Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

I've been on the site for a while now and contributed a bit, so I figured it's time to post up about my car. It's had a bit of a rough life in the beginning. I know the past 3 owners of the car from high school, and the first two were not kind to it.

The first one, not the original owner by the way, I have no idea how many people owned it before him, parked it in a ditch then sold it to the second person I know.

The second one drove it as is fresh out the ditch till the tires wouldn't hold air and it ran rough then let it sit a few years, the third guy I know, which is the only one I'm actually friends with, he's real good friend, did a bunch of suspension work, a few engine mods, then had it sitting a while when it developed a real bad knock. Not that it was above his head or anything he just decided he wanted a different car and sold it to me for the super friends price. I've since put a new motor in it (new to me, only had 30,000ish miles on it), and raised it back up due to it being real low rough ride, and it is my wife's daily driver after all.

I've taken quite a few pics and even have a few from when my friend purchased it and fixed it up quite a bit.

Without further ado here's a story in pictures!

Here's my buddy looking over the car before buying it. He's the tall one standing behind the car, the owner has his hat flipped backwards, that's my buddy's dad standing next to the owner.

*


Here's my buddy and his dad attaching the new chin to the front

*

A few weeks later here's my buddy parked next to my mustang (ah ha! I snuck a ford in on you guys!)

*

Here she is in my yard the night I brought it home, that's my parents/neighbors house in background. My house is behind me on other side of camera.

*

Few pics of how it was when I got it

*
*
*

Pulled the old motor out for inspection. Found some disturbingly dead crankshaft bearings. The conclusion we came to was the oil pump died.

*
*

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

New low mileage motor ready to drop in. I bought it minus accessories and pulleys, with no intake since I had an edelbrock manifold from the old motor to use.

*

Setting the new motor in place with my Massey Ferguson brand engine lift lol

*

Just look at that mess lol

*

RUNNING!!!!

*

Fabbed up some new door panels, I've added some black arm rest since then, guess I didn't take any pics, I peeled the fabric off the old panels and used the cardboard as a template. Then glued the cardboard to the metal so it doesn't rattle on the door. I glued universal auto carpet over that.

*
*

I don't remember how much I paid for this but I know it was cheap, I snagged it from a junk berlinetta

*

New fourth gen wheel with bag wired up to pass inspection. I had the original but it was in real rough shape.

*

45 DOLLAR EBONY LEATHER SEATS!!!!!!! Front and back from Chesterfield Auto in Prince George Va, good yard for any one in my aread. Just below richmond.

*

Installed BMW lights and painted front bumper

*

Then got fed up with the hassle of trying to align with screws and washers and yanked them out to install suburban headlights with full adjuster brackets. I'll get better inside pics later.

*

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

And just about a week ago I traded this;

*

For this hood!

*

-=Z28=-

iTrader: (3)

Nice build for the wifey!!! Sounds like you have a keeper! Thats cool that you have cars for each other. It tells me/us that you defiantly belong at TGO!!!

I have had a long project myself, (snese 00') so I can relate to both the time and soon here, the finish. This time next month, I hope to have my car assembled, followed by a final top coat of yummy sikkens paint.

If all goes as planned, I too will be making a build thread!! Been a long time coming!!

Again, Nice build!

-D

(edit) Question, When you fabbed up the door panels, did you use the plastic clips that attach to the back of the panel and push through holes in the door? Pretty simple eh? As long as you have a pattern. thanks

-=Z28=-

iTrader: (3)

The proof is in the pudding. That mustard stain looks like a dirty diaper next to that Camaro!! I will always love the look of a Camaro.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

Lol I'm a ford guy, I've got 4 mustangs, a bronco, and 3 thunderbirds. I drilled holes through the new panels at the factory locations for the clips and used some nice clips that fit good through the front of the panel that I found at napa. If you zoom in on the second pic of the panel you can see the clips around the edges. Makes real easy access to the inside of the door.



I've also installed a remote unlock system with a button to trigger the hatch from the remote. So she can remote open the hatch with the key fob to load groceries or whatever stuff we toss back there.

I'm gonna work on a list of all the things my buddy installed and all the things I've done sometime soon and list it here. There's plenty more than just the this that can be seen in the pics

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

As promised, closer underhood pics of my lights. I'm gonna add some spacers to push them further out in the buckets.




*
*

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

Made the z28 hood into functioning extractors today.












*
*
*

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

Better pic of door panel, as well as with the black arm rest

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

Remote hatch release!!
Bought a $20 remote system for the electric locks, it had a 12v accessory trigger to wire to whatever you want so I wired it to open the hatch.
Click the little pic to go to the video on photo bucket.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

Grabbed a tpi filter box for 6 bucks at junkyard, that plus a turbo top hat from my old turbo 12a rx7 project and some tube between tomorrow, and I hope to have cobbled together a decent intake, if it feels any slower I can always throw the open element back on and I've only lost 6 bucks lol.

Ron U.S.M.C.

Nice....
I always wondered, if I did, what would I name my car ?
The title to this thread fits.


Keep up the good work.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

I'm sure I'll always have just one more thing I will want to do, or one more mod, let me just replace that one worn out piece, that trim panel is a little faded, this could use a cup holder......... it just keeps going. I don't ever plan to sell the car, even if she decided she wanted something else it's already paid off and both our parents tell us about wishing they had never sold certain cars so I'll just throw some antique tags on it and drive it once a month or so.

I've still got an 02 center console and a third gen firebird radio pod to paint black and install along with a ratchet shifter. I want to hang a 8 or 10 inch touchscreen with nav from the dash on the passenger side that can accept input from a head unit that can play video files.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

So today at a local yard I snagged some more under car air dam pieces, and a few parts to resell. I also grabbed the front sway bar from an 85 trans am, as well as the factory disc brake rear end. It's 3.27 gearing as opposed to my current 3.42, but my car has a ratchet locker in it right now, which is really not ideal for daily street driving, all the pops and clicks get you funny stares and my wife is tired of explaining it to people. Someone had already grabbed the calipers but I figure I'm best off buying brand new ones anyhow.

My buddy gave me a disc brake prop valve with the car so that's covered.

I'm pretty excited about this. Best part is I only paid $80 for the rear, disc to disc!!!! So about $80 a piece for loaded calipers and I've got 4 wheel disc brakes for about $240.

I've also ordered an electric speedo corrector box from a company is Australia for 30 bucks, was 45 shipped. If that works well I'll post a writeup and site links for anyone else with an electric speedo and non factory gears. This way I'm covered for any other drivetrain or tire changes, I can calibrate it myself.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

New sway bar and rear end!








Sanded down sway bar and prepped for paint








Painted and installed!

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

Also got this air dam piece, not sure what it's technical name is but it supports the front bumper better, makes the car look cleaner underneath as well.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

Few photos just for fun!!

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

New calipers and pads for the rear in the mail on the way! The discs that came with the rear are so new they don't even have a lip worn around the edges yet.


Got a new toy at Harbor Freight today as well, it's real low and the length is great for reaching control arms up front real easy. It's got a quick pump foot pedal as well. Paid 130 new. Me and my pops went to harbor freight this morning and went on a shopping spree lol

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

Here's a list of everything I can think of at the moment that came with or I have done with the car. Credit to my buddy for selling me a good base so cheap to begin with and helping me make decisions on what to look out for. I'm not sure if he's a member on here or not.




Included with the car purchase

Lca relocation brackets
Tubular lower control arms
Tubular Panhard bar
Tokico blues
Edelbrock intake manifold
Underdrive pulleys
IrocZ rims
Unknown thickness rear wheel spacers
Shorty headers
Full 3 inch exhaust
Aluminum driveshaft
Aftermarket wonderbar
Aftermarket rear sway bar


Added myself


Ws6 springs
Ws6 front sway bar
Custom made door panels
Rebuilt 305
Lowe's motor sports intake tubing
Turbonetics turbo carb top hat
Tpi air box
4th gen leather steering wheel
4th gen Ebony leather seats
Pioneer speakers front and rear, stock size and location
New head unit
High flow 3 inch cat
Trans Am disc brake rear with factory 3.27 gearing. Yet to install, waiting on new calipers to arrive.
New rear calipers on the way
Replaced front wheel bearings
Completely new steering linkage and steering box.
Modified steering shaft from a jeep cherokee.
92 z28 hood, modified to functional extractors
Unknown spec mild cam (came with rebuilt motor)
New door pins
Replaced lower outer door trim on driver side.
Suburban headlight conversion
Leather E brake handle
4th gen console and 3rd Gen firebird radio pod, yet to install.
Z28 grill
Replaced all the under car air dam pieces that were missing
Replaced the shift governor to shift in the power band correctly instead of so soon.
Black interior trim
Rear compartment door


I wrote this list off the top of my head at work, I'm sure I missed something. I'll revise as needed. I wanna group stuff into exterior, underhood, suspensio, interior categories as well.

Tibo

iTrader: (15)

Piece that bolts to the front chin spoiler is for aerodynamics. Helps keep air from entering the low pressure area between the radiator and back of the bumper and moves the air to the radiator. My beef with the way the factory did it is that the front piece arcs down a good two inches before arcing back up, why? If you can buy some ABS material you could easily cut and re-mold the material to fit perfectly so it doesn't swing down and stays up and out of the way. Then the air dam under the bottom of the radiator core support should be angled more forward. You can buy some angle iron/aluminum at any hardware store (the kind with all the holes) and angle it past 90*. The air dam can be remade with the same ABS material so it works to scoop the air and it's also better in that when you bottom out the air dam isn't bent backwards it is just flexed up. The perpendicular plastic bracing on the backside only works against wind, it just gets permanently deformed when it bottoms out. However nothing will save it when people use the airdam as their audible alarm for when they are close enough to the curb or parking block. If you have the time and some ABS replace those. I'll be doing it with mine when my new build progresses to that point.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

The car is stock height, and the picture makes the one under the radiator seem likes it's at a funny angle. It's angled forward towards the front of the car. My car stays nice and cool.


On another note, look what I scored at junk yard! One was bolted to the car still and the other was in the back seat of the same car!! Both for a ttop car. 6 bucks a piece!!!!! Only piece I'm missing is the bubble light near the front. Even has the camaro flashlight!!

Tibo

iTrader: (15)

Great find looks amazing condition!

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

I just gotta find the map light or make something to fit that looks good. I do think I'm gonna sell the extra one once I get the one I'm using complete.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

Well the wife doesn't like the overhead console so looks like I'm selling two.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

Nevermind it's going in the car lol

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

So I knew it was only a matter of time but the valve in my air con for the vent selection finally broke. Fixed that with a small bolt and some washers.



*







Also I have made a modification to the cover on my new 9 bolt disc brake rear. I didn't like the plastic fill plug much



*
*




And my favorite thing at the moment is I have made a revision to my tbi/tpi hybrid intake with a piece of piping from a 4.9 caddy





*
*

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

Alright fellas, wish me luck today, if this works I've found everyone that has an electric speedometer a cheap way to correct the speedo being off for different gears, tires, and drivetrain. It came from a company in Australia, the unit itself was only 35 bucks, but shipping was 15 so it ran me 50. If this works though it's adjustable so I can fix the speedo whenever I make any future changes.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

Installed, I have yet to test. That will be on my lunch break. Pay no attention to the random wires..........





I installed it with spade connectors so I can reverse anything and put all the wiring back to stock, the speed wire is the brown wire top right of left connector. I used the ground and power from the cluster for the unit as well. Ground is the black/white stripe beside speed wire, power is pink/black stripe right bottom wire below the speed wire. I'm not gonna get into programming the box since you will have instructions if you order one. Once I find out if it works I'll post a link. I don't want to link to something that doesn't work for our cars.

I almost bought a gps sender from summit but his was half the price and doesn't rely on sats and won't be slow to respond due to weather and how strong of a signal it's receiving.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

If you do ever install anything to modify the stock speedo, first verify you have the correct wire buy cutting the wire and then installing the cluster and go for a test drive, or have the rear on stands. If the speedo does not respond then you have the correct wire.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

No luck with the box, I'm not sure if it's not compatible with our cars or I'm just an idiot lol. I've sent a message to a wiring guru on here and hope to hear from him soon. On a positive note, I was just enough of not being an idiot to have the foresight to wire everything in with spade connectors so if it didn't work I could plug it all back to factory. An off speedometer is better than no speedometer lol. If I can't get this thing to work my next step will be to sharpie some numbers into the correct place and save up for a complete custom gauge setup lol.

Tibo

iTrader: (15)

My GPS speedometer does, like you said, need a moment to find itself but works great once it does. To prevent that you can hard wire it. Find an always hot source and fuse it. It draws a small amount of power and would take over a month to cause a starting issue. Unless you have the car in a concrete parking garage or metal storage locker.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

The problem with my speedo is that it's off by about 15 miles an hour at 60, so it reads about 75 when I'm doing 60. This is due to a rear end gear change.

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

I like it!

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Dave!



My wife was browsing pics of thirdgens and decided to break out the paint. I think it turned out pretty goosld, she's super happy with it, that's the important part!

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

What would you guys think if I painted the grill insert and the headlight buckets red to match the scoops??

Tibo

iTrader: (15)

Like you said,whatever makes her happy. Not my personal taste though. My thoughts are always black or body color.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

4th gen center console!!

AmpleUnicorn88

I have an aftermarket intellitronix gauge cluster, and it came with the piece that screws the sensor into the side of my transmission (T5). It worked for a few days, but it doesn't fit so it has kind of fallen out. I think they sent me the wrong one as my buddy on here (Bubbajones_ya) has the same cluster and his works. It has an adjustable on the fly button to re calibrate the speedo with any rear end. I don't know how much you know versus my buddy, but he did the install on my gauge cluster, so he might be able to help you out. He is more knowledgeable about electronic stuff.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

More console pics!! The stereo surround trim is temporary till I make a prettier one. Also the gear indicator plate is temporary too. For the indicator I'm going to cut another clear piece, get some vinyl letter decals and some small circle decals. Place them on the back of the clear plate, paint over them black, then peel the circle decals off so the orange shows through beside the letter.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

I need to re locate the window switches to beside the charge port on the console. I'm going to use a blank door plate to mount the switches in that hole. I just need to get an extra plate. The hatch release switch will just stay buried in the console. I have the hatch wired to open remotely from the aftermarket remote lock system.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

One note, I did have to do a ton of modification to the base of the shifter assembly as well as the trans hump to be able to relocate the shifter assembly further back and lower.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

Anyone know where I can get the window track felts? The ones the window rides in when the window is down. Mine are so shot they are in pieces in the bottom of the door.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

So I got my center console and radio pod installed, I need to make another stereo surround, I'm not real pleased with how this one came out but because I was rushing it. Besides that the only other thing I need to do is make a nice permanent gear indicator. I had to do a ton of modifying to the shifter assembly and the trans hump mount points to make it line up with the auto console opening. I will not be able to change back to the original console now so keep that in mind if you are thinking about doing the same.


*
*

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

Just picked up new ball joints, and have energy suspension poly front control arm bushings arriving from summit tomorrow. Game plan for the weekend is to get control arms freshened up and my 9 bolt disc rear in the car.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

Two brand new calipers!!