operation redo engine bay

dsmDolney · 04-01-2014

So after getting this 2g and looking at the bay and seeing the paint coming off and the padding on the fire wall that is ugly i decided to pull the motor and repaint and fix the strut tower since i picked up my daily driver this past saturday so i can finally get started on it.

b00sted_spyder · 04-01-2014

In my opinion, I think the engine bay color should be the same as the exterior color. That strut tower looks very scary and should be fixed asap.

dsmDolney · 04-01-2014

I am thinking about it going red also it would look better and thats the number one priority right now pull the motor and fix the strut tower any easy but good ways to fix them does anyone know ?? Or do i just have to cut it out and weld metal back in

TkrPerformance · 04-01-2014

With it looking that bad I would look for a good non rusty tower and replace the full thing.

mark4g63t · 04-01-2014

Ive got a red one

dsmreck · 04-01-2014

It really does depend on how bad it is, and that looks pretty bad. The thing about it is there are two layers of metal so u will need to start grinding the top and bottom to see how far it goes and cut out all the rust. Than you would want a sealer and paint inbetween and all around everything that's left after cutting and grinding. Step five would be to fab up a top and bottom layer to be welded into place. One at a time so you can use the sealer inbetween. Than bondo and paint. Ask dark2g questions if you need further help or explainations on rust and how to treat it, he is the man at body work.

Dark2g · 04-02-2014

That is pretty bad on the tower. I would get a spot weld cutter and find a new tower if u want it to be structurally sound. The rust will be everywhere between the layers of steel. Strut tower rust and rear quarter rust on these cars is pretty normal cause mitsu sucked at sealing the wheel wells

dsmDolney · 04-02-2014

Just doing an update got home early from work today so started taking suspention stuff off the front to go and get powdercoated from my neighbor also been just taking simple stuff off to get ready to pull the engine hopefully have that pulled saturday (if its nice enough out)
Also found a good place for my parts (in my room)

evotuner · 04-02-2014

I put spare parts in my spare bedroom as well, if they are clean lol

dsmDolney · 04-02-2014

Its a good place for them not to get beat up and no one to touch them but soon i wont have anywhere to walk in my room lol

mark4g63t · 04-02-2014

Thats when the basement comes into play...Then soon enough you'll get kicked out the house or paying rent + storage fees lol

dsmDolney · 04-02-2014

Ha ha yea no kidding soon its all going to be in the hallway that leads to my room and i still cant beleive i havnt gotten kicked out of the garage yet considering im starting another mess lol

dsmDolney · 04-03-2014

Got some more work done tonight got the motor out and now time to tackle the hard part fixing the tower rust theres some pics of pulling it

dsmDolney · 04-04-2014

Some updated pics got the bay pretty much stripped and almost ready to attack the strut tower

dsmDolney · 04-07-2014

picked up a mostly complete strut tower from mark4g63t last night plan on cutting mine out of what I need to cut then trace it on the good tower cut and weld into place hopefully get this done soon it kills not being able to drive a nice car in this weather but as long as my car gets done before the cruise that's all that matters lol

dsmreck · 04-08-2014

Just make sure you use that black 3m rust encapsulatir or whatever it's called. I will let u know for sure what it's called later when I can look at the can. The worst is hand sanding that bay good enough for paint. Use 400 grit wet/dry paper and that will be plenty good

bigboostingst · 04-08-2014

Yeah the sanding is not fun... Luckly mine didn't have any rust but it definitely was not a one day job. I used POR15 on the seams, it's expensive but has excellent reviews:

dsmDolney · 04-08-2014

will look into that por15 stuff
dsmreck what paint color did you also use on your bay when you repained it it looks great and matches the body color well

dsmDolney · 04-13-2014

Update i got a t it tonight and made some progress got what i needed cut out of the tower. I also picked up some of that por 15 stuff and it seems to work great to get to the little rust i cant get to. Just have to cut out the peice out of the good tower and weld it in.

dsmreck · 04-13-2014

yes por15 is what i used i believe. I will check on that color code again for you but dupont is an excellent brand with great color match