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Restoring the SSEi: F40 swap, HIDs, and a HY35 turbo.
Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2012 12:25 am
by MattStrike
So this is my next L67 build, using the series 2 from the LeSabre:
This was the passenger side rear corner - the worst section. I cut out almost as much metal in this corner as I had to for the rest of the car. All that's left is some Bondo for the fender. No rear seat belts for now. The shocks/struts are going to be replaced with KYB's if I can. I'm keeping the sway bars, only getting reconditioned for now. It needs a new gas tank and filler tube, exhuast and shields, brake lines, and subframe/mounts (polyurethane). It will get rear discs and updated ABS. I'm looking for ideas about the exhaust tips, I only have one original. I'm thinking of using a dark metallic purple as an accent color, with matching ambient/interior lighting and engine paint.
I am thinking of using a Ferrari SuperAmerica 575M influenced hood scoop to cool the supercharger.
Should be fun! However if this car gets wrecked by another negligent driver I'm going postal

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Re: Restoring Mr. Rusty
Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2012 11:05 am
by SSEiMan01
Can't wait to see what you do with this one Matt!
Re: Restoring Mr. Rusty
Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2012 11:19 am
by nos4blood70
I'm liking the purple accents and other ideas.
Re: Restoring Mr. Rusty
Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 10:01 pm
by MattStrike
This is what I'm thinking the hood scoop should look like, it will be the 'cold air' intake, and will have a water trap and a screen to catch unwanted ingestions. I'm still looking at vents that I want to make (as well as water drainage for them), I want them placed to maximize airflow over the supercharger. I've been playing around with the original hood enough that I'm not worried about putting things where I want them. I've got sketches, but can't find anything close enough online to photo-chop it into this random '93 SSEi pic I found (and already photo-chopped):
I plan on making this 100% custom from leftovers from the original hood and a little Bondo as needed.
Yes, white honeycombs instead of gold. Maybe some purple HID fogs?...nah
Re: Restoring Mr. Rusty
Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 10:32 pm
by ga93sle
love it! This is my favorite bodystyle, in my favorite color, and the white laces are my favorites. I'm excited!
Re: Restoring Mr. Rusty
Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 11:03 pm
by PLAGUE PHANTOM
Looking good on the rust patch. My passenger rear corner looked really bad. I put some fiberglass resin on it to glue some flashing on there along with alot of rustoleum, HVAC aluminum foil tape, and some rubberized undercoating. Been holding up great for almost a year now. It is solid as a rock to.

Re: Restoring Mr. Rusty
Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 11:13 pm
by repinS
Hey, that's my old car!

(
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3376/3258 ... 19d8_o.jpg )
If that's any indicator, I sure am looking forward to your build.

Re: Restoring Mr. Rusty
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 7:38 am
by MattStrike
repinS wrote:Hey, that's my old car!
...uh oh, what happened to it?
Re: Restoring Mr. Rusty
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 9:31 am
by repinS
New owners got rear ended by some asshat a week after they bought it in January 2011. Relatively minor damage compared to your LeSabre, but enough to total. Only 136k miles, minimal rust, ran awesome. Taken too soon.

It also used to be PeterG's car.
I'm going to use the power of suggestion in order to live vicariously through you

Re: Restoring Mr. Rusty
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 9:49 am
by MattStrike
That's sad....hey wait a second - is the car still hanging around or did it get junked?
Re: Restoring Mr. Rusty
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 9:57 am
by repinS
By mid-2011 it wound up at an scrapyard in Fort Erie, Ontario (just across the border from Buffalo, NY), and they were parting it out wanting an arm and a leg for all sorts of random parts - there were also eBay listings for every front end/suspension component I replaced

If you were able to get your hands on it it would make a perfect donor/project as long as the rear floor pan wasn't badly damaged. I doubt they still have the car, but here is their website:
http://millersauto.com/
Re: Restoring Mr. Rusty
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 12:05 pm
by 99BonnevilleSE
Yay, nothing like another 92-95 to have around at meets and such!
Re: Restoring Mr. Rusty
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 1:02 pm
by MattStrike
Here's a scan of my original sketch:
Last night, I stumbled on a few pics of willwrens custom interior on his. I think I want a white leather interior now with some dark purple lettering, etc (maybe next year).
I've got some truck bedliner for the floor pan, trunk, and if I take the trim off the doors I can line the sheet metal there as well. I did this on the lesabre, it cut the road noises down by about 70% (I didn't do the front doors because they needed rust repairs first, and I wasn't confident with a welder at the time). I've got some new insulation for under the carpet, and a 1/2" layer of carpet foam padding to make the floors feel even softer. Carryover from the LeSabre interior work I did.
Has anybody used bedliner or dynamat on the rear speaker deck? I feel it would reduce the accoustics, but in the SE I hear a lot of road noise from that area.
Re: Restoring Mr. Rusty
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 1:49 pm
by devin1986
Should turn out pretty cool, and that sketch is where it's at. Those vents in the rear will greatly help with heat extraction. Makes me think of the '03-'04 cobra hood.

Re: Restoring Mr. Rusty
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 8:54 pm
by MattStrike
99BonnevilleSE wrote:Yay, nothing like another 92-95 to have around at meets and such!
We just need to have another meet!
I'm almost done with the other rear corner, got about 1 hour of welding in this evening. I have to get the sub-frame bushings now, so I can fix the mounts. I figure there's a good possibility I could have everything done welding this weekend (if I don't get interrupted). Then some things need to get hit with the wire wheel and coated with Rustoleum. I'm going to try to get some snips capable of cutting the sheet metal, the cutoff wheels are getting annoying. The hood has to wait until I get an engine in, so I know exactly where to cut it.
Anybody know of a good way to strip a peeling clear coat off?
Edit: anybody use polyurethane casting compounds? I might have to try to make several sets of subframe bushings.
Re: Restoring Mr. Rusty
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 11:00 pm
by ga93sle
Pressure washer for clear coat? Then a good wet sanding will feather the edge...
Re: Restoring Mr. Rusty
Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:09 pm
by repinS
MattStrike wrote:Edit: anybody use polyurethane casting compounds? I might have to try to make several sets of subframe bushings.
I have for my front trans mount, I got the stuff from McMaster-Carr. Pretty easy to work with, just make sure you mix all of it as it comes in the perfect proportion when it comes to you. If not, IIRC you have to mix by weight.
Re: Restoring Mr. Rusty
Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 6:32 pm
by SSEiMan01
MattStrike wrote:We just need to have another meet!
Yeah yeah...

I'll work on something for fall maybe. Once I'm settled at my place in bumble *fook*.

Re: Restoring Mr. Rusty
Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 10:25 pm
by MattStrike
Making progress:
Only two more corners to go! Then I get to mix up some bondo and finish the body work.
My 'on sale' spray on bed-liner cans don't spray, rather push the stuff out in a slow moving chunk. Fail. Hopefully a different brand is the solution.
The proffesional grade of rustoleum is some good stuff - it looks like it wicks its way into rust. I was going to replace the control arms, but decided to give this a try first.

Re: Restoring Mr. Rusty
Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 8:37 am
by Bing
I would suggest using the aluminum flecked bondo or chopped fiberglass bondo as a base layer then top off with regular bondo. It will fill in the weld voids and add another layer of protection to the area.
I've had good luck actually with trowel able roof tar for under carriage areas and such. It's pretty thick and will stick to wet areas if need be.
