White 1993 Coupe makeover

[ben5.0]

Purchased the car as a partially dismantled roller with the intentions of just putting it back together and driving it. One thing led to another and I ended up going over everything. The goal with this car is a clean cruiser with engine/tranny upgrades after I'm through with college. I actually finished everything back in the beginning of August 2010, but am just now getting around to making this build thread.

Fresh off the trailer










I decided that I wanted a factory looking "smoothed" engine bay.

[ben5.0]

After rolling the fenders I stripped it down bare, did some spot blasting, and put SPI epoxy on everything.
Starting with the under carriage.









Then I moved to the bodywork in the bay.







After base and SPI Universal Clear

[ben5.0]

Taped it off, prepped the shell and shot it with epoxy.

[ben5.0]

Did a little filler work on the shell




Then 3 coats of SPI Regular high build primer



Back to roller status. Rear end is a 8.8" with new style 9" big bearing ends. Moser axles, Eaton Limited Slip diff. 3.55 gears and new diff housing bushings. Steeda upper control arms, MM lowers w/ adjustable spring perch.
Tokico Blue shocks and struts. FMS C springs, stock front control arms, Steeda X2 ball joints, steeda bumpsteer kit. Spindles and brakes from a 96gt. Steeda CC plates.











Blocking time. My favorite.....

[ben5.0]

One more round of blocking:












BC/CC

[ben5.0]

Rear bumper had a nice wave in the urethane so I clamped and epoxied a piece of aluminum to it.









I decided to rebuild the door hinges w/ new pins and bushings.










You can see where I burned throw the paint on this door by on the edge. I had to blend and repair that spot. Big PITA! I do not use the buffer at 2 am anymore...



Trunk lid:

[ben5.0]

Fresh quarter windows

[ben5.0]

The last few pics are from about end of sept. or the beginning of october of last year. The temps became to unstable to paint in my garage so I put the roller in the trailer and began rebuilding the stock 302. Unfortunately this is where I kind of stopped taking pictures for a few.

I put new rod and main bearings after getting away with just polishing the crank along with new perfect circle rings after a good dingle berry hone, stock heads milled down smooth and arp head studs.
My goal is to put an On3 turbo kit on the stock engine. Plenty of these simple combos running around make 400-500 hp. After college I will step up to more cubes and a more solid engine.

[ben5.0]

Over the winter I worked on the engine/tranny install, brakes, wire hiding, and putting sound deadener from the firewall and throughout the interior.















3g alternator upgrade and a mark VII fan controlled by a DCC unit to keep things cool.

[ben5.0]

Rear bumper cover on and exhaust. At this point the car is running and moves under its own power.



Front end mock up w/ replacement fender. The car was lowered with cut bbk springs and you could tell the passenger front fender smacked the tire a few good times.

[ben5.0]

I went ahead and did some spot blasting on the fenders and sprayed them with epoxy primer inside and out. The stuff reminds me of glue, will stick to anything, and is extremely durable. It wont let moisture in. If you cant tell, I don't want this thing to ever rust.





I decided to do something different than I usually do since I just had smaller body pieces left, so I built a 8x10ft booth out of pvc and plastic. It had a zipper door and two fans pushing air in and out through a series of filters. This worked very well keeping my parts clean and safe.







I broke down and bought a new Iwata gun. Damn this thing can lay some slick clear.

[ben5.0]

Misc parts. All of these parts required zero buffing.









Rough fitting the hood





Front clip





This gun amazed me at how well it layed down the clear. Well worth the money.
This is right out of the gun, no buffing or polishing.

[ben5.0]

This part of the cowl wasn't the flatest, and since I fell in love with my new Iwata, I new I could lay it flatter so I sanded it flat, and layed some more clear out like glass.

[ben5.0]

Here are the pics after an easy cut and buff followed by polish. I wanted to wait a good 90 days to put wax on it so it hasn't been extensively detailed and wont until next year.

Burned up my old buffer, so I had to buy this nice Makita.

[ben5.0]

Here is some of the trim I refinished:





I bought some used but supposedly flawless 03 cobra wheels from a member here.
He shipped them freight and didn't insure them and packaged them horribly. I received them pretty banged up and they sure as hell weren't going on this car. So I ended up with these SC style wheels. 17x9 in the front with 245/54/17 Nittos and 17x10 in the rear with 275/45/17 nittos.

[ben5.0]

These are all the "finished" pictures I have right now. I packed it up and put it in the trailer for the winter and while I am away at school.

[ben5.0]

[ben5.0]

I am not so sold on the wheels, so I may switch them up in the future

[jdmustang82]

looks really good buddy, it makes me want a coupe and put the time into it.

[Eddie Z]

Wow!! Very very nice work. Do you do side work? LOL....

If I can give you some constructive critism...the tailpipes need some aligning. Me personally, I'd go with either dynomax/flowmaster tailpipes without the rolled edge to give it the OEM look. Other than that, car looks gorgeous.

[CSG]

Good job. Looks very nice. I did a complete build like that & understand the work you put in it.

[MJs89GT]

Wouldn't change a thing, I think the wheels look great.

[91TwighlightGT]

Nice job! Good craftsmanship too, car looks great!

[ben5.0]

The pipes do need a little aligning, but that's going to wait until spring time

[futuredoc22]

the car looks great...awesome job...but after all that work those wheels dont do the car justice...i think some ccw's or true forged would set that bitch off!

[foxrodsinc]

i love the wheels, i use an iwata everyday, best gun for clear.

[331lilcoupe]

wow!! thats lots of work!!!

[JDB 84]

what all had to be done to run the engine harness inside the car like that? do you got to take the dash out to get the injector harness out? Thinkin about doin somthing like that to mine.

[ben5.0]

Originally Posted by JDB 84

what all had to be done to run the engine harness inside the car like that? do you got to take the dash out to get the injector harness out? Thinkin about doin somthing like that to mine.

I cannot imagine trying to run the harness behind the dash without removing it, but I'm sure anything is possible.


Thanks for all the good words

[fastangtremec]

Very nice and I love the booth!

[JDB 84]

Originally Posted by ben5.0

I cannot imagine trying to run the harness behind the dash without removing it, but I'm sure anything is possible.


Thanks for all the good words

Im talkin about once everything is done and lets say for some reason you need to remove the injector harness. Do you have to take the dash out to remove the Injector harness. thanks

[ben5.0]

I do not think I would have to take the whole thing out, but some things would definitely need to be loosened.

[JDB 84]

K, it looks great and ive always wanted to do it.

[nocturnalcreations]

Wow that came out nice!

[turbonotch89]

When can I send my coupe to you? I just know you're wanting to see what you can do when you install my Maier Racing 3 1/4" flared fenders and quarters and a Cobra style hood...

Seriously, I hope my coupe will turn out as good as yours someday!