Finally Started My Uk TME Underbody Restoration.

113248 Views 353 Replies 92 Participants Last post by adwo, 6 mo ago

Ralliart Rous

Discussion Starter · Mar 7, 2015

After viewing several impressive restoration projects on the MLR recently Ive finally plucked up the courage to start mine !

The plan being a complete underbody restoration, down to bare metal, rustbullet, paint (red, black and white) various parts to be blasted and powder coated, new bolts, bushes and other new bits as needed !!

Managed to bag myself a Bradbury 4 post lift from my mechanic friend who was upgrading to scissor lifts. Should make the whole job easier ! Had to buy and fit an inverter to convert to 3phase but with a lot of help from Sean a fellow Red Mak owner this was soon sorted !

Progress is going to be steady due to work and family commitments , and the fact I want it damn near perfect !

I will post the updates as and when they happen , a few photos below show this afternoons progress. A few parts removed and half a tank of super unleaded drained !

To be honest I was really worried about what may lay beneath - considering its a uk car ! Yes there are areas of surface rust underneath the underseal but the floor pan and sills look pretty decent considering . Hopefully will be getting down to some serious underseal and rust removal soon :smthumbup

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Ralliart Rous

Discussion Starter · #21 · Mar 14, 2015

Managed to have the best part of the day on the evo, mainly wrestling with bolts that had seized solid ... particularly around the rear sub-frame/diff hanger ! :shake:

However we still managed to pretty much finish stripping the rear end, moved on to the front end and made some good progress. :smthumbup

Removed front and rear bumpers put them into storage for a while along with discs, callipers, arch liners, wheels and various bits that are already good enough to go back on !

Shocks and springs have been sent off for blasting and painting, ill see how these turn out before I overload them with all the other bits I want doing !

If you hadn't already noticed that bloody underseal has got everywhere .. check out the bottom of the headlight and side of the radiator. I now hate the stuff with a passion - and that's before I start removing it .

Further update in a week or two.

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Minion

· #22 · Mar 14, 2015

Some good progress bud! Cant wait to do mine although will be in sections as need the car!

Mr Ralliart

· #23 · Mar 14, 2015

I remember the first time I took mine in for shaken (MOT), the young guy at Ralliart sprayed a few areas under the car with black paint to make it look 'nice' (like is often done, and is why a lot of imports have black paint here and there).

I was not impressed to say the least :goingmad: .... let's just say he never did it again :angel:

A12DY B

· #24 · Mar 14, 2015

Looks good really

Hopefully that under seal has protected the rest

deano

· #25 · Mar 14, 2015

I really don't get it.. Why don't you sell your rusty car and buy an import then give it the once over so it's mint?

All that time and money spent fixing a rotten shell seems nuts to me.. have you nothing better to do :mhihi:

M3 ROB

· #26 · Mar 15, 2015

deano said:
I really don't get it.. Why don't you sell your rusty car and buy an import then give it the once over so it's mint?

All that time and money spent fixing a rotten shell seems nuts to me.. have you nothing better to do :mhihi:

To try and find a Red TME in mint condition is getting extremely difficult :wallbang: if the OP has the time and money give him some backing, it's better than putting it on the scrap heap and it is a Red one after all :mhihi:

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bluedeano

· #27 · Mar 15, 2015

deano said:
I really don't get it.. Why don't you sell your rusty car and buy an import then give it the once over so it's mint?

All that time and money spent fixing a rotten shell seems nuts to me.. have you nothing better to do :mhihi:

Good job everyone doesn't feel the same as the above.

Negative comments not needed.

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babou88

· #28 · Mar 15, 2015

deano said:
I really don't get it.. Why don't you sell your rusty car and buy an import then give it the once over so it's mint?

All that time and money spent fixing a rotten shell seems nuts to me.. have you nothing better to do :mhihi:

a mint EVO 6,5 in red was sold 14 march 2015 in japan auctions 1 503 000 Jpy
(grade 4 / 51 000kms)

So it will be difficult to import good cars at good price now , I think spending money an time to fix one is good!

sorry for bad english,
and I wish the best (good work on the car) for red rooster

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Mr Ralliart

· #29 · Mar 15, 2015

deano said:
I really don't get it.. Why don't you sell your rusty car and buy an import then give it the once over so it's mint?

Because he's a legend.

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A12DY B

· #30 · Mar 15, 2015 (Edited)

take my hat off in these threads,

this one looks tidy compared to most I have seen recently and when done it will be all the better

red maks are going to be collectors items soon so why not protect them is my question

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jhfozzy

· #31 · Mar 15, 2015

babou88 said:
a mint EVO 6,5 in red was sold 14 march 2015 in japan auctions 1 503 000 Jpy
(grade 4 / 51 000kms)

So it will be difficult to import good cars at good price now , I think spending money an time to fix one is good!

sorry for bad english,
and I wish the best (good work on the car) for red rooster

I make that about £8,000, how much on average does it cost to import?

I'm sure TMEs go for about £12,000 here.

Anyhow, good work OP, it's a long struggle, but worth it in the end.

I think mine's ok at the moment, but when it starts failing I may go this route, not keen on scrapping her of offloading the problem onto someone else.

JOHNDQ

· #32 · Mar 15, 2015

deano said:
I really don't get it.. Why don't you sell your rusty car and buy an import then give it the once over so it's mint?

All that time and money spent fixing a rotten shell seems nuts to me.. have you nothing better to do :mhihi:

I do kind of agree, once you have to cut out bad bits of metal etc it never right again and not really worth the trouble when other shells are readily available all tho saying that can't knock a mans work. Keeping eye on thread tho mine VII isn't looking the best underneath now all tho prob wont ever do anything with it

Barrie

· #33 · Mar 15, 2015

That would have to be a 15k+ roughly car from a dealer to make it work
Agent fee, shipping,10% customs, transport,20% vat on full selling price , conversions,preparing,warranty and no doubt some jobs to do to get it upto scratch,tax on the 1or 2k profit

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RichW

· #34 · Mar 16, 2015

Regardless of if the OP can buy another, this is HIS TME - the car he has used and grown to love over the years and the car he wants to keep and look after.

Owning these cars is about passion, they become an extension of yourself, so i can fully understand what he is doing.

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Mr Ralliart

· #35 · Mar 16, 2015

It always makes me laugh the clowns who think there is an endless supply of Red TMEs in Japan.
Got news for ya, there aren't any left.

They only made 212 to start with, and around 50 stayed in Japan.
By the time you subtract those crashed or broken, and the majority of the remainder that have since been exported over seas (most to the UK), you should understand why I have only seen 2 others since 2009 when I got mine. Workshops say the same, they never see them.

On the very rare occasion they pop up on any of the For Sale websites, they are either dogs (and still tend to be at least £7000) , or if decent are at least £8300+.

They still surface in the Auctions very occasionally (pretty sure the supply all but dried up last year though) but anything left are generally cars that were collected and are now being sold off due to the bad economy over here (thanks Obama).

When I bought mine I paid £9,992 for it. The fairly mint V GSR I had actually gone in to buy was only £3,070. I thought about it for 5 minutes. I couldn't afford the Tommi at all but knew I would never get an opportunity again.
The company I got if from was a specialist Evo dealer, he'd been trying to find one for years. It was on the lot for less than a day.

lol there's an Egyptian dude I know who exports cars to Middle east countries for a living. Every time he sees me he pesters me to sell my car. He has offered me as much as ￥3000000 (£16752) for it :mhihi:

Red Rooster's car really doesn't seem that bad at all compared to some on here. And you can still get all of the body shell parts from Mitsubishi if needed anyway so there is no reason that it couldn't be repaired perfectly if the need arose.

Geez considering how much effort people go to restore old granny cars like Escorts which are as common as bums

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JOHNDQ

· #36 · Mar 16, 2015 (Edited)

Mr Ralliart said:
It always makes me laugh the clowns who think there is an endless supply of Red TMEs in Japan.
Got news for ya, there aren't any left.

They only made 212 to start with, and around 50 stayed in Japan.
By the time you subtract those crashed or broken, and the majority of the remainder that have since been exported over seas (most to the UK), you should understand why I have only seen 2 others since 2009 when I got mine. Workshops say the same, they never see them.

On the very rare occasion they pop up on any of the For Sale websites, they are either dogs (and still tend to be at least £7000) , or if decent are at least £8300+.

They still surface in the Auctions very occasionally (pretty sure the supply all but dried up last year though) but anything left are generally cars that were collected and are now being sold off due to the bad economy over here (thanks Obama).

When I bought mine I paid £9,992 for it. The fairly mint V GSR I had actually gone in to buy was only £3,070. I thought about it for 5 minutes. I couldn't afford the Tommi at all but knew I would never get an opportunity again.
The company I got if from was a specialist Evo dealer, he'd been trying to find one for years. It was on the lot for less than a day.

lol there's an Egyptian dude I know who exports cars to Middle east countries for a living. Every time he sees me he pesters me to sell my car. He has offered me as much as ￥3000000 (£16752) for it :mhihi:

Red Rooster's car really doesn't seem that bad at all compared to some on here. And you can still get all of the body shell parts from Mitsubishi if needed anyway so there is no reason that it couldn't be repaired perfectly if the need arose.

Geez considering how much effort people go to restore old granny cars like Escorts which are as common as bums

You do know that some MK1 and MK2 Escorts are worth more than a Evo don't you, there classic's

You can paint a car red btw or is that also "rare" now days :shake:. How you planning on striping the underseal etc I was thinking of getting a little soda blaster

Mr Ralliart

· #37 · Mar 16, 2015

Haha I knew someone would bite. That was quick John!

I know what people pay for Escorts

:rofl:

They are still heaps easier to find than one of these

hence the reference.

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JOHNDQ

· #38 · Mar 16, 2015

Mr Ralliart said:
Haha I knew someone would bite. That was quick John!

I know what people pay for Escorts :rofl:

They are still heaps easier to find than one of these hence the reference.

Lol its all good mate I respect your views even tho I must say don't share them myself.Tbh I think you can probably build a Escort from ground up with everything thats remade and market so big for them its a safe job to repair them. Was a Twim Cam MK1 up for £68k little while ago

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RichW

· #39 · Mar 16, 2015

Anthony has to have a point - these cars were very limited in the first place and aren't going to be available for ever, and from watching the auctions a fair few cars coming through are "R" rated so buyer beware if you are in the market for one.

Ralliart Rous

Discussion Starter · #40 · Apr 4, 2015

Just a update on the progress so far, I've been sneaking a few hours in on the project after work and at weekends removing the underseal. Its been just myself and a paint scraper for company, it seems to be the best way to remove the horrible stuff, wire wheels and discs just seem to either get gummed up or spread it about. A little bit of heat makes the job much easier.

As you will see there are several areas with surface rust but they remain solid, there is no visible rust on the interior of the floor pan, including the boot and rear wheel well so that's a bonus and the sills are solid too :smthumbup

However..... I have problem areas, im not going to pretend they don't exist because they do . The rear chassis legs where the diff hanger mounts

The top layer of metal you can peel off with your fingers

Luckily I know somebody who's a bloody good engineer, fabricator and welder, he's had a look and said he can sort it no problem :smthumbup

Its not terminal and I wont be beaten... I love this car, I've got it damn near perfect on top so I wont stop until its that way underneath !!

A few photos of the progress and the ugly stuff , hopefully I will be able to post progress of the repair work start to finish soon.

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