username: I'm from the gilroy area, but I'm comfortable making drives all the way up to Sacramento down to the Pismo area. I'd love to meet up with you guys sometime
SO! I got the engine all rebuilt and (almost) ready to go. Need to tear it down again and get the ARP studs on it.
Sanded off the paint on the CVCC lettering, been having problems with clear coat on the valve cover wrinkling. Hard to spray clear when you can't see it :P Along with these cans spraying really fast. I saw Steph's thread for an ITB setup using Honda CBR throttle bodies. I was thinking of doing the same with my CVCC but now I'm starting to lean towards putting in a turbo. So I'll make another thread inquiring more about how to get my engine ready for turbo and what it would cost to go that direction.
I apologize for the next couple sections of this post but it's going to be all over the place because I've been working on multiple parts of this project at a time. I forgot to show you guys what my end goal for this car is going to be. Basically I am hoping to have the car painted similar to this color:
Most likely a bit more yellow in color to brighten it up a bit with a bit of metallic to it.
Trying to get these side stripes (Is this QDseeker's car? I've had this picture for a couple years now, didn't realize it was a forum member's car until the other day)
and these stripes
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Can't find any good pictures as example on the internet, but I bought a roof rack for my car and in between the chrome strips I'm going to put wood slats to match the wood steering wheel I purchased. Most likely going to be African mahogany, about an inch wide and 1/2 inch tall or so. Haven't actually gone out and measured anything yet, I'm not ready for that stage. I'm also getting African mahogany veneer to put on my dashboard. I work at a large cabinet shop and have easy access to all the lumber and veneers I need to do everything. Actually just thought about putting some veneer inserts on my door panels as well, along with a custom full wood center console so I can put some cup holders in this bad boy 8) Also, bought an NOS center console and a full set of NOS mud flaps! Don't have a pic of mine but if you don't know what the factory add-on center console looks like it's this one
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For the mud flaps I'm going to try to make the rears fit at the back of the wheel well like the fronts do instead of on the rear valance. I don't care for that placement too much. Also! another idea I have is that I want to fit a custom bumper overrider on the front to fit some rallye lights. Specifically speaking of these:
(Not mine but I love the Hella lights and I really love these covers, I think they would really fit the car well)
The way I want to mount them is to have the outside of the over rider start on the bumper almost inline with the inside of the headlights then come up diagonally a couple inches and two lights would mount on that step. Then in the middle the over rider would step up again and two more lights would mount on that step. and then the whole bar would be slanted outwards a couple inches. I guess the best way to describe this would be to "draw" it for you guys. So here's my crummy drawing with a mousepad and my super fancy high end photo editing software Microsoft Paint!
Probably should have used a different color just for demonstration purposes, but I don't feel like fighting terrible editing software again just to properly change a color. But as you can see I would have to delete the blinkers and then most likely mount another set underneath the bumper which I don't mind doing.
I also plan on getting the BC Racing suspension kit. I've heard that this doesn't fit the CVCC's is that true :?: :?: :?: And yet another thing I will be doing is that I will be fabbing up a rear hitch assembly so that I can haul a small trailer that I have for my dirt bikes to the hills! I need to do some modifications to the trailer as far as deck and wiring goes. Plenty of welding for me to do in the not so far future. And the custom trailer hitch in the back reminds me to tell you guys that I will also be doing a rear disk and master cylinder upgrade which ALSO reminds me that I will be doing a 4x100 conversion which ALSO reminds me again that I need to look for some 4x100 Panasport/Minilite/Rota RB wheels. <These are all similar right? I haven't figured out a difference. If someone could give me information those that would be great. Looking for a 14" that fits without screwing up handling. I say 14" because around here there is almost no tire selection for 13" rims and I doubt I'll be able to find the actual rims I'm looking for in a 12" size. But basically I want these rims
ANYWAYS. Back to my actual build. I left off on the engine. Well since I got the car rolling and the engine built, I had the car sent out to the body shop where, because of the sandblasting of the car warping the sheet metal, I spent $3600 in body work alone. I will be getting the car back this friday and start saving for some good paint and start my search for a good guy to spray it with a warranty. My body guy won't paint it because he's already got $4500 into the car and he's charging me $3600 because he likes my car and me and had originally quoted me for $2000 and didn't want to keep upping the price. Really a great guy and he does amazing work. My rockers were completely caved and he cut them out, straightened them, and welded them back in and the whole car is looking like new now if not better. Only area that he couldn't get perfect is the roof but with the chrome and wood on top of it there shouldn't be a problem.
While the car's been at the shop (been about 7 weeks now) I've been working on other things like the steering wheel, shifter knob, bumper brackets, dashboard, and grille. The steering wheel, shifter knob, and bumper brackets are coming along well. Dashboard and grille are a work in progress.
This is "before". I forgot to take a pic before I sprayed the metal spokes. There was rust popping up on the metal so I tore it all down and got some nice super metallic silver spray paint. It's more metallic than stock and looks great. Afterwards I stained it:
I got two coats of urethane on it before a guy at my work in the finishing department offered to finish it for me (didn't even offer to use his stuff, knew that what I was using was already top of the line :mrgreen: ) because spraying is more consistent and even than using a brush like I was doing lol. So the steering wheel and shifter knob are at work and this guy is also making me sample colors on a board of African mahogany. Once he gets the color that I want down, I'll order the veneer and the boards for my roof rack.
As far as the grille, I started to paint it and even after all my prep work and degreasing it fish-eyed like crazy. So that got put on the back burner. But I did get the grille emblem started, and that is looking good. 8)
"Before". Again I have a hard time remembering to take pics before I start something. I get too excited lol
It came out alright. I "filled" the red and white areas again the other day with paint and it came out better. Didn't have a syringe to fill everything and this acrylic paint didn't spread as well as I wanted it to. Next step is to scrape off any paint that got up the side of the raised "H" and do some precise masking so that I can spray the emblem with that same metallic paint I used on the steering wheel. (Thought about it after the fact that I should have sprayed them emblem first and then filled the red and white afterwards :roll: )
My cousin is actually well known on the forum RedPepperRacing.com as KSousa for his custom and stock replica fiberglass parts that he makes. He is currently helping me research parts for making my CVCC a turbo engine. He is currently building one for his CRX, so he will be a good resource as well for sure. If you know someone who wants some custom body pieces for CRX's and 3rd gens, he's your man. He even has these sweet stickers lol
So that's my build so far. I'll keep you guys updated when I get my baby back from the body shop. Sorry for the long read, I hope you guys enjoy
I'm going to try to keep the same angle on it along with not moving it back or forward any because I believe that might affect the leverage and force on the sway bar. Anyone have any input on this???