Let's light up some moisture.
So, I got some Marchal fog lights from : Schickentanz, thanks again.
When mounting them, I wanted to avoid drilling holes, anywhere. I've seen that a lot of people will mount them to the hood hinge brackets, but that means the lights are close to the center (near the kidney grill). I wanted the lights to be pushed out (near headlights), I also wanted the brackets to be semi-hidden.
So, I decided to use the bumper-mount bolt holes to suppo
A fellow ‘02-Montrealler (Pierre*) was nice enough to give me the lower portion of his rear bench (he had an extra one). This put me a step closer to finally installing a rear bench...
So, now I just needed to acquire the upper portion of the rear bench plus, some new padding/foam and the all-important vinyl upholstery.
I stripped down the rear base, the old “horsehair” padding is pretty gross. I wire-brushed it, degreased it, used a metal etch and gave it a couple of coats of m
Gettin' er goin'
The Eurokracy car show takes place the week before the Canadian Formula 1, Grand Prix. Now that I have been invited/accepted in the show in shine, it was time to make sure my car was up for it, and the long drive.
I hadn’t yet started the car with the new Spanish DCOEs but with 10 days until the show I was feeling confident.
So here’s where the new trouble starts. Show (minus 2 weeks) Documented in my “help” thread (starting on page 5) https://www
It's been a while...
The ’02 was stored in my garage during the unpleasantly long winter, here’s a shot prior to putting the cover on.
Winter/Spring
A few semi-exciting off season acquisitions.
New pair of 45DCOEs from Redline (allautomotive)
123Ingition Tune+ distributor, in on the group buy.
New rain gutter trims
A KMPH speedometer from Netherlands
Also during the winter/spring I took care o
Day 77 – Fully assembled.
Hood
I re-installed the trims on the hood and was ready to install it on the car. The installation/adjustment took longer than expected but it’s done now.
I actually prefer the side profile of the car without the hood, more sleek.
Things To Work Out
My A/F gauge stopped working, the fuse had blown, I replaced the fuse but the readings are not good, it almost constantly displays 19.0 (which doesn’t make sense)
Winter is coming. (Day ~69er-76)
Braking my heart
It seems that I have 2 leaking fittings on the front calipers, I think the bleeders aren’t seating properly. I managed to stop the leaks but it’s not a permanent fix. I believe I have Tii brakes which were spaced for vented rotors. I might need to get some professional help with those but I will leave that to next year because winter is coming. I’ll try buying some new quality bleeder fittings first.
Timing‘n’Tuning
I’
Day ~63 – 68
I’m trying to get a whole bunch of things done so that I can drive this car before winter comes and as you may know, it comes pretty quick around here.
Weather Stripping/Seals
- Driver/Passenger Doors Seals (Uro)
I had read some negative reviews about the Uro door seals but I also read that some weren’t happy with the OEM version. Given the big price difference, I cheaped out and went with the Uro door seals. Installing the door seals, is a slight bitch. Jammi
Day ~59 – 62 About 4 days of work
Boring stuff
Tidied up some more wiring and got things sorted out so that the battery was ready to be connected. I also installed the b-pillar gaskets and rear windows, with freshly painted window brackets… boooooring.
Engine/Transmission/Front Sub-Frame Reunion
I didn’t want to put the motor back in only to find out it was leaking from the oil pan because of the cork seal. So, I decided to change the cork seal for
Day ~55
Floor Pan Sound Deadening/Insulation Flashback: The original tar sound deadening was removed, patches welded in, floor pan interior and underside were grinded and sealed with POR15, rubberized asphalt undercoating was added under the entire shell.
Following the dynamat superlite install, I finished off the sound deadening by installing what was left of the EZ Cool, I was running out towards the end, so I had to cut some funky shapes in order to cover everything.
Day ~50-54
I figured the logical first step would be to install the sound deadening. I had purchased a bulk pack of Dynamat ‘Superlite’ on ebay in early 2015, when I grossly miscalculated my project’s timeline. I had decided on ‘Superlite’ to keep some weight off the ‘02. It was very easy to install and took me to about 5 hours in all, but I took my time.
The next item on my agenda was to clean up some of the wiring, which included re-taping the old harnesses, removing the smog wiring
Body Shop Update: 2016-03-18
Went to the body shop (Frank's) at lunch since it's a Friday and it's nice & sunny outside. There was a little more progress than I expected but unfortunately the 2002 will be taking a backseat (for a little while). The X6 which came in as an insurance claim, and it will be getting an M body kit. Guess I have more time to clean my garage.
I asked him to do that "rocker guard" (bumpy) finish in the trunk.
Note: I have a peeve about painting thi
Day ~43-47 – Rear Sub-Frame Refresh, Engine Seals & Headlight Bucket Refresh
Rear Sub Frame Reassembly
Finally, the rear trailing arm spring perches have been repaired (using some steel tubing + a flat sheet of metal), the entire rear sub frame has been stripped and painted with POR15.
I reassembled the sub frame with Energy urethane bushings & bushing inserts (for the carrier mounts).
...with the addition of a 19mm ST Suspensions anti-sway bar.
One of t
Day ~42 - Rear Sub-Frame Refresh
Body Shop Update (January 8th)
I dropped off the car for paint on January 4th, since then I haven’t done much 2002 work. On January 8th, I had to drop of my father-in-law’s F150 for some bodywork (while he’s on vacation), I hadn’t expected Frank to start on the 2002 but surprisingly he started some body work on the roof and nose.
Rear Sub-Frame Disassembly
It was time to start some work on the rear sub-frame which hadn’t been touched si
Day ~41 (about 1 day of work) Seat Rail Renewal, Shipping the carcass to Bodyshop
Seat Rail Refresh
Soon after I purchased the 02, I discovered the seat rails were a rusty mess, I had looked in to getting another set at the time but Aardvark Racing (who sold the previous owner the Reccaro seats), said he was out of stock and I would be better off ‘de-rusting’ them. Fast forward to the project… I degreased the rails, gave them a bath in the Metal Rescue solution (for ~30hours), wire bru
Last Sunday evening, freshly showered from working on the '02.
I decided to take a cheesy Christmas photo to send some Ernest & Kosta.
Merry Christmas!
Day ~35-40 (about 5 days of work) Some Surface Rust Removal + Rubberized Asphalt Application + Fender & Door Installation + Body Filler
Surface Rust Clean-up
I decided to clean up some areas which had surface rust;
- Driver + Passenger gutter rails
- Driver + Passenger ledges under the rear windows
- Driver + Passenger welds where we installed the short sill / lower quarter panel patches (in front of rear wheel)
- Driver + Passenger spot welds along the new rocker p
Day ~30-34 (about 4 day of work), More Grinding and prepping + Por15, September 12th, 2015 - November 3rd, 2015
I was hoping to have the grinding + the Por15 finished before leaving on Vacation to Florida (September 25th), unfortunately, there was way more grinding (in tough places + under the car) than I had anticipated. "More work than anticipated," is really the story of this project.
Grinding complete, shot of the floor pan.
Then on to the degreasing... Since I would be
Day ~29 (about 1 day of work), Let's Grind - August 30th, 2015 - September 12th, 2015
I was finally able to remove the temporary square tubing we had put in to reinforce the shell while replacing the rocker panels. Despite the actual work of removing those 6 pieces of metal didn't take much time or even effort, it felt like huge progress was made. I think it was because it meant the days of welding were numbered.
Support out mother f'ers!
My plan was to grind down the floor
Day ~25 to 28 (~3 days of work), Driver Rocker Panel Install + Por15 - July 10th, 2015
As I previously mentioned, at the end of the last post, my buddy Kosta was going to be swinging by following the resignation of my welder (Benjamin). At that point I thought his referral wouldn’t amount to anything but luckily he came through and his friend (Justin) showed up to start some welding on July 29th. I guess I should have given him more credit than I did, Benjamin does have a lot of work (farm
Day ~22 to 24 (~2 days of work), Sheet metal work + Por15 - June 10th, 2015
I had to fabricate some metal panels at the bottom of the A-pillar and in-front of the rear fender (behind rocker) because of the rust (plus some horrible bondo work by PO).
Given the bends on the pieces I was replacing and the fact that I’m a beginner working with only a mallet and a cinder block... It’s freakin time consuming and not fun. I gave that a rest as I went as far as I could go without the welder pu
