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11-02-2008, 11:31 PM | #151 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 147613
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Denver, CO
Vehicle:2010 Ectomobile! |
Last edited by Boomerjinks; 11-03-2008 at 12:52 AM. |
11-03-2008, 12:02 AM | #152 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 139487
Join Date: Feb 2007
Chapter/Region:
MAIC
Location: newport news, va
Vehicle:2006 wrx aspen white |
That thing is hilarious lol
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04-24-2009, 08:23 AM | #153 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 194453
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: central NH
Vehicle:2001 Legacy 2.5 GT Winestone Pearl |
^^ that is awesome
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04-24-2009, 09:26 AM | #154 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 135081
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Biloxi/Mobile/TN
Vehicle:2005 2.5 RS PSM |
toooo cool for school hah
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07-30-2009, 06:05 PM | #155 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 147613
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Denver, CO
Vehicle:2010 Ectomobile! |
I have spent the last few weeks working on a super top-secret project that everyone knows about. In April of this year I set about converting a 2008 Dodge Magnum SXT into an Ecto-1 replica.
It really all started in January. Richie, Kris, and I had resolved ourselves to build a new roof box for the Outback since two years in the elements hadn't been terribly kind to it. The paint had faded, the wood on the rear corner was starting to rot, and it just didn't have the same look it used to. This problem was only exacerbated by my favoritism for the jeep, which ate up precious maintenance time for the Ecto. It was a cold, snowy morning when we left to drive up to Fort Collins and build a new box in my buddy's garage. He had more wood-working tools than I did, so this was the best option. It was Sunday and all the car dealerships were closed, and we just happened upon a Dodge dealership after grabbing chow at Breakfast King. At this point I was still a huge critic of the Magnum conversion. I thought the car was too short (as in, not very tall), I felt the sloping roof would make a rack look goofy, the lack of running bars on the roof would make it difficult to mount a rack, and more than anything it was a dyed-in-the-wool city car; it couldn't handle snow drifts and icy roads, would bottom-out easily, pretty much the exact opposite of the Outback. At the insistence of the guys, we pulled into the dealership "just to look." There was a white Magnum sitting there, all by itself. There were no pushy salesmen around, no one to pester us about trade-ins or credit checks, so we could really investigate the important questions. To our surprise, it was unlocked. Within the hour we had returned with a lightbar and measuring tape. We were taking pictures, crawling around inside, and getting a feel for the roominess of the car. In the end, that's what really sold me on it. In our group almost everyone, except for the girls, is 6'1" or taller, and cramming five tall people into a Subaru just wasn't fun anymore. With a Magnum we could get all the guys, and then squeeze in all the girls, too. It was all downhill from here. So I started researching. I gradually learned the difference between the trim packages, I studied the factory color options as well as interiors. I checked for removable and permanent racks. The whole shebang. I test-drove maybe half a dozen cars, ranging from SEs to AWD R/Ts. Here is one of them, sitting next to an actual 59 MM during a video shoot with Zach Helm. That was fun to compare the two/realize how the two could never compare. Eventually I found one, it was in Arizona and it was being sold for much less than comparable cars here. The original plan was for me to buy it, spend $60 to fly down and get it, then make the drive back into a cool little road trip during which I learn all the neat little things about the car and become adjusted to it. Maybe even meet the AZ boys for pizza or something, would have been cool. Due to a trip to San Francisco and one of Shauna's conventions, I wasn't able to go get it immediately, though. The dealer didn't like this, insisting that a sold car could not just "sit on the lot" for two weeks. So we shipped it. Funny story, they weren't able to ship it for over a month. *facepalm* It arrived just after StarFest and a major April blizzard. Guy loaded it off a truck and I did a quick inspection, signed some forms and, holy **** did I just buy a car? Uh-oh. I quickly discovered that one of the reasons it was being sold for so little was because the previous owner was a smoker. I had been deprived of my new car smell, bull****! A bag of charcoal and two weeks of sitting fixed it completely, the car smells great today. I let the car sit for a few weeks, gauging how we were going to go about starting the conversion. We'd need to add a luggage rack, possibly reinforcing the roof. We started coming up with concept drawings, here is one of my favorites, done by my roommate: And then it began... |
07-30-2009, 06:05 PM | #156 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 147613
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Denver, CO
Vehicle:2010 Ectomobile! |
I bought a pair of Edge9000s super-cheap from lightbars.net, both required pretty extensive cleaning and restoration. We took a TON of pictures to help with photoshop conceptualization. One of my major gripes about the last car was how awful it was to maintain. Building a new box and restoring all the stuff on top (sanding, painting, resurfacing, polishing, reinforcing) just drove me nuts. We set out to build a rack that, while not impervious to entropy, would last far longer in the elements than wood and PVC. It was decided to use plastic for the box and welded steel for the frame. We made friends with some guys at a local plastics shop and commissioned the box.
God approved. We had finally come to the point of no return: I had to drill into the roof in order to install the luggage rack. If I ****ed this up it would be THOUSANDS of dollars to fix. We drilled through the sheet metal and mounted the rack straight to the frame inside the car. This has proven to be very very effective. Zach welded up the frame for us in exchange for Taco Bell. Or was it Panda? I think it was Panda. The same day, we had the vinyl work done to the car across Denver. The frame came out looking great, with the box fitting snugly inside. Meanwhile, Richie busted his balls to fabricate the side tanks, which came out looking fantastic! Imagine our excitement to find out that our measurements worked perfectly to help maintain the functionality of the rear hatch! Mounting the rack was grueling and took place in the wee hours of the morning. It was not fun, with at least one emotional outburst from me. I'm getting too old for this ****. Lea (Fragglerocker) helped out. By being cute or... something. As you can see, we have doubled the number of speakers we had on the last one. They are all marine speakers, so they work even when they are covered in ice. The first sound test was quite a hoot. We drove to the nearby Safeway and played some tunes from my phone. The difference was astonishing. Much much louder, with greater directional range. You get almost the same sound standing in front of the car as you do to the side, which is a huge improvement. Also, we have bass now. Very very good bass, all things considered. Then it came time to add the greebles. Check out this ****ing resistor. ****ing LOOK. Anyone want to build a 4/1-scale proton pack? |
07-30-2009, 06:06 PM | #157 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 147613
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Denver, CO
Vehicle:2010 Ectomobile! |
We opted for this air conditioning fan because it was a little more complex-looking than the original, which is sort of what we are going for with the car. It still works, and we mounted a chrome blade inside it. I would like to put some kind of LED in there so it can reflect off the fan blades and look totally awesome. Split-loom on the side of the rack. I wanted the hoses to go into more than just holes in side, so we snagged a couple of plumbing nozzles and mounted them inside-out. I think it adds a lot. Then, on the Fourth of July, we mounted the rack with about 30% of the bits on it and drove to Fort Collins. This would be our first real test with the rack and the blue lightbars on the road. [youtube]syHU3BSx-20&fmt=18[/youtube] Of course Travis had to ruin this moment by being gay and giving us a gay send-off. Oh well, I think it's pretty funny. One of our major concerns has been the lightbars. I know the laws quite well, but at the same time I have seen a lot of leeway and flexibility with Colorado cops. Just as an example, Zach drives his hearse around with red lightbars, fake machine guns, and working flame-throwers. That said, I still felt it was a good idea to deactivate the bars. There are currently no bulbs, no lenses, and no reflectors inside those lightbars. The power cords lead nowhere and there isn't even a switch setup on the dash yet. Even so, let's just say many jokes about being raped "right through our pants" by state troopers were made, and that we spent the drive up at Sphincter Factor: 5 - maximum pucker. We didn't see a single cop. Of course I had to take a picture of the car being all awesome in front of Shauna's house in the mountains... What's that, Shauna's mom? You have a satellite internet transmitter that you're trying to get rid of? Allow me! Good decision! The return trip found me driving by a pond at dusk at very high speeds. ****in'.... gross. We then spent more time getting everything mounted to the rack that we could. We do still have a way to go. Side tubes need to be added, interior wiring, wheels, bar, add some greebles to the front of the rack, and motorize the gear on top. We also have some more vinyl work to be done but for now, it'll have to do. There will also be window tinting and clear-bra applied to protect certain areas. Then there will be larger street tires with black rims (but no 40's rollin on thizzzz, goddamn I hate thuggin' cars). |
07-30-2009, 06:06 PM | #158 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 147613
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Denver, CO
Vehicle:2010 Ectomobile! |
This last week saw us take the car to San Diego for Comic Con International. This provided me with speed and mileage tests to find the sweet spots for fuel economy and to test the top speed of the car. We averaged about 17 miles per gallon at 75mph, which is about 50% better than the Outback. The car took it like a champ, and I can't even begin to describe how awesome it was pulling up to the beach in it. Only thing that could have been better would be cruising the 101 in the Jurassic Park jeep, right?
Crossing into Utah. Crossing into Arizona. Hello Mojave. Meet 2K. Man how awesome would it be to tour the Nevada Test Site in this thing? Visiting La Jolla. Hello Jetfire. Meet 2K! Cruising in downtown San Diego. Humans Only! |
07-30-2009, 06:07 PM | #159 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 147613
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Denver, CO
Vehicle:2010 Ectomobile! |
What a kick! Watch for us on the roads!
|
07-30-2009, 06:22 PM | #160 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 119290
Join Date: Jul 2006
Chapter/Region:
MAIC
Location: Calvert C. MD/Hampton Roads VA
Vehicle:2004 WRX 4EAT Java Black Pearl |
^
WOW thats cool |
07-30-2009, 06:26 PM | #161 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 181396
Join Date: Jun 2008
Chapter/Region:
Tri-State
Location: sepa
Vehicle:99 Razor Scooter |
Needs some whitewalls!
|
07-30-2009, 07:17 PM | #162 |
Scooby Guru
Member#: 99289
Join Date: Oct 2005
|
I gotta admit, it looks better than the o'back,
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07-30-2009, 07:20 PM | #163 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 211256
Join Date: May 2009
Chapter/Region:
SCIC
Vehicle:2005 Blue WRX COBB Stage 2 |
Awesome!
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07-30-2009, 08:39 PM | #164 |
Top Scoob 012
Member#: 153158
Join Date: Jul 2007
Chapter/Region:
Tri-State
Location: long island , new york
Vehicle:03 wrx wagon sonic yellow |
soooo awesome!!!....def. goes better the the subie does!!!...great job!
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08-05-2009, 10:13 PM | #165 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 211113
Join Date: May 2009
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Minnesota
Vehicle:2004 STI WRB |
lol. this is sweet!
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11-04-2009, 04:55 PM | #166 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 52772
Join Date: Jan 2004
|
Didn't get an answer to a PM, so thought I'd post. Any update on the ECTO project? Looks pretty sweet, and sorry I missed it when you hit San Diego. I was at SDCC, as a Steampunk Ghostbuster.
You might remember me from the old, long NASIOC thread here... http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...?t=484634&pp=2 I'm the guy that does the Star Wars custom cars. After 10 years, 227K miles, 100 charities supported and 1200 events attended, I'm retiring the original H-Wing and working on another one using a Nissan 350Z Roadster. Let me know what you guys are up to! I'd love to meet you when I hit your area... or if you make it back to So Cal, we'll arrange a meetup with the Star Cars ('66 and '89 Batmobiles, General Lee, KITT, BTTF, Magnum, Bandit, Eleanor, Mystery Machine, Mad Max, Herbie, 'Mater, and a whole bunch more) and have you hang with us for a day. Cheers! H-Wing, Old car actual (1995 Honda Del Sol): Z-Wing, New car design (350Z): |
11-04-2009, 05:00 PM | #167 |
Scooby Guru
Member#: 107027
Join Date: Feb 2006
Chapter/Region:
NWIC
Location: Woodinville, WA
Vehicle:2007 SWP WRX STi w/MPS-built 2.34l |
I vote this thread nerdiest on Nasioc...
But art cars are cool. I guess. And so are sci-fi conventions. |
12-02-2009, 11:59 PM | #168 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 186190
Join Date: Aug 2008
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Des Moines, Iowa
Vehicle:00 White LGT 09 F 2.5X Prem TGM |
Can you PLEASE do the TMNT Party wagon next!? That would be awesome.
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12-30-2009, 10:08 AM | #169 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 123891
Join Date: Aug 2006
Chapter/Region:
SCIC
Location: Socal
Vehicle:2002 wrx psm hawkeye 02 wrx AW*secret project* |
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12-30-2009, 10:18 AM | #170 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 111755
Join Date: Apr 2006
|
OR more pics of the delorean pls. |
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