My 500$ wonder (July 25th, MBC and 42#injectors )

[Pinepig]

It's finally going the other direction, back together.

Got the buffing done this morning and started putting some bits back on the car.

I also fired it up ( gotta love MS ) and it made a trip outside, first time in almost a month.

Here is some progress pics ( I know you guys love em ).

[Pinepig]

I have two more, one I took inside so you can see how the two colors stand out more in low light.

Standing out in the sun you can only see that it is two tone from certain angles.

The last one is to show that I'm not even close to being done.

I have to go to Arizona tomorrow to pick up a plane and won't be able to get back to it until Saturday. I hope to have the rest of the trim, windows and some general cleaning done by the end of the day.

Enjoy.

[BLUNT]

wow charlie mac from sacramento that looks great. i love the subtle 2 tone and the body looks really nice and straight. good work

[Pinepig]

Thanks man, I took a look at your blog and your car is just on a whole different level, simply amazing.

After I get the interior done I'll start working the bottom over to try and keep up.

[Pinepig]

Got quite a bit done today.

Molding all the way around, mirrors, chrome on top of doors and a bunch of detail cleaning ( lots left ) and the front window in.

Only one pic

[Pinepig]

No pics today, but I made more progress.

I ended up using the big bumper for the rear as I came up with a set of BBS RMs for a good price and that blew my monthly car money.

I drilled the shocks to shorten it up, got rid of the rubber filler behind the bumper and shortened the end rubber bellows. I went ahead and cut the two top studs out so I didn't have to drill holes where I had already welded them up. I went ahead and cut o hole in it and wired up one euro license plate light dead center as I had already cut the lights off the plate frame as a setup for the small bumper. Maybe I'll run accross a shot rear chrome bumper one of these days.

I also took that stupid spacer off the top of the front struts, got two tires mounted on the RMs and put them up front.

Got the door seals back in ( A paint stir stick is the tool you want ) and the sill plates.

The stock seats in my car were wasted but I had a couple of 924S seats stashed ( I was going to make two more shop chairs with em ) but I decided to see what they felt like in the car so I just put one bolt in and tried it out, comfy. Crap now I have to make them fit, I had to widen the rails by and inch, easy enough, just an hour with the welder and drill a new hole in the back 1/4 inch further back from where it was and hey look at that, they bolt right in. Shame they are a tan color and will have to be painted with that vinyl paint otherwise I'd be done with that.

Looks like I might make it to the gold country event at the end of the month If I don't spend all my cash and time at the Reno Air Races next week.

I'll try and get some more pics for you all in the next few days, It's really coming along nicely.

Things left to do,

New front door panel substrate.

Instal rear door panel and sunroof.

Clean the inside and mount two more tires.

Make some kind of air cleaner for the motor.

Better tune on the MS.

That should be enough to get my to the event and back.

I'm friggin tired, was 102 when I got in my car to come home, yep all that stuff listed I did TODAY.

[oz_tom]

Its coming along nicely! Those RM's will look great too!

Tom

[Pinepig]

New Pictures, this is what's it's gonna look like. I've been thinking about the turbo style airdam and since I'm broke and I kinda like it as is, it may stay just like this.

Got the sunroof in and the door panels redone and installed.

I'm really running out of stuff to do ( gotta hate that )

[Pinepig]

OK the outside is done, this is the ride height after cutting the coils.

I also had to put 2mm spacers up front because the tie rod ends were just barely touching the wheel. I also got my urethane motor mounts in ( nice ), funny thing is if IE would have shipped them in a timely manner the project would have come about the other way, ( ugly but fast ). I also got a aircleaner ( cone filter ) on there. Some tuning on the MS and a trip to DMV ( Wednesday ) and 'll be driving it.

Next up a few detials here and there a stereo system of some sort and then it's on to putting a K03 sport turbo out of an Audi A4 ( hey it has 10 miles on it and was free ). It'll probably be a little on the small side but it's gonna spool so fast you won't even be able to tell it has a turbo on it ( except for the backwards press in the seat ).

[Pinepig]

I actually drove it home today. Still needs some tuning ( alot ) but it's drivable.

[Pinepig]

Another update but nothing special.

I drove it to the EuroSunday GTG local and it ran like crap, stumbled, wouldn't idle. It was so embarasing with all those really nice cars around.

I sat down today and fiddled with the MS for a couple of hours and SUCSESS, it idles like a top 950 rpm and not a pop to be heard, it'll stay like that for a 1/2 hour ( and did ) out on the road it pulls strong with no misses, pops or stumbles. I think I'm finally getting a grip on it.

This next week I'll start figuring out what I need to replace all the bushings on the suspension and get those ordered and also pick up a U joint that's making a bit of noise on deceleration.

[BLUNT]

man theres nothing worse than having a sweet looking car that runs like a pos and having others witness it. thats the same feeling i have when pulling up to a stop sign on the street running race pads and squeaking to a stop. people that dont know look at you like youre rolling in a worn out shitbox ....glad you got it worked out .

[Pinepig]

I've been trying to track down the clink on decel and it's been driving me crazy, new U joints, center bearing and guibo, no luck same damn sound.

Fed up today I pulled the drive line again and started it up and ran it through the gears, not a noise to be heard. Sod it all, a trip to pick and pull and 40$ later I have another driveline in hand, replace the center bearing and bolt the new one in.

The test drive says fixed ( about friggin time ) and Tuesday will be her maiden voyage to work. I have a bunch of stereo equipment showing up the next couple of days so I'll have some ( good ) tunes here in a week or so.

I also replaced a few sway bar bushing that were GONE. The rest of the original rubber ones look really good so I'll wait on those ( only 74,000 miles on the car )

Gotta thank Blunt for helping me sell those M3 parts that financed the stereo. Thanks Bro.

[Pinepig]

Well thanks to Blunt helping me flip some M3 E30 parts for some extra cash I had a budget of just under 600$ for the sound system for the deuce.

Here are some pics of the finish install. As per usual all work was done in house. The box/amp rack I made out of pine for the frame work and 3/4 ply for the box and 1/2 ply for the covers, 2 stacked 3/4 MDF rings for the fronts and an aluminum center consol piece ( I left some room at the bottom for some VDO guages at a later date.

I went through Ebay for all the hardware.

Eclipse 1000 deck

Pheonix Gold 8.0.4 amp

CDT 6.5 classic component fronts

Arc Audio Arc 10 4 ohm Sub.

None of it is high dollar stuff but installed correctly the results are pretty damn good. My buddy who is a car audio snob can't believe the sound quality I got for under 600$.

Pics.

I swear ( yeah right ) the suspension bushings are next.

[JohnW]

Nice! Very clean stereo install. Your car is really coming along well.