90nSSMD

Thanks for the follow!

I ran through every diagnostic I could think about before I had enough time to keep the car off the road to do the intake.

Compression test on all cylinders read between 149-165 psi, so I knew the compression was fine. Every wire had a fat blue spark, and I went through cleaning the fuel tank TWICE, and replacing 2 fuel filters over the course of 3-4k miles.

My FPR may have also been bad as well. There wasn't any pressure on the line, so I just replaced the FPR while everything else was off.

The heads are still at the machine shop and I opt'd to just not get them for the time being. I need to focus on bills before the project :P. There will still be updates, but I'm not going to rush the process as I want everything to go together nicely.

Edit -- Might be a small update soon, as I'm going to be driving down for Cruisin OC this Friday/Sat/Sun (morning). I might stop by the shop, get some suspension stuff in, and snap some pictures if I have the time!

90nSSMD

I have a "half" update.

I finally managed to get a couple days off in a row, and drove down to do some work. Unfortunately I only had about 24 hours of shop time to work on the front end. I decided to tackle the springs and new control arm bushings (which are a PITA!).

Everything went fine, except I made a couple rookie mistakes, got hurt, and a control arm got bent (lol). So it's off to a salvage yard to find a control arm, and I'm probably going to pay a shop to do my bushings.

It's on hold until then .

Pictures below!





While I had the control arms out I decided to put in my lower ball joints. Probably would have been easier to use a press kit with the control arm still bolted into the K Member, but I had a 20 ton press available for use, and with a little elbow grease, managed to get the right angle for an extremely quick install.







This is how she sits now.. Sad and lonely . I installed my Caster Camber plates before I left back home, and did not get a picture of them. They look really sharp!




Disclaimer:

When uninstalling stock springs, always always always use a pry bar to remove them.

I was a little buzzed and heard the spring break loose as I slowly lowered the control arm down on the drivers side. Instead of grabbing my pry bar, I used my hand (like a big dummy), and the spring still had some compression in it. It wacked my finger and gave me a bone contusion (which is basically just a bad bruise. Could have been MUCH worse! -- Also, if you look closely, I've already broken that hand once. Had surgery on the 3rd metacarpal and have 3 screws in it. Fun stuff lol)


.

I only spent a day on the car unfortunately, and the hurdle of a bent control arm really set that in stone. The other 24-48 hours was spent trying to diagnose an electrical issue on my cousins 96 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Dome light won't go off for whatever reason and it's been the biggest PITA trying to trace this problem down.

Hopefully there will be more to come soon!

90nSSMD

Well.. a small hiccup happened that has kept me from driving down to my shop for the past week (which I had planned to drive down this weekend to get the front end put back together sadly enough).

I was driving home from work on a Monday night and my car went from "aggressive" to "pull me over".



I guess the old pipes just finally gave in.

I called up AM and ordered some MAC Pro Dumps. They're currently on a 3-4 week back order, so I put in an order hoping to get rid of some spare parts in between the time that I waited to maybe buy another set of 44 series flows (the ones currently on there are VERY aged). Putting in the order for the MACs was just a safeguard in case I couldn't come up with the extra money for new Flowmasters. Sadly enough.. I have a set of 44 series catbacks at my garage that I could have used, but I can't make it there (or I can, I just refuse to drive this thing in fear of getting tickets).

I'll probably end up selling those since they're in mint condition. Anyone need Super 44 series flowmasters? *wink wink*

The old catback looks like they came factory with the car almost .

It's welded on, but the pipes after the mufflers are a mix between rust and heavier rust (at the welds). Should make for easy cutting!

Fast forward to today, I finally sold some stuff, and placed an order for some super 44 series dumps from AM. The $10 off gave me free 1 day shipping practically, so I'm hoping to get them by Tuesday so I can install them. Should put me in a time frame to take me to the shop sometime in the next 1-2 weeks, so I can put the front end of the notch back together. Maybe if I have enough time I'll get to the rear end (control arms) as well!

Also, my 25th birthday is Thursday the 3rd, so this both sucks, but at the same time is a "semi" nice gift.. buying myself a new catback on my birthday was never something I would have thought I would be doing lol

I'll get a video of the start-up sometime tomorrow during the day, and a video of the idle/revving after I get the new catback on.


Edit --

Last time I was down, I did get my toolbox positioned near my car, and built a single (but decently sized) shelf for misc parts. Also managed to move an old work bench up to the area and leveled everything out, which I'll be adding some stuff like vice grips and a grinder onto to make life a little easier instead of running halfway down the shop to wire brush a bolt or grind something.

Painted my LX bumper to match the current color of the Notch as well. Wasn't the best job (I'm a very novice painter), but turned out pretty decent for a spray bomb.















I wish I had a bigger budget to speed things up, or more time to devote to it, but sometimes it's best to stay at a slow and steady pace to enjoy the build progress in front of me.

88 orangepeel notch

Looking good, and that does suck when your hands take a wack like that. Hope it's feeling better.

90nSSMD

It was the hand that I broke when I was 23 (was black-out drunk so I don't remember how it happened). It hurt but I had movement so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

I did a routine check-up at my physical therapist, and they ruled it as a bone contusion. Healed up within a couple days and I was back to being a simple minded man lol.

New update 7/1/14:

UPS Showed up today! Yay!

And they brought me a b-day gift, how nice of them eh?





Couldn't really wait to take anymore pictures while putting it back together. I was on my back under the car in 95+ Degree heat (felt like 100+ thanks to Maryland humidity).

Got everything lined up the way I wanted to, tightened up the clamps at the dumps, and took a nice snazzy picture of her *** (although it was only on one jack stand, she looked crooked lol ):




And of course, for those of you who want to hear her moan (or in this case cry for mercy), please check out the links below!

First to Last (in particular order from old exhaust to new exhaust):

After installing Cobra Upper/Lower intake (with old rusty Flowmasters):

http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=2pr74n5&s=8

Open headers (and a really bad stretched camera view, sorry guys/gals):

http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=5m04gp%3E&s=8

After installing new super 44 series dumps:

http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=2s0b8yw%3E&s=8

Enjoy!

65Raven65

I thought about getting that dump kit too. I just don't know if I want that loud of a car again. My '89 had full length headers, off road, and Flowmasters with dumps. Sounded mean, but it droned and was loud!

90nSSMD

You can always take out the dump pipes and put in regular tail pipes thanks to the clamp design. I know some people prefer welds, but if it isn't leaking, then a clamp is just fine with me!

I don't mind the drone so much because I'm used to imports having worse drone and riding in them all the time when I was younger.

90nSSMD

I realize my last post was in the beginning of July..

It is now mid October (time flies I guess).

New job, lots more pay, very little time to work on my own stuff.. HOWEVER.. some good AND bad news on the projects.

I've decided to sell my white hatchback, and put the Notchback on hold for quite some time.

I ended up purchasing a 2014 GT, and well.. paychecks are bigger, so money is going there instead lmao.


On another note, I did manage to finish the Notchback in entirety. Interior is fully done (minus seats inside), and the suspension is finished (in terms of how far I want to go for now). No coilover setup, nothing super radical. Maybe later down the road I'll rebuild another 302, buy a rebuilt T5, throw some n2o on it, and beat the sh*t out of it for fun.

Drumroll...




Onto the pictures!

New Car: (yes one of the center caps is missing, I had the dealer order me a new one)










Finishing Touches on the Notchback:

Interior FINALLY done.. Complete with Rear Seat Delete, and Custom Tailored Door Panels.



Eibach Lowering Springs Installed with new Prothane CA Bushings (I will never again opt to install my own bushings.. good lord..)



Annnnd the upgraded 4 Link is completed. Eibach Lowering Springs, BBK Upper/Lower Tubular CA's. Kudos to anyone else who has done this job with the car only being 16-20 inches in the air (hint: its brutal).






Well that's it for this update. Maybe in good fashion I'll just keep updating the thread with other fun stuff with the newer car, considering it will be getting much more attention.

88 orangepeel notch

Congrats on the new job and stang, Relax and enjoy it before life happens lol.

And seeing as how your better than us now, and the notch, I suppose these updates will slowly fade. It was nice knowing you..........





Just yanking your chain, congrats

90nSSMD

Well technically speaking.. the 14' IS a 5.0 .

About to order an Outlaw series catback for it. I'll be sure to catalog pictures and a video of before/after for enjoyment .

Old job was around 30 hours a week on average, new job is 55-60+. Pay difference is huge though, so money for mods is more available.