Project Pesto

[SPG]

Hi all, 

 

I've been waiting on the upgrade before starting a project thread as I was expecting to post a pic heavy thread. 
 

I have a NA-5 speed that was purchased from a fellow Mod a number of years ago. The car came to me as a NA-TT 5-speed but as well all know the W58 was always going to be the weak link in any future plans. 
 

I am a big fan of the NA in manuals form, as you can use all the power without worrying about pushing it too far. I also think the W58 is a much nice gearbox with regards to the smooth shifts. 
 

so the decision was made to remove the TT lump and reintroduce a NA lump back into the car, I also preferred returning it back to the vin specification, although a LSD which was not spec’d from factory was also required. 
 

Now less of the justification, and onward to the project name. This picture should give you a clue: 

 

 

 

[SPG]

Coming soon........

I’ll give you all 5 minutes to recover 

[Rob W]

Thats pretty dirty!

Look forward to seeing the updates on this one already 

[jim_supra]

Looks like a good project car, subscribed!

[evinX]

Looks like a great project, wish i could have another to mess around with on the side

[HarleyFDMD]

You must be the first person to remove a TT lump in favour of an NA 

looks like a proper project - mind you i bet that would look like a completely different car with nothing more than a good wash!

[j_jza80]

Nice project

strange car though, has it been in an accident previously? Pre facelift car with full facelift front bodypanels

[SPG]

5 hours ago, Rob W said:

Thats pretty dirty!

Look forward to seeing the updates on this one already 

Filthy ain’t she

2 hours ago, jim_supra said:

Looks like a good project car, subscribed!

This was pre lockdown back in March so plenty of updates to follow

2 hours ago, evinX said:

Looks like a great project, wish i could have another to mess around with on the side

I’ve never really had a covered space before but now have a 3 car workshop to tinker, but for years I was either on my drive or on the street whilst doing any work on the Sups. 

2 hours ago, HarleyFDMD said:

You must be the first person to remove a TT lump in favour of an NA 

looks like a proper project - mind you i bet that would look like a completely different car with nothing more than a good wash!

I like to set trends, as regressive as they may be

[SPG]

38 minutes ago, j_jza80 said:

Nice project

strange car though, has it been in an accident previously? Pre facelift car with full facelift front bodypanels

Hey Jason, thanks firstly. 
 

You are indeed correct the car was in a bump back in 2012 I believe, which resulted in the Cat D. This was pretty common practice back in the days when NA’s were at the bottom of the valuation curve. 
 

I believe though that the previous owner Preferred the facelift look so hence the change of wings and bumper. 
 

The bump damaged the bonnet and the headlight frame I believe, and the passenger side wing. This was the net result of the supra taking a closer look at the rear end of Volvo . Chess is legs were untouched as the crash bar was untouched. 
 

I had flirted with the idea of reverting back to pre-facelift front as I have the parts, but decided to keep the look as I prefer it. 
 

 

 

 

[SPG]

Okay so after the car arrived I was able to get her cleaned to assess the extent of the clean up. This was her first bath. 

 

 

[SPG]

Okay something to confess, I knew before the clean up of the pesto that the sills would need some attention, and that common area were the rear spats usually are fitted. 
 

What I didn’t know at the time, was how far I was willing to go and what else I would find. I should also stress that lockdown was looming and I was perhaps drawn to the idea that it would keep me busy. 
 

My original plan was to either move the car along as a project for someone else to tackle, or get it to the point where it was presentable to sell with a MOT etc. Either way my plans did not focus on keeping the car. 
 

So with the above said, and a quick look at the bank balance I started making a list of things that needed doing. I also took out my special rust finding wand and.......well! 
 

 

 

[SPG]

So with the above discovery’s coming to light, I decided that I’d have to do some proper repairs on these sections, and also be prepared for a few more discovery’s with further inspection. 
 

A few “money well spent” items  were then purchase to start the repairs. I’m not using the word restoration as I never intended to go into that level of refresh on this car. 
 

fist up to fix the holes in the sills I got expanding foam after watching a few tutorials on YouTube. Make sure to get a good grade of foam if going down this route, you don’t want to do a half job. 

Ordinary T-Cut is great but the pro stuff really helps with the rejuvenation. Again it’s best to invest in good products. 

 

[SPG]

Wow tough crowd . 
 

So no expanding foam or T-cut was used in the refresh chaps. 
 

but after finding the rust on the sills etc, I decided a full respray would be required along with the metalwork to have the rusty stuff cut out and replaced. 
 

Now financially this makes no real sense, but like I said, it was a welcome distraction to the lockdown. I also wanted to save the supra from an early grave which made the spend easier to digest. 

So I got busy and started to strip the car down to reduce the outlay on the respray. 

 

 

 

[jim_supra]

Teardown is coming along nicely, and glad to see the repairs are being done rather than the car being broken for parts. I guess the engine sale should cover a lot of the respray?

Really wish I had a unit/ garage like that!

 

[mwilkinson]

Nice save.  This car was definately on the early stages of total rot.

You going for a complete glass out respray?

Have you sourced the N/A lump to replace the TT?

[SPG]

12 hours ago, jim_supra said:

Teardown is coming along nicely, and glad to see the repairs are being done rather than the car being broken for parts. I guess the engine sale should cover a lot of the respray?

Really wish I had a unit/ garage like that!

 

Thanks Jim, it’s taken me a fair few years to get to this point but finally having a good workshop/storage space I must admit is very handy. 
 

with regards to parting out, I don’t think I could do it to a running driving car, and I know the previous owner too well, and those eye contact moments would certainly be awkward if it was broken 

9 hours ago, mwilkinson said:

Nice save.  This car was definately on the early stages of total rot.

You going for a complete glass out respray?

Have you sourced the N/A lump to replace the TT?

I certainly agree, this one was very much on the edge of revival and I’ve not posted pictures of the fun part of the metal work . 
 

as the engine was being removed I did indeed decide on a glass out job, and replaced the windscreen and rear seals. I didn’t have the budget left to go for brand new weather strips and moulding on this one unfortunately. I also carried out a smoke machine test on the cabin to see if I had anything to worry about, but it’s was all fine thankfully. 
 

with regards to the NA engine, I like to be prepared so had pre purchased a NA engine, with loom and W58 attached for this exact reason. A chap local was breaking a perfectly good NA to use the shell for his recently crashed TT Single, so I bought the engine and full running gear. 
 

 

[SPG]

Last few parts stripped off before going to the bodyshop. 
 

 

 

Now this is where things got very concerning. The rear hatch was inspected as there was a section of rust on the top corner just above the hatch, but it was upon checking the boot lid hinge that I really began to worry. 
 

These initial pictures were before the headliner was removed, but you can see the issue regardless. 
 

 

 

 

In all the years I’ve been around these cars I’ve never seen anything as bad as that hinge section, and I’ll be honest I kinda worried that it might be beyond economical repair. 
 

 

 

[SPG]

So feeling a little out of my depth with the new find, I decided it was time to get the bodyshop to give me an idea of this was fixable, and more importantly at what cost. 
 

I enlisted the services of Martin Leeder at ML Motorsport to assess and eventually carry out all of the metal work and the respray. Martin worked previously for A1 Race and Restoration and that’s where I first witnessed his metal work and paint finish. He also work at Eagle E-Types before that and as you can imagine gets a lot of work from E-Type owners and other classic marques. 
 

Martin looked over the car and was able to give me an idea of what the car was going to cost to repair, also made me away that things can change if new discovery’s are made, which I was happy with. 
 

As I knew I wanted the subframes off the car I agreed with Martin that I’d like a frame/dolly made. This was a simple square design on some heavy duty dolly wheels. I purchased the dolly wheels from RS. 
 

 

[Mike2JZ]

Thats going to need some serious repairing, not sure I could stomach that.  You are doing gods work! 

[mwilkinson]

Love the home made dolly.  I bought one from CJ Auto Heywood. Very handy bit of kit.

2 Ton Car Body Dolly

Love this build thread. Regretably this is the kind of work many of us will find ourselves having to deal with as the A80 Supra gets older.

[SPG]

1 hour ago, Mike2JZ said:

Thats going to need some serious repairing, not sure I could stomach that.  You are doing gods work! 

I can assure you if it hadn’t been for Martin reassuring me, I may have called it a day 

1 hour ago, mwilkinson said:

Love the home made dolly.  I bought one from CJ Auto Heywood. Very handy bit of kit.

2 Ton Car Body Dolly

Love this build thread. Regretably this is the kind of work many of us will find ourselves having to deal with as the A80 Supra gets older.

That CJ Auto Dolly looks like a handy bit of kit. We’ve now added treaded sections that can have various attachment attached to it, but at the time I just popped a pallet on top of it and lowered the car down onto rubber pads. 
 

Sadly I fear you might be right, with regards to potential repairs facing owners. I am still amazed when I see “rust free” example being adorned on some adds. Surely with age there’s got to be at least surface rust . 
 

if I were running OEM Skirts, I’d be taking them off for a good inspection. Removing the rubber side pod vent and looking begin the sill would be an area to check for sure. And just behind it is the plastic vent. 

[SPG]

With the car pretty much stripped, I had it taken to ML so that Martin could get the car up on the ramps. With the exterior being so tatty I was under no illusions that the underside of the car would be any better if not worse, so I popped my goggles in my pocket and headed up to have a look at what lay beneath. 
 

Actually before that, after purchasing the Dolly wheels I realised the Stock 16’s were going to struggle to capture anyone’s imagination after the repaint. With the budget being blown wide open with the corrosion, I had to get a cheap set of wheels that would look alright. I still wanted a well manufactured wheel so opted for a used set of Volk F-Zero Challenge. 
 

 

 

Had to have a little mock up before she left for the bodyshop 

 

 

Now I wasn’t going to leave the wheels in this condition and as the budget was out the window I sent the wheels off to WeRestoreAlloys up here in Scotland to be refinished. More on this later . 

[Pudsey]

I have to be honest. 

When I saw the ‘foam and T Cut’ I thought you were being serious as it already looked like a fair amount of rust in the sills.

Now seeing the roof, that’s quite shocking I’d say.

Do you think it’s been previously repaired, received a rear quarter, and sat with water rusting it out over time by not refitting the wiring rubbers properly.

I know the rubbers can wear through the paint over time, but that’s right in the roof judging by pictures.

Either way top effort for taking it on, and making speedy progress by the looks of things.

It would be great if the repairer could get some pictures of the eventual findings, and then final repair as a before and after.

Also look forward to the wheel refurb.

[SPG]

6 hours ago, Pudsey said:

I have to be honest. 

When I saw the ‘foam and T Cut’ I thought you were being serious as it already looked like a fair amount of rust in the sills.

Now seeing the roof, that’s quite shocking I’d say.

Do you think it’s been previously repaired, received a rear quarter, and sat with water rusting it out over time by not refitting the wiring rubbers properly.

I know the rubbers can wear through the paint over time, but that’s right in the roof judging by pictures.

Either way top effort for taking it on, and making speedy progress by the looks of things.

It would be great if the repairer could get some pictures of the eventual findings, and then final repair as a before and after.

Also look forward to the wheel refurb.

Hey Pudsey, still loving the Carbing strut brace I bought off you many moons ago . 
 

I totally agree the corrosion on this one was absolutely a thing of nightmares. But after stripping the car back Martin and the team were unable to find any previous panel repairs to the rear. What they did find though, was a large split in the rubber seal which looks as thought it’s allowed the water to set and collect. So I’d certain hope that all who read this to go and check the condition of this rubber seal/grommet. 
 

the car is nearly completed now, and these pics were taken over the course of the lockdown, I’m just working my way through the uploads and commentary. I’ll be showing the before and after shots also. 

now that I’ve tackled this car and learned from the rear down and re-assembly I feel so much more comfortable tackling other projects. Very satisfying work but it’s hard to see that silver lining at the midway point. 
 

 

[Pudsey]

Ha forgot about that one, you don’t see them around much anymore.

Certainly looking forward to the rest of the updates, and I am sure plenty will have a quick check of these potential areas of concern.