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Ey there, any new progress?
 
Discussion starter · #23 ·
Ey there, any new progress?
Appreciate you checking in.

Yes, lots. I spent an entire month on my hood now. I am almost done with the hood. I am very happy with it currently, about 90% done so give it about another week. I'll do my best to post updates then.

Also been sourcing the last of parts I need. Braided hoses came in, hooray, but now I will need a 190LPH fuel pump. Been searching the last few days. The beloved Bosch is discontinued :/
 
nooooo not the bosch!

i'm excited to see how it all looks and your driving impressions. with all those mods, the drive will definitely feel different whether intentional or not.
 
Discussion starter · #25 ·
nooooo not the bosch!

i'm excited to see how it all looks and your driving impressions. with all those mods, the drive will definitely feel different whether intentional or not.
Yeah :/ Ah well, I ordered a cheap Spectra Premium off Rock Auto for a Ford Lightning. Just arrived, I hope it'll do the job.

haha, yeah, I am really looking forward to this too. I think in my next post I will reveal something I've been keeping secret, which will most definitely change the drive :p
 
Discussion starter · #26 · (Edited)
Oh man, I knew I was behind on updating build progress here but checking it now... oops. Trust me I've been meaning to upload photos and post since months ago but I've been occupied with a lot - work (which is a startup), friends, church, planting a new church which is also like a startup, oh and working on the car lol. It does take several hours to post these updates so it's kind of a commitment lol, but especially with the recent interest from people I am now more motivated for this one. The work I have shown you so far is what took place from March through June 2019. I'll commit some extra time to get everyone up to speed now on what I have done up to the rest of 2019. 2020 so far has been mostly just the hood - when I post it, you'll see why that's taking my 20x longer than I thought it would.

Now, from where we left off, the subframe. Not much to it, just finished it up and painted it black.



It's cut the way it is on the sides because of driveshafts, steering rack and sway bar passing through, so those upper sections will be part of the frame, not subrame. Also if you noticed the one rather large section cut out on the driver's side that's because the fuse box is going there:


Why black? As you know my engine bay is a dark grey metallic, so why the change? Well my thought here was that I wanted to create a stronger contrast, or perhaps a stronger visual hierarchy for the engine, which will be painted silver. We can call the textured grey like "75% black" and the subframe "100%" black - let's not forget the bottom of the engine bay will be closed as well, which will be black as well, but will also have a shadow case onto it so let's call that "110% black" lmao. So this has somewhat of a gradient effect so that the attention is more on the engine, and not on parts that are not as interesting such as the subframe lol. You will see throughout the painting process I made a lot of little decisions like this: some items I want attention drawn to, some I do not - and that has to all work visually in balance. I don't seem to have a photo of it black on its own so here it is installed:


Also have the carbon wall finished here in these pictures. I will say it's not great, and for next time thought of a way to make this wall cleaner, lighter, as well faster to produce. At some point I will redo it but it'll do for this year.


I ordered various profile rubber strips. So the rear-top of the subframe has one, as does the perimeter of the carbon wall:


I hate to be so all over the place, but that was kind of the nature of this project. So while doing body-type of work on that subframe I've also been working with the engine. First, I had to clean it. Then, it was time for the timing belt change. Which seemingly was a close call, you'll see. Have I ever mentioned how gross this engine bay was?


Gross. ^fun fact: you can see in the little spot that the transmission was actually painted silver (did so in 2012 when I had to replace it and have it rebuilt).

Cleaning it with brake cleaner took several nights lol. There probably was a better product to use, but oh well. Went over it with sandpaper eventually.


You can see the difference here:


Cleaned up, ready for sanding & paint:



Back to that in a minute.

Now the timing belt:

You can see in the picture that it's barely on (but I did poke around with it, so it probably wasn't quite as severe on shown here - still, shouldn't be able to do that). Additionally the timing mark was off, but granted not by that much - seems to be within line of the guide of being off by a tooth is ok for these engines. There was a lot of play in the belt. I think I dodged a bullet here, granted it was overdue for a change since years. That belt was installed way back in early 2010. I have put 140000KM on it. 40k, 4 years overdue, I know. At least it wasn't cracked or frayed, but seemingly stretched. I have never changed a timing belt before, it wasn't so bad. I was of course being careful, read the threads here on NT, and followed the DIY.

INTERMISSION:
Ok so at this point we've been seeing the engine head towards paint - a big deal, something I've dreamed of this whole time I've owned my car, which is now over ten years. So, to build on the never-ending issue affecting millions of car enthusiasts worldwide:



In the process of cleaning my engine I GOT MY 10MM SOCKET BACK!!! And bonus: the extension. I dropped that in the "V" of my engine in 2012. It's been there for seven years. Was lost for seven years and got it back :')

Now back to regular scheduled programming:



Aww yeah.

I'm gonna leave it there for now - will hopefully make a another post or two today. I've only brought you up to about July/August 2019 anyway.
 
oof that 10mm lost for 7 years.

also, that's gonna look great. though question: why didn't you go for a wire brushing of the surfaces with a drill and wire brush attachment? it seemed that the surface wasn't quite 100%, but i could be wrong.

Carbon firewall cover: are you going to smooth it with 600 grit and give it some 2k canned clearcoat (catalyzed polyurethane)? That would make it quite nice, just an idea.

Also: what type of paint did you use on the engine? and if you used primer also, what type of primer?
 
Discussion starter · #28 ·
oof that 10mm lost for 7 years.

also, that's gonna look great. though question: why didn't you go for a wire brushing of the surfaces with a drill and wire brush attachment? it seemed that the surface wasn't quite 100%, but i could be wrong.

Carbon firewall cover: are you going to smooth it with 600 grit and give it some 2k canned clearcoat (catalyzed polyurethane)? That would make it quite nice, just an idea.

Also: what type of paint did you use on the engine? and if you used primer also, what type of primer?
Trying to think back at why I didn't use a wire wheel or something similar.. and I'm pretty sure it's because I forgot about that at the time lol. I remember thinking after I cleaned it: Oh right, wire wheels exist! lol.... oops, it'll be fine though. The other thing is I thought another time when I have the engine apart (i.e. to upgrade internals) that I would then sandblast each component as then they'd be small enough to fit into the sand blaster.

Yeah, I don't know what to do. I figure I'd just redo it. The hardest part was getting the exact profile, and now I have it. Plus, by then I might find a way around the slave cylinder, because with this design it was directly in the way and had to cut around it. I did kinda rush finish the carbon wall and didn't sand properly :/ I've heard about this 2K clear before, curious to try it out sometime.

For the first time I used VHT paint, but I believe they're owned by Duplicolor so they might be the same in the end. It was a high heat enamel. I think this one was labeled for use on calipers or something. Seeing as how this is an enamel primer was not used because it's not necessary in that case.
 
Discussion starter · #29 · (Edited)
Well as promised here's one more post for today.

While painting the engine I sandblasted whatever components I could and painted those as well.






While on the valve covers I thought this would be a neat touch. Hopefully it lasts against the heat:


While I was at it, I wanted to cut open the holes here to show the cam gears. I'll say I got that idea from having seen someone else do it, cannot remember the username or name on FB for who did it.


Had some rubber stripping here to seal that off nicely:





Had some fun cutting up the oil cap to do this:





Now, things are about to get a but crazy in the world of custom components. So, personally I have a preference of no power steering. IMO it's not hard to control at low speeds (just go to the gym and build some muscle lol). I also like to reduce weight & clutter wherever possible, which naturally leads to wanting to remove the power steering pump since it's useless in a de-powered scenario. The problem though is you more or less have no choice for the serpentine belt to go where the power steering pump is located. At first I tried something that I wasn't very confident in so I'm not even gonna show it lol, but then I figured I'd do the next best thing which was to cut as much material away from the pump as possible. With an angle grinder. It was weirdly satisfying.




Now you must wonder: Am I gonna mount that massive original pulley? Of course not! I'm gonna hack that apart too and use a spare lightweight alternator pulley I had and combine those items:


In order to make that work I just needed to 3D print a little black adapter here so that the alterntor pulley remains centered:


Finally I gave it an ugga-dugga or two which I think will hold it well:
 
Discussion starter · #30 ·
Next on the de-powered steering: the de-powered steering rack. I've looked into this, and on cars like the Miata it is somewhat more common for someone to go through the process of converting their steering rack to a de-powered setup. Ultimately what this means is disconnect all power steering fluid lines, closing off the ports, remove all fluid and replace it with wheel bearing / CV axle grease. And also cutting away one key seal deep inside the steering rack. That is, it would have to come fully apart. This is the only item that I needed some help with in my entire year-long project because simply put: I don't have the tie rod tool, while an

auto shop does. So here is how that went:


Practiced and messed around with the original rack first. What a mess:











Then the other shop put it back together for me and I installed it in the car. Really looking forward to trying it out.
 
Nice updates...thanks...
 
Yeah, I don't know what to do. I figure I'd just redo it. The hardest part was getting the exact profile, and now I have it. Plus, by then I might find a way around the slave cylinder, because with this design it was directly in the way and had to cut around it. I did kinda rush finish the carbon wall and didn't sand properly :/ I've heard about this 2K clear before, curious to try it out sometime.
2k clear is great stuff. use a respirator mask tho. it's toxic.
USC Spraymax 2k: Item number 3680061
It's very glossy, chemical resistant, very polishable, and worlds tougher than a normal canned clear.

i also recommend a clear cover over the cam gear openings to prevent debris intrusion.get some sheet lexan about 1mm thick and cut it into two circles.

your 3d printed part: material? i'd be concerned about it warping out of center once the engine is up to temp and the car has been running.
 
Discussion starter · #35 ·
2k clear is great stuff. use a respirator mask tho. it's toxic.
USC Spraymax 2k: Item number 3680061
It's very glossy, chemical resistant, very polishable, and worlds tougher than a normal canned clear.

i also recommend a clear cover over the cam gear openings to prevent debris intrusion.get some sheet lexan about 1mm thick and cut it into two circles.

your 3d printed part: material? i'd be concerned about it warping out of center once the engine is up to temp and the car has been running.
Man, maybe I should order some soon then and experiment. Seems to be the right stuff for some of the things I'm working on.

Yeah, I always wear a mask when sanding, painting, or working with resin or filler. Specifically this one:


Yeah, I have thought about making clear covers for the same reason. And I might still do it. But in the meantime my thought was: I've constrained myself that I won't put the car on the road until the engine bay is sealed closed. In this case, there should be virtually no debris available to go in (or at least, a negligible amount). My plan for having the engine bay sealed involves creating ducting so that air goes directly through the angled radiator, followed by a shroud with a fan, followed by ducting that leads the air to go directly out the vented hood. I have been working on that part of the project for the last several months. So, in the meantime I probably won't make them in the interest of time, but I should have time to make them when my car is on the road.

Yeah, fair point. I thought about that as well but I figured as long as it was on tight that it should be ok (gave it a good ugga-dugga lol). It's PLA so it will for sure warp no question about it. But, yeah, maybe I shouldn't risk it. It's such a small part anyway I could just quickly print a mold for it. Speaking of printing molds, that will be coming up in my next couple updates :D
 
Discussion starter · #37 · (Edited)
Well @RetfirDMX you've convinced me. Turns out there's a Napa near where I live and they had these spray cans so I picked up three today. Really, right on time, because I am a matter of days away from needing to use clear coat so I think you've probably helped me out a lot here. I am in the meantime going to research it more to ensure I use it properly.

EDIT: Done some research now, and, I think I lucked out big time. Once I'm at the stage to grab a photo of why I say that I will post it.
 
glad to hear it. it's my favorite clearcoat-in-a-can. i used it to clearcoat my car's eyelids and cf wing, as well as my mr2's fender flares and wheels. has been holding up nicely over the years without fading or dulling
 
Fancy coming to paint my engine bay too? That looks fantastic, i really admire you patience and dedication with the paint work. It's just taken me 3 days to modify and paint the valve cover lol

Thanks for sharing with us :)
 
Discussion starter · #40 ·
Fancy coming to paint my engine bay too? That looks fantastic, i really admire you patience and dedication with the paint work. It's just taken me 3 days to modify and paint the valve cover lol

Thanks for sharing with us :)
well how hard can it be? lol, really though, painting isn't that bad but like most things it does take some time and practice to get it to the quality level you'd hope for. So I totally understanding taking a few days to modify and paint the valve covers. I think I spent about the same amount of time on mine, and honestly I should have spent more. I am going back to valve covers and going to fix some filler issues and repaint a couple sections.
 
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