Preparing the Ford for competition
March 23, 2006
While my Ford Taurus has endured some slight modifications from the time I bought it in April until now (March 2006), it has yet to see some real change. Today my body kit came in, and while I would like to do the work myself as it would save a lot of money, I will likely get a body shop to mount and mould my kit. I am still much of a car audio/visual newbie, and while I understand wiring, fiberglass work is something completely new to me. I also lack some of the essential tools to do the work, so I went to a local body shop to get an estimate on how much it would run me.
 |
 |
Start |
Finish (hopefully) |
I spent near $1200 on the kit with shipping, and to mount, mould and paint the kit a local shop quoted me $1500-$1800. Ouch. However, I know the more money I spend on the car, the better it will look in the long run. $1800 to do all that work is more then a deal, especially since they will paint the car too. Usually, a paint job can run a grand, and the mounting and molding can be very expensive. The whole process will take about a week; when I get paid in a few days I plan to take the car to the shop and tell them to get started on it.
Shaving the car is also something I want to do, but that will likely come later as I need an alarm system that is more expensive.
Starting problems and foreseen conclusions
There has been a slight problem with the heating system: since we put in an aftermarket deck, it hasn't really functioned properly. This is likely because the heating harness was accidentally cut in the process - and we attempted to shift the digital EATC heating system to an analog one, which seems almost like a physical impossibility.
The best solution to the given problem it seems is to replace the system once again with the old digital system. For now, my heat has been rigged so it's on, but I would like to again have control of my heating system.
 |
| This Pioneer deck looks good but the heat doesn't work |
View a movie taken of the body kit before it's mounted
Back to the articles and journals pages |
