Hi Everyone
The name's PJ. I've been on this board for about a year, mainly in the background reading and getting some information. Exactly one year ago this month, I bought my first car, a 1997 Base Nordic Mist Silver Prelude. I purchased her from a used car dealership (I know,
). After several ups and downs it seems she's finally getting what she deserves so I thought I'd start a little progression thread.
This is what she looked like when I picked her up. 100% stock base. I should've realized something was wrong when the rims are running away from each other
.
After one week, I couldn't take it no more. I had to purchase new wheels and with the little money I had I picked up some Drag Rims. Opening these "shoes" felt like Christmas but one year later I am somewhat bored of them so I will be upgrading shortly (knock on wood) to some 5Zigen FN01 or Volk Rims.
Now this was the new look.
Unfortunately, a month later I got into a little fender bender. With the help of my father we fixed the dent but I've been driving with primered fender for a little over 6 months now. To add to that, we attempted to repair the rust but it was a little to late (October) and we got caught in the rain. In the little time we had we realized that the wheel arches where nearly destroyed. The arch would literally crumble in our hands when grabbing them. We did our best with that and then tried to fix the keyhole on the trunk that also had quite a bit of rust.
Purchased a nice birthday gift for myself in November. Infinity sound system (minus Sub) with a beautiful little Pioneer dash.
Now May 09' the big change is coming. After almost 3 months of having the car, the H22A started knocking
. That wasn't the only problem however. The paint was chipping from rocks, rust was getting pretty bad because of Canadian winters, the Window trim looked like ****, the Windows were squealing and one barely will go down anymore and the wheel arches where falling apart.
Luckily it lasted until now, but it is time for a rebuild. I sadly don't have the money to have the work done so I thought it would be a great learning experience to do this with my dad. In the end he did transform this:
Mustang (Donor similar to but Not THIS exact car)
Into this beautiful AC Cobra:
so I think/hope I can trust him
. So the plans for this month include Engine rebuild (OEM with minor upgrades such as AEM intake, Greddy SP2 Exhaust system for now). I'm also repainting the car (same color), finally getting my long awaited coil-over setup (Tokico Illuminas + Ground Controls), painting the base skirts same color as the car so they look clean and obviously I'm finally repairing all that rust.
Here's what my father and I have accomplished to date. Forgive the low quality iPhone pics.
Stripped the doors to get to the rust underneath and fix the window mechanics.
Pulled off the bumpers and skirts. Sand + Repaint.
A little progress on the engine. More to come in the next couple days.
If you managed to stay interested until now, I appreciate it
. I'm a big fan of the cars I see here and the love that's been put into them. I've often felt I should've just sold this car and buy a new one but I'm going to stick it out with this lude despite the wrong doing her previous owner did. I'm hoping to hear feedback and criticism always. Hopefully by the end of the summer it'll look something like this masterpiece.
.
. Plus every time VTEC engages a cloud of blue smoke follows me and stinks up those in my rear view [may be a cool feature, actually].
. In addition, I'll be passing by the local Honda dealership over here to get their estimate for all the parts before I actually order. Which ever can deliver at a cheaper fee and quicker will get my money LOL.
and getting them ready for paint.
. I was pretty lucky because I never felt the clutch slip and yet when we opened it up saw it was in bad condition so it was perfect timing. 
Linear Mode
