I just acquired a new project vehicle

The suspension was not damaged in the accident. The alignment shop will be the last word on the state of the alignment but nothing appears to be out of whack.

 

I have a standard South Carolina title with a salvage note on it. It is currently registered and insured and I have a tag for it. It came from Georgia with a Georgia salvage title. The listed owner from the Georgia title was the insurance company that totaled it out. Salvage rules vary quite a bit from state to state but in SC you only have to get it inspected if you don't already have a salvage title.

 

The woodworking is a totally different beast but the basic principles still apply: Know exactly what you are trying to do, know exactly how to do it, and use the proper tools to do it. Since I'm an engineer blueprints are my friend. Anytime I do a woodworking project I always have or make a set of prints for it, it just saves time in the end. As for the clean room, I really want to use my wood shop since it already has everything I need to paint but even when I use stain or a spray can the smell filters through the house. I will have to seal the room off better if I'm going to spray something a noxious as automotive paint.

 

Painting time!



Everything is sanded, vacuumed, tack ragged, and ready to paint.



Here are the components for the primer. It mixes four parts primer to one part reducer and one part activator.



Here is the drivers side.



And the passenger side.



And finally the front section. Since the primer has a catalyst it cures quickly. It was ready to top coat in 15 minuets.



Here are the components for the base coat. It mixes two parts base coat to one part reducer.



Ooooooooh, sparkly!



Here is the drivers side.



And the passenger side.



And the front end. You will notice that the base coat drys with a matte sheen but the metallic and the pearl still sparkle. That's why some of the sections look lighter than others.

I like to let the base coat cure overnight before I clear coat it. I'll give it 2 coats of clear tomorrow.

 

Just the underbody. I'm going to paint the outside panels in a "clean room". The factory paints them all at once but they also dip the car for the primer coat. I cannot dip the car and I needed to paint some areas that would be covered by the outer panels if they were installed. Once the clear coat is on I can reinstall all the mechanical parts and bleed the cooling system, check for leaks, and make sure everything is function properly.

 

Yep, it's Spectra Blue Mica. Metallic and Mica really both mean the same thing. In factory paint there really is not that much variation in the size of the flakes but in the aftermarket world there are tons of different sizes and shapes of flakes. This paint has pearl in it also. The pearl is very fine, that's what gives it the color shifting characteristic. I am going to install all the mechanical parts before I put the outer panels on. And of course I will take pics.

 

Clear coat time!



Here are the ingredients for the clear coat. It mixes 4 parts clear to one part hardener.



Drivers side.



Passenger side.



And the front end.



Here it is with the masking paper off. You can see where the factory paint is on the strut tower. It's looks darker mostly because it does not have much clear coat on it and because I think I got the base coat a little thin in that area over the light gray primer.



Passenger side.



And the front end. It only take about half an hour for it to be dry to the touch but I will let it cure over night before I start bolting engine parts back on. It's tempting to start right now but I need to let it cure for a while.

 

The factory paints the base coat and the clear coat with all the outer panels minus the bumpers attached to the car. Because of this there are many areas that the painting robots cannot get into. This is not really of concern because of they way the factory primes the car.

I want to "paint it and forget it" when it comes to the frame and support areas. The last thing I want is a rust problem where I have to take a bunch of stuff apart. I charged the 12v battery when I got the car since it was totally dead (it read about 4 volts) but I will probably need to freshen it up a bit before I can start it.

 

Time to do some assembly.



Here I have added the washer tank, the resonator, the intake plumbing, and the air box. I also have reconnected the grounds, ABS line, the washer pumps, and the crash sensor.



Here I have mounted the fuse and relay panel, reattached the grounds, and have started rerouting the drivers side harness.



Here is the hot coolant tank with the pump and the keyless entry beeper.



Time to install the inverter. The cover has to be off to hook up the 2 main motor/generator harnesses along with the internal harness connections. There are also 4 connectors on the back, the two large orange main battery connectors, the A/C compressor harness in the front and a small side mounted circuit breaker on the drivers side. There are 3 coolant hoses also.



All the internal and external inverter connections are connected and most of the hoses are on. The lid has been torqued down and now all we need the the radiator assembly.



Here is a shot of the area that had the most damage when I got it. The started block off plates have been repaired and I have replace the damaged hose and connectors. Also, while I was working on the inverter my wife changed the oil. It was obviously the factory fill as it was very dark. Now it has a nice clean fill of Mobil 1 and a Purolator Pure One filter.



Here it is with the radiator, condenser, and cooling fans in place. Words cannot describe how happy I was to see that the big front inverter support fit like it was suppose to. Also added is the upper radiator support, the center latch support, the hood latch (just hanging there), and the horns (not standard Prius issue but a set off a Lexus ES 300). I have also added the wiper cowl and attached the middle relay panel and harness.



IT'S ALIVE!!!!

Today was not without some issues though. I "forgot" to paint both sides of the lock support . The 2 nuts that are welded on the upper radiator support that are for the hood latch are no were near in the correct spot. I'm going to have to do some Dremel work on those. A few places that were suppose to have holes for wiring clips either have the wrong shape hole or no hole at all. I still need to fix one of the wires for the horns. When I was refilling the cooling system I discover that one of the inverter hoses had a hole in it. It was near the end and I was able to cut off the bad section and still use the hose though. When I powered up the car I had a dreaded airbag malfunction light. After reading the airbag section in the shop manual I found out how to extract the airbag codes without a scanner and I found out that I just forgot to hook up the passenger side pretensioner squib. I hooked up and and all was well. I really did not have any problems refilling the cooling system though. I rigged up a connection for the inverter pump motor and had the inverter section filled in about 5 minutes. The engine side took a little while longer, and I think I will have to keep an eye on it for a little while, but all together I was able to get over 2 gallons in the systems. I did take it out for a little test drive around the block and everything seems to work fine.