Project Cupcake 03 BH

WARNING: I am bloody mad yes, and its fun!

 

I'm working on my 03 BH and I just figured I'd start a thread and show what im doing as well as get some feedback from fellow legacy nuts like myself

 

The car was stock when i got it early this year and has 254K miles on it, since then i have picked up a JDM EJ205 single AVCS and 5 speed to swap into it, put on a set of WedsSport wheels and JIC magic coilovers. The engine is getting torn down in my shop, I have a Haltech elite1000 and a set of Brian Crower 272 stage 2 cams i have machined to work with the AVCS ( just drilled the oil passages and machined in the rear cam sensor pickups in the cam, easy really) as well I bought a VF44 and OEM JDM header for the twin scroll ( its good enough for the power I'm looking for, and it was less than $200 for the turbo and header in great shape) I am rebuilding the turbo currently, also I am hoping to relocate the turbo to the front, flip the intake and run my FMIC for a stealthy look and to reduce header and charge pipe length to improve response. Today I picked up a set of 04my STI Brembos (4 pot 2 pot) to put on the car (yes i got the correct backing plate and everything else so the parking brake works)

 

Some other things I have planed for the car include:

• Custom wide body
  
• Custom rear wing/spoiler ( not sure exactly what i want yet)
  
• Rear diffuser
  
• Simple 6 point rollcage ( that includes the rear seats because the more people the more screams I can get )
  
• A new paint job and some body work fixed up
  
• racing seats with 5 point harnesses
  
• exhaust system
  
• A stereo that doesn't sound like 1998!
  
• and probably more
  

 

I have a company I run so it won't all get done in a month, plus I'm doing all the fabrication myself so..... I'll f*$# it up a lot and have to redo it till it's perfect!

 

Hope yall enjoy my build and my rambling

Today I was bored and had some time, so the STI brakes are getting prepared to install.

 

They were stripped and will be painted tomorrow.

It says "aircraft remover" but I don't have an aircraft, just old paint.....

One ready for second go......

all my soon to be naked calipers....

 

And for some reason 3 of them were no problem but one front caliper was done 3 times and still has gold on it, it's sitting overnight soaked in stripper and inside a plastic bag.

this looks amazing so far, keep us posted, i'd love to see the turbo itself as well as the cage

Well tonight I wasn't lazy, bloody hell that's two nights in a row!!!

 

Last night I painted my calipers, it was an epoxy 2 part paint, I tried to spray it but it was too thick for my gun, so I did what the kit said and brushed it on, wasn't the best but it definitely looks good from a meter away! Oh and yes I love the colour purple lol.

The fronts are on now with a new set of stoptech rotors that I painted the centers black.

the back calipers waiting..... and pizza as well

 

Tonight I got the turbine housing prepped and painted, I ground down some of the casting lines to give it a cleaner look as it will be in the front corner.

 

I am also starting on my custom grille, I have never tried a grille but if I ruin it I can just get another stock one from the wreckers!

I removed the center and the rubbish plastic mesh stuff, then I used fiberglass to bridge the gap. I will be using body filler in the end to smooth it all out.

I don't know if it will be easy to see but I'm also filling in the groove around the edge.

I almost forgot, I upgraded to a set of stainless brake lines, the kit is for my2010-2013 but it fits exactly the same on the 2003 even tho they said it wouldn't

It's a Goodridge kit part#24220-cl (some sites have it as a #24220 minus the cl) if anyone wanted to know

Well, the weather has been rubbish due to a storm, so not much work has gotten done. Today's task is starting the custom wiring harness for the haltech to go in. It will be a piggyback system to retain the factory body functions and to pass our OBD2 emissions testing, because I need power and legal stickers lol.

If i can add my own 2 cents on your brakes... i bought 4 pots to upgrade as well and tried what you did with stripping and painting but in the end i took them apart and sent them off to get powdercoated.. they did a much better job blasting and coating them than i ever could and they came out awesome (well i think so).

 

 

the stickers i got from https://scoobyworx.com/caliper-graphics-352-c.asp as well as a 4 pot rebuild kit.. hope this helps in some way

If i can add my own 2 cents on your brakes... i bought 4 pots to upgrade as well and tried what you did with stripping and painting but in the end i took them apart and sent them off to get powdercoated.. they did a much better job blasting and coating them than i ever could and they came out awesome (well i think so).

 

the stickers i got from https://scoobyworx.com/caliper-graphics-352-c.asp as well as a 4 pot rebuild kit.. hope this helps in some way

 

I had planned to spray them as I have done before with the same paint, my old gun didn't mine thick paint but the new one s#!t the bed with the epoxy

 

I did however get a seal kit offline, i'm not sure as it has been sitting around for a while, but the logo I was going to leave off, just wanted the cleaner look.

 

As far as powder coating, I have had people bring me leaking calipers that were powder coated and baked, there are 1 or 2 O-rings in some calipers where the two halves meet up, without taking them in half I personally would rather not risk it. That said the few I have seen leaking I don't know the history on so I can't 100% confirm that's why they were leaking, but I don't want to chance it.

 

As always I appreciate the input, I would love to see yours but the media/pic in your post didn't load for me at all.

If you reload hen hopefully you can see them.. i did strip mine down into 2 parts and rebuild them including new orings etc as i bought them secondhand and wanted piece of mind that pistons were all good and no leaks o and they were a shitty scratched yellow! lol

Welp......

Winter has ruined my progress as usual. I don't have a heated shed so I'm not working in the snow lol. Also the original engine finally died, spun a rod bearing @ 6000 shifting into second on the way to work.......

 

On the bright side I have gathered almost all of the parts I need to get it finished up, and the vf44 is no longer needed as I just got a gt3076 along with forged Manley pistons and rods....... I'm not in a hurry as I don't daily the car so might as well go for a little bit of power.