did u do a cable or a hydraulic clutch setup for the t5 or did u use the z bar. Sorry I'm overly interested in doing a t5 swap on my maverick I want to dive in and do it but im concerned about fabricating a crossmember and what clutch setup to use or if any of my toploader stuff will swap over. pics pics pics
It was a hydraulic setup. Bryant on this thread was the one who did the swap for me, he can give you all the info you need. I believe there's a tech article on it as well.
The previous owner tried to put an aftermarket shifter and cut into the transmission tunnel. It didn't fit so they went back with the original floor shifter, but never welded up the holes, so I took care of it. I had an extra sheet of metal covering the excess open space on the transmission shifter, but I decided I wanted to make it one piece so I welded it up and used a dremel to keep the opening for the shifter as small as possible. I still have to grind it a little more, the shifter hits when I accelerate
After inspecting my spoiler I determined that it was damaged so I removed it and sure enough you could tell that it was cracked into two pieces and repaired (poorly done) by the previous owner. I have to say after working on this spoiler for so many hours I officially hate fiberglass. This was my second time working with fiberglass so there was a lot of trial and error and not too mention I had to buy an extra sheet of cloth and bottle of resin since I couldn't get it done with one. I noticed that the spoiler is made out of a different type of material other than fiber glass. Will my repair with fiberglass hold up with time or is there something else that I should of used to repair it with? I know that everything expands with heat so will the heat have any effect on the fiberglass once its out on the sun everyday? I could have avoided all this mess by finding a nice spoiler , but we know how that goes. The spoiler had one side perfect but the side that had been repaired was awful. It wasn't straight and it was real low. So I had to build it up and grind down the bottom side. Here you can tell where it was cracked
Once removing the spoiler off the trunk I noticed that the trunk lid had a lot of low spots and dings. It was going to take up a lot of my time to repair it so I found one in excellent condition nearby. I dropped it off at school a day before class. I put it in our area were we have all practice body panels. I should of put a note saying it was mine and to NOT TOUCH, but unfortunately I didn't. So I go back to class the next day only to find out that some idiot thought it was a practice panel and he put a fat dent on it with the pick side of a body hammer! Out of all the panels that he could of hit he choose the nicest one and not too mention he damaged one of the corners when he picked it up. I was real mad, but it was my mistake for not putting a note on it. The teacher chewed him out and helped me repair it. Luckily he hit it where it was accessible from the underside, so we got it as straight as possible and had to shrink it. Still left a little dent, but it will be covered. So I finally was able to test fit my spoiler on the trunk. The repair side doesnot line up perefectly but its a lot better than what it was. I also noticed how the driver side quarter extension will not line up with the body line! The passenger side is not perfect either but its better than the driver side. The quarter extensions are sitting on washers. Is it supposed to have them or not? I know that the these cars weren't made perfectly maybe that's just how it fits. Heres the left side (undamaged side) Damaged side
The spoiler is a little too much to the left side. What do you guys think? Does it need to line up perfectly with the trunk line? If so then I will have to make the trunk holes a little bigger to slide it to the right. You can definitely tell that the gap on the right side does not match up with the left side. This is the undamaged side you can also see how the quarter extension isnt lined up perfectly. Heres the damaged side you can definitely see the larger gap. Do I need to build it up a little more?
As I have said before.....these cars won't pass the Mercedes-Benz "ball-bearing" test....but I think with some work you can make them look a little better.
Looking good Val! I really like what you did with the tunnel, fixing stuff that will never be seen is just quality IMHO. I'd line up the spoiler dead on! You'll see it every time you walk by it and that little voice will keep nagging at you to fix it (Yup!!)
Next I realized that my tail panel was not straight.I noticed when I was taking off the tail lights that the passenger side is pushed in a bit and the passenger side was pushed out a lot. So the lights sit uneven. After grinding down all the paint I was right. The passenger side had the top body lined pushed out way to far and the drivers side is pushed in. I could straighten it out but I figured it would be easier to replace it. Since I really liked the how the 69 Camaro tail lights look I decided to buy them and I also bought the tail panel. What would be the easiest way to get the job done? Should I use part of my maverick tail panel? I seen how KruzinIllusion did his. And I seen Topolinos also
You will have to graft the Camaro light openings into your cars tail panel. While your at it...You should cut the spot welds that hold the quarters to the tail panel. That way you can adjust the quarters so the end caps line up with the body. The right side on my mav project never lined up well either. I drilled the spot welds and moved the quarter skin so the end cap lined up perfectly with the body line and set the gap so its even with the gap between the quarter and trunk lid. You are definitely capable of pulling it off well. You have gained some skills in school and the car is looking good man. Have at it and have fun!!!
Couple questions/comments. Did read entire thread so this may have been mentioned but those original colors on your car back at the beginning of this thread are really rare I am pretty sure they are anyway. Have you gotten a Marty report or anything like that? 2nd thing is in the post with the tail light pics first thing is good job those tail lights look great. However I amean slightly confused is there actually 2 different cars. A yellow one and a red one? Also are they both getting different tail lights?
