Winter Project *Lots of pics*

[Gemini2003]

Hello Visitors!

My name is Michael and when I started this project I was 22... I live in Kelowna BC Canada. I do tech support for a living and my hobby is Loving my 3Gee!!! :-) It's amazing how easy a lot of this stuff is!

"My Winter project" As the name started out; is nothing short of a full 1986 LX to 1989 EX-i Conversion! I bought a crashed EX-i for $70 and at the same time the tranny went on my LX so I started this project.

Here are a just a few of the objectives I'm going to be completing over the next few months:

-- Full LX to EX-i conversion
---- Motor swap
---- Wiring harness
---- Dash
---- Auto windows and locks
-- Interior
---- New/Re-upholster seats/Need to learn this first
---- Dye the carpet/Replace
---- Fiberglass Custom interior components including the door panels

hopefully
---- Other fiberglass work (possibly customizing parts of dash or hood)
---- Changing the entire color scheme of the interior.
(I am strongly thinking complete black interior with a nice color to accent haven't decided what color yet most likely silver or grey to go with my carbon fiber accessories)
-- Exterior/Body
---- Fixing ALL the rust and body dent's
------- This includes cutting out all the body panels from the donor car and welding new ones into place.
------- Sandblasting the unibody and painting it Electric Blue (possibly Metallic Electric Blue) *****UPDATE***** Obviously I chose Burnt Orange not Electric Blue lol ******
---- Replacing LX roof with EX-i roof as it has a sun roof **decided not to do this***
---- Replacing rear window with donor car's as the defrost actually works.
---- Modified 3rd gen Acura Integra front bumper or possible Custom front bumper with the Acura bumper as a mold to play with.
---- Side skirts and Rear bumper will be fiberglass however I haven't put much thought into what they are going to look like yet.

Well that's a short list of the modifications I'll be making over the next few months. We ( 2 Friends and I) have invested in a 2 car garage a few months back and now we have converted it into a shop. We pay rent on this space so we almost always have 2 projects on the go. My best Friend is a journeymen mechanic so any mechanical issues I have he is my support guy (plus it helps he rents the shop with me)... ****UPDATE**** That went
sideways after about 6 months, I had to shelf this car project for a couple years, I established shop all to myself and it has allowed me to continue working on her properly :-) *********


I'm going to be posting my progress and I'm Trigger happy so there will be lots of pictures!


**********
I would really REALLY like your input good or bad. I'd love input on my choice of colors and all of the modifications...If you have suggestions as well this would be excellent!
**********


Next post: Tear down of Both my donor car and my car.


*******Last Updated JAN 2014 *************

[russiankid]

i see no pics

[NXRacer]

i'll be looking forward to seeing your project. sounds like fun!
oh yeah

[Gemini2003]

Well here we go!!

I have lots and lots of pics, here are a few of the main progress of tear down. If you want I have all the pictures here in high res.

I've decided not to post pics of the donor car as it's really quite sad seeing a 3gee like that. (didn't even put wheels on it to get it on the flat bed we kinda just dragged it with a few guys)

Left side of the car:


Removed: Front left door, Rear left passenger door, Left fender and Gas door

Right Side:



Removed: Front Right door, Rear right door and Right fender

Center:



Removed: Hood and Antenna ( I know it's not gone in the pic )

Picture of the Gauges



The gauges are reverse glow and the odometer reads 366154.3 KM

Removal of the front Seats and dash:

[IMG]hhttp://geminiwebhosting.ca/images2/PIC_0113.jpg[/IMG]

Removed: Front seats, Alpine Stereo, Dash and Heater blower. ( pictures where not taken in order so the front windows has also been removed in this pic.)

Back seat out:



Front window removed:



Rear Window Removed:



(back dash also removed)

At this point All interior trim has been removed except for carpet (which is a fricken bugger by the way)

con't

[jonrichert]

sounds like a good project... are you doing your own bodywork michael? if so i may need to hire you to fix up mine... my car is in serious need of some love.

[frankie89]

looks like an episode of pimp my 3g...jk wow your really fixing her up, cant wait for the final outcome i guess in da spring??

[Gemini2003]

So now we have two accords worth of parts in the shop space is becoming a huge issue...

This looks Challenging lol



We spread it out to pick what we needed to keep and what to throw away:





Anyone need ANYTHING accord? lol

After creative ummm stuff hiding in our shop where where left with a few heater components and the wiring harness

We ended up putting it all in the rafter area lol


This is what's left:



Here we have the two accords:




My baby sitting naked in -5 C weather :-(




And that's it for interior removal for now!!

Any questions?

Next: Engine and Wiring harness removal slated for the upcoming week or so depending on my work schedule.

[Gemini2003]

jonrichert:
Yes Everything is going to be done by me if possible.

I have allready cut out 4 large Chucks of body panel from the donor car to repair my really bad rust spots. I have also removed the roof completly from the donor car to rob the sunroof :-)

Things like window replacment will be sent to a shop as they have the skill and all the weather proofing stuff handy.

frankie89:

Yes it's slated to be done by spring and i'm hell bent to be driving it by summer. :-)

[2drSE-i]

EX-i emblem?
hehhee go you!

[crazykamper]

looks like you gots your hands full, what exactly is an Ex-I??? never heard of it, (i dont think), how much hp do its gots???

[Not like a rock]

EX-i is basicaly LX-i for Canada. Apparently, we prefer E to L.

[crazykamper]

oh, got it, thanks.

[ex1z7]

E = Excellent
L = Loser

E rules !

Looks like a crazy amount of work, hope its all worth it, keep us updated =)

Mag car +1?

[TheWatcher]

Now that everything is stripped out, it's a good time to put in the sound dampening (like Dynamat).

Peace.

[Gemini2003]

I Really want to lay down a Dynamat like material but I'd be tight on funds. I was actually looking for a cheap but effective alternative.... do you know what I might use?

[Hash_man_Se_i]

Looks like fun... I'm almost at that stage with stripping my Old accord... its kinda fun haha, but the pile of parts is getting massive for me too... my dad isnt too happy about that in the garage.

IMO about the sound deadning stuff, Cascade audio makes the best stuff I think, but if you can't afford good stuff, then don't bother. Lots of the cheaper products are tar based, and basically just help stop vibrations in the metal, but don't actually stop sound waves.

Anyone need ANYTHING accord? lol

Was the interior grey?... If so, hows the condition of the trunk lining pieces?!... Mine are beat to hell from the previous owner.

[EricW]

You have a lot of work ahead of you and you've already got the fun stuff done(stripping the car). When i did my EFI swap it was easy until the end when I had to chase down vacuum hoses and wiring problems until I figured out that I had a bad distributor. Then I had to figure out why the dome light didn't work(found a corroded crimp that came apart when transferring the harness). Good luck on the project.

[Gemini2003]

Yeah your totally right Eric the fun stuff is just ending... removal of the wiring harness and motor is the last easy step for a while...

Once that is done I call in a few favors of people who want to help ( who just happen to have access to a sandblaster and a MiG welder to re attach all the panels) then comes sanding (oh that sounds fun lol)

After sanding we are going to use our shop as a paint booth :-) (We have already painted a couple cars in there it actually worked out quite well.)

I don't know about the painting and sandblasting but it sounds kinda fun to me :-P

[Gemini2003]

Whoo hoo!!!!! BIG BIG BIG news!!!!

First the small news! I pulled the engine today! yep it's sitting on the floor i'll have pics in the next couple of days.

BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG NEWS!!

I JUST scored $2800 worth of Alpine Sterio equipment!!! For a killer deal.

Check this:



2000 Watts peak 1000 watts RMS @ 2 OHM

and TWO of these



15" Dual voice coil 1500 watts peak 500 watts RMS @ 2-ohm





And this Nice 100 watt RMS x 4 @ 2 ohm



So this now means I get to make a full custom fiberglass ported trunk box :-) This box will also incorporate both amps.

BTW anyone who doesn't know car audio this is a fricken sweet score!

-mm

[Acid X]

Jesus. How much did you get it for??

[frankie89]

omfg.. nice grab..

[mkymonkey]

yeah my bud has almost the same stuff. actually he gave me the money and i bought everything for him because he knows nothing obout car audio. you can check it out here

http://www.sounddomain.com/ride/720755

sorry dont trying to hyjack your thread

[Gemini2003]

So yeah $1000 Canadian for that much Alpine :-)

It's used (6 months old) the guy has too much money and is getting a whole new system.

Oh yeah 12 months no interest no payments as well :-) I love financing....

The store broke every rule in the book to put it though financing!! lol due to the fact it actually wasn't store inventory just one of there customers old stuff :-)

One last bonus?

The Owner of the car audio store is going to come by when I'm ready to make a custom enclosure and give me a few suggestions to make it look killer :-)

so yeah... I had a good day.

[A18A]

shit, looks like one hell of a project, wish ya luck are you removing EVERYTHING from the car and starting from scratch? nice to have all the tools eh?

[Gemini2003]

Yeah the car is going to be sandblasted so she has to be naked to the bone.


- Thanks for stopping by
- mm