Project One Owner Special

[DominatingZX2]

I figure I've been doing enough to the car lately that it's time for a project log, but I'm gonna start this one way back at the beginning.

August 1st, 2001: I took delivery of what amounted to the LAST new S/R in the US, from Estabrook Ford in Pascagoula, MS. They had no idea that the car was any different from a regular ZX2, just that it was "yellow and tough to sell." So, here are some shots of it when it was just a few weeks old. I had the dealership remove the S/R door decals before I took delivery, never liked them.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/Sully4247/98590007.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/Sully4247/98590008.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/Sully4247/98590009.jpg

At the time, I still had my old '98 that I used as a daily driver to and from the shipyard.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/Sully4247/98590011.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/Sully4247/98590013.jpg

And so began the first year of ownership. After about 3000 miles I started taking it to Gulfport Dragway, where it ultimately ran a 15.83 in stock trim. The first round of mods consisted of:

Esslinger UDP
Ford Racing wires
Accel coil
Local muffler shop 2.25" crush-bent exhaust tubing to the stock Borla

With this, the car ran a best of 15.65 at 88.54 mph with a 2.302 60-foot. I ended up being very successful at bracket racing that first year; here are some shots from the day I won a local event that had 160 cars and a $1000 winner's purse. The guy I beat in the finals was running 11.20s on a big-tire automatic car, he wasn't happy losing to a sport compact :lol: :

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/Sully4247/98590002.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/Sully4247/98590001.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/Sully4247/98590003.jpg

I took those winnings (and the winnings from some other events) and bought a new set of wheels, 16" Borbet Type Ts that I still have on the car today. I also got a Kamikaze header that is still working great for me. Here are some shots from a local show:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/Sully4247/98590017.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/Sully4247/98590018.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/Sully4247/98590019.jpg

At this point, I pretty much left the car untouched for the next 4 years. Priorities changed; I started dating my now-wife, bought a house, changed jobs and started travelling often, and in general didn't really do much car related.

So, we'll call this Phase I. Phase II started midway through '06, I will post that later tonight. :beernana:

[DOUGIESTYL]

Oh hell! I grew up in Gulfport! Good to see somebody from back home.
Whatdya mean the LAST SR in America?

[99fordzx2]

I thought sr's came stock with FR wires? Any way awesome work log so far. Love those wheels. Keep it coming.


-D

[DominatingZX2]

Whatdya mean the LAST SR in America?

My car was the last brand new one available nationally. The second to last one was bought two months prior, sold to a guy in Michigan who used to be on here.

More pictures soon to follow, either tonight or tomorrow night.

[DominatingZX2]

PHASE TWO. Here's where it started to get interesting. 8)

I started to get more serious with the car in the spring of '06. I was almost finished repairing my house after Hurricane Katrina, my wife and I were engaged, and more importantly (in this context at least), I bought a new daily driver/tow rig. So, I could afford to play around with the car again. First order of business: at 82K miles, the car still had the original brakes, right down to the pads. So, I upgraded everything:

ZXTuner drilled/slotted rotors front and rear
Hawk HPS pads
Stainless steel brake lines
ZXTuner painted calipers

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/Sully4247/DSCN0084.jpg

The noise from the pads took some getting used to, but all in all I am very satisfied with the overall setup.

Next up, I bought a set of ZXTuner black housing headlights. The old headlights were in rough shape, it was time for a change. I added a set of Sylvania Silverstars, not a dramatic difference but still an improvement.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/Sully4247/DSCN0083.jpg

The rest of that order consisted of ES motor mount inserts, replacement Tokico struts, and chrome shifter ball. Not very exciting so no pictures, but all made a contribution.

It was about this time that I really started paying attention to the For Sale section on this site. First up: nitrous. Bought a kit off a member who is no longer very active here, found that it wasn't all that complete. So, after buying new bottle brackets, a new WOT switch and completely redoing the wiring to the proper gauge, we got it squared away. Took me a lot longer to finish it than I expected (I'm a measure 12 times and cut once type person), but it's basically complete. I need to bend the WOT switch into position, but that's it.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/Sully4247/DSCN0088.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/Sully4247/DSCN0427.jpg

All that power would be wasted on my Fuzion ZRis, so next up was a set of drag radials. Thankfully I still had two swirlies from my old car, so they were called up for duty:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/Sully4247/DSCN0546.jpg

I'm basically out of good pictures at this point, so I'm just gonna finish with a list of what's on the car, and what's in the garage ready to go in:

Appearance
16" Borbet Type Ts
ZXTuner headlights
35% tint all around
Removed S/R door badges
ZXTuner painted caliper brackets

Brakes
ZXTuner slotted and drilled rotors
Hawk HPS pads
Stainless steel brake lines

Suspension
Cork Sport strut tower bar
Otherwise stock S/R setup

Interior
Removed backseat
Removed sound deadening
Stripped trunk
Pioneer front and rear speakers
Alpine head unit (need to look up what one)

Power/underhood
Nitrous Express EFI wet kit
Web Cams Hi-Rev intake and exhaust cams
Kamikaze header
AFX UDP
Braille No-Weight battery and mounting kit
CTA intake
ES motor mount insert
2.25" crush-bent exhaust piping
FR plug wires
Accel coil

In the garage, on the shelf
Focus Central intake manifold
Focus Central cam gears
Polished 65mm Mustang TB
Carpet and plywood to make rear seat delete

[joshalabama]

That is a gorgeous car. Those headlights and wheels look great. Have you ran it on the track since installing the nitrous kit? What size shot are you running?

[mellowness65]

i like those rims

[dareall]

cool thread. I forgot what the yellow looked like when it was new, makes me wish I took pictures of my cars when I first brought the home. I really like the headlights and the borbet wheels. The swirlies actually look good with the yellow (maybe I'll get that chrome set from my friend after all).
Keep the pictures coming, you know we all love this sort of stuff :)

[99whitezx2]

damn that is a lot of work but it turned out great! makes me wish my zx2 wasnt totaled

[ford motorsports]

I was wondering if you ever added more mods. Nice worklog

[DominatingZX2]

I was wondering if you ever added more mods. Nice worklog

Man, I'm not gonna let you be the only one having any fun. :lol: Let me know when you're bringing the new toy to GPT.

Joshalabama: I haven't run the car yet with the spray, so no times. I should be going in the very near future, though. I'll run it on motor, 55 shot and 75 shot. Hopefully I have enough to get into the 14s on motor and 13s with just the 55 jets.

I appreciate the positive comments from everyone. :beernana:

[joshalabama]

With the cams you should def be mid 14's.

[DominatingZX2]

New things on the way:

21mm RSB
A/C delete pulley (shut up, I know I live in the south and this is a dumb idea :lol:)
90mm MAF

Looks like I might be busy this weekend.

[OGreaTFuzzY1]

lookin good manz

~Fuzzy

[5spdzx2]

i love the car. do you have a side shot like you posted, but with the borbets on the front also? youve got a great sense of style.

[DominatingZX2]

i love the car. do you have a side shot like you posted, but with the borbets on the front also? youve got a great sense of style.


Thanks!

Here's a side shot with the Borbets on the front:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/Sully4247/DSCN0189.jpg

And, here's the full-size of my avatar, you can really see the wheels in it too:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/Sully4247/1stAutocross2.jpg

[5spdzx2]

A+ man. great looking car. I love the zinc yellow, wish i had an s/r instead (yellow of course). Awesome choice on the wheels. Keep this thread posted with the new drag times too.

Also, with those headlights you should look into some chrome turn signal bulbs (amber glow). It would really set it off up front i think.

like the ones i have here...

[zx2reme]

Very clean setup. I will be down there next month. Well, in Montgomery for tech school, but in Biloxi area in October. I'll probably swing over next month to house hunt. Hope to see you out. It will be nice to be somewhere where there are more than two ZX2's.