I've never posted any pictures of my cavalier on the org before so i figured i'd let you all in on what i've been up to. I'll give you guys a little background on this car, I bought it back in 2007 from a guy in Lima, Ohio. It was wrecked into a pole in a parking lot (there was some alcohol involved). I picked it up cheap and decided to fix it all myself. I had absolutely no experience working on cars before i did this. I realize now that there are a few things i could have done a little better but I enjoyed the experience of doing it myself and learning a lot. I did have the car inspected by a professional to make sure there was no frame damage before i started the project. They also replaced the windshield for me since it was cracked from the air bags during the collision. My mother used her fine sowing skills to sow up the steering wheel where the air bag had blown it apart. She actually did a great job. If i can remember correctly, i had to replace the condenser and radiator but other than that, it was just body panels that needed replaced. Thanks to all of you fine folks on jbody.org, craigslist, ebay, and my local junk yard, i was able to put my car together very cheaply. jbody.org classifieds provided the front drift bumper and rear bmx bumper. ebay provided the back lit reverse gauges, coilovers, halo head lights, euro tail lights, window tint, and mesh. craigslist provided the wheels, tires, and side skirts. my local junk yard provided the trunk with z24 spoiler, hood, passenger side fender, trunk latch, hood latch, z24 interior, and radio bezel. big lots provided the new carpet. some trading with friends provided the head unit and sub system. maco shot the lamborghini orange paint for me, it was actually cheaper to have them do it than it would have been just for me to buy the paint. they did an ok job, especially for how cheap it was. i am satisfied with it but i want to paint any of my future projects myself. i may end up doing a orange/black two tone on this car in the future many thanks go out to my friends and family for helping me out with this project. i am especially grateful of my wife who puts up with these kind of projects!


This is how it looked the day i bought it


This is how it looked after having it about one year, as you can see i've got side skirts from a sunfire gt on it, 18" wheels/tires, drift front, bmx rear, and euro tails


I actually had two project cavaliers for a while. The red one i bought from a fellow jbody.org member in kentucky. i had the blitz front bumper on it and drift rear. i put my 18's on the red one and put 1993 cavalier wheels/tires on my multicolored cavalier. the red cavalier was actually a 1997 i believe and the other one is a 2000. it's funny, i actually did a facelift on the 97 and a facedrop on the 2000 to make the bumpers fit.


Here are some pictures of it in progress. . .












as you can see, the side skirts were about 2 inches too short so i had to cut them in order for the door to open correctly. this added tons more work.






aaaoooogggaaa horn just for kicks


filling in the gap with fiberglass


test fitting the front bumper, i had to cut some of the metal bumper away to make it fit, part of the reason was because of it being bent from the crash.


here it is with the chrome 17" rims


$5 pioneer speakers from the junk yard


i had backed into a random piece of cement in a parking lot and did some damage to my rear bumper


here it is after i fixed it, not bad right?


back on the car where it belongs


primering it


kinda looks like a military vehicle at this point i think




my dad helping out with taping it off for final coat of primer


here it is all wet sanded and ready to go to maco


here she is with wet paint in the maco parking lot


took it to a car show in bainbridge, oh that weekend. in this picture are my parents, my friend brandon, and myself.


here i am at the car show












my friends jordan, brandon, and i lined up for a few shots








here it is with neons on, can't really see them in the daytime though




glowing reverse guages, you can also see my mother's fine stitching on the steering wheel


i like this picture a lot but you can see a shadow of a fence on the car :/

I like it but when are you lowering it?, also doesnt macco do body work as well? couldnt they have done it all?

the lowering springs are on it right now and the ride height is adjustable. i can't have it any lower right now though because i would tear off my bumpers pulling in and out of my driveway as for maco, yes they perform body work but it would have cost quite a bit and i actually wanted to do all the work myself. i figured it'd be a good learning experience and it definitely was.

Not really my style, but I respect doing the work yourself and putting in the time to learn. Nice job.

looking good not a bad job for ur first one. few things. One get a can of black paint and paint ur ouga horn and ur wheel liners since u see the orange and the primer. heck spray evey thing behind the front bumper theres grey primer every wheres.and get a alinment ur tires are getting chewed up.

thanks man, i know lamborghini orange isn't for everyone lol. i'm trying to find some smoked head light and tail light covers if anyone on here wants to chime in with some. i'm looking for some extra 17" rims/tires as well, i don't care what color really because i'll probably end up painting them black anyway (something in the $150 to $250 price range). i think the car would look good with black rims and smoked light covers. i have black mesh on the way for the front bumper.

bluedriftcav, good idea! so good in fact that i already did it lol. most of those pictures were taken the week that i got it painted. i have sprayed black paint on anything that looked out of place like the horn. once i install the black mesh, it should give it a more finished look too. the tires were shot when i bought them, i've got new tires i'm putting on in the spring. i've got some stealies on it right now to preserve my chrome rims from all the salt on the roads this winter.

Well i like it....agree paint all the over spray black.



PRND321 Till I DIE
Old Motor: 160whp & 152ft/lbs, 1/4 Mile 15.4 @88.2
M45 + LD9 + 4T40-E, GO GO GO

i respect the work but im just not into the 1999 fast and the furious look.

z yaaaa wrote:i respect the work but im just not into the 1999 fast and the furious look.

This. And that back bumper makes me wanna kick stuff lol.



M62, 42's, ZZP 3", ZZP S3 H/E
214whp 190wtq

Quote:

slvrblit wrote:

This. And that back bumper makes me wanna kick stuff lol.

agreed, the back bumper sticks out so far and is flat on the top of it. everyone wants to keep sitting on it like it's a park bench lol.

Car show in bainbridge? Why wasnt i invited?

Im 10 mins away in Aurora

just still loveing the orange lol. They all wanna sit on it cause it is the notorious J-body park bench. Got a tail gate party? u got ur seat. nice day with the chicky at the park? got ur seat. hell heavy rain? u got ur tent hahahaha.

kris, consider this your invitation:
http://www.fallfestivalofleaves.com/schedule.php
i'll probably go this year as well, the family and i had a good time last year. i was the only jbody there and didn't win anything but it was still lots of fun. my friend brandon brought his celica (pictured above) and my father in law brought his 69' mercury cougar eliminator

i think i may have a set of headlight covers..i'd have to check the garage and get back to ya on that.

Man, this car reminds me of the old j-body modding days.

I think black rims would look good with the orange. But why would you want to put smoke covers on the projector headlights? They look good as-is IMO.

The altezza tails... Eh, I'd rather get a pair of stockers and smoke those out. Look for something called VHT nightshades. Couple coats of that and some clear coat, and they start to look pretty sexy.

Good luck man.

as for the projectors, the chrome on the corners of them is flaking off. probably because i didn't have bulbs in the corner parts for a while and moisture got in there. the front part around the headlights still looks good but it's got that beige plastic look on the corners. so i figured i'd put covers on them. i'm wanting to put covers on both the front and back, that way if i end up changing my mind, i don't have the VHT stuff to try to get off. i'll probably end up using VHT on my chrysler lhs though since there is no after market for it.

Quote:

bluedriftcavy(a.k.a. wayne) wrote:

Got a tail gate party? u got ur seat. nice day with the chicky at the park? got ur seat. hell heavy rain? u got ur tent hahahaha.

case and point ^^^

btw: that's dad's cougar in the background

Nice work.

Did you have that painted at Maaco here in Columbus?










~2014 New Z under the knife, same heart different body~
______________________
WHITECAVY no more
2012 numbers - 4SPD AUTOMATIC!!
328 HP
306 TQ

yea, the one in reynoldsburg. i basically pre-ordered my paint job, i paid like around january 2009 and got it painted in i think it was october 2009. i got a half off special since it was winter and they let me bring the car in once i had finished my body work. i did have a bit of a problem getting them to hold up their end of the bargain because i guess they changed owners or something. it sounded like they raised their prices but i had my receipts from when i pre-paid so they painted the car but i don't think they were very happy about it.

Oh ok, because I know the guy who painted your car. He took a picture of it and sent it to me to ask if I knew who drove it. I remember the fang things now that you posted pics. Small world lol










~2014 New Z under the knife, same heart different body~
______________________
WHITECAVY no more
2012 numbers - 4SPD AUTOMATIC!!
328 HP
306 TQ

I like the color, not a fan of that bodykit but nice work. I also didnt realize the eleminators came with the vinyl roof. My dad also had a Cougar as well but it was a '68 Cougar XR7-G.




JBO Member since 2006.

Good job,turned out good.

mad props for turning the car around from zero to hero lol, car looks good!!!