Hooptie... AKA Project Ugly Duckling

[Yoshi]

Hello everyone,

So I had bought this 1985 FB from my friend Adler. From him it received it's title the Hooptie. It had seen better days. When he asked me if I was interested in it I asked him whats wrong and I he told me this that and the other thing, but the biggest this was that it's ugly. So I went and looked at it once they got it running decent and decided that I was sick enough in the head to go ahead and get it.

Here is what it looked like when I got it:





The car was originally a 12a car but had a rebuilt street ported 13b swapped in with a holly 465 carb that I'm still trying to get to run right.



So I got some adapters to run my wheels but the wheel studs stuck out past the adapters so I had to do some grinding then reinforcement:





Which let me do this:



So the suspension was feeling kind of old so I got some new struts and bushings and got to work:





Then one night some alcohol and spray paint got mixed and this happened:



Then I moved:



I got bored one day and decided to clean up some of the rusty spots and started with the radiator duct:



Which expanded to the front piece and the vent piece in front of the windshield:



Then the Hooptie got naked cuz it heard the bishes love it:









And more painting happened:





Then I test fit the parts to see what they would look like. Nothing bolted here:



Then I took the parts back off and set them in a pile of shiny:



Then went back to painting:





And that is where I am currently. The driver side fender and the bottom of the hood are drying. I will be painting the top of the hood tomorrow after work then I start on the doors and will be going from there. I'm using spray paint so I'm shooting for more of an "It looks good from ten feet" approach.

[rx7 vinnie]

My hero!!!!!

[Yoshi]

<3 you Vinney

[RotorDad]

Originally Posted by Yoshi

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I'm using spray paint so I'm shooting for more of an "It looks good from ten feet" approach.

Works for me, I had a car I had spray bombed & everyone thought is looked good if you were a few steps back.

[Yoshi]

Got the hood painted. Hopefully here in a few weeks it will be all painted (exterior wise) and I can move on to other things.

[lokirx706]

Any updates? Hooptie kinda has that tough beat look to it, and I love the wheels!!

[Yoshi]

Yeah I should be stripping the doors tomorrow. Hopefully get them painted and finish gutting the interior to the bare minimum.

[lilring]

keep up the good work bud!

[Weltall]

Looks like a blast. Just remember 10 or 15. Looks good 10 feet away at 15 miles an hour! Perfect paint is overrated, I like personality. And as long as its all one color, who cares?

[Yoshi]

Yeah man this car deff has a lot of character lol....

Well I started to strip the door... I'm using a paint removing pad on a drill... it's 105 degrees outside with 30% humidity... The drill is close to giving up the ghost and I had to stop because I could feel my hands vibrating lol

Kind of a pita...



Here is the hood drying, not the best so I'm gonna do another coat.



For the other door I'm just gonna sand it down smooth before painting instead of stripping it... Then I start on taping off everything and painting the rest.

[Weltall]

Yeah.... I'm glad I'm going with a wrap on the racecar....

[Yoshi]

So I am thinking that I am going to do an fc front suspension swap with four lug and a gsl se rear end swap which will bring me from 4x110 to 4x114.3 which opens up my wheel options quite a bit.

So I need your opinion on wheels. I am going for a 15x8 and like the older school looks. The wheels I have now are 15x7 +0 4x114.3 original enkei 92's with an adapter/spacer.

So new 15x8 enkei 92s? 15x8+25



Enkei appache IIs 15x8 +0



Or rota Shakotan 15x8 +10



Rota Aleica? 15x9 -15



Open to suggestions/ideas. Trying to keep the set under 700 shipped.

[WankelsRevenge]

You should try and find a set of the old rotor wheels... im sure theres some out there somewhere.

[GySgtFrank]

My vote would be to stay with the Enkei 92s. Classic wheel that looks right on the 7. IMHO

[Yoshi]

Well I have been MIA for a while...

I'm a member of the Honda Manufacturing of Alabama Race Team and have pretty much been committing all my free time to the team. Here are some of the things I have been working on:





New KW Coilovers we had to change the mounting point on...











Then they were too long and I had to do it again...



Installed on the car



Little battery



Alignment



The cars:












Then I got a new car







All the cars but one playing nicely together





And then I finally got a chance to work on the Hooptie!

Taped off





Monochromatic?



Door painted



Roof Hole Cover painted



New Wheel



All painted just waiting on last door to dry!



And that is where I am now.