[heliman]

I've got the motor, but everything else gets a little pricey.

Can't argue that, performance costs. But they are 125 hp stock which is already a nice upgrade. While I've got 3K in my fully built Zetec, which I won't argue is a lot. I would consider that a steal. compared to what some people have quoted on here for a HP CHI.

 

[GoldGT]

While I've got 3K in my fully built Zetec, which I won't argue is a lot. I would consider that a steal. compared to what some people have quoted on here for a HP CIH.

I've got more than $3K in the head alone!

 

[heliman]

I've got more than $3K in the head alone!

I have to rest my case with that. For that much I have the Ford factory CNC racing head with oversize SS valves, Comp cams, CFM adjustable cam pulleys, Eagle H beam rods, JE pistons, Billet oil pump gears and full ARP hardware.
With that said, Engine swaps aren't for everyone. The CHI is a great engine, I've built a few myself. I have total respect for everyone who builds their CHI, it just wasn't what I wanted this time.

 

[The Scifi Guy]

I picked up my new used 2008 Ford Escape yesterday. Now my backyard and driveway has an all-red color motif.

 

[okieopel]

I picked up my new used 2008 Ford Escape yesterday. Now my backyard and driveway has an all-red color motif.

How could it be any other color but red?

 

[The Scifi Guy]

And I don't even like RED! I wish all my Opels and sports cars were yellow, like my new one will be!

It all started with my Red Baron car coming to me already painted red(It was originally yellow). Then I got started on that whole Red Baron theme with Norbert. Then I got my GTX car and the plan all along, for years, was to paint it yellow, it's original color. But at the last minute, I decided I couldn't walk away from all that Red Baron stuff I had collected, so I had it painted red. Now I have the (former) gullwing car and, gosh dang it, I'm going to paint it yellow(Also, it's original color)!

It's just dumb luck that the Escape I ended up buying was red.

Aaaarrrggghhh! Enough with the red already!

 

[2 Fast 4 U]

You could always change the name to yellow baron....

 

[okieopel]

And I don't even like RED! I wish all my Opels and sports cars were yellow, like my new one will be!

It all started with my Red Baron car coming to me already painted red(It was originally yellow). Then I got started on that whole Red Baron theme with Norbert. Then I got my GTX car and the plan all along, for years, was to paint it yellow, it's original color. But at the last minute, I decided I couldn't walk away from all that Red Baron stuff I had collected, so I had it painted red. Now I have the (former) gullwing car and, gosh dang it, I'm going to paint it yellow(Also, it's original color)!

It's just dumb luck that the Escape I ended up buying was red.

Aaaarrrggghhh! Enough with the red already!

I see where you are going with this...

it even snaps together, no gluing or painting (should say welding too).

 

[The Scifi Guy]

Ha! That's funny! Nope, no more Snoopy and Peanuts cartoon stuff. I sold off all that stuff to a VW guy.

The new theme is Racer X, but I'm not going to do any car show stuff with that theme. It's not really intended to be a car show car, just a project car for me to work on. It will be less deluxe than my GTX and probably faster(The oem FI is slowwww compared to when I had the side draft on it). I'm either going to put the side draft on this one or try for a fuel injected Jenvey Heritage side draft and Megasquirt.

Update on this project: I'll be having Maaco do everything from this point: Blasting, primering, puttying, and painting. It was silly to hand off part of the job to Charlie in Virginia. This way I can drop by the shop and monitor it's progress. I'm just waiting for them to tell me to bring it over and then this thread is over and I'll start a new thread called Gordo's Racer X Project.

 

[jayhawkjesse33]

Ha! That's funny! Nope, no more Snoopy and Peanuts cartoon stuff. I sold off all that stuff to a VW guy.

The new theme is Racer X, but I'm not going to do any car show stuff with that theme. It's not really intended to be a car show car, just a project car for me to work on. It will be less deluxe than my GTX and probably faster(The oem FI is slowwww compared to when I had the side draft on it). I'm either going to put the side draft on this one or try for a fuel injected Jenvey Heritage side draft and Megasquirt.

Update on this project: I'll be having Maaco do everything from this point: Blasting, primering, puttying, and painting. It was silly to hand off part of the job to Charlie in Virginia. This way I can drop by the shop and monitor it's progress. I'm just waiting for them to tell me to bring it over and then this thread is over and I'll start a new thread called Gordo's Racer X Project.

Great move. Have they said how much they expect it to cost?

 

[The Scifi Guy]

It would have been impossible to make a guesstimate until the roof was replaced and I got the nice new doors. And, realistically, until the putty is blasted off the car, there's no telling how much labor there would be to putty it back to perfection. And, of course, they haven't even seen the car yet, so everything is hypothetical until then. I know what a slightly above average Maaco paint job would cost($500 or less) and primering is part of that cost, but I'll be wanting epoxy primer, so that will cost a bit more. I'm gonna take a wild guess that the blasting will cost $500-$800. So that leaves the cost of the putty work. Now, if they aren't busy and could start doing it immediately, the price might be reasonable, like $1000 or less, but if they are busy and I want it NOW, the price will go up. If that's the case, then the negotiating starts. Having them sit on it and only work on it when they don't have quicker, money making, jobs to do saves a lot of money. How much perfection I'll demand is another factor. Nothing can really be worked out until they see the car after it's blasted.

Overall, I'm hoping I can get the whole thing done for $3000, but it might be $4000. If they quote it over that, then I'll have to consider letting Charlie do it and it won't be done until Spring/Summer and I won't have anything to do until then. As with all Opels, they're never worth the amount of money you put into them and paint jobs and bodywork are where you lose most of your money. I don't want to sit around all Winter doing nothing, I bought the car as entertainment to keep me busy when I'm bored. I have the money, might as well spend it, it does me no good sitting in the bank. I lived a frugal life so that I could pay for things that I really want or need. I really want and need this project.

 

[The Scifi Guy]

Holy Cow, what a PIA it has turned out to be to find a media blaster to do this car. My Maaco said their dustless guy went out of business, another Maaco said I couldn't have it done on their property and I would have to have it done someplace else and then brought there for primering, I called what few places there were within 100 miles of me, in the Philly metropolitan area, and they either didn't return my call, didn't want to do cars anymore, wanted huge money, etc. I finally got a lead on a place about 35 miles away in Warminster PA that would do the blasting and epoxy prime it for about $1500. Presently I'm just waiting for the price quote confirmation after sending them pics and what I wanted done in an email and then I'll have it towed there.

One guy I talked to clued me in on why it was so hard to find someone. The dustless freelance franchise guys often go out of business, NJ enviromental regulations are pretty strict, and most blasters would prefer to do long blasting projects on buildings, bridges, architectural, etc. projects rather than short car jobs.

 

[The Scifi Guy]

Woop! Woop! The plastic blasting place got back to me with a $1500 quote for the blasting and primering and they want me to have it dropped off on Thu/Fri next week. They said to give them a week or two from that point. The project is moving along!

 

[The Scifi Guy]

Today I put my paint brush where my mouth is and did some POR-15 rust encapsulation to a few areas inside my former gullwing car. I only had a pint of the stuff and it was 40* outside and I didn't really have many places that were showing rust starting, but some is better than none. The car goes to get blasted this week on the outside, then epoxy primed inside and out, so it will be getting a fair share or rust removal and prevention from all that. Then it will go for puttying and paint inside and out for some more sealing and prettiness. It's not worthy of the German princess treatment and it is a reverse-heavily-modded salvage job car, so some would say I've already done more than I should. But, why not, it's already stripped bare and I have a window of time to give it a little extra TLC before it ends up all painted yellow.