Sold all my vehicles and bought different ones.. (pics & more)

[97 Supra]

I've had a lot of vehicles over the years, and my screen name.. my beloved 97 Supra but hard times hit and as we all know life is a roller coaster.. so on the way down I held my breath waiting for things to rise to the top again.

I sold my vehicles and finally got a few I can be proud of again. It's winter time so I won't be hot on detailing again until spring but I wanted to share my new toys with you and one other project I've been working on with my younger brother for the learning experience.

I hope there is something here some of you may enjoy!

[97 Supra]

Re: Sold all my vehicles and bought different ones.. (pics & more)

I've always wanted a truck, but never was satisfied with any I saw etc I just wanted "more."

So I got this 2005 Chevrolet 3500 1 Ton 6.6L V8 Duramax Turbo Diesel Auto Quad Cab Extended Bed 4x4. Found it down in Maryland, and drove down the instant I saw it to buy it. Came as shown.




Then went and purchased a 2007 Honda CBR1000RR (160hp sportbike for those that don't know) I always wanted one, but after just 3 weeks of ownership I was so aggravated with the traffic and congestion in NJ that I sold the bike.



I needed a "toy" and I missed my Supra... I certainly could not afford an Acura NSX which I hoped to be my next planned vehicle purchase, so I got some inspiration from my model car collection. I had a few of these and I considered one in the past.. but most of them were out of my price range. Now that they are getting older and more affordable I was able to find one configured the way I would have built it to use as a starting platform for my own enhancements.

Here's my 1991 Toyota MR2 5 speed (turbo, was originally N/A)







.. last but not least my brothers friend / roomate stole his car and wrecked it, but the engine was great. So he did the research, found another vehicle with the same engine of the same vintage with a bad engine in it, and a very serious dent. We swapped engines, and I decided to tackle the body work myself, It was pretty bad so I figured I can't make it worse.. haha.

Pulled the first engine from the 95 Geo Prism



Put it into the 95 Toyota Celica



Truck came in handy to cart the old engine off to the junkyard



In and running / driving ..



Then the damage..



And.. after 3 hours of making noise (this was my first attempt at body work ever)



.. today I'm going to do some more metal work and body filler, so I'll post results after some progress!

Thanks for looking, any feedback welcome! Happy new year everyone

[sspudnick]

Re: Sold all my vehicles and bought different ones.. (pics & more)

Wow man that's awesome! Seems to me like you came out on top! LOVE your new vehicles. I'm happy for you.

[roushstage2]

Re: Sold all my vehicles and bought different ones.. (pics & more)

That is a very nice looking truck and car! Congrats on the new vehicles!

[97 Supra]

Re: Sold all my vehicles and bought different ones.. (pics & more)

Thank you both and here is an update on the body work..
Metal work and grinding / wire wheel



Filler



Sanded



Got dark, had to pack it in for the night.. applied rust inhibitor until next time when I'll smooth out the highs and lows..



Hope this gives some of you inspiration... this was my first body work ever!

[cnfowler]

Re: Sold all my vehicles and bought different ones.. (pics & more)

I can't figure out the 'hard times' part. If that is what you call hard times, more power to ya.

The MR2 is saweeetttttt!!

Colin

[Flash Gordon]

Re: Sold all my vehicles and bought different ones.. (pics & more)

The title to this thread reminds me of a video game. I'm always trading up, or trickin out
Nice new collection you got there. Very cool indeed

[97 Supra]

Re: Sold all my vehicles and bought different ones.. (pics & more)

I can't figure out the 'hard times' part.
Colin

I lost my home, my bank account, my credit,
my job, my girl, my sanity, my cars, and while being nearly homeless, and spending almost 3 years in denial and disbelief that my life could fall apart and that I let someone have so much power over me to trust in love..

I learned a few things..

1.) Some people are pure evil inside
2.) I couldn't appreciate much until I had nothing to appreciate
3.) Hard work pays off
4.) I still have no patience.. haha

So I guess I didn't mention it took years to bounce back, and much manual labor in jobs I absolutely hated. Highs never last though I lost my job just after buying my truck.. but I won't let it bother me anymore - not much is worth the stress these days.

[sspudnick]

Re: Sold all my vehicles and bought different ones.. (pics & more)

I see a few spots that might be a little on the thick side for body filler. Although they could just still be wet.

1/8" is what most manufactures suggest, while 1/16" is the safest. Would **** to have to do it all over again a few years because it's cracking and or lifting.

I could be wrong, it is just a picture afterall. Just thought I'd try to throw some friendly (and limited) advice your way for things to look for.

Keep it up...it looks great so far.

[97 Supra]

Re: Sold all my vehicles and bought different ones.. (pics & more)

You are definitely right, there are a few areas that have 1/8 inch of filler in them such as over the tail light on the curve there and the very bottom where the metal was pinched / creased so bad I couldn't smooth it out without putting holes in the metal, so I hammered it as flat as possible and just jammed it up with filler.

The color difference, is from doing 2 batches of filler. The first I made a little light and sanded, then the second I made darker so I could see where it ended up after my second sand. The dark spots filled in what I had missed the first time, or where the filler had a few gaps in.

When I go back next time I'll be sure to keep 1/16 in mind. I have a few high spots to tap back down so I'll keep them shallow. When I was massaging the metal out it took a while to figure out how to use the body dolly and hammer set.