Hi Forum,
Here it is the long awaited post announcing my Aw11 Super Charged JDM restoration.
The Current Condition Of The Car This car has come from a broken home. The poor girl was left outside uncovered for many years before being registered once more. As you will be able to see from the photos it is clear that its been left alone in the wilderness for a while. Leaves twigs and all manner of flora was found through out the car, including the intercooler and cup holders.
At this time its clear the car will need to be mostly brought back to bare metal in order to paint it. Paints is fading, cracking and coming away from the body. Many body bits from the front have been damaged and surface rust is present. It looks like the left side of the car has been side swiped and never repaired. Ive looked under the car and found no major bits of rust, so at least the frame of the car is strong. The car also had its rear spoiler removed, with the mounting holes being covered up with duct tape.
I think the most shocking area of the car is the interior. A previous owner installed after-market speakers into the doors and then cut holes in the doors for tweeters. They then never installed the tweeters and sealed the wholes with duct tape. This is the reason in the photos you will see white residue around the holes, as the tape was left there for years and the adhesive started to run. To top it off the previous owner cut wholes in the rear speaker trim to install tweeters and did the same thing? honestly this guy must of hated base.
The dash is cracking and the windscreen de-mister vents are cracking and falling a part, evidence of prolonged sun exposure. The rest of the dash and trim are in ok condition considering the cars age. The seats were rather gone but luckily the guy I bought the Car from had new seats lying around that he never installed, this is at least one issue that will be fixed in the near future.
The only other odd interior mod is a boost gauge installed into the driver side air-con vent. You may think thats an interesting idea, you don't need to worry about drilling into interior trim to mount the thing. This is all well and good till you realise the air-con pipping is still connected to the vent. The back of this gauge has been rusted to bits. This doesn't surprise me considering the condensation that must have built up on the gauge due to the air-con still being connected up behind it.
Other than some fantastic attempts at tweeter installation there are a couple of other Mods worth mentioning. The car is currently on lowered cut springs. Looking at evidence on the springs it seems that an original owner went the cheap way and kept the original stock springs and just cut them. As a result the suspension is way to doughy for a lowered car. Going around some corners there is a bit of scrubbing that I need to address.
The car has also had an after market muffler installed. The muffler has no obvious markings to indicate brand or make. The new one however does not do much to “muffle” the exhaust note, its acting more like a resonating chamber. I took the muffler off the other week and I swear to you there was not much of a difference. The muffler is having the same effect as shoving a sock down the gullet of a T.Rex.
The Restorations Mission Objectives My goal is to restore this fantastic bit of 80’s engineering to its former retro glory. I plan to turn back the clock and restore the interior back to its original 80’s straight edged charm. The only thing that wont be original will be the head unit and speakers. I wont however be cutting any wholes in any of the trim to do so. The speakers will be housed in existing speaker mounts and will be invisible. By the end of it there will be no wholes, no stupid boost gauges and hopefully no major cracks in the trim.
The body will be patched, reshaped and brought back to bare metal for the most part. The plan is to go for a combined MK1a and MK1b look. I will be keeping the stock blue colour but painting the spoiler, mirrors, side, front and rear skirts black. Considering this is a 1989 SC AW11, it represents the final word from the line. I then want to try and represent the whole line with visual cues from both incarnations of the AW11. For that authentic JDM look I also plan to fit black Watanabe wheels, I think they will just match the car perfectly.
Mechanically I want to try and reverse the mods done to this Car. The suspensions is currently a joke, considering sneezing during a turn can have adverse effects, the suspension needs a change. My plan here is to return it to its complete stock form, thats going back to stock ride hight and all. I plan to do this with stock or close to stock rated parts.
I also plan to fit either a stock muffler or again something close to the stock mufflers specs. The current muffler at idle is way to loud, I've heard V8s quieter than this thing. I really only want to hear the exhaust when the engine is under load. Even then I still want to hear the engine not just its exhaust note.
Now I can already hear people shouting saying why go back to stock in terms of the suspension and exhaust. Keep in mind this is a “factory restore”, not a performance restore. I want to experience the car the way it would have been when it was taken of the showroom floor in Japan back in 1989. Once I have lived with the car in its stock form for a bit then ill decide what modifications need to be made.
The Job So Far At this time much of the damaged interior I have been able to source. Im still needing the dash though, its proving to be a hard part to come by. I have installed the new seats and given the interior a much needed clean.
Im still missing the front struts and sprigs plus muffler. If anyone has any of these parts please contact me and let me know.
Once I have completed more of the restore ill update this post. You can also find attached pictures of the car in its current state. If anyone has any other ideas and suggestions please feel free to chime in. I hope you enjoy.