^or he would have 2tires to make some smoke clouds with

 

Meh, burnouts are fun at first... but in the last year or so, I've decided they're a waste of tires and an easy way to break something or destroy a clutch.

Also, I might call the mustang "done" soon, since I may or may not be buying an s13 coupe in the next couple months. And no, this time it's not a "reaper can't decide what he wants" deal; this time, it's an opportunity thing. I've noticed a red s13 kouki coupe sitting in front of the dealership for the last few days and today I asked my boss' boss about it. He wants $1750 (I can probably get away with $1500) for it. It's an auto, might need motor mounts, and one of the windows doesn't roll up, but I figure none of that's a big deal. Swap to an SR or a CA and I can put in solid motor mounts and swap to a manual while the engine's out. The window will be either the switch, regulator, or motor, all of which are easy to test, simple to replace, and cheap. It'll be a month or two before I get the money, so I guess we'll see... for all I know, the car could be sold by then.

If I do buy the 240 (and that's a big 'if'), basically, I'll swap the engine/trans, put the Tenzo seats in the 240sx (I already have Altima brackets that I could easily modify to fit), slam it, throw some wheels on it, throw an exhaust on it, and drive the p*ss out of it. Basically, keep the whole thing under $5k including initial purchase costs.

*edit: I'm starting to think the 240 thing over again. It occurred to me that if I buy the 240, I'm buying a car I know I'll have to sink money into, not to mention I'd have two project cars to fund instead of one. Also, (rounding up here), The $2,000 spent on the 240 (actually, after insurance and titling fees/taxes (yes, taxes on vehicles. KY has no state inspections, so to raise revenue, they tax KY-registered vehicles), the car would be around $2k, maybe a little more) could buy me a full interior and a good part of my suspension. Then going further, the $5k I'd plan on spending on the s13 in total put towards my mustang would get me my full interior, full suspension, wheels and tires, cobra brakes, and most of the appearance out of the way. Also, there's the little fact that it'll be the end of April before I can afford the 240 (I'm not financing a $1750 car), so the car will most likely be sold by then. I know, I change my mind more than a f*cking woman. Deal with it.

 

Another update that has nothing to do with progress. I'm now between 3 things for the vibration. First, the tires. I balanced them and they did balance out, but I'm thinking one or more could be out-of-round or have a broken belt. Second, the brakes. I know both front calipers are frozen and the rotors are warped; if the pads are constantly touching the rotors and the rotors are warped, you could potentially feel it even while not braking. Third is the rear end. I noticed my rear wheels looked like they had a little negative camber the other day, which on a solid rear axle, is not good (camber is physically impossible to adjust on a solid axle, and if the alignment turns out to be out-of-spec, I'll need to replace the whole thing).

So basically, on thursday, I plan on getting my car back in the shop, driving it on the lift (literally. Raise it on the lift, get it into 5th gear, and let it idle), and checking out the wheels/tires to see if anything's unusual. Then I'll swap front and rear wheels and see if it does anything again. If everything seems to be normal, I'll turn my rotors lightly, just enough to eliminate the run-out. After that, I'll set my car up on the alignment rack to see if the rear is in spec. If everything checks out and it's still vibrating, I'm thinking it'll be the U-joints.


Also, I've been doing my budget for the project lately. From the looks of it, it'll be around $16,000 to finish the car, built engine, twin turbos, and everything. Basically, here's the 3 stages I have so far:

Stage I:
-10th Anniversary Cobra wheels (17x9, 18x10) with Bridgestone Potenza RE760 tires
-10th Anniversary Cobra brake calipers (front)
-cross-drilled & slotted rotors (front)
-Tubular K-member
-Tubular A-arms
-Front coilover conversion
-Tokico D-spec shocks/struts
-Corbeau FX-1 Pro seat (driver's side) with inflatable lumbar support
-Corbeau CR1 seat (passenger side) with inflatable lumbar support and submarine slot
-4-point roll bar
-Corbeau 5pt harnesses w/shoulder pads

Stage I total - $4,500


Stage II:
-Custom fuel system (the fuel rails and injectors are the only things staying stock)
-8.8" Rear end with Eaton Limited-Slip Differential and a 3.90:1 final drive (3.27:1 is stock and I currently have 3.73:1)
-Aluminum Driveshaft
-Aluminum flywheel
-Fidanza 2.1 clutch
-cam
-roller rockers
-Windstar upper intake manifold

Stage II total - $4,250


Stage III:
-4.3L stroker kit (forged internals)
-(2x) Garrett GT3076R turbos (I still might go with T3/T4s. It'd be $1,500 cheaper.)
-(2x) TiAL 38mm wastegates
-Treadstone 2in/1out intercooler
-HKS SSQV
-Treadstone oil catch-can
-Treadstone vacuum manifold
-Autometer oem-style gauge bezel (holds two 2 1/16" gauges at the bottom corners of the factory cluster)
-Autometer steering column gauge bezel (single gauge)
-(2x) Autometer GS wideband A/F gauges
-Autometer GS vac/boost gauge

Stage III Total: $6,350

Project Total: ~$15,100 (not including misc. items)

Basically, that's why this project will be a few years in the making. Also, the exterior will be painted House of Kolor's Honey Blush over Euro Red (basically a bright tangerine color) for the main body, and all the black will be House of Kolor Black with Graphite pearl in the clear. The engine bay will be painted to match the black with orange valve colors. The fuel fittings will be the standard red and blue anodized, and the wastegates will be anodized blue.


*edit:
Oh, and there's a surprise coming in April. That's all I'm at liberty to say right now since I don't want to make promises and then something come up and me look like a douche. Also, everyone that actually pays attention to my progress is going to hate me for a month or so afterwards.

 

Didn't feel like updating this the other day because I'm pretty lazy. Anyway, Thursday after work, I pulled my car into the shop and tore apart the front brakes. Turned the front rotors and lubricated the slider pins. No more highway vibration

Also, I scored a free set of Bridgestone Potenzas in my size (225/60-16). I replaced the old Goodyears that were on my rear with them. The only downside is they have some toe wear, so they get kind of noisy at highway speeds... but Potenzas with 6-7/32" tread left for free? I'll turn my radio up a little and pretend the noise isn't there if they're free


Aannnddd... today. Got bored, went out and did a quick wash/wax job since it's nice out today. I decided to go on a photoshoot after I got done; I was out for 45 minutes taking pictures and over the course of that 45 minutes, two seperate people approached me to ask if I was selling it. Hmmm.... I might just have to do that if it's going to be that easy

Anyway, pics:



















All photos are untouched save for re-sizing them, adding the border, and adding the text. ISO for all of them was set at 100, F-stop was around 22.0 for most of them, and the exposure time was between 1/40s and 1/80s for most of them.


Again, you guys are going to have to wait another month to find out why you're going to be mad at me

 

Do i WANT to be mad at you? Is it worth??

And your mustang looks really good in those pics. Very nice red and black them going

 

Thanks... It'll be better when it's slammed. The 4x4 stance kind of ruins a lot of really good angles. For example, I took over 40 pictures in that 45 minutes; I only liked 6 of them enough to edit and post them. I think I'm going to go scout for better photoshoot locations sometime; by the end of the summer, my car should be truly photoshoot-worthy. Also, the black and red is going to change to pearl orange and pearl/metallic black in the next year (hopefully) lol.

And you'll understand when it happens. I gotta be all hush-hush about it for now to avoid looking like a douche if things don't go according to plan

 

And of course things aren't going to plan... financial responsibility sucks =/

Anyway, the next thing I'm getting is still going to be happening soon-ish; just not sure when. I have to register the car in KY, change over my license, and have a $500 rifle to buy, then I can focus on the mustang again. The good news is I'll be getting my tax return someday.

Anywhoo, here's the real reason I bumped this thread... got new camera toys yesterday and had to try them out. My car looks good even at stock height when a fisheye lens is involved

















(Yes, this one's edited; I edited out the trunk holes because it really took away from the pic. Kind of makes me want to shave them and rock the wingless look... but at the same time, I still want a wing or a spoiler)



Yup, that's my whole interior in one shot


And sorry the car is so dirty... I'm too lazy to wash it right now.

 

All right... so I finally stopped being lazy and prepared the harness for my LED courtesy lights. Right now, all I need to do is solder them into the hot wire for my dome light. I'll get pics tonight and post 'em tomorrow.

And no, this isn't the surprise I was talking about earlier. That's not going to happen this month unfortunately. Soon, though.

 

As promised, pics:







I know they aren't the best in the world. I felt a little weird being outside at like 9:00PM taking pictures of lights in the parking lot with people walking by, so I kind of hurried.

 

That interior lighting looks too 2 fast 2 furious to me.

Granted at least your project is not in indefinite break like mine.