Muttpower's 1992 MX3 GS

[muttpower]

Well, I'm finally back from another year-long deployment(to Trash-Can-Istan again, no less), and have decided to completely rebuild my MX-3(yet again). As of now, I'm in the process of stripping the paint down to bare metal(again), and this time actually painting the entire thing with a real paint gun, and not just temporarily using rattle cans. So far I've purchased a new Drift Style front bumper and side skirts, black Halo projectors with the vertical LED's, White fender markers for my Euro fenders, and Z3 style mirrors with built in signal's(yeah, cheap-o egay ones).

So for part one, I plan on completely finishing the outer portion of the car to include paint. After that, once I pick up my ZE from the junkyard, the plan is to pull the stock k8 and repaint the engine compartment and under side of the car. Then after rebuilding the ZE, dropping it in with a Turbo kit. So yeah, I've got a few months of work ahead of me, and hopefully I dont hit any snags this time, like the last 2 builds...I'll post pics of the build as it progresses...

So here's the list of parts to get... green=already have
Red=need to get

Body/appearence:
Drift style front Bumper
Drift style side skirts
Rial light weight rims( only 14 lbs)
reverse glow gauges
Halo verticle projectors
M3 style mirrors
euro fenders with clear signals on em
Blacked out Altezzas

Suspension\chassis:
Adjustable coil over kit
KYB GR2 struts
front strut brace
rear strut brace
srd replica lower tie bar
srd replica cross member
custom front bumper support(finally found a use for my euro strut brace)
white line sway bar and bushings
stitch weld the entire chassis


Brakes:
slotted and dimpled rotors
Red stuff brake pads(EBC)
SS brake flex lines

Xmission/Clutch:
K8 flywheel
Exedy Stage 2 clutch
SS Clutch flex line
LSD
Short Throw Shifter
Bronze Oil Bushings

Engine:
KLZE Motor(not installed, rebuilding first)
Curve Neck Millenia Manifold and TB
Under drive Pulley
Outlaw Intake and Throttle body spacers
Adjustable FPR
HKS Circle Earth Ground Kit W/ Voltage Stabelizer
Timing belt
Oil Cooler Kit
Aftermarker Slim Fan
T4 Turbo with Pipes, FMIC, UP and Down Pipes, BOV, Wastegate, ETC
MS&S
Rebuild Kit(gaskets, pistons, rings, valve stem seals, bearings, etc)
Aluminum Racing Radiator
Millenia S Injectors
Walboro 255lph Fuel Pump
Silicone Hoses and Vaccumn lines
SS Headers
DEI Heat wrap for headers
HEI Module



And Various other Bits and Pieces too numerous to mention...

[Daninski]

Welcome back, miss the mortar fire yet? Post some pics so we can follow the development.

[muttpower]

Here's some pix taken in the middle of the paint stripping process...with the new bumper fitted...


New side skirts waiting to be fitted

And my parts shelf finally starting to fill up...



And a sweet-a$$ gift from my wife


More to follow in the morning...saying as I finally have a day off tomarrow

[AaronTietje]

Cool project. I can't wait to see the new paint.

[muttpower]

Well, after a few hours off and on of sanding today, I finally got all of the paint stripped today. Tomarrow I'll be repairing a few dings in the sheet metal, and doing some fine sanding on the rest to get her ready for the base coat...

[muttpower]

Another long day of sanding....this time I'm down to 2000 grit, and almost finished. Only have the fenders and half of the hood to go, then it'll be ready to wash, re-mask and shot with primer....hopefully tomarrow though.

[muttpower]

Ok....maybe today I'll finally get to lay down the base coat...finally finished sanding though...no pix cuz if you seen one sanded down car, you've seen em all...

[muttpower]

Grrrrrrrrr....anyone else tired of their cheap A$$ OEM bolts and fasteners sheering off???? Ended up making a trip to Lowes and forked out $25 for a ton of Stainless Steel Fasteners....no more re-using rusted out bolts and nuts....Car is currently rust free, minus the bolts for some damn reason, and when I'm finished with her, the plan is for her to be 100% Re-done, and drive like new!!! I'm not cheaping out on anything and I'm taking my time this time around...

[muttpower]

Well, the humidity was down a little today, so I finally got a chance to fill in a few dents and dings, plus do the antenna delete, rear washer sprayer delete and A pillar blend on the roof...tomarrow I'll be doing more sanding...this time on the body filler...




Man, I can't wait to finish the body work....then I get to do the fun stuff...like the motor build and the turbo set up

[Daninski]

Get that metal primed soon before a thin layer of corrosion rears it's ugly head. Are you using a 2 part primer?

[muttpower]

Get that metal primed soon before a thin layer of corrosion rears it's ugly head. Are you using a 2 part primer?

No worries, bare metal has been lightly oiled for the time being, and as for the primer, I'm starting with a coat of self etching,followed by a coat of Duplicolor sandable.

[mitmaks]

If you need help on bodywork advise let me know. I can help you with anything you need.

[muttpower]

Well, here we go again...seems in a few months, my project will be put on hold once again....seems the Army doesn't have much use for a broken down combat vet anymore, so I'll be transitioning to civillian life in the next 90 days...now to find a job!!!!!!

[carizle]

Well, here we go again...seems in a few months, my project will be put on hold once again....seems the Army doesn't have much use for a broken down combat vet anymore, so I'll be transitioning to civillian life in the next 90 days...now to find a job!!!!!!

Ouch thats rough. I heard from one of my old army buddies they may be facing the same fate from the army downsizing. Good luck out in the real world. Theres times I miss a lot of the benefits. Especially havin a family.

[muttpower]

Yeah, that's the only thing I'm worried about is my wife and kids...otherwise, if it were just me, I could really care less....but on the plus side, NO MORE DEPLOYMENTS But yeah, you're right, I'm not the only one...alot of my friends that came back with me from this last deployment are going through the same thing. Seems if you've been blown up more than twice, you're just a liability to the army... Meehhhhh, oh well. I'm sure when the next war kicks off, they'll be beatin my door down begging me to sign up again to "spread my experiance" to these new soldiers...