what that thing is called.

Deck lid after the dents were removed, sanded and primed. Just needs a bit more sanding done, once the primer is cured.

So far so good, though I highly doubt I will be painting like we thought tomorrow. Be lucky if we can get it done before the weekend actually. But it is getting there. Have to remember, I run a computer shop as well as work for the ambulance corp as an EMT and the folks run a cedar mill. So we have plenty to do already. LOL

DTMAce's project updated... June 17th... Going together!

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