Flat 2

This IS… the typical pose.  I love how my car sits in the barn.  And now it’s actually time to start putting it together.  The first step is complete.  The red engine bay is gone.  It seemed absurd at times, that I was doing all this work just to get rid of the red.  It was worth it.  Flat back is good.  To be authentic… or at least to mimic authenticity… I should have painted it white.  But… white is work.  The undercarriage is already undercoated, spraying it white too seemed exhaustive, and since I didn’t want a transition from white to black; black it was.  Someone once remarked that painting the insides of cars black was my thing… I didn’t realize it was true at the time.  It certainly is now.

The engine bay had actually been stitch welded before I started… at least in part.  New knowledge of welding helped me realize that a pretty horrible job had been done before.  A lot of the welds actually chipped off while I was removing seam sealer, and a lot of those that actually had penetrated had cracked.  I re-welded them all… and learned even more in the process.  I’m confident I got good penetration and have made a big improvement.

A lot of people weld the outside of the panels when they stitch weld.  It seems to me that panels should be fastened together where they meet, not at the back of some seam where they happen to overlap just so Toyota could save costs in assembly.

In addition to the under fender supports I pictured in a previous post  I made these shakitto type plates as well.  Uneven spacing of my spots on the strut towers is something I’m a little unhappy about.  There wasn’t much to be done though with the previous welder seemingly putting his touches in random spots.  Before painting, all my welds and fabrications where covered in POR-15 first.  No one talks about POR-15 anymore… which is probably just a sign that people really are into boroi stuff.  Some of you are certainly disappointed that I painted at all and just wanted to see burnt paint and bare-metal.  I’m sure you are equally disappointed by my pledge to 6J wheels.  Like I care.  POR-15 is still an awesome product btw… after I put the first coat on I decided to make some revisions to my work.  It certainly is a lot tougher to remove than paint.