Now that the heavy lifting has been done on my project and I start to look to the finer details of the build, I thought I might throw up some build info on S|W. I know it probably won't get any love here, but maybe there's a few members that deep down secretly love a PD blown American V8.
How It All Started-
For $3500 I got this "beauty" and a pickup truck full of spare parts.
I even had to turn down a spare motor because I didn't have space for it. The owner was desperate to get rid of it because he couldn't deal with it (read: f***** it up beyond imagination) and bought a fox body instead. This thing was plagued with problems. Excessive camber, needed tires, brakes, stalled out, rear wheel bearing, primer, dented to hell, electrical gremlins abound, and wiring that would make most cringe.
Due to her horrible appearance and bad manners, I christened her "The Big Dirty" because she is one big, dirty, dumpster fire of a car.
When I got it home it was in such bad shape, my dad refused to speak to me for two days, and when he did, he gave me an ultimatum: get it road legal in two weeks, or it's on the front lawn with a "For Sale" sign in it.
It still wasn't a bad start. It was lowered, had FLSFC's, 04 Cobra rear, Bilsteins out back, CAI, transplanted P71 Interceptor motor, O/R X pipe, Flowmasters of some sort, a cat back, Cobra bumpers, POR-15'ed the whole underside, Mach 1 transmission, Centerforce DFX clutch, aluminum flywheel, and all kinds of other goodies.
Over the course of about two weeks I shed tons of blood sweat and tears getting her to pass NYS inspection for well under $500 worth of parts. Lots of late nights in the driveway (I wasn't allowed in the garage with this POS) and lots of PBR tall boys while working on it. Some of the problems turned out to be painfully easy. The stalling was due to a combination of exhaust leak (missing a nut to the manifold, $0.05) and vacuum leak (two hose clamps, $0.50). The amplifier he said was great and didn't work turned out to be wired wrong. A couple splices and it worked beautifully. I even scored a set of used NYS Trooper tires for $140 total. They look hideous but they passed inspection.
I had almost succumbed to the deadline, but got that precious sticker a couple days early. I had actually bought a "For Sale" sign in advance, expecting to lose this stupid car.
Here she is once she passed inspection and got plates-
Then of course things got fun. I moved to IN for a job that afforded me a bit more scratch to spend on the car. I decided to make a "poor man's terminator" and do a Cobra swap on it. Thus it became "Project: Secondhand Snake" in which I swapped as much as I could using almost exclusively used and junkyard parts. You can read the gritty details of the battle on the main build thread-
Over the course of about 6 months she got all kinds of Cobra upgrades, including an 03 motor, ported/pullied M112 blower, longtubes, cams, RAI, fuel tank, dual GT pumps, dual FPDM and wiring mods, and a few aesthetic touches such as SN95 sail panels, spoiler delete, and Cobra sideskirts.
The impressive part of this? I did it in an unheated, unlit, unpowered storage space on the other side of town during the winter, alone.
A taste of the motor that went in-
Now we're just about up to speed. She's running (for the most part) and just has a few minor mechanical issues to sort out.
How she sits now-
Now we're almost down to suspension. Those hideous pitted 17x8" Bullitt's had to go, and so did their tires.
I'm sure everyone here is all about brand name wheels, but I saw a set not too far from me that weren't what I wanted, but were a great deal, and just matched my car perfectly. They're a set of staggered 03 Cobras, black inset and machined face. 17x9 up front. 17x10.5" out back, just like I like them.
Here they are just back from picking them up in the tank, my 12 Ram 2500-
And here's a teaser of some test fitment of the wheels, sans tires-
I hope to get the fronts wrapped with whatever 245/45/R17's I can pick up, but the rears will be getting some Nitto NT05 315/35/R17's to put all that torque to the pavement.
Don't expect too much for fitment in the rear. I like low, but ultimately I'd like to be able to run a set of Hoosier QTP's on 15's out back, something like this-
In the meantime, this is how she spends most of her time-
She will definitely need some serious work on the front end. Poor fitment with the 2v motor only got worse with the added weight of the blown 4v. Lots of camber, lots of low, terrible fit, and even rubbing on the wheel well and harness.
I'll put some updates in as the suspension and appearance build progresses. I've got a long list of upgrades to do, including coilovers up front, tubular A-arms, tubular K-member, CC plates (already have them), a Saleen S281 3 piece spoiler, 03 Cobra interior (already have it) and a whooooooole lot of body work.
How It All Started-
For $3500 I got this "beauty" and a pickup truck full of spare parts.
I even had to turn down a spare motor because I didn't have space for it. The owner was desperate to get rid of it because he couldn't deal with it (read: f***** it up beyond imagination) and bought a fox body instead. This thing was plagued with problems. Excessive camber, needed tires, brakes, stalled out, rear wheel bearing, primer, dented to hell, electrical gremlins abound, and wiring that would make most cringe.
Due to her horrible appearance and bad manners, I christened her "The Big Dirty" because she is one big, dirty, dumpster fire of a car.
When I got it home it was in such bad shape, my dad refused to speak to me for two days, and when he did, he gave me an ultimatum: get it road legal in two weeks, or it's on the front lawn with a "For Sale" sign in it.
It still wasn't a bad start. It was lowered, had FLSFC's, 04 Cobra rear, Bilsteins out back, CAI, transplanted P71 Interceptor motor, O/R X pipe, Flowmasters of some sort, a cat back, Cobra bumpers, POR-15'ed the whole underside, Mach 1 transmission, Centerforce DFX clutch, aluminum flywheel, and all kinds of other goodies.
Over the course of about two weeks I shed tons of blood sweat and tears getting her to pass NYS inspection for well under $500 worth of parts. Lots of late nights in the driveway (I wasn't allowed in the garage with this POS) and lots of PBR tall boys while working on it. Some of the problems turned out to be painfully easy. The stalling was due to a combination of exhaust leak (missing a nut to the manifold, $0.05) and vacuum leak (two hose clamps, $0.50). The amplifier he said was great and didn't work turned out to be wired wrong. A couple splices and it worked beautifully. I even scored a set of used NYS Trooper tires for $140 total. They look hideous but they passed inspection.
I had almost succumbed to the deadline, but got that precious sticker a couple days early. I had actually bought a "For Sale" sign in advance, expecting to lose this stupid car.
Here she is once she passed inspection and got plates-
Then of course things got fun. I moved to IN for a job that afforded me a bit more scratch to spend on the car. I decided to make a "poor man's terminator" and do a Cobra swap on it. Thus it became "Project: Secondhand Snake" in which I swapped as much as I could using almost exclusively used and junkyard parts. You can read the gritty details of the battle on the main build thread-
Official Project: Secondhand Snake Build Thread
Over the course of about 6 months she got all kinds of Cobra upgrades, including an 03 motor, ported/pullied M112 blower, longtubes, cams, RAI, fuel tank, dual GT pumps, dual FPDM and wiring mods, and a few aesthetic touches such as SN95 sail panels, spoiler delete, and Cobra sideskirts.
The impressive part of this? I did it in an unheated, unlit, unpowered storage space on the other side of town during the winter, alone.
A taste of the motor that went in-
Now we're just about up to speed. She's running (for the most part) and just has a few minor mechanical issues to sort out.
How she sits now-
Now we're almost down to suspension. Those hideous pitted 17x8" Bullitt's had to go, and so did their tires.
I'm sure everyone here is all about brand name wheels, but I saw a set not too far from me that weren't what I wanted, but were a great deal, and just matched my car perfectly. They're a set of staggered 03 Cobras, black inset and machined face. 17x9 up front. 17x10.5" out back, just like I like them.
Here they are just back from picking them up in the tank, my 12 Ram 2500-
And here's a teaser of some test fitment of the wheels, sans tires-
I hope to get the fronts wrapped with whatever 245/45/R17's I can pick up, but the rears will be getting some Nitto NT05 315/35/R17's to put all that torque to the pavement.
Don't expect too much for fitment in the rear. I like low, but ultimately I'd like to be able to run a set of Hoosier QTP's on 15's out back, something like this-
In the meantime, this is how she spends most of her time-
She will definitely need some serious work on the front end. Poor fitment with the 2v motor only got worse with the added weight of the blown 4v. Lots of camber, lots of low, terrible fit, and even rubbing on the wheel well and harness.
I'll put some updates in as the suspension and appearance build progresses. I've got a long list of upgrades to do, including coilovers up front, tubular A-arms, tubular K-member, CC plates (already have them), a Saleen S281 3 piece spoiler, 03 Cobra interior (already have it) and a whooooooole lot of body work.
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