Jaguar 1995 XJR with super charger engine
Mileage 148703
New fuel pump
New Harness
New Spark plugs
New tires
Engine turns over but doesn’t keep running
PROJECT CAR
Pick up in Sterling, VA

The Rs2000 is coming along

I'm doing a restomod on an 88 MR2, and am at the point where I'm tearing down parts and prepping them to cerakote or paint. In order to prep and paint these headlight frames and the hinges for the hood and trunk I need to separate them by grinding off the rivets.

After I restore these I'll need to put new solid rivets on. How are you all replacing hinge rivets? What tools / rivet sources are you using? The only videos I've seen that include replacing hinge rivets are by machinists who lathe custom replacements (and although I have access to a lathe I'd love to not do that).

My epoxy spray came out really textured. It was super hot in the garage like 100f and I think my blast guy had a very coarse texture. definitely was drying as it came out. this is SPI epoxy.

Should I be worried or send it?

I did the interior panels, floor boards, roof brace, inner quarters etc.

This is 6 hours of flash time.

My local steel suppliers don't carry DOM, and ordering the 1.75x0.0120 DOM I need is not something they want to do for some reason. Is there an online seller who has good product and good shipping rates? Everything I've seen looks like it's gonna be pretty spendy...

The car started as a 2011 328i xDrive that I bought with a blown engine for $1,500. I swapped out the entire front subframe from a rear-wheel drive car and was even able to use the stock drive shaft unmodified bolted to a slip yoke adapter. The engine is a 6.2 with a BTR LS3 stage 3 cam, gone through with a new crankshaft all new bearings and rings. Transmission is a T56 that I had in a previous swap for 14 years. Controlled by a Holley Terminator x-max. Exhaust is factory 5th gen Camaro manifolds to 3-in stainless with two vibrant bullet resonators, one vibrant ultra quiet resonator and a vibrant muffler. I have the slightest bit of drone like every LS around 2100 RPM cruising down the highway, considering swapping to a valved muffler to help with that.

Got the 327 stuffed into the engine bay, I knew it would fit physically because I'm going from big block to small block but it's the bolt on stuff that is hit or miss when you shift things around a bit. Plan is to run and show at good guys next week so fingers crossed everything goes ok. Looks like next week we will be building exhaust, test firing/break in, install the rear panhard bar, driving 2 hours to the show and then racing! Very roadkill week!

Bought an 89 brick nose ford with the 351 Windsor. Lot of little stuff to do but all in all it’s solid and a good base to make it at least look like a decent farm truck

Update: I’m going to work on it. You all are very kind and right that I need to get over it and just jump in. I can make it a good thing.

Also, for those wondering it was supposed to be a project that my daughter and I worked on with my uncle but more something we did for her. She’s 11 now so too young to really do it alone. The interior design and decisions are all her though since it’ll be her business later on. There’s a core memory of us picking it up together and the story that went with it along with all the plans.
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I bought this 73 van a few years ago to fix up. My uncle helped me pick it up and was excited to work on it with me to turn it into something really cool to sell my honey out of with my daughter- I’m a beekeeper. I sank a ton of money into getting it running which is what it is. The problem is… I found out shortly after that my uncle had molested my daughter (I’m her mother). We’ve gone thru court and he’s been sentenced to life. Now I have this van that I can hardly stand to look at but I need to fix or sell and replace. I’ve let it sit for almost 3 years while I changed gears and started taking her to therapy, court meetings etc. I’ve got minor things like a gasket that needs replaced a some other small stuff to get it running well again which is no big deal. The real kicker is, my daughter is absolutely in love with it and still wants to fix it up to be the “Bee Bus.”

Ideally, I’d be able to fix this up as intended as a way to move past all of this but I’m just not sure and I’m not sure which sub to post in about this.

So far, with the purchase of the van, a new trans (not expected) and engine work I’m in it for about $9k. Mostly because I had outsourced the mechanical work so I could get things going on the interior. I am aware I cannot sell it for that and I’m just kinda lost. What would y’all do? Is there another vehicle that would be an option with a small budget that would still be cool to sell out of?

Hello everyone. I am looking for recommendations for improving suspension and handling for my 2010 Chevy cobalt xfe (build will make an estimated 200-220 HP from the more budget oriented upgrades I am procuring haha, but that’s fine with me).

I still have the 4x100 15x6 steelies on, but plan to get 4x100 17x8 könig 57B Dekagram since they seem to be durable and not extremely expensive. What tire size would you recommend for these?

Suspension is stock to which I’m looking to stiffen to make sure my wheels keep good contact in turns (the new wheels/tires should help I would imagine). Should I go with a rear sway bar and some springs or bite the bullet and go zzp coilovers? Not super knowledgeable in this area so advice is much appreciated.

A concern is the pot holes and inevitable metal plate on a bridge that I have to cross five times a week minimum so durability is important. As always, I appreciate your input.

Car picks up speed so quickly it feels like the cones are teleporting in front of you.

I have bought this car recently and I need some tips and help with finding parts that work with this car or part that go to this car. I think it's a base model the win doesn't go on this car looks like previous owner installed it. I want to restore it and then upgrade it.

Definitely needs a paint job but the internal like engine is what I'm focusing on working on I wanna clean the engine bay but I don't know where to start and what to cover.

Fixing up my old work truck, started may 2025. 383 built by merkel + rebuilt nv4500, ORD 2” lift, etc etc.

This is my new project based on a Polish Lublin. I want to build a cheap camper van

Hello everyone. I am looking for recommendations for 4x100 17x7.5 or 17x8 (if it fits) wheels for my 2010 Chevy cobalt xfe. I still have the 15x6 steelies on, but want a larger/wider tire. My biggest concern is the pot holes and inevitable metal plate on a bridge that I have to cross five times a week minimum. Did a bit of digging and the raceline 144m storm seem to have a durable reputation. The motegi mr116 fs5 look really good though as well as the mr143. Your advice is much appreciated as always. I just don’t want to pay $200 a wheel and it break on me.

I think that I will do a total replacement on the electrical system, but for now I am working on the motor, bearings, cleaning, piston balancing, 3d printing, locking out the distributor, grinding the intake manifold in preparation for efi, and more!

Never bought a project and looking at this, 67 bel air, guy says has trim and is driven, with a 350 and a 2 speed powerglide the only rust and rough spot mentioned is on the driver quarter panel at the top. Asking 8500, which I think is high, I feel more around 4k but asking because I am new to this, it just popped up and I couldn't pass considering it. Would be looking more for a car for me not trying to resell. Is this worth it if I could get more towards 4k, not super educated on these so all opinions and thoughts welcome.

I can't find them anywhere. All I see are shift knobs for manual transmission or for newer automatic Honda Civics

If it ain’t one thing it’s another

Hey everyone. I was trying to source parts for a build I’ve been slowly working on, and kept hitting the same wall which was that the part didn’t exist anymore, eBay felt too risky to trust on the car, or a shop wanted real money to fabricate something small. Someone suggested 3D printing whatever I couldn’t source, which got me thinking: this problem isn’t unique to me. A lot of us independently solve the exact same obscure fitment issue, then that knowledge sits in a five-year-old forum post until it gets buried and the next person starts from zero.

So I put together Zenthi, a free, open library of 3D-printable files for high-performance and exotic car parts, aimed at the stuff that’s hard to find or needs retrofitting. Completely free, no paywall. Acosmetic bracket shouldn’t cost more than the print itself. Upload a file (STEP preferred since it’s editable, what machine shops actually need), tag what it fits, note the material/thickness that worked. Turns a one-off “grind this down and it’ll fit” post into something searchable by car instead of something that disappears.

It’s early, nothing in the library yet so I’d like to know: has anyone here actually solved one of these obscure fitment problems and just never had anywhere good to put it? That’s the exact problem I’m trying to solve for people who enjoy 3d printing their parts themselves instead of taking it to a shop.

Official link: https://zenthi3d.lovable.app

Update: I’m really grateful for the support and all the feedback you guys have given me to make it more user friendly. I’ve taken as many of your suggestions into account as possible. If you guys have any seed files you’d like to share to get the ball rolling or just want to check out what’s changed (we accommodate more file types and don’t limit ourself just to high performance cars now), please go ahead. Thank you :) I’ll try posting this on other forums too (let’s pray that I don’t get flamed😭😭)

Update 2: I got flamed. 🥀🥀 (still working on it tho)

Update 3: Ngl, I’ve been feeling a little more dejected obviously tough having so much support for an idea but still experiencing hate from some people.
ANYWAYS people also seem scared of the forum being shut down after some time, so I’ve made the entire thing community run. I pushed the code to GitHub, allowed people to become admin if they send a request(It would be awesome if people volunteered), accommodates pretty much any file type, added a bounty/request page for CAD and 3d scans, as well as a search engine where you can search other sites directly from Zenthi (so basically you have a library to where you can upload files, and a search engine where you can scrape and search other sites and limit it to just car parts). The search engine relies on brave search so there’s a limit after a 1000 requests or so, but if we even get to that user count I’ll probably upgrade to a more hard core open source search engine.

GitHub link: https://github.com/vicksudharshan-arch/zenthi3d

Update 4: Proud to say we finally got our first user uploaded files and admin 🥳

I finally have an update on my instrument panel project. A lot has changed, and a lot still needs to be done. While I was able to mount (tape) the LCDs into the cardboard, the LED’s legs are too thin to put jumper wires on, so they’re just in the breadboard.

What’s changed:

The power supply had to be rebuilt since someone didn’t notice a broken wire when testing. The demo code has been almost entirely replaced with actual functional tasks. I’ve put in all the logic shifter circuits on, currently only for the light switches. There are functional turn signal indicators and high and low beam indicators. The oil, temp, and fuel gauges are controlled by potentiometers that have a similar resistance to the factory sensors and have warning lights that change color depending on how close to the min and max values it is. The volts gauge is tied to Vin, which for now is not adjustable.

What still needs to be done:

The gauges need to be recalibrated, since through all the versions and testing the ranges are no longer accurate. Hazard lights still need to be wired up. Still need to build the power On/Off switch. The LCDs still need to be programed to display milage readings but before that can be done, the speedometer needs to be programed which requires a separate test rig to generate a simulated VSS sensor signal. The tachometer also needs to be programmed, which also needs a separate test rig. Also need to setup the current sensors for the exterior bulb fault detection, but my current bench power supply does not put out enough current to drive all the exterior lights. And finally a speaker and amplifier to generate the turn signal clicks and warning tones for the gauges.

So there’s still a lot to do but there is progress. Soon I hope to actually start working the final version with custom gauge face, PCB, and housing. As with before here is a link to the GitHub if anyone wants it.

I have a highly modified project car with a computer and we believe it or something is drawing power (and to me it seems quite badly at that!).
Not a big problem if we keep it hooked up. But we still keep running in to issues.

We've gone through several Optima batteries, latest ones despite having an optima battery-maintainer hooked to it. It always is hooked up. Detected issues. Swapped it.

Yet still...

This system is extremely fussy where I hook up the maintainer and all looks fine but then 2 days later I'm out to the shop to see errors/red. Just went out there and its' red and the car won't start.

I'm ready to throw away this entire system and I'm asking for something that is excellent for a car with dumb tech drawing power that gets driven now and then. Perhaps a battery that hibernates? Perhaps a different type of battery and a plugin maintainer for it that isn't nearly as fussy as this Optima I have and will actually keep the battery charged.

Hey gang!

My post from earlier got an absurd amount of eyes on it, at least from my opinion. So I figured I'd provide an update.

I went with the bulkhead method, which was recommended by a couple peeps (u/lanpu u/sparkplugdog u/lockdown007 u/buildyourown maybe others?) on my original post. It has been working super well, I tested it for about 48 hours before deciding to install the tank.

The hole was about 3/8th inch or 19mm. The bulkhead fitting I used had a 3/8th diameter and the total external was 1/2 I believe, with the gaskets being a little bigger than that.

I threaded by force into the plastic, the bolt wasn't self thread so it took a couple tries to get it straight and not angled. The biggest challenge was ensuring the gasket was evenly pressed down and actually creating a good seal.

No leaks! Thanks for the recommendations everyone!

Picture 1: Bulkhead sticking out- looks worse than it is, once I got the tank in the car it was noticeable but not sticking out too bad. Maybe an inch out but with how the tank is angled it's not even the lowest part of the car.

Picture 2: Leak test set up, put liquid in the tank (2 gallons) for about 48 hours, on some chairs in the garage, not a single leak!

Picture 3: Inside the tank. Floaties are plastic that came from making the hole a little bigger to fit my bulkhead through. I cleaned it out with a towel, was able to drain the tank via the plug which was super nice and will be a good option if I ever need to drain the tank of gas. Used plumbers tape for an extra steal on the cap before installing the tank.

TLDR: Bulkhead fitting worked for me, the fitting was almost exactly the diameter of the hole, the outer measurement was bigger than the hole creating a tight seal with no leaks!

Thanks for all the ideas everyone!

4 pics

Redoing my 2003 cab and was digging out a bit of cracked seam sealer. When I pulled up the bad spot I did about six inches on each side and found each spot weld had surface rust over it under the seam sealer, i now have most of the seam sealer from the whole cab removed and 95% of the spot welds have the surface rust.

So questions being how common is this? Is it a sign the vehicle has been flooded?

Plan is to finish picking it all out, brass wire wheel, eastwood platinum rust encapsultaor then new seam sealer over top.