Mannykiller's Fd Street/Drift build

[Mannykiller]

Big Update:

Been Very busy working and generating my side business to get the necessary funds to change a few things on the car. Got it pumping and was able to get a few things paid for!

This may be out of chronological order but who really cares? I'll try to keep it as organized as possible.

I was sick of looking at my cheap skate battery box with unsealed battery so I figured I'd go ahead and return it to go with an optima yellow top. I didn't want a damn near 50lb battery in my car so I went with the smaller Optima d51R Yellow top. Weighs around 26 or 36 lbs I think... I can't remember. It was a solid decision after talking to a few people with lighter batteries that seemed not to have enough juice when needed the most. I was able to get a 100 dollar trade for my autozone battery towards the Optima but there are cheaper places online to get the battery. Cost me about 80 bucks to do the switch. I needed a good mount and didn't want any problems from the tech guys any either which or that track.. so I looked up what everyone was using for this model battery and Artek industries kept popping up. THe mounts were 85-100 bucks shipped but I went onto their actual website and they had a sale going on for the powdercoated black D51R mount... So I was jazzed about that and ordered right away. Looks Very Sturdy and feels secure. Love the way it looks. Don't mind my mixed up posi/neg's haha I just wanted to see how it looked and wasn't paying attention. This will go in the bin area behind the passenger seat.

Battery and mount

While I was waiting for my motor I started to think about allllllll of the little things I skipped in terms of taking my time/planning and good execution.... and knew that this car would eventually end up off the streets more and onto the track. With that said.. safety was a serious concern. Using Pandazfd as a template. I went and talked to a local shop called GS werks about fitting the car with a 6pt Competition legal cage. THe owner seemed pretty cool and knew what he was talking about in terms of what I needed etc, so I pulled the trigger. But first I had to pull the windshield out.

ATTENTION:
for anyone who has ever pulled out a windshield.....I would rather pay someone than do it myself. I'm pretty sure the windshield in the car was the original window from 93. The original montego blue was under the stripping and the window spider cracked everywhere. I followed a detailed youtube tutorial and did everything exactly like the guy did... But his took 20 min. Mine took 4 hours. I didn't want tiny little glass crystals all over my car and garage so I took my time. But after 3 hours and 30 min I got fed up and started being more rough. I took pictures but I must've forgot to upload them.. but guys like I said.. I really don't think this is worth the time it took to do it on my own.. Next time I'll pay.

After the windshield was out.....I called Dan up and he said he'd come pick up the car for me. I have access to a trailer and my truck to pull it. But this just made things all the more convienient. He came and picked it up no extra charge. That was nice!

So over the next couple weeks Dan got to work on the car. I asked for a few things specifically. 1. I wanted helmet clearance and to retain the door guts so I could keep my windows. 2. that the cage would be competition legal for Top drift. So they sent an e-mail to tech to double check to see what they could do for the main hoop to give me as much clearance as possible. They got the ok to tilt the main hoop back up to 20 degrees as long as it was gusetted to the body of the car and braced accordingly. So here are progress pics.

a better pic of the tilted main hoop

Pictures for the rear of the car. The Main hoop seems a bit low here but to have it lean back the way it is and still comply with rules there could only be 4 bends if i'm not mistaken.. so we had to make a compromise to get the clearance and still be legal. But I've been in cars that weren't comfy...and to me.. it's worth it for the clearance =-) Plus the guesset panels look sick!!!

A-pillar prep

door bar mock


Interior main hoop gussettes =-) they did a really good job on these

Sneak peak before it was fully finished..

Rear Gussetts finished

Door bars and main hoop placement

Drivers seat clearance... Now THATS what i'm talking about!! LOVE IT

Interior Main hoop Gussette panels all done up

A-pillar gussettes

Roof clearance

Door clearance

And thats about it with the Cage. It came out good. I'll be adding a rear Strut Bar and possibly a main hoop to strut / (dash) bar but I'm not so sure it's even necessary vs the weight.

Anyways.. Ended up Coming across an authentic Espirit Tail light cover so I couldn't pass it up




AND while I was getting the cage done.... I asked Dan what he thought about front end protection and he said he could do a simple front Bash bar with a Jack point.. So He made one for me for a damn good price. Since the car was already there.. I said go for it.

It would be a shame to smash up all my nice ducting.


Also, Since I was pushing towards more track oriented driving.. I figured I better get some more wheels that wouldn't be so expensive to replace if I messed them up. So I sold the Advans.. and got some nice new used condition wheels. Practically brand new. I'll wait to unveil them though =-)
Teaser


Also, PUlled the old battery box out.

And this part I'm not too happy with at all. I was up at 1am last night after a 13 hour work day and wanted to get my dash fitting. Spent a couple hours making a template to fit the dash with the cage a-pillar bars and really messed up.

I made the template far too low mounting...as the dash mounts deceptively High.. SO now I have big gaps in my dash.. which really bother me...but theres no way I'll source another dash just to destroy. Sucks bad...but live and learn I guess.



The trim is actually really nice.. the gaps are just too big. More Updates soon!!!Stay tuned!!