96 Spyder GST going to Spyder GSX

[venomdesigns00]

This is the Build Thread for Was going to create a monster changing it up now. Reply below.

 

[venomdesigns00]

So as the title states change of plans for this one my other will get the stupid power treatment. Little back story I made plans to buy a Red GST with the intentions on converting to AWD. I didn't go for a GSX from a price range point of view. The GST was running but not drivable according to the last owner clutch was smoked. Rewind to about 2-3 months ago I was in the market for a vehicle to get to and from work and since I just moved from the northeast to the south I was thinking of getting a convertible 335I however do to time constraints of needing said car (I was down to 1 vehicle at the time and needed 2) I would have had to wait over a week to get the convertible transported to me. Ended up picking up a 2016 528I Xdrive because it was on my dealerships lot and could leave that day with it.

Now back to DSM stuff so a few days before I was slated to pick up the Red GST I came across a Black GST Spyder with an engine that had supposedly jumped timing (unverified as of yet.) Since I missed out on the newer convertible I felt it was only right to buy DSMs. So I bought both cars with the intentions of taking the running engine from Red GST mating it to an AWD setup and installing it in my Spyder. Here is where this long story truly begins. Found a Trans and tcase at a boneyard in PA I believe had them ship it to me but was still missing several components needed to finish the conversion. Rear subframe and attached components, awd fuel tank and sending units, fuel filler neck, driveshaft and the longer awd bolts to hang the rear subframe. So next logical choice was to source a GSX with the components I needed. Found one a few states away made the 21hour round trip and picked the vehicle up (found one an hour away but couldn't get a hold of the guy on marketplace so made that trip.) 30mins into my drive back home with a GSX shell guy an hour from my house finally messages me back after a week of reaching out to him. In speaking to my son he was interested in getting my hard top one converted to awd for himself by me. So made the call to the guy an hour from my house told him I would pick up his GSX shell the next day and did. Now on to this week doing more research about the GSX and their transmissions I have since figured out building a beast on a manual trans probably isn't the smartest idea since its either go brutal expensive on the trans and other drive line components or lessen the power. So made the choice to turn the spyder to a very fun car to take a drive out and about in maybe a show or two and convert the hardtop to an auto awd.

So going from no DSMs in 18years or so I now have 4 of them at my house. Slowly but surely plugging away doing things here and there. So far I have removed the engine (still havent confirmed the engine jumped timing) and transmission from the Spyder. I spent a few days figuring out what color to change the car to as this thing had one of the worst paint jobs I'd ever seen however the body was clean enough to eat off of with literally no rust. I settled on a blue to purple transitioning paint made by House of Kolor. I've stripped the engine bay of almost everything scuffed it all down as the vehicle was originally red then painted horribly black. I have since painted the engine bay as it was still warm enough outside to do so and didn't want to hold up the build needing to paint the engine bay before the engine went in.

I have stripped all but one needed bracket out of one of the GSX shells so far. I have all the parts needed to do the actual swap with the exception of all 4 axles. All of these cars have been sitting for a while so things like brakes, parking brake shoes and hardware, rear bearings as I had to torch out the axles. I'm still in need of parts and should be acquiring those here shortly. I hope to have the car drivable come spring time to then get the car ready to have the rest of the car painted. I have the running engine from the hardtop which is a 4G64 block with a 4G63t head. I know the motor has 272 cams but literally know nothing else about what is inside of the engine as far as mods is concerned. So that will be the next part of the process to remove that engine and trans and start the actual conversion. So I will leave this here for now.

 

[venomdesigns00]

Little bit more done on the body of the car since I removed the low spoiler I had to fill the holes in the quarter panels. So filled those in then skim coated with with a polyester filler. I was an auto tech for a lot of years however body stuff is relatively new to me so its a learning curve. Anyway I plug welded the drivers side and managed to warp the sheet metal slightly so when it came to the passenger side I ended up tack welding in little pieces of metal then filled in the holes with "All Metal" then sanded flush and then skimmed with the poly body filler and came out much better. Also on the drivers side found a little ripple in the rear quarter in front of the wheel well and two little small dings in the actual wheel well arch.

Finally got the last bolt out for the rear bumper to remove it. Made the current progress easier. Since I wont have the ability to paint the whole car currently due to temperature issues I had to prime the quarter panels so they weren't sitting bare metal for the next few months in my garage. I was also able to pull the running engine and trans from my donor car to as the temps get to low to paint I can do the mechanicals for the swap. So here's

the pics....