icecoldone1906

I am a new proud owner of a 1998 2.5 I wanted to take a few of you on the transition that I have taken her through. Here are a few pictures of here when I first got her... she had sat up and needed major work done...the interior was shot, no brakes at all, headlight etc...Now All the things I will begin to list and show that have been done are from plenty of hard work but also I had the help of this forum.

icecoldone1906

Okay this car was bought in North Carolina, I paid a whole 1200 for the car, I had to get her back to Atlanta, I paid for someone to have her moved and what was suppose to be the start of getting her worked on enough to drive back. Lets just say that didn't go well. Lesson learned....never pay someone to do something that you can do yourself...why...well they never seem to do the job as good as you...or maybe just not as concerned as you. So lets say the brake and rotor job wasn't done properly. All the belts and hoses were changed but the water pump wasn't...but they pulley was changed. Yeah I know who would go through all that and not hook up the water pump...but crooks will do anything for a buck. The brakes were never done because some fool lost the key for the rims. So instead of just buying another key someone thought they could change the brakes without removing the rims.....bad idea...I think that was the cause of the front end damage.

icecoldone1906

Stay tuned for my next update and pictures....

main70072

What have you done to the car? Were you able to find replacement parts for the front end damage?

icecoldone1906

Okay I had to resize some pictures but I'm back now. Okay I started with the interior, I had to take everything out of the car. Seats and carpet etc. This thing belonged to a smoker who must have drove it to his dirt patch job so you can imagine how it smelled and looked. The carpet was done so I found new carpet and seats and floor mats at a bone yard. Great hook up for me since I only had one power seat. With the up grade from a 3.2 I found I got dual heated seats and power now. Also my drivers seat was done for so I got to replace it also. I went ahead and replace the rear seat also since it have a few scuffs and burn marks....I was more worried about getting the smell out of the car. I also removed the front seat belts they were done also. Then I jumped on the brake, rotors and calipers all the way around. I put in a new deck and wired up new speakers all the way around....while I was in the doors I repaired all the broken door handles with the screw mod that I found on the site. I also replaced the rear carpet over the speakers in the back above the rear seat. Someone left some plastic that just melted right away...just sad. While I had the rims off I cleaned then up a lot....speaking of that I went right to a rim shop and found the key to the rims for 15 bucks. The seats cost me 100 bucks but I had to go remove them...no sweat since it was just 4 bolts. I then bleed the lines but the brake pressure seemed off...so I got a master cylinder....I will come back to this later cause you will find this funny. I found someone also removed all the fender walls from the wheel well areas. Someone also did away with the the window washer squirters....so sad they would do this. There was dirt every where and on every thing. I had to spray the motor off several times.... I had to power wash the new carpet and I cleaned the new leather seats and wired them in to work. Then I got a headlight from the bone yard for 40 bucks and a bumper for 25. Man I tell you pull a part is a great place to hang out. Here are a few pictures of these updates. Oooh I also cleaned both headlights!!!

icecoldone1906

I found some clear bumper lights that I thought would look sweet, I ordered them off ebay and then I began to put LED lights all over the car...In the corners and door bottoms, sunroof lights and I even pulled the dash and inserted a few more for looks...the entire care has LED's all over now...I still have to install the HID's on the front. I even have LED's in the visors....all look great at night...the entire car lights ups. I needed to replace the D4 light anyway so when I went to the bone yard I grabbed a bunch of those lights. I also installed some speakers in the truck and I needed a spare tire that I got from the bone yard for about 12 bucks, that even came with a jack and all the tools. I needed to install the other pipe that goes over the muffler in you notice in the first pictures it is missing...wow was this hard to get off the car since most of these have gone through heat. I manage to get one off and drill the screw out and put in a bolt myself to bolt it on...the car was finally taking shape from the project that I got....my wife is seeming to get happier.

icecoldone1906

Okay, I had to keep working on my project, I had to get a few other things done, my AC was not working and I was unsure why. The compressor seemed fine so i went to get a can of the red dye and I had a few cans of R124 or what ever in the garage so I jumped on the project to see if the compressor was dead....guess what she kicks right on...so I was like great. It must be low. But as I told you before I knew that there should be no reason that the AC just stopped...I found that there is a sensor that cuts the compressor off so that you don't do damage if the level gets too low....so i was hoping that the red dye would tell me where that is. Well i keep running the AC but still nothing do I see no leaks....I look all under the hood over to the left front of the car there is a huge circle here near the fuse box but in my car there was nothing here...why because I had front end damage...guess what happened...in the crash someone damaged the AC evaporator and this was the problem with the leak etc. So it is back to the bone yard to get this part as well and the hood and fender wells for the wheel. I get all these part for 119 and a few other things that I needed such as a door lock, for the passenger side and another grill because mine was done...it had been cracked and bent up to the point that no way would it even stay on the car without using some L brackets. Also I had to connect two vacuum lines on the evaporator which connected to the brake booster that solved my problem of the soft brake pedal....tell me god isn't good! So this past weekend I took car of all these things...I had parts everywhere and folks stopping by asking me to work on there car of course...here are a few more picture of what she looks like now. I think she might be ready for some paint.

icecoldone1906

This weekend I would like to do a full tune up, flush the transmission fluid and rear differential. I read in here that this needs to be done also. Also if anyone has a good but cheap paint and body guy in the Georgia area let me know. Also if you have any helpful hints to anything else I need to do please let me know. I am willing to go back and take pictures of anything I have done so it can help anyone else out. Here are all the things I have done so far:
Brakes
Rotors
Calipers
Belts
Hoses
Radio
Repair Door Handles springs
Remove and replace all seats for heated and power seats
Replace carpet
Remove all bulbs for LED's
Replace Airbox
Replace evaporator
Install Radio
Connect sunroof speakers
Reconnect factory Alarm
Purchase and install keyless remotes from ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/400206816710...ht_2082wt_1185
Install muffler pipe
Purchase spare tire and jack
Purchase key for rims
Install speakers all the way around
Install sub woofers in truck
Install master cylinder
Clean headlights
I think that might be it....but again just hit me and ask....

main70072

Did you have to modify anything or swap out the rebar to fit on the 3.2 bumper? How did you wire the heated seats? I have a pull-a-part nearby but only 1 TL in there with slashed seats.

icecoldone1906

No I didn't have to switch out anything to put the 3.2 bumper on. I went on just like the 2.5 no changes. The fenders for the wheel well don't match up all the way but I created a few other points to place the bolts and screws. How do think she looks?

Go90go

3.2 bumper was the right decision!

~Cheers~

icecoldone1906

I forgot I wired my seats from the old drivers side seat, I cut the connector from the new 3.2 seat and wired it into my old 2.5 seat wires...then I spliced off and ran the wires over to the passenger side. The heated seat i haven't wired in yet but I have the console from the 3.2 that I will put in that has the switches...all I will need is a power source from the fuse box and splice and wire and BAM heated but warmers for the winter....

main70072

3.2 bumper made a big difference!

vipstar

sadly I too only have one Pull-a-part near me with only one TL there.

I've been all over Atlanta, I frequent the area a lot, and I know they have TL's everywhere. I had hit up the Pull-a-Part in North Atlanta, the one on Buford Hwy. I got a lot of interior pieces that I had left at my old garage. Next time I'm in the area I'll let you know so I can check out all the work you've done. I wish I could get a 3.2 front bumper for my car, the heated seats as well.

icecoldone1906

I have also found a few cars on craigslist too, I know of a guy that has a hood and I think he told me he had a bumper but I do know that his car is a 3.2. Sure when your in the area give me a hit we will meet up!