ccrunner's N600 VFR800 repower

[ccrunner]

And the wheels on the (teeny tiny) bus go round and round...

Another few shots before/after..

Also, once I mounted a tire on my first/prototype widened wheel, it was obvious I had 8 or 10 pinhole leaks (my wife tells me our swimming pool is not a leak detector device- I beg to differ )... Anyway, this was remedied by pulling the tire back off and brushing on two coats of POR15 over my welds- worked perfectly to seal the pinholes on all 4 wheels.

-ccrunner

[ccrunner]

-just found a good pic to show the tire stretch (for better or worse), and the new tire/rim width sticking out past the fender..

-ccrunner

[Miatav8,MstrASE,A&P,F]

Nice job on the rims and cutting jig. I guess you rolled a strip into a circle for a filler hoop? 0.95" strip?

Also like the volvo and truck.

[esp42089]

Have you considered how the change in offset is going to affect your geometry and handling? Love that little car; it looks like so much fun! Love your volvo too!

[ccrunner]

Have you considered how the change in offset is going to affect your geometry and handling? Love that little car; it looks like so much fun! Love your volvo too!

Thanks for the kind words guys

The wheel-widening is for sure an experiment... I was a bit worried about moving my scrub radius out (positive)- which of course this did.. I thought I'd suffer heavy steering or too much steering kickback, but I'm very happily surprised that I can't tell any ill effects.. As a matter of fact, the car feels like it tracks better, particularly up over 70/80...

So on we go.. you can't very well do the hillbilly wheel hoop job without an equally appropriate way to dress up said wheels, right?

Enter the 'original' Dog Dish hubcap.. Those unsightly lug nuts have always bothered me, so I sought out a set of 4 dog dishes to cut down and make into hub caps.. The mounting method turned out better than I thought it would, and while they're not super-perfectly centered, I'm happy with the result.. who knew? $1.00 wrecking yard beauty rings and cheap dog dishes, and woof! - old's skool chrome dress up

[Miatav8,MstrASE,A&P,F]

That's cool. I'd be sure to apply generous antisieze to the threads.

[rx7locost]

Very clean looking

[GonzoRacer]

Oooh, SpongeBob SquareCar gots new hubcaps and big tires... Looks cool...

[ccrunner]

Summer 2014 continued...

In keeping with smoothing this car's body to my liking, I finally got a chance to remove the hood blister.. With most of the mechanicals sorted, I find I'm turning more and more to doing body mods as I plan to go to paint by summer 2015 (I find if I don't give myself goals/ deadlines, nothing gets done)

Not super dramatic, but one of those nuance mods...

[GonzoRacer]

I plan to go to paint by summer 2015

WHAT!?!?!? And cover up SpongeBob?!??? NOOOOOO!!!!

[ccrunner]

SUMMER 2014 (Continued)...

I know, I know, no more Spongebob has proven to be a sticking point here at our house too


My attention has turned from the top of the hood, to what's underneath.. I had to fab up an airbox cover because the OEM box was just too tall.. I've never liked the way 'my' box lid looks (all function and no form), so I decided to do something a bit different.. before we go there, here are a few shots of the engine bay- I've spent a fair amount of time tucking the wires and trying to keep this build as smooth/clean as possible, so the pics below just scream out to somehow dress up that motor..

-ccrunner

[ccrunner]

Soooo....

I decided to hollow out the OEM VFR tank and make it into an engine cover..

This is a pretty nice tank, and I actually had it on ebay for awhile last year, but no takers, so I kept it.. I was extremely nervous about cutting it open with the grinder/sparks.. so after having it sit for a few years in the shed, I decided to rinse it out thoroughly with the hose, then just for good measure, I took it out to our swimming pool/tire leak detector, and submerged it out there for 2 days (my wife still doesn't know about this one- I'm on the down-low with such stunts since she found the tires/wheels in the pool a few weeks back)

Anyway, no drama as I cut it open and very gradually trimmed it out.. I like the way it turned out- it hides an ugly airbox lid underneath, and it really screams out "This car has a motorcycle engine!"

-ccrunner

[ccrunner]

More of SUMMER 2015 mods..

Before moving onto the next 'nuance' mod, I've dug out some older pics from earlier in this build log to show the difference... I'm working on streamlining/decluttering the marker light/ grille area.. (the new marker lights are actually 2.5" amber LED 'sliver lights' (for lack of a better term- got them -as well as the other LED lights on this build- at "Custom Dynamics" online)... The LEDs are virtually impossible to see unless the car is on/running- they're mounted behind the grille to help make them less conspicuous..

So the following mods are only meant to undo what Honda did with their OEM lights and mounts.. these pics are from page 1 (totally stock front end), and from page 9 (Where I had fabbed in some VW Passat marker lights, but I didn't like them, so I took them out of the grille.... in the 2nd pic, one side is shaved, the other is not to show the difference).

-ccrunner

[Run87k]

I'm on the down-low with such stunts since she found the tires/wheels in the pool a few weeks back)

Wives are funny about that kind of thing. Mine never found out about a great way to cure high temperature paint...

Muffler Cookout.jpg

[ccrunner]

I'm on the down-low with such stunts since she found the tires/wheels in the pool a few weeks back)

Wives are funny about that kind of thing. Mine never found out about a great way to cure high temperature paint...

Muffler Cookout.jpg

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Good one! I sure hope none of our in-the-dark wives learn of our craftiness

-ccrunner