The home stretch

After 28 months in the shop, the car is on its way home. Not that it took that long, it was just in no hurry to get done.

Got the new graphic panel applied to the tail gate.

Coming together nicely, just need more time to spend on it. Few more clips ordered from Toyota for the  body cladding then that should be done. Need to get 3/8" red strip tape for the bumper insets and body side moldings.

Interior in nearly prefect shape. Having one small tear in the vinyl repaired on the back quarter door panel. Put Dynamat everywhere I could on this car.

Serious update

I looked back at my older posts and nothing has happened on this car since March of this year!
Guess it has been that long sitting in the body shop. No surprise when I have so many projects.













But finally, the shop got the car painted. Not that I was in a rush, it was free storage, but it is painted now.












Hung the doors and fender, need to get a new windshield and back window, get the tail gate graphics done and start on reassembly next week.

Maybe even have it on the road for the first of the year!

Found a new sunroof

Lucked out and found a nice roof panel from an 88 GTS in Idaho. Nice and rust free, straight and clean. Funny thing about this is that this roof was from a white GTS, then painted red and now back to white.

Now that is recycling!

Progress is being made

After several months of being dormant in the body shop, the Corolla is being brought back to life.

Back end was a bit cancerous so the welding has progressed well. Got the back apron stitched up quite well save for one big tumor on the back valence.






The sunroof panel however appeared to be a bit more of a problem. The little rust that poked through to the surface proved to be major cancer from underneath.

Thanks to the internet, within 2 hours I found a cancer free donor GTS in Idaho with an "perfect" sunroof panel that would be mine for a mere $75.00

And I found that the wrecking yard has a complete 88 GTS. Hmmmmm.

February doldrums

No progress to report. Car has been in the shop during their not-so-busy season. Then they got busy. Bumpers and fenders are painted.... and that is about it! They are hesitant to take out the sunroof for fear it will no go back in so well.

Panels getting painted

Bumpers, fenders and doors ready for prime and paint.

















Edges were starting to rust even though we are in the Pacific NW! These cars had thin metal and were not built to last for the long haul.

Sanded all the body sealer out of all of them and then soaked it with an acid etch primer for good bonding and sealing.







Fenders needed nothing, good all around.













Hatch suffered the worst of the rust. One hit with the blaster and it went right through. Super thin metal is no match for sand blasting. Resorted to hand sanding and wire brushing. Luckily there were no rust through areas in the outer panels.














Doors were in need of paint. When they were factory sprayed they missed a lot of places and many of the seams were never caulked.

Naked with a few holes.

Stripped down to its skivvies and ready for some minor rust repair. These never held up well and even here in the mild NW, rust had started in the tail panel. Not bad but still annoying











Interior out, even the headliner. Had a real hard time getting the sun roof off. And it too had some rust starting as well... common on these apparently.

A few more weeks and then into paint.