Painters enter please

[dbest671]

You got a bargain on the weatherstrip even if it is the wrong one, but that one is pretty easy to R&I so you may not really need the new one. Does your splitter have cutouts for tow hooks and the jacking point?

I got the splitter from skillard44 on 3si. Same one 3sx sells. It didn't have cutouts for the tow hooks, but 30 minutes with a cut off wheel on a drill, I had the spots cutout for the tow hooks. Somebody else used a 5" hole saw, I would have if the damn hole saw didn't cost about $60. It does have a reinforced plate in the center for the jacking point, and it works.

[Jimvr4]

I got the splitter from skillard44 on 3si. Same one 3sx sells. It didn't have cutouts for the tow hooks, but 30 minutes with a cut off wheel on a drill, I had the spots cutout for the tow hooks. Somebody else used a 5" hole saw, I would have if the damn hole saw didn't cost about $60. It does have a reinforced plate in the center for the jacking point, and it works.

I think your splitter looks great but I don't think I'll go there yet. First since I lowered the car I can barely get a jack under it from the front and also my jacking point is bent in so I think I'll need to buy a new cross member to fix that.

[Jimvr4]

I spent the whole weekend working on the car again mostly reinstalling the interior and tweaking the top stuff. I was hoping the snap ring fix would work on the manifold but it still has a slight leak. Not sure how to work on the manifold since oil will pour out of it as soon as I loosen the snap ring. Probably have to complete drain the system.

The windshield weatherstrip went back in really well. I had stripped off as much of the tape as I could and that caused the surface of the weatherstrip to be rough from having the first layer pulled off. I used my 3M 8008 Superweatherstrip adhesive and layed down a thin layer spread with a toothbrush. By the time I got to the end it was getting really tacky so I got out my 3M 1/4 inch molding take and layed down the sticky side on to the weatherstrip where the glue was:



Had to spend time fixing the drivers door handle where I somehow broke off the bolt that goes through the door frame to attach the handle. I bought one of those extractor tools and a cobalt drill bit. With a little 3M oil to lubricate the bit I manage to drill a 1/8 inch hole right on center of the 5mm bolt. The extractor tool backed it right out with no damage to the paint!

First decent pics. Still totally debadged at this point:

[BigTyla]

I kinda like the debadged look.

[dbest671]

I think your splitter looks great but I don't think I'll go there yet. First since I lowered the car I can barely get a jack under it from the front and also my jacking point is bent in so I think I'll need to buy a new cross member to fix that.

Yeah our car is not lowered. We had to buy longer ramps to even get it up on the trailer with the stock wheel gap.

It is coming together nicely. Can't wait to see the finished product. What front bumper emblem are you putting on, the red one or the chrome one?

[Jimvr4]

Thought about going chrome on the front emblem but decided against it because I want it to be flush. Still working on getting the rear emblem Tonight I put the Mitsubishi letting on the rear and the red diamond star on the front. Next I need to apply Frank's Spyder VR4 repro to the rear.

Bob got me thinking about tinting but IDK. The law in Cali says you can't have less than 70% on front windows. I suspect a lot of people violate that one. I think my son went to around 30% and he got flagged and had to remove it.

[OhioSpyderman]

Bob got me thinking about tinting but IDK. The law in Cali says you can't have less than 70% on front windows. I suspect a lot of people violate that one. I think my son went to around 30% and he got flagged and had to remove it.

Jim, the LAST thing I would wish on you is having the expense of installing the tint and then the hassle (and re-expense) of having it removed

You've done such a beautiful job with the "blackout" theme, I just thought the tinting would add to it...

Your car looks AMAZING btw, only you could pull off the total disassembly and re-assembly of our technologically challenging beauties and make it look like childs play

I personally think you went the right direction with the front emblem (mine was faded when I got it and went ORIGINAL as well), but then again I'm OLD (SCHOOL!)...

Bob.

[BigTyla]

Bob got me thinking about tinting but IDK. The law in Cali says you can't have less than 70% on front windows. I suspect a lot of people violate that one. I think my son went to around 30% and he got flagged and had to remove it.

70%?!?! You'd think the greenies down there would promote darker tint for less a/c usage and hence less gas usage!

If you aren't allowed less than 70% I wouldn't tint at all. You can hardly notice a 70% tint.

I'm old school as well and approve of the stock red emblem. I've never been a fan of the chrome one to be honest.

[Jimvr4]

I personally think you went the right direction with the front emblem (mine was faded when I got it and went ORIGINAL as well), but then again I'm OLD

Bob.

Fixed

70%?!?! You'd think the greenies down there would promote darker tint for less a/c usage and hence less gas usage!

If you aren't allowed less than 70% I wouldn't tint at all. You can hardly notice a 70% tint.

I'm old school as well and approve of the stock red emblem. I've never been a fan of the chrome one to be honest.

Yeah, only the Q windows and the rear could be made dark and that would probably look pretty funny since the side windows are so big in comparison. I may still inquire as to what people around here think is a "safe" percentage on the front.

Forgot to mention Remote Top is operational once again and I don't mind telling how great that feels after having to fix the header latch and re-install all the weatherstrips not to mention the fact that my module broke during dissassembly when I remote controlled the top while the battery was being charged and I had to fix it.

Somehow the body shop pulled off the old red emblem which I found in my center console but it was dinged up from 16 years of abuse so I put on a new one.

[dbest671]

Didn't know the chrome emblems were thicker than the originals. I went with the original also.

That sucks about the tinting, it sounds like the factory stuff if about as dark as you can get. You might be able to get away with something like 50% because Cali doesn't require you to have a sticker on the window. Here in TN, you have a sticker stating what the tint % is.

I likey the black out tails. And the super clean exhaust tips

Have you had the reproduction emblems painted yet? Had mine painted and they bubbled real bad, looks like crap and I'm pissed. My emblems has hives