Restoring the SSEi: F40 swap, HIDs, and a HY35 turbo.

[Zeik75]

Just out of curiosity how much did the bedliner for you whole car cost, or how many cans?

[MattStrike]

For the interior, 4 cans. Exterior underbody was 4 cans so far (wheel wells), but is not complete. I need to powerwash it first, and expect to use another 2-4 cans. I used the Rustoleum bedliner, one coat except for the larger spans of flat metal which got 3 coats (as well as the thicker foam insulation). They were on sale for $6 each when I bought them. I was looking for the 'noise reduction' type of bedliner. I suspect that the bedliner is more resilient than conventional undercoating sprays.

[WhiteArrow3800]

Been keeping tabs on this every now and then, but man-o-man do I wish I had the time and a little extra green to throw at the '93 now, Guinevere is loooong over due for a makeover. She's suffered quite a bit at the hands of my brother over the last year and a half & Dad commuting in it to WV for 6 months last year At least I have her back now.

Amazing work Matt, keep it up!

[Zeik75]

Cool thanks for the info. Should be a lot cheaper to do that than dynamat for my whole car. Off to the store I go!

Also that thing sounds awsome, amazing work you've done so far and can't wait to see it all completed with that white and purple scheme.

[MattStrike]

Got my interior all done, fixed the power steering, topped off the fluids, filled the leaky tires with air, and I have officially begun 'sea trials'..



So far, the wipers don't work (sucked because it's raining out), it's misfiring under boost, and the alignment is way out go figure.

The misfire might be due to the rain, and not having a hood on it yet. The service engine soon light is flashing when it happens too, but I'll get to that.

Tomorrow, hopefully it's not raining so I can finish the exhaust, fix the fuel lines, and start on the hood.

With any luck, next weekend will be the 'maiden voyage' and I can start modding it!!!

[dpnewfie]

Check the coils as well. Misfire under load may be indicative of a failing coil. I figure that if you had bad wires the misfire would be continuous when wet.

[MattStrike]

The misfire cleared up today, but I traded it off for a sticky bypass that wont give me full boost.


Fuel lines are done, exhaust is 99%. It needs tires, alignment, multi-function switch, intake coupler (waiting 3 weeks now), hood, a '93 SSEi trans shift arm, wiper blades.

The rear struts seem to have settled down after taking it down the road. Maybe that's one less thing to fix.

[00Beast]

Some air-tool oil in the vac nipple of the bypass should help it, or some WD-40 sprayed into the shaft of the S/C, and remove the bypass and wiggle the shaft to work the lube in.

[MattStrike]

A random video from the restoration; submitted for your entertainment!

How to tell you have a bad wheel bearing:

Video
(it seems that photobucket got the sound out of sync with the video)

[MattStrike]

Has anybody worked on the guage clusters in these cars?

I was just going to tear into things, but the compass, information center both do not work or show any sign of life ( I thought they did when I drove it home last year) and the oil, temp, and boost gauges are all pegged at max. But so far everything else on the cluster works.

[ga93sle]

I swear that there used to be a few threads floating around about these clusters, I remember something about some 4 wheel steer... but now I can't find them...

[MattStrike]

I didn't mention this yet, but the fuel lines on the '93 are metric - 8mm and 10mm. So the 5/16 and 3/8 fittings don't quite fit right. I was able to squeeze them down, but anybody doing this in the future should buy metric fittings and lines.

[MattStrike]

Got my boost back!

Then, the wheel bearing with the broken abs wire started making noises. And the messed up axle boot split down one side. And the gas gauge stopped working. And I apparently hadn't tightened the master cylinder cap very well...

But it was worth it - I definitely have not lost any performance using the LG3 headers! Time for a parts run.

[MattStrike]

So I've got a spare wheel bearing, but it's in a steering knuckle. I've never tried to remove a wheel bearing in one piece without damaging it, especially an ABS bearing. It shouldn't take much, a simple nut-and-bolt press, but I didn't see any flats for a contact surface on the backside of the bearing. The last bearing I did on the SE came out in 3 pieces, center first, and I expect the failed bearing to on the car to do the same. Something about rust...

So the backside of the bearing, looks something like this:


I imagine the red piece is not suitably structural to press on and will ruin the sensor, and pushing on the center risks damaging the bearing (or does it?) My initial thought was to use a piece of exhaust pipe and cut it to fit in between the sensor cover (red) and the knuckle to push directly on the wheel bearing housing, but I didn't have time to try it out to see if there is enough clearance. Anybody have any ideas? My replacement is not extremely rusty and will have been soaking in PB Blaster for 5 days by the time I get to work on it.

[00Beast]

Heat the knuckle, you can gently tap on the inside of the bearing without too much risk of damage (similar forces on it to turning a corner I'd think). If it's really stubborn, you might be in trouble...

[BonneMe]

Has anybody worked on the guage clusters in these cars?

I was just going to tear into things, but the compass, information center both do not work or show any sign of life ( I thought they did when I drove it home last year) and the oil, temp, and boost gauges are all pegged at max. But so far everything else on the cluster works.

The usual fix on 10+ year old 92-99s was to remove the cluster connection and reseat the connection, they would get loose after many years of bumps and use.

[MattStrike]

Got out to the carwash, after changing out the bad wheel bearing:















It looks like the majority of the problem with the cluster is indeed the connector, thanks BonneMe. If I push on it everything comes back to life, except the odometer reads 'error'.

It's nice to be on the road again. I got the hood installed, I forgot just how messed up it was. I might try to fix it yet, but it looks like the weather is going to put the 'fun' on hold for just a little while. For now, everything is pretty much back in it's place. I need to get the alignment scheduled, fix an exhaust leak, and get the tires from the LeSabre swapped over. I still want to get the plastic welding done so I can get the side markers installed, and I really want to start cutting the hood up for the vents/scoop, and at least bondo the scars. It might happen if the snow holds off. And lest I forget those *fook* stickers...

The wheel bearing was a trick! I'll put together something on that later.

[nos4blood70]

LOL What's a hood anyway? No need for vents without a hood!
Anyways. Looks great Matt. The overspray on the tires makes the rims look bigger.

[Hotwheels]

Whitewalls!

Looks like it's shaping up - looking forward to seeing how it looks completed.

[MattStrike]

I had noticed that this car torque-steers a lot more than the LeSabre. I'm wondering if this has something to do with the subframe mounts? There really isn't a lot different between the two cars. The overall feel of the car is a lot lighter than the SE or the LeSabre, and it's really tight in the twisties. There's a road over near my place that has a few tight S-turns in a row. The recommended speed is 15, for perspective. Suffice to say my welds are holding and the tires don't like me.