1722/2000 burn victim rescue/sleeper

[GSXftw]

So had another very productive night. Put in a good 7 hours. Im on break before winter term starts so using it to my advantage. Not bad for 10+ years out of school huh?


First off, I realized I forgot to stake the nuts on the trans last night. Mightve been okay with 105 ft lbs and red loctite, but Ive had them back off and take out an end cover before. So broke back into it, staked them, back together. Then... I removed the water cooled oil filter housing, scraped gasket surface, and got ready to do the FFOFH


I went ahead and ported out the oil relief hole.


Then I pulled the water pipe and welded up the water outlet.


The southbend is looking real good for so many antilag launches...Im impressed.




I switched the sensors around on the OFHs, as well as the T-stat housings. I plan on using my DSM radiator, so leaving the DSM Tstat housing with a cap. Looped the coolant lines on it, and boom set up for external air cooling. After removing/installing dowells, and installing my three speed scattershield, it all came together


Looks good if I say so myself I think I am finally ready for a bay to do work on the car.

 

[GSXftw]

So I did some work tonight, shop is packed full for the rest of the week so just gonna do what I can. I climbed into the engine bay, pulled the engine mounts



And did the polyethylene inserts. I also used some FIPG to fix some cracking it had going on. I was half tempted to fill it with polyurethane windshield sealant, but I dont wanna overdo it and blow the driver comfort of this car. I still wanna be able to comfortably cruise this thing anywhere. Sorry about the shitty pic


Thats all the direct progress I made on the Galant, still no bay to get the car in, so I went through a 7 bolt I got, cleaned it up took pics to list everything for sale. Gotta make that money for car parts!


Im thinking this weekend will be a good one, Ive got a lot of momentum and should be able to get the car in for work

 

[GSXftw]

So first off... the car went in the shop




I broke out the simple green, scrubbed a bit, the engine had a leak in the front seal area that was ignored, which not only led to it seizing up from lack of oil, but wow what a freaking mess! lots and lots of grime. I got the bulk of it, sorry no pics but it was go go go.

Then I changed the fuel filter, and while the feed side was off, hooked the fuel pump up and pumped the fuel out. I dont actually know how long the car sat with the bad engine before the fire happened, and rule is when it doubt dump it out. It smelled old. <I sure hope I dont cross any wires and risk setting the back the car on fire eh?> hahahaha



Then went ahead and tossed the evap canister/lines, not sure what Im doing on the battery placement yet, the dsm was tucked down on top of the trans area. May put it there, we'll just have to see. I swapped out the heater hoses with silicone ones.
At that point, I was ready to start placing the engine in.


I took my time and made sure no bumping/crushing happened, and set her down. It was at this moment, I realized dsm engine mount brackets were different from GVR4


This cost me an hour, quite a little speed bump, but knew things like this would happen. I had to pull the comp cover to get to the top bolt. This made me nervous as f*** working around the billet wheel, but was super careful not to nick it.


Then had to make the galant mount match the dsm one for the holset. This is what you have to do for this mani/H1x turbo, which has the drain more to the comp side than an HX series


After swapping the mounts, the engine sat back down, hopefully for a while


I figured the clearance would be tight...Still need to get a real plan together once its time to get this all workin in harmony


On that note I called it a night! Ill be sure and grab the laptop tomorrow, MAYBE itll fire up tomorrow...

 

[GSXftw]

So lets see... I hooked everything up after setting the engine in, leaving some things for later, My goal today was I wanted it to pull out on its own power. I just went maf draw through to the throttle body, dont have the intercooler or anything in yet. Just did stock injectors, and the stock ecu. I know, I know, stock stuff is lame, but time was a big obstacle today, and I have a giant treasure chest of upgrade parts to put in as time allows.


So after getting everything hooked up, braided clutch line, bypassing clutch start safety, putting in solid shift cable bushings, I cranked it over for oil pressure. With the pump packed it didnt take long at all. Unfortunately after this, the oil switch decided to crap out on me.


After this I put the plugs in, jumper wired the fuel pump, checked for leaks, and fired it up. It started right up and purred like it should. Then realized I put the stock slave pushrod in. I went to my slightly extended one, adjusted to pedal out, and pulled it out the shop for the first time. Good vibes. But yes I still have a shitload to do



Even with fender covers and all...nothing is more of a dirt magnet than oxidized white paint

 

[GSXftw]

So tonight was a lot of things, was kind of all over the place... First thing was switch the oil pressure switch with a working one. I installed the saturn alternator, did my first bit of wiring of the car (Much more to come) and got it charging. Then I cut the V-band off of the side exit that it was on, and start fabbing the downpipe. I was happy to see I still had most of my downpipe from before, since Ive gone from a setup like this, to a side exit, and now back to a downpipe. I got it all tacked up and hung. My buddy offered to finish weld it for me so no pics yet. Also had to cut the mount for the dipstick and move it all around out of the way, its tacked as well.
Next was putting the goodies in the return side of fuel. I installed a A1000 AFPR, cut the return line down, and plumbed the flex fuel sensor


Then I decided my next actions should be fixing some space issues


So I removed the grill, front bumper, AC fan, intercooler, ect



Killed some asshole spiders



and thats where I left off tonight. Gonna start prepping for the VRSF front mount, and tuck the AC condensor/dsm radiator all that I can with some pusher fans. Its nice being able to drive this thing in/out the shop, much less work than pushing!

 

[GSXftw]

So...after doing the FPR, the car was running pretty rich with the added fuel pressure/cams/stock MAF going in/out of the shop. It was time to bring the laptop and get on link. I swapped EPROM chips


Then I mainly focused on wiring...I got the IAT, MAP hooked up, I couldnt find the damn MAP pigtail anywhere... The shop had one with a broken retaining clip, and another with no wires. Had to depin it and get it all hooked up. Luckily my car is a california car so it had the EGR temp input plug like my 1G did. Couldnt find any references on GVR4 color coding, and was looking at a 1G diagram that said L/Y, then found it hiding as G/R for me. Im going for an uncluttered and planned out looking setup compared to the last one, especially the wiring.


The flex sensor still needs 12+, thats the bare wire you see. And my first datalog pulling it out


Still have a shit ton to do, especially wiring. SO much wiring left...

 

[GSXftw]

So after a terrible flu that put me down for a whole week, I finally got some work done on the car today. I worked on setting up for the VRSF short route and just deleting/getting things out of the way



Then I pulled out the battery tray crap. It obviously had a leaky battery at some point


Then I had to go ahead and start deleting the rear steer. I wanted to at least drive it with it before I deleted it just to feel the difference, but it was in my way...


I sucked the AC condensor forward a bit, finnesed the lines a bit, flattened out the PS cooler



Im gonna work on getting it to sit any lower, the bumper will need a pretty considerable hack for this to slip over, but either way it looks like the plumbing will be really straightforward, Ill see how the radiator fitment looks, Im not sure if the dsm will work or if Im doing the scirroco thats partially tucked.



I also took the wastegate apart, and pulled one of the springs out, it was a 28 psi setup, and wasnt pump gas friendly. I was kinda stuck to E85 on the last setup, which was the typical "boost controller to bottom WG port and bleed to atmosphere" configuration. Upon some research Im just gonna go ahead and use the top port in the Y and recirc configuration. I also went ahead and moved the MAP sensor to a better spot, and wired it up using the sensor ground from the EGR temp source. I plan on putting the 2150s on sometime so will be doing the plugs, injector resistor delete, and a mini wire tuck just to make it look decent with minimal time spent compared to a full tuck


Ill probably run the battery this way. Itll be super easy for a hold down thatll keep the tech guys happy, no need to extend wires, and its pretty out of the way compared to stock

 

[GSXftw]

Got some work done on the car. It left a trail when I pulled it in from not deleting all of the rear stuff yet, so figured that would be the place to start! Got it up in the air and started pulling lines out.
Pulled the lines from the rack and welded them up shut.


The car was lifted up from the subframe at the time, so wasnt able to pull the rear rack stuff yet. Then I had a friend weld up an intercooler pipe that had a water/meth jet in it.


Kept going with "massaging" AC lines to get them to fit with the intercooler. Decided to cut the junction so the high pressure side could get out of the way more


The intercooler sits down a bit more, should be happier there.


Here is my oil filter clearance currently. Will definitely be something to tackle since I want a sandwich cooler.

 

[GSXftw]

Did some things on her this weekend... Doesnt really feel like a lot since a lot of it was brainstorming and comtemplating on wiring. Im really trying to plan out my wiring so I can do it all at once and have an end result that tucks away and looks clean. Also tried dropping in my 1G radiator just to see if it was gonna work in any way shape/form...no freakin way. I put my modified oil dipstick in


Then I ported down the high spots on the DP and threw some paint on it


Trial fit


Even with the alternator post cut down and the normal tight ass angle of a V-band DP, it was still too close for comfort and trying to short. Out came the ball ping hammer, gave it a few love taps, threw more paint on, wrapped it, called it good.


And viola


I started to work on upgrading the alternator-batt wire, but given its route, opted not to for now. The DP will have to come back off for wideband bung, and to tie in to the catback. My original plans were to use the stock catback with EWG cutout, but given the fact that people gain 13hp/23tq on a bone stock car, the stock catback just plain isnt worth it. Ill do some kind of quiet catback to compliment the EWG cutout, which should still give the split personality that makes sleepers awesome.
I know it doesnt look like much on this update, I was stuck extracting a mani stud on my 2G in between this.


Thats all for now, thanks for reading

 

[GSXftw]

Progress!! I was in class and made the "to do list" and put it all on paper. It seemed long, but when I got to the money part of it, its only a couple hundred, which is helpful. Its just a lot of time. So tonight I chipped away at some things. I drilled/tacked for a wideband bung, real happy with how it tucked away.



Havent wired the WB up yet, gonna do as many as I can at once. Then I found a +12v source for the GM FF sensor, so thats good to go.
Then I did the boost control solenoid. Trying a different way of plumbing on this one, using the top port and recirculating the vent air.


If you look closely, you can see a bolt/brace sticking out of the turbo. Just whipped up a bracket to take some of the weight off the header.


Thats all for now, I talked to a buddy about sandblasting the back end, so definitely working on that next step. My overall plan is to get everything major that needs done mechanically at the shop towards getting it dialed in on pump gas. I have a walbro 255hp pump to use. Then bodywork and legitimately hit the road with this thing. Then once Im sick of pump gas, do a walbro 450, high flow fuel filter, and address the rest of the drivetrain (4 bolt, 5 lug swap, coilovers, bushings, trailing arms, ect ect.) Then, I want to build a 43cc head with a 2G port design. The highest I had this combo on the other car was 30 psi, and yes it was an animal, but Im dealing with a little more car now, and I want to actually be faster than my 1G was, so Im gonna work on being more efficient. The VRSF was starting to show 120* IATs at the 30 psi area, so I'll hopefully not have to go any higher, Ill just bump up cr to 9:1(ish) and do a somewhat mild built head that makes better use of the boost. Should show big gains since the cyclone/1G head Im using is untouched, minus the EVO 8 springs. Also I have a 2G JMF race mani thats just sitting I have been thinking about it a lot and this makes great sense, so I can hit the road ASAP and start working bugs out (theres always bugs) and enjoying the car. My overall goals is to have the car on the road in April, and by the end of the year I wanna trap 130+ with a race weight around 3250. Im hoping this to be a great race season without too many issues, and the hurt feelings being the people I race and not my own . Thanks for reading.

 

[Dsmkauai]

Awesome work bro, love how the car is coming along. Really great seeing the gvr4's getting love lately on tuners . Makes me proud to own and be building mine along with you guys. Keep it up bro look forward to some race vids soon haha

 

[GSXftw]

Awesome work bro, love how the car is coming along. Really great seeing the gvr4's getting love lately on tuners . Makes me proud to own and be building mine along with you guys. Keep it up bro look forward to some race vids soon haha

Thanks man! Yeah its a really good little click the GVR4s give, definitely a neat little niche. Im looking forward to vids too!

So todays update- first, I plumbed the Cyclone mani and extended wires for the FPS to actuate it. Pretty standard stuff there. Then I went to work on the shifter.

First order of business was the base bushings

Then I do a trick for lubing the shift cables.


Then I have the shifter from my DSM to put in.


It started as an eBay cheap item. From there its had a shift stopper added, the inside collar is pressed in, welded/drilled/ground to the exact dimensions of the shifter base and the through bolt. This gives it a super tight fit, nothing to wear out, and rock solid shifts. Heres a quick demo

And there she is all greased/lubed/adjusted out. Lots of work, doesnt look like a lot, but IT IS!

 

[GSXftw]

Did some radiator things today. First order of business was grinding off the mounting tabs on the side that would be against the condenser.


Then it was drilling/threading this plug, and using it to adapt the fan switch


Doorjamb seal


Here it is next to the honda half radiator Im trying to avoid using... Im worried this scirocco isnt much bigger, but we'll just have to see how it goes


Built brackets to hold the bottom


Cut silicone hoses to fit, and there she is for now


I would've liked to have it tuck away more, but I'll be doing a shroud to direct airflow and hold the top, as well as mesh to protect it from bent fins when I work on it. Still need to extend wires for the fan switch, wire/mount pusher fan(s).

 

[GSXftw]

Happy valentines day! Starting to really get charged about this thing. I went to my first race of the year, got to meet farmtruck and azn from street outlaws, they were there for the tracks season opener. Super nice guys, stayed there all weekend, did the winners circle and a few arm drop races, as well as run the farmtruck for a quick blast down the track.


I got to spend some time with my valentines date


I did a little bit of wiring, got a pusher fan hooked up, waiting on the other, gonna have two 10"s. Then I filled the radiator up with water, saw my water pipe where it meets the pump is seeping water a bit, with a brand new O-ring...SMH... little stopleak will fix it.

Then I worked on finishing up the bumper/intercooler install. The intercooler wasnt wanting to sit vertical for some reason with the bumper in, kept wanting to sit forward. Then I saw the bumper needed a small trim. I tried to be gentle.


Then I went a little deep and trimmed the lower bumper from the supporting verticals, which I was trying to keep so I wouldnt have a saggy bumper


So I JB welded some plastic to hold these two back together, then plastic welded it a bit. I trimmed it after this and it looks pretty good. Best of all its flat and will clear my intercooler on the backside.


Thats all I trimmed for now, Im gonna take a look at what that junkyard had in the way of front bumpers for me, and thatll let me decide if I wanna open up this bumper a little more, or call this good and cut up a spare. Either way I plan on having as much of this intercooler exposed as I can in the summer time. Ive got the intercooler off so I can get the mounting threads welded on, so I can install this thing a final time. Thats all for now

 

[GSXftw]

Did some AC things tonight... Pulled off the drier, got a new one, replaced seals there


Then did the seals at the compressor, it already had the PAG oil in it (I was thinking ahead Did a flush, and got as near as I could to the 8.75 oz of oil it called for.


I got a R134 retrofit kit, but the low side fitting wouldnt fit, so Ill have to get the right one before I can vacuum test

Then I mounted my catch can all tucked away


Thats about all for now, Im actually getting down to running out of things to do before the bodywork, which is an awesome feeling, one thing I wanna be sure and do is delete ABS, and hook up the ARC2 box in its place. I got the prop valve from a non ABS 92 DSM, but still waiting on the lines. Thanks for reading thats all for now

 

[GSXftw]

Did a few more random things... Air filter, coolant overflow, upper timing cover, and the biggest bonus, the AC system holds vacuum! should be good to charge.


Got a cheap little portable blaster, air chuck, gun, aluminum oxide, self etching primer, ect.


Should be able to bring the thing home, blast/prime it, and finish things up to get it on the road in April like I am planning.

 

[GSXftw]

Hello everyone! Been a while I know. Been doing school full time, had some side-jobs come up, and just waiting for the weather to come around before I sandblast the back of the car. I slacked a little too far behind on the car and missed the opening track day at the drags, but there were about 5 casualties, 3 of which were oil downs, so I'm not too worried about it. The time will come. So on side-job news but still Mitsu related, I decided to make one of those overhead spring compressors for doing heads. Cost about $15 and works great!


So on the car, the whole reason we are here, I got my intercooler back from the welders from him welding little thread bosses for doing mounting brackets. I went ahead and painted the thing black too


It is now mounted for good, with the bumper going on permanently as well! This was an exciting step for me. Can just barely see an intercooler poking through.


My OCD sees that it doesnt sit perfectly square, but the hotrodder in me says its just fine


It was at this point I got to the left side, and thought, "well I'll be wasting time if I attach the bumper and splash guards, just to take them off for the ABS delete." So I jumped onto that.


Stock vs braided


Happy to see this shit going away, its amazing how must stuff you're able to ditch


How much you ask? This much!


And that uncluttered after pic I was working so hard for. Had to form the master to prop valve lines by had, that was a pain. Valve is from a 92 awd 1G.


Pulled radiator to do the hotside pipe plumbing, got that done.


However there is a serious space issue. The coolant temp switch for the fans was supposed to go in this plug


So I drilled/tapped the end tank, put the sensor there with some JB weld for added security. The plug with the original location will just get a pipe plug and then cut off flush.


Also at a neighboring junkyard there was a 93 Galant, so I nabbed up those headlights with the quickness. Excited to see these in and lighting up


Im working on a few future upgrades for this as well, always looking at the next step. My buddy picked up a 1G with an EVO 1 GSR powertrain, and needed trans work, so I was able to score the 2.67 first gear in exchange for rebuilding it for him. Super stoked about that one. I already have the EVO III 3/4, so this will complete my better ratio trans Ive been waiting to do.


Then the junkyard had a Hyundai 1.6


so I stole the head off of it one afternoon. I'm wanting to build the hyundai head and bump up compression a little if I need any help hitting my 600 WHP goal this year. The head thats on here now is bone stock, with evo 8 springs. I was hoping for a 2G intake port so I can use my JMF intake, but its a 1G port. So I guess the cyclone will have to do for now, or maybe do a Honda GSR intake. This may be a good thing so I wont be tempted to wind up the stock bottom end past 8k, but still its depressing seeing that sexy intake mani just sitting there.
Thats all for now. Still have to do the SS brake lines in the rear, but will probably wait until I do the 5 lug swap for all that. In my personal health class, I made this car my personal goal for the term, with the short term goal being to run at the stoplight drags on June 18th and trap 130. I know this is just dragging on and you guys wanna see a driving video, I do too, but be glad to know the good weather is here. I need to finish painting my Talon so I can sandblast this guy and hit the road already!

 

[GSXftw]

Hello! So todays update. I did the plug where the temp sensor was going to go, and installed the radiator in for good this time.


Theres my new location for the temp switch


Then I got onto some exhaust work


The stock stuff had to go


I cut off the mounting brackets, and took the tips off, hoping to use them for the sleeper aspect. I sort of changed gears on my original plan for this exhaust. My original plan was 3" dp, followed by a 60mm EWG cutout in the cat area, followed by tying into the stock catback. Little work, and quiet as hell when not open. Well after seeing the SuperStreet GVR4 pick up like 15hp on a bone stock car from changing the catback out, I began to see that the stock catback isnt even good enough for a stock car! As luck would have it, Ive had a 3" vibrant stealth series muffler sitting I planned on using on my 1G, but went side exit instead, along with a resonator from said side exit. So my new plan, Im going to build a very quiet, good flowing full exhaust, then if I dont hear enough engine tone I will add the cutout to this. With a main collector EWG it may be loud enough as is, we will see.
So, off came the 12" vibrant resonator


Tacked up


At this point Im a little stuck, since I ordered a longer resonator to go in after this, and I cant put in the muffler and the rest until the back is blasted/painted. For now though the neighbors will definitely appreciate the single resonator when moving the car in/out. Having heard it just on that I think this thing will be quiet as hell once its all in


So, its got a coolant system again, Im waiting to do my other cooling fan, then the grill can go on, but really Im ready to trailer this thing to the house for the bodywork stage once I finish painting my talon. I've hit just about every "bookmark point" mechanically until the bodywork gets finished. Basically, once the talon is all sprayed out, I can pull it out and cut/buff and finish it all up later. To be honest Im way more excited to get this galant done and on the road than I am to make my talon pretty so I can sell it, but thats the way its going. Ive already attended 2 drag races, and a cars & coffee, and its killing me not having this car going! Stay tuned.

 

[GSXftw]

So first off, todays update is a small one because 80% of it was painting on the talon!
Thing is almost done being sprayed though.


I didnt have a rack open at the shop, but what I did manage to do was I went ahead and painted the expanded metal to the front grill.
BEFORE




and I brought my laptop just to update the tune with the sensors and such that are now working. I noticed the flex sensor was reading zero sometimes, turns out I went through the gallon I put in months ago just from moving the thing in/out the shop haha. I had some E45 kicking around so just put that in, it'll be easier to tune with a little added E
Now tell me this car didn't get a little lucky here...


This gas tank was totally full when the fire happened, it couldn't of had much longer to go. I took a datalog of some idle stuff, but other than that a pretty uneventful night for the GVR4. Stay tuned though!

 

[GSXftw]

So here is the moment you've all been waiting for! I title this thread update, **THAT ASS**
So, I drove it out the shop, across the street, and onto the trailer. It actually almost got to operating temp the first time through all this. The temp gauge works so thats good.


Trailered the thing home, unloaded, and set up for work.


First thing was unload all of the spare parts, and put up my dexter kill room plastic in the interior.



So funny story, I had a couple screws and bolts to take out, many of which had melted plastic and whatever covering them. I kept wire brushing this one, and wasnt understanding why it wasnt going away, then I realized it was solder from the ABS computer that was here! haha


I chiseled away all of the burnt tar on the left wheel well. The left side got majority of the heat.


Funny enough...All of this damage tells a story. Here is what I gather: House was on fire, which caught a few things on fire on the galant. Tail lights, bumper, all of those easily combustible things. The rest of the damage is just all of the radiant heat from the house fire. Fire department (or whoever was extinguishing the car) pulled the trunk release, it broke since cables were melted, so they pried the back open with a crowbar to put the car out. So I straightened out the trunk latch area


Heres a few shots of what Im starting with






My plan of attack here is to mediablast all the hard to reach spots, the easy flat surfaces will get wire wheeled and rough sanded. Ill give a quick blast of rust fix to a couple trouble areas, self etching primer, then in the non conspicuous areas I'll just rattle can white. The exposed areas will get a dual stage factory type paint.





And then after some paint


And thats where I ended up on day 1 of restorin that ass. I had a buddy helping through a lot of it which was cool, but I still have a ways to go as you can see. Thanks for reading.

 

[GSXftw]

Todays offering to *THAT ASS*
I painted the top of the deck area, so naturally the underside came next. This was more of a chore as you can imagine. Heat goes up so a lot of this stuff is rusty and full of soot. I just had to dive in and make it happen.




















Then I got tired of that ass () so I worked on the battery tray area




Unfortunately it looks 10X better where I painted, so the rest may need some touch up as well


Then the right tail light area




Thats all for today. Should get more done on it tomorrow.

 

[GSXftw]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone, it really helps get me fired up to get this thing moving! Spring is already here and I need to get my ass in gear. Car has sat long enough I say!

So today was finish up the inside of the car and do the last of the rattlecan action. Anything with any soot got wire wheeled and painted, I'm not gonna deal with any lingering smells coming about showing itself later, and figured paint would be the most efficient way to mask any smells. I just need to be more thorough than the fire was and get to all the hard to reach spots! Yeah right huh?
















And on that note, I was officially done with working the inside over. That doesn't mean stop though... Onto the outside





There are officially 3 dents I will be fixing throughout this... All are pretty easy to reach from the back and aren't creased.




Is this how sunroof drains are supposed to look? Yeah didnt think so


So the left quarter got the most heat, that I knew. I figured there would be a slight amount of warpage, but wasn't nearly as bad as all the naysayers were saying. A few love taps, a skim coat of bondo, done deal. Im also working over where the seam sealer was on the area below the tails, theres a ridge to fill






Etching primer


Surfacer


I called that a good stopping point, urethane surfacer is a moisture barrier after its sprayed (when you sand it opens up) so its gonna be no worries to leave overnight like this. Im beat, my eyes hurt from 12+hrs of dust. This concludes day 3 of bodywork. What many said would be the toughest part of the project not worth doing, is actually go right as planned like I envisioned it would. Ive got a buddy making me a "work in progress" sticker, Ill be going to a local customs for kids show in a few weeks. Ill be getting as far as I can until then, but it definitely wont be done! Are they ever?

 

[DarkApollo]

Man, that is a labor of love right there. Any concern about the structural rigidity of the heat exposed pieces?

 

[GSXftw]

Man, that is a labor of love right there. Any concern about the structural rigidity of the heat exposed pieces?

Naw... If you saw how body shops shrink metal on dents like I have it wouldn't be a thing... They'll get an area glowing red with a torch, then hit it with a wet rag. Most of the parts that got hot aren't structural, the trunk weatherstripping area, rear deck, ect. All of those areas are just there to serve their purpose. The quarter is the most structural thing, and with so much of it not burnt, I say its nothing to worry about. The big killer would've been rust, if the quarter had more rust I would've thought twice, but there was virtually none.

 

[DarkApollo]

I was thinking more of the rear strut on the drivers side, but looking back through the pictures, it looks like the padding just melted from the heat and not that the metal was effected that far into the trunk area.

Really nice work so far!