I feel like it is finally that time. I have only had the car for 3 and a half years. Most of you know that I have it, but for the new guys. It's a 1996 Convertable LD9/Auto. Bought off another JBO member 3.5 years ago(Zs Z). It sat untouched at my parent house for 2.5 years(which was an hour away from where I was living at the time) and it sat in my garage at my "new" house for a yearish. It is/was lightly modded - custom exhaust, euro tails, and 97 PCM swap are the mods that come to mind.
At my parents:
My garage:
The plan is to COMPLETELY strip it and build off the shell. I still haven't decided on alot of things for this build, but what I am pretty certain on is:
The built Eco will go in it with the TVS. The trans is undecided, but I am leaning towards a Getrag F40. The car will be a manual. Also I am 95% sure I'll be going with MS3 to run everything.
The car will be converted to 03-05 with the full Xtreme Tuner kit along with the Turbosport spoiler and alot of carbon fiber. I do have another set of Toyota Cavalier fenders, but I am not 100% on running them. I have been thinking about doing my own widebody on it so I can run a wider track width with 265ish tire. Don't worry I will not butcher the Toyo fenders to build the widebody. Yes that is the coupe and not the vert, I didn't have a picture with the kit mocked up in my Imageshack account.
The suspension is a big unknown. I want to run IRS, but I am not 100% on which IRS I want to adapt to the car. It depends alot on how I set up the drivetrain. I am also not sure if I am even keeping the 5x100 bolt pattern. But wheels I have pretty sure on. I'm looking for something is the 18x8.5/18x9 area with 20-15mm offset(if I do widebody it).
I have put no thought into the interior beside updating it to 2000+ and installing an aftermarket steering wheel and seats.
But now for why I am posting this now. I ACTUALLY WORKED ON THE CAR LAST NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not too much got done. Just pulled the radiator and most of the A/C system. Nice rusty coolant. It isn't like I plan on keeping the LD9 anyway.
I hope to maintain the motivation to at least spend a few hours tinkering on it each weekend. If I do then I should make some pretty good progress.
Probably run it into the ground and then scrap it after I take the goodies off it.
Tinkles(KGM) wrote:Probably run it into the ground and then scrap it after I take the goodies off it.
Sad to hear the fate of the coupe as it's been one of my favorite builds forever and a huge inspiration for future upgrades for mine. However I can't wait to see what you do with the vert.
If you go with a le5 you can actually use the factory ecm (e67 or e38) as a standalone instead of ms3. This is what I'm doing with my le5/ma5 powered nova.
RIP Cpl Derek Kerns And Cpl Robby Reyes
24th MEU VMM-261 (REIN) V22 Crewchiefs
11 April 2012 Morocco (African Lion)
MillerBilt Racing wrote:If you go with a le5 you can actually use the factory ecm (e67 or e38) as a standalone instead of ms3. This is what I'm doing with my le5/ma5 powered nova.
I want the extra features that the MS3 offers, like a built in nitrous controller. Besides I already have the engine built for it.
Gen 1 L61 block
Weisco L61 10:1 pistons
Eagle L61 forged rods
Eagle L61 forged crank
Powerbore sleeves
Golden Eagle head studs
GMPP hardened oil pump gears
LSJ headgasket
Ported LSJ head
Ferrera +1mm oversized valves
New Supertech 78lb springs
ZZP "Stage 2" LSJ blower cams
GMPP adjustable cam gears
My best guess is that it should be able to hold 600-700hp, so after I hit 400whp with the TVS why not toss 150 shot of nitrous on it too?
RMacX18 wrote:
Sad to hear the fate of the coupe as it's been one of my favorite builds forever and a huge inspiration for future upgrades for mine. However I can't wait to see what you do with the vert.
Thanks, but the coupe has always been a 10 foot car. It is dented, rusting(in all of the usual spots), and has some modifications done to it that are not easily reversed to resell it for a beater car. So when the time comes it will donate parts to the vert, be parted out, and then the shell will be scrapped. It will be a sad moment for me, I have had it for 10 years, spent thousands of dollars on it, and have countless hours into it. I learned ALOT with it, but it doesn't "challenge" me anymore. So it is time to start fresh and try to go over the top.
MS3 is way better!!! I might do that one day myself as well.
FU Tuning
I went on a last minute road trip and picked this up.
I didn't know it was a JSP until I got there(I agreed to buy it without seeing it). Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised. I was planning on picking up another ViS, shaving the keyhole, and having it rewrapped in CF. But this works.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Friday, May 26, 2017 8:14 PM
The springs are definitely 78lb and not 75lb? If so make sure you either clearance the new style followers or run the older style. I tried to get away with it and it did NOT work. Chewed up the titanium retainers. So much so that I was afraid to reuse them.
"In Oldskool we trust"
Nice to see some activity on JBO again.
Can't wait to see where this goes, always wanted a Jbody vert.
Building it one piece at a time
