i took a soda hiatus id only drink pepsi or coke on a few occassions id never go out of my way for a soda but then it hit me code red would cheer me up through the work process
thanks i poped the oil pan off the new motor and noticed a little bit of crud like felt like axle grease with grit in it.. and i also found some metalic pieces in there couldnt establish if it was metal i didnt have a magnet but hopefully i wont have to take the motor out again after this i bought it from a company with a warrenty so if it doesnt work ill have a new one and have them replace the gaskets i wasted.. thanks for looking!
car asembley delayed yet again , the clutch kit i got a year ago ( Sachs ) clutch has loose springs and would chatter if it was installed, im getting a new one in tomorrow hopefully its gbetter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1j2be2g6AE
well upon first startup everything seems sound
recconecting the drive shaft, balljoints, tie rods , final toruque on crank pully , reinstall headlights,bumper,hood, dash and of course my wood grain has to go back on after all this tomorrow morning pics as they come! thanks for checkin in
fml im leaking coolant and im pretty sure my oil pan is leaking i think the coolant is a easy fix but as far as the oil pan goes im not really in the mood to take the tranny off again.. my back hurts my head hurts im about ready to junk this car, theres only so much time / money i can invest in this car and ive already spent enough money and im on the brink of hitting to much time. somone save my wagon
haha i cant man im to attached to them ! and its good to have spare rims incase the others blow up.
So the motor i got apparently had bad valve stem seals or bad piston rings thankfully i had a warrenty , and frankly after getting the replacements , replacement im kinda glad that was the case becuase of how fresh the head looks in comparision i feel way more confident about the mileage of the motor and to be honest. i havent seen a motor so clean ever before in my life.
so it was running alright then went to smog it and the dude said i was getting a lot of blow by caused by bad piston rings, then a friend said my compression was 210 across the board which is perfect, so we decided its bad valve stems .
so out the motor came again..
called attarco had them come deliver me a new motor and im glad i did look at this muhfucka. so clean!
ive never seena motor so clean before in my life. ever.
side by side old replacement motor, new replacement motor.
because i have work today in about an hr i havent gotten a chance to swap it back in yet but i got the timing on point and water pump installed, should have the intake mainfold and a few other things done by the end of tonight as well then tomorrow is my day off and ill be spending the morning half at pick and pull for a new header and left headlight and i should have it all put back togather by tomorrow night stay tuned ! I know i will .
well since then another motor blew, replaced that got ran over by a honky truck on the fwy , had two tires blow out at the same time on the fwy almost died, swapped back to almost stock hieght thanks to 1fastboi got my fuel delivery issues squared away as well.
went to a charity event of some sort at laguna seca heres a few pictures it was a bike day so we had full access to the course on bikes one hell of a day.
havent been on here in a while after my car hit 300k i decided to get back into biulding it since noones going to want to buy it ever again
just dropped $500 on a new set of koni's and i need to source new bump stops for the setup along with a sleeve of some sort im pretty excited to get my car back to where it was a year ago...
i recently replaced the front and rear bumpers with stock black ones because my paintmatched bumpers were a mess im kind of digging the look i think the black with the white rims will give a real good contrast and make the rest of the color in the car come out. especially once its lowered again...
besides the shocks im looking to redo my headliner , respray my roof white again, look into square ek fogs and how i can set them up on the new front bumper, maybe MAYBE get a rear fog i sitll dont know how i feel about them..
aside from all that im preparing for the worse and looking into Fseries engine swaps and ill probably throw a light psi turbo on that since aparently fblocks are indestructable iron forged material. plus im keen to the idea of keeping the stock shifter setup ill post pics when i can
Its been a good amount of time since i updated this build i guess i didnt like keeping track of the money i spent just keeping this bitch on the road...
I recently lost my license again and i have been out of a job for over a year now its hard to find reasons to work on the car when i cant drive it legally lol but i decided id rather keep doing things here and there as much as i can until then so ill have a brand new car in a sense next time i get to mobb around. I have been acquiring information from numerous sources trying to find out how to DIY the clear taillights and I finally embarked on tackling the job.
there are other ways to do this, this is how i did it...:encouragement:
Clear Tail light Inners DIY :
Materials:
I used Rustoleum Metallic Silver or Chrome spray paint- $5
Clear Silicone $4
newspaper
Plastonik Acrylic Ceiling Light cover ( cracked Ice ) -$10
And i Also purchased the prismatic version as well ( i plan to make a set of those down the road after i source another pair of inner housings $10)
Blue painters Tape-$4
Aluminum foil ( had already )
Metal cookie sheet ( had already )
A Dremel or a fine tooth saw attachment for a drill or something to that effect ( it needs to be a relitivly high rpm spinning tool as the material is brittle and cracks I just had to buy a $4 saw attacxhment kit from harbor frieght which can just be returned at the end of the job since it will probably break any way. -gotta love harbor frieghts lifetime warrently no questions asked policy.
marker to draw lines with
8mm socket and wrench ( to take off the taillights and license panel )
knfie or flat head screw driver
::before you start you might as well get your cookie sheet and wrap it with aluminum foil and preheat the oven to 190-210 fahrenheit you will need to cook the tailights to seperate the red lenses
Step 1: take off rear hatch plastic panel its just held in by those plastic snap cones what i do is i creep along and pop them individually to avoid and breakage
Step 2: there are 12 8mm nuts you need to take off 4x taillight and 4x for the license panel
after you get those out the way theres this really stubborn slide clip thing in the very center of the panel i just broke mine because i didnt like the design and purpose for that matter...
Step 3: by the time your done with that your oven should be ready
i left my taillights in for about 10-15 minutes,
grab your knife and wedge it btwn the lens and the housing of the taillight once it starts to seperate use your flat head and press against where the tail light secures and youll see the lens popping out.
youll notice the square diffuser lens connected to the red lense ( in the next picture notice top right has the square piece out and the left has it still in ) i opted to keep it for mine its up to you i dont think police officials will be to kind if your taillights are blinding them
all three pieces to our taillights
Step 4: you will want to keep the square diffuser i just mentioned out so when you spray paint the housing you dont get it on the plastic piece. igave my housings a thorough cleaning with hot water and some soap to get all the loose pieces of dirt and silicone out
heres the end result ( i think it would look cleaner if you taped off the edges of the housing so it will be black as oppose to silver but again its up to you )
Bling bling
..
now that you have a couple coats of metallic on the housing you can take that square diffuser and line the sides with silicone to keep it secured
i wrapped it with tape and put a pen in the center for pressure this will take a little while to cure
I filled these holes as well so it will be water tight (you can do this last if you want )
after everything is dried up get your taillight housing and some newspaper and trace the outline of the housing
my camera erased the next two pictures so use your imagination
take the trace you made and lay it underneath the cieling light cover you chose
i utilized the perfect squared end so id only have to make two cuts one vertical one horizontal
and i layed duct tape down and traced my rectangle onto the tape so it wouldnt break or crack , its smart to saw on top a piece of soft wood so you have some play with the saw.
after you have your two pieces cut out i got some painters tape and wrapped the lens over the housing and put it back in the overn at 210'f this is neccessary to get the proper bend in the material to clear your reverse light housing i left it in there for about 15 minutes.
after you got the right bends
put some silicone along the outline of the housing and wrap that up with tape making sure to have as much pressure as possible for a tighter seal.
after that dries up i used this table grinder and the brush wheel to get a flush lens and applied more silicone to areas that needed it, id reccomemnd when putting the silicone on the lens to use a very small amount as you will end up with silicone on the inside of the lens and it just looks tacky i learned this the hard way!
overall the process took about 5 hours ( i could do it in less than 3 hours now that i got the science down )
end result
im going to get some dual intensity red LED bulbs to make it street legal.
next on my list of tedious yet cheap modifications im planning a wire tuck.
thanks for reading.
pretty cool! I plan to do this some day. but I need the time and modivation. lols.
im cool with a first try, its really something i want to try multiple styles and maybe offer as a service as i am currently unemployed. But yea Its fairly easy really it just took me a long time because i did the entire test and trial thing.
just ordered new bulbs should arrive sometime next week "127 SMD LED tail light bulbs " in a 1157 size hopefully their adaptable because i couldnt find any good 2057's
heres what their supposed to look like
I don't know how the led's will look, but I can say these are very good, real red light! Each have different taste in things, but I don't like these white lights..
thanks dude, haha yeah it was what i felt a once in a lifetime moment so my friends and i took advantage and got some good pictures in there.
its a Nardi Woodgrain w/ Gold Spokes and that would be dope af.
im cool with a first try, its really something i want to try multiple styles and maybe offer as a service as i am currently unemployed. But yea Its fairly easy really it just took me a long time because i did the entire test and trial thing.
just ordered new bulbs should arrive sometime next week "127 SMD LED tail light bulbs " in a 1157 size hopefully their adaptable because i couldnt find any good 2057's
heres what their supposed to look like
My friend works at an auto shop that parts out higher end cars, and they have some guy that always comes by and sells them LED bulbs. Anyway, he just managed to get his hands on some new line of Philip's brand LED brake lights and they are awesome (very deep red, more so than the incandescent bulbs and much brighter). I can't seem to find them anywhere online, but they look completely different than any LED bulb I've seen before. Instead of the whole "cylinder" style with many LEDs all over it, it looks like one super high-powered LED. Anyway, just something to look out for...if I manage to track down some info I'll post it here.
I don't know how the led's will look, but I can say these are very good, real red light! Each have different taste in things, but I don't like these white lights..
those are legit, honestly i didnt even think of incandecent bulbs lol im turned out on LED's they just last longer from what i expierianced im interested in seeing how long the led taillights will last
good stuff ill look into getting a set
My friend works at an auto shop that parts out higher end cars, and they have some guy that always comes by and sells them LED bulbs. Anyway, he just managed to get his hands on some new line of Philip's brand LED brake lights and they are awesome (very deep red, more so than the incandescent bulbs and much brighter). I can't seem to find them anywhere online, but they look completely different than any LED bulb I've seen before. Instead of the whole "cylinder" style with many LEDs all over it, it looks like one super high-powered LED. Anyway, just something to look out for...if I manage to track down some info I'll post it here.
that would be interesting to see phillips is always on their ishh when it comes to keeping up with trends
Nice work on the tails! Not my style, but love people doing stuff instead of buying...
thanks idk how i feel about them still im sort of a perfectionist
bulbs came in a week early
trying to upload a video but it wont let me because the files not supported if you follow me @civicwagon_ee4 on instagram you can see it.
I love the red light bulbs... It would all look better if you had clear corners as well! GET TO WORK!
those are hella hard tho! lol ill need to wait til i find another set of taillights before i try it im going to practice cutting and molding using blocks of wood and a flame torch
its probably gunna be a while!! ^ n thanks!
heres some pics i didnt get out soon enough to get some decent day pics
next two are videos you gotta click on
up next - possibility of clear corner tails, wire tuck, those other enkeis in the background are going to get some love, looking to do a full mirror face polish on them i think it will accent the clear tails swimmingly!
Comments
good luck with the work.
you'll get 'er done.
well upon first startup everything seems sound
recconecting the drive shaft, balljoints, tie rods , final toruque on crank pully , reinstall headlights,bumper,hood, dash and of course my wood grain has to go back on after all this tomorrow morning pics as they come! thanks for checkin in
So the motor i got apparently had bad valve stem seals or bad piston rings thankfully i had a warrenty , and frankly after getting the replacements , replacement im kinda glad that was the case becuase of how fresh the head looks in comparision i feel way more confident about the mileage of the motor and to be honest. i havent seen a motor so clean ever before in my life.
so it was running alright then went to smog it and the dude said i was getting a lot of blow by caused by bad piston rings, then a friend said my compression was 210 across the board which is perfect, so we decided its bad valve stems .
so out the motor came again..
called attarco had them come deliver me a new motor and im glad i did look at this muhfucka. so clean!
ive never seena motor so clean before in my life. ever.
side by side old replacement motor, new replacement motor.
because i have work today in about an hr i havent gotten a chance to swap it back in yet but i got the timing on point and water pump installed, should have the intake mainfold and a few other things done by the end of tonight as well then tomorrow is my day off and ill be spending the morning half at pick and pull for a new header and left headlight and i should have it all put back togather by tomorrow night stay tuned ! I know i will .
i cant get over the cleanliness
im afraid to start it..
went to a charity event of some sort at laguna seca heres a few pictures it was a bike day so we had full access to the course on bikes one hell of a day.
just dropped $500 on a new set of koni's and i need to source new bump stops for the setup along with a sleeve of some sort im pretty excited to get my car back to where it was a year ago...
i recently replaced the front and rear bumpers with stock black ones because my paintmatched bumpers were a mess im kind of digging the look i think the black with the white rims will give a real good contrast and make the rest of the color in the car come out. especially once its lowered again...
besides the shocks im looking to redo my headliner , respray my roof white again, look into square ek fogs and how i can set them up on the new front bumper, maybe MAYBE get a rear fog i sitll dont know how i feel about them..
aside from all that im preparing for the worse and looking into Fseries engine swaps and ill probably throw a light psi turbo on that since aparently fblocks are indestructable iron forged material. plus im keen to the idea of keeping the stock shifter setup ill post pics when i can
I recently lost my license again and i have been out of a job for over a year now its hard to find reasons to work on the car when i cant drive it legally lol but i decided id rather keep doing things here and there as much as i can until then so ill have a brand new car in a sense next time i get to mobb around. I have been acquiring information from numerous sources trying to find out how to DIY the clear taillights and I finally embarked on tackling the job.
there are other ways to do this, this is how i did it...:encouragement:
Clear Tail light Inners DIY :
Materials:
I used Rustoleum Metallic Silver or Chrome spray paint- $5
Clear Silicone $4
newspaper
Plastonik Acrylic Ceiling Light cover ( cracked Ice ) -$10
And i Also purchased the prismatic version as well ( i plan to make a set of those down the road after i source another pair of inner housings $10)
Blue painters Tape-$4
Aluminum foil ( had already )
Metal cookie sheet ( had already )
A Dremel or a fine tooth saw attachment for a drill or something to that effect ( it needs to be a relitivly high rpm spinning tool as the material is brittle and cracks I just had to buy a $4 saw attacxhment kit from harbor frieght which can just be returned at the end of the job since it will probably break any way. -gotta love harbor frieghts lifetime warrently no questions asked policy.
marker to draw lines with
8mm socket and wrench ( to take off the taillights and license panel )
knfie or flat head screw driver
::before you start you might as well get your cookie sheet and wrap it with aluminum foil and preheat the oven to 190-210 fahrenheit you will need to cook the tailights to seperate the red lenses
Step 1: take off rear hatch plastic panel its just held in by those plastic snap cones what i do is i creep along and pop them individually to avoid and breakage
Step 2: there are 12 8mm nuts you need to take off 4x taillight and 4x for the license panel
after you get those out the way theres this really stubborn slide clip thing in the very center of the panel i just broke mine because i didnt like the design and purpose for that matter...
Step 3: by the time your done with that your oven should be ready
i left my taillights in for about 10-15 minutes,
grab your knife and wedge it btwn the lens and the housing of the taillight once it starts to seperate use your flat head and press against where the tail light secures and youll see the lens popping out.
youll notice the square diffuser lens connected to the red lense ( in the next picture notice top right has the square piece out and the left has it still in ) i opted to keep it for mine its up to you i dont think police officials will be to kind if your taillights are blinding them
all three pieces to our taillights
Step 4: you will want to keep the square diffuser i just mentioned out so when you spray paint the housing you dont get it on the plastic piece. igave my housings a thorough cleaning with hot water and some soap to get all the loose pieces of dirt and silicone out
heres the end result ( i think it would look cleaner if you taped off the edges of the housing so it will be black as oppose to silver but again its up to you )
Bling bling
..
now that you have a couple coats of metallic on the housing you can take that square diffuser and line the sides with silicone to keep it secured
i wrapped it with tape and put a pen in the center for pressure this will take a little while to cure
I filled these holes as well so it will be water tight (you can do this last if you want )
after everything is dried up get your taillight housing and some newspaper and trace the outline of the housing
my camera erased the next two pictures so use your imagination
take the trace you made and lay it underneath the cieling light cover you chose
i utilized the perfect squared end so id only have to make two cuts one vertical one horizontal
and i layed duct tape down and traced my rectangle onto the tape so it wouldnt break or crack , its smart to saw on top a piece of soft wood so you have some play with the saw.
after you have your two pieces cut out i got some painters tape and wrapped the lens over the housing and put it back in the overn at 210'f this is neccessary to get the proper bend in the material to clear your reverse light housing i left it in there for about 15 minutes.
after you got the right bends
put some silicone along the outline of the housing and wrap that up with tape making sure to have as much pressure as possible for a tighter seal.
after that dries up i used this table grinder and the brush wheel to get a flush lens and applied more silicone to areas that needed it, id reccomemnd when putting the silicone on the lens to use a very small amount as you will end up with silicone on the inside of the lens and it just looks tacky i learned this the hard way!
overall the process took about 5 hours ( i could do it in less than 3 hours now that i got the science down )
end result
im going to get some dual intensity red LED bulbs to make it street legal.
next on my list of tedious yet cheap modifications im planning a wire tuck.
thanks for reading.
Love the pics on Laguna Seca btw, all you see is tarmac and sand and pretty much every gearhead recognizes it in a split second!
Vladzje from IG btw
its a Nardi Woodgrain w/ Gold Spokes and that would be dope af.
im cool with a first try, its really something i want to try multiple styles and maybe offer as a service as i am currently unemployed. But yea Its fairly easy really it just took me a long time because i did the entire test and trial thing.
just ordered new bulbs should arrive sometime next week "127 SMD LED tail light bulbs " in a 1157 size hopefully their adaptable because i couldnt find any good 2057's
heres what their supposed to look like
My friend works at an auto shop that parts out higher end cars, and they have some guy that always comes by and sells them LED bulbs. Anyway, he just managed to get his hands on some new line of Philip's brand LED brake lights and they are awesome (very deep red, more so than the incandescent bulbs and much brighter). I can't seem to find them anywhere online, but they look completely different than any LED bulb I've seen before. Instead of the whole "cylinder" style with many LEDs all over it, it looks like one super high-powered LED. Anyway, just something to look out for...if I manage to track down some info I'll post it here.
good stuff ill look into getting a set that would be interesting to see phillips is always on their ishh when it comes to keeping up with trends
bulbs came in a week early
trying to upload a video but it wont let me because the files not supported if you follow me @civicwagon_ee4 on instagram you can see it.
heres some pics i didnt get out soon enough to get some decent day pics
next two are videos you gotta click on
up next - possibility of clear corner tails, wire tuck, those other enkeis in the background are going to get some love, looking to do a full mirror face polish on them i think it will accent the clear tails swimmingly!