A New look & New fuel filter

So I bought some clear yellow vinyl on ebay for like $7 shipped. I Really like the look. I'm considering placing it on the fog lights as well. I finally got around to changing the fuel filter, The original filter looked like it had been on the car for all 200k miles!!!! While I was at it, I also had to replace some of the fuel hoses. In order for the tank not to drain all its fuel on me, I had to clamp them shut while swapping filters... They were so dry that they cracked, and I had to run to Autzone to get a foot of new hose for under $2.

Junkyard Volvo front lip

A few weeks ago, i was lucky enough to find a lip of of a 90's volvo. When omunted on an e30 upside down, it looks pretty damn good. I cut off al off the extra tabs, and by drilling a dozen holes, and using the same mounting hardware as the volvo, I was able to mount it with great results. Nice! A shot of the car as is today. I have the adjustable coilover sleeves in the front at their lowest setting with 450lb springs. The rears currently have some ebay springs. I have bilstein HDs all the way around. THis setup cost me less than $200.

New Exhaust!

So I woke up early Friday morning, and wen to my local u-pull-it. I was looking for 1 thing. 2.5" exhaust tubing. I got lucky and found an Econoline van with a full exhaust just the right diameter. I got it for $8. The pic below already has a 2' piece of straight section cut off(those bends might come in handy in the future.) My first problem was the connection between my new muffler and the stock piping, i needed to mate 2.5" junkyard tubing to the stock 2.25" pipe. This is what i did. I cut V's into the 2.5" tubing, and with my body hammer I shrunk the diameter. After welding. ANd here you see the piece installed. In this pic you see my new muffler. It's a high dollar, lightweight stainless steel race muffler that i was lucky enough to acquire for free. It looks good, barely poking out of the rear, and boy is it loud as all Hell!

Coolant Leak!

Unfortunately on my way to work last week, i started to notice the coolant temperatures going up. When I got to work, there was a small puddle of coolant under the car. I did my thing, and at 5, I topped off the coolant before heading home. Temps were over half way, but I was able to keep it out of the red by turning the car off at the stop lights. Once i got home I looked under the hood, and there was coolant on the block below the intake manifold. My guess was that the mess of hoses under there were probably leaking somewhere, so i ripped into it. I found the leak, and repaired it. While I was in there I ended up removing the throttle body heating plate, and all the extra hoses at the same time.

Install time!

This weekend I blocked off some time for my major suspension overhaul. I had a set of Bilstein HDs, a sway bar from a convertible e30, an e36 steering rack, and a set of brand new control arms I found at the junkyard!In this shot you can see that i've removed the entire front sub-frame including the control arms and steering rack. A shot of my work space. This is a power steering delete I designed, and my father made for me. You remove the stock hoses, and bolt this in place with the stock banjo bolts and copper washers. It allows the fluid to travel from one chamber to the other without any pressure buildup. In this shot i've assembled the subframe with the new-used control-arms and swaybar. once i Had that installed, I moved on to the suspension. I bought some universal ebay coilover sleeves meant to fit a honda civic. In order for them to fit the bilsteins correctly I had to enlarge the center hole and carve in a concave shape. I also cut the stock spring perches off of the strut housing. I had to cut the aluminum sleeves by about 1.5 inches in order for them to clear the threaded shock cap. THis is what i thought was an assembles shock until I realized i was missing the upper spring perch. If i had kept it like this, the car would have a very difficult time turning because the upper spring support would be rubbing the shock tower mount. Here is a pic of them correctly assembled. And installed! FOr the time bieng i installed the rear shocks wit the stock springs. Here are a couple pics of how the car currently sits. The front coilovers are set on their lowest setting. I have a nother set of 550lb springs that are 1" shorter than these. I'll install them as soon as i get motivated to take everythig apart again!

More Used Parts!

I was able to scavenge some more used parts At my local junkyard. I found a set of locks to replace the ones currently on the car. The Ignition cylinder was destroyed by someone trying to steal the car from the previous owner. I wanted a full set so 1 key opens everything. I know its more work to replace everything, but it will be worth it in the long run.Here is what the old lock cylinder housing looked like. I also found a replacement at the junkyard for cheap. I also was able to pick up a set of used Bilstein HDs on e30tech.com for cheap! $120 for the full set! I found an e36 steering rack(pictured below) and a larger diameter front sway bar from a convertible e30. The rack is in great shape. While at the yard I was able to replace the tie-rods with some from an e30. The shocks pictured are some spares i picked up for $4 each! I love u-pull-it prices! A few months back I had picked up a set of Civic coil-over sleeves in the hopes of at some point installing them on the other project(www.dirte30.blogspot.com). I don't really kow how they will work, or what i will need to do to get them installed correctly, but they were only $40, and i can get 2.5" springs of different stiffness's easily on eBay.

On the road!

I'm glad to say ive been driving the little bugger for about a week and a half now. I got it registered & insured last monday. I drove it for a day before realizing how necessary some new ball joints were. I went to the yard and picked up 2 Lower front controll arms for $36, and swapped them out. THe car is much more solid now. It does have completely blown suspension on it currently. I found 2 used struts at the yard and paid a littlle under $7 for both! Now i just need to find the fronts. I'm looking for a set of used springs on the forums. I already found a set of keys and cylinders to replace the missing ignition cylinder, and i'm waiting on the piece that goes on the end of the steering column to arrive.