Progress Thread 1993 LX Hatch Progress
- Thread starter Mac131
- Start date
Here's a pic of the sweet Viper alarm system that was crammed under the dash...what a disaster.
Looking forward to the drive today. Bumped the timing up to 13 deg.
Cruised around today and car is running great. It looks halfway decent 15 feet away too. Next project in 10 days...93 Cobra booster, exterior trim paint, and inspect doors.
89ripper
Founding Member
Thanks! It's far from perfect for sure. I'm going to keep working the exterior to get it as best I can without repainting it. It still has original paint...it shows but it's not a total trainwreck.
I'm definitely my own worst critic. I keep reminding myself this isn't a race to perfection and to enjoy the car as it progresses.
Thank you! I'm still unsure on the rims to be honest. They are 18's with very low profile tires. My favorite rims are the mid 90s cobra SVTs, but they are tough to find.
I'm happy with how it's running now too. I'm eventually going to get either some GT40 heads or another set of E7s and port them and the intake myself. I want to see how much gain can be had. I'll also mill them for more compression. I've heard of people using the speed density cams and retarding them a bit during install too. I'm going to research things more in that regard. I remember back in 1999, my buddy installed an E303 cam 2 degrees in retard. Stock heads, performer RPM upper and lower intake. 2 stage 250 HP nitrous kit...that car was scary fun. Only downside to the 93 and later 5.0s is hyper pistons instead of forged. I may have to change that.
Another update...did the 93 cobra booster conversion. I watched LMR's video and it helped a bunch. Measuring the pushrod was easy enough too.
Getting the old one unstuck from the firewall was the hardest part. Once removed, I opened up all 4 mounting holes. Thankfully my strut tower was already clearanced from the factory, which allowed it to drop right in.
I should have taken more pics of the process but I got caught up in the job itself...
New booster installed
Here's where the 4 mounting studs are located. I had to remove my seat and basically do it all upside down.
Here's the old booster...much smaller than the cobra one.
Took the car out for a test drive and the brakes are night and day different. Car stops super fast now and the pedal feel is much softer. Really glad I did this upgrade. Doing a 5 lug disc brake conversion and leaving the stock booster is kinda sketchy if you ask me...you have to practically stand on the pedal.
Next up is exterior trim restoration and a new windshield on Tuesday. After that...overhauling the doors.
Getting the old one unstuck from the firewall was the hardest part. Once removed, I opened up all 4 mounting holes. Thankfully my strut tower was already clearanced from the factory, which allowed it to drop right in.
I should have taken more pics of the process but I got caught up in the job itself...
New booster installed
Here's where the 4 mounting studs are located. I had to remove my seat and basically do it all upside down.
Here's the old booster...much smaller than the cobra one.
Took the car out for a test drive and the brakes are night and day different. Car stops super fast now and the pedal feel is much softer. Really glad I did this upgrade. Doing a 5 lug disc brake conversion and leaving the stock booster is kinda sketchy if you ask me...you have to practically stand on the pedal.
Next up is exterior trim restoration and a new windshield on Tuesday. After that...overhauling the doors.
I get ya there. I pulled all the trim off today and broke one of the plastic fasteners on a lower windshield piece. Everything else came off well... thankfully.
I worked in an Auto glass shop ( Circa late 70's) when the fasteners/clips on cars were metal.... It seemed like the thin metal clips helped cause the start and spread of rust under the trim,, I think the plastic clips have helped prevent or at least slow the rust that the old metal clips " in my opinion" aggravated the start of rusting in the pinchwelds..... Plastic isn't always a bad idea..
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More progress...exterior trim is prepped, primed, and painted. Also waiting on a new water pump. Mine was leaking at the bottom of the gasket. New windshield is in too.
I'm currently sanding and prepping the quarter glass trim. Passenger side is pretty rough...
I found a guy locally who was selling some mustang parts for cheap. Got another set of E7 heads and lower intake manifold that I will be porting myself this winter. Also got a rotating assembly, flowmaster mufflers, valve covers, and some other sensors and odds and ends.
Hopefully I'll have the car back together next week so I can drive it a bit more before winter.
I'm currently sanding and prepping the quarter glass trim. Passenger side is pretty rough...
I found a guy locally who was selling some mustang parts for cheap. Got another set of E7 heads and lower intake manifold that I will be porting myself this winter. Also got a rotating assembly, flowmaster mufflers, valve covers, and some other sensors and odds and ends.
Hopefully I'll have the car back together next week so I can drive it a bit more before winter.
I just had Safelite come to my house and replace it. I pulled the trim off myself beforehand since I needed to paint it. I would pull the trim off yourself...if someone else breaks it, they might not tell you and just goop it on with windshield adhesive.
I was in the glass and window industry for over 35 years... NONE of us in the industry use Safelite.. ALL of the Safelite and EX Safelite people I met, would not use Safelite Windshields in their own personal cars...
Just saying......
Interesting. I typically use technaglass but these guys were Mobil. I'll let you know if the glass is distorted. I do know that Safelite did the glass on my wife's Tacoma and it is wavy at the ends...drives me nuts.
I consider a rumour unfounded gossip .... These comments were straight from industry workers and Safelite employees..Why? Perhaps it's an industry rumor.
Please don't shoot the messenger..
