Project-J progress thread - Photos & Media Forum

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Project-J progress thread
Thursday, February 23, 2012 11:31 PM
Project-J(technically my second one lol).
1996 Z24

Under hood-
Rebuilt motor(99' block, 96' head)
2.3 LO manifold and TB(polished)
2200 coilpacks W/ taylor 8mm plug wires
Pacesetter 4-1 header
Borla Muffler(soon to be Cobalt SS/SC muffler)
TTR upper motor insert, lower dogbone, urethane tranny bushings
Cruise control relocated to behind firewall

Exterior-
Drift body kit
VIS oem style CF hood
00-02 trunk lights 95-99 outer tails both tinted
00-02 Z24/LS spoiler
17" SRT4 rims(painted black)

Interior-
Leather Z28 seats(gotta pick up)
Shifter cut down W/ weighted shift knob

Suspension-
Convertible front strut bar(bolted to firewall)
ENERGY end-link bushings
MOOG ball joints and tie-rods

WAS going to be doing a 'Cavfire' front end swap, got as far as this;

After ditching the Sunfire front end, ended up looking like this for a week or so.


Currently looking like this;



Having some issues with the corner lights, and the washer tank sticking too far out and through the bumper.

Repainted motor from this:

to this:

After painting lettering black



Having issues with a Vacuum leak right now after putting motor back together. UGH.
Hopefully an easy fix.
Next week I will be working on the side skirts, and then rear bumper.
I'm hoping I can get the skirts mounted and flush without having to mold them into the body, but if I can't get them flush well then guess they will be molded.

Future body work plans include;
Shaved trunk lid(no spoiler or lights)
Shaved antenna
Shaved fuel door
Molded sunfire c-pillars(prefer the curved quarter windows)

I'll have more pics up next week after I get it running and give it a good cleaning,
In about a month or so I'll have the other half of my tax refund and will be picking up a few more toys.




Re: Project-J progress thread
Friday, February 24, 2012 3:14 AM
Looking good Josh!



Re: Project-J progress thread
Friday, February 24, 2012 8:38 AM
Thanks!

Found the vacuum leak, its running like a dream now

A bit more info on plans I've got.
Interior will be a full black/graphite swap, really want Sunfire interior quarter panels with the cloth inserts, Sunfire dash/door panels w/ 03-05 upper dash pad.

Only performance work I'm looking at for this year is the "secret-cam" swap and possible a tune.






Re: Project-J progress thread
Friday, February 24, 2012 10:27 AM
Got the engine bay back together.






Re: Project-J progress thread
Saturday, February 25, 2012 6:48 AM
Looks pretty cool.



2004 Cavalier Sedan
Re: Project-J progress thread
Sunday, February 26, 2012 12:23 PM
Looks decent. Should have cleaned up the bay a little better while the motor was out though.


"Oil Leak ? What oil Leak ? Oh, Thats Just The Sweat From All The HorsePower!!"

Re: Project-J progress thread
Sunday, February 26, 2012 3:16 PM
Thats looking pretty sweet... I am scooping up an 01 Z24 5sp soon. It'll actually be my 3rd cavi, first two were 97's an RS and a base model. I think I prefer the cavi front end over the sunfire, more the shape of the headlights, but its sounding like its going to come out pretty good. I just need to figure out where i want to get my parts from before starting any project...!
Re: Project-J progress thread
Monday, February 27, 2012 6:01 AM
DSMskyline wrote:Looks decent. Should have cleaned up the bay a little better while the motor was out though.


I didn't have the engine out...



Re: Project-J progress thread
Monday, February 27, 2012 6:03 AM
Looking to get skirts and rear bumper on Wednesday(weather pending).



Re: Project-J progress thread
Monday, February 27, 2012 6:04 AM

Oh yeah got these



Re: Project-J progress thread
Sunday, March 04, 2012 2:27 PM
Some progress.
Got the drivers side skirt on, fixed issue with muffler hitting rear bumper(still need to get the Cobalt SS muffler on).
Still have to deal with passenger side fender not fitting(bottom end on car side where bolts go is bent).



After wet sanding the kit;




Hopefully beginning of April I will be able to start the process of molding parts on the car;
*shaved trunk lid W/ 00-02 spoiler molded to the trunk(love it or hate it, I like the idea)
*Rear bumper(want to try to mold in 03-05 filler panels)
*Side skirts(cutting front fender portion so its all door sill height till the quarter panel which will be widened out to slowly fade into rear bumper IE "wide body", might use fender flare)
*C-Pillars molded(Would LOVE to swap to Sunfire c-pillars)
*Gas door(relocated under trunk lid)/Antenna shaved

Want to attempt to make a airbox for the intake, to completely fill in drivers side, while making one for the passenger side that would cover the coolant reservoir.
Not sure if this will be possible or not.




Re: Project-J progress thread
Wednesday, March 07, 2012 10:59 AM
seen your pics on facebook man, car is coming along thats for sure



Re: Project-J progress thread
Wednesday, March 07, 2012 4:45 PM
I would remove the screws before you glass over.... If you don't they will eventually show through your body work. Use body panel bond or urethane.


Re: Project-J progress thread
Wednesday, March 07, 2012 4:54 PM
SeamlessZ24 wrote:I would remove the screws before you glass over.... If you don't they will eventually show through your body work. Use body panel bond or urethane.


That is what i tried telling him over on GMSCF, but he wouldnt hear it.


Error: Sig not found.

Re: Project-J progress thread
Wednesday, March 07, 2012 6:46 PM
i dont get why the screws were used either.



Re: Project-J progress thread
Thursday, March 08, 2012 11:57 AM
Tinkles(KGM) wrote:
SeamlessZ24 wrote:I would remove the screws before you glass over.... If you don't they will eventually show through your body work. Use body panel bond or urethane.


That is what i tried telling him over on GMSCF, but he wouldnt hear it.


Um you never said WHY on anything regarding screws, just pretty much attacked me for using them telling me "you f'd up your car".

Everyone I've talked to about molding the side skirts said TO use screws because the molding tape/whatever will give in and cause the fiberglass to crack and pull away from the car.



Re: Project-J progress thread
Thursday, March 08, 2012 2:12 PM
You can do what you like.... But even on my old show car I used rivets for a hood scoop then glassed over... And a year later u could see every rivet. It just depends how nice u want it to turn out. I would be the one to know... With as much body work and glass work my car has.


Re: Project-J progress thread
Thursday, March 08, 2012 2:32 PM
Josh Watson wrote:
Tinkles(KGM) wrote:
SeamlessZ24 wrote:I would remove the screws before you glass over.... If you don't they will eventually show through your body work. Use body panel bond or urethane.


That is what i tried telling him over on GMSCF, but he wouldnt hear it.


Um you never said WHY on anything regarding screws, just pretty much attacked me for using them telling me "you f'd up your car".


Actually i did... It wasnt the same as Seanless's answer thou.


Error: Sig not found.

Re: Project-J progress thread
Friday, May 18, 2012 3:28 PM
Alright after almost 2 months of the car being down, I think I may finally have it figured out(think the ignition key cylinder was bad, or the theft system it self was bad).
Need a test drive out on the highway but I think its running again.

During this down time I did some research, watched and helped my friend mold a body kit to his car and I'm going at it differently now.
Going to patch up the screw holes, and when its time to mold the skirts on, going to use a clamp on the quarter panel to hold the skirt while the glass sets.
Still using screws on the ends(inside fender wells like stock skirt locations).
Picked up a replacement door for the passenger side, but its green and wont be going on till the door is painted.
Fixed the issue with the bottom bolt holes for the fender so its aligned properly now.
I test fitted the new door and everything lines up, so just gotta deal with the trashed white door till the green is painted.
Need to repaint outer mirrors and door handles, never got to clear them and it shows

Front fender portion of side skirt will be cut down to where it sits the same height along door sill all the way to quarter panel.
Quarter panel section is going to be trimmed to sit as close to flush with the body as possible for a smoother transition.
Also going to replace the front drift bumper with a 00-02 Z/LS front bumper with the WW front lip, as the WW lip will match pretty close to the curve on the drift side skirts.
And get a set of the one piece Halo's and remove the blue LED lights between projectors and corner lights(I've seen it done before).

Decided to keep the stock fuel door, still shaving the antenna however.
Rear bumper is still going to be molded to the body.
Also going to mold the C-Pillars into the body to lose the seems at the quart panels.

Well while while the car wasnt running I had the battery and Alternator checked and checked all the wires.
So while the motor was mostly apart I cleaned up some of the wiring.
As soon as our taxes get here in another 2-3 weeks I'm picking up another 2.4 intake tube and I'm gonna to cut it to fit the 2.3 manifold so the intake tube is in one piece.
also replace the rubber hoses with fresh hoses, not that the current ones are bad, they just look bad.
here is some crappy cell phone pics, as my camera fell into water and fried *sigh*




going to be losing the stock reservoir for the same coolant set up as gtpsunfire did on his.
Picking up a new fuel rail to get powder coated at a later time, And looking for the smooth older style quad4 cam tower caps.
Once the car is on the road first stop is a car wash for a major scrub down under the hood.

So I should have some updates in the next couple of weeks, hopefully get the project going again here soon.



Re: Project-J progress thread
Friday, June 08, 2012 2:34 PM
Before:

After:

Still needs a bit of tweaking for proper fit(the little brackets that hold the headlights on 95-99 are too short for 00-02).
In the next few months it will have a WW lip, Which is why we modified the front portion of the drift skirt like this;

I really think the angle/shape of the WW lip will flow nicely into the side skirt like this(older pic, strikers aren't on anymore).

That's all for now.



Re: Project-J progress thread
Friday, June 08, 2012 4:11 PM
diggen it man keep the updates coming





Re: Project-J progress thread
Friday, June 08, 2012 4:26 PM
I believe the c pillar joint is a flex point for the body so I wouldn't mold it. I still think you're in over your head and you need to take advice better. Hope it turns out ok though



Re: Project-J progress thread
Saturday, June 09, 2012 3:05 PM
Yeah I wish I did more research about the c-pillar, saw someone mold it on their J but never bothered to go back to the thread seems they had the same issue with it cracking oh well.

Hopefully Monday I will have the Cobalt SS muffler welded on.

Then later this week going to fix the sag in the rear bumper, which I've decided no to mold to the body.
Only think being molded is the side skirt at quarter panel and along door sill, fenders will still be removable from body.
Looking at trading my 00-02 spoiler for a 03-05 spoiler, but not sure yet.

Next going to start picking up graphite/black interior pieces so I can ditch the blue interior.



Re: Project-J progress thread
Saturday, June 09, 2012 5:02 PM
you need to cut the 95-99 brackets off and get the bolt ones for the 00-02 headlights... .



Re: Project-J progress thread
Saturday, July 07, 2012 9:07 AM
Azncav (was static) wrote:you need to cut the 95-99 brackets off and get the bolt ones for the 00-02 headlights... .

Or just swap my 95-99 Fenders for the 00-02 I picked up with the bumper lol

Finally got the windshield replaced, even got a sunblocking tint strip(does this even have a name?).

And started cleaning the engine bay(starting to look white again).


Almost caught up on the most important things
*Got all the wheel bearings but the rear right replaced(gotta do next, wasn't bad like the others).
* a new axle seal for the Transmission finally came in the mail(loosing about 1qt of Syncromesh every 2 weeks), gonna change it when we get back from Florida on the 21st
*The right side strut is about had it, gonna have to replace this as well.
*Getting a replacement Sun-frame from a Member here, and some amber colored corner lights hopefully in the near future.

For paint next year this is the colors I plan on going with;

*I found this pic in a Google search, the actual site link was broken so I don't know whose Jbody this is*
The difference will be;
*Fog light housing and front grill will stay the OEM black/gray
*The black will be more of a dark/smoke gray color(get closer to the "color" of the CF hood)
*The upper color won't come so far down on the fender
*A pinstripe of some color will break the two-tone(most likely same color as motor/calipers)
*Side skirts/Rear bumper will be the Drift kit.
*SRT4 Rims will be painted same color as the dark/smoke gray two tone
*thinking about tinting the fogs yellow



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