93formulalt1's Projects Thread

[DETROITMUSCLE]

converter should be the first mod in any auto car IMO

[93formulalt1]

converter should be the first mod in any auto car IMO

Undecided on a converter yet, I need some input. Not looking to do too much more to the car, I want it to be a fairly streetable car, since I never go to the track, and the car is driven daily around town. Don't want anything too wild.

That said, I was about to order a TCI 2400-2600 RPM converter, but read online that a 3k stall isn't too much for a DD, but it's reccommended that I run a trans cooler as well. . . I'm not ready to jump into it yet, I'd like to make sure I make an informed decision about a converter and get all of the other parts I need to prevent damaging anything. I'm considering ordering some 3.73 rear gears to install with my locker in the meantime, but I might hold off until later on this summer for that.

Any suggestions? Help me decide what's next, and I might throw you all some info on my most recent purchases. . .

[93formulalt1]

Anybody know what I should expect to pay at an exhaust shop for a TD setup from the headers all the way back? I want the setup to exit the stock locations, but I might be willing to have them dump before the rear axle if it won't cause any ground clearance issues with the current lowered suspension. . . The air shocks out back should help with ground clearance issues if the mufflers are behind the rear axle, but I want to get some opinions first. . .

[DETROITMUSCLE]

a 300 converter would be great for a daily driver, I would highly recommend putting in a converter before a gear swap you will be surprised how well it wakes up the car and might keep those gears in the box for now. The downfall is its going to affect your mileage around town but not on the highway. The best way to explain how one works is to think of it as a clutch in a manual transmission. It will take a few more rpms to get the car moving maybe 500 more (this is not the stall speed!) the stall speed, which is this case would be a 3000 converter, means that when you floor the car it will "flash" to 3K rpms and never drop below that outting your car in a better powerband.

[93formulalt1]

a 300 converter would be great for a daily driver, I would highly recommend putting in a converter before a gear swap you will be surprised how well it wakes up the car and might keep those gears in the box for now. The downfall is its going to affect your mileage around town but not on the highway. The best way to explain how one works is to think of it as a clutch in a manual transmission. It will take a few more rpms to get the car moving maybe 500 more (this is not the stall speed!) the stall speed, which is this case would be a 3000 converter, means that when you floor the car it will "flash" to 3K rpms and never drop below that outting your car in a better powerband.

That's what I was thinking. I also read some reviews of the TCI converters, not a whole lot of good reviews out there. I'm hearing mostly bad things. Maybe I'll go with a Fuddle or something similar. Looking to spend about $400 for converter and a trans cooler, and maybe $300 for gears and install. After that, and installing what I already have (and the stuff I ordered), I might order a wideband O2 and an A/F guage, maybe a trans temp guage, and do a tuneup, but that's where I'm going to cut myself off. The stuff I am installing should wake the car right up, and I think I'll be happy with it for a while. It's amazing how addictive the parts websites are when I actually have some money to spend on the car.

As for the stuff I ordered, if you all would like to know, I'll tell you, but if not, I'll keep it a secret until M&G time. I should be home in time for that. I still have a couple of parts I'm going to order in a couple weeks, but for the most part, all of the things I've been thinking about ordering are on their way. . .

[93formulalt1]

Apparently nobody wants to know what the UPS guy is delivering in the next couple of weeks. . . I guess that just means more surprises for the Meet and Greet. . .

Anybody know where I can get a Class 3 Hitch for the Formula? lol j/k

[c0ncEpT]

Don't waste your money on a Fuddle. There garbage. Spend the money and get either a Vig or Yank and don't look back.

[93formulalt1]

Don't waste your money on a Fuddle. There garbage. Spend the money and get either a Vig or Yank and don't look back.

Funny, I heard Fuddle was actually one of the better brands. . . I heard TCI has been making trash, which is why I decided to stay away from them. I will definitely go with a Vigilante or Yank. Who makes a good trans cooler? I'll probably be going that route at the same time, I know converters create a lot of heat, which (from what I've heard) is the major cause of transmission failure/damage.

I'm thinking of maybe some Motive 3.90's after the converter is done, along with my Detroit Locker, but like I said, that may be a few months down the road.

I probably should have held off on ordering one of the items I ordered until I had the car a little closer to where I want it to be, but I'll get over it.


Probably going to be setting up a weekend to get everything installed this spring/summer, I'm also hoping to have the garage heated before next winter, so I should be in better shape for winter mods. . . Hoping to get the engine rebuilt in the next couple of years, but that all depends on where I'm at financially and whether I decide to keep pouring money into this car. At this point, I'm almost to the "point of no return" as far as getting anything out of the car as far as resale value is concerned, but I think a rebuilt engine and (maybe) trans could do some good, as well as the "show" aspects that I am hoping to correct soon. The car looks like an 18 year old, 165,000 mile car, but trust me, it's gonna be a NASTY car (mechanically) before I start focusing on the appearance of it.

[DETROITMUSCLE]

your gonna spend a lot more than $400 for a good converter mine was almost $800 shipped as mentioned Yank or Ridings may be good choices, a cooler is cheap just get one off jegs for like $60 and you'll be good to go. you also may want to invest in a trans temp gauge to be on the safe side. SO what did you get to go along with the headers?

[kammi10]

Anybody know what I should expect to pay at an exhaust shop for a TD setup from the headers all the way back? I want the setup to exit the stock locations, but I might be willing to have them dump before the rear axle if it won't cause any ground clearance issues with the current lowered suspension. . . The air shocks out back should help with ground clearance issues if the mufflers are behind the rear axle, but I want to get some opinions first. . .

im sorry but ground clearance but duals and a lowered car... that doesnt exist... i had maybe 2 inches tops on my system i had last year... you wont get much more depending on how far your car is lowered

[93formulalt1]

im sorry but ground clearance but duals and a lowered car... that doesnt exist... i had maybe 2 inches tops on my system i had last year... you wont get much more depending on how far your car is lowered

A couple of inches is perfect. My front bumper cover is what scrapes on most driveways and speedbumps right bow (or the "air dam" under the front end, I can't tell which.) All I know is that when I go over speed bumps, I hear a plastic-on-asphalt scraping noise. I have decent ground clearance with the exhaust setup I have now, scrapes sometimes over tall speed bumps, but I have become very cautious about where I take my car because of it.

That said, I have air shocks in the back, and I'm thinking about getting an air-ride system to remedy the problems I have with ground clearance, plus I can lower the car a little more on roads that aren't bad, increase the pressure when on rough roads, and just jack the car up to pull into driveways, go over speedbumps, etc. I love being able to adjust the ride height out back, it would be nice to be able to do the same thing on-the-fly for the whole car.

Quick question, I'm getting ready to order some body parts to get the car ready for paint, and I wanted to know what you guys thought. My front fenders are damaged (very minor, IMO), the front corner of the fender is cracked off on both of them. The missing piece is maybe 1" from the front top corner, if that. I was wondering if that was something I could repair effectively with fiberglass, or if you guys thought it would be worth the $180+ shipping to just buy a couple of new fenders. I know we did the repairs on Ben's fenders before we painted his car, and his were in worse shape than mine, but without my Dad's help, I don't think it's something I'd really be able to do right or make look good. Body panels are pretty expensive, and I always told myself, the original parts aren't in bad shape, and if I fix them, I'll have more money for the upgrades I'm looking into (T/A bumpers, cowl/ram air hood, T/A hatch, etc.), but I'm not sure it's something I'd want to attempt on my own. I'm hoping to have the car painted by the Meet and Greet, and to get the various little things wrong with the car fixed (dents, rust, etc) to make the car look better than it did when I bought it, also so it didn't look like crap when parked next to some of the cars on this site. I've been putting it off for a while now, and I'm starting to wind down on performance upgrades, so I think I'd like to get the visual aspect started so I can at least feel good about showing my car off at shows. My car is in decent shape, but at the same time, it's starting to look like a 20 year old, 170k mile car that has just been used as transportation. I feel that this car is more than that to me, and I want it to start looking like it.

Not to mention, I'd be a LOT more inclined to keep the car clean and make it fit in the 2 car garage next to the Monte Carlo if it were in better shape. Not to mention, I wouldn't be driving it in the winter at all, and it would probably live a lot longer than if it continues down the path it's been on.

That said, I'm also looking for some color suggestions. I'd like to stick with a red base, but I was thinking of something a little more eye-catching, like maybe a darker red with some metal flake, maybe a pearl red, I'm really not sure. I don't want to have to re-paint the door jams and everything, but I know how to paint a car the right way, and this car will be done right. Any suggestions?

I'm working on getting the rims I've been wanting for a while, C5 thin spoke 18x10.5 and 17x9.5 rims, and I'm going to have them powdercoated black, or maybe I'll paint them black, I'm not sure yet, but hopefully I'll have a set soon enough. Here are the ones I'm seriously considering spending the money on. . . Dad thought these were awesome, I think they are my favorite so far, besides maybe the CCW's that I know I'll never be able to afford. . .



He's got the 18x10.5 rims front and back, the ones I'm looking at are smaller in the front. I already have practically new tires in this size, and I can get all four rims for $606 shipped. That's not a bad deal, IMO, for a set of brand new rims with a lifetime structural warranty. If I do decide to order them, I'll be shopping around for a better deal, but I'd be happy with that price. Not to mention, I have like 4 sets of rims for the car right now (C5 wagon wheels, stock twisted-spoke 16s, stock 5 spokes, 16" chrome WS6 wheels) that I could sell to get some of my money back, and still keep a set for storing the car on.


I'm not good at keeping secrets, so I'm going to share some of my ideas with you guys, to get some input.

I want to get the rims I posted above, a 2-3" cowl induction hood, trans am front and rear bumpers (or the front and rear pieces for the Wings West body kit, but that's the more expensive route), trans am rear hatch (raised spoiler), do the T-Top conversion, and paint the car red with black accents (maybe some stripes, maybe just get black "Formula" decals), install an air-ride setup to help with ground clearance issues, and install a quiet exhaust system (probably stick with what's on the car right now, minus the cat) and an electric cutout. I'm not all about speed, I do like to have the power to pass someone on the highway (at a high rate of speed, but it's all relative), but I'm not really out to win any races. All I really care about is building the car the way I want it, and enjoying it. At the same time, I want my car to be something others can appreciate for the amount of work I've put into it, and I want it to be done tastefully.

That said, anybody have any suggestions/questions/comments/concerns with what I've mentioned so far? I'm hoping to have everything I need ordered so I can just buy the paint and get to work when I get home. . .


EDIT: I found these wheels for $566 shipped on another site, I'm seriously about to bite the bullet here and let my wallet do the thinking. . . I've been looking at these rims for months, I haven't found a better looking wheel for the price, and I think they'd look KILLER on my car. . . I'm going to keep looking, if I find them for less than $500 shipped, I'm buying them.

[93formulalt1]

These rims are pretty good looking too, but I still think I like the machined face C5 DD's more. . . I just can't get over how great those rims would look on my car. . .

[meissen]

Wow sounds like you're really building a sweet street machine, Nick. I'd talk to Mike Ridings about a converter - the one he built me with my cam is perfectly streetable.

[93formulalt1]

Wow sounds like you're really building a sweet street machine, Nick. I'd talk to Mike Ridings about a converter - the one he built me with my cam is perfectly streetable.

I'll do that, I want something streetable that will last a while, I'll check with Mike to see what his prices are.

[ktl711]

Either wheel would be awful sweet, Nick. Hope you can find a deal on your first-choice rims!