Jump to content


Gemini Coupe Rebuild!!!


  • Please log in to reply
203 replies to this topic

#76 _Viper_

_Viper_
  • Guests

Posted 29 December 2009 - 07:26 PM

Filled a few of the dings on the drivers door today... starting to get better with bogwork now :) then I spot primed it ready for hi-fill..

Welded the aerial hole on the passenger guard.
Posted Image

Posted Image

I bought a pair of VX Clear side indicators, but rather then hunt around the wreckers for some fkd guards to cut the section from I used some carboard and took some measurements making a template then transferred to steel and just made up a section to weld into the guard.

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image

Then stripped the little bits of paint that were left and gave it a coat of Epoxy
Posted Image

#77 _Viper_

_Viper_
  • Guests

Posted 03 January 2010 - 07:51 PM

Hmm lets see what Ive done since last post...

Stripped the front apron and cut out what was needed for clearance of the front spoiler, then coated the inside with POR15
Posted Image

Posted Image

Welded in the drivers side guard flutes and Clear indicator mount
Posted Image

Posted Image

Hi-filled the flares and front spoiler
Posted Image

Stripped the drivers guard and coated the baremetal sections inside with POR15
Posted Image

Posted Image

Then made a start on stripping the shell
Posted Image

Made up a realistic schedule for whats left to do to see If im gonna make Motorvation.... and I very much doubt it... looks like im gonna need an extra week! ill call em tommorow and see if they will be nice and reschedule the event for me :)

#78 TerrA LX

TerrA LX

    Fulcrum Fixture

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 14,241 posts
  • Location:Sid 'n' knee
  • Joined: 31-May 06

Posted 03 January 2010 - 08:06 PM

Cheers :)

Maybe someone could shed some light, When I was launching alot of the times the rear end would bounce and shake about a fair bit, Whats that caused by? I thought that only really happened with leaf spring cars?



this might fix it

#79 _Viper_

_Viper_
  • Guests

Posted 03 January 2010 - 08:28 PM

Not street registrable tho... and not the best handling kit either...

#80 _doogs_

_doogs_
  • Guests

Posted 03 January 2010 - 11:41 PM

Great project mate, love what you have been doing.
Engine looks great all cleaned up.

#81 TerrA LX

TerrA LX

    Fulcrum Fixture

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 14,241 posts
  • Location:Sid 'n' knee
  • Joined: 31-May 06

Posted 04 January 2010 - 02:52 AM

Not street registrable tho... and not the best handling kit either...


Agree, but my point being that to me the gemmy's seem to suffer from the diff winding up like a spring and when you take off this is transferred to the tyres so maybe look at some form of better restraint.
You only have to jump in an auto and stall it up to see what Im talking about.

#82 _Viper_

_Viper_
  • Guests

Posted 04 January 2010 - 10:16 AM

They have a central torque Tube tho which is mounted to the front of the diff and bolted to the floor as a 3-link setup..... so its already pretty much the same as the McDonalds kit, except the mcdonalds link has no bushes.

Posted Image

Posted Image

I dont see where there is any allowance for it to wind up :S

Anyway I fitted semi-slicks after that first meet and it was launching heaps better, .2 second faster 60ft, even got a PB Trap speed of 103mph... but had issues with the tune after they tweaked it and everytime I changed gears it would bog down so not PB ET :/

#83 _Viper_

_Viper_
  • Guests

Posted 04 January 2010 - 10:25 PM

Well sprayed the drivers guard and front apron in Epoxy this morning..

Posted Image

Posted Image

Then pulled the front n back windscreens out.
Posted Image

No rust at all in the front frame, and only a small section in the rear :D which is good
Posted Image

after removing the roof-lining I found that the center brace was bent and separated from the roof skin.
Posted Image

But I got a shell out the front, so might cut the brace out of that and weld into mine.

Also made a start on the rear passenger guard... about half done.
Posted Image

Coupe might be going for a trip tommorow ;)

#84 _lx5008_

_lx5008_
  • Guests

Posted 05 January 2010 - 10:01 AM

ive owned a lot of toranas over the years but ive owned more geminis. great cars and you cant kill them. the only part these days i have left is a rear window lock. keep up the good work.

#85 _2wild4u_

_2wild4u_
  • Guests

Posted 07 January 2010 - 12:56 AM

looking good

#86 _Viper_

_Viper_
  • Guests

Posted 08 January 2010 - 04:08 PM

Well as some know I sent the shell away to be blasted... just all the sh!tlty bits where its hell fiddly to get into and I know would have drove me insane and killed my enthusiasm..

Called Stripped bare soda blasters and he came to my house and looked at the car and gave me a quote, to which I was surprised was reasonable, To strip the from cowl, windscreen frames, door frames, rear 1/4 window frames, boot frame and back end with Sandblasting and the roof, fuel flap/vent and sill panel with Sodablast was $300 Then to get the bonnet done was $60 each side for sodablasting.

But yea got it back today :D

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image

Which also uncovered some surface rust on the roof (sodablast doesnt remove rust) which goes to show... ive had this car for 4 or so years and was never any sign of rust in the roof but it was there.. sitting... hiding.. waiting to be a pain in the ass years on so im happy I decided to go back to metal...you never know whats under there

Posted Image

Found abit more rust in the front window frames as well
Posted Image

So I got plenty of work to do now!

#87 Stinga

Stinga

    .

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 2,114 posts
  • Name:Stinga
  • Location:Wollongong, NSW
  • Car:HD Holden ute, and sedan, UC torana
  • Joined: 05-December 05

Posted 08 January 2010 - 04:40 PM

i cant wait to see it unfold from here. may have read it previously but what colour is it going to be??

#88 _Viper_

_Viper_
  • Guests

Posted 08 January 2010 - 04:47 PM

Either Cherry Black, ala VS GTS or Radiant Ebony... On the new Mazda's (Very dark purply/marone sorta color. but almost black) Well thats the top 2 on the list atm... havnt actually bought paint yet so nothings locked in

#89 _Viper_

_Viper_
  • Guests

Posted 09 January 2010 - 03:48 PM

Sprayed the shell with epoxy this morning (including my muffler, Doh)

Cheers to Mell (Missus) for giving me a hand applying the Deox.

Heh my first time spraying more then just a single panel, is a fair bit harder, really goto plan the order your going to spray it in and remember the bits you have and havnt done yet and goto remind yaself to breathe!

Posted Image

Posted Image

#90 _LX77SL_

_LX77SL_
  • Guests

Posted 09 January 2010 - 03:55 PM

nice progress man gonna be a very nice little car. shame ur not gonna make motorvation this year. Hows the torana going?

ayden

#91 76lxhatch

76lxhatch

    That was easy!

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 7,187 posts
  • Location:Unzud
  • Car:SS
  • Joined: 04-August 08
Garage View Garage

Posted 09 January 2010 - 09:07 PM

The muffler needs to go in the bin anyway :tease:

Looking really good, cherry black sounds like a good colour to me

#92 _Viper_

_Viper_
  • Guests

Posted 21 January 2010 - 02:06 PM

Sorry for no updates guys... Ive been quite crook and it looks like ive got an Ulcer, so that combined with the heat and not being able to have redbulls lol cos of the ulcer I just cbf..

But all the bolt on panels are ready for paint, just need to finish the shell now and my Paint was finally ready after having to wait a week for the right tinters to come from east states and I was keen to get a preview so I sprayed one of the flares :) and mmm I really like the color, it really is 2 colors. in the shade its just a nice gloss black but out in full sun is when it really shines and brings out the cherry metallic.

Was pretty hard to capture the effect with my crappy phone camera but here's the best I got.
Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image

Came out a fair bit orange peely tho which I wasnt happy with.. I think it was a combination of me not putting it on wet enough, my gun not being set properly (i still go no idea how to do that properly) and cos I used Normal thinners which are rated at 20-30'c and it was about 35' on the day which means it dries faster and doesnt have time to flow out nice and level.

But when I spray the rest of it in the booth ill have my mate with me and he will show me how to sort the gun settings and choose the right thinners etc :)

I also filled the sections just below the front windscreen where the cowl meets the A-pillar on both sides...

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image

I tried to just mig weld the holes in the window frames from the rust but the rust has made the steel too thin and it just falls away... so looks like I cant cheat and will have to actually cut the sections out and weld in clean steel.

#93 MRLXSS

MRLXSS

    The Render Garage

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 12,400 posts
  • Name:Matt
  • Location:Upwey, Melbourne
  • Car:355 LX Hatchback, DeLorean DMC-12, LX SS Hatch, VY Cross8 Crewman
  • Joined: 09-November 05

Posted 21 January 2010 - 02:12 PM

Thats a really nice colour!!

Coming along really well mate!

#94 lcgtr1970

lcgtr1970

    Forum Fixture

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 1,702 posts
  • Name:Jordan
  • Location:having a beer, looking at the torana
  • Joined: 13-March 06

Posted 21 January 2010 - 02:43 PM

looks awesome man...really nice colour! look forward to the end product.

#95 _Viper_

_Viper_
  • Guests

Posted 29 April 2010 - 11:28 PM

Wow long time since an update... as some would know I got quite sick and couldnt touch the car for about 4 weeks... And ive since gone back to working away. Rather then have the car sit there for who knows how long till I had time to do more on it I sent it to my mates workshop (Reaper Customs) for him to finish the body work on the shell and couple of panels and get it all ready for paint and then when its ready Ill come down and use his booth and spray it on one of my breaks (with him looking over my shoulder giving me tips/guidance)

Anyway he didnt get stuck into it untill about 4 weeks ago and the shell is just about ready :D I went and visited him on my break and we rubbed back the flare I had painted earlier (too much orange peel) gave the lot a rub quick rub down with 800 and set up the booth, he sprayed 2 flares and give me a few tips and I sprayed the other 2... and wow they turned out awesome, Even he was very impressed (he usually uses protec paints, where this is PPG.. he said he would NEVER get a finish like that off the gun with protec paint... We could spray it alot wetter (then he normally could with protec... he said if he had done it that wet with protec it would of all ended up on the floor)

My reflection
Posted Image

His reflection
Posted Image

Posted Image

We had the flares laying flat tho, gonna wait and see when we do a panel standing up (ie doors) and see if we can still spray it as wet and not get any runs.

He also e-mailed me a couple of pics of some of the rust repairs he done.
Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image
Other side was much the same... heres some of the rear windscreen

Posted Image

Posted Image

So yea, im stoked so far... looking forward to doing abit more painting :D

#96 lxsstorana

lxsstorana

    Forum Fixture

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 2,499 posts
  • Name:Mick
  • Location:Eastwood, Sydney
  • Car:SS Hatchback
  • Joined: 23-March 06

Posted 30 April 2010 - 07:46 AM

Great work Viper. :spoton:

That's a good looking Gemini.

Mick.

#97 _dirtbag_

_dirtbag_
  • Guests

Posted 30 April 2010 - 09:20 AM

That's looking awesome Clint. Nice colour choice. Looks kind of like the plymouth prowler colour :spoton:


As for the axle tramp issue, first thing to do there is some decent shocks.

Keep the pics coming : )

#98 Heath

Heath

    I like cars.

  • Administrators
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 18,363 posts
  • Name:Heath
  • Location:Eastern Suburbs, Melbourne
  • Car:Heavily Modified UC Sunbird Hatchback
  • Joined: 07-November 05
Garage View Garage

Posted 30 April 2010 - 11:04 AM

Enjoying the thread Clint :) Good stuff

#99 _Viper_

_Viper_
  • Guests

Posted 30 April 2010 - 07:25 PM

Hey Tim, Yea its a similar color... is Cherry Black from VS GTS commodore's. Assuming I can get off work early enough tomorrow were going to spray the doors... Cant wait :D

#100 _Viper_

_Viper_
  • Guests

Posted 01 May 2010 - 09:55 PM

We sprayed the doors this arvo, did the same thing... he sprayed one door while I watched then I sprayed the other copying what he did as best I could, hehe we both got a small run in the same spot (the bottom of the handle indent) but only in the clear so will easily be able to sand it out.

Doors didnt turn out quite as good as the flares... you can just make out the slight orange peel in the pics, Think it was because they were stood up and we couldnt put it down as wet. But there straight as which was good considering how bad they were when I started.

Posted Image

Posted Image

What it will look like in the sun
Posted Image

Ive got a short video of the doors, but its 9mb and I donno how to make it smaller? Darren?

Will be spraying the shell shortly :D




0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users