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New member with rebuilt Mark VIII

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Posted by: Eagle1

Hello fellow enthusiasts. New member here. Been working on my wife's car which she bought new in 1993, long before we had met. She loved the car and not knowing anything about it, I was initially inclined to dismiss it. The looks were great, and she kept it pristine, but at 144,000 miles on the original engine and tranny, and suspension, it was wobbly weak and sloppy, and certainly could not be driven in anything other than bright sunshine with those head lamps.

But the more times I got to drive the car, the more enamored of its "bones" and potential I became. When the motor finally failed, we sat down and talked about what to do with the car....and she agreed to let me get to work on the car and do a repair/upgrade.

So what has taken the better part of six months is now complete, and she is very happy with the results, as am I. It is not a restoration, so apologies in advance to the purists.

The work included a new/remanufactured engine and transmission, performance chip, replacement of the airbag suspension with coilovers, Adco sways front and rear, Kook headers with jet hot coating, K&N intake filter, dynamax dual stainless exhausts, high flow cats, AP Racing brakes up front and KVR in the rear, urethane bushings, Enkei LX 18" wheels with 255mm treadwidth tires, reupholstered driver seat (the rest was basically mint condition), and an XM satellite radio set up and GPS unit. The old amp was shot but I found one in a junkyard for less than fifty bucks and it is going strong. Replaced the radio/tuner with a new Pioneer unit with CD player.

The car runs like a dream and handles very crisply. The bigger footprint all around enhances corner turn in, braking and acceleration with much more grip, and the stiff sways coupled with the coilovers and shorter/stiffer tire sidewalls makes the car much flatter and stable in the turns.

Love the car, and can confidently say it outperforms most of what is available new in the market today, while staying a "sleeper".

Posted by: 93' Blue on blue

Congrats on the upgrades and keeping the car on the road for many more years to come!

Posted by: MERIJONS97LSC

WOW! shes a beauty...Stay with us on the forum we will enjoy sharing ideas and just shooting the bull!!

Are those the original seats???

Posted by: buddylee

how much did the new 4.6 cost ya?

Posted by: Kbob

Wow! Nice job! Welcome to the site. I hope you enjoy this place as much as I do.

You've got a great looking car. I'm not being critical so please don't take it this way, but click on the link to see something you may be interested in adding under your hood for only $80 that'll make it sparkle a little more, give you some more room, and give you a little more of a muscular sound:

http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/showthread.php?t=40335

Looking forward to your future posts.

Posted by: Eagle1

Quote:

Originally Posted by MERIJONS97LSC

WOW! shes a beauty...Stay with us on the forum we will enjoy sharing ideas and just shooting the bull!!

Are those the original seats???

The driver's seat was rebuilt in Pasadena by Sorensen...leather, foam padding, everything, to original spec, though the leather feels a bit better than the rest. The passenger and rear seats are original. It was her business car so basically nobody ever sat in the rear, and rarely in the passenger side..usually just her briefcase and files and such. It was kept garaged and detailed twice a year. With SoCal weather there is no rust or corrosion anywhere. She was the only driver, no accidents. Quite a few door dings from the parking lot wars, but the paint is original and the Dent Doctor was able to do a very nice job with the wounds, as they were all minor blemishes and none chipped the paint. She bought the car new in January of '93 for about $43k. Which for an American car in that time period was quite a pretty penny. I saved the original 16" wheels, but cannot put them on with the BBK that is now installed.

Posted by: Eagle1

Quote:

Originally Posted by buddylee

how much did the new 4.6 cost ya?

I bought the remanufactured long block from JasPer
The cost was $3934. I know I could have gotten it cheaper elsewhere, but I like their established reputation, way they deliver the whole thing ready to go and with the kit containing all the bits and clips etc, and the warranty.

Posted by: Sal329

Great work you have done to the car it looks great.

Posted by: chickenviii

looks clean. 144k is early in the life of a mark viii, mines a 98 with 148 all stock all original. mespocks daughter drives his 93 with 225k at collage

Posted by: Eagle1

Quote:

Originally Posted by chickenviii

looks clean. 144k is early in the life of a mark viii, mines a 98 with 148 all stock all original. mespocks daughter drives his 93 with 225k at collage

Yes it is early to have to do this work, and she kept the car maintained religiously and did not drive it hard. One would have thought the car would at least make it to 200k no problem. However, the SoCal freeway miles were commuter type on the freeways with a lot of stop and go. Perhaps that was a factor in it tiring that soon. Maybe it was just unlucky to have it fail so early. But it did, and the transmission was barely hanging in there, with the shifts being very harsh, so it just seemed to be the right time to either do it all over and do it "right", or do a patch job for the minimum dollars to keep it running....a legitimate and available option to be sure, and just keep plugging holes in the dike when they appeared. The car is pristine original as you can see, so a much lesser repair/restore approach would have worked fine.

Since I like to take cars to the road racing tracks (I have a twin turbo Infiniti G35 with about 625 rwhp and torque) and prefer something that you can "drive" as contrasted to "ride around in", the choice was inevitable. Not perhaps the soundest decision from a fiscal perspective, but since we intend to keep this car for the forseeable future, though not on the road racing tracks, it should work out. What it provides now is a very comfortable car with an upgraded performance profile that is fun to drive. "Tossing" a car this heavy into turns etc is not what one would or should normally consider doing with the pure stock set up, and what I have done to the car certainly is not recommendable to everyone, as the ride stiffness is not for the majority of enthusiasts of this or any other marque. But I like it and get the giggles going around corners with the pedal down and countersteering through some throttle on oversteer while the passenger supplements the seat belt restraint with some cheek clench.

Posted by: mespock

Quote:

Originally Posted by chickenviii

looks clean. 144k is early in the life of a mark viii, mines a 98 with 148 all stock all original. mespocks daughter drives his 93 with 225k at collage

Oh sure drag me into this LOL..

Yes my 93 has almost made it to the moon.. Runs great... But I don't know how much time it has left with me.

Daughter ditched it this winter and wife is afraid of her with the RWD. I told my wife it's all she knows so it shouldn't matter.

But anyway.. The 93 might be a parts car in by the end of Summer..

It was my first...

Welcome Eagle 1... enjoy the site and have fun..

Posted by: Sal329

Pics of the G35 please

Posted by: Eagle1

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sal329

Pics of the G35 please

Action photos at a few race tracks are below. Here is a link to three articles on driving different race tracks, and there are also videos from inside the car to show the driving line, etc. http://www.nissansportmag.com/downlo...earticles.html

I hope you enjoy them. Cheers!

Buttonwillow Raceway Park, exit at Redline Time Attack

Reno Fernley Raceway

The Corkscrew at Laguna Seca Raceway

Chasing an Ariel Atom at California Speedway

Turn 3 at Sears Point Infineon Raceway

Cover of Nissan Sport Magazine

Passing a Lotus in the Esses at Buttonwillow

Leading Corvette into Cotton Corner (front right tire on apex berm)

Posted by: Sal329

Beautful, congrads on teh mag cover as well.

Posted by: Eagle1

Thank you Sal.
Here is one more picture, the next one in the series after passing the Vette.

Note the rear tire on top of the apex berm, following the right front tire. To get the entry to the Cotton Corners properly at the end of the short straight that precedes the turn, it is necessary to position the car on the extreme right side of the track surface as quickly as possible at corner exit, to take a hard left turn that immediately follows. So the driver needs to not only take a very late apex, but trail brake and rotate or yaw the nose into the corner. Doing so helps promote the "thump-thump" over the apex point, which the pictures highlight with the tires just above the white painted kerb.

What is interesting is that the wheelbase of the Mark VIII is about the same as the G35, and with the suspension mods made the handling can be very aggressive and confident. The weight distribution is quite a bit different as the Mark is two feet longer than the G and not as amenable to being tossed, but it is wide tracked and stable and can be pushed.

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