Full strip down/restoration

[snoopios]

Hi guys,

So, my second FD isn't in great shape (body work wise). I did originally buy it with all intentions of using it just for the engine but I can't bring myself to ripping the engine out and essentially breaking the car or even scrapping it.

My plan is to begin the long and arduous journey of ripping everything out back to bare chassis and then rebuilding the car from the ground up. Strip down part should be fairly straight forward (taking things apart tends to be) but obviously putting it back together is going to be a nightmare - this could obviously end one of two ways but I'm willing to give it a go to be able to keep another FD on the road.

Here's my question. If I was to rip everything out (glass, doors, electrics, engine - literally everything), does anyone know what the best method of stripping the chassis/shell back down to bare metal and then having it re-coated/painted? And..... how much do the different methods cost?

Thanks guys

P.s. I know people tend to have their own opinions such as "I wouldn't do it, there's no point" etc. but I want to do this so useful advice related to my questions only please

 

[Nas80]

Envirostrip in Tamworth. It'll be a couple of grand or less. But you can't take anything aluminium cos itll disolve. For the bonnet you need a D/A and a patience.

 

[Nas80]

Here's an 1969 BMW E3 I'm working on this was acid dipped

it's made my life a lot easier getting off 50 years worth of crap and about ten layers of shit paint that probably had lead in it..

The underneath is done.

 

[Nas80]

You know stripping and rebuilding any car is actually not that difficult, just try and remember how you took it off.

Label ya wires and get a ton of freezer bags and pop your bolts and nuts in a bag and then write on the bag where it came from.

Get some decent shelving and storage boxes, carefully pack your stuff and then you'll thank yourself later

 

[JoeLanger]

I think building back up is easier than breaking it apart! you have to figure out where you're going to store it too!

Acid dip would be cool

And as above label / write down/ take photos of as much as possible! wish I'd done more of this when I stripped mine down.

 

[snoopios]

Awesome, thanks for the help so far guys.

I've done some research in the past and I've seen that acid dip can be problematic with the acid pooling/being stuck in areas of the chassis.

I'm planning on filming what I do with a couple of GoPros anyway so that I can essentially watch it in reverse to figure out how to put it all back together.

 

[snoopios]

Envirostrip in Tamworth. It'll be a couple of grand or less. But you can't take anything aluminium cos itll disolve. For the bonnet you need a D/A and a patience.

Probably a very noob question and it'll be insanely obvious when you've said it but what exactly is D/A?

 

[snoopios]

What about re-wiring the car from scratch (using the original one as a guide)?

 

[snoopios]

And, another potentially noob question but does anyone know which parts of the car are aluminium?

 

[K100J]

What about re-wiring the car from scratch (using the original one as a guide)?

Easy if you know how but very time consuming if you are doing it to a decent standard. Why are you going to such an extent?

 

[snoopios]

Easy if you know how but very time consuming if you are doing it to a decent standard. Why are you going to such an extent?

So the car wiring has been cut and shut quite a lot and also there are a lot of parts that have become obsolete which means there are a lot of left over wires hanging about in the engine bay.

I've also got a bunch of electrical issues with the car that I wanted to sort out so thought re-wiring the car would give it a new lease of life.

It's also simply because I'm going to the extent of gutting the whole thing, I have an opportunity to do it now so I thought I might as well. I'm hoping this is all going to turn out to be fairly "short term" pain for long term gain.

Realistically, I can't imagine I would need to replace the entire loom but I'm thinking worse case as the whole loom is coming out and while the shell/chassis is being treated, it'll be another thing to crack on with in the mean time.

 

[Nas80]

Probably a very noob question and it'll be insanely obvious when you've said it but what exactly is D/A?

Dual action sander. They come in handy for redecorating ya house too.

 

[marco]

When I decided to rewire mine I got a solid-state pdm and a flying loom. Saved a whole world of pain, and really glad I went that route.

 

[K100J]

So the car wiring has been cut and shut quite a lot and also there are a lot of parts that have become obsolete which means there are a lot of left over wires hanging about in the engine bay.

I've also got a bunch of electrical issues with the car that I wanted to sort out so thought re-wiring the car would give it a new lease of life.

It's also simply because I'm going to the extent of gutting the whole thing, I have an opportunity to do it now so I thought I might as well. I'm hoping this is all going to turn out to be fairly "short term" pain for long term gain.

Realistically, I can't imagine I would need to replace the entire loom but I'm thinking worse case as the whole loom is coming out and while the shell/chassis is being treated, it'll be another thing to crack on with in the mean time.

If you have the means and the time crack on bro! Post up a build thread if you do. Would be interested to see how you get on

 

[snoopios]

If you have the means and the time crack on bro! Post up a build thread if you do. Would be interested to see how you get on

Will do. It won't be just yet, at the minute I'm trying to plan everything out (and save up some funds) ready for it to all happen and I've also got work to do on my house which is the main priority at the moment. I'll probably do a load of videos (similar to the way Chris on "B is for Build" did) to go through what I do every step of the way. It'll help me remember how I took it apart and help others out if they're thinking about doing something similar or even just bits of it.

 

[JoeLanger]

When I decided to rewire mine I got a solid-state pdm and a flying loom. Saved a whole world of pain, and really glad I went that route.

Which one did you use out of interest?

 

[marco]

Which one did you use out of interest?

Hp electronik. Thought about motec but this was better specced, and didn't have motec tax on it.

 

[GAVBEY]

Awsome. is that that upol raptor bed liner? How is it to lay on?

 

[Nas80]

Awsome. is that that upol raptor bed liner? How is it to lay on?

yea that's the stuff, You get a special spray gun for it makes it go on nice and even.

Car is gonna be so bad ass I can't wait to build it up.

 

[GAVBEY]

So fucking cool man! Love restoration builds. Theres a fuck tone on migweb. Choosing colour is the hardest part lol