The "Spicy Saloon" MSP build thread

Time for an update!

Lot's has been happening.
I've been fairly busy, last year we moved into new house and shop. Started a couple new business ventures. I went super low for awhile and enjoyed it, mostly. More on that later maybe.

Got a feature in USDM FREAX mag in Japan, which was unreal. I didn't really consider the car ready to be photographed but I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity!













Then, later in the winter I got my heart broken, by a cabinet.


sorry for massive photos

It's not even that bad, but to me it basically ruined the car. My father was moving things around the shop, I was pissed to say the least.
It felt like the super clean factor was just gone. T'was sad.

In the spring I contacted the best paintless dent removal guy around, dreaming that he could get the top dent out. He took one look at it and told me it's a body shop job, which means weld on dent removal etc.

As usual when the best around tell me they can't help me, I do it myself.

20 minutes after I spoke to my PDR guy I self made some PDR tools and with them and a soft hammer I got the dent looking 35% better. More importantly the rise on the front of it is 95% gone, so I can fill the rest. Mmmm bacon.



I already knew I had to do more paint work due to a large mistake back in 2013 on the last stage of clear coat, which is causing the clear to disappear basically. So I recently decided I would do another part tear down and fix everything that's been bugging me.



More in the next post coming soon!


And 40K views on this thread, damn!!
 
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Since you're doing a teardown might as well go big... I say widebody the damn thing then you can actually fit some wide wheels with meaty tires... Is you in or is you in?
 
I saw your FS post elsewhere the other say for the body plugs and was curious as to "why" but didn't ask. Now I know. That sucks. My car is, in absolutely no way, anywhere near the shape yours is. And I'd have been pisssssssed. If for no other reason than the fact it's spicy and difficult to match. And THAT spot all of spots!!??!? Whhhyyyy!? Haha. Not laughing at that, it's just of all places. I've said a million times: I'm not into the slammed and fitment thing, but I do love your car.

Is the deck lid the OEM deck lid? If so, what'd you do about the spoiler mounting holes? Paint-matched body plugs? I'm not trying to hijack your thread, but I don't want either the 03 or the 03.5 until I one day get a carbon fiber lid. And the body plugs you were selling piqued my interest, but at the same time, the paint is wildly different from under the original spoiler mounts that can be seen sticking out from under the base of the 03.5.



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That really sucks. Thats the worst possible spot for damage. What happened to the wheel?

Yeah man :(

Actually the wheel is fine, just tiny light scratching on the face, the fact that I was tucking wheel saved the rim haha.



I saw your FS post elsewhere the other say for the body plugs and was curious as to "why" but didn't ask. Now I know. That sucks. My car is, in absolutely no way, anywhere near the shape yours is. And I'd have been pisssssssed. If for no other reason than the fact it's spicy and difficult to match. And THAT spot all of spots!!??!? Whhhyyyy!? Haha. Not laughing at that, it's just of all places. I've said a million times: I'm not into the slammed and fitment thing, but I do love your car.

Is the deck lid the OEM deck lid? If so, what'd you do about the spoiler mounting holes? Paint-matched body plugs? I'm not trying to hijack your thread, but I don't want either the 03 or the 03.5 until I one day get a carbon fiber lid. And the body plugs you were selling piqued my interest, but at the same time, the paint is wildly different from under the original spoiler mounts that can be seen sticking out from under the base of the 03.5.


Ahhh man I know right, it hurt. Changed how I feel about the whole car. The trunk is oem yeah, I'm selling the color matched body plugs because I just welded up those holes!


Since you're doing a teardown might as well go big... I say widebody the damn thing then you can actually fit some wide wheels with meaty tires... Is you in or is you in?

Hahah, I am, and I'm not. Like I said earlier in this thread, metal widebody is probably in this car's future. But I need to be amazing at working with metal and welding before I consider that. I've got a pos 240 to practise on though :)
And is that a hint that you hate my stretched tires? ;)
 
Hahah, I am, and I'm not. Like I said earlier in this thread, metal widebody is probably in this car's future. But I need to be amazing at working with metal and welding before I consider that. I've got a pos 240 to practise on though :)
And is that a hint that you hate my stretched tires? ;)

Hate is such a strong word brotha... I'm just more of a functional kinda guy... I like my cake and I eat it too, there's no reason it can't be purpose built and look good.
 
Hate is such a strong word brotha... I'm just more of a functional kinda guy... I like my cake and I eat it too, there's no reason it can't be purpose built and look good.

hahah It wouldn't bother me if you did. As far as I'm concerned it's pretty functional, I'd have no worries doing casual lapping or casual offroading lol



It feels sort of nostalgic writing these, since I'm redoing a lot of what I did in the first post here, it's bringing back memories of when I first started this thread. Everything will go much better this time haha.

Rewind a couple weeks and I had finally taken care of my neverending brake issues :) Replaced the axles I killed and raised it up to a fully functional level. Drove a couple hours away for the weekend and hit some good driving roads. Had to enjoy her for a bit before tearing down again.









On the way back, the day after my birthday, she had her 100th birthday finally. Feels good actually.






I finally took my mig out of the box and started doing things.



First I practiced on the beaters.




Why do 240 owners think they can patch holes with the card board that came with the puddy they used? luls






When your old filler sucked.



Made some fender art





Removed some wing dents and welded up all the holes



Idiots didn't seal under the silicon s*** inside the trunk lid. All rust must go.



Decided to give this front fender one last try at life, put another layer of metal behind and welded up the crack.



Reshaped and stripped all the old ish off the rear fenders.





Now I'm playing with filler and about to epoxy prime around the rear fenders before smoothing them out again.

Much more to come!
 
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Ok... "Functional" I suppose is a subjective term as well but I'd imagine you're picking up what I'm putting down. Keep up the solid work man... Always admired your tenacity.
 
Freaking love this car and have been following it ever since i got my Spicy last November, gives me motivation to work on mine and get it to the level of yours. what did you use for the fog deletes?
 
First and last car show appearance of the season

Photos by Art from Drop Culture / Vibrant Performance








Still have a lot to do and sort out. Don't look too close lol
 
The brake light is interesting, wasn't expecting that. Are you planning to reinstall a rear lip?
 
your car makes me wanna get back in the game hardcore.

Do it!


The brake light is interesting, wasn't expecting that. Are you planning to reinstall a rear lip?

Haha interesting eh? I'm sure many people won't dig it, I like it. First try at LED stuff.

And no way lol, just did work to get rid of that thing! Don't like the rear lips for these cars personally. Im slowly designing a rear diffuser. And new axle back to come.






Turd village. P5 wrap prep in progress.


 
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