So, back in December 2019 I was missing having a manual transmission car. Started looking for something cheapish...
Hit up Neons.Org and found a '99 Expresso Coupe like 2 miles from my parent's house that I managed to pick up for $550.
Untitled by Jay McGraw, on Flickr
This was the day I got it, after the PO delivered it to me. At this time, the speedo/odometer didn't work, the reverse lights didn't work and the sunroof was F'd.
There were more issues, but those were the big ones. I got those all fixed a couple months later.
Last summer, I decided to replace the roof skin with a hardtop skin to delete the sunroof in preparation for putting a system in the car.
I took 3 times to get it done (the first 2 I tried to short cut and it bit me in the butt.)
Fail #1
Untitled by Jay McGraw, on Flickr
Fail #2
Untitled by Jay McGraw, on Flickr
Success!
Untitled by Jay McGraw, on Flickr
Since I had some extra roof cuts lying around, I added an additional roof brace to the mix.
Untitled by Jay McGraw, on Flickr
Then came body work, rust repair and paint:
Untitled by Jay McGraw, on Flickr
Even the door jambs:
Untitled by Jay McGraw, on Flickr
Untitled by Jay McGraw, on Flickr
Painted in my garage with a 26 gallon Harbor Freight compressor and TCP Global single stage paint.
Untitled by Jay McGraw, on Flickr
Export tail lights
Untitled by Jay McGraw, on Flickr
Mostly back together, had to source some windows at this point:
Untitled by Jay McGraw, on Flickr
Taa-daa!
Untitled by Jay McGraw, on Flickr
lol.
She's about a 3 footer, but not bad for my first complete paint job.
Audio work updates, soon!
Jay