I bought an 88 Suzuki Samurai in October.
Should be a fun off-road truck.

Probably all I will do at first is a bunch of armor stuff-gas tank, t-case, rock sliders, cage. Swap to 5.14 gears with mini spool in the rear.
Re-do the brakes, new cheap shocks (may even skip this) and get the engine working flawlessly (since getting stranded in the woods would be REALLY bad.

I figure if it's something we like I'll get more radical with it.

AFAIK Sgarnett and Judd are the only ones here that are remotely interested in something like this.

A Cad 500 powered ugly big body 1977 Malibu.

Motor is medium-wild with what was 350hp and 500+ tq, before bigger cam and ported heads.
Rear is a peg leg 2.56 gears.
Trans is th400.
Body is semi worn with old paint.

It broke the bank last year so this year its running or its gone/sold by April 1st.

I was shooting for 170mph in the mile in NC or TX. But now it better just be running.

Oh yeah the real fun project for my 5 year old son :leaving: :
Mount the body and move the pedals on an old racing kart-w/a new brigsNstratton Raptor. My 5 year old can already counter steer a slide (I know drift) and do donuts. He has only practiced steering no pedals yets. Need to gear it down so the top speed isn't 70-80mph :drive: .

A Samurai does sound like fun! Living in the city of Indianapolis, I don't know where I could go 'wheeling. Not enough time and money for that anyway.

I'm working on an '84 Pontiac Fiero. I bought it for $200; overall it's in decent shape, but needed a lot of mechanical stuff fixed on it. I've rebuilt the hydraulic clutch system, replaced the clutch pedal (bent), throw out arm on the transmission (cracked), replaced the shifter cables, rebuilt the brake hydraulics, replaced the parking brake cable, converted the fronts to vented disk, replaced the rear struts, replaced the fuel pump and strainer, and I'm now working on the retractable headlight motors. It's nearly ready for the road. I need tires, front shocks, alternator, and exhaust. With 92HP it won't be a monster, but it should be fun. The guys on the Fiero forum (www.fiero.nl) are absolutely nuts over them. I'm looking forward to driving it.

See avatar.

'92 Sentra SE-R. For you dumbestic philistines, it has a 2.0 liter, 140hp engine (non-SE-Rs of that era have a 1.6, 110hp). This is my fourth SE-R.

I bought it for autox and open-tracking. Definetely going to do a full suspension upgrade (shortened shocks, heavier springs, bars, yada yada yada) just not sure what shocks I'm going to get.

Thinking about doing an SR20VE swap. SR20VE's are kind of Nissan's answer to VTEC (Nissan calls it VVL), and of course Nissan doesn't put the engine in anything in the U.S. The engine makes 183 hp stock. I may wait on this for next winter, though.

Pat

1987 Honda CBR, returning it from an endurance racer to everyday street life, with F4i fairings.

Building my first AR-15, just waiting on the USPS for the rest of the parts to arrive.

Building a shed in the backyard to reclaim some garage space for projects. It really sucks working in a driveway when its cold outside.

My house. It's a stone cape-cod that has been upgraded and added on to, but it still needed some work. I got tired of contributing so much to global terror by using so much fuel oil and tore out the plaster in the 2nd floor so I could insulate. There was almost none in there. Now the drywall has been done and the insulation is up, muuuucchhhh better. Heat doesn't run nearly as much and the house is a lot nicer inside. Now I just gotta paint/trim, hang ceiling fans, furnish, sand the floors....

Once that is done, it'll be time to rewire the garage so I actually have more than one 100 watt bulb in there, then once it gets warm I'll be putting up a shed and doing some light landscaping....

Shoulda bought a condo.

I too have an Se-R, a burgundy (marroon?) '93 that is patiently waiting for me to fix the transmission leak (bad seal around a sensor hopefully) and to slap on the big brake kit that I bought for it. It's going to be next year's race car. If I ever get the Camaro done, of course.

Jason

Starting to work on finishing and insulating my garage. Once that is done I will restart work on the first car in my signature.

Well I still have to finish my 10/22. Other than that make a welding cart and finish setting up my mig welder. I also have some work to do on our 20' fish 'n ski. The outboard, 175 hp Mercury, has a bad water pump. I really miss fishing (bass, catfish, etc.).

Anyone else fish or boat?

Lonnie have you considered a lowered panhard bar on that Samurai?

I've got two boats - 14' Grumman fishing boat (Dad gave me the family fishing boat) and a 17' Sea Ray bowrider w/130 HP OMC. Probably need to redeck the Sea Ray next fall. I'm not too much into the fishing now, my kids are 7 & 9 thye don't really have the patience for it right now. We're more into running from one idle zone to the other and swimming (gotta have beer to swim ).

I am renovating my sister's basement. If I had known how much dust drywalling creates, I probably would have thought twice about agreeing to help her out.

I just bought one of those and have been making a few changes to it. I guess I'm going to have to buy a scope and actually shoot it soon (who shoots a stock one?).

disapointed in you guys. your not the hard core car guys i thought you were. i do nothing but think and work on my CMC car. before that it was the 98Z.
hell, i even named my 2nd child "car"....... well really its Karlie, but close enough.

the Samurai sounds fun. needs an LS1/T-56 swap.

Specialization is for the animals.

Howdy,

I'm with Brian on the house stuff...

Nearly done re-wiring the attached garage that will be the temporary workshop until we get the real workshop built (a year or two out most likely). After that, there's insulation, some carpentry/plumbing work to get a sink in there and a gas line for the heater, busting up the existing (too low & horribly cracked) floor and repouring a new one, raising the garage doors to account for the new floor height, drywall, installing a heater, then whatever bench/shelf building is needed.

When I write all that out though, I mostly just want to take a nap instead. :-)

Mark

My boss/friend has about 3 '71 GTO/LeMans convertibles that are going to be used to restore one good car but before that project happens, he wants to do some work to his current '71 GTO convertible to make it a nicer looking cruiser.

His back is giving out on him so he needs someone to do all the "fun" work like removing the dash and where it would help to be a contortionist.

My project some time this summer is to remove the drywall in my parent's garage to insulate it, then tape/paint it since it's been yellowing for the last 15 years. It'll be a nice present for them and make it nicer to work in. I'm sick of having to run the torpedo heater so much in the winter if I want to use the garage.

Tonight the 3.0 Duratec goes into my my friend Wes's Contour SVT (originally a 2.5). I am still looking for 100% approval from the finance department before I start my f-body projects!

I bought HP+ pads for the y-body from Sam after driving a C5 conv with them.

Other than that it I am sinking $1100 into my truck on a "classified project". Maybe I'll get around to fixing the fuel sender in the tank so I know how much deisel is in there.

I'm also looking at laminate flooring for the first floor of the house and planning to rebuild my home theater (new DLP, amp, processor, speakers, sub, etc). So, I'm torn between guns and home stuff.

Maybe I should sell the car after all...... :leaving:

I'm with you....I work on the bird for the track weekends, or i work on the RV to pull the bird to track weekends.Or i work on my truck so it looks/ run's good on my way to work were i can make $$$, so i can take the bird/ RV to the track(you getting the idea here) OR i work on my wife's car so........

My first love was 4x4ing back in the day. I had a buddy then that had a samurai, everybody made fun of him in it but nobody could out do him but me, in a stock chevy We beat up on those raised up trucks

Glenn,

I've had about enough working on cars lately. We're still trying to get Pimpmaro's car running.....

If I don't do other things I get burned out quickly.

Well, I spent the first two days of my vacation on a road trip to get a new high-zoot transmission, right before Christmas (dry weather so carpe diem), so I gotta lay off the car projects for a few days I'm waiting a while to rebuild the front suspension, since it's driveable as-is.

Next on the list is, as Lonnie sort of mentioned, is an offroad VEhicle, but it's only two (very big) wheel drive. I'm attemptiong to find a carb in the center of a 40-year-old lump of crud that I removed from the intake manifold. There's still a possibility of needing to just rebuild the whole thing, but I'm hoping that with a working carb I can continue to get by without compression

With a toddler in the house, it takes a very long time to work through even the short list, so I don't pay much attention to what's on the long list right now

Sean, put an LS1 in it.....

Isn't everything better with an LS1 inside? Ok, maybe it's not the best choice for a tractor.

:stupid:

Major project: 88 Porsche 944 Turbo S. So far in the past year I've spent a little over $7K on it in maintenance, repairs & upgrades (headgasket, P&P head, turbo rebuild, clutch, etc). It still needs some minor bodywork/paint, new seats (or recovering the stock seats), and all new weatherstripping. Then it will be pretty much where I want it.

Minor projects:
81 Ford F100: new heater core, seat recover, new weatherstripping. I might even look into getting the AC working on it too, but probably not since it's only used for pulling the boat and making Lowes runs.
Pontoon boat: need to drag it into the shop and have the throttle linkage on the motor adjusted before spring.
Firehawk: need a new PS pump and radio. Also need to get new rails for the Recaro seats (the existing rails are starting to allow some wiggle).

Hmmm, the tractor is designed to run the engine around 2500 rpm, and it will reach almost 3000 rpm under light load The LS1 probably DOES have more torque at 2500 rpm than my wheezy 3 cylinder ....

Man, how many forum's are you on? I've seen you here, CC.com, BF.com, and I think on the GRM forum's too...

Sounds like you need a life about as much as I do

1974 Datsun 260Z powered by a 1996 LT1/T56 combo out of a Z28. I just couldn't resist but it should be fun. :drive:

I hadn't touched it in two years and finally got it down to the strip shop last week. It was taken down to bare metal and we got it in three coats of epoxy primer on Monday. I droped it off yesterday to have three rust spots welded up, seat brackets welded in and a harness bar added to the roll bar. Damn I've got a long way to go on this thing.

I'm looking seriously at an old IT-A Olds Starfire V6. Blown engine, but has a cage, halon system etc. Tons of spares and everything for around 700.00. It'll either become a vintage racer, a C/P car, a S/M car, or just another blight on my property.

Send it my way. I was down in Elkton VA over the weekend, how far away was I from it?

It's west of Richmond in Goochland county. I haven't seen it in person yet, but hope to this weekend. In the event I pass on it, are you interested?

Honestly, it's too far out and I have nowhere to put it right now, so I'll have to pass (as interesting as it sounds), but I have friends in VA who might be interested if you pass (send photos.....).

I'm up to my neck in stuff I need to do, but this thing just sounds so....different. I have a ton of "H" body stuff around, so getting it ready isn't overwhelming. Right now, it all depends on how it looks when I see it.

Yeah I need to take a little break. I used to have the car/autoxing on my mind so much I just burnt out.

It's funny that the WORST 'family' truck for offroad use you can get is what I got. Oh well, I think with some creative storage ideas I can make it happen.

One thing I really want to do is make a camping/offroad trip that includes camping out on the trail/woods. I can pull it off in MI state and national forests with by applying for a camp permit (this is what you need to camp outside of designated area).
My concern is BEARS!
But that might justify a purchase of a S&W .500mag revolver which I want to bear hunt with anyhow.

What's a non-f-body project? Does working on my truck or trailer, which were only bought because of my f-body count?

.....my home remodel.....still........

...going on a year now....

But my GOAL is to have it finished THIS YEAR....been working like a mutha all week....poured cement in the rain today!

Sweet project. A guy around here just got his finished (or at least finished enough). Got it to run low 11.43@120 first time out.



And a pic of the launch



Too bad he didn't pan left just a little more!

I've been building this 72 Jimmy for nearly 10 years now. I'm working on a 383 to go in it now and will be fabricating new suspension to stretch the wheelbase a little and make room for larger tires... when I got it it was a complete rust bucket. I replaced some 10-20 panels, did the body work and painted it in my driveway. lol. there is very little bondo on it and once I replace the back half of the pass rear quarter there will be next to none. lots of water down here BTW...

What kinds of stuff do I have around that needs work besides the F-body?

01 Jeep awaiting a lift kit and winch that I haven't done yet.

76 Ford that I have a Gear Vendors overdrive for that needs to be installed

73 Honda drag bike that needs to be disassembled and freshened up. I'd like to gear it a little taller and take it to the Texas Mile. The thing used to run 10.5 @ 125 in the quarter.

The house and shop plus the wife's barn and hobby shop - This will probably get done - I need to get power to the barn and new storage building, set a new panel in the shop so I don't have to choose between welding and running the air compressor, and get two transfer switches set and wired for a 15kw gen set because the electric service is only half-assed and I like to be cool with cold beer in the summer. Also need to move the air compressor and make a couple of pipe connections so there'll be air at the wife's barn and outside.

I'm currently working on swapping a 10v turbo motor into a 1990 Audi 90 Quattro.

I love that Jimmy, SS2win!

BigEnos,

What track were those pics from?

Where did you mount the propeller?

Too many:
1. house building
2. garage requirements becoming reality:
a) car-lift
B) esthetic(floor... wanna make it look great)
c) tools
3. photography:
a) thinking on getting a 2nd dig camera: http://www.dpreview.com/articles/nikond200
B) polarizer
c) Sigma 300-800mm f/5.6 lens (not short term... $)
d) macro fixed lens
e) monopod (compliment the tripod, and more practical on racing events)

Love to's (but reality dictates otherwise):
1. motorcycle
2. another beater/new car
3. Vette

Too many here as well:

1. Finalising my move to OZ. (both the Z28 and the 2003 WRX going with me as well)
2. Designing my future dream pad (until it's fully realised, I'm gonna continue to live like a real cheap b*****d)
3. Selling/donating some of my old s*** (useful non-auto related items)
4. Repair my 20+ yr.-old synths (R.I.P. Bob Moog)
5. Complete my allocation for an Ultima GTR (It's gonna have at least some sort of LSx block, well blueprinted by yours truly). :drive:

Mad some will say? I agree, but not as barmy as the past 13 years of continuing education and cheap a** living (4 yrs. of USMC duty and training as an 03xx, 2 AS degrees, 1 double major BA, 1 2nd Bachelor's, then will start an accelerated MBA, and yes practically many of those courses from the many different civilian institutions transfered and qualified for some type of grad requirement, so not quite as much work as it sounds).

The now deceased 75-80 Dragway. It closed this fall.

Sucks

Other than the never ending maintenance of a 110yr. old house, the most time and labor intensive (non-F-body) project is my son's 1998 Neon ACR. In the past 20 months the entire car has been (unsystematically) rebuilt. This was consequent to his decision to design and instal his own Turbo charging system. We are now trouble shooting after the initial start-up and engine break-in prior to taking the car for professional dyno tuning. This thing has consumed every weekend since August! He couldn't just buy an SRT4 as we suggested!!? Oh well, at least he/we learned a good deal along the way...

If money prermits I am going to put a 6 inch lift on my new Dodge Ram, plus some new Weld wheels and 37 inch tall tires, maybe 35's.

I'm not sure if it's a project, but I've been begining to finalize the logistics of moving from DFW to NYC. Figuring out where the car and tools are going for a few months until I get everything settled on the east coast (where is the garage going to be?!?!?!). Working with the gf relatives on the remodel for the place etc. as well as line up the new job.
This little gun addiction has given me something to focus on other than the car, and it's a bit cheaper so far, have been working every weekend for the past couple of months on target practice.
Been working on some more art so I can have my first gallery showing, that will probably carry me through the winter.
Also been considering quiting one of the jobs and going back to school to finish up my fine arts major, not sure if I'm ready to add that to the heap though.

Deceased, eh? Too bad. I used to go there when I was in high school a few, ahem, years ago. My brother lives just down the road. Surprised he didn't say anything to me.

What're they gonna do with that lot - more housing in sprawling suburbia, I guess....