Ivan's coupe: bodywork is done

[krullibull]

Nice to see some blasting and epoxying going on! Would like to do that to mine one day when the body stuff is "finished".

Blasting can do some nasty stuff to panels, did they use sand/aluminum? Wonder if it gets better with soda or high pressure water blasting?

About the forums I think AEU86 has gone in to a negative spiral since the Projects page is almost dead. In a automotive forum (esp. today) that is basically the heart.

[Power_uP]

Hey Ivan, let me know if you have any more trouble with the odo/trip counter. I have a AE82 cluster that may have the parts to repair yours. I've been picking it apart for various pieces over the years (mostly bulbs) and I don't think I'll need the odometer.

[Ivan141]

I've got it fixed for now, but thanks for the offer. Somehow I'd like to keep the cars original mileage.

[cavey]

Looks great!! ^_^

[Ivan141]

Great news everyone, last weeks meetup with the old dutch AEU86 gang inspired me to get off my ass and stop moping over the roof.

This weekend I stripped the paint off the inside of the roof and attacked the oilcan 'dents' with a shrinking disk.



AND IT WORKED!
The stretched areas have shrunk down just enough, allowing the metal to sit flush again, and there's still some strength left in it as well.

This means I can get on with things again, wish I'd mustered the courage to tackle this sooner.

[banpei]

Wow! How does such a disk work then? Does it work with heat?
I've seen shrinking tools, but those will stretch/shrink the metal physically.

[Ivan141]

As you can see it's a slick metal disk. You just press it against the metal and it will heat up a small spot without removing material.
The metal shrinks a bit when it cools down. The same result can be achieved in many ways, including oxy-acetylene torches, but you
have much more control over the amount of heat you put in with the disk.

[banpei]

Ah right, that makes sense! Thanks for explaining!

[Power_uP]

I had no idea that such a tool existed until now. To be honest I've found that most bodywork repairs are achievable if people just dive in headfirst (but obviously there are exceptions to that rule). The car is going to look great when its all finished, there aren't many rust-free 86s anymore.

[banpei]

I'm a subscriber to Practical Classics magazine for many years now and they cover a lot of repairs and how you can do it yourself. Everything is repairable, but it's often the question whether it's "economical" to repair it. And even if something is beyond repair they have great how-to's to make yourself a copy of a panel or how to cast one with your own aluminum foundry. (yes seriously, they covered that! )

But like you said: I haven't seen this disk technique come by.