old builds, post yours up!...

I was looking through some old pictures, thought it might be interesting, fun and a bit nostalgic to see GRM'rs post up some old builds, gone but not forgotten, completed or not...

this is the most recent, besides the two projects im currently working, ill add more in other posts another time..

1982 Porsche 928- bought this back in 04 from a neighbor two blocks over for $500 cash. It had been over heated and blew a head gasket, then sat through several hurricanes with the windows open and was a non runner. It was infested with creepy crawly critters as well. I nuked the interior, sourced a donor interior, got her running (not well, but she could move on her own power.) never did get to replace the head gasket, sold it for a good profit as is in 05 when I became unemployed to help pay the mortgage for a few months, but i had allot of love for it...

before:

After, or at least as far as i could get before i had to sell. rebuilt every switch, electrical connection, a/c system, gauges, etc.. :

saying so long... unloaded and reloaded it on the buyers trailer shortly after..

I have another, manual lined up..same year. just need to make some space :)

I found this 1969 Karmann Ghia in a barn back in early 2006

This is it after a quick wash and throwing wheels on it I then found that even though it looked clean that the rear was beaten in and filled with 2 inches of bondo. It got parted to fix my 1964

Before

After Then I sold it to buy a 1964 Corvair

I sold it to get back into VW's and ended up with my Ghia back

I like the Ghia, never seen an orange one.

Ghias are sweet.......

My Miata when I got it around 2006.

Painted in a barn

It looked good...

Right before I sold it last spring.

Evan, what color are those wheels? More specifically than, "orange," I mean...

Krylon Fluorescent Orange from Wal-mart

Picasa album of E30 build

My old build is still my current build and the way things are going will be my future build. Oh ya........it's a RX7.

First big project. Found Basil, a 1967 Land Rover, in a barn where he'd spent a decade or so. You can read the whole story here: http://keith.miata.net/landy/

Got him mobile with 6 weeks of hard work in the driveway. Froze myself to the ground a couple of times rebuilding wheel bearings at 1 am.

Took him offroading a few times.

Then drove to Colorado. In a truck I'd never taken more than 60 miles from home before. Oh, and we changed the transmission the week before.

Spend some time playing around Colorado and Utah. In case you're wondering, I sometimes took the safari roof off.

Then decided to replace the old, rusty frame. I found a frame from a 1960 Rover that had been in a fire, and spend some time fixing it up in my garage. Then I dragged everything to the Flyin' Miata shop and changed out the frame in a weekend. A very tiring weekend with help. Oh, and I rewired the truck with a wiring harness of my own design at the same time, and rebuilt the whole brake system.

And then more off-roading. Until I got distracted by the idea of building a Lotus Seven replica...

Keith wrote:

Keith, if I were into off-roading, I'd have new wallpaper. Gorgeous shot.

Thanks It ended up on the cover of the Series II owners club magazine a while back. I never thought it was a particular standout, but I'm not going to argue!

i bow down to you... very cool.

OK here goes

Responded to a CL ad for an 81 deisel rabbit pickup. The guy was asking $300 and I wanted one so bad I didn't even risk haggling. Told him over the phone I would take it full price sight unseen.

It was parked in between a 79 rabbit diesel wreck and a 90 Jetta eco-diesel in sad shape. While loading the truck the seller commented on how nice our trailer was and asked if we would haul off the other two cars for him. He would pay us $150 if we did, so I said sure!

So I got this and free reign to part out the other 2 cars. A close ratio 5spd was in the ecodiesel as was numerous other bits. The 79 donated the early front end and quite a few other pieces. I got $135 in scrap value for the two shells. I sold the canopy and diesel lump with a bad headgasket for $50 so I was $35 in the green. I already had a megasquirt so I took a week of vacation, sold my 90 miata and got to work Within one week it had a JH motor on MS, early front end swap and a rustoleum grey respray. Total cost was around $200 out of pocket by now After 3 weeks It had some euro bumpers and corrado seats, new wheels and tires and some more suspension tweaks I then tore the 1.9 16V out of my old daily cabby Bolted it in and regularly embarrased much faster vehicles. The look on my buddies face when he couldn't keep up in his 911SC was priceless.

After a year the rustoleum went chalky and faded so I rattle canned it

Drove it like that for a few months until I was stupid enough to think I could tow another rabbit 200 miles and killed both cars

RIP 2000lbs, 156WHP, 38MPG

ditchdigger wrote:

I need a story on how THIS happened

page two of this thread has the details http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/towing-question/27006/page1/

My first project car was an odd ball, 91' Grand Marquis. It was my second car and the first one I really tore into and did some learning with. At the time I was driving a 91' nx2000 and just looking for something completely different.

Ended up swapping the heads, cam, intake and most of the exhaust for mustang parts. Convincing a 140mph police speedometer to place nice with the mercury dash, upgraded the sway bars, and added some old school keystone wheels. By the end I had fixed all the little issues with the car and I even got compliments from a camaro driver messing around one night. It sounded fast and was two tons of fun for a 17 year old.

Did my first autocross in it too

Since then my ambition has only grown but I still have a ways to go before I can hang with some of you guys.

my old Cherokee when i first got it:

some bracket racing:

and lifted

I still have this sitting in my garage. Picture of when I got it back in 2000 for $800.

and as it sits:

Another old build:

I picked up this 1987 Porsche 924S for $1200 with a blown head, this was back in 97' or so, so it was still very new at the time. only had about 60k on the odo. Only bad part was its auto transmission, and it had been abused pretty thoroughly..

I replaced the head, and less than a year after, seized a balance shaft (not good) and replaced the entire engine. while I was at it, I went through just about everything else, and I mean everything! Mechanically it was brand new when I was done, brakes, suspension, electrics, you name it..Done. Then i started on the body, added a 944 spoiler, 931 hood with naca, spiffy graphics.

Then, just before paint, it was run over by a Jeep in y2k, quite literally.

No one was hurt, and the insurance covered almost everything I had into it, and let me keep it. I swapped most of the good parts out with no so good ones from my 82, and sold the rest as is. The guy who bought it replaced a hose or two, unbent it a little and drove it home, about 700 miles without a problem. I actually ended up making a few bucks off it. Great car, even with the automatic...