auto takes the fun and skill out of a car… its not a track car though im sure itll see the track at some point.
Glad the eclipse is almost there. Been quite the challenge finding parts work/don’t between the gens. As well as sifting through the notorious mitshubishi rust. We are making strides though and once we get a grasp on some add ons that need more fab work we should be set for all the one off mounts brackets and tid bits this car needed. That should get us set with the project! And as Dave said I am pretty happy that one full year of being open is almost here come October. It hasn’t been easy but have to give thanks to all of you here that supported us and helped keep our lights on. Also Ill snap some pics tonight but while mike was at a wedding and eric was off this past weekend I decided the plymouths doors didn’t look right openeing like everyone else so they got suicided and received some new bear claw latches and strikers from thorbros. Also finished the wire harness the mg camaro swap and finished up installing the corvette radiator into the bay as well. Ill post some pictures up tonight of whats been going on.
Shop focus is hardcore MG and Eclipse right now. MG’s Vette radiator, custom air shroud, hard coolant pipes, complete engine wire tuck, custom coil pack bracket, hundreds of feet of new wire and loom from to back, Painless fuse block, relays, ECU, and everything hidden under the dash. Custom aluminum dash inlays for switches and gauges are being built now. About 40+ hours on wiring and the above mentioned parts in the last 2 weeks or so has been put into it by Kevin. More pics and details will be added to the build thread.
Eclipse I am still fighting tooth and nail through. FWD axle shafts were rusted into the hubs, so much that soaking them in PB and hitting the axle shaft on each side with a sledge hammer would not budge them… actually it shifted the car on the lift… thats how siezed in there are! So swapping in the AWD axles turned into swapping in the entire donor car front spindles, wheel hubs, axles, and brakes we were going to do anyway. ANNNND… as if that wasnt enough trouble, one of the FWD lower balljoints were siezed to the spindle so the lower arm had to be replaced too. Of couse the lower arm on the donor car also had the center strut bushing sleeve and bolt siezed in, so it couldnt be reused… had to run to NAPA for a new one.
AWD front suspension is on now.
Made some seat brackets for the new buckets Dave got. They sell some shitty 1/8" flat stock adapter brackets for the 2G that looked like death, so I made my own. 1/4" material for flat stock and square tube wall thickness. Perfect fitment, and alot lower than the ones online I saw, but still clear the factory amp on the pass side! Dead level and square to the firewall, they came out great. Coated them in matte black powder too and got new hardware to replace the rusty bolts in the floor and seat bottom.
Discovered that FP puts a “2.5” Vband discharge on their turbo housings… but fuck you over by 1/4" outside dia on the flange itself. Another words a standard 2.5" vband flange is NOT the right size and wouldnt concentricly seat against the FB one. So you have to buy their $30 flange or the $54 2.5-3" adapter&flange… ohh and their clamp to match. So that is had been ordered. I have to change the flange on the downpipe anyway, then the rest of the exhaust can go back on.
Existing Greddy charge piping wont work… well 2 of the pipes I can reuse. The lower pipe that comes from the compressor to the FMIC inlet is way off becasue of the bigger turbo diminsions. The cold side of the run up to the new intake manifold wont work either. The manifold is higher, and longer than the stock one, putting the throttle body too close to the battery, and makind the angle for the Greddy pipe and BOV no where near fitting either. So materials to make those charge pipes has been ordered and added to the list.
Turbo inlet is much bigger than the stock turbo, that used to mount the MAF off an Injen DSM inlet pipe. So material to make new inlet pipe, maf adapter he had befor I can reuse and air filter is also on its way from the man in brown.
After all that is finished, hopefully this weekend as long as the parts show up from 5 different places, I can put the radiator, fans, coolant hoses, more wiring, and get the engine compartment 90% finished.
All that and we are still plugging away at incoming work. Did a replacement floor in a Fox Body and fixed some stress cracks on the rocket, inner fender and cowl. Painted a decklid and spoiler for a T-Bird that the prior painter screwed up somehow and infected the metal causing it to lift the paint all over the place.
Did a 2.5" stainless DP back on the 42R civic for Progress and welded up a velocity stack for the turbo inlet at the track.
Started on a 2012 TDI golf front end hit, Suicided a door on the 41 Plymouth, coated some wheels, big pile of bike parts, bunch of MG and eclipse stuff, STi Intake for Jake, and other stuff I cant even remember right now that we might not have take pics of.
mike, i want to put a resonator in my exhaust now. its a little too raspy for my tastes. when can i set up a quick appointment? ill order the resonator soon.
Order it up and get me the delivery date. Ill get it in shortly there after. :number1
the eclipse is definitely gonna whoop on smokins ss next season. cant wait to hear excuses.
did you get your next jeep yet? i would have loved a ride in the old one!
that it should!
If my personal car(s) situations play out this winter as I want them to, I have my eye on an AWD platform to put a small shelf worth of parts hidden away towards so I too can play around you 4wd boys.
so whats the plan for your budget turbo mullet mobile?
Its coming in as soon as the Eclipse and the MG go out!
The awd thing would be a daily for me. But that wont happen until 2 or 3 of my other cars are sold.
This weekend I had big plans for the eclipse but as it has been the entire time every part I wanted to put on the car didnt want to go on. I got the special FP V band flange and grabbed the downpipe. Not going to work, the stock turbos are bottom discharge and of course this is a side outlet turbo, and the bends put it right through the RWD output on the trans. The mid pipes are where the driveshaft is, and the rear axle back is right where the diff is. So I am making exhaust for the car now. And ohhh boy do we have an idea in store for that! Pics of that coming soon.
I did make a turbo inlet pipe though. 4" aluminum to match the compressor. The maff has an oval outlet that ends up being a 3.5" outside circumfrence, so a 3.5-4" reducer works perfect to mate it to the tube, then the DSM flange adapter for the filter is bolted up with a new air filter. I am sandblasting and powder coating it tonight.
Our tubing bender came in finally so we made some posts. They are 4x4X1/4" wall tube and 3/8 plate. The top plates are drilled the same so the bender, shrinker/stretcher & beverly sheer can be mounted on either of the two posts.
For the one with purple wheels?
Yes it was.
This weekend I put our new JD2 Model 32 Bender to work.
Made this brush guard from a pile of tube, 3/16" sheet and 1.5" X 3/16" flat stock for a 67 Ford F100. Then powdercoated it wrinkle black. 3 piece design and it bolts through theb bumper into the frame rail in the OE locations.
Also painted a tank and tail for a Cafe bike project for the customer we did the orange frame, swing arm, wheels and pile of black parts last week for. VW straight black base and clear, cut and buffed perfect.
You guys need a hand yet? I need some something part time to help with bills and to just get my fix in working on shit.
Sorry but no not yet. Until all three owners are working full time, making a living from CRC, we are not in a position to hire anyone. Having a legal employee adds considerable financial overhead, and more so the only people kevin eric and I trust to put our name on anything that leaves the shop, is kevin eric and I. No offense to anyone and their skills, but until we see someone as rooted as we are in the work ethic needed to ensure the shop’s success, nobody else is picking up a wrench here. Hiring an employee for us is a few stepping stones away but we are working towards that, on a well defined path the three of us agree’d on. CRC in just a year had to make some hefty decissions to ensure its success many of which were extremely hard to swallow. Simply put CRC is here to win, when we need more winning teammates we will let everyone know.
No problem man was just a question!
no doubt bro. Just letting you guys knows whats up with the shop a bit.
i want to see those s2k seats in the mg
I took the seats directly from your place to CRC for A “test fitting”. By all accounts, they are going to work Great. The guys have a little more to do before it will be time to install them though…Patience my friend…