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Street Build bkrathwohl's Galant VR4 #1228/2000

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I was able to borrow a set of wheels from one of my good friends last night.

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So I started assembly of everything that was left in the rear. I hooked up the ebrake cables, I wish I would have thought to take the brackets off and get them sandblasted/painted. Not that anyone will ever see them.

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Surprisingly the wheels look pretty good! Ill need to return them once I get it turned around and clean out the garage a bit this evening, but at least that will let me get started on the front.

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Here it is sitting on the ground, it seems a bit high still. Mind you the springs haven't had time to set, but I assume this is why people cut off coils. I will probably end up leaving it because I don't like the idea of cutting coils.

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I was able to tighten the lower control arm (75 ft·lb), upper control arm (110 ft·lb), and trailing arm to subframe (110 ft·lb). Kind of a pain in the ass to get the trailing arms tight, with some motivation you can get a torque wrench on with the sway bar installed.

I tried tightening the ball joints but they just spun, even with the car sitting on the ground. I will need to revisit those later, but for now its fine.

Hopefully tonight I can get some pictures of the front disassembly. I'd like to get the front suspension, control arms, subframe out.
 
I believe I will be relocating the alternator. I've always wanted to simply because it makes it look a lot cleaner under the hood. Extra space is always nice as well!

I was able to get the Galant pushed out of the garage last night. It feels good having the car outside again, if not only for a few hours.

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And what still needs to be done

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Moving it out gave me ample time to get the garage cleaned up though. Threw away a lot of junk and organized my parts bins a bit more. Now there is counter space again, and less dirt on the floor from all of the spraying I've been doing!

Tucked away again

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I need to disassemble my fuel sender so I can sandblast the top and paint it. Ill probably start disassembling the front this evening as well.
 
Thanks man! I would suggest you get one, we need to rescue as many as possible!

Tonight was another productive night, I managed to get the front corners disassembled. Rust everywhere.

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Mainly just from the brakes, but still. The rotors are seized onto the hubs, so i'll have to take them in to work and have them removed. I probably will take a bunch of stuff in next week and work on it during work.

I think i'm going to need to make some new brake lines, all of the corners were having issues removing them. The front lines were rounding, even with a line wrench. It really sucks, but at least they are going to be easy to replace since nothing is in the car, and I can use the old ones as a template to make new ones.

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One ball joint was in rough shape, it didn't look like there was even any grease in it. After inspecting the control arms I think ill just buy a new set and change the bushings and ball joints on them with the Energy Suspension and Moog items I bought previously. The effort it would take to make them look good is high compared to buying a new set for $100 bucks or so.

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Of course, it wouldn't be as simple as you would think to remove the control arms. Mitsubishi engineers are good, but not that good..

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Much better

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Okay maybe not that much better

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Finally

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I'm not really sure what the purpose of the bushing in this bracket is for. I don't think I have a new one for it, I will have to do some investigating.

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The knuckles are going to take some work as well, at least they are much smaller than the rear trailing arms!

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While in the wheel wells I noticed this. It doesn't look as bad in person, looks to be just surface rust. It isn't on an edge or anything either, I still need to pull off the side skirts and inspect underneath.

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After removing the front control arms I figured I would just get rid of the front crossmember as well. I have a Bulfab 3 piece crossmember sitting in the house anyway. Looks like it is a good thing I bought a new one as well.

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Looks like it was cut to clear some piping at some point anyway

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Here's a better shot at that bushing

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Ill need to get some boxes and take these in to work, I need to go through and see if there's anything else that will need sandblasting since i'm doing another round for the front knuckles. That will be the agenda for tomorrow.
 
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Nice build man I'm going to probably find another shell and build it from the bottom up and transfer everything into it but for now gotta break in engine and tre Transmission good reading
 
I have also been wondering about what lies under the fenders. After your post this evening I figured I might as well take them off and see for myself. The fenders are easy enough to take off at this state anyway.

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I see what you mean about it not looking as bad in person as it does in the pictures. Mine looks exactly like yours, I will likely go about fixing it in much the same way. How did that rust bullet hold up? I'm debating about going with that or going with the Eastwood stuff i've been using elsewhere.

The driver side was definitely worse than the passenger side, but I think both will clean up nicely. Ill need to go through and use some bolt extractors on a few areas...stupid broken bolts!
 

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Yeah, sorry dude. Strangely enough, the driver side on my car was worse as well. Luckily, yours looks just like mine did. Some sand paper and a wire wheel should remove most of the rust and scale. I've pretty much laid out step by step what needs to happen next, so use that as a guide. It seems like you've pretty much got a good handle on this car though, so I'm confident you got this :thumb:

IMO, Rust Bullet is the best stuff on the market for treating rust. They have a lot of data and testing backing up their product line, which is view-able on their website. It's super durable, and I've seen zero indication of rust issues in areas I've treated. Others have had very good results with Rust Bullet as well: http://www.galantvr4.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=904764&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=2&vc=1

To do the job, you'll probably only need a pint or so, depending on how you're applying it. Brushing it on requires more product. But, when I did mine I think I just bought the under car kit: http://www.rustbullet.com/rust-bullet-undercarriage-car-kit.html . I ended up using the black shell to top coat, and so on. The metal blast surface prep is good/useful stuff too. It's all in the link I provided above.

I had quite a bit left over with the kit, but with a rusty $hitbox Galant, you can never have enough rust inhibitor laying around ROFL

Oh, and you'll just have to drill out the crusty broken hardware. That will be tons of fun!

...Ask me how I know.

Good luck!
 
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I did a bit of work earlier today, as it was a bit warmer than yesterday. Today I tackled removing the front subframe.

The first step was to disconnect the steering knuckle from the steering rack.

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I figured while I was in there I'd start removing some stuff, as it's all going to have to come out anyway for me to clean up the area. Heater hoses removed, along with the chassis to intake manifold ground. Not pictured, but the PS pump, reservoir, and lines were all removed as well.

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Transmission jacks certainly are useful. I think i've only used it once on a transmission, multiple times on various other things though!

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17mm subframe bolts being removed.

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The most difficult part of this whole process was getting the knuckle free from the power steering rack. It really just took some shaking/mallet-ing and turning of the knuckle for it to break free.

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You can see the work I have ahead of me for cleaning. I need to get under the dash and remove the throttle cable and pull the wire harness as well. All that for another day though.

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I have my front knuckles loaded up and will be bringing them into work tomorrow. Hopefully I can get the 4 lug hub pressed out, bearings pressed out, and have them sandblasted.
 
I was able to get some work done today. I took in my knuckles, fuel filler neck, and the rear bracket for the front control arms. I didn't get to snag many pictures of progress today but here is what I have.

I was able to get the hubs and dust shield off of the knuckles. After that we heated up the bearing races and dunked them in cold water and the old races fell right out! Amazing what a little bit of heat can do. After that we threw the bearings into the freezer and sandblasted the knuckles. After a while we were able to drop the new bearings right in. Here is the knuckle, mostly finalized. I just need to paint after we press the new hub on.

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I didn't get a chance to take any pictures of the control arm brackets, I was able to clean them up a bit and sandblast them though. Before I left for the day I put on a few layers of primer and hung them up to dry. Ill get some pictures of these after I put some paint on them.

Here is a before and after of the fuel filler neck. I still need to prime and paint it.

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I was able to get a good deal done yesterday. Both front knuckles are now fully assembled! It's exciting to see most of the drivetrain coming together so nicely.

This was after we heated up the knuckle and froze the bearings, they dropped right in.

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The dust shields came out looking pretty decent, one of mine had a bit of damage but hammering it back into shape and painting it you barely notice it.

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Packing the bearings with Kendall Super Blu grease.

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Here we are fitting the dust shields onto the knuckle.

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Pressing on the hub.

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And the final product! Turned out much better than I was hoping for!

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And these were the control arm brackets that I forgot to snap some pictures of yesterday. I was able to get them cleaned up, primed, and painted along with the fuel filler neck.

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As the fuel filler neck breather line is a discontinued part, and mine overall was in good shape, I figured I would just use the parts washer and clean it up.

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If I have time today I will be disassembling my fuel sending unit and sandblasting/painting it.
 
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Today I ended up tackling the fuel sending unit. I don't really know why I was dreading doing it so much, it only took me about an hour to do.

I started off with this.

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I tried disassembling the lower half, but the screws were in bad shape. I will have to deal with those later, for now I decided I would just bag it and tape it so that as little debris as possible would get in the bag.

It might not be the best solution but it worked pretty well.

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I taped off the good threads on the fuel line fitting and sandblasted the rest. I figure painted threads are probably better than rusty ones. After a few minutes it came out looking like this, I thought it turned out pretty well.

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I probably should have taped off the electrics on the sending unit, but I figure this is a part that nobody is going to see anyway. At least it is cleaned up and painted.

After a couple coats of primer.

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While I was waiting for the primer to dry I got bored so I started cleaning this up. I think it is a check valve for the fuel tank. If it is still an available part I will probably just buy a new one, but if not then at least this one is clean!

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Once I was finished with that it was time to paint the sending unit. This was the final result. I think it turned out pretty well, definitely much better than where we started.

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After I got home I figured I'd check out the tanks condition. I cleaned the top half of the tank (I still need to clean the bottom, or at least wash it.. It looks to be in pretty good condition overall) but didn't really bother to look inside. After reading some threads of other users cleaning up their sending units and fuel tanks I just assumed the worst and figured I would need to take it to a shop and have the inside cleaned out.

Amazingly this is what the inside of the tank looks like, I peered around in here for a few minutes with excitement.

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Over the holiday weekend I might start ripping apart the rest in the engine bay and preparing that for paint. I'm not really sure what process I should use for that. I will need to do some research. I'd like to do it right and get matching paint, i'm not huge on the gloss black engine bay.

I need to clean and paint the front subframe as well, and pop in the new Energy Suspension bushings I have for it.
 
Sorry i've been pretty busy with work and the holidays lately. I am going to remove the rust from the rocker panel area this weekend. Ill try to remove more from the engine bay as well so i can start cleaning that up.

As far as the engine goes; I was going to do a stock rebuld with 2g pistons 1g rods but ended up finding a great deal on an already forged motor with a ported head. The specs of that are on the first page of the build.

As far as turbo, I might just get a 14b or 16g to get the thing running. I'd like to go twinscroll. I have a 3071r on my STi which is great, so I was thinking possibly a 3076r on the VR4. That is still up in the air and I haven't really done any research as far as to the powerband on a 3076r.
 
So I figured I would start on the rocker panels. I had to go to the store to pick up some bulbs for my shop lamps because they burned out. I also found this rust removal disc, I figured I would give it a shot.

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I started on the passenger side, which was far less worse than the drivers side. After maybe 15-20 minutes I turned this:

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Into this:

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I need to get a longer wire wheel attachment to get into some tighter places, I also need to pick up some rust bullet. That can happen later though, now for the drivers side.

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I couldn't really get into some of those places so this is where I stopped on the drivers side. Once I get some different attachments I will be cleaning up the drivers side more.

This is where I stopped as its 25* outside and all I had to heat my garage was the heat of the work lamps!
 
Its fun watching this come along. Great progress, man!
 
Thanks man! Its definitely taking longer than I want it to, but it's worth it to do it right the first time.

I really need to place an order for rust prevention and paint supplies so I can wrap up the body portion!
 
I'm getting deja vu watching this build. That rust cleaned up nice. Great work! What sealer did you decided to go with?
 
I haven't applied anything yet, I still have a bit more cleaning up to do. I'm going to take off the side skirts as well and see what else lies under there.

Did you use a sealer or primer before applying the rust bullet? I haven't done much body work before so i'm really just winging it, any suggestions would be appreciated!
 
Sorry i've been pretty busy with work and the holidays lately. I am going to remove the rust from the rocker panel area this weekend. Ill try to remove more from the engine bay as well so i can start cleaning that up.

As far as the engine goes; I was going to do a stock rebuld with 2g pistons 1g rods but ended up finding a great deal on an already forged motor with a ported head. The specs of that are on the first page of the build.

As far as turbo, I might just get a 14b or 16g to get the thing running. I'd like to go twinscroll. I have a 3071r on my STi which is great, so I was thinking possibly a 3076r on the VR4. That is still up in the air and I haven't really done any research as far as to the powerband on a 3076r.
that's right, I just reread that you were using eagle rods and npr 2g pistons. That should be a good setup. Keep up the good work!
 
Well the Eagle rods and 2g pistons were what I was originally going to use for my rebuild. The built motor I picked up (that you were supposed to find on the first page) has the following specs:

1g Bully Performance Cylinder Head
Race port and polish
1mm over intake and exhaust valves
Bowls have been opened up
Bronze valve guides
5 angle valve job
Brian Crower springs/retainers


6 Bolt Shortblock
Bored .020 over
Crank is .010 under
Ross 8.5:1 pistons
Eagle rods
Balance shaft eliminator kit
ARP headstuds

It's still in longblock form so it'll be a drop in and go sort of thing. That is, unless things go awfully wrong on the first start. We are still a long ways off from that though.
 
Haha my bad, I looked back and that was the first engine build that I found! The new engine sounds awesome though and your car is going to be a beast! BTW you are looking to sell it after your done the build because you want a new project, let me know! Lol... I'm pretty close to you! Lol But on all honestly your doing a hell of a job on this build and I really admire all of the attention to detail that you have!
 
I haven't applied anything yet, I still have a bit more cleaning up to do. I'm going to take off the side skirts as well and see what else lies under there.

Did you use a sealer or primer before applying the rust bullet? I haven't done much body work before so i'm really just winging it, any suggestions would be appreciated!

I prepped the surface with Metal Blast. After it is clean and dry, you can apply Rust Bullet directly to the surface. After all, that's the entire point. Rust Bullet goes onto the once rusty surface, and neutralizes any leftover rust areas. You can top coat the Rust Bullet with petty much whatever you want after that. As I said above, Rust Bullet makes a top coat called BlackShell, which is very durable. I'd consider it if you're doing the wheel wells and such. The kit I linked above pretty much has everything you need to do the job. I'd give it another look if you haven't already.
 
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