1992 Dinan Stage III 850I

[imported_themightytimmah]

This car came to me courtesy of a fellow Autopian. It had quite the story behind it - the original owner was a personal friend of Steve Dinan, and this car was one of only 5 Stage III conversions ever built. She`s pushing around 625hp on pump gas, 700+ on race. When I first got to it, the car suffered moderate paint contamination, but was clearly kept clean. We originally planned on 1Z MP via hand - but after a full sun inspection, it was clear that the original owner`s mechanics were not too well versed in proper wash techniques. The roof had a "brushed" finish, and the horizontals were pretty swirled up. However, the paint was all original and nearly orange-peel free.



This presented a pretty scary challenge - how to correct everything without diminishing paint life or burning through an edge. After trying a number of pads and polishes, I decided to go with a softer pad and more aggressive polish for the edges - using an orange pad near the curves was too hairy for me. The final result was 99% swirl free on more open sections, and 85+% swirl free on the edges.



Paint before:















Process:



NXT foamgun wash

AutoInt ABC Decon on paint and wheels

Chemical Guy`s Clay

Presta UCCL/Green Wool/1500rpm on hood, trunk and roof only

Tried OP/Orange pad /1500 on verticals- not enough cut

Tried AutoInt Machine Polish/white pad/1500 on verticals- not enough cut

Tried AutoInt Machine Polish/orange pad/1500 on verticals - too risky on edges

Ended up with Presta UCCL/white lc ccs/1250rpm on verticals and second step on horizontals



Center and right compounded, left and far side not:







Gotta love Miami weather







Finished with Menzerna P085RD/LC blue/1600-1000rpm on all paint surfaces

P085RD/LC white CCS/1250rpm on spoiler (thin aftermarket paint)

IPA wipedown and inspected for holograms

CG EZ Creme Glaze/hand

CG 50:50 Paste/hand

AutoInt Trim and Molding renewer on trim (excellent product, blue oil-based)

















Talk about a clean install - unless you know 850`s, it looks totally stock.

[LS1 Eddie]

Nice job and cool car. I wish I lived in Florida as I look out my window and see snow.

[imported_rydawg]

Great job on such a nice car!

[.VorteX.]

Awesome job. That`s a sweet ride.. I`ve only seen two around here.

[SHhhhh]

Any details on the Conquest?

[Pats300zx]

Awesome job. I would trade your Miami weather. I detailed a M6 today. I had to wash it in the rain with a cold wind and 45 degrees.

[nmxdaven]

Why detail it when its just going to get a thick coating of rubber anyway?



j/k, good detail and awesome car!

[imported_Jayhawker]

Is that a Mitsubishi Conquest I see in the background? More pics of that car PLEASE!

[2KLS1]

Nice.....I still like the styling of those 8 series cars.

[P1et]

Stunning vehicle and a stunning detail, very nice work!

[imported_themightytimmah]

Is that a Mitsubishi Conquest I see in the background? More pics of that car PLEASE!

IIRC it`s an Eagle Talon. It`s the 850 owner`s "play car". He`s gone through a couple engines (big turbos) on it - the last one ran in the 12`s before it blew up. He rebuilt it and the block`s sitting in his garage now. Overall it needs a little paintwork but it`s in cherry shape.

[Smoked Tails]

That`s most definitely not a Talon. It`s a Conquest or Starion. And, from my understanding, any of those that are reliably quicker than low to mid 13s are expensive to build. I am more familiar with Talons, Eclipses and Lasers though.



Anyways, outstanding job on that 850. Those are a rare breed, especially one with that history. Did you get a ride in that beast? I`d have wet my pants.

[pumpedTSI]

Thanks for the compliments on my cars guys, the 850 has only 29k miles on it and is maintained fanatically from a preventative maintainance standpoint, easy to work on too since I do all my own wrenching at home.

My other car is an 88 Conquest 5 speed in the electric blue color. As mentioned, its on its third motor (dont ask, running high boost/big turbo/****** fuel system) and its sitting in my garage on the stand right now. With this one I should have the fuel crisis finally solved with an Australian 4 injector intake and a SDS/MSD system running timing and fuel delivery. Motor is bored and sleeved with Wiseco forged slugs, ARP fasteners thruout, peened rods, knife edged crank, ported head, custom header, 284 cam, BSE kit, 3" header back system, bigger intercooler, hard pipes and a few other goodies..........tuning will be via WB02 and datalogging this time..............its a labor of love. I had a new Conquest back in the day and had a lot of fun with it and have had this one since 97 so its stayin no matter if my wife tries to sell it every other week..............



Thanks again Tim for a great job.........

[imported_grease]

No offense to the Conquest fans, but I wanna know more about the 850i! A clean install is right! Strut brace and new valve covers is the only thing that stands out as not stock! Whats the tubing at the front, thats not stock?

[pumpedTSI]

OK........a brief writeup.........



My car is a lot different from the Dinan Stage 1 and 2 versions. There were only 5 Stage 3 cars and only 4 are left since one was totalled in Hong Kong. The S1 and S2 models are basically stock motors with turbos,headers, external wastegates,bypass valves,honed intakes and intercoolers added along with tranny coolers and beefed up trannies. There may be other suspension enhancements, etc, but basically stock motors, no internal work and running 8-10 psi.



The S3 is a totally different animal......its a 5.7 stroker motor using a CSi block or a bored and sleeved M70 unit. It includes head studs,forged pistons,ported heads and intakes, cams, headers, larger injectors, knock sensors, boost guages,wastegates, bypass valves,intercooler hard pipes and a 2.75" straight thru exhaust system.

Tranny has an external cooler, heavy duty clutch packs and solenoids, 2800 stall converter, HD internal components, shift kit, custom chips and a HD driveshaft and Ujoints.

Suspension is HD sway bars front and rear along with stiffer springs, camber plates and HD links.

Brakes are Euro CSi full floating with 4 piston M calipers.

Rear end has been switched out for a LSD unit with HD shafts.

Car runs 14 psi on each turbo.



BTW, the sway bar is an aftermarket Strong Strut and the "valve covers" you are referring to must be the intake manifolds since the actual valve covers are underneath..........