2012 to Current project log for my T2 83 S
05-07-14, 08:37 AM
#152
Haha, no problem. I can talk you ear off on swaps so just let me know.
Made a bit of progress on this car last night. The double din I ordered came in so I started digging into the install. I'll take pics tonight once the stereo surround actually looks like something. The gauge mounting is nearly done, and the hole is trimmed out for the head unit, I just need to figure a few details out, and smooth the whole thing out/paint it.
Once all that is sorted I need to redo some of the wiring. The head unit plug isn't long enough to reach where I want to put it (I should have left myself a bit of extra wire length, but oh well) so I'll have to change that, and the wiring for the gauges could be neatened up a bit too. I hate being OCD sometimes....
Made a bit of progress on this car last night. The double din I ordered came in so I started digging into the install. I'll take pics tonight once the stereo surround actually looks like something. The gauge mounting is nearly done, and the hole is trimmed out for the head unit, I just need to figure a few details out, and smooth the whole thing out/paint it.
Once all that is sorted I need to redo some of the wiring. The head unit plug isn't long enough to reach where I want to put it (I should have left myself a bit of extra wire length, but oh well) so I'll have to change that, and the wiring for the gauges could be neatened up a bit too. I hate being OCD sometimes....
05-12-14, 09:34 AM
#154
Got the stereo surround done this weekend. Managed to find some paint that's damn close to the original s2 stereo surround color. See the pic of me holding the shifter surround next to an original one, pretty close match I'd say.
I'm still undecided about what to put where the factory clock went, so I just left it as a blank canvas for now. I was originally going to put a few USB charger outlets for my phone there, but couldn't get it to look the way I wanted. I'll continue searching for something.
The gauge section is actually a simple flat metal gauge holder (like you'd see hanging off the bottom of a camaro dash or something haha) that I trimmed to fit, then jb welded to the back of the surround. I did this to make it easier to line up the gauges, keep them spaced correctly etc. Then it's just some bondo on top of it to smooth everything out, and a bit of dremeling to open the holes back up. The clock area (previously had a gauge there, see older pics) I just filled in using JB weld (made a "mold" using masking tape to keep it all in place) then smoothed it out with bondo. Whole thing got some primer, and then the paint. This is the same method I used to make the surround 8 years ago and everything held up incredibly well, the glue and filler all stayed put, didn't lift up or crack etc, so it'll be good to for another 8
. I took the easy way out on the head unit and used the mounting "cage" rather than flush mounting it. Would have been a ton more work to get it to look smooth, and since the gauges already sit on top of the panel, it matches the look.
Neatened up the wiring behind there so it's not a total cluster fk, still need to permanently install the bluetooth adaptor for my Rtek ecu and get a switch to turn that on and off (the BT interferes with the BT on the head unit, for streaming music, and my phone gets confused, easier to just turn the Rtek's bt on as needed) but overall I'm done on the interior for now. I'm happy with the changes.
Still a few other changes on this car coming soon, stay tuned. Parts are ordered, just need to install them. Guess that AE86 project is getting pushed back yet again...
I'm still undecided about what to put where the factory clock went, so I just left it as a blank canvas for now. I was originally going to put a few USB charger outlets for my phone there, but couldn't get it to look the way I wanted. I'll continue searching for something.
The gauge section is actually a simple flat metal gauge holder (like you'd see hanging off the bottom of a camaro dash or something haha) that I trimmed to fit, then jb welded to the back of the surround. I did this to make it easier to line up the gauges, keep them spaced correctly etc. Then it's just some bondo on top of it to smooth everything out, and a bit of dremeling to open the holes back up. The clock area (previously had a gauge there, see older pics) I just filled in using JB weld (made a "mold" using masking tape to keep it all in place) then smoothed it out with bondo. Whole thing got some primer, and then the paint. This is the same method I used to make the surround 8 years ago and everything held up incredibly well, the glue and filler all stayed put, didn't lift up or crack etc, so it'll be good to for another 8
. I took the easy way out on the head unit and used the mounting "cage" rather than flush mounting it. Would have been a ton more work to get it to look smooth, and since the gauges already sit on top of the panel, it matches the look.Neatened up the wiring behind there so it's not a total cluster fk, still need to permanently install the bluetooth adaptor for my Rtek ecu and get a switch to turn that on and off (the BT interferes with the BT on the head unit, for streaming music, and my phone gets confused, easier to just turn the Rtek's bt on as needed) but overall I'm done on the interior for now. I'm happy with the changes.
Still a few other changes on this car coming soon, stay tuned. Parts are ordered, just need to install them. Guess that AE86 project is getting pushed back yet again...
05-30-14, 09:20 AM
#155
As I'm hinted at in previous posts I've kinda gotton bored with this car. The A-pillar gauge pod and redo of the stereo surround helped perk things up on the inside, but the exterior was still blah. I was getting real sick of the 91 base model wheels that have been on this car for the past year and a half. They aren't terrible looking wheels, but these particular ones are in pretty rough shape, and I don't like them enough to strip and paint them. I was also kinda bored with the vert wheels so I did some searching and found that Enkei started making their Classic Compe (loves me some 8 spokes!) in 5 lug FC sizes. The only color options were really dark gunmetal or white. Normally I shy away from white wheels because they get dirty, but the gunmetal in this case was too dark, and with no polished lip to offset it I knew I wouldn't be happy with them. I also figured that If I was going to end up repainting them someday, it would easier to cover up white, than it would be to cover the dark gunmetal. So! white it was!
I went with 15x7's, 5x114.3 lug pattern and a -38mm offset (all stock FC size basically) and got them from tire rack (backordered, took 3 weeks) wrapped in Yokohama S-Drives 205/50-15. They came in last night along with some silly 12 point lug nuts that I didn't use, and some hub centric rings, that I did use.
I'm loving the look, it really changes the attitude of the car. They fit great. Only downer is that it still has a vibration on the highway... I had assumed it was my worn tires, but apparently it's something else... Always something to chase down.
Anyway, here's some cell phone pics. One of these days I'll get a real camera to shoot this thing with.
I went with 15x7's, 5x114.3 lug pattern and a -38mm offset (all stock FC size basically) and got them from tire rack (backordered, took 3 weeks) wrapped in Yokohama S-Drives 205/50-15. They came in last night along with some silly 12 point lug nuts that I didn't use, and some hub centric rings, that I did use.
I'm loving the look, it really changes the attitude of the car. They fit great. Only downer is that it still has a vibration on the highway... I had assumed it was my worn tires, but apparently it's something else... Always something to chase down.
Anyway, here's some cell phone pics. One of these days I'll get a real camera to shoot this thing with.
06-02-14, 10:46 AM
#159
Yeah thanks, 15's on an FB are damn near perfect. Anything bigger looks too big to me, and while 14's look great you're pretty limited on tire choices (and wheel choices for that matter, if you want new).
I put this car back in my shop last night and am planning to go over the whole front end looking for anything loose or otherwise amiss that would be causing the bad vibration. I didn't realize how bad it was until I took my 85 to work today and it was smooth as glass (ironic since it's got old crap tires on it lol)
I put this car back in my shop last night and am planning to go over the whole front end looking for anything loose or otherwise amiss that would be causing the bad vibration. I didn't realize how bad it was until I took my 85 to work today and it was smooth as glass (ironic since it's got old crap tires on it lol)
06-06-14, 03:20 PM
#160
Won't know 100% until I get some new parts, but I believe the vibration is actually play in the rack and pinion. For whatever reason where the rack slides along the passenger side of the housing has a bunch of play, which has gotton definitely worse recently, you can actually move the rack up and down inside it's housing by hand. Everything else on the front end looks tight and correct so it's most likely the culprit.
I decided to avoid the hassle of depowering yet another rack and pinion and bought a manual rack. I have one in my 85 and while it's a big slower than this one, I love the feel. I was able to find a rack easy enough, hopefully the guy ships it soon
I decided to avoid the hassle of depowering yet another rack and pinion and bought a manual rack. I have one in my 85 and while it's a big slower than this one, I love the feel. I was able to find a rack easy enough, hopefully the guy ships it soon
06-12-14, 01:56 PM
#162
^Thanks! I'm trying to get as much done on all the projects this year since a mortgage is looming in the not so distant future... trying to enjoy the free cash while I can haha.
I found a manual steering rack and that should be in today. Hoping to clean it up and install it tonight, also hoping that it fixed that vibration (it should, theres a ton of play in my current r/p)....
It's always something...
I found a manual steering rack and that should be in today. Hoping to clean it up and install it tonight, also hoping that it fixed that vibration (it should, theres a ton of play in my current r/p)....
It's always something...
06-16-14, 09:24 AM
#164
Yeah, we're not planning on kids, hopefully that doesn't change haha.
Got the manual steering rack in on Thursday, most of the vibe is gone, or at least more muted now. Still present though at a few seemingly very specific speeds on the highway. I think at this point I'll just live with it...
Got the manual steering rack in on Thursday, most of the vibe is gone, or at least more muted now. Still present though at a few seemingly very specific speeds on the highway. I think at this point I'll just live with it...
12-07-17, 02:17 PM
#165
Stumbled onto this thread, almost forgot about it! The past ~3 years have been pretty crazy - a bunch of family medical issues, changed jobs 4 times (and hoping to get out of my current one asap), so it was a trip re-reading this thing
I'm planning on starting new threads to document what's up with my 3 FB's (all of which have changed significant since the last updates in their respective build threads - sorry for not posting!!) but below is a shot of how this car sits now. Despite the car looking really clean in this thread, the beauty was skin deep. When I did that repaint to red in 2012, it was just that - a paint job. I didn't fix any rust, and there was quite a bit of it lurking in there - especially around the rear suspension mounts, as well as the front frame rails. So, in 2015, I decided it was time to do it right, take care of absolutely everything wrong with the car and make sure it lasts another 34 years!
Any rust was used as an excuse to customize or upgrade. The rear now has custom lower control arm mounts, a custom tri link/panhard bar and coil overs. The front frame rails were completely reworked to move the FC subframe up 1" to help get the roll center back to a normal height, while still being able to fit the engine/trans under the hood/trans tunnel. There was a bunch of other spots that needed repair as well, and in the end I decided it was easier to just reshoot the whole car, rather than trying to blend the paint. I also got rid of the 3 piece spoiler in favor of a smaller lip style one, changed to 4 lug wheels and put flares on it because the quarter panel lips were rusting anyway lol.
Stay tuned for more pics as I get time to upload them
I'm planning on starting new threads to document what's up with my 3 FB's (all of which have changed significant since the last updates in their respective build threads - sorry for not posting!!) but below is a shot of how this car sits now. Despite the car looking really clean in this thread, the beauty was skin deep. When I did that repaint to red in 2012, it was just that - a paint job. I didn't fix any rust, and there was quite a bit of it lurking in there - especially around the rear suspension mounts, as well as the front frame rails. So, in 2015, I decided it was time to do it right, take care of absolutely everything wrong with the car and make sure it lasts another 34 years!
Any rust was used as an excuse to customize or upgrade. The rear now has custom lower control arm mounts, a custom tri link/panhard bar and coil overs. The front frame rails were completely reworked to move the FC subframe up 1" to help get the roll center back to a normal height, while still being able to fit the engine/trans under the hood/trans tunnel. There was a bunch of other spots that needed repair as well, and in the end I decided it was easier to just reshoot the whole car, rather than trying to blend the paint. I also got rid of the 3 piece spoiler in favor of a smaller lip style one, changed to 4 lug wheels and put flares on it because the quarter panel lips were rusting anyway lol.
Stay tuned for more pics as I get time to upload them
12-11-17, 04:58 AM
#168
Stumbled onto this thread, almost forgot about it! The past ~3 years have been pretty crazy - a bunch of family medical issues, changed jobs 4 times (and hoping to get out of my current one asap), so it was a trip re-reading this thing
I'm planning on starting new threads to document what's up with my 3 FB's (all of which have changed significant since the last updates in their respective build threads - sorry for not posting!!) but below is a shot of how this car sits now. Despite the car looking really clean in this thread, the beauty was skin deep. When I did that repaint to red in 2012, it was just that - a paint job. I didn't fix any rust, and there was quite a bit of it lurking in there - especially around the rear suspension mounts, as well as the front frame rails. So, in 2015, I decided it was time to do it right, take care of absolutely everything wrong with the car and make sure it lasts another 34 years!
Any rust was used as an excuse to customize or upgrade. The rear now has custom lower control arm mounts, a custom tri link/panhard bar and coil overs. The front frame rails were completely reworked to move the FC subframe up 1" to help get the roll center back to a normal height, while still being able to fit the engine/trans under the hood/trans tunnel. There was a bunch of other spots that needed repair as well, and in the end I decided it was easier to just reshoot the whole car, rather than trying to blend the paint. I also got rid of the 3 piece spoiler in favor of a smaller lip style one, changed to 4 lug wheels and put flares on it because the quarter panel lips were rusting anyway lol.
Stay tuned for more pics as I get time to upload them
I'm planning on starting new threads to document what's up with my 3 FB's (all of which have changed significant since the last updates in their respective build threads - sorry for not posting!!) but below is a shot of how this car sits now. Despite the car looking really clean in this thread, the beauty was skin deep. When I did that repaint to red in 2012, it was just that - a paint job. I didn't fix any rust, and there was quite a bit of it lurking in there - especially around the rear suspension mounts, as well as the front frame rails. So, in 2015, I decided it was time to do it right, take care of absolutely everything wrong with the car and make sure it lasts another 34 years!
Any rust was used as an excuse to customize or upgrade. The rear now has custom lower control arm mounts, a custom tri link/panhard bar and coil overs. The front frame rails were completely reworked to move the FC subframe up 1" to help get the roll center back to a normal height, while still being able to fit the engine/trans under the hood/trans tunnel. There was a bunch of other spots that needed repair as well, and in the end I decided it was easier to just reshoot the whole car, rather than trying to blend the paint. I also got rid of the 3 piece spoiler in favor of a smaller lip style one, changed to 4 lug wheels and put flares on it because the quarter panel lips were rusting anyway lol.
Stay tuned for more pics as I get time to upload them
12-14-17, 10:53 AM
#170
I will have to make it a point to get the pics of the most recent build off my phone this weekend so I can post them up then
Oh and trying to keep 3 FBs going (along with my 3 non FB's, plus my wife's car) is ridiculous... I've been working on downsizing for the past few months. Got rid of my abandoned Trans Am project (guess I need to change my username lol) after more than a decade of it sitting around, and have unloaded a ton of parts. Time to thin the herd a bit more!
Oh and trying to keep 3 FBs going (along with my 3 non FB's, plus my wife's car) is ridiculous... I've been working on downsizing for the past few months. Got rid of my abandoned Trans Am project (guess I need to change my username lol) after more than a decade of it sitting around, and have unloaded a ton of parts. Time to thin the herd a bit more!
Last edited by 82transam; 12-14-17 at 10:56 AM.
10-09-19, 03:57 PM
#174
Howdy everyone, I have sucked at updating my threads here for the past few years, I'm sorry! I have been cranking away at FB builds/mods/updates/changes as usual, just haven't been documenting as well. This particular car is just going back together after some particularly intense metal work (Austin got a sneak peak via text lol). I took a few pics, and will make it a point to update this soon.
10-10-19, 09:02 AM
#175
Howdy everyone, I have sucked at updating my threads here for the past few years, I'm sorry! I have been cranking away at FB builds/mods/updates/changes as usual, just haven't been documenting as well. This particular car is just going back together after some particularly intense metal work (Austin got a sneak peak via text lol). I took a few pics, and will make it a point to update this soon.
Don't worry about the thread either man, most of us are the same way. It's tough to remember to update the build threads nowadays. Can't wait to see how you put the build thread update together!
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