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DET17's "Project cheap thrills" - '92 944T

Man, I really have to find the time to read through this thread, looks like a great build, too bad about that 945, looks like it was the nicest condition one around before it got hit! :0
 
Man, I really have to find the time to read through this thread, looks like a great build, too bad about that 945, looks like it was the nicest condition one around before it got hit! :0

Indeed, and it gave "the full measure" as Abe Lincoln said. Only the shell of my 92 remains, as the complete drivetrain from radiator to rear axle came from that '94 Vagen.
 
Have you taken this thing to the strip yet?

No sir, not yet. Based on my butt dyno and the local proving grounds :oogle: I would say she is a legit candidate for a 14sec car in the 1/4, especially when I was fooling with 16~17 PSI. I'm installing my FORGE recirc. valve right now so hopefully this spring I will be looking for a strip in my region for a baseline pass.

The current focus is making it look as "dead sexy" as a G-pa DD can be. ;-)

Next installment....fitting the Propus 17x7.5 BBS wheels and Nitto rubber.
 
No sir, not yet. Based on my butt dyno and the local proving grounds :oogle: I would say she is a legit candidate for a 14sec car in the 1/4, especially when I was fooling with 16~17 PSI. I'm installing my FORGE recirc. valve right now so hopefully this spring I will be looking for a strip in my region for a baseline pass.

The current focus is making it look as "dead sexy" as a G-pa DD can be. ;-)

Next installment....fitting the Propus 17x7.5 BBS wheels and Nitto rubber.

Sweet! Hope you beat me through the 14s and get a little quicker...my beater is doing 14 seconds flat ;-)

Looking forward to more updates. My 17x9 Cobra R's are getting installed in a couple months with 235/45 Cooper rubber :oogle:
 
Wheels & Gil Racing Spacers......

Well at long last, time for some new shoes. I've run the mismatched Hydras with a set of RWC's chrome steel lugs to give the car a better look, but a couple of the tires were crap and the vibes were not fun on the Interstate. When I bought this shell, I had drilled the Showroom thread for 7/9's and liked the look of the BBS "Propus" wheels, which are 17x7.5....big enough to handle all the rubber I wanted for a DD.

Well a couple months of scouring fleaBay and CL, I pieced together a decent enough set:

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Not perfect, original with nicks and bruises, but good enough for a "20 footer" :cool: They of course had the nicks and chips from their years. I decided to do a touch-up using bottled auto parts store paint.....so I carried a rim into the local Advance Auto and eyeballed the silver paints until I found the closest thing:

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Got the wheels up to room temp, and after a good washing, applied the touchup paint, 2 coats, to the worst of the scrapes:

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Now with the scars hidden, I had the Nitto NEO-GEN rubber installed, P225/45/R17. Balanced up nicely, the worst wheel had 35gm of weight, and the best 14gm (that's pretty damn good folks).

When I bought the wheels, I knew that spacers were required. From drilling TB threads, it seemed that Gil Racing made a quality set of 25/32 mm; the wheel mounting studs are 1/2-20 TPI, like the old 2 series. I know this, because I had to return the first set of M12 Gorilla lugs :grrr: and replace them with 1/2-20. Shoulda read the Gil Racing specs......

So here are the spacers as purchased from a nice Bricker up in Nova Scotia:

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I know that when new, the faces of the spacers are dead nuts parallel...CNC lathes will do that. However, having been run for some years in Nova Scotia, there were likely rusty wheel rotor hats which these were mounted against. The rusty steel being harder than aluminum, the mounting faces were scarred up. I know from experience (old age) that if you mount your wheel on a non perpendicular surface, you will have "wobble" and runout in the lateral axis for the tire/wheel assembly. I want the DD to roll as smooth as a baby's buttocks, so corrective measures are needed. I've always used this trick to restore metal surfaces.....a precision piece of flat steel (ground flat stock) and wet sand paper. In this case, I chose 400 grit wet-r-dry paper, as I thought that would be enough for the aluminum.

These pics show the flattening process, and corrections:

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It probably required 10 minutes per Gil spacer, but you can see the highspots which were created by previous rusty contact, have been sanded smooth back to the original surface from the CNC lathe.....or close enough to minimize the runout:

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AOK, with all the spacers restored flat again, it was time to mount the new shoes. While the rear spacers were easy to install and torque to 70 lb.ft. , the fronts were a bit more tricky. I finally begged the better half to sit in the car and "MASH on the brakes" as we say down South.....then the front spacers torqued up fine:

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At long last, let's get a PROPUS installed and check it out:

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Looking good! But wait a minute, that baby looks pretty tight to the rear fenderlip.....:wtf:

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WHAT???? Who decided that 32mm worked "just fine" in these cars? Oh well, Gil Racing is out of biz, so I guess it is time to hammer out some fender lips. Just when you think you've finished something, another opportunity reveals itself....:doh:
 
Meguiars SOLO rub out ....and the new shoes installed

Pardon the crappy thumb smudged prints :wtf: which will have to be redone. Not much sunshine here in NW Georgia today. The general idea will be received.

Based on a friends recommendation, I use Meguiars SOLO M86 for polishing & minor cutting (depends on RPM and the pad used, wool vs. foam). My weapon of choice, the Dewalt 849 (thanks to Mike Jr. recommendation):

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Pardon the pics, will do over on another day with some Southern sun in the sky. Here, a couple pics of the beast sporting new shoes, rear spoiler, and both sides & trunkdeck polished out with Meguiars products:

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what a perfect DD. maybe it's the grade it's on, or how it is loaded, but it seems to be riding particularly high in the front. Your E-codes look great, and I think the front end could really benefit from the fitting of an "egg-crate" grille. Somehow on a car this clean, I feel like the chrome grille surround would be better than the gray of the eggcrate though. S90 white door handles maybe?
 
Thanks boys....eggcrate grille is waiting in the box (thanks JerryC in SanFran). I was holding out for my "hood replacement installment" :-P.......you will note that I carefully avoided pics of the hood. When I found this car in 2010, it was parked 10 feet away from a basketball goal. Seller had a couple of young boys who were perfecting their layups.....and the hood is trashed as a result. If anyone comes across a clean/straight 189 paint code hood, PLEASE PM me.

I hope to find a good boneyard 960/S90 and pull the painted polar white mirrors and door handles, as you suggest. Just TOO much black on these cars from the factory. Oh yes, and pull/swap in the moonroof and smokefree headliner as well. But I've got to do a 5 speed swap in the wife's SAAB 900TC first. Last step for now is rolling those rear fender lips to avoid shredding my NITTO rubber at railroad crossings. :nod:
 
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