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My name's Dave, I'm 18 and I'm from Central New Jersey. This is my first car that I got when I was 17, in June of 2011. I didn't get this car because it's "different". I truly wanted this car since the first time I saw one, and I think they are great platforms. I searched for months to find the exact one that I wanted to start with. It's kinda annoying how these cars are blowing up, but whatever. Mine isn't going to just have some wheels thrown on it. Here's what I started with, 1992 5 speed n/a 2.3 4 cylinder.
First thing I did was lower it and I got a good deal on wheels from a 98 sl500, so I threw them on. Still on this setup right now, but I'm getting new wheels soon. Also painted lower trim and bumper trim to freshen it up.
And here's some from H2Oi 2012. It was my first time going and it was a life changing experience.
It's not stanced, but it will be soon
Going for form AND function.
In the dead of winter 2012, I turbo'd it. The turbo is a td04-15g off a Volvo 850. I don't have any pictures from the process, but it was a headache but it was all sorted. Overboosted the turbo and blew it in April of 2013. I also roasted the clutch at the same time. Since I got the car, I looked into the Ford T5 transmission swap. I knew my future goals included more power, so I figured this was a good idea. I set out on this, and it ended up being a 5 month nightmare. I picked up a transmission for $500 that I was told was the beefier model I was looking for.
It turns out, that transmission was from a 4 cylinder. Also, the insides looked like someone blew off a grenade in it. It was trashed. I was scammed out of $500 as a part time worker in high school. Awesome. Thought I had a picture of the insides but I can't find it. The reverse gear had 6+ teeth missing and the 1st gear synchro had a key missing.
Found another transmission, this time I made sure it was the right one, in good condition. Here it is with the bellhousing adapter.
To help with future power I also got a lightweight flywheel, and Clutchnet 6 Puck sprung disc.
Here's the new crossmember for the transmission. Yes, there is actually a performance aftermarket for these cars
While the motor and transmission were out I decided the engine bay needed to be taken care of while I was earning money for parts. Here's how it started.
Primed.
Went blue. Looked like shit.
Redid it with Rustoleum Bed Liner. I'm very happy with how it looks. I also did the entire bottom of the hood after this picture.
And I cleaned up the engine and painted it. You can see the turbo here, and all of its smallness.
This is what I did after my graduation party.
The engine and transmission went back in, and it was all rewired. It wouldn't crank, starter wires were mixed up. Fixed that. Wouldn't spark. Sanded all grounds and rechecked all wiring. Still no spark. Sanded coil connection, got spark. Would crank, spark, had fuel but wouldn't start. These cars are timed off the flywheel. If you put it on wrong, it retards the timing a ridiculous amount. Turns out, it was put on wrong. So the transmission had to come back out. Fun stuff.
So now it ran and the clutch worked and all was dandy. Just needed to modify the driveshaft to work with the T5 output shaft. Simple enough, followed a guide online and my brother and I tackled it in a couple hours.
Took the car for the first drive in around 5 months. Such an amazing, indescribable feeling. After all the hard work you put into something, being able to enjoy it. Two days after I got the car back on the road, I moved out to college in Pennsylvania. The car kinda survived the trip...Blew the fuel pump fuse halfway there and then got pulled over by a Pennsylvania State Pooper. Then I got a letter from the DMV saying that I lost my license for 60 days because of tickets at home and stuff. So my car sat, and when I had my license restored and went to drive it home, the turbo was smoking like crazy. Had it towed home by a friend.
Turned out to just be the elbow in the oil feed leaking onto the exhaust housing. Easy fix. Back on the road. Here's a clip of a short run, it's only on 10 psi right now but I'm gonna bump it to 15 psi when I'm home for winter break.
And here's a preview of what's to come.
The wheels are going to be 16x10 et0 front and 16x10 et-12 rear. The centers will be bronze. Nothing fancy for the wheels, but I'm broke and I think they fit the car well. Build your car for yourself, right?
This winter I should be finishing up the new look. If you want you can follow me on instagram @davedeppen for some more pictures and stuff. Thanks for reading so far, I hope you like it.
First thing I did was lower it and I got a good deal on wheels from a 98 sl500, so I threw them on. Still on this setup right now, but I'm getting new wheels soon. Also painted lower trim and bumper trim to freshen it up.
And here's some from H2Oi 2012. It was my first time going and it was a life changing experience.
It's not stanced, but it will be soon
Going for form AND function.In the dead of winter 2012, I turbo'd it. The turbo is a td04-15g off a Volvo 850. I don't have any pictures from the process, but it was a headache but it was all sorted. Overboosted the turbo and blew it in April of 2013. I also roasted the clutch at the same time. Since I got the car, I looked into the Ford T5 transmission swap. I knew my future goals included more power, so I figured this was a good idea. I set out on this, and it ended up being a 5 month nightmare. I picked up a transmission for $500 that I was told was the beefier model I was looking for.
It turns out, that transmission was from a 4 cylinder. Also, the insides looked like someone blew off a grenade in it. It was trashed. I was scammed out of $500 as a part time worker in high school. Awesome. Thought I had a picture of the insides but I can't find it. The reverse gear had 6+ teeth missing and the 1st gear synchro had a key missing.
Found another transmission, this time I made sure it was the right one, in good condition. Here it is with the bellhousing adapter.
To help with future power I also got a lightweight flywheel, and Clutchnet 6 Puck sprung disc.
Here's the new crossmember for the transmission. Yes, there is actually a performance aftermarket for these cars
While the motor and transmission were out I decided the engine bay needed to be taken care of while I was earning money for parts. Here's how it started.
Primed.
Went blue. Looked like shit.
Redid it with Rustoleum Bed Liner. I'm very happy with how it looks. I also did the entire bottom of the hood after this picture.
And I cleaned up the engine and painted it. You can see the turbo here, and all of its smallness.
This is what I did after my graduation party.
The engine and transmission went back in, and it was all rewired. It wouldn't crank, starter wires were mixed up. Fixed that. Wouldn't spark. Sanded all grounds and rechecked all wiring. Still no spark. Sanded coil connection, got spark. Would crank, spark, had fuel but wouldn't start. These cars are timed off the flywheel. If you put it on wrong, it retards the timing a ridiculous amount. Turns out, it was put on wrong. So the transmission had to come back out. Fun stuff.
So now it ran and the clutch worked and all was dandy. Just needed to modify the driveshaft to work with the T5 output shaft. Simple enough, followed a guide online and my brother and I tackled it in a couple hours.
Took the car for the first drive in around 5 months. Such an amazing, indescribable feeling. After all the hard work you put into something, being able to enjoy it. Two days after I got the car back on the road, I moved out to college in Pennsylvania. The car kinda survived the trip...Blew the fuel pump fuse halfway there and then got pulled over by a Pennsylvania State Pooper. Then I got a letter from the DMV saying that I lost my license for 60 days because of tickets at home and stuff. So my car sat, and when I had my license restored and went to drive it home, the turbo was smoking like crazy. Had it towed home by a friend.
Turned out to just be the elbow in the oil feed leaking onto the exhaust housing. Easy fix. Back on the road. Here's a clip of a short run, it's only on 10 psi right now but I'm gonna bump it to 15 psi when I'm home for winter break.
And here's a preview of what's to come.
The wheels are going to be 16x10 et0 front and 16x10 et-12 rear. The centers will be bronze. Nothing fancy for the wheels, but I'm broke and I think they fit the car well. Build your car for yourself, right?
This winter I should be finishing up the new look. If you want you can follow me on instagram @davedeppen for some more pictures and stuff. Thanks for reading so far, I hope you like it.
... what?
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