The Firebrid Hybrid Convertible Project (Prius platform swap)

[California98Civic]

So thorough. Man, oh man. How many coats of paint? What brand are you using?

[Bill the Engineer]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

So thorough. Man, oh man. How many coats of paint? What brand are you using?

Bill the Engineer

[Bill the Engineer]

Continued with the wire brushing and rust converting paint today on the underside of the body. Got back as far as the front edge of the rear seat area today.



The inner part of the rocker panels were NEVER painted by GM. (They didn't dip the bodies back then.) Even so, they were remarkably rust free when I painted them.




Naturally, I already see a spot I missed. Ah well, there's always next weekend.

Bill the Engineer

[California98Civic]

Yes. That's the brand I used for so clear-coat touch-up on my wife's car. They sell an activated clear coat that is almost like having a paint-gun in a can. The best.

[Bill the Engineer]

First freeze tonight. (All of my joints are already telling me!) Looks like I need to grab any warmish weekend days that I can between now and Winter to work on the project.

Bill the Engineer

[Bill the Engineer]

Took Friday off because the weather is relatively nice. Saturday and Sunday are supposed to be damp and cold.

Started off the morning working on the new gas door area. My late Dad must be smiling down on me today. His old recess forming pliers worked much better than the pair that I recently bought. The recess is to make the Gen-II Prius gas door fit flush into the fender. I'm a little concerned about the extent of the Bondo skim coat that I am finding though. (TBD if the entire fender is eventually replaced, or just the areas that are bad.)



In the afternoon, I moved under the car to finish the seam welds in the soon-to-be-hidden places. Then I ran out the can of rust converting paint on the areas that will become inaccessible.



All that is left now is a little bit of weld grinding before I can prep things for the body drop. We'll see if the weather cooperates.

Bill the Engineer

[Bill the Engineer]

FINALLY!!!! The last task in the way of putting the body back on the chassis is DONE!!! On the Prius v, Toyota routes the parking brake cable back behind the Denso A/C unit on the far side from the driver. This made the cable too short to reach the new parking brake pedal position on the Firebird firewall. One last bolt behind the A/C unit was keeping the cable in place. It took an hour and a half with my head upside down lying on the floor of the car, and using three different wrenches to get the bolt loose in the tiny little hole I had access through... but I finally got it. The photo is of the cable pulled out from behind the A/C unit and rerouted to the driver's side. Got-cha you little bugger.



Bill the Engineer

[Bill the Engineer]

Firebrid Project Update:

Fantastic day out in the garage today. The weather was warm and the promised rain stayed away until dinner time. I'll let the photos speak for themselves this time.













It was a very satisfying day. The body is sitting just where it is supposed to, and both doors work freely without binding. There should be no reason to remove the body again from the chassis

Well, it is two weeks behind schedule, but my wife should have her parking space back in the garage again next weekend. It will be time to put the project away through the cold weather months. If I get any warm bonus weekends here and there I'll pull it out for some minor tasks, but that's pretty much the end of this year's progress.

Time to do some more planning...

Bill the Engineer

[Xist]

You know, I keep visualizing this, but with the Firebird racing towards the Prius,
and then morphing into the Firebrid:

[Bill the Engineer]

Originally Posted by Xist

You know, I keep visualizing this, but with the Firebird racing towards the Prius,
and then morphing into the Firebrid:

I LIKE that visualization!



Bill the Engineer