CarMichaelangelo1 said:Your build ethic reminds me of me, except the fact that you are doing that to multiple projects at the same time. How on the planet do you have the time to do all of this?
Choose one of the following:
A.) You are Santa on your off days.
B.) You are one of the Undead. ( because there isn't any possible time left in a day for you to sleep)
C.) You aren't married.
A. no, not Santa
B. possibly, I don't sleep much
C. definitely married to an understanding woman
In reply to JeremyJ :
It wasn't so hot when you saw it, it was a khaki color, also the pattern on the black was odd for a supercar. I tried to get him to wrap it something eye burning.
In reply to golfduke :
This is just a gigantic hobby, I have a 60 hour a week job too. Makes for interesting weekends. I also have a back log of cars waiting to come in, it never stops
I need some magic juice in my life. And the time to work on projects. And the money your neighbor has to buy all those toys.
Living vicariously through this build thread.
So lots of work, no posts. As it goes.......
Worked on the buddies 69' Camaro. It had a leak on the front air bags, idled rough when cold or warm, needed all bulbs switched out to LED, and whatever else we found.
Which turned out to need the factory front shock mount welded back as it decided to liberate itself from the crappy factory welds being used to hold the car up with air bags.
Kicked that to the curb and another comes in for an engine pull, refresh, repaint, so it has a little more oomph running down the road. Also need to measure up for wheels as it has been converted to 4 wheel disc brakes in 5X4.5 opposed the the original 5X5.5.
Yesterday I worked on another neighbors 69' Camaro that had a cracked axle tube. Cleaned it up and burned it in, should be good for a while on a weekend driver.
In the mix I mounted a 275/45/17 Toyo R888R to the great deal of a wheel I picked up at Summit Racing so I can start getting back to my own car. Superlite in 17X9.5, 5X4.5 for the coming Ford 8.8 rear axle.
Then we mover this one out of the way to make room for the Boxster.
Let's tear into a Boxster!
Remove all the parts to replace the parts
Replace the rear main seal, flywheel, clutch, pressure plate and hope it will all be good. Only "all" of the exhaust studs broke removing the exhaust, well, that is the 4 that were remaining. Quick build of a stud press from the interwebs and all the old stuff was pressed out and new stainless allen head bolts with copper crimp flange nuts were installed.
Next step is to figure out the ignition/security problems but I have a Durametric on the way to assist in that. Then hopefully some summer cruising with the SO.
Do the IMS. It's right there.
In reply to maj75 (Forum Supporter) :
2006, they have the larger non-replaceable bearing.
So the non-start problem is self induced. After I drove it to my dad's to park it I replaced the key head that was held together with three types of tape with a new one. While looking it over I neglected to see the epoxied in RFID chip and threw the old mess in the trash. 
Come to this weekend after chasing wiring with a multimeter this weekend I had the epiphany that this is what happened. Now I am awaiting a reprogrammed key......
Success with a local Locksmith on the key. They pulled the under seat module, called Porsche for the code, installed a new chip in old key plus gave me a spare non-fob key. Both start the car and work. Best of all, only $413.
While I've been working on the Boxster on and off, we also have this to work on, 1972 Impala originally owned by Arron Hernandez of the Minnesota Vikings that my buddy bought.
Going to go with Forgiato 26" wheels with a custom built rear axle, later in the year we will swap out the SBC and go 6.2 LS turbo. Over this week I wa able to score a set of 500 mile wheels and tires for the Boxster in Houston. Amazing how expensive a set of tires is for these cars, $1K just tires to fit the stock 17" wheels. Picked up a set this set of 19's for $1250 all in. 295/30 rears on 10" and 235/35 fronts on 8.5", dropped right on. Not usually a fan of black wheels but for the price I can't complain.
After mounting it drove down the street and back then got parked until I get all the fluids changed along with the serpentine belt/idler pulleys done.
TheWraith said:So the non-start problem is self induced. After I drove it to my dad's to park it I replaced the key head that was held together with three types of tape with a new one. While looking it over I neglected to see the epoxied in RFID chip and threw the old mess in the trash.
I'm sorry but this had me cracking up. I expect myself to do bonehead stuff and I just assume I'm the only one.
This weekend I spent Sunday getting the Malibu into a postion more suited for the rear axle swap and alignment. This required moving the wifes car out, rolling the long term Camaro out of the way to use sketchy pieces of wood to raise it up to a workable level. More cribbing was set in in place after this first lift.
Apparently swapping an Explorer rear axle require frickin lasers, thank you Amazon.
And then a restock of the frige, need that thinking fluid
After that I called it a day to do more ciphering on making everything square and right with the welding of the truss and 4 link pick up points.
And then today the next distraction shows up
After searching for a month we finally found a replacement engine for the Mercury. Talked to several rebuild places about going through our original engine and got the same answer, minimum of 3 months. Daily scouring of the internet classifieds netted us a supposedly rebuilt 455 along with a th400 from a defunct project, it came with all the accessories which we didn't use because long water pump, we swapped out the new one from the 250 to use all the pulleys to match with the AC unit on the car already. While it did come with a factory 4bbl intake we bought a Speedmaster air gap from Jegs and decided to give the engine a little flash to go with an old school classic.
This is a VHT color that has a little more copper in it compared to the original rocket gold used on the small blocks. Just the right amount of custom classic look for us. Nasty smogger 350 out.
And clean 455 back in
In the middle of this my steel case drawers decided to shed their plastic rollers, which is where I stored a bunch of my electrical tools/crimps/supplies so I picked up a used Harbor Freight cabinet to match the current tool cabinet and did some restructuring of the work bench.
And then decided to find a solution to fix the steel case rollers, hate to throw them away, they are pretty useful and I do like having the lower case counter for working on certain things even thought it tends to collect parts for everything we are working on.
I'm loving the malibu progress. Thanks for sharing!
More distractions have entered the game. Decided I wanted to build a slammed dually for myself, because why not? So I picked this up from an online farm auction in Missouri.
A little wash and quick buff plus some new chrome caps I had sitting in a box. Not too bad. Overall it's a clean, original, unmolested truck with a 454/granny 4 speed and an overdrive unit.
Next up is to order the kit for a 5/7 drop then procure some 22.5" semi wheels to cut down to 22".
Then my buddy picked up another icon car for his collection, a 1969 Charger RT 512 stroker with a 5 speed.
And I finally completed the rear axle truss on my Malibu and rolled it into the sunlight for the first time in a year after grabbing another Superlite and tire. I welded some spacers to the frame for ride height until I get measurements for the coilovers, after I set the front ride height and weld in the top mounts
Moved the Malibu into prime spot and ordered up Wilwood brakes for Christmas. Also picked up a third wheel at Summit Racing from their outlet center for $100. One small problem is the Wilwood hub diameter is slightly larger than the wheel opening so the front wheels will have to be opened up to bolt on but the hubs are enclosed style so they look like center caps.
Stock vs new
Love the Superlite's! I have a set on my '69 Cougar.
Need to get the Porsche gone, some of it is spare parts money for the Malibu. Having everything fixed it developed a problem with the rear body control module kicking up the spoiler and trying to actuate the top, which in turn runs the battery down. Water egress had the module all funky, time to dry it out, try to clean the module, and hope it works. Next step is pay the P tax and order a new module for $480, ugh.
Not a lot of time spent on cars, too much work at work. Did get the Boxster dried out, roof drains cleared to prevent more flooding. This required pulling top rods(pain in the butt with top up), original plastic cups broke on the rods so new were ordered. Next up is getting the new rear BCM programmed and putting top rods back on, then it should be good to get sold and out of the driveway.
Next up was getting Malibu back on the ground for ride height settings and to combat interference of the spindle tie rod mount to the 17x9.5 wheel. I may have to go back to stock spindles since these are lowering spindles, that "should" get the steering arm in a better spot. Of course I sold the originals a long time ago BUT they were the 78 models which have the smaller bearing set. I'll find some of the 79+ on the internet somewhere.
TheWraith said:.....And I finally completed the rear axle truss on my Malibu and rolled it into the sunlight for the first time in a year after grabbing another Superlite and tire. I welded some spacers to the frame for ride height until I get measurements for the coilovers, after I set the front ride height and weld in the top mounts
So are you doing a 3 link on this car? Not sure what I'm seeing here
twentyover said:TheWraith said:.....And I finally completed the rear axle truss on my Malibu and rolled it into the sunlight for the first time in a year after grabbing another Superlite and tire. I welded some spacers to the frame for ride height until I get measurements for the coilovers, after I set the front ride height and weld in the top mounts
So are you doing a 3 link on this car? Not sure what I'm seeing here
I am using a Ford Explorer 8.8 rear axle meant for leaf springs. To do this Southside Machine makes this truss kit to convert it to a four link to bolt into the G body cars.
The Malibu is looking sweet back on the ground!
Excellent thread. Very interested in Magic Juice. All set on thinking fluid. Maybe I missed it, what are you doing for engine management on the 'Bu?
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