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'02
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So the New Year is upon us.
We have had to paint in the cold with heat lamps to get the engine compartment black.
But now it is finally done.
The last minute things are still going together. We have to finish up the polishing and painting of the accessories.
After getting some metal in my eye from polishing the exhaust manifolds...
I left them alone for a while and put off the polishing...
Just a bit gun shy.
We focused on other things, like putting the car back together. It was not so easy considering every bolt had been moved. Mom was really getting antsy. She had a big party in February and wanted the car done.
So on to the brakes...
We put all that we could back together. I was still waiting on those springs. We went ahead and started to install the brakes and struts.
Finally I got the springs.
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February came. Mom was frantic. The car had to be done.
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Now I had to face finishing the manifolds...
We had just enough time to get the car together by my mother's party. It was together, but in no way drivable. I still needed an alignment done.
During this time, I had been tinkering with a headlight conversion. I decided to do away with the pop-up headlights.
I also made
clear front turn signals...
Finally, I took the car and got the alignment done...
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March is now upon us!
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Its coming time for the Southern TA Regionals in Pensacola, FL. Much work is still to be done. I am planning on having the new hood on for this show.
This means Joe and I have a ton of block sanding to do. John, the painter, got us some filler primer. And we went to work. We got it ready and waited for him to get back in town. Tuesday the week of the show, John took the hood.
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Fang time...
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The fang I had made for NOPI last year had not survived the winter. I accidentally left it on after the trip to the Marriott for pictured by the fountain. The bottom broke off. Amazingly, the rest stayed. So I needed a new more durable fang. I used the oasis again, since it was so easy to cut and form.
Then I got some fiberglass resin and caked it on. I made it drink about 4 ounces of the stuff. I let it harden overnight and checked it. It was still damp. It took about 48 hours to totally cure. I layered it 3 more times for extra strength. I wanted to be able to leave it on the car for good.
Then we had to primer fill and sand. All this went on the last week before the show. We left it to dry while we worked on other things. It was barely ready by the show. It still needed work though so it was not installed, just placed on at the show.
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INTERIOR
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OVERHEAD CONSOLE
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In the meantime, I decided to install the overhead console. It seems easy enough.
I had to take apart so much I decided to do some more conversions while I was at it. I pulled out the chipping rear armrests and old gray doorsills.
While the headliner was out and the rear armrests were out, I was the perfect opportunity to change out my seatbelts. I have a red set out of a 1992 Camaro. Since it would take some time to convert the rear to the shoulder harness set up, I just installed a set of black rear belts. I then installed the red front seat belts. This was after hours of cleaning them. They came out great.
I put on the Pilot black and red Dragon seatbelt pads. They look so cool. In the house I looked at my old silver seat belts and could not believe how nasty they were.
Eeww!
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TRIM PIECES
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I changed the lower dash trim plates to a black pair and switched over my sunglass holders.
I then installed the Black doorsills and the black rear arm rests.
This would give a nice contrast to the Naugasoft.
Plus it would tie in some more with the black with red and gray trim I had materializing.
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GAUGES
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Joe and I decided to add some Autometer gauges to be sure the car was OK on the drive.
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NEON
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I added some interior neons to the trunk area.
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BODY
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I installed gloss black vinyl on the top of the side ground effects. The paint was cracking and chipping. Best quick fix I could think of. It will protect them from further decay until paint job time. I stepped back and looked at them. You really could not tell it wasn't paint.
John had the hood painted and ready Friday so it could finally be installed for good. He had a few spots he wanted to touch up, but it looked awesome.
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So on to the show. It was a complete Fiasco!
2002 PENSACOLA FIASCO on next page
2002 Journal continued on the following page...
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HOME PAGE
Follow this link to additional information on the car not found on this site!
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DIRECTORY FOR RAIF'S HISTORY SITE
01 Site Overview
02 (1987) Options and window sticker...
03 (1989) Stock pics...
04 (1990) Bottom Accent color changed to Black, Enkei rims, & Tint
05 (1992) Wreck & Added 2 amps
06 (1994) Changer, Alarm, Taillights painted red, Emblems Modified
07 (1998) Engine�s top end rebuilt
08 (1999) Major mods began...Misc. trim, exterior lights, & Alpine head unit
09 (2000) Journal of events
10 (pre July 2001) Journal of events
11 (post July 2001) Journal of events
12 (pre March 2002) Journal of events <<<
13 (March 2002) Pensacola Fiasco
14 (post March 2002) Journal of events
15 Grey and Black Interior
16 Old Sub box
17 Cop Stories
18 Old 2.25 Inch Exhaust
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