Thanks for the kind words. The support both me and my mum have had over the past few weeks has been tremendous, from all corners of the globe, it has certainly helped a lot in coming to terms with the situation. Watching your dad die leaves a mark which I don't think will ever go away, questions buzz around your head like, was he in pain? Was he scared? Could I have done something to save him? Did I say all I had to say, questions I will never know the answer to .........and the worst of all dad not seeing his granddaughter, he was so excited about becoming a granddad, he was a very talented musician and wanted to teach her to play guitar etc I will never get over that for the rest of my days.



Although I haven't set foot in the garage yet I have ordered some custom Pistons for the engine rebuild, one 5sgte on the way the block should arrive soon too. I guess it won't be too long before I get back into it! I am going to help fix a poorly st185 today that won't run, maybe this will kickstart my enthusiasm again.

Nial You are absolutely on the money about thoughts that buzz in your head. I think at 17 I was more scared of what we will do in terms of how I will support the family. I was still in school and my mom and two sisters were home at the time. My older brother had left home on not so good terms with my dad a few years earlier and we all knew that my brother's departure was eating him inside. Just before he closed his eyes he asked me where is my brother. I had telephoned him to come home as soon as possible, but he didn't make it in time. (He was overseas at that time). The sadness in his eyes coupled with disappointment still haunts me to this day.

Sorry, Lets not talk about sadness. You have so much to look forward to. Hang in there my friend, as time will heal some wounds and it will get better. I promise you that. Take care of yourself, your mom and your wife and of course the baby.

Cant wait to see your engine rebuild thread.

This post has been edited by msk59: Nov 22, 2015 - 6:55 PM

I set foot back in the garage at the weekend, spent a happy hour or so doing some paintwork prep. Enthusiasm returned. TRD Strut brace prdered, heated front windscreen arrived. Still waiting for the TTE header tank to turn up. Targetting October 2016 for completion...or at least to get it running.

Good plan mate . Since I plan visit you in July 2016 (about) will have chance to see it right on time before you ride it and make all completely dirty .

This post has been edited by malpaso: Dec 15, 2015 - 4:38 AM

Looking forward to it bud.


Masked off the car and have starter rubbing down the paint





I also managed to get my hands on a TRD strut brace.



Its going to look very different in a few weeks time.....i have already managed to get the "TRD" badge looking like brand new, its hidden away to keep it safe

Looking forward to getting this underway again

Nial,

It is so nice to see that you are able to continue with your project. I have been following you from the early days, and continued on FB and know the pain personally. None of us lives forever. It is always too soon, and nothing anyone says can lift your spirits when it comes knocking. But, one thing I do know, and that is putting yourself back into action is the best medicine. You will see as you give yourself the gift of becoming re-immersed in your project.

Speaking of which. . . It should give you tremendous solace to know how many people have been deeply affected by your attitude and principles of work. You are a Zen Master when it comes to that!

Bill
Durham, North Carolina (US)

I could be wrong but I believe you have to put spacers under the strut brace if you are going to be running the top mount charge cooler, otherwise it will not fit on the st205.

You are correct.....but i wont be running the top mount. a custom made FMIC will be used....once i have got the calculations back to give me the required size etc. Thats why i have gone for the TRD strut brace and not used my existing cusco brace.

Nial: Glad to see you are back on the project. I will check everyday to see your progress. You are an inspiration to us all. Thank You very much.

Let the build began!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks, high praise indeed which i am sure i don't deserve, but if i inspired one person to pick up a spanner then it makes me proud and all the effort was worth it

So, back into the garage again, this time to do a bit of bodywork checking. i knocked the passenger side rear quarter so after making it smooth i decided i had better check it for symmetry.

I splashed out on a 30cm profile gauge



not that expensive and well worth it.

First off i checked the drivers side,so i measured to get an exact location so i could replicate it on the other side.] and offered up the profile gauge



I then moved over to the same spot on the passenger side.

As you can see there was a bit of a difference, at least 1mm out.



So after alot of hammering (I found that a large rubber hammer was best) I managed to knock the wing back into shape.

Not perfect, still 0.002inch out but i can live with that, the primer might take some of that out :clap:



I checked over a large portion of the car and the rear quarter panel was the only one that showed any difference.

Just the rear mane to rub down now, then onto the front wings, doors, bumpers and rear wing.....will it ever end :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

That's not bad at all.

Nice job !

Cheers pal

I would just like to wish everyone a fantastic Christmas day full of food, friendship and festivity.....and a much improved 2016. Get this bad boy finished next year

More rubbing down :lol: its taking a little longer than i first thought, but its not too bad, i am quite enjoying it :clap:





I decided to go for smooth raiser blocks



Toyota HiLux washer jets with a fan spray pattern.....a perfect fit



And putting a new ceiling on the garage so when i start spraying it will be as clean an environment as possible

part number on those washer jets?

>


No idea, i got them off ebay.

Just checked for you.....mk6 hilux 2006 to 2011

Apparently the spray pattern is too low from them so i will investigate a better option

This post has been edited by Nial: Jan 30, 2016 - 7:44 PM

REALLY great restoration/rebuild , congrats for your work !

>
Cheers

You need Volvo s60 washer jets!

A small update, a bit of preparation for spraying.

I decided to re-plumd the air system, i thoughht another water trap/filter wouldnt go amiss, i also made the whole system movable so its easy to move if i change the location of the compressor or move house.



As you can see its work in progress,mstill waiting for the new filter to turn up. To anyone wanting to have a go at home spraying.....you can never have too many filters, you dont want any water in the air.

Ss4 bumper looks great! The attention to detail in this build is out of this world, fantastic job so far Nial!

Thanks very much

I am at the point now where i just want it finished so I can drive it

Frustrating day #618.

After much sanding and sanding and sanding, i was finally ready to apply some epoxy mastic 421 undercoat, i carefully masked off the car, a task which in itself took a whole day. I launched my new Devilbiss GPi spray gun and merrily sprayed away, looking like a pale darth vader in all the spray gear, respirator etc in managed to scare the local cats away and spray toxic material without dieing..........the finished job looked okay for a beginner/amateur/novice but one of my neigbours decided that it would be a good time to "beat a rug", now thats not a metafor for anything rude, but who the hell beats a rug these days? Havnt they heard of a vacuun cleaner? Needless to say, the laws of "f?ck you Nial" came into play and all of the dust from the rug managed to drift directly into my garage, dont swirl around the neigbourhood at all giving me a chance, it was like someone had stuck a dust magnet in my car, the beautiful primer now looked like it had mange, either that or the shell suddenly reached puberty as i am sure theres a pubic hair or two gracing the roof. Luckily the primer had semi set so alot of it just blew off with the airgun, the rest, well it looks like i am back to sanding again, began wet sanding yesterday, finish it off today and maybe get a new coat of primer down......this time the garage door is staying well and truely shut until the primer is dry.



I also managed to get hold of some projector headlights which after repairing two broken tabs look fabulous. Once i have managed to get this primer down, i will put all the panels on to make sure everything lines up okay before i apply any more paint....fingers crossed its not rug beating day again. Grrrrrrrrrrr

This post has been edited by Nial: May 8, 2016 - 1:57 AM

Ha !

I would've walked over and beat them down with the rug, so you handled it better than I would. Actually I'm not into getting arrested so I wouldn't, but I really would have gone over to tell them to go beat their rug behind the house instead of out in the open for all to see. Of course at that point they probably would assume something instead of taking things literal, but that's ok too.

Today went slightly better, it's nice and sunny, perfect spraying weather, warm and not too humid. Although I must remember to make note of where the airline is......whoops.

And no rug beating.

UP YOURS you rug beating bar stewards.

Your dust creating ways can't defeat me.

Huzzah! Sucks you had to do it twice, but it looks good.

Thanks although i noticed i missed a spot on the underside near where the rear bumper goes. I might have to invest in a mini spray gun to make spraying the sills easier.

TRD strut brace finished and fitted with stainless domed nuts or acorn nuts.



I thought that the regular nuts didn't look very smart, these finish off the suspension tops a lot better.



This post has been edited by Nial: Jul 2, 2016 - 1:21 PM