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View Full Version : Makeover VR2 - welded new rear arches & custom front bumper



MarkSanne
17-07-2011, 03:28 PM
Been busy the last couple of months with getting the VR2 back in shape again.

The rear wheel arches were very, very rusted. I decided I'd do it myself as I don't trust repair shops enough that they will go far enough into rust-proofing it to prevent future trouble. I have all equipment like a MIG welder and combined with a bit of help from a friend who was in car repairs for years, I wanted to take the chance. Should it not work out, I'd still be able to bring it to a bodyshop.

Some before pictures:
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And some pics of work in progress:
(these are mixed up, as I don't know how the uploader works, but it seems in some random order and I see no easy way to get them all back in proper order, sorry).
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The front bumper is made of 2 regular non VR4 front bumpers. From 1 bumper I only made the lip. The other thing I customized is the enlarged space for the (large size) number plate which will now fit flush inside the area instead of on top/over the bumper. The side skirts weren't very good looking anymore, as were some small parts so I've primered those along. The idea is to paint the bumper, skirts and small parts myself (professional 2-component primer, color paint & gloss paint). Depending on how that goes, I might paint the rear wheel arches myself too.
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Mark 4
17-07-2011, 03:35 PM
That bumper looks interesting.

The Vee
18-07-2011, 05:05 AM
Nice work Mark.

MarkSanne
21-07-2011, 09:58 PM
Painting is done! Worked out pretty good. Ofcourse spotless is impossible in a 'dirty' environment like my garage, but nevertheless, nothing a little buffing won't fix! The side skirts however need a makeover. Way too much clear coating on the top/inner edges which will show when you open up a door. So those need some sanding and a respray. I'll get there!

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While waiting the clear coats to cure completely (been drying since last evening) I started thinking about the next thing to do. Then my eye caught one of the 2 sets of spare front wheel fenders. I picked one of the more damaged ones and decided to give it a go.

I've seen some nice examples of vented front fenders both in Holland (especially one done by Mark -aka Dutch Driver-) and several on here with the plastic/modified insert from (I think it was) a Ford. But both just don't do it 100% for me, so I did a bit of welding on this spare panel closing the side marker and cutting grooves in the metal completely freehand with the trusted angle grinder and dremel both with thin cutting discs.

Because of my freehand work I have done this in record time, but it's also far from perfect. However, just for using this as a try-out I think that this is pretty much the way I had hoped it would be! I'm very sure I will turn my 'good/proper' set of spare panels into things of beauty!

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Nick Mann
21-07-2011, 10:16 PM
Fair play to you bud! I'm enjoying watching this thread develop....

MarkSanne
23-07-2011, 06:30 PM
Today I've been busy customizing 2 spare fenders and using the mock-up fender as a donor for bits of steel to weld shut the side repeater holes.

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I've looked at doing 3 vents, but no matter how I marked it out, it didn't do it for me, so I sticked to 4 vents.

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Cutting and welding.

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Oops!! High on welding fumes? I used the wrong lines to cut out. So welded those back...

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Now we're getting somewhere!

On the the other side!

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This one worked out to go a bit faster and smoother. Getting the hang of it I gueass.

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This panel was damaged at one of the bolt-up holes. The previous owner probably needed an angle grinder to get the panel loose and damaged it. I couldn't just leave it like that knowing I had a donor. So I transferred that which turned out to be quite a job after all. Looks pretty good again. A tiny bit of filler and no-one will ever know (except you lot ofcourse).

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The mock-up / test panel used as donor. Ready to be binned.

The Vee
23-07-2011, 07:56 PM
I'm impressed Mark. Got the ford plastic ones sitting here, but like what you're doing. Brave man setting about work like this.

Mark 4
24-07-2011, 09:59 AM
Fair play to you bud! I'm enjoying watching this thread develop....

Seconded.

MarkSanne
24-07-2011, 08:15 PM
Today a bit more of sanding, playing with filler, more sanding and when it's got that feel which makes you think: "feels good!" time for a good 2-component primer-filler. They will need a bit more sanding and smoothing out, but I'm pretty happy with it so far!

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aboo
25-07-2011, 12:35 AM
Very nice Mark. I'm really liking the Galaxy vents in the wing. Look forward to seeing it when its finished.

pezza
27-07-2011, 09:05 AM
Top job so far Mark, the subtle vents in the wing look very good..

crazyken76
28-07-2011, 04:29 PM
are these on the car yet :) ?

MarkSanne
29-07-2011, 07:39 PM
Finished fitting and re-customizing (the inside/backside) of the customized front bumper. It's a N/A facelift bumper which was never intended to be used with an intercooler and because of the extremely limited space available a few bits needed to be chopped as can be seen in the photos. It took most of the day to get all the parts from the old front bumper, sand them down, rust-protect and paint them before fitting on the new bumper.

I'm pretty pleased with the result. The widened gap to house the numberplate worked out very good imo. The bottom lip is modest and now this it's fitted I see it's not perfect leftside compared to rightside, but for a starting amateur it's not a bad first at all. The colour is spot on. The difference between the front bumper and the side fenders / bonnet is visible, but mainly because those were repainted a few years back in the wrong shade of silver! The donor front door that I have shows that the bumper and the door (the door is never repainted) are an extremely close match! As you have seen in previous posts the side fenders will be switched for a new set which are in the making so those will (hopefully) turn out in the correct colour again. Same goes for the bonnet) just needs a bit of filler on a dent and some chipping so will get a respray too.

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elnevio
29-07-2011, 07:48 PM
That looks mint, Mark! :afro:

Looks understated, but purposeful. /yes

Very impressed. Especially with the number plate recess.


Great work! :thumbsup:

Mark 4
29-07-2011, 07:57 PM
That looks very nice indeed Mark. If I were you I'd be pretty pleased with myself.

vr4drifta
30-07-2011, 04:19 PM
nice nice another sleeper.

MarkSanne
06-08-2011, 04:19 PM
Yesterday I've used my garage as a spraybooth. Again. This time to finally spray the rear arches/sides including the top area between the strip on the roof and the side doors all the way to the a-pillars biside the front windscreen. It's quite a lot of work to cover & protect the areas that should not be painted! I've been busy at it for hours and hours. Also cleaning and dusting off (tacky-cloth) again and again proves to be needed much! But all this preperation should pay off in paint that adheres perfect. And it does! It's no surprise that in a dirty environment such as a garage there are quite a lot of little dust-particles that fly around, and... stick to the fresh paint. It's as suspected, and still the car now looks so, so much better than it did with the badly rusted arches!

Also I did a modification on the rear lights. A few months back I removed a piece of plastic that is inside the lamp housing to meet official (dutch/EU?) regulations, which leaved un-modded lamps with just a tiny rear light. By removing this 'limiter' piece of plastic the lamp unit has a much better visibility and it looks much better too. But today I also removed the thin piece of transparant plastic with the red stripes which I think should've never been added. The clear transparant piece looks way better in my opinion.

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Now the side skirts need to be repainted (again) as well as the front side panels with the vents. Will try to do this the coming week.

MarkSanne
14-08-2011, 08:48 PM
Did some more work on the VR2. New front brake discs, pads & new rear pads. Also resprayed the side skirts as well as a set of aftermarket metal fender flares/arch extensions and mounted it all today. Quite pleased with it all!

First a picture of the modded rear lights:
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The rest speaks for itself:
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Still fidling with the front fenders with the vents.

Also busy with a set of BMW 5-series headlights trying to get the correct parts and see if the cool parts can be fit/modified to be housed in the JDM mitsu headlights, will also need (well... I want) the motorized leveling system that is currently in the VR2 to keep functioning so it'll be interesting to see how/if all can be combined.

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The Vee
15-08-2011, 08:12 AM
You are doing some great work here Mark. Interesting on the rear lights too, never did like the small tails, half the reason I changed mine to altezza style. So a good find on your part to remove that limiter piece.

pezza
15-08-2011, 03:44 PM
The car looks superb Mark, nice work. Truly is utilmate sleeper with no indication what lies under the hood..

I think you should name it VR2 Terminator or VR2 T-800, especially if you manage to retro fit those E39 lenses.. Good stuff! /yes

MarkSanne
15-08-2011, 03:56 PM
Thanks guys! I like your idea about the name pezza!

MarkSanne
20-08-2011, 12:28 AM
Tonight I've been busy mixing a spare set of JDM headlights with a spare set of euro headlights (with levelling motor) and the BMW 5-series headlight that I did some work on earlier on. Well... the BMW stuff is unfortunately just a bit to big and bulky to fit into our headlightunits, even with customizations it just won't fit. So back to the drawingboard, because I really want the Terminator look. I have some new ideas, so we'll see.

Still, there was plenty of work to do on the JDM headlights, as for our roads the light pattern needs to be to the other side, so the spare euro-headlights are needed for their reflectors. Unfortunately the right hand side euro headlight had a JP/UK-spec reflector in it (I forgot that I switched that one years ago), the other euro headlight was good, so some joy there. After heating the JDM headlights up, I removed the orange indicator insert and then the levelling motors were on... QUITE a task. Drilling an exactly correct size hole with the correctly places indentions was quite a bit of work. And when that was done I learned that the 'inside' needs blockers/stoppers to prevent rotation of the motor. Plastic-welded some bits on the right places and test fitted the motor. Perfect!!!

But then I learned why Mitsubishi never had this motor-leveling on their JDM spec headlights: the corner lamp connector is (very much) in the way! So I needed to modify that too to get it all to fit and work. Mitsi could have done something like this too, but it probably wasn't worth it. I do like the fact that I can still switch the corner-lamp even though it is only just! Probably wasn't high on the whishlist or commercially viable.

Anyway: quite pleased with the results so far and I do like the fact that it's a unique JDM conversion. I think it is not done before?

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MarkSanne
21-08-2011, 04:18 PM
DONE!

The (AFAIK) first set of JDM headlights with levelling motors / converted to LHD / de-oranged! And it all works too :)

It's quite a lot of work, and I don't think many would think of it as something they really need. Nor did I, but I just liked to see if it could be done while I was converting to JDM headlights anyway. So... now I'm left with two sets of spare headlights with the 'wrong' reflectors. Good stuff to use for new ideas!

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The Vee
21-08-2011, 05:39 PM
Looking good Mark. That's a lot of work you've put into that car recently and it shows.

Jan4iks
29-08-2011, 10:10 AM
When I rebuilt, then use a VW Passat Corrector. It is smaller in size. Here you can see some pictures of my project (http://www.mitsubishi-galant.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=20921&start=20). Sorry, but the description on russian.

MarkSanne
29-08-2011, 12:00 PM
What a great tip Janis! And what an AWESOME headlight topic on the Russian forum! I take my hat off for your work. Especially the (vacuum-) molding of the plexiglass is fantastic. I have never before seen this as a do-it-yourself.

Jan4iks
29-08-2011, 02:08 PM
I just repeat idea from here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg_C_jtonZw&feature=player_embedded) .

pezza
30-08-2011, 01:13 PM
v interesting youtube clip :thumbsup: