Finally moving: Cabriolet the 89 way.

[riddie]

I kinda wanted to start this right when I got the car but eh whatever. Better late than never. Bought it for $450 and a 24 pack of water from a local guy. He even delivered it to my house about 25 miles away. The car itself hadn't run in at least two years but the body was fresh lookin.

New Home:


Absolutely disgusting engine bay:

Interior in pretty good knick:


Then I did a little work. I decided the problem was fuel. I ended up replacing both pumps, the return line, all 4 injectors and the relay. Did cap rotor wires as well. Got it started roughly 2 months later (college exam time sucks). Dont really have any pictures of that but eh who cares
Tore the whole interior out to clean it up and check the floors. Ended up just spraying them with truck bed liner for a lil extra water protection.

More than likely drunk picture:



The first day I took it out was a disaster. Ended up having to be towed home due to a bad alternator but since then its been pretty smooth sailing besides an oil leak due to the pressure sensor and overheating because the fan relay was bad.
The next time I took it out a local came across me and snapped a roller while it was still unwashed/unlowered:


Since then I've really only lowered it on some rokkors.

New cleaner engine bay with deleted a/c:


Streetjammin:

in all her glory:


Plans:
Shave the front bumper
New paint on the drivers door and bumpers
Wheels and tires. (looking for something unique)
Engine swap?
Speakers so I can actually listen to music when I'm riding top down.

[CajunSpike]

Nice find with lots of potential. PLEASE be sure to kill the rust under/around the windshield before it eats up that whole front panel. I saw a car in the junkyard, that basically had no metal left around the wiper blade area.

[riddie]

Nice find with lots of potential. PLEASE be sure to kill the rust under/around the windshield before it eats up that whole front panel. I saw a car in the junkyard, that basically had no metal left around the wiper blade area.

Thanks. I've been trying to avoid that problem this summer. It already goes through to the rain tray, by far the biggest issue body wise with the car. My friends learning how to do some body work so hopefully we can tackle it this winter

[tapedeck74]

Where's your wiper fluid reservoir?

[riddie]

Where's your wiper fluid reservoir?

Took it out

[DubLuv1]

good luck with her

[riddie]

Met a kid who was into VWs. Talked a little. He ended up having a set of old bmw wheels laying around with good rubber on them. Cell phone pics rule.

[mdverity]

Ooohh, TWO great finds now. This is exiting. Keep her clean.

[riddie]

[riddie]

Did a little bit of work today. Finally installed some nice led liscence plate lights/sockets (the car came with no lights back there).



And one of its good side for the hell of it. Still need to address the front bumper (shave it) and find a single round grille though.



How about some love? Comments and Criticism is welcome.

[AZrabbit]

If you are still looking for speakers pm me. I am a Seller of all car audio, and can beat any price u find

[riddie]

Pulled the bumpstops on my coils today Shes sittin pretty but I'm gonna be ordering some mounts from OSVW over the winter for sure. Pictures tomorrow.

[vnichw]

Where in Wisconsin are you?

Also picked up a cabby for $450


Finally started working on it.. It sat for 4-5 years.. ..

New pumps,dizzy,coil,wires clean the tank..... think it needs a fuel pump relay as the pump is getting power but not is not getting 12v ,

AC delete? no humidity where you are?


Good luck?

[vnichw]

Theres a few cabbys in the junkyards here if you need some donor metal

[vnichw]

Where in Wisconsin are you?

Also picked up a cabby for $450


Finally started working on it.. It sat for 4-5 years.. ..

New pumps,dizzy,coil,wires clean the tank..... think it needs a fuel pump relay as the pump is getting power but not is not getting 12v ,

AC delete? no humidity where you are?


Good luck?

[riddie]

Theres a few cabbys in the junkyards here if you need some donor metal

I'm in Milwaukee. I've been thinking about how to attack the windshield rust. I think I'll be able to get away with just replacing the bottom lip but who knows what I'll find when I get the windshield out. I will probably end up having a shop do it seeing as I've never attempted body work and have limited experience.

I've been thinking about the direction I want to take it visually lately seeing as it's getting put down for the winter soon. At first I wanted to rip the clipper kit off and go old school, but now that I have it dumped, I like the look of it with the kit. How do you guys think this would look-

-Single round chrome trim grill
-Fluted Cross-hair e-codes (if I can get my hands on some)
-Chrome side trim
-Chrome handles
-Chrome windshield trim?
-Shaved front bumper
-Reiger lip?
-Some 14x8 or 13x8 3 piece wheels?

Pretty much this but a cabby-

[riddie]

How she sits currently with a little bit of photoshop shaving

[riddie]

Got done with class and decided I wanted to do something to my car. The following ensued:



Still gotta clear them but I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out so far

[Jw1986]

looks good i just picked up a white cabby for 340 i am milwaukee also but mine doesnt idle and has some exhaust leaks but hope to have it on the road soon

[riddie]

Went to figure out why my power steering belt was always loose. Missing tensioning bolt so that was an easy fix. While I was under there I noticed this

[mileycyrus]

nice work, looks good man......much cleaner than when you got it....

[riddie]

****ed **** up today 70 miles from home.

Axle broke/slipped out somehow (NOT the one that made the frame notch) and the control arm popped off. Could have been sooooo much worse. It happened in a parking lot doing about 10 mph. We were just on I-94 doing about 80 so yeahhh. Gonna try getting her back on the road tomorrow bright and early. Also noticed I need new brake pads

[matty kirk]

Wow, looks like a lot of fun. What is happening in the picture with the notch? Is that the axle shaft? How did that occur??

Anyway, nice car man.

[superquick]

awesome cab man! great score. how are you riding so low on those e30's? you got the flairs trimmed and fenders rolled or what? this is as low as i can get on mine without cutting/bending anything.



not to steal your page or anything awesome work man. i had rust under the windshield of mine too when i first got it. it's a tall job

[riddie]

Wow, looks like a lot of fun. What is happening in the picture with the notch? Is that the axle shaft? How did that occur??

Anyway, nice car man.

Its dropped so much that the axle is rubbing on the frame and self notching it haha. Not the best thing for the car. Planning on getting a frame notch this winter.

awesome cab man! great score. how are you riding so low on those e30's? you got the flairs trimmed and fenders rolled or what? this is as low as i can get on mine without cutting/bending anything.

not to steal your page or anything awesome work man. i had rust under the windshield of mine too when i first got it. it's a tall job

Im not sure if youve got the 14s or the 15s, but mine are 14"s. But I've got as much stock camber as the setup allows up front, and the fenders are rolled/pulled slightly with a big pole I found in my garage. Just heated up the paint and went to town rolling the fenders until nothing rubbed. Its taken me all summer to figure out how to get it this low haha. But yeah nothings trimmed

[superquick]

i got the 14's too and love them. they flow so well with the car. i've been considering rolling my fenders soon with a big pipe i got, i just haven't gotten up the nerve to do it. haha. and from being afraid of my cv's rubbing and tie rods breaking and all the other things that go with rolling low. again though, that's a really nice cab man. keep up the good work

[VWeisgerber]

How did these turn out? Any pics installed on the car?

[riddie]

Picture time! A few from this weekend. Drove the crap out of it for the first time. Took it on a 180 mile round trip with absolutely no problems Friday and Saturday. One my friends took on the way home:


After I checked the car out I figured it was good to go to Chicago, another 180 mile round trip. Made it down there fine, then on the way home, disaster occured:

My Favorite of the night:

And the classic tow truck shot. Scared the **** out of me towing it home not on a flatbed with the front wheel being barely connected but it made it

i got the 14's too and love them. they flow so well with the car. i've been considering rolling my fenders soon with a big pipe i got, i just haven't gotten up the nerve to do it. haha. and from being afraid of my cv's rubbing and tie rods breaking and all the other things that go with rolling low. again though, that's a really nice cab man. keep up the good work

If you roll the fenders just take it slow and make sure you heat up the paint enough so you don't chip it. And I had more axle rubbing frame more than anything. Just be sure you go through everything that's connected to the spindle and replace it. I'm pretty sure my CV exploding is due to my still original ball joint from 1989 popping out while I was driving around the crappy Illinois roads.

How did these turn out? Any pics installed on the car?

They actually turned out awesome. I'll take a shot after I get out of class today

[riddie]

Finally got around to tearing into the car. Plan on refreshing the suspension/steering system (I realized the majority was original ) Ordered the following parts:

Ball Joints
Tie rod ends
Pads and Rotors
Bearings
Hubs
Poly control arm bushings
Poly beam bushings
Drivers side axle

Pardon my blurry picture, I wasnt drunk, the camera I have is old

[riddie]

Semester is over so I can finally make some worth while headway SO.

Where'd everything go?

OH! There it all is. Gotta still buy new bearings and hubs but I have tierod ends ball joints, pads, and an axle on the way.

Drilling out rivets sucks. Ill probably end up replacing the control arms when I do my tranny swap. But for now the new parts will be adequate.

I got all the bolts and main axle off but I'm pretty sure that's still part of the inner CV joint. Any suggestions on whether it needs to come off or not?
And a bunch of fun stuff I'm rapidly aquiring:


50 Bucks into the tranny swap so far and I have a complete linkage and pedal cluster. Found a steering rack for 45 at a junkyard that I'm gonna pick up Thursday or Friday. Its comin together nicely

[RabidRabbit22]

Looking good, the auto to 5 speed swap isnt too bad. Hard part is puttin in the pedals I thought, just kinda a pain being up under the dash for half an hour.

I used to have a 89 as well as many others...fun cars keep it up.

[Spokane Pepe]

Did that broken wrench cause the knuckles to bleed? The tow truck shot, now that is something I have been lucky with. No tow trucks yet. Not to say I have not been towed, while in the car steering, with some type of rope behind a truck.

Nice work so far keep, this alive.

[riddie]

Looking good, the auto to 5 speed swap isnt too bad. Hard part is puttin in the pedals I thought, just kinda a pain being up under the dash for half an hour.

I used to have a 89 as well as many others...fun cars keep it up.

That's what I'm least looking forward too. I might do it soon before I have everything else for the swap just to get it out of the way....Eh well see.

Did that broken wrench cause the knuckles to bleed? The tow truck shot, now that is something I have been lucky with. No tow trucks yet. Not to say I have not been towed, while in the car steering, with some type of rope behind a truck.

Nice work so far keep, this alive.

Ha actually it didn't thank god. I was using it to get the axle bolts off and it just snapped. That tow truck shot was actually the 2nd time the car was towed in the last 6 months. The first time I got it running I got overly excited and took it 20 minutes from home and it turns out it had a bad alternator. Stupid voltage gauge not working. Thanks for the kind words though

[riddie]

Its alive
How it sat this morning:

then some parts came:

and back on its own 4 feet

Drove it (with no door fender or hood) and it feels awesome.
Now that all that maintenance **** is out of they way I can concentrate on the fun stuff

[riddie]

Finally started Shaving my front bumper like I've wanted to forever.

I was too cheap to go buy a second bumper . It's winter in Wisconsin, so I decided to wait for someone to crash their car and leave their bumper on the side of the road. My Patience was rewarded with this.

I think I'll be able to use the top flat parts for what I need.