Page One
Yeah, it's a big pain, too.

05/24/07- Found out a while ago that the underpinnings of the donor car were different enough to make swapping sheetmetal a problem. Also, it was just too nice to chop apart, so I took some of the parts the other Lancer wasn't using and made another ride for SDAC-16 out in Topeka, KS. It won first in class at the car show, oddly enough....

06/09/05- Found my donor. An '87 LeBaron GTS. It's such a nice car, I almost feel bad about stripping it down. But 1 of 20,000 is not as special as 1 of 279.

I figure I should update everyone, but there really isn't anything new to mention. The car is still in pieces. I finally got it into the garage, to make way for my bro's '66 Coronet in the driveway, but now I have almost no room to work on my car anymore. Go figure. I am searching for a good parts car so I can replace the rusty bits, and that is where it stands now. More later.

This is my second Lancer Shelby. The first one met an untimely demise back in '94, due to an extreme case of bad luck.
After a nine year search, I found this one on eBay for a mere $1800, although, some would consider that too much.
So far, I haven't been able to do much as far as modification goes, just a bit of tuning and replacement pieces.
I did blow $1000 on a very bad bit of bodywork, that will have to be redone by next year. The work was done last May, and is already rusting through. Not happy.

The wheels are from a PT Cruiser, which look pretty good, but the rear centercaps won't fit, because of the wheel nut covers.
The tires I am most happy with. Goodyear Eagle F1 GSDs They stick like glue, especially in the rain. I would not recommend them for snow. I would highly recommend that you left it where it was until the snow goes away.

I am a little hesitant about the grill. It does look nice monochromed, but I miss the blackout treatment. Maybe I'll fix it one of these days.

Here is a pic of the engine, as promised.
I haven't done much mods, yet. I put Magnecor 8.5mm plug wires, a Summit Racing 40,000 Volt coil, and a mechanical boost controller on it. I keep an eye on it with an R/Active Air/Fuel Ratio meter in the dash, and wretched OBX boost gauge on the steering column. The boost gauge is almost completely inaccurate (by about 30%), and a complete waste of money.

While I haven't been modifying it, I have been doing work. So far, I have replaced the water pump, the motor mounts, the timing belt, and, of course, the bodywork.
I still need to replace the alternator, but any further work on it has been put on hold while I decide if I am going to keep it anymore.
I have a lot of problems with this car, I think it was not cared for by one or more of the previous owners, but I love the body style, and I will keep trying to make it better.

Now for a series of underbelly pics. The pics of the cancerous decay of my beautiful machine...
we'll start with the rear crossbeam, left to right:

Quite a bit of rust under there, but repairable.
Top and bottom of the spare tire well:

That's mostly undercoating falling off the bottom. Some sandblasting and new undercoat should take car of that.

Strangely, the inner fender panels look great:

And so does the rest of the floorpan:

But the big problem is the frame rails in back of the "B" pillar:
Both sides look similar to this, but only next to the jackpoints.

Now I have a couple of current progress pics. It is the snow season, so not much else is getting done.

The Dakota from Hades
The Shout Outs