I Gave Up On Making My Car Nice When… 1


drivers-mount-outer2… I put the welder on it.

I’m a tall guy.  Stock buckets in an AE86 are impossible for me now that I have decent standards, and any off the shelf seat mount always leaves me saying, “moar lower.” (you know I never say that)  After buying some Recaro LX’s, giving up on them, and now picking up some unknown FRP buckets I am really impatient to get back behind the wheel.  But do you remember, that my seat rearward drivers side seat mounts were pretty messed up?  On the outer rear mount, only 2 of… 7? spot welds were actually doing anything.  Thirty second with a drill and it popped off clean.

drivers-mount-outer3 Underneath was this mess.  Notice the tear in the floor on the right side.  Five years ago I would have taken out the baseball bat… but now….

drivers-mount-outer…I can make this and tack it on.  Here is where I forgot to turn the gas on.  And here is where I started scratching my head and wondering if I should really be doing this.  Meh.  What is everyone calling their ratty, rusty beat cars these days?  Boro Boro?  Nope… that was five years ago.  Now we say wabi-sabi.  Yes. Rust and deterioration is beautiful.  Not my intention, but it helps me continue on and feel good about it.  After this: weld the detached mount back on… 50% of it with the gas off.

drivers-mount-inner2On the inner rear mount, this had happened.  I could have just bought some big washers and run a bolt through the hole with a nut on the other end… but I ground the hole out a bit, pounded it flat, and welded the old nut back into place.

drivers-mount-innerAnd then I ground it down and welded this piece of 18 gauge sheet over top.  You can’t even tell anything happened on this side. 


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One thought on “I Gave Up On Making My Car Nice When…

  • paulcorolla

    Dude, coupe is beautyful, random hidden rust repair is totaly cool.
    Also fixing crappy spot welds is a good idea.
    Your coupe will always be the nicest in cowtown.
    ps I’m sorry, I sold your extention to paulbooze