hsean's project "resto mod"

[hsean]

nice, good to see some pics of your prject finally. Congrats on having a bunch of free time to yourself. I'm sure a wife and kids take up a ton of your time when they are around.

yes they do i am constantly having to come out of the garage to check on my 3 year old .she knows better than to cross the street but her and the neighbors kid will take off to the end of the block.the wife gave me a choice either go off to see her family for a month overseas or finish my car.i chose family so that is why i am thinking by next summer .i hope to have it painted by this winter.

 

[hsean]

yes the lx t-tops are more rare but this car wasn't appreciated by one of the previous owner as you can tell .i never will understand why someone would take a rare t-top car and convert it to a drag car.he didn't even take the time to weld some subframe connectors and did a pretty bad job welding up the roll cage. and yes the pic does look dangerous with the car dangling but believe me is was pretty safe .

 

[hsean]

Where is the car from? Looks to clean to be a Michigan car.
What’s the history on the car, have you had it long?

BTW the progress looks good so far, and that’s the way to do it you don’t want to spend the money on a rotisserie. What are steeda jacking rails?

Scott

actually believe it or not this was an ohio car i checked out to other t-top cars here in michigan and they were all rust buckets.i searched in the ohio craiglist and found this car.the kid that owned it was asking 900 ,i had him take alot of detailed pics and when i was satified with the pics i told him that i wasn't going to talk him down in price and that i would add an extra hundred to bring it up to me .yes i don't have room for a rotisserie but this was definately hard to do. the jacking rails are rectangular steel tubes that are welded along the edge between the front and rear tires.they do stiffen the car alittle and should help with the subframe connectors i will post a pic tomorrow.

 

[hsean]

you've made some really good progress, it's good to see you taking it down to a shell and doing things the backyard mechanic way keep us posted!

thanks for the compliment

 

[91ghp5.0]

Wow, the car will turn out great when you're done. I love to see stuff done in people's driveway. I wish I could do more work in mine....the homeowner's association won't even let us park pick up trucks in the driveway over night?

 

[hsean]

How hard is it to move the shell around with nothing in it??

i thought it would be easy but it's not i figured while it was sitting on the jacks i was able to pick it up from each end.the car stills weighs probably upwards of 600-700 lbs. what we did was have my friend back his trailer all they way up to my car and then 4 of us set it down on 4x4 colums on the trailer.then we strapped it down and boy it was heavy i will never do this again but if someone were to try this atleast get a few more friends.
the car was already pretty clean but being that this car was a keeper i wanted to make sure there were no surprises.i was sore for the next few days after that ordeal.

 

[hsean]

i took an extra day off from work last friday and started on the engine bay these are phone pics .i am thinking of borrowing my neighbors camera i don't think they would mind here are some bad pics

i am going to take some better pics hopefully tomorrow i set up the bracket for the rear shoulder belt . i cut these out of a 1990 four banger and with 2 kids i want them to be as safe as possible.i will be welding these in tomorrow but here is a couple of pics of what i am talking about

 

[hsean]

Wow, the car will turn out great when you're done. I love to see stuff done in people's driveway. I wish I could do more work in mine....the homeowner's association won't even let us park pick up trucks in the driveway over night?

wow that sucks , a few days ago i was grinding away on the engine bay welds and the neighbor across the street from me came over to complain.i told him that in the middle of the day i can work on my car and he tells me that there is an ordinance in my city against turning your garage into a shop.he obviously is wrong but if he wanted to push the issue he could get the city on me for the roller in my driveway that i'm using as my parts car.he normally is pretty cool but is a ford retiree and likes his quiet afternoons.

 

[1991notchbackLX]

wow that sucks , a few days ago i was grinding away on the engine bay welds and the neighbor across the street from me came over to complain.i told him that in the middle of the day i can work on my car and he tells me that there is an ordinance in my city against turning your garage into a shop.he obviously is wrong but if he wanted to push the issue he could get the city on me for the roller in my driveway that i'm using as my parts car.he normally is pretty cool but is a ford retiree and likes his quiet afternoons.

wow, your neighbor is a *******, haha

i read that the previous owner made the car a drag car without frame connectors?? is the frame tweaked at all? how are the torque boxes? i see that the car is very clean and i mean no disrespect, just concerned that everything is okay before you put a lot of time and effort into the car

 

[hsean]

wow, your neighbor is a *******, haha

i read that the previous owner made the car a drag car without frame connectors?? is the frame tweaked at all? how are the torque boxes? i see that the car is very clean and i mean no disrespect, just concerned that everything is okay before you put a lot of time and effort into the car

the body is mint no dents in the panels even the torque boxes are great as well .i don't know what kind of power this car was pushing but when the doors were on the car everything lined up perfect.the only damage on the car is the core support which i will have to replace.i am not taking chances and will not remove the rest of the rollcage before i weld in the subframe connectors and jacking rails.when i get the car back on wheels it will see the frame machine as well before i weld the subframe connectors.the only thing i know about this car is it had a 4:10 rear in it that i sold and that it had a fuel cell.i repaired that area where the hole was cut out for the fuel cell.

 

[hsean]

actually believe it or not this was an ohio car i checked out to other t-top cars here in michigan and they were all rust buckets.i searched in the ohio craiglist and found this car.the kid that owned it was asking 900 ,i had him take alot of detailed pics and when i was satified with the pics i told him that i wasn't going to talk him down in price and that i would add an extra hundred to bring it up to me .yes i don't have room for a rotisserie but this was definately hard to do. the jacking rails are rectangular steel tubes that are welded along the edge between the front and rear tires.they do stiffen the car alittle and should help with the subframe connectors i will post a pic tomorrow.

as promised although phone pic the jacking rails but my mistake they are made by kenny brown

 

[flyby84]

There is nothing better than doing your own resto! I plan on doing the smooth engine bay on my 84 this fall. I found a 93lx 4-banger car in a junk yard with an excellent body and most of the interior there and I am gonna scalp it since they won`t sell it! It is in better shape than 95% of the fox cars I see out on the streets! Great progress,bro!

 

[hsean]

There is nothing better than doing your own resto! I plan on doing the smooth engine bay on my 84 this fall. I found a 93lx 4-banger car in a junk yard with an excellent body and most of the interior there and I am gonna scalp it since they won`t sell it! It is in better shape than 95% of the fox cars I see out on the streets! Great progress,bro!

that's what i am doing right now and it sucks i can see why most people say that they will never do it again.i know i will never do it again what a pain but i know in the end i'll be glad i did it .here is where i am thus far

 

[d.r.moss]

the car is a 1987 lx with t-tops my plan is to convert it to a 1993 cobra clone on the outside . i have all original cobra pieces including fenders which took me over a year to collect.the interior will be black and i have collected everything except for the carpet which will be new.i have the newer shaker 500 radio and just picked up the new cobra charcoal black fronts seats which are brand new and never been in a car.i am on the lookout for 99 -04 coupe rear seats to complete the interior.the motor is basically stock with a oem cobra upper and lower which is mildly ported .

I have some leather rear seats out of a 2003. I used the fronts but choose not to have a backseat. I may be willing to part with them, if your interested. I began to tear them apart to use them in mine, but I believe they are all there, I will have to check them out. Shoot me an email or something, let me know. What are you going to do with the roll cage, I have been thinking about one for mine. Can you weld in frame rails without the car supported on the tires? I thought it would leave the car twisted or out of shape???? Looks like a good project, hope I get to see it at Woodward, HAHA, I'm right next door

 

[hsean]

I have some leather rear seats out of a 2003. I used the fronts but choose not to have a backseat. I may be willing to part with them, if your interested. I began to tear them apart to use them in mine, but I believe they are all there, I will have to check them out. Shoot me an email or something, let me know. What are you going to do with the roll cage, I have been thinking about one for mine. Can you weld in frame rails without the car supported on the tires? I thought it would leave the car twisted or out of shape???? Looks like a good project, hope I get to see it at Woodward, HAHA, I'm right next door

cool i will shoot you an e-mail definately interested in the seats as far as the framerails you have to have all fours on the ground . my neighbors son came by yesterday and looked at what i was doing, he has a garage and i plan on taking it over there when i get all four wheels on the car.he has the ramp style lift which are the best and will distribute the weight evenly.

 

[flyby84]

You will be tickled that you done it when it`s all said and done! You can pop the hood and show off some bling bling! I am in the process of building another engine for mine and that`s when I plan on doing it.

 

[carbed87]

sweet, thats gonna be sick man!

 

[hsean]

cool i will shoot you an e-mail definately interested in the seats as far as the framerails you have to have all fours on the ground . my neighbors son came by yesterday and looked at what i was doing, he has a garage and i plan on taking it over there when i get all four wheels on the car.he has the ramp style lift which are the best and will distribute the weight evenly.

You will be tickled that you done it when it`s all said and done! You can pop the hood and show off some bling bling! I am in the process of building another engine for mine and that`s when I plan on doing it.

i know in the end it will be all worth it as far as the bling the only bling will be in the interior my plan is to have everything that is metal powdered in black.right now i am leaning towards the 2007 sterling gray pearl bmw x5 paintjob.

 

[hsean]

sweet, thats gonna be sick man!

thanks man right now i am sick of working on it i have another couple of days of grinding and welding .i just started on the radiator core support i chose to repair it instead of replacing it.i will borrow my neighbors camera and snap some pics

 

[hsean]

here is alittle progress the k-member sandblasted and powdercoated in black

a close up this thing is BRAND NEW

here is the sanded part of the engine bay boy i must have spent a month on this [alot of work ]and i will never do it again lol.

the pics