I recently (a few months ago) fixed some rust. To keep the repair from looking entirely lame, I painted a big chunk of the hatch. Unfortunately, almost all the pictures have been lost. So I took a few more this morning.
Here's what I've got from the rust repair. A nickel-sized patch of surface bubbling turned out to go all the way through, with surface rust over an 8" patch on the back. I used bondo and a metal wire patch to get everything nice and smooth.
Then I took off the corner piece to paint it, and papered everything up.
And then we painted it black with a little lightning bolt. The lines aren't very clean, but the kids think that makes it look more electric, so it's cool.
We painted the hatch corners black, and we did a two-step process to paint the line across the hatch in a caution stripe.
I'm working on getting a real paint job, in the original color. It's just so darned expensive!
I think you should paint it Championship White and where the black mouldings are do the black and yellow alternating stripes. That would be cool.
Have you gotten new wheel bearings all round for it? I would say getting better bearings, having less drag on the brakes and maybe some lower resistance tyres could see your distances improve quite a bit!
And the wheels? Stock OEM alloys for ONLY the 1995-1996 Saturn SC2. I had a 95.
Yep. I got them from a junkyard for $25 each plus back-breaking dehydrating sunstroke-inducing labor. I'm not sure I've recovered yet!
The idea is that lighter-weight wheels and lower, less flexible sidewalls would result in lower rolling resistance. But I haven't been able to check against stock 13" steelies.
This weekend and this morning I prepped Silent E for new paint. It's just going to be original color; Eri wanted red, but I think red with bronze jams and brown interior would be nauseating.
This is my first time doing anything of the sort, so I'm nowhere near bam-bam's league. But the paint guy was pretty happy about it. And so was I.
Here you see that I've managed to remove the door trims and the rocker panels. The rear door trim on the driver's side was pretty badly damaged, so I'm looking for a replacement. You can also see my car babe.
She does love helping out. Here's a better picture:
Taking off the rear bumper wasn't too tough. There were a total of six bolts and 4 screws, and one of my studs had already been broken off. The weird bit was that 4 of them took a 12mm socket, but the last one required a 13mm wrench. Go figure.
The other four screws I mentioned held the bumper skin to this bracket on the wheel well. I put the screws back so I wouldn't lose them. If they come back with paint on them, no biggie.
The front bumper wasn't quite as easy as described: after removing the turn signals (one phillips screw each) and the four 10mm bolts underneath them, I had to remove one phillips screw holding the skin to the wheel well. A very short screwdriver was required. That's still dirt simple. I might actually check for a new bumper while I'm at the junkyard. When I took the rocker panel off this side, about two pounds of wet dirt spilled out.
The headlights were crazy difficult. There are more bolts holding them on than the whole front bumper! And the turn signals don't come off separately; it's all one big unit. I'm almost scared of trying to put the passenger side assembly back in; it was difficult to remove due to the lack of space.
I even managed to take off the mirrors and the top wing. The mirrors were interesting, with the screw hidden behind the pop-off top on the adjustment lever and the unexpected screw on the hinge side of the door. At least I managed not to break anything.
I forgot to take off the door handles, but Manny said he'd do that. He also said he'd remove the snap-on window trim pieces.
I did try to take the window trim off the rear windows, but it appears to be holding the window on. I left it alone; I'll mask it off and paint it when I get the car back.
I bought a 50-cent plastic drywall knife while I was at Ace. It's my new best friend. It got all the logos off with no problem. It probably would have worked for the passenger-side clips, too, if I had actually followed bam-bam's tutorial.
The plan now is to strip the paint off the bumpers and refinish all the trim in black. I'll see if I can find that "back-to-black" stuff that everyone seems to like. Then I intend to apply reflective yellow tape in caution stripes to the door trim and bumpers, with "HIGH VOLTAGE" and "144V" lettering. Everything is covered with the dust and ick of 21 years, though. I've got a lot of cleaning to do.
Too late. I had AAA tow it to the body shop this morning.
Incidentally, it's a point of shame for me that I removed all the AWD components, but still have the AWD mudflaps. (I actually had to jack up the car and take off the wheel to remove the flaps. What a hassle.)
Anyway, if anybody wants to trade their stock "Honda" mudflaps for my AWD ones, I'd be willing.
DON'T use the Back to Black stuff. (It's just like extra-thick ArmorAll) Instead, while you have the trim off clean it thoroughly and scuff with a Scotchbrite pad, then apply trim paint.
I don't have many of the clips for your moldings right now, I had to scrape together a set for the camper. I'll look through the pile to see if I have a decent replacement trim for you. Left side rear, correct?
Driver's/left side rear door outer trim is correct, and thanks very much for looking.
I'll happily take your advice on the back-to-black. I intend to take the paint off the bumpers and refinish them in all black. I was planning on using my orbital sander to strip it off, but your advice on the ScotchBrite pad sounds like I shouldn't be sanding any of the trim. If that's the case, how do you flatten out the scrapes and scratches?
I got the windshield replaced while I was at it. The driver's side rain channel tapers a bit where it's not supposed to, but I couldn't find a replacement windshield gasket.
There used to be a big dent here. It was bad enough to damage the trim piece, and it was starting to rust. Now you can't even tell, unless you're looking for it an the light is just right.
The hatch had a little dent here. All gone!
And the hood was bent here.
Apparently, there were a lot of little dents and dings that weren't readily apparent due to the lighting conditions and the car's color. Since I repainted it the same color, and the lighting conditions are likely to be similar whenever someone looks at it, I guess I'm in pretty good shape.
Now I've just got to get these bumpers and trim pieces painted, then put the whole thing back together.
I took out the B&D and sanded the bumpers down this weekend. Four hours that just about killed me. (After three hours I got smart and moved into the shade. D*mn Florida sun!) In some spots, it went all the way to rubber; in others, it didn't even take the paint off, just scuffed the surface. The front bumper was especially difficult, due to all the complicated curves. Getting inside the turn signal cutouts was a nightmare; I eventually just scuffed 'em a bit with a 320-grit sponge.
I found it especially odd that there were dings in the bumper. Just little spots, not exactly scratches, where the surrounding paint scuffed easily but the paint inside the ding was untouched. I expect some bumper filler will even all that out... if it's even worth doing.
I'm working on buying some SEM primer, paint, and some bumper filler. Then I'll paint up all my trim and post full-body pictures.
I've considered it. I figure if I attach a tow hook, then put a 10kW generator on a little two-wheel trailer, I can go pretty much anywhere. The only problem is cost. Cost and keeping that big electrical current from overcharging my batteries. Cost, overcharging, and the emissions from a dirty two-stroke generator. Cost, overcharging, emissions, and... I'd better come back in.
Comments
Here's what I've got from the rust repair. A nickel-sized patch of surface bubbling turned out to go all the way through, with surface rust over an 8" patch on the back. I used bondo and a metal wire patch to get everything nice and smooth.
Then I took off the corner piece to paint it, and papered everything up.
And then we painted it black with a little lightning bolt. The lines aren't very clean, but the kids think that makes it look more electric, so it's cool.
We painted the hatch corners black, and we did a two-step process to paint the line across the hatch in a caution stripe.
I'm working on getting a real paint job, in the original color. It's just so darned expensive!
Have you gotten new wheel bearings all round for it? I would say getting better bearings, having less drag on the brakes and maybe some lower resistance tyres could see your distances improve quite a bit!
Right now I'm trying to get an estimate on a paint job. My brother's willing to pay up to $2K for my birthday.
And the wheels? Stock OEM alloys for ONLY the 1995-1996 Saturn SC2. I had a 95.
it's too cool.
i want to see it painted!
Yep. I got them from a junkyard for $25 each plus back-breaking dehydrating sunstroke-inducing labor. I'm not sure I've recovered yet!
The idea is that lighter-weight wheels and lower, less flexible sidewalls would result in lower rolling resistance. But I haven't been able to check against stock 13" steelies.
Me too! If it happens, I'll be sure to post pictures.
Just thought I'd announce that Silent E just passed 200,000 miles on the odometer.
This is my first time doing anything of the sort, so I'm nowhere near bam-bam's league. But the paint guy was pretty happy about it. And so was I.
Here you see that I've managed to remove the door trims and the rocker panels. The rear door trim on the driver's side was pretty badly damaged, so I'm looking for a replacement. You can also see my car babe.
She does love helping out. Here's a better picture:
Taking off the rear bumper wasn't too tough. There were a total of six bolts and 4 screws, and one of my studs had already been broken off. The weird bit was that 4 of them took a 12mm socket, but the last one required a 13mm wrench. Go figure.
The other four screws I mentioned held the bumper skin to this bracket on the wheel well. I put the screws back so I wouldn't lose them. If they come back with paint on them, no biggie.
The front bumper wasn't quite as easy as described: after removing the turn signals (one phillips screw each) and the four 10mm bolts underneath them, I had to remove one phillips screw holding the skin to the wheel well. A very short screwdriver was required. That's still dirt simple. I might actually check for a new bumper while I'm at the junkyard. When I took the rocker panel off this side, about two pounds of wet dirt spilled out.
The headlights were crazy difficult. There are more bolts holding them on than the whole front bumper! And the turn signals don't come off separately; it's all one big unit. I'm almost scared of trying to put the passenger side assembly back in; it was difficult to remove due to the lack of space.
I even managed to take off the mirrors and the top wing. The mirrors were interesting, with the screw hidden behind the pop-off top on the adjustment lever and the unexpected screw on the hinge side of the door. At least I managed not to break anything.
I forgot to take off the door handles, but Manny said he'd do that. He also said he'd remove the snap-on window trim pieces.
I did try to take the window trim off the rear windows, but it appears to be holding the window on. I left it alone; I'll mask it off and paint it when I get the car back.
I bought a 50-cent plastic drywall knife while I was at Ace. It's my new best friend. It got all the logos off with no problem. It probably would have worked for the passenger-side clips, too, if I had actually followed bam-bam's tutorial.
The plan now is to strip the paint off the bumpers and refinish all the trim in black. I'll see if I can find that "back-to-black" stuff that everyone seems to like. Then I intend to apply reflective yellow tape in caution stripes to the door trim and bumpers, with "HIGH VOLTAGE" and "144V" lettering. Everything is covered with the dust and ick of 21 years, though. I've got a lot of cleaning to do.
i love your wagon.
you should do it now before the new paint gets on it.
Incidentally, it's a point of shame for me that I removed all the AWD components, but still have the AWD mudflaps. (I actually had to jack up the car and take off the wheel to remove the flaps. What a hassle.)
Anyway, if anybody wants to trade their stock "Honda" mudflaps for my AWD ones, I'd be willing.
DON'T use the Back to Black stuff. (It's just like extra-thick ArmorAll) Instead, while you have the trim off clean it thoroughly and scuff with a Scotchbrite pad, then apply trim paint.
I don't have many of the clips for your moldings right now, I had to scrape together a set for the camper. I'll look through the pile to see if I have a decent replacement trim for you. Left side rear, correct?
I'll happily take your advice on the back-to-black. I intend to take the paint off the bumpers and refinish them in all black. I was planning on using my orbital sander to strip it off, but your advice on the ScotchBrite pad sounds like I shouldn't be sanding any of the trim. If that's the case, how do you flatten out the scrapes and scratches?
I'm absolutely astonished...
What an amazing project!
I got the windshield replaced while I was at it. The driver's side rain channel tapers a bit where it's not supposed to, but I couldn't find a replacement windshield gasket.
There used to be a big dent here. It was bad enough to damage the trim piece, and it was starting to rust. Now you can't even tell, unless you're looking for it an the light is just right.
The hatch had a little dent here. All gone!
And the hood was bent here.
Apparently, there were a lot of little dents and dings that weren't readily apparent due to the lighting conditions and the car's color. Since I repainted it the same color, and the lighting conditions are likely to be similar whenever someone looks at it, I guess I'm in pretty good shape.
Now I've just got to get these bumpers and trim pieces painted, then put the whole thing back together.
wagon.............................4ever................................
I found it especially odd that there were dings in the bumper. Just little spots, not exactly scratches, where the surrounding paint scuffed easily but the paint inside the ding was untouched. I expect some bumper filler will even all that out... if it's even worth doing.
I'm working on buying some SEM primer, paint, and some bumper filler. Then I'll paint up all my trim and post full-body pictures.
i bet that thing weighs a ton!
super clean and genius. congrats