charris's build thread

[charris]

I figure I should start posting up what I've done, along with the sob stories. These are from years ago, so I don't have pics of a lot of stuff :-(

This was me in 2008:


It looked good, but it had problems. Bone stock, 15" steelies, tacky chrome hubcaps, the grille had riveted tabs to hold it on (bend up radiator support from previous accident/owner), bondo (a LOT of it) on the rear quarter under the paint, and the dash buzzed/rattled like crazy.

But it was my first car, and I had the bug. I had to FIDDLE WITH IT!
I cleaned it out, and performed the first major modifications while I was in college: I removed the dash (apartment parking lot work FTW), and put it back in one piece with rivers of plastic weld epoxy on the back side. I'm surprised it worked; it held together for 7 years.

Injen short ram went in at some point.

Next up, I got some seat leather from someone on here (I've lurked on this forum for ages). Spent hours with pliers because I'm stupid and I had no idea hog ring pliers were a thing.






Fast forward to senior year/2009:

New mods to go in: Acura shifter (idea from Zobgel), AC S7 gauge overlays and Defi VSD-X heads-up display. Also some ill-advised paint on the velvet door panels.




On a trip back home the intake manifold cracked due to stress from the Injen intake. So my dad and I went all out on it and put in an Outlander IM/Outlander TB/Outlander fuel rail.

And we also lowered it. Sadly, no pics from that.

Fast forward again to 2010:
I finally have a job and some money to burn. I've moved to Texas. I'm still a n00b, so what better way to learn than with some track time?



Don't ever let anyone tell you you can't take a 4-banger family sedan on the track. Slow cars are the best to learn in. Experience can make you a lot faster than power (exhibit A: passing corvettes on a track in a Galant):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTo1ZnGvcCo

I probably did about 4 track days in this bad boy and I started getting serious with mechanical mods.

First up, wheels and tires. 17" wheels made a HUGE difference in brake fade; they let a lot more air get in there to keep things cool. Good tires also help a lot. Stock Bridgestone Turanzas are REALLY bad at gripping.

Next up, BRAKES! YEAH boi, StopTechs FTW. Purchased brand new for less than half MSRP from a member here. I'm still in love with these.




Before:


During:



After!



Spacers and studs, because racecar.





And finally, the big one: 5 speed swap.

Prothane bushings and a short shifter:


All about dat knob:


Out with the old:



Clutch pedal in, trimmed the brake to give clearance:


More to come! As soon as I get the next round of crappy old cell phone pics organized.

- - - Updated - - -

More images from 2008-2010:

Carpets pulled up in 2008 to fix the inevitable A/C drain leak:




Interior goodies:

[charris]

At this point, we're in summer of 2010. I did the manual swap, barely knew how to drive stick, and drove from Texas to California for a family reunion. Necessity is a great teacher.

Fall comes around, and tragedy strikes in the form of a semi that caused a 4-car pileup in Waco, TX. Thankfully the only injury was a nick on my forehead (headliner whipped back and hit me when the car was rear-ended).

The back of the car was ruined. Big time. The guy behind me was a pickup, so he went straight over the crash bar into the trunk/rear left quarter. The semi rear-ended him and pushed him into me.

Note: these were taken 5 years after the accident.





Then began the looooooong hiatus. Not sure why. I had a lot going on, and pretty soon it was 2015. I checked with a local shop, and they confirmed that body work was out of the question.

I was on the verge of getting married, and I decided it was now or never. So I got on craigslist and found the next one:



The good news was that unlike my previous one, this had remote locking, a sunroof, alloys, and the infinity sound system. And I paid a quarter of what my first one cost.

Now began the labor. I needed to transplant EVERYTHING. And I mean everything. Wheels/tires, brakes, suspension, engine, transmission, and most of the interior.

And I got to do it while fighting the douchiest code enforcement officer ever. He couldn't tell me what law I was violating, just stayed on my ass about it. He wouldn't tell me how to appeal and never gave me a copy of the violation notice that went to my landlord. I threatened him with a harassment suit, which got his supervisor involved, and by the time they resolved my dispute, I had put everything back together

Empty engine bay on the donor body:


It ended up being easier to unbolt the subframes and move the whole front driveline clip. I lost ABS (old wheel hubs didn't have sensors) because of it.

Sadly, I was in a hurry (due to the city code compliance business), so I didn't get a chance to change wheel hubs or clean the bay out. But I got it all buttoned up, just in time to move. It wasn't the most stress-free period of my life. But it was definitely worth it.

Saying a final farewell (me, not the tow-truck driver in the picture)



I'll be honest, I got a little emotional watching him leave. That car stuck by me through everything, took tremendous punishment at the track, and kept on ticking. But it's in a better place now.

The new one is sitting with the current mods:

- Tein S-Tech lowering springs, KYB GR-2 struts.
- 17" Enkei wheels, Sumitomo HTR ZIII tires 225/45/ZR17
- StopTech big brake kit (still running drums in back, lol)
- Outlander intake manifold/throttle body/TPS/fuel rail
- Reupholstered leather seats
- 5spd manual (got the tranny brand spankin' new), <20k miles
- Megan racing short shifter
- Brass shifter cable bushings, poly shifter base bushings
- Act2100 clutch kit, lightweight Fidanza flywheel
- Defi VSD-X heads-up display
- Valentine1 radar detector, with the phone connected app (custom frequency sweeps, yo)
- Black painted headlight interior frame/shrouds
- Clear corners

Plans for the future:
- Custom tablet mount in stock radio location
- Custom shifter bezel
- Repaint (clear coat is coming off everywhere)
- Straighten some mis-matched body lines on the rear quarters
- Old style VR-4 bumpers/sideskirts with super-VR-4 aero add-ons
- Carbon fiber hood/trunk
- Turbo (still daily driveable, shooting for ~220-250hp on a 4G64T)
- Custom gauge work - I REALLY want the electroluminescent needle/dial setup from the hi-viz VR-4s. Will start experimenting with Diamante needles
- Possibly trying to get a world/euro-spec interior from a LHD car.
- Evo or recaro VR-4 seats (or similar)


Here she sits now, from her best angle:


These cars are still almost unmatched in the styling world. I'm keeping this one as long as I can.

[white2k3mitsu]

Does the aftermarket clutch do any justice ?? I've heard of you have a stock 2.4 it won't make a difference

[charris]

The lightweight flywheel makes the engine rev a little quicker, but that's about it. The clutch is pretty much pointless right now. It takes a LOT of force to engage the pedal, and I'm making about half the power/torque the clutch is rated for. I'd pass on it, unless you're doing >250hp.

[charris]

Update! The tablet is in.

First off, the radio can be moved down beneath the climate controls. I took this route, as it puts the tablet screen closer to eye level, and I didn't have to relocate the climate controls.
You'll need to unscrew the storage cubby. The radio will fit in its hole. There are two rubber studs, one on either side of the radio down below. You can slide the grooves in the radio mount over them and it will support the radio. There are also notches in the dash that you can fit the radio tabs in at the front (just like the top slot).

Once that's out of the way, I got a tablet dock off of ebay. You'll need one specific to your tablet. Cut off whatever you don't need to go around the tablet. The part for the tablet will become a permanent part of the trim bezel.





Now use some superglue and/or epoxy to fix it in the location you want on your trim. This may take some trial and error; you want to base this on your specific dock and tablet so it sits at the angle/height you want.




I blocked off the space above with a piece of sheet metal. Plastic will work fine, too. Cut it to approximate size and make sure it doesn't stick out too far. We're gonna bury it under fiberglass.



Next steps I didn't get any pictures of (my father in law finished it while I was away for a week).

Basically, fill the hole with sheets of fiberglass and resin/hardener.
Sand it smooth.
Now use some good auto body filler/putty to shore up the cracks, fill in the holes, and bevel the edges/cracks.



Just keep filling and sanding.

Once you're about where you want the shape, prime it for paint. This may show some more defects. Fill those as desired with more body filler and sand/prime again.



We built up the face until it was ~flush with the back surface of the tablet dock.

Once you've got the shape you want, paint it!


If you have wiring in your dock, you'll want to put it back in after you've gotten the dock molded in. I had to trim some of the edges to fit mine back in and screw it in place. Don't be like me: I left in the wires and screwed them up. Had to re-solder a LOT.



In order to make the tablet stay properly, I recommend some sort of magnetic attachment. In the pic above (installed in car), I glued a strong magnet to the dash under the hazard switch. You'll need a piece of ferromagnetic metal (sheet steel works well, just make sure the magnet picks it up) in your tablet for that. I popped the back cover off of mine and found a spot to tape it down. The magnet attracts it TO the inside of the back case, so it doesn't have to attach strongly.

Figure out where in the tablet you can put some steel sheet, and match the location on your dashboard. I stuck the magnet onto the tablet, installed the tablet, then marked where it touched the dash. That's where you want to fix your magnet.

Now you can drop the tablet in the dock, lean it back, and it sits solidly there. Congratulations, you have a kickass tablet with minimal modification to the car!



Things I haven't done yet:

• Sound. The dock has an aux jack, but I don't have a port on the stock stereo. For now, I may use an FM transmitter. If your stereo has bluetooth, then you should be able to pair the tablet and get audio that way.
• Hardwiring tablet power. Right now, I have a 12v socket with a nice charger cable. I snaked it around the passenger side and into the dash from the back. That goes to the power board for the dock. I need to hardwire a USB adapter to the accessory circuit.