project: 2003 SSEi

[crzydmnd72]

I see reflection of trees in the after! no leaves yet? They look good! How did you get the weight marks off? I got some to shine up too....viewtopic.php?f=8&t=17644

[00Beast]

Trees "down" here are just starting to bud, and he's 2.5 hours north of me. Gotta remember we're 1000 miles north of you!!

[2000Silverbullet]

Those power ball minis work really well with a bit of paste.

He wouldn't have been able to buff out those wheel weight pits. The wheel is rotated in the pics.
Darn good job cleaning them up but the pics don't do it justice I bet.

[harofreak00]

What is at 4'oclock on the right front?

On the tire? A fuzz. I was going to take it off before I took the pic, but I thought to myself, who is gonna notice that.

What's your method? I wash mine with dish soap and car shampoo, then use a powerball mini and chrome polish. Looks nice, but not perfect. Did you hand polish them?

They weren't really dirty, just corroded, so I didn't need to wash them. Just my finger, a rag, and Mothers mag and aluminum polish. I started with my powerball but it couldnt even begin to get the corners like my finger could.

He wouldn't have been able to buff out those wheel weight pits. The wheel is rotated in the pics.

There wasn't actually pits, just dirt and corrosion. It all buffed out.

[harofreak00]

Since I finally found an engine from the donor SSEi, I was able to put the new engine in on Sunday. Started pulling the old engine out at 9am and finished up around 6pm. Pretty good I'd say considering I took an hour lunch and 2 runs to the parts store.

Old engine:


Engine out:


Engine coming out:


Engine carnage, mechanics diagnosis was correct, 2 popped pistons:


First start of the new engine, and after a couple minutes of running:


It drove around town just fine, but when I tried to give it some gas on the highway, it had nothing. When I let off there was a terrible rattling noise. Got home and pounded on the cat and found this:


I'll have to swap cat from the 2000 parts car, then the interior work begins.

[harofreak00]

Even though I just figured out this afternoon it was a plugged cat, I couldn't stand to have it sit there knowing it didn't run right after the swap.

I put it back up on the lift, dropped the exhaust, removed the downpipe and found this:


I took the big chunk out and still there were a ton of holes plugged:


I gutted the cat and put it back together. Fixed, runs great:

[wake]

looks like it needs an oil pressure sensor eh?.

other than that looks great..still wish i could pick up this car but financially i can barley afford a new pair or shoes so im *fook* there

[harofreak00]

Yup, needs an oil pressure sender. Both the parts car engine and the original were bad. I'll be doing an order from RockAuto for a bunch of stuff, Shannon's SSEi needs one too.

[wake]

typical problem on a S2 L67 IIRC..

[1fatcat]

Never tried it, but I hear an anti spark plug fouler will move the post cat o2 far enough out of the exhaust stream to trick it into reading an acceptable value. Haro, where did you do the swap? You got a lift?

[00Beast]

His landlord's body shop, lol. I don't think a lift would fit in his one car garage.

[harofreak00]

I love my landlord

[olblueeyesbonne]

I love my landlord

Plus he's got some sweet classic Mopars and one helluva painter when he points the paint gun at a classic Mopar (has done 2 for my dad).

[Black Pearl]

Never tried it, but I hear an anti spark plug fouler will move the post cat o2 far enough out of the exhaust stream to trick it into reading an acceptable value. Haro, where did you do the swap? You got a lift?

You would need two anti-foulers. The trick works for awhile but eventually sets the light off. I did it

[harofreak00]

After a week of contant rain, its finally sunny and 70°. I'll be gutting the interior and replacing the carpet and door panels today. Hope to have it good enough to be listed on Monday.

[Blown93SSEi]

How much are you trying to sell it for?

How much $$ have you invested so far?

[harofreak00]

I'll probably start at 6k. I don't really have anything invested so far unless you want to count the other car I bought to part out for the engine. All the parts I have replaced have been my own stock.

Here is after I pulled the seats... yuck!




I was surprised to see the watershields were unmolested.



Then I swapped the rear deck cover because of a nasty stain on it.




And also the rear seat insulation because it was gross.



And then there was a small imperfection on the dash, and it was bugging me.


So I ripped the dash off to replace it as well.




And here is the carpet that came out.


And here is the carpet that went in.


And I replaced ALL the door panels.





And here is where I quit yesterday… more today.





Also replaced parts of the center console.

[00Beast]

Geez, this car is really depleting your stock of interior parts, lol. Gonna be a beauty when finished.

[wake]

DROOOOOLLL...its almost like a restoration really.just shy of a paint and suspension work

man who ever gets this cherry is gonna be one lucky bastid

[myfirstbonnie]

Looks good. If I was in the market, I would definitely be looking at this one.

On another note, if you ever come across one of those cup holder inserts, I know someone who needs one.