Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Yeah it had previously been reinforced by a piece of angle iron but it was still pretty sketchy. I could have riped the drivers side radiator mount off with my hand. even with it only being tacked in place the radiator was way more solid then before.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Nice, safety FTW!

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Looking at your car, I wouldn't suspect it to be that rusty! Awesome work!

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

It looks good as long as you dont get under it. The core suport is the worst of it. I still plan to patch in a few other spots and undercoat the car. I thing 2g DSM's came off the assembly line with rust.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

I got the core support welded this weekend and took advantage of the warm weather today to paint it before welding it onto the car. I also repainted the front of the fraimrails while the front was taken apart. I will hopefully be welding it up to the framerails tomarrow. onto the pics.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Dayum!

Do more!!

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Really nice man! What kind of welder do you have?

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

I have a Century 110v flux-core MIG That I use for small projects and tacking. My dad has a Harbor freight 220 MIG That I use for bigger stuff. Both work really well for being cheaper machines.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

The core suport is now fully welded in. Welding it to the frame rails went pretty good except for a few burns on my arms because I had to lay completley under the car to weld the back sides. I think I need to add a pair of good welding leathers to my X-mas list. Welding the hood latch suport was a little tricky. it was pretty rusty and crusty at the bottom so it just wanted to burn away. I also had to get the hight and angle just right so the hood would line up properly. I ended up notching it at the top and adding a piece of flat steel to reinforce it, I then cut 2 inches off the bottom to get to some weldable steel and added some more flat stock to get it to the tubular support. I finished off by zip-tieing the wireing harness to the support. I test fit the radiator and it fits great.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Looks good!

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Looking good Carl!

Boy, I'm glad I never drove mine in winter, seeing rust like that reminds of the 100 other DSM's I had years ago. Still needs a lot of cleanup though.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Yeah it would be nice to find one that never saw salt. If it was to nice I wouldnt want to mnod or drive it though I created a whole album with captions on facebook most of the same pics here http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set...2274675&type=1

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Very nice. How's that little FMIC been working out? lol

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

its worked alright. I went 11.55 with it. I'm planning on upgrading it before spring. I was getting some knock at the end of a 1/4 mile run I think it was heat soaking. I am planning on keeping the same pipeing unless I find a deal on a full kit.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

I picked up a Precision 750HP intercooler today off of Craigslist. Its a little dirty but in good shape. I welded mounts off the tubular core support. It is nice and solid and the pipeing I have will hook right up. I also got the stock radiator ducting from the parts car I picked up and modified it to work with the new FMIC.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Nice, hopefully that does the trick?

What are the dimesnsions on that?

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Oh it will do the trick. 24 X 10.5 X 3.5 its a Garret core Precision. One of the best intercoolers you can get same as I had on my old car.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Nice hopefully your cooling system keeps up now, although 2gs are a lot better than 1gs.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

I hope so too. Its is going to be ducted and use the stock fans so I think it will be ok. I really want to be able to use the A/C.

Aaron how is the anodizeing holding up on your intercooler? Does it have any rock chipping or anything. I am thinking about doing this one black but want to make sure it will hold up before I spend the money.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Looking good dude!

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

I picked up some 245/50/16 Nitto Drag radials off of Craigslist today. I'm going to put them on some 2G Swirlies I got off of Boomdeeze parts car that I scraped. They should Be a nice track setup for my car.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Curious to see how these work out, no need to worry I won't be stock appearing anymore.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

I would have liked to go with a true slick or QTP, but for the price I couldn't pass these up. the new setup should be a few pounds lighter per wheel and better traction and more sidewall. So it should be a good improvement over my 18" street performance tires.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

So 10.99 or bust this year. Keep up the good work on the car. Iam starting to want a awd auto dsm after seeing you and bb at the tracking running 11s. Hope to see you at the track
this year.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Yeah Im trying to do a bunch of small things that will add up. I still need to find a little more power and lose a little weight and I think 10.99 will be doable. So far I am loving the AWD auto. hopefully we'll be out at the track alot this summer.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

A good driver could do it with a 5spd and the same turbo, if dsmghost runs E85 or race gas you will see him do it I think or beat the trap speed.

I hope so too, I had a lot of fun.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

The perfect pass in a 5-speed will always be faster/quicker. I just got sick of missing gears and stripping teeth. I bought my car for the price of a built 5-speed from shep / Jacks etc so I'm happy. Plus my wife can easly drive this car whenever she wants including the track. I want to see her make a good pass this summer. she went 117 mph at proving grounds last year but the ET was off the mark. hopefully she'll get into the 120's and low 11's this year.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

At least you can admit you missed gears, but stripping teeth? Weird at a low power level.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

I striped 3rd gear twice at around 500 hp. 3rd and 4th gear are always easy to miss with a draging clutch and worn synchros. I'm to cheap for built trannys and twin disks.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

A friend of mine bought a powdercoat gun and oven to customise his motorcycle so I decided I better have him do some parts for me. Next we're going to see if my track wheels will fit in his oven. I plan on doing an intake pipe and mabey a valver cover too.

http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/...ps78c7adf5.jpg

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Love it. I want an all black engine bay.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

I agree, they look tatties.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Nice build! I'm loving the fab work on the front end. Keep it up!

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

I got my extra valve cover and Cams sensor coated black. Now I'm thinking I need to do the fuel rail, coil bracket and Intake manifold. What do people think. I also picked up a VW vaccume pump off of ebay to help hold the car at the line while stageing and I am plannin on makeing a 3.5" Hard intake pipe as soon as some couplers come in.

http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/...ps389f500a.jpg

http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/...psd6c9d414.jpg

http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/...psb005c939.jpg

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Looks good, now just get some black intercooler couplers and a black spark plug cover and it will be all kinds of stealthy!

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Looks great!

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

I fabed up my 3.5 inch intake pipe with reserc pipe tonight. I still need to do some grinding on the inside where the 2 pipes meet and get it powdercoated but I think it turned out pretty good. I also pulled the fuel rail coil pack bracket and intake to get powfercoated to match the rest of the parts I already got coated.

http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6c860b24.jpg

http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9276ca8c.jpg

http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8071629c.jpg

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Nice.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Good to know. My dad was just asking about the HF flux core MIG, everything I read said it was a good unit.

Re: Carl's 98 auto AWD project Black Magic
 

Intake looks good! I've gotta learn to weld so I can try making cool stuff like that