56k friendly pics of my '01 SL2 project

SL2 Cruiser · 10-27-2005, 12:37 AM

Took some new pics this evening of my SL2 and some of the mods I've done so far... feel free to post up your thoughts and opinions... keep in mind I bought this car as a $2500 beater so its come a long way.

The mighty twin cam. when I popped the hood at the car lot I could almost swear someone backed a dump truck up to the car and dumped a load of mud and silt into the engine bay. I had to pressure wash the engine just to remove the plug wires. Mods in the pic are 9.3mm wires and MSD coils. Future mods include full exhaust starting with OBX SS headers and an intake.

http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/4...43266ot.th.jpg

The interior pic #1, almost everything still stock except the painted dash, painted steering wheel emblem, center console (it was tan) and painted door handles. I also spent about $300 just CLEANING the car, it was so smoke damaged that brown gunk was caked all over the door panels and dash. Had to remove the carpet and do some MAJOR cleaning to get it looking good.. Should've seen the rags after I cleaned the door panels and dash.

http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/9...43293fd.th.jpg

Interior pic 2 Closeup of the painted dash... sanded with 150 grit, then 220, then 320. Primed with Krylon Fusion Satin Black. Used Duplicolor Universal Metallic black for the basecoat with 5 coats of clear. Sanded with 2000 grit then polished.

http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/6...43304xv.th.jpg

Interior pic 3 Another shot of the dash, also installed a factory am/fm tuner. When I bought the car there was only a mess of wires hanging out, whoever had it cut the oem plug off.

http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/9...43312ew.th.jpg

Cleaned door panel along with painted handle. I eventually plan to replace the worn fabric with something better, haven't decided what though.

http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/6...43329pq.th.jpg

The backseat. Nothing special here but the reason I posted this pic is to show the floor mats, nothing special about them. But before I cleaned the carpet, they were the exact same color, no lie.

http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/5...43341kx.th.jpg

Last pic.. from the backseat, shot of the overhead console, painted parts, etc. By now you can tell what's what.

http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/3...43355ph.th.jpg

Anyway.. comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated. I'm really having fun modding this car, it has a lot of work left to do but hey, that's why it's a project.

Danno · 10-27-2005, 02:07 AM

This is what I need to do with my $1000 beater

needs cleaned, for instance there is sand in the center console, previous owner went to the beach about 2 years ago.. blech

nice job, looks good

micah_sl2 · 10-27-2005, 02:18 AM

i like that metallic black

PurdueGuy · 10-27-2005, 03:43 AM

Very nice work on the painting the dash piece - makes me want to do some simmilar work.

Maybe when I have a garage... Good job cleaning it up, too - it's looking very nice, especially for the damage you describe. Keep up the good work! Oh, and looks like it's time for an aftermarket CD player.

(unless you're in a high-crime neighborhood, then it's time for some sort of hidden mp3 player or something...)

SL2 Cruiser · 10-27-2005, 06:00 AM

Thanks for the encouragment everyone... people I hang around here with locally scoff when I mention I'm fixing up a Saturn.. ah well.

Purdue, the dash painting was all done outdoors in my patio! I hung everything with bungee cables from the ceiling and did the painting that way. I should also mention it was in the summertime and all the paints I used dry fast, so there wasn't really much time for crap to stick to the paint. And any dust or hairs that did get in the paint (before drying) came out when I did the 2000 grit wet sanding. The pictures don't do the dash face justice, it feels smooth as glass.

As for a radio, I'm still hunting for a good deal on a stock cd/cass combo. I work in a high crime area and ANYTHING aftermarket, even if it's a cheap Jc Whitney radio, WILL get jacked.

Thanks again for the positive words... I'm still open for suggestions!

my99sl1 · 10-27-2005, 01:40 PM

Looks good!

97_SC2 · 10-27-2005, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SL2 Cruiser

As for a radio, I'm still hunting for a good deal on a stock cd/cass combo. I work in a high crime area and ANYTHING aftermarket, even if it's a cheap Jc Whitney radio, WILL get jacked.

My friend has a JVC head unit that fold up into the dash when you're not using it and it just looks like you don't have any head unit at all. Then when you turn it on it flips out and it's a touch screen.

Might be something to look into.

By the way, great job on the car.

lando · 10-27-2005, 04:07 PM

I have a spare stock radio from a 2003 ION if you are interested. I think it would work.

PurdueGuy · 10-27-2005, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 97_SC2

Quote:

Originally Posted by SL2 Cruiser

As for a radio, I'm still hunting for a good deal on a stock cd/cass combo. I work in a high crime area and ANYTHING aftermarket, even if it's a cheap Jc Whitney radio, WILL get jacked.

My friend has a JVC head unit that fold up into the dash when you're not using it and it just looks like you don't have any head unit at all. Then when you turn it on it flips out and it's a touch screen.

Might be something to look into.

By the way, great job on the car.

I would expect a theif to recognize that and steal it anyway. I've never seen one of those flip-around screen head units that was convincing.

97_SC2 · 10-27-2005, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PurdueGuy

Quote:

Originally Posted by 97_SC2

Quote:

Originally Posted by SL2 Cruiser

As for a radio, I'm still hunting for a good deal on a stock cd/cass combo. I work in a high crime area and ANYTHING aftermarket, even if it's a cheap Jc Whitney radio, WILL get jacked.

My friend has a JVC head unit that fold up into the dash when you're not using it and it just looks like you don't have any head unit at all. Then when you turn it on it flips out and it's a touch screen.

Might be something to look into.

By the way, great job on the car.

I would expect a theif to recognize that and steal it anyway. I've never seen one of those flip-around screen head units that was convincing.

But the back side of it isn't polished, it just looks like plastic and it's flush with your console.

Or you could always just take off the head unit and take it inside with you. No theif is going to break into a car and steal a head unit that he can't have a faceplate for. They're very expensive to replace, and the point of stealing is not having to pay for something.

Almost every new stereo has a detachable face now.