[Necksbreaker]

Sergio,

Have you gotten to modding anything in the interior yet?


Jerry

Hi Jerry,
I still not personalized the interior yet. I have a very clear idea about what I want. I want a full black interior (painted plastics, black leather upholstered black,...) with only one exception in all car... The roof upholstery, that I want to lining it with a full color Guadalupe's Virgin image. Only visible when you get into the car and look up.

 

[421 SD Poncho]

Now that will be cool!


Jerry

 

[8055]

Necksbreaker,
That is one nice looking PT brother!. I'm in the process of customizing mine as well. I've included some pics of mine on here below but for now what I've done is:
Updated the entire undercarriage with everything new, wheel bearings, hubs, rods, stabilizers, rotors, breaks, wheel hubs and a ton more, you name it. That was 6 months ago. Now I'm waiting for some coilovers to arrive and will be lowering it. I replaced all the timing belt internal items and added a few other items as well for performance and to renew from old items making it better and added the American Racing Thrust M's 17" wheels.
It's an 2005 Base model 2.4L and has just turned 125K miles on it. I use to work in the auto paint&body so 3 months ago I wet sanded the entire car by hand with a water hose (old school style) LOL and then performed a 4 step finishing process on her. She came out like an mirror!. I'll also be getting an new front bumber and grill and rear bumper as well. I got really lucky with the car when I purchased it.... I got it two years ago from an retired police officer who was going to give it to his 16yo daughter but they decided to get her a newer car instead so he put this for sale on the Facebook Marketplace and I just happen to come across it that same day. I purchased it for $1,700 USD The car is perfect! no issues at all. I have lots more to do but I do a little with every paycheck i get. I'm going to redo the tint and clean up more on the engine and engine bay area as well.

 

[chuzz]

Welcome to Allpar, 8055. Your PT is a beauty. Makes me wish I still had mine.

 

[8055]

Welcome to Allpar, 8055. Your PT is a beauty. Makes me wish I still had mine.

Thank You Chuzz! I appreciate it. Do you happen to know what size wheels Necksbreaker has on his? I sent him an message but haven't heard anything yet.

~A~

 

[Sooner PT]

Necksbreaker,
That is one nice looking PT brother!. I'm in the process of customizing mine as well. I've included some pics of mine on here below but for now what I've done is:
Updated the entire undercarriage with everything new, wheel bearings, hubs, rods, stabilizers, rotors, breaks, wheel hubs and a ton more, you name it. That was 6 months ago. Now I'm waiting for some coilovers to arrive and will be lowering it. I replaced all the timing belt internal items and added a few other items as well for performance and to renew from old items making it better and added the American Racing Thrust M's 17" wheels.
It's an 2005 Base model 2.4L and has just turned 125K miles on it. I use to work in the auto paint&body so 3 months ago I wet sanded the entire car by hand with a water hose (old school style) LOL and then performed a 4 step finishing process on her. She came out like an mirror!. I'll also be getting an new front bumber and grill and rear bumper as well. I got really lucky with the car when I purchased it.... I got it two years ago from an retired police officer who was going to give it to his 16yo daughter but they decided to get her a newer car instead so he put this for sale on the Facebook Marketplace and I just happen to come across it that same day. I purchased it for $1,700 USD The car is perfect! no issues at all. I have lots more to do but I do a little with every paycheck i get. I'm going to redo the tint and clean up more on the engine and engine bay area as well.


View attachment 88398 View attachment 88399 View attachment 88400 View attachment 88401 View attachment 88402 View attachment 88403 View attachment 88404 View attachment 88407

Nice!
Hey! I recognize those AM Racing Torquethrust Wheels!

 

[8055]

I'll be damn! Lol that's cool. There aren't many at all who have these wheels on a cruiser. Mine are 17" and I'm waiting for my coilovers to arrive.

Can you tell me more about your setup because this is really close to what I'm looking for on mine.

They sure look good with these wheels.... The looks just fit the car and even more so when lowered.

Thanks for posting yours. It's beautiful.

A

 

[chuzz]

Thank You Chuzz! I appreciate it. Do you happen to know what size wheels Necksbreaker has on his? I sent him an message but haven't heard anything yet.

~A~

I have no idea, man. And I haven't seen him post anything since his initial one back in November of last year.

 

[Sooner PT]

I'll be damn! Lol that's cool. There aren't many at all who have these wheels on a cruiser. Mine are 17" and I'm waiting for my coilovers to arrive.

Can you tell me more about your setup because this is really close to what I'm looking for on mine.

They sure look good with these wheels.... The looks just fit the car and even more so when lowered.

Thanks for posting yours. It's beautiful.

A

All you need to consider is the 5x100 bolt pattern. I believe that it was a VW wheel fitment. AM Racing, Torque Thrust, Anthracite.
Now in my case I had already installed the aftermarket Brembro front brakes, so the clearance was closer/bulkier.
To prevent caliper rubbing, I had to install 1/2 inch centric spacers.
If you are on OEM brakes, you may not need to do this.

The lowering set up you see in the picture is with 2 inch lowering.
**But, that resulted in tire rub on the edge of the fender over significant bumps. Part of that problem was the 1/2 inch push out of the wheel/tire.
So, I went to moderately lowered springs.

**The interesting thing is, after a year of using the moderately lowered springs, they have settle down to still occasionally rubbing on a bad bump.

 

[8055]

I have no idea, man. And I haven't seen him post anything since his initial one back in November of last year.

OK thanks Chuzz.

 

[8055]

All you need to consider is the 5x100 bolt pattern. I believe that it was a VW wheel fitment. AM Racing, Torque Thrust, Anthracite.
Now in my case I had already installed the aftermarket Brembro front brakes, so the clearance was closer/bulkier.
To prevent caliper rubbing, I had to install 1/2 inch centric spacers.
If you are on OEM brakes, you may not need to do this.

The lowering set up you see in the picture is with 2 inch lowering.
**But, that resulted in tire rub on the edge of the fender over significant bumps. Part of that problem was the 1/2 inch push out of the wheel/tire.
So, I went to moderately lowered springs.

**The interesting thing is, after a year of using the moderately lowered springs, they have settle down to still occasionally rubbing on a bad bump.

Yeah with the 17's I have, after speaking with BC about their coilovers I went with the extreme lows and here's why:
If you look at my pics the car sits up really high and the rear is a bit lower but still pretty high, so, BC Coilovers have two versions... 1, Standard and 2, Extreme Lows. The extreme lows are cut an inch shorter then the standards but with the springs they have with them here's how they workout comparing the two (standard and extreme lows)


From the manufacturer:
Extreme low kits are setups built with shorter shock bodies and shorter springs. They allow for around an inch more drop than Standard setups.
Standard setups lower the car around .5 to 1" at their highest adjustment. They can then drop down to 3 to 4" lower than stock at max drop.
Extreme low setups lower the car around 1 to 2" at their highest adjustment and can go 4 to 5" lower than stock at max drop.

With the way mine is right now and the gap i have they suggested I started with the extreme lows but set them at their highest setting to allow a minimum drop then go from there. My Torque Thrust M wheels are 17x 7.5 wide with an 35mm offset and I am using the OEM brakes as well but they have all been updated/replaced with new as is everything else under the car but at the same time keeping OEM measurements and sizes as well.

If they don't workout or are too low at there highest settings then I have other options I can go with if needed. There are also extenders i can add if needed to bring them up a bit higher but the most important thing is to set the dampening to the highest to start with, with the adjusters then let it sit there for a couple of weeks to see how the clearances are between the tire and fenders. They said I should be fine with this setup and my wheel size so I guess we'll see.

Here's a few renderings below I made from the car setting as it is now to lowering down to 3 inches. Each pic is a one inch drop but this is only with my car.


0 inches as it is now:

1 Inch

2 Inch

3 inch

So, If I set them at their highest and let say i drop them another inch or so, it's better to have the coilover at a higher setting then to set it really low to achieve the same height, see what I mean? I should be OK. We'll see.

 

[Sooner PT]

8055,,
Be sure to post with pictures when you are finished.
Sounds like the wheels are exactly what I have.
I never considered "coil-overs". Hmmmmm....

 

[8055]

8055,,
Be sure to post with pictures when you are finished.
Sounds like the wheels are exactly what I have.
I never considered "coil-overs". Hmmmmm....

Absolutely! I'll have a few for sure. I ordered them last week Friday on the 17th so they said it's about a 4 to 6 week period before I'll receive them.

 

[8055]

OK as promised here she is with the new BC Coil-overs. I just installed them today.

...and this camera on my phone really sux! Bit blurry.

 

[AceHanlon]

Beautiful black color.

 

[Sooner PT]

Nice Pics! Thanks for the follow-up! Looks great!
Do you have any fender rub yet over big bumps.
AS I said, My "mild lowering springs" have settle in a little now (year and a half), and I am getting an occasional rub, especially when turning an d big bump.

 

[HanksHemi]

To the OP a southern expression. Hot Dang!

 

[8055]

Beautiful black color.

Thank You Ace!, Few months ago i did wet-sand the entire car with 1200 grit wet/dry but I'm old school and I wet-sand by hand and an water hose. I don't believe in using electric sanders how they do it now. I get way better results by hand sanding plus you have total control. Then i buffed it out with an course compound then buffed it with an lighter compound. After this i used an orbital polisher with a two step process by using a medium grit wax and then an lighter wax or what is known as a "color back" polish. After this I hand waxed it with an final paste wax. All my products are top of the line stuff, i never use any cheap waxes or polishes. It really doe's make a difference to spend more on finishing products.

 

[8055]

Nice Pics! Thanks for the follow-up! Looks great!
Do you have any fender rub yet over big bumps.
AS I said, My "mild lowering springs" have settle in a little now (year and a half), and I am getting an occasional rub, especially when turning an d big bump.

Sooner!, Thank You.... Right now i have no rub at all in all wheel positions. I will however make final adjustments in a couple of weeks to raise them an 1/8" to 1/4" at a time for the next few months as these will be settling along the way. Every two weeks I'll monitor the settings and the ride heights and adjust as needed. I'm also running 5 clicks from the highest setting but there's a reason for this as well,... The faster the springs react to bumps the faster they will settle in place. Kind of like:,... lets say you want to tap a steel peg into a hole, well if you use a rubber mallet you have to hit it a lot harder to get that peg to move where as if you use a steel hammer then all you have to do is "tap" it in little by little, just taaaaaap it in , taaaappp it in, lol (Happy Gilmore) lol anyway.... by having the damp set to a harder position for a few weeks and letting the diaphragm build up, sort of an muscle memory or position memory, in the future when you soften the damps it will hold a more precise position then taking longer to settle like a home foundation making adjustments more accurate.

 

[8055]

To the OP a southern expression. Hot Dang!

Thank You!,...
Cheers!
~A~