SLC: 1989 Zinno coupe. Superlight, Super Functional *6spd swap inside*

[mitchlikesbikes]

15x8 TRM C1 on BFG Rivals boom!
That's my next set up or RS3s

And what are those holes for?

if i'm going up in size i want 16s so that's not really an option for me:(

holes serve a few purposes, but they're primarily for more air flow to the radiator and a little weight off the front. they also cut out the area where the front plate should mount which is ugly without a filler and i hate front plates. kinda cheesy but if i decide i don't want them i can just replace the trim pieces and move on with my life.

the holes were inspired by cars like this:

[jiM5]

+1 for TRM + rs3's or bfg rivals. For auto-x and daily those tires are great. I have a set of TRM's with RS-3's on my 89is 225s fit without any mods no rubbing.

shipped to my door for 1080 I think. after these run out ill get a set of hoosiers when the swaps finished to keep up with SM in auto-x, but for now they handle great.

[sam_]

Looks great! Sub'd

[rturbo 930]

I don't think those holes are gonna do anything for airflow to the radiator if the valance behind it is solid.

[sam_]

i don't think those holes are gonna do anything for airflow to the radiator if the valance behind it is solid.

+1

[mitchlikesbikes]

I don't think those holes are gonna do anything for airflow to the radiator if the valance behind it is solid.

You're right, when I pull the bumper for paint I will be trimming the valance. Like I said earlier the hole saw wouldn't reach all the way through so the bumper has to come off to finish things up.

[sam_]

when are you expecting her to be finished?

[mitchlikesbikes]

when are you expecting her to be finished?

well "finished" won't be for a very long time, if ever. i'm hoping to wrap up everything i'm working on right now by the 2nd or 3rd week of june. i'm basically to a point now where i need to paint and then reassemble everything, then finish up some wiring and tune up stuff. after that i'll work on some small things here and there while i drive the car and save up for suspension goodies.

[mitchlikesbikes]

welp, i just ordered some mtechnica replica wheels. not sure how i feel about this. but whatever, i'm poor so real mtechnicas weren't happening and i can't justify running these tiny ass bottlecaps

tires will at least be nice and legit, probably some potenza re11s or direzza ZIIs, either one would be in a 225/50/16

[sam_]

welp, i just ordered some mtechnica replica wheels. not sure how i feel about this. but whatever, i'm poor so real mtechnicas weren't happening and i can't justify running these tiny ass bottlecaps

tires will at least be nice and legit, probably some potenza re11s or direzza ZIIs, either one would be in a 225/50/16

hm.. don't want to sound like a pr*ck just be prepared for them to break and have some extras lined up my friend spent a decent amount on bbs rs reps that seemed pretty legit and all the spokes broke when he hit a pothole on the freeway :(

[mitchlikesbikes]

hm.. don't want to sound like a pr*ck just be prepared for them to break and have some extras lined up my friend spent a decent amount on bbs rs reps that seemed pretty legit and all the spokes broke when he hit a pothole on the freeway :(

Was he running rubber bands for tires though? Any wheel will break if you run tiny tires and slam a pothole.


Regardless, I really don't want my thread to turn into a "do knockoff wheels suck" debate because they do and I'm not proud I bought them or anything. But they're cheap and will work for now. If they break then whatever. I'll be replacing a $100 wheel vs a $400+ wheel

[sam_]

Was he running rubber bands for tires though? Any wheel will break if you run tiny tires and slam a pothole.


Regardless, I really don't want my thread to turn into a "do knockoff wheels suck" debate because they do and I'm not proud I bought them or anything. But they're cheap and will work for now. If they break then whatever. I'll be replacing a $100 wheel vs a $400+ wheel

yea wasnt trying to make it seem like that! who cares if theyre knockoffs tbh like the only people will know are those you tell and the car looks great too!

[Cinnabar325is]

What's your welding setup? Looking pretty decent for thin sheetmetal.

So you only have your defrost vents working with the heaterbox now, correct? Everything else is sealed off and the slider controls will be eliminated?

What process did you use to eliminate the unneeded interior wiring? I assume things like the domelight wiring were wrapped up in the harness with other wires you do need. Did you just start at one end and work backwards, pulling from the harness as you went?

[mitchlikesbikes]

What's your welding setup? Looking pretty decent for thin sheetmetal.

So you only have your defrost vents working with the heaterbox now, correct? Everything else is sealed off and the slider controls will be eliminated?

What process did you use to eliminate the unneeded interior wiring? I assume things like the domelight wiring were wrapped up in the harness with other wires you do need. Did you just start at one end and work backwards, pulling from the harness as you went?

the welder is a basic lincoln wire feed with gas shielding. the majority of the welding was done by my old man who's been a professional welder for about 25 years now so they came out really good.

and yeah, all vents are sealed aside from defrost so the slider controls will be gone. i have no carpet in my jeep either and use the foot vents regularly (even without AC) so if my feet end up on fire in this car i will probably reopen the foot vents and just live with the fact that its both foot AND defrost, or neither.

the wiring was a pretty tedious and brutally long process honestly. i basically taught myself how to read wiring diagrams and just freestyled it as i opened up more and more of the harness. most of the power wires came from 3 or so splices so i just trimmed them back to there. the majority of the extra wiring was from the power locks and active check control, i basically bypassed the active check relay in the trunk and spliced only the wires for power to each light in and eliminated all of the "check" wires. i still have a bundle of 10 or so wires that are trimmed back to the firewall that i capped and will have to finish clipping once i get to the wiring in the bay. aside from that everything else i just traced and clipped. i sourced a lot of wires from devices i wouldn't need and trimmed them back to the source. so for instance "oh hey i definitely don't need that stupid chime box for the door and key" so i took all 4 wires from that and traced them, then clipped them where they ended (usually at another plug or a splice).

i tested what i could after all the hacking and everything seemed to work so i got pretty lucky. all of the tail lights and blinkers worked which was awesome. my cluster is still fucked but i'm gonna sort that out after i put some stuff back together.

[mitchlikesbikes]

got home from work super late tonight and my wheels and hub rings were here:) honestly this is the first set of wheels i've ever bought brand new so the whole replica thing is kind of a bummer but i'm honestly pretty impressed by the overall look and feel of the wheels for the price. obviously not on the same level as real mtechnicas but i'm confident these will get the job done for a while.


hub ring



box + specs



back of the wheel



close up of the front



full face with awesome instafilter




i should be finished with paint prep sometime tomorrow so paint will be coming later this week or next weekend.