Yesterday I took on the very messy task of sanding all of this ugly clear coat off. I used a DA with 320 grit sand paper. During that process, I
inevitably sanded off the OEM part number stampings/etc. Which I'm completely fine with, they look a lot cleaner now IMO. "Shaved tail lights!"
After that, I decided to try and remove the lenses.. and that was a huge fail. The plastic on these was so brittle, and I ended up cracking the
corner off of one of my tail lights while trying to pry them apart. Good thing it was on my bad one! Thankfully, my friend agreed to trade me his
good condition one for my cracked one sometime next week (After I glue the cracked corner back on and re-clear coat it of course)
After cracking the corner off of my tail light... I decided not to proceed taking the lenses off obviously, so now I won't be able to get the inside
of the turn signal portion painted red. Oh well.
Anyways, I ended up tinting the outside again on what I had left. Here's what they look like (After wet-sanding the tint w/ 1000 grit in prep for
clear coat)
you can see how smooth they look now without the OEM stampings!
I'm going to hopefully clear coat these within the next few days, along with my clear corner lights.
Does the clearcoat help with stuff like that? I usually sand up to 1600 and then use polishing compound past that. I'd want them as clear as possible before doing any coating over them, unless you're going for a more matte finish.
Hi RandEE,
Do you realize that your new head lights from New Zealand are from RHD car with opposite light pattern?
I have found this attention on the internet:
Right hand drive vehicles are constructed for driving on the left, NOT on the right like we do. The high part of the beam would be on the left side, which would be the ditch in those countries. This would create issues for the oncoming traffic in our part of the world where we drive on the right
Does the clearcoat help with stuff like that? I usually sand up to 1600 and then use polishing compound past that. I'd want them as clear as possible before doing any coating over them, unless you're going for a more matte finish.
Yes. Clearcoating is the best option, rather than polishing. Polishing will make them look nice for a while, but doing so; you remove all of the proper UV protectant. Therefore, over time, it will start to fade out.
You can see in one of my prior posts how I restored the headlight lens, I used the same method on those. The clear coat will cover the 1000 grit scratches no problem! As well as leaving a perfect finish!
Hi RandEE,
Do you realize that your new head light from New Zealand are from RHD car with opposite light pattern?
Yes, I'm aware of this issue. I don't plan on doing much night time driving, as this won't be my daily driver. However, I'm going to do my best with adjusting them to hopefully somewhat correct this issue.
I just realized... you are just down the street from me. Howdy Neighbor !!! Fantastic work !!! Hope to see some of that fine work in person sometime in the future !!
I just realized... you are just down the street from me. Howdy Neighbor !!! Fantastic work !!! Hope to see some of that fine work in person sometime in the future !!
Hopefully I'll go to some local meets once I get it painted! Trying to make it to XXX, Honda Tech, and possibly Golden Gardens this year. All depends on the weather.
Got around to installing the motor mounts finally, and replaced my mismatched Lowe's SAE hardware with some from Downstar. (Custom order)
After I installed the mounts, I rinsed the bay down! I've never cleaned the bay since painting it a year ago. You can see how neglected it was, from
all of the sanding dust/etc.
Before cleaning:
After cleaning:
You can see the mounts I chose. I went with some Innovative billet mounts. 75A bushings. They're SO much better than my old first generation
Hasport mounts, the engine sits in there perfectly now. You can see how much room my header has now, I need to find a new T brace!
I went with the cable trans version, only for 2016. I plan on getting my B16/LS 5th Hydro trans rebuilt later this year with an Mfactory LSD. So
when that happens, I'll convert to Hydro and and get the Hydro trans mount.
Also, I can't stop staring at these tail lights.. That's a nice chandelier also
Hi man. Would you sell your older orange/clear corners? We never get these in newzealand, can't find any on ebay, and a guy from the states wants 120 usd for his ones. Let me know, I love this car so much.
Hi man. Would you sell your older orange/clear corners? We never get these in newzealand, can't find any on ebay, and a guy from the states wants 120 usd for his ones. Let me know, I love this car so much.
Sorry, I'm keeping my USDM corner lights. Might want to change it up in the future.
Painted the rest of my jambs today! The underside of the hood, inside of the gas door, hood hinges, the jambs of the fenders, as well as the
jambs to the rear filler pieces under the tail lights.
They came out pretty well considering the weather, and lack of light. I only have pictures of the underside of the hood as of right now, here
those are:
I'll try to get some better pictures once everything is completely dry. But I'm pretty happy, all of the jambs are completely done. Now I can put
my focus towards getting the body ready for paint.
It's been a while since I've posted last, I've been getting swamped with other projects that fell into my hands.
I've been building a friends Integra (Full engine bay revamp)
And,
I also picked up a RHD Integra DB8 shell for a deal that I couldn't pass up - and just the other day, picked up another DB8 as a donor car for my
RHD one, however it's too clean and I plan on fixing/flipping it for a profit instead.
On to a minor wagon update;
The DB8 Parts car that I picked up came with some RPF1's, which I threw on the wagon for fun.
I ended up liking the results, so I plan on keeping these on there for at least the 2016 show season.
I may lower the car a little bit more, but just to close the wheel gap. I also plan on getting 10mm spacers in the front, and 15mm in the rear,
with extended studs and then running as close to no camber as possible.
As for paint? ...still waiting on a good enough streak of about 3 days. It's only a matter of time.
The headlights are interchangable between hatch and shuttle. The 88-89 has a metal bracket to hold them in and and the 90+ are a single piece like above. If you have an 88-89 you can just remove the headlight bucket and install the newer one without issues.
Picked up some parts today at the local Pick N Pull;
-Nearly perfect front seats (one hole)
-Front T-brace
-DA throttle cable
-Perfect driver's side tail light
-Front window moulding
-Perfect side window trim
-Plastic plug and bracket that I was missing for my dash
-Trim that goes under the glove box (mine has a hole in it)
-Rear door handles (to throw on my front doors to remove the key holes)
-and a perfectly working glove box "Strut?" (makes the glove box open slowly)
Overall a pretty good score! I might end up going back to pick up a door panel since one of mine has a little tear in it.
It's been a super long time since I've updated this, and I'm sorry..
I've been completely stacked with other projects, customers cars.. etc. So I haven't had time to work on the wagon at all.
I still have it, and unfortunately it's without an engine currently. But I have another GSR longblock that I'm planning on rebuilding
pretty soon for it. The plan is to rebuild it to OEM spec, and then drive it around for the 2017 season with that engine/setup.
After the 2017 season, I plan on selling the complete engine/swap package as a whole - and then purchasing a complete car
(but wrecked) with a K swap. Possibly a newer SI, RSX, etc. Then putting the heart out of that into the wagon. Plans may change in time,
but as for right now that's the current goal.
Things are rolling along though as it sits believe it or not. I finally have some free time, and plan on getting the car painted within the
next 2-3 weeks. So look forward to that.
Comments
inevitably sanded off the OEM part number stampings/etc. Which I'm completely fine with, they look a lot cleaner now IMO. "Shaved tail lights!"
After that, I decided to try and remove the lenses.. and that was a huge fail. The plastic on these was so brittle, and I ended up cracking the
corner off of one of my tail lights while trying to pry them apart. Good thing it was on my bad one! Thankfully, my friend agreed to trade me his
good condition one for my cracked one sometime next week (After I glue the cracked corner back on and re-clear coat it of course)
After cracking the corner off of my tail light... I decided not to proceed taking the lenses off obviously, so now I won't be able to get the inside
of the turn signal portion painted red. Oh well.
Anyways, I ended up tinting the outside again on what I had left. Here's what they look like (After wet-sanding the tint w/ 1000 grit in prep for
clear coat)
you can see how smooth they look now without the OEM stampings!
I'm going to hopefully clear coat these within the next few days, along with my clear corner lights.
Do you realize that your new head lights from New Zealand are from RHD car with opposite light pattern?
I have found this attention on the internet:
Right hand drive vehicles are constructed for driving on the left, NOT on the right like we do. The high part of the beam would be on the left side, which would be the ditch in those countries. This would create issues for the oncoming traffic in our part of the world where we drive on the right
This is LHD light pattern which you should have.
Here you can see the RHD light pattern.
Just think about it.
Yes. Clearcoating is the best option, rather than polishing. Polishing will make them look nice for a while, but doing so; you remove all of the proper UV protectant. Therefore, over time, it will start to fade out.
You can see in one of my prior posts how I restored the headlight lens, I used the same method on those. The clear coat will cover the 1000 grit scratches no problem! As well as leaving a perfect finish!
Yes, I'm aware of this issue. I don't plan on doing much night time driving, as this won't be my daily driver. However, I'm going to do my best with adjusting them to hopefully somewhat correct this issue.
I do like the work on the tail lights as well. Nice stuff for sure.
Thanks!
I use FC720. It's a great priced 2K clear, I love it. I've been using it for all of my projects the past 2 or so years.
...and this afternoon, in 100% humidity and 35° F temps - I decided what better time to clear coat!
I sprayed it on really thick to try and avoid any orange peel - and luckily there were no runs!
It's completely dry now, and I couldn't be happier with the results! The clear laid out SUPER smooth with NO orange peel!
As with everything, the pictures don't do them justice. In person they're absolutely beautiful.
I couldn't forget the clear corners either, and as with the tail lights - they turned out perfect. Better than they came from the factory IMO.
Next on the list is to polish my new Innovative motor mounts that I just got in the mail, and install those. To hopefully fix my slanted engine issue.
Hopefully I'll go to some local meets once I get it painted! Trying to make it to XXX, Honda Tech, and possibly Golden Gardens this year. All depends on the weather.
Haha, I might start doing something like that later on.
After I installed the mounts, I rinsed the bay down! I've never cleaned the bay since painting it a year ago. You can see how neglected it was, from
all of the sanding dust/etc.
Before cleaning:
After cleaning:
You can see the mounts I chose. I went with some Innovative billet mounts. 75A bushings. They're SO much better than my old first generation
Hasport mounts, the engine sits in there perfectly now. You can see how much room my header has now, I need to find a new T brace!
I went with the cable trans version, only for 2016. I plan on getting my B16/LS 5th Hydro trans rebuilt later this year with an Mfactory LSD. So
when that happens, I'll convert to Hydro and and get the Hydro trans mount.
Also, I can't stop staring at these tail lights.. That's a nice chandelier also
Sorry, I'm keeping my USDM corner lights. Might want to change it up in the future.
jambs to the rear filler pieces under the tail lights.
They came out pretty well considering the weather, and lack of light. I only have pictures of the underside of the hood as of right now, here
those are:
I'll try to get some better pictures once everything is completely dry. But I'm pretty happy, all of the jambs are completely done. Now I can put
my focus towards getting the body ready for paint.
If this looks normal to you, then mission accomplished.
yes looks normal.. but even better.
And here's some more pictures of my custom cowl;
Simple and clean..:cool:
I've been building a friends Integra (Full engine bay revamp)
And,
I also picked up a RHD Integra DB8 shell for a deal that I couldn't pass up - and just the other day, picked up another DB8 as a donor car for my
RHD one, however it's too clean and I plan on fixing/flipping it for a profit instead.
On to a minor wagon update;
The DB8 Parts car that I picked up came with some RPF1's, which I threw on the wagon for fun.
I ended up liking the results, so I plan on keeping these on there for at least the 2016 show season.
I may lower the car a little bit more, but just to close the wheel gap. I also plan on getting 10mm spacers in the front, and 15mm in the rear,
with extended studs and then running as close to no camber as possible.
As for paint? ...still waiting on a good enough streak of about 3 days. It's only a matter of time.
-Nearly perfect front seats (one hole)
-Front T-brace
-DA throttle cable
-Perfect driver's side tail light
-Front window moulding
-Perfect side window trim
-Plastic plug and bracket that I was missing for my dash
-Trim that goes under the glove box (mine has a hole in it)
-Rear door handles (to throw on my front doors to remove the key holes)
-and a perfectly working glove box "Strut?" (makes the glove box open slowly)
Overall a pretty good score! I might end up going back to pick up a door panel since one of mine has a little tear in it.
I've been completely stacked with other projects, customers cars.. etc. So I haven't had time to work on the wagon at all.
I still have it, and unfortunately it's without an engine currently. But I have another GSR longblock that I'm planning on rebuilding
pretty soon for it. The plan is to rebuild it to OEM spec, and then drive it around for the 2017 season with that engine/setup.
After the 2017 season, I plan on selling the complete engine/swap package as a whole - and then purchasing a complete car
(but wrecked) with a K swap. Possibly a newer SI, RSX, etc. Then putting the heart out of that into the wagon. Plans may change in time,
but as for right now that's the current goal.
Things are rolling along though as it sits believe it or not. I finally have some free time, and plan on getting the car painted within the
next 2-3 weeks. So look forward to that.