SneakyBastard

Hello....

I thought I would post up some pics of the work I have done since buying my Max a few years ago.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Keep in mind, I have only done repairs to the engine to any worn parts and replaced them with new... like the starter, alternator, new coil packs and plugs, water pump, MAF, valve cover gaskets, cleaning and douching out the throttle body and intake, etc.

No major modifications have been done internally. It is basically stock and runs strong as the day she was born.

Approaching 200k miles.

The photos of the day I got her are on the wifes phone, but, this is what started the whole thing. A new set of rims......and the passion started to burn!



That picture is when I noticed all the damage on just the driver side... and the fun begins.

Over the next several months..





It started out simply enough...Lol!

But....












I lowered the car with some Eibach lowering springs and new struts.
Did as much of the body work as possible to do with simple Bondo.

I replaced the back seats (leather) with seats I found at Pick 'n' Pull out of an Infinity I30. As well as all the chrome handles from the interior.

But this is how it looks now. The outside, at least...

I still have a problem with the skirt just under the driver side door just behind the wheel well. A blowout on the freeway caused the steel belt to cave that spot in. I bought a piece of 22 gauge steel to repair it with and hope to do that this weekend... weather permitting. You can see it in this next picture...











I still have a ways to go before I am satisfied enough to give it a final paint job. I find little dings on it every day, it seems. As well as high spots, low spots, etc.

I painted all the emblems black.




I have remodeled the interior as well... Here are some shots of the door panels and other changes I have made. I have also installed LED's in the gauges, doors, map lights and dome light.




I will post pictures of the center bezels later. Daughter has the car at school right now....lol... maybe that is where the dings are coming from..
As well as the LED's. Everything is done in black and white. The LED's and lighting are all done in red. It looks pretty sick at night!!

I have an idea for customizing the front and rear end of the car... I did a photoshop rendering of what I was thinking... I am not sure how to go about doing it, but, maybe someone here does??



I want to flatten the front and rear end... or the bumper covers.

What are your thoughts and how would I do this??

Thanks for your time and hope to brainstorm some with you all here...

JoshG

Overall, looks like a good progress.. but until the end I personally wouldn't recommend that. The long front and rear ends is what makes the car look good in my opinion.. but flattening those two ends, yeah.. its going to look a bit odd.

CS_AR

I wish I had 1/2 of your talent for body work and painting. Those are two things that I just can't seem to master. You've got it. I can't begin to imagine what it would take to shorten the bumpers. You must have a line of sight into remolding that that type of material.

How are you changing the door colors? I've always wondered how to do that.

I've had two or three white cars over the years. They are always so easy to keep and to do some paint work when needed.

Keep us updated for sure. Again, you've got a great car in the making for sure.

SneakyBastard

I assume you are referring to the leather panels...

Angelus Leather Paint. My daughter is the artist in the family. She got into painting her old Nike Jordans. She has about 60 odd pair or so. She repaints them something totally different from what they were before and she is who told me about this paint.

I used Flat White for the panels, Flat Black for the rest of the door panels and coated the entire thing with a Satin Finish.

Amazingly resilient, strong and nearly impossible to peel or scratch off...

If you ever do this to your leather, be sure to thin the paint a bit with warm water and apply it with an airbrush in thin coats. If you try to apply it all at once, it will turn into something that resembles a plasti-dip covering and will peel off easily.

That is why I come here. I like to hear others opinions. Myself, I am trying to make this car into its' own identity. One of a kind. I may not attempt this modification. I can guarantee you that before I am done, I will have done something odd to it! But it will look good... Or I will start over again.

Thanks for your guys' input.

As for having the painting and body work down?? This is my first attempt at any type of body work. It seems pretty straight forward. You just have to be able to float everything together with the palm sander....lol.

And the painting..... I have 3 sets of everything .... handles, cups,m bezels....I have ruined at least one set already... All the paint (except the leather) is not final. These are done with spray cans. When I paint the car, another set will be done in the same car paint and finished the same.