1990 LX coupe Build

[oatburner99]

Alright....all parts have arrived and are accounted for
H/C/I Swap goodies

BBK Ceramic 1 5/8 LongTubes with offroad h-pipe

New Control arms

 

[oatburner99]

In between getting all of the engine stuff started, and collecting parts, I've been looking for some control arms (mine are still the original 90 versions) and came across these on sale. Really wanted some Maximum Motorsports upper's and lower's but just couldn't swing it, especially after trying to get the H/C/I swap parts rounded up. So I figured mine are beyond "DONE" so I'll get replacements in there and later on down the road we'll step up...on to the pics:

What's in the box?

Greatness....that's what

Then the shennanigans began.....REALLY???WTF??? stupid quad shock:

Hooray for bushings:

Yum:

Lower in it's new home:

22 y/o control arm....BUH BYE:

Some bolt with that corrosion?

BUUUUUUUUHHHHH BYE!

Stock upper's that are SMOKED:

What a difference these made....it's amazing what little bushings will do for feel and handling....no more clunking. Car feels alot tighter, and the ride is a lot smoother. I had to beat some of those old bolts out (I'm sure you can see why) which I'm sure were causing the binding. All in all, well worth the money, even though they are cheapo's, they are better than the broken down 22 year old stock OEM control arms.

 

[oatburner99]

Worked on the Gt40's a little bit today as well. Prepping them for a trip to the hot tank for cleaning. Get them all purdy and ready for re-assembly with new springs and seals

Whelp, here's the before pictures. Just took a couple, they are at the machine shop, should get them back tomorrow

I'll post pics when I get the heads back

 

[oatburner99]

Back from the machine shop:

Shot some paint on them....don't want anymore rust lol:

 

[oatburner99]

Been looking around here and there for valve covers. I really didn't want to have to remove the baffles out of stock one's or beat on them like most people say they had to in order to clear 1.7 rr's. Had looked at a set of black chrome powder coated cover's, that looked really nice, but not sure about the clearance on the rockers. So a good friend of mine, thankfully had squirreled these away awhile ago, and was nice enough to let me give them a new home:

 

[oatburner99]

FINALLY fixed the one thing that all fox owner's hate. The POS ashtray. Mine has been broken since I got it. Such a simple fix, but you forget about it
until you get in the car and hear the damn ashtray door rattle. Drive me bat #### crazy. Anyway, got the ashtray fix it kit:

The design for this door is the biggest POS.....I just removed mine all together

Reinforcement tab:

fFINALLY!

Ashtray has seen better days:

Looks much MO betta:

 

[oatburner99]

Well started it today, here's the pictures:

The goods:

New bumpstick:

About to go under the knife:

Building the heads up:

Let the games begin:

147,000 mile timing chain:

Engine mount....think it needs to be replace? LOL New ones are installed

Bye bye stock stuff:

Out with the old bump stick:

New bumpstick:

New Timing chain:

All cleaned up:

Gt-40's installed:

1.7 rr's installed:

Called it a night, we'll finish up tomorrow.

 

[oatburner99]

Started up again this morning (may not be in complete sequence):

Cobra valve cover's (clears 1.7 RR's)

Explorer Intake:

Long Tube install. Which sucked, steering shaft hits the aft tube, had to massage it quite a bit. Ended up being a 3 a.m task

Video coming shortly....finishing up last minute stuff

 

[oatburner99]

Well a little over a week of driving the car, all I can see is HOLY F*&##^!!&)#*!.

Prior to doing this swap the car would fall on it's face at 5100 rpm (including on the dyno) and that was were the power stopped.
I'm sure some of you have thought to yourself "I wanna see how far I can push it" and then you have that moment of clarity,
and you feel the seat cushion becoming part of your backside. Well that happened to me yesterday. I ran it all the way to 7800 rpm
and the car kept pulling. I however got that "oh ####" feeling and got out of it. Then I noticed the black marks going through the intersection.

Am I happy with the outcome.....


OH YEAH

 

[oatburner99]

Whelp, it's been a long time since I updated my thread. So this is kind of a quick update:

So I upgraded my front brakes to PBR's. Anyone who hasn't ....SHOULD...my gawd what a difference!
The old:

One cleaned up vs Old

All finished:

So then we get to the "you have got to be kidding me?!?!?!?!?!"
So I was flushing the brakes, and shut the hood, forgot to put my hood pins back in. Drove the car down the street in my housing development, and the hood flew up on me *face palm* My own fault, couldn't believe I'd be soooo stupid. But a BIG lesson learned. Thank god I had insurance.
CARNAGE:

Just DESTROYED the cowling. Hood had some dings in it. But Insurance payed for a brand new Cervini's, new hood hinges, and a new cowl trim panel. Finally after 27 days I got the car back TODAY.
Also while I was waiting I purchased a set of MRT hood Struts. They offer factory color painting, which I thought was awesome.
New Cervini's 2.5 hood:

MRT Hood struts:

Car finally HOME:

Car is absolutely filthy. Need to detail it and get it all cleaned up. Just happy to have my car back!!