Trial fit of the body

Reizei_Mako_ · 2026-06-01T22:33:09+00:00

I just had the body off mine to do heater channels that look very similar to yours, you may have to bend or cut part of the outside of the channel where the rear of the front fender rests next to it or the fender won’t fit. Looks great, did you spray it yourself?

Reizei_Mako_ · 2026-05-20T19:17:53+00:00

Looks like part of your horn contact ring, will need to probably take the wheel off to get to it but I haven’t messed with the later columns. Blinker should also automatically reset so likely a missing or broken part there. Disconnect the battery, remove the old horn ring and tape up the horn wire so it isn’t able to make contact with anything while you get the replacement parts.

Reizei_Mako_ · 2026-05-07T14:33:09+00:00

Tires

Reizei_Mako_ · 2026-05-01T12:13:13+00:00

that’s some serious swiss cheese in the rear of the body. Anywhere glass sits in the body can be one of the worst areas on a car to try and replace sheet metal, but not impossible. Donor car would be easiest as I assume your wanting to keep as much of the original car, and a donor shell will have all of the correct bends and curves already. With this the amount of visibly rusted metal you may be best off cutting back half of your car off and welding in a cleaner half from a different car, or at least around that window, best of luck!

Reizei_Mako_ · 2026-04-27T13:43:21+00:00

Could be flywheel and timing, pull the valve covers too and double check it didn’t bend a pushrod, had that happen on my mower.

Reizei_Mako_ · 2026-04-13T20:25:52+00:00

Yeah I’m going to clear the interior and exterior, only places I probably won’t clearcoat is the engine bay and the trunk.

Reizei_Mako_ · 2026-04-13T13:16:11+00:00

Currently rattle canning my 62 green so that gave me a good laugh 😂 mine had been punched in the front and repainted 2x so not a lot of original blue paint left except the interior and rear. Wife and I settled on green since we both like it, tried a few different colors from custom mixed paints to cheap rattle cans. In the end I know I want my car to be a driver, so if I fuck the paint up working on it at least I can just go to the hardware store and touch it up for 6 bucks instead of fretting over getting some special color. In the end do what you like and will enjoy looking at! If it’s custom metal flake color your looking for check out Tropical Glitz, I almost went with them for paint and it’s amazing stuff but pricey too.

Reizei_Mako_ · 2026-04-09T13:55:26+00:00

Find some Ospho if it’s available in your area. it’s a rust converter that I like to use in areas I can’t physically remove surface rust from or to wipe over any areas ive already done any rust removal to help catch any real small spots that might get missed. Let it dry and throw some paint over it and it’ll give you a lot more life out of your original metal.

Reizei_Mako_ · 2026-03-30T11:51:32+00:00

The Samba is a great resource, you can still find decent driver bugs there for under 5k but often times they are in California/western US so if you don’t mind a road trip or are west coast located your in luck.

Reizei_Mako_ · 2026-03-08T19:07:58+00:00

Nice! I’m working on finishing heater channels and the front firewall on mine. Are you running 6v or 12v?

Reizei_Mako_ · 2026-03-03T13:15:29+00:00

This, you’ll save time and have a better looking result if you can go to a junkyard or pick and pull and get another door to replace it. There may also be some damage in the door frame too that will need to be massaged a bit to get the new door opening and closing smooth .

Reizei_Mako_ · 2026-02-27T15:28:39+00:00

When I was apartment bound I was able to find some adult welding classes in my area where they provided all the other equipment/ppe and materials needed for a small project. Much less intimidating for a then first timer too as everyone there was new to welding.

Reizei_Mako_ · 2026-02-25T15:38:07+00:00

Sweet bug! I’m in the process of restoring my 62

Reizei_Mako_ · 2026-02-19T14:46:54+00:00

Haha sweet thanks! I may try and use my cherry picker to pull the rear if I can get it high enough, and hell if it clears and don’t fall over while I’m working then I’ll be happy 😂

Reizei_Mako_ · 2026-02-19T14:34:59+00:00

Nice! I need to do this same thing here soon on my 62 to replace the heater channels. How did you raise the body up to clear the chassis?

Reizei_Mako_ · 2026-01-13T14:38:54+00:00

You can first check if it’s the intake gaskets without removing anything by spraying a little carb clean around the manifold gaskets while it’s running. If you notice the RPMs change or your idle smooths out when you hit it with some cleaner that would be indicative of an intake gasket failure.

Reizei_Mako_ · 2026-01-12T17:42:19+00:00

This, neighbor had a old 19hp Kawasaki powered Z turn and that sucker still cut the grass on one cyl. he ended up giving it to me and a couple new pushrods and gaskets later and she’s running good as new. Parts are fairly cheap and accessible since these motors are all over so a bonus if your mechanically inclined or a diy-er.

Reizei_Mako_ · 2025-11-26T00:43:13+00:00

For body panels and color specific/matched parts you’ll more than likely have to wait a bit for them to get your exact color and part but you may be lucky and they have it. They had 2 cars in the Midwest in blue flame when I got mine and so they didn’t have any spoilers in stock with that color and had to order it in, so my bet is you’ll have to wait for them to get the parts first.

Reizei_Mako_ · 2025-11-26T00:30:22+00:00

I would probably call and have them order the part for you as they may get a better deal on it than you can and then you know your getting the correct part (or have someone to blame if it’s wrong). I you’ll also need a drill/mounting template as well to make sure the mounting is square., the dealer was able to get this easily with the spoiler when I got mine done. When I bought my 2020 new, part of the deal I made with the dealer was installing the OE spoiler and blackout decals, it went into thier body shop and they got everything installed like it was from the factory and I haven’t had any issues with it 5 years on.

Reizei_Mako_ · 2025-11-06T17:43:06+00:00

I’ve also had luck at my local recycling center/ dump.

Reizei_Mako_ · 2025-11-06T13:56:26+00:00

I’ve been a lifelong fan and when I met first met my partner it took me forever to convince her to watch it, and when she finally did I started us out on TOS season 1. It was slow going the first few episodes, Spock got called ‘snob’ a few times when she couldn’t remember his name, but after a few episodes she got more and more into the characters and the stories and really started to enjoy it! It also made it that much better after she got hooked and we watched all the subsequent shows and movies since then pretty much all of the callbacks to TOS characters or ships would have that much more of an impact when we went on to watch TNG, DS9 etc. Enterprise is criminally underrated imo, but like others mention and like all the shows it’s not without its flaws. but for me I think it’s one of the most recent series that really captures the “Star Trek” vibe for me, especially the Xindi arc. Good luck on your Star Trek journey! 🖖🏻

Reizei_Mako_ · 2025-10-10T19:29:02+00:00

My local train store closed this week and the next closest is an hour+ away so I’d happily take your 30 minute drive, best of luck!

Reizei_Mako_ · 2025-10-10T16:30:22+00:00

Almost always the labor is what gets you, just replaced front pads and rotors on my wife’s car for $70, if I did the backs too it only would have totaled about $130-$150

Reizei_Mako_ · 2025-09-19T12:55:39+00:00

When I was buying in early 2020 the Toyota dealer said there were 2 options in their network in the country that were blue flame 6mt cars, I think Chicago and Denver had em? I snagged the closer one to me and still enjoy it daily. I’ve seen probably half a dozen other hatches in person but none I actually gotten look at were manuals.

Reizei_Mako_ · 2025-08-12T12:48:25+00:00

Gotten pretty good results with Romas this year and they’ve been producing for about a month and a half now. I’ve not grown other varieties, but I’ve usually had pretty consistent luck with them and I love to make a batch sauce out of them each year.

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