Well, it's been a long time since I've been active on the list. The
news is that I did successfully complete the SR20DE install in March
of this year. Beauty Queen has been a daily inhabitant of Houston and
the Southern States ever since.
I haven't yet publicly thanked Michael Spreadbury, but I will NOW.
The car now is as amazing and beautiful as she was with the U20
.. now she's daily driver reliable to boot. I did not follow
Michael's plan exactly, but I would not have completed the swap and
enjoyed the last 8 months so thoroughly without his assistance.
My life has changed, and I need a daily driver that will accomodate
passengers <sad face>. Yep, I got married <LOL>.
A little about her. She is rust free. I drove her home from
California in 2003. The body is pristine and the paint is what I will
call fair. She looks great from about 10 feet, but a close inspection
will reveal road wear that appears on a daily driver.
She sits at 180 deg F in traffic with an ambient temperature over 100
deg F in hot humid Houston. I had the intake and output on the
original 2000 radiator modified, removed the engine driven fan from
the SR20DE and installed an electric fan which is always on. I've got
no cooling problems, but you might install a thermostat on the fan in
a colder climate as she might not warm over about 160 deg F or so on
very cold days.
She's painted black with chromed slotted mags wrapped with the last of the
good Yoko AVSi rubber. She handles like a dream, but don't they all
<smile>.
The Dash is highly modified to accomodate electronic guages. Included
are Speedo, oil pressure, water temperature, fuel level (accurate
autometer guage and sender) and voltmeter. I've got a closely
matching autometer tachometer as well ... the other guages are a
matched set. The glove box is removed in favor of a stereo which
plays through a trunk mounted amplifier and 6X9s a previous owner cut
into the rear panel. The stereo was stolen once since march and there
is a small amount of damage to the dash in the stereo area.
She's got a trunk mounted optima battery. The exhaust is still on the
restrictive side, so she's sacrificing a little top end power for some
extremely driveable torque.
She's got Miata seats with Infinity speakers installed. The speakers
are not being used currently, but the seats are increadibly
comfortable. The car has carried me from Houston to New Orleans and
Houston to North Texas several times. With almost 8000 miles on the
swap since March, I'm confident of her ability to carry you home
wherever you live. Fly in and enjoy the drive home <smile> ... we're
having Indian Summer in Houston and she's been topless again for
nearly a week.
She has behaved beautifully, and I will sorely miss this car.
She comes to you with an Autopower Roll Bar. A soft top frame. A
donut spare and a non chromed slotted mag spare. And, a hard top into
which I've installed custom cut, tempered glass to replace the aged
lexan. She also comes with a spare SR20DE which you can take in whole
or in part ... the original motor I sourced had issues and I completed
the swap a second time.
I've been driving her daily instead of installing the finishing
touches. She'll be perfect again with the simple addition of fresh
carpet, and a new canvas top (I planned to do this in the spring).
With a fresh coat of paint, you've got yourself a car worthy of
showing off anywhere.
I'll be putting up a FS page in the next couple days to show pictures
and field any questions I receive.
Regarding money. Naturally, I've got a whole lot of money in this
car. Near $15K if I was brave enough to do the math. I'm hoping that
I've done the work and the quality control on your dream car. This is
a solid mating. For $10.5K you can drive her home tomorrow. If she's
advertised on Ebay the buy it now price will be $12K. So, ask me
questions, look at the pics (posting them to the web soon) and decide
how much she's worth to you. If we're close I'd be thrilled to have
her owned by another enthusiast.
Thanks,
Milton
Houston, TX
milton3@houston.rr.com
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