96'RS- Weekend Car/Garage Queen

[dewoof01]

Hello,

Ok so heres the deal. Owned a 99' GS and was a member of the forums for years back around 2002-2005. Well i got maried and sold the car. Went to a srt-4 then a new 350z and a sport bike. Well sold the sport bike because I was too scared to REALLY ride it and the 350z was the wifes car and she really didn't need that power and we didn't need that payment. So now I'm stuck in a dodge ram pickup for work and the wife has a ford focus 4 door. Without anything to have fun in I dreamed more and more of the eclipse I used to won which still up until now is my favorite car of all time. Loved the way it looked and drove. Never have been a big speed guy, i have had friends with very fast cars and enjoyed riding in them, however never liked how 50% of the time they were broke or being fixed. Goal here was a nice weekend car to cruise around in take some trips, and a project to have from start to finish that I will keep until I die. selling my old GS is a decision I have regretted the last 7 or so years almost every day and decided it was time to do something about that. So about a month and a half ago.....

Yes that is it, yes it had an avenger front end conversion, yes it is ugly and beat up. My only requirements were a moonroof, 5 speed, and black or white. The previous owner did the conversion himself and it just was spraypainted on the avenger parts. First thing I did as all new DSM owners should is a full tune up. Replaced spark plugs, plug wires, oil, tranny fluid, rad fluid, air filter, fuel filter, battery, etc. Compression test showed 185-195 in all cylinders and the motor and tranny are running strong. Got accel 8.5mm wires and an optima red top as I will be having a larger sound system in this one.

 

[Ballin' GS]

welcome back to the 420a club man. I am just "rejoining" myself. Good luck on the project, post pics as you go.

 

[dewoof01]

So the first order of business was to get that freaking avenger fron tend off. I bought a new 2gb bumper on ebay, as well as went and sawzall'd a rad core support off. The previous owner still had the fenders so those mounted on. And I bought some new 2gb headlights off ebay as well. Here are the pictures....

 

[dewoof01]

OK so a couple weeks ago I removed the rear spoiler, I am going to be doing a turbo spoiler. I removed the 3 piece spoiler, filled all the holes through the backside with several layers of fiberglass resin and paper and smoothed with bondo. I also filled the holes on the front fenders where the previous owner had put side marker lights and bondo'd those smooth. I apply 2k epoxy primer to the surface to seal up the metal to prevent rust in the interim until i get it sprayed.

Right now I have gotta 2 estimates for paint, only getting the rest of the dents/dings filled and lifted out and resanding the old paint, then spraying the car with 2k urethane pain in the factory black. I will be getting it sanded down to metal in a few years after all the engine work and interior work and suspension is done, just spending a couple grand now just to get the body in decent shape with new paint, then I will get a GOOD paint job done later on once I'm finished.

Also I have a low rise black 3 piece spoiler for ssale if someone wants to PM me an offer. Its in good shape, couple scratches that aren't terrible.

I will be pulling the lights and the window trim minus the rear quarter panel before painting.

Purchased the 2gb rear bumper, side skirts and turbo wing about a month ago and STILL waiting for them to arrive. Greyhound sucks.

Also I shaved antenna, as well as rear wiper.

 

[NeMiZiS]

That Avenger front end was throwing me off.

 

[dewoof01]

That Avenger front end was throwing me off.

I know man. It was hard to purchase the car, even though the rest of the body was an eclipse, that ugly front end just really made it not look like one. I got an ok deal on it. The only reason i bought it was after driving a few this was literally the only one i could find that the engine and transmission were strong. Plus i figured paint was going to happen no matter what because I could pay 1500 for one in this condition with crap paint, or pay 4-5000 for one with perfect (near perfect) paint but never saw one. Literally every car I looked at had either serious mechanical issues or peeling clear. I decided paint is cheaper than engines and I was going to be going to a turbo wing and 2gb front anyways. I know I will get a ton of SH*t from people about spending this money on a n/t car, but I really don't care. I had a n/t before, I know the in's and out's of the external part of the motor, I'm not 20 years old needing to drive like a moron, and I don't want a car that blows motors, transmissions, etc every other month.

 

[Fotowntalon]

Looks like its coming along well, good work.

 

[dewoof01]

Looks like its coming along well, good work.

Its getting there. Alot of body work for my body guy to do. Then he is respraying it in the stock black. The 2gb rear bumper, side skirts and turbo wing should be here any day. As soon as they are here its going to the paint shop for a week. Then its going to be garaged for the winter. Going to do an all black interior, racing seats, adding power windows and doors, Sound system, etc.

 

[dewoof01]

Alright so finally the new body parts arrived! Only a month after I ordered and paid for them. Really dissapointed with the seller who is a highly rated seller on here, i specifically asked for no cracked parts and there was no wrap around the rear bumper at all and a crack that looked like it was alread on the bumper before shipping. After waiting for a month to receive the items after I was told 3-4 days, I don't even want to deal with them anymore. I'm not going to drop a name because I don't want to bad mouth anyone and they get good reviews so this must just be one bad experience. Oh well, I was going to be purchased probably 1000-2000 dollars worth of parts from them in the future, but thats their loss.

Got the 2gb rear bumper, side skirts, and turbo wing. All will be sanded down and resprayed.

Also got a few estimates for paint and were right about what I thought however, I just can't find anyone who seems to more than just look at the car and throw out a number, kinda annoying. So i Decided i'm going to finish the body work out and spray the car myself. Setting up a paint booth in a friends garage this week and going to shoot with a single stage urethane paint in black. Already have a compressor, 3 guns, and an air DA sander. Remember this is just a temporary paint job until i get the interior and motor work done, then in a couple years it will be sanded down to metal and done right at a pro shop. So take a peek over the next month i will post pics and you can all laugh at my first try at painting. Again I am not doing this to save money, rather i just want to learn how this is done and see what I can do for the time being. The goal is just to have all the parts black and hopefully a job that looks decent from 5 feet away.

 

[dewoof01]

ALright so the body work is DONE! Got the rear bumper crack repaired with evercoat panel bond and some stainless steel mesh. Then got the gouge in the quarter panel fixed up and done by using a hammer and dolly set as well as bondo and glazing putty to finish up and smooth out. got everything very very smooth to the touch. Ready to set up my garage paint booth and start shooting primer then a ton of sanding then time for paint.

I will be doing the car in segments because of time crunch. I will be doing the side skirts and rear spoiler first. Then go to the fenders and the hood. Then to the bumpers front and rear. Then I will be pulling the shell in the garage to do the top, hatch, doors and quarterpanels. I figure start with the easy parts first then progress to the harder parts since this will be my first spray job. Hoping for a finish that looks good from 5-10 feet away not expecting perfection. Heres some pics and hopefully will be laying down some paint this week later on.

Pic one is the crack in the bumper that i bought. pic 2 is the rough repair/seaming of the crack. pic 3 is the gouge i had in the quarter panel that i had to do some hammer off dolly work and some bondo and putty work.

 

[dewoof01]

OK so the spray booth is set up and ready to go. Tonight I sprayed 2 coats of kirker 2g primer on the side skirts. Went on ok, fairly rough but that is ok since i am sanding. Going to wet sand with 600 grit tomorrow night and should be ready for paint and hopefully will paint tomorrow night. Using s/s kirker 2k jet black for color. I will be adding reducer to the primer from now on as it is way too thick and my gun was having trouble shooting it flat even witha 1.8 tip on the gun which is preferred for primers. Will be using a 1.4 tip for the paint and doing 3-5 coats then wet sanding. Pics below, hopefully will have more tomorrow after paint is shot.

 

[dewoof01]

OK so the first parts are now painted. Had some orange peel trouble and ends up this is the third time i had to paint these parts. I had to go to the detail gun because even with two compressors going and moving what should be enough CFM for my gun I still couldn't get it to move enough air atomize the paint properly. Laid down nice with the detail gun though which has alot less air requirements. So the pictures don't do justice, it looks like there is a ton of marks in the paint but there really isn't as many as it seems. There are alot of dust particles in the paint because i'm not in a real paint booth but these will come out when i wet sand and buff after the whole car is painted. Again I am not trying to get a perfect paint job, just good enough that the car looks nice from 5-10 feet away. When I am all done with the car then I will worry about getting it sprayed nice and perfect.

 

[Boggsy]

Moving along nicely! The bumper and wing removal will look a lot better than before! Good luck

 

[dewoof01]

thanks man. There is probably about 15 hours of work into filling patching and sanding down where those holes were. They are really really smooth now. if you close your eyes and run your hand over those areas you can't even feel an imperfection so hopefully they will look good after the paint is on. One thing I have learned with the body work and paint is there is no short cut. You have to do everything perfect or your end results are going to suck. It was seriously like fill with bondo and sand... still not right, refill with bondo and sand... still not right took about 5-6 fills to get it perfect.

So got the rest of the body kit sprayed today and primed the hood for paint or more primer tomorrow night after work. Almost to the halfway point. I think if my work schedule doesn't kill me too bad this week I will have everything except the doors/ quarterpanels/ roof done and ready for cutting and buffing.

Running into a problem that I was scared would happen. TOnight when primer the biggest part so far the hood my compressor could not even come close to keeping up so i was having to do a quarter of the hood and then stop for a minute then spray again because the pressure loss was unbelievable. I would really recommend getting a 60 gal 5-7hp 220v compressor with a 2 phase motor at minimum. The guns say 12 CFM @ 40 PSI and between my two compressors I should have around 13-14 and it is no where near enough. 15+ CFM @ 40psi is needed for this. I might be looking to rent a paint booth for the main body of the car so i could shoot all the primer and all the paint at once instead of masing off panels to do individually. Heres some pics of the paint work from today, came out really really well.

 

[dewoof01]

So the hood is all sprayed. For sure can't paint the main body in this makeshift booth i have set up. I am going to have to rent a booth. I have a couple choices for about 75-100 a day. Main reason is needing to use their compressor, also the ventialation and overspray will be a real game changer in a spray booth. I learned that you need to put on single stage urethane THICK each coat. No fogging like you would with bc/cc paint. You want each coat as wet as possible without running and reduce the hell out of it. I would say I am starting to get the hang of this painting thing. Hood turned out pretty nice!

 

[dewoof01]

Well so my paint booth in my friends garage got shut down. neighbor was complaining because of the paint fumes... Can't blame them it was pretty nasty. I have been in contact with several places that rent paint booths however can't get a returned call or email. I may have to finish primering outdoors and wetsand on the weekends at my shop then hopefully can find a paint booth to rent. If not I guess I'm kinda screwed for the time being. HOpefully I will get a returned call this week and can have a paint booth all lined up.

 

[dewoof01]

Ok so its been a while. As I said my garage paint booth got shut down. Tried like crazy to rent a paint booth but couldn't get anyone to call me back. Since the rain season is closing in here in the northwest I needed to get this sprayed and buffed out before it goes into storage for winter.

Don't laugh but I ended up spraying the whole main part of the car with the 2k urethane paint out of a preval sprayer and about 9 or so power units for it. Had the worst orange peel you can ever imagine because of this, so I had a TON of sanding to do. Ended up sanding with 600 grit dry, 1500 grit dry, then 1000, 2000, 4000 damp mirka finishing disks. Couldn't get all the orange peel out but got about 95% out, next spring when it comes out of storage I will be wetsanding the whole car again with finishing discs from 500 grit to 4000 again and then buffing with compound. Here s a series of pictures showing from the beginning to end of the spray painting.

 

[Alan11]

may i ask
why a 420a if you had a chance of getting a turbo dsm?

Im not givin crap to you ok. I love 420a's myself there is one parked outside of my house. Just wondering.

Looks really good BTW. very good job on keping the OEM body.

 

[dewoof01]

No offense, its a good question. Basically i know the 420a platform, i used to have one. I am almost 30 and don't really give acrap about "speed" anymore, i don't do track days, or night drags, so why learn a new platfor like the 4g63 if i'm not going to use it? I mean I am going to get more HP than stock outa this thing and may eventually turbo it (although I don't plan on it), but I just really wanted the car I had back in college. Feels farmiliar ya know? Didn't want to start all over and learn a new platform when I wasn't going to use the power.

 

[dewoof01]

Ok so its been a couple weeks since i've posted. Been extremely busy at work and by the time i get home at 7 or 8pm after working since 6am I have enough energy to just eat dinner and am usually in bed by 8 or 9pm lately. I rented my storage unit for the winter to store the car. The rains started today and will be here for another 6 months so no more outdoors time for the eclipse its into storage until may or so when it stops raining or at least lessens.

I have a 10'x30' storage unit that i got a killer deal on. $88 a month if i prepaid in advance so i took the deal. Sunday after church the car will be going in for winter hibernation.

I will be doing a full sound deadening usign Raamat BXTII doors, roof, floor, trunk, then ensolite over the entire interior. New carpet, new seats, new door panels, complete painting of the interior, and a few customized mods I am still considering that I won't spoil the surprise just yet.

Interior will be all black except the headliner will be be a gray. I am switching out the door panels to power doors, and power windows, and new window glass is going in. I have everything paid for and being shipped to me now.

Stereo will consist of a custom false floor enclosure in the hatch with 3 10" JL w3's, a 1000w RF mono block, 6.5" hertz components up front powered by a 400w RF 2 channel amp and rear speakers running on deck power just for fill.

I got a busy winter ahead to get this all finished up in time for the sunny season, but it should be pretty nice once all done.

Heres a few pictures of my shipment I received today. 48lbs total and should be more than enough to do my car although i am wondering if it will be. Not too bad for sound deadening weight.

 

[dewoof01]

OK well some headway made on the interior. My new door panels and center console came in this last week. So today I had a few hours to spare so I decided to start painting the interior. Got the doors painted, did SEM color coat. Prepped using SEM soap, them plastic prep, then Adhesion promoter, then 2-3 coats of the paint. Did an excellent job and has a really nice stock looking black color and texture. Very easy to apply and looks fantastic. I also removed both the leather/cloth covered panels in the doors and removed the stock covering and padding and tomorrow will be putting on new foam and a black suede I picked up at Joann's Fabrics today. I will post some more pics tomorrow after the panels are reassembled.

So today I was able to finish painting the door panels with the SEM color coat and got the panels re-upholstered with black suede. I could not find any 1/8" foam to use over the plastic so i had to use the self adhesive ensolite I'm using for sound proofing. This was not a great idea as the ensolite does not like to conform to curves and was near impossible to get the wrinkles out of. Also the suede does not stretch and in a few areas there are some wrinkles, but the look of the suede hides them well and overall I am very satisfied with the results, not perfect, but looks MUCH better than what was on there. Here are some before and after pictures below:

 

[dewoof01]

So its been a while since I've updated. Works been busy again and its hard to juggle running a business, the holiday's, and having some time to work on the car. The car is in a storage unit by my business and I try to get over there on saturdays and sundays or a couple hours if i can. All the interior minus the dash is removed from the car right now and my stereo build is in process. I am still only about 50% decided on components I will be using. I am in the middle of painting the interior probably 50% done with that and am 75% or so done with the sound deadening which is going over the ENTIRE car floor, roof, walls, outer skins, inner skins. Here a couple teaser pics for everyone.

 

[mitecl96]

What size speakers are you wanting to run, and are you putting subs in it, if so how many and what size.
What kind of speakers are debating on.

 

[SLOWMARO]

looks great!

 

[dewoof01]

What size speakers are you wanting to run, and are you putting subs in it, if so how many and what size.
What kind of speakers are debating on.

Yes right now there will be 2 10" subs. orginal plan was 3 but due to sq issues with 3 it was just not needed. so i will be going with 2 lower powered 10"s.

I am going front stage only once again due to sq issues with rear fill. I have done this on multiple stereo builds and have found front stage to be great and once rear fill becomes involved it ruins your staging. I have in hand a set of Image Dynamics CTX65cs components. These have great reviews and are supposed to be the best bang for the buck on the market. We will see! I will be running the passive crossovers as I did not want to go through the pain of active crossover tuning.