Mitsubishi 360 screaming "Save me!"

Old Colts in Oz · **Posted:** Tue Feb 15, 2011 9:26 pm

Another cool classic! Check out www.bellett.net if you haven't already - the guys on there would love to see your new ride!

In Australia Colts and Bellets were sold by the same dealers. In the below pic of two 60's Rally Colts you can see "Bellett" displayed on the window up the top

I have a heap of newspaper ads too showing Colts and Belletts together like this one:

Nakazoto · **Posted:** Sun Feb 20, 2011 12:04 am

Holy crap those pictures are awesome Old Colts in Oz!
Thanks for posting them up!

My Mitsubishi is actually going to get repainted as the mismatched paint is driving me up the wall! I will have some updates coming on that very soon!

Thanks again everyone for the support!
Cheers

David

Camshaft · **Posted:** Sun Feb 20, 2011 1:27 pm

Nakazoto wrote:

Holy crap those pictures are awesome Old Colts in Oz!
Thanks for posting them up!

My Mitsubishi is actually going to get repainted as the mismatched paint is driving me up the wall! I will have some updates coming on that very soon!

Thanks again everyone for the support!
Cheers

David

I hope you go for body-coloured bumpers this time. Trust me bro.

cat0 · **Posted:** Sat Feb 26, 2011 12:09 pm

Camshaft wrote:

I hope you go for body-coloured bumpers this time. Trust me bro.

My inadequate Photoshop-skills led me to agree (also, to feel slightly like a stalker)

Camshaft · **Posted:** Sat Feb 26, 2011 11:09 pm

Whoa, you just made it cuter. I didn't even know you could do that. I thought you had reached Minica Cuteness Max Level back in like November.

bennyd · **Posted:** Sun Feb 27, 2011 3:18 am

Hey mate,

Did you ever end up taking it back to the shop you bought it from to show that not all gaijin are bad to deal with when it comes to there classic cars?

Nakazoto · **Posted:** Mon Feb 28, 2011 6:14 am

Howdy guys!
Thanks so much for the comments, and cat0, that's actually a pretty good photoshop! Still not sure on body colored bumpers, I kind of want to go original chrome on them and get the wheel covers chromed as well. Although, like you said Camshaft, it is pretty cute! We'll see what happens at the body shop, haha.

I haven't taken it back to the shop I bought it from yet, I'm kind of embarrassed about the mismatched color (car hasn't left the garage in two weeks out of shame, haha), so I'm waiting until after I get the paint fixed. I'm thinking it'll take about a month at the paint shop. Then it's shaken and on the road!

Quick little update. My shift knob was broken so I didn't really have anything to shift with. So I took the remains of the broken knob home with me and gave them to my father, who just so happens to have a metal lathe. He turned up these three new knobs for me.

One out of aluminum, brass and steel!

I think they all look fantastic and am running with the brass one for now as it seems to match the interior color really well! He did an excellent job! Thank you dad!

So, the reason I didn't run the Mitsubishi down to the paint shop this weekend was because Nostalgic 2 Days was in Tokyo. So, I was in Tokyo, haha!

Teaser pic:

Check it out here:

viewtopic.php?t=13567&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

Thanks you all again so much for the support!

Cheers
David

Nakazoto · **Posted:** Sun Mar 06, 2011 2:47 am

Alright, I had an interesting weekend, haha!
The mismatched color and all in all shabby job by the previous paint shop was really starting to get on my nerves, so after some talks with the Shacho of Classic Car Nagoya we decided they would paint the car for cheap if I did all the prep work at their shop. This sounds like a hell of deal to me cause I get to hang out with these guys and tons of classic cars all day!

So this weekend I got a temp tag (the license plates with red stripes through them) and drove the car on down to their shop. They gave me a little corner (next to a 4 door hako, haha) and I went to work with the dismantling!

It pains me to see this car come apart, but I know the end result will be well worth it!

The company my little Mitsubishi is keeping, hehe.

Front fenders and trim stuffs are off... again.

It was time to get to work on cleaning up the backs of the trim pieces. The previous paint shop just cleaned up the parts you could see, so all the back side of almost everything was still all dirty and rusty.

This was my weapon of choice!

And this type of rust was my target!

Looking much better.

Then I painted on some rust stopping stuff over everything I blasted. Should neutralize any remaining rust.

My sand blasting/rust stop paint work area. Not a bad place to be at all, haha!

All parts painted up with the rust stuff.

Then, while I was back at the car taking more parts off the Shacho sprayed on a coat of primer.

I continued my dismantling spree quite far down!

And how she sat at the end of the day today.

These guys are single handedly the nicest and most likable group of guys I've been around since I got here. Most car shops in Japan are in the business to make money but these guys are in it for the cars themselves, and it really shows!

Can't wait until next weekend when I get back out there and start fixing the paint the right way!

Cheers
David

ToyGuy · **Posted:** Sun Mar 06, 2011 3:44 am

Dave,

Count me as very impressed!
You are taking a rough situation and making it right.

Major props to Classic for working with you through this.
I totally agree with you that they are in it for the cars, not just the profits.
Their pain at the color mismatch was palpable.

I first met these guys about 4 years ago, and even though I was in no way looking for a car at the time, and my Japanese was far worse than it is now, they treated me well.

:tu:

city hunter · **Posted:** Wed Mar 09, 2011 11:08 pm

glad to see you are getting what you want out of the car!

NExt time you swing by ask them if they have access to any a30 debonair parts

CrownedGirl · **Joined:** Sat Dec 01, 2007 9:37 pm **Posts:** 31

Hope you're safe and well regarding this earthquake and tsunami!!

opelboy76 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 11, 2011 10:39 pm

x2
this was honestly the first thing I thought about when I heard there was a big quake in Japan. I thought, "this is just what he needs, right in the middle of such a nice build, and after all the effort he's put in." seriously, I hope you are safe. cars are replaceable.

Nakazoto · **Posted:** Sat Mar 12, 2011 6:53 am

Thank you guys so much!
Nothing much to worry about here in Nagoya though. We got shook up but no real damage (didn't even knock over the empty beer bottles on my desk, haha). It looks absolutely devastating north of Tokyo. So surreal because I vividly remember driving through Sendai when I was moving from Hokkaido to here. Still have some friends in Northern Hokkaido I haven't been able to contact, cell towers must still be out.

To take my mind of the destruction I went back up to Classic Car Nagoya to cause some destruction of my own. All it did was make me furious at the previous paint shop though, haha.

I got to work with an air powered sander, grinder and a hand held mini belt sander. The rust existing on the car was astounding! I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Here's the passenger side rear fender where it contacts the rocker (sorry for the change in pic quality, my camera battery was dead, so these are all cell phone pics).

More of the passenger rear fender. They didn't take any rust off at all, they just but bondo over the holes and sprayed paint on top! Unbelievable!

Starting in the lower trunk area.

Driver side rear fender where it contacts the rocker. Massive hole.

This is the part that really makes me not happy. This is a pretty structural section so I explicitly asked the old paint shop on several occasions to cut out the bad spot and weld in new steel. They assured me they would do just that. All they did was plaster fiberglass over the rust and then sprayed paint on top of it.

I also started gleaning up the rain gully on the top.

Starting to look pretty good.

Started in on sanding the paint down to smooth as well to provide a clean base for the new primer.

Moral of the story? Don't ever go to Auto Produce Selection in Nagakute, haha! Part of me is really upset at the job they did and another part of me is really happy because now I have the chance to learn first hand how to do it the right way. The knowledge is indispensable and well worth the lost money!

My heart goes out to those up north and I pray for the safe return of those still in trouble. This truly is a catastrophe of epic proportions and the face of northern Japan will forever be changed. Having said that, Japan is the most earthquake ready nation in the world and the people here, native and foreigners alike, will not let any earthquake or tsunami bring us to our knees, no matter how big. We will pick ourselves up and we will rebuild!

Cheers
David

Komeuppance · **Posted:** Sat Mar 12, 2011 8:55 am

Oh boy. It's good that you went back at it. Could you tell without sanding it down??

-Robert

opelboy76 · **Posted:** Sat Mar 12, 2011 9:51 pm

glad you're ok. sucks about the bodywork, though. I would be so pissed. what's the point of taking the car to a body shop if you're just going to have to re-do the ENTIRE thing yourself?

Nakazoto · **Posted:** Sun Mar 13, 2011 3:51 am

Thanks for the comments guys!
Nagoya really lucked out this time fortunately. Oh, and opelboy, I'm pretty furious, haha. But in the end it's worth it for the opportunity to work alongside some of the best in the classic car restoration business!

Some more fun today actually! Got most of the body sanded down.

Started in on the hood. The rust is so severe on the hood though that were going to try to hunt down a replacement instead of reusing this one.

All the parts laid out waiting for their turn under the knife... err, sander!

Got some work done on the doors as well. The rust on these is pretty severe too. They're going to have to come apart and be sand blasted. That's a project for next weekend though, haha.

I love this picture! The engine bay doesn't look like an engine bay at all, it's like a spaceship, haha!

I've been spending so much time working with these guys, they got me a set of company overalls! Not bad if I do say so myself!

That's all for this weekend! Expect much more progress next weekend!

Thanks everyone for the well wishes and let's keep those up north in our hearts and pray that things start looking up soon!

Cheers
David

Nakazoto · **Posted:** Sat Mar 26, 2011 4:31 am

So in contrast to the last picture I posted up, which was me in my work clothes, here's me in my other work clothes... kind of, hehe.

Alrighty, back to the car, haha. Got back out there today to get some more work done. When we opened up shop I saw the old girl with her back wheels off the ground.

Then, upon closer inspection my jaw dropped! The bodywork guy went to town and put new steel in! If your going to do it, do it right, and this guy did it right! Awesome!

Got new steel back here too!

That's how rust is supposed to be fixed! Makes me so happy to see it being done the way I had originally envisioned, hehe. After I did my little happy dance, it was time to start on the doors. First step was to dismantle them.

I was dismantling them to cure this little rust problem.

Door in the blaster for some rust killing sand!

Getting there.

My back was starting to hurt (I'm too tall for everything in Japan), so I took a minute to stretch out and snap a pic of the company my car is keeping. I think this one can be classified under "ultra mega thunder clean".

Back to the doors!

Awaiting filler and paint!

Front fenders were next!

Looking good!

Trunk is up next! She's really moving along a good clip now! Expect more tomorrow! Thanks everyone for all the support!

Cheers
David

Nakazoto · **Posted:** Mon Mar 28, 2011 6:41 am

Alrighty, I got back into it this last Sunday!

First thing we did was apply a quick first layer of filler to the new steel.

Then I started in on the trunk. More sanding and grinding of rust!

I didn't get too far into it when this showed up. The whole shop essentially stopped to go take a look!

A Cedric Wagon! I'd never even seen a picture of one!

Then while I was distracted, I'd figure I'd snap a pic of the yellow Civic for ya, Skunk! The customer wants a full restoration. It's shaping up nicely!

Back to work with the sanding!

Window frames had to come apart...

So I could fight this monster of rust!

Getting there!

The old paint shop did a terrible job of masking, so they ended up getting a lot of overspray on my irreplaceable weatherstripping. Very not happy about that.

So I got to work with a flathead screwdriver and scraped all that overspray right off!

And that's where I got to when 6 o clock rolled around. More to come next weekend! Thanks everyone for all the comments and support!

Cheers
David

city hunter · **Posted:** Tue Mar 29, 2011 1:12 pm

Man you are lucky to find such a shop to work at. It sounds like they are very good people. Hopefully I can find some passionate sheetmetal guys who can help me with the deb once I get started on her.

This thing should really shine when you are done with it.

MazdaMedicine · **Posted:** Tue Mar 29, 2011 2:40 pm

My guess David is that you won't be able to stay away from that shop even when you are not working on your own project, they have you in training for a full time part time job.

Mitsubishi 360 screaming "Save me!"

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