OldAndyAndTheSea

Awesome! Pictures....or we don't believe you

More shopping at Parts Car Mart today. Here's my haul so far. And some random pictures. Layin' frame yo! And here's what the car will look like with the new wheels. The best part of this arrangement (aside from aesthetics) is that they have two REAL good tires, and two shot ones (driven on a bad alignment) so I only have to buy two tires. Cheap Fuzion tires too! Saving money wherever I can. More after some cleaning.

cool! excited

Today I got to pull the front suspension out of the parts car. Look at those racecar brakes! New lines too. And I will be going with the OZ mesh wheels. Here are the crazy spacers that I had originally planned to run with the small wheels on the 240 to fill out the flares. I have to buy 15 non capped lug nuts to install them. Should clear all suspension components easily, and fill out the fenders a bit more too. and the polyurethane bushings that everything will go back together with. Still some cleaning left to do yet... Days worked on project to date: 46 Total money spent on project to date: $1054 Total miles put on vehicle: 628

Yeah, I find it to be. .Also, Id suggest adding a colloidal silica while mixing to form a nice peanut butter consistency. And Sand 150-220 --> Acetone Wipe --> (Clean) --> Mix equal parts G flex (then add colloidal silica) --> Quickly apply items. The stuff works quickly, and from experience, if you waste a lot of time mixing the silica you'll be pressed for working time with the mateiral. But it's stupid strong. Very resilient, and from what I can tell very impact, and vibration resistant.

G flex is a 5 minute epoxy that I used in the composites shop frequently. I feel it would be more than adequate in what you'd like to do. Clean. Acetone wipe. Surfaces prepped with 180-220 grit.

Tonight I changed out the slave cylinder. Man, I don't know how the old one even functioned. It pretty much disintegrated when I pulled it. All full of grit and grime. Huge tear in the boot. So I installed the new one, and MAN. HUGE change in driveability, once again. At least from my 2 mile jaunt up the road, revs seem to fall off as they should. Seems like the clutch is definitely disengaging quicker. I'll confirm tomorrow after more testing. Hopefully my skeleton case arrives soon so I can get some good sound driving videos. I love driving and working a on a project. So much fun! Days worked on project to date: 45 Total money spent on project to date: $1054

External microphone arrived today. I am still waiting on the skeleton case in the mail, so I can't take the mic for a drive yet, but here's the first test. Quality has improved vastly. Some distortion, apologies, I'll be able to adjust the placement of the mic, and hopefully quell that a bit. But finally, a justified video of what the exhaust sounds like in person. I'd like for you to hear it.

Yep. You pretty much nailed all aspects with that post. Suspension is next on the list. Just a refresh, within budget. And I'm sooo glad you mentioned the fuzz ball. Because I JUST got my external microphone in the mail today (still waiting on skeleton case, so no driving with it til then) and I made a video. Does it WAAAAY more justice. A little distortion, but miles better than the internal mic, within the case, in the wind. The videos at like 40% now. Once it's complete it's coming here. Talk about timing. Thanks for the kind words, they really mean a lot.

In the meantime, while I research and purchase an external microphone for the GoPro, I've been playing with camera angles. Mostly to try to cut down on wind noise. Not great. Apologies, they'll get better. Unedited.

So I finally got around to changing out the thermostat. As suspected, the one in the car was a 160, which is a much hotter temperature thermostat than the current weather in upstate new york permits. With that thermostat the car failed the reach operating temperature, which on this car is 170 degrees. That's the degree at which the warm up enrichment stops. So I've been running slightly rich so far. Initially after changing the thermostat upon the first start, I just brought the car into the yard and let it idle, for a few minutes. A quick look at the infrared thermometer, bam. Operating temperature. Before I had only logged 160-165 degrees max at an idle. Success! And I'll say....the car's driveability, as could be expected, increased dramatically once again. Aside from a small manifold gasket exhaust leak in the bay, the car is running famously! Very happy. Also, since the car was in pretty cramped quarters when I made the exhaust, the exit out the car was a bit goofy looking, and as you can see from the pictures, actually burnt the urethane rear bumper partially, haha. Before: Extra crispy! Soo needless to say....A little exhaust modification was done today too. I am very pleased with how easy the exhaust is to service and maintain. I dropped the rear section, cut, and added a pie wedge to correct the exit angle. So far it's been a good day. Oh yeah, Happy Easter to those that celebrate! Hope everyone is enjoying themselves as much as I am.

Thanks! I say, "good enough for the girls I go with" And HAHAHA! This car would fall apart under the power. But in all seriousness. If I were to do a v8 swap, it'd definitely go into a s130. I dunno, check back in 5 years, I'll probably do something stupid with it. I never seem to leave well enough alone. Haha. Tonight was its first night on the roads. The headlights are pitiful compared to the Minis, but they certainly will suffice in the meantime. Super high quality illuminated dash lights. Rad! note the trip meter: mileage to date It got cold tonight (under 40 degrees), and rained. The motor is definitely running cold. I'll swap out that thermostat right before bed, so the gaskets have time to set a bit before I drive it again in the morning. Currently letting the motor cool so I don't Harvey Dent myself. It's certainly too soon in the season for the 160. That's like a mid August thermostat. Quick check of the external temp of the thermostat housing, about 3 minutes after stopping the car. Idling a bit before that. Gotta warm her up a little bit! Then she'll sing

Today, I installed the trim pieces, finally. It's starting to look complete, sans air dam. Things left to install: -Poly Bushings - Purchased +$125 -Clutch slave cylinder -Purchased +$40 -Fuel Filter - and some replacement FI hose -Headlight covers -180 degree thermostat (I currently have a 160 in there, and the car fails to achieve the 170 degrees of coolant temp required to negate the warm up enrichment, so my slight stumbles are partially due to that.) Things left to purchase: -Tires -Struts (or re-purposed from the other car, not sure yet) -Air dam But I'm up to 160 miles or so on the car, since I've owned it. It REALLY likes to cruise at 60. Going out now for more drive time. Nevar enough! Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba ....I'm lovin' it! Days spent on project to date: 44 Total money spent on project to date: $1054 (+165)

Made it to town and back, with a couple hundred pounds of soil in the hatch; Car took it in stride. By sundown today, I've logged 114 miles. I think it's safe to say that if it were going to blow up, it would have at least shown signs by now. I'm happy! Definitely driving it to work in the morning. It gets better each time I drive it. What a great little car. Days worked on project to date: 43 Total money spent on project to date: $889

Those wats... B-E-A-U-tiful!

Thanks, you and me both. Lots of people have asked me already. "Is it supposed to sound like that?" -"Yep" Up to 35 miles so far. No problems. Found and fixed a couple small vacuum leaks. Driveabliity improved dramatically. Going to take it for it's first jaunt into town for some top soil. LOVE it. Trim pieces, fuel filter, some replacement hose, and bushings are next on the list. Hopefully I don't break down in the meantime.

Awesome! I'm uploading my gopro video too! The cars sound remarkably similar. currently 40%

Well tonight.....I swapped out combination switches, as I had the typical "my dash lights, and running lights stopped working" symptoms. I have all lights once again. There was some corrosion on the switch, as I expected. Luckily the parts car had a REALLY nice one. I finally went for another drive. Clutch is pretty spongy, and the TPS is sticking a little. So throttle response/shifting leaves a little something to be desired. It took a while for the revs to drop. Could also be a combination of lots of other things. I'll investigate at my leisure. Here are the pics from after I returned. I know, I know. I still have to install the bumper side trim. That's about all that's left, body wise. I'll see if Youtube will like my unedited 10 minute GoPro video from a cold start driving through part of the harbor, lapping back to the garage. Doesn't sound too bad for being untuned, though. I certainly like it. All in all, a good day. I'm really thinking about taking it into work tomorrow. We'll see how ballsy I'm feeling in the morning.

Doesn't look like much, but lots of little things are getting tidied up, like... -Fenders bolted in place. Hood still needs adjustment -Most of interior reinstalled Still need to adjust the hood, and the doors to make them close properly... And lots of little details, like installing the door gaskets (the nice ones are on the doors outside, and it's dark and rainy). As well as general cleaning of the interior etc.... But if the weather cooperates tomorrow (once again potentially calling for snow...) I will take the car out for another cruise around the Harbor. I sure hope so. Days worked on project to date: 40 Total money spent on project to date: $889

^^ thanks so much! Well I didn't get to drive to the store as I had hoped, to pick up some milk, but I did manage to take it down the road. Definitely needs bushings. I'll be buying those soon. Other than that, it's going to be perfect as a daily. It's weird once again driving a Z, and with power steering no less. It's still not done, but you can finally start to see it taking shape. Lots of stuff to go on the car yet. Most stuff is only held together by a couple bolts. Here's my $889 car. So far... (lighting was not optimal for photography, apologies, I'll get better photos in the better light tomorrow.) I'm going to leisurely bolt together some parts tonight. After work tomorrow, I will start driving the car, and working out any hiccups from non use. Days worked on project to date: 39 Total money spent on project to date: $889

Thanks! Teaser. You'll know where I'll be...

Today is still ongoing. Obviously, I'm very excited, and I plan on tinkering into the night until I get too tired to continue. Here are some half assed pictures taken for the update. Tomorrow I will go for that drive. Note the first picture is super compressed, and the tape line doesn't look like Legos in real life. Days worked on project to date: 38 Total money spent on project to date: $889

Milestone achieved: Painted. Spraying the body went about as well as I could ask for, considering the conditions. I'm just glad to see no more crinkly paint. I'll assemble the second I won't damage the paint by touching it. :thumbup: HUZZAH!

Congrats!