Painters enter please

[Jimvr4]

Yeah, not ruling out the tinting yet but I do want to make sure I would NOT have to rip it out. You're the first to notice the smoked tails. I was there when the shop did them to decide how dark to go. I smoked the edges of the center panel and the high stop light to match.

I bought one of the early repro from Frank that was already sanded and painted. I just need to glue them on which I'm a little nervous about doing. May want to ask Frank what kind of paint he used on that.

[dbest671]

Yeah, not ruling out the tinting yet but I do want to make sure I would NOT have to rip it out. You're the first to notice the smoked tails. I was there when the shop did them to decide how dark to go. I smoked the edges of the center panel and the high stop light to match.

I bought one of the early repro from Frank that was already sanded and painted. I just need to glue them on which I'm a little nervous about doing. May want to ask Frank what kind of paint he used on that.

My tails are super dark, but haven't gotten pulled over, yet *knocks on wood*.

The body shop had something made by 3m specifically for emblems. It was sort of like a double sided tape thing. The biggest PITA was cutting the excess off around the lettering. I can give them a call tomorrow to find out what the stuff was.

[Jimvr4]

Got the Spyder and VR4 emblems applied tonight. It was extremely tedious. I used the 3M emblem adhesive which is super sticky. You press the emblem onto the adhesive and then you lift it off, problem is extra adhesive sticks around the edges like spiderwebs and you have to use a straight pin to clean up the excess and prepare it for transfer. Once I had them ready to go on a homemade paper carrier I stuck them to the bumper and they would not lay flat enough. I ran inside and got a hairdryer to heat it up and soften the plastic enough to conform to the bumper. Worked out well but I did manage to nick up the emblem paint a little. I'll need to get Frank to tell me what to match it with. I'm happy though - the is the first time in 12 years I have had a script VR4 emblem on the bumper

[Jimvr4]

Finally gave the Spyder her first wash since the respray. Was nervous about water leaks especially around the header area but all is good!! I had the headlights clearcoated and polished this week too so they're as close to new as I can make them right now. One of them seems to have kind of a run on the inside so I *may* heat them up and disassemble to work on the inside. That's a future project though as I'm ready to close down my workbench after dedicating the last 8 weeks to the car. I went with a chrome diamond star which I think is 2003 Eclipse vintage. It's not as big as the ones on the newest Mitsubishis which is good. I still have the red plastic emblem but I don't think it looks too good with the smoked tails.

[dbest671]

Damn Jim, looks awesome. What the red wiring in front of the radiator? The chrome emblem looks good, now I wish I went that route.

What kind of "run" is inside the headlight? Is it water stains? If it is condensation build-up, check your bracket mounting point for hairline cracks (stress cracks). You wouldn't believe how many headlights I have received with broken mounting points. If there is no cracks, the glue probably needs to be replaced (I would suggest that anyway). I put some 3-5 gram silica packets in there for extra moisture control.

[Jimvr4]

The red wiring is to the siren for my APS-996 alarm. I should take a close up of the headlight so you can see what I'm talking about. I have some of those silica packets saved somewhere.

[dbest671]

^If you don't, you can PM me your address and I can mail you some. I buy them in bulk, seriously. I usually zip tie one around each of the headlight bulbs housing, but in non-robo modded headlights you can put them anywhere.

[OhioSpyderman]

Awesome project with FABULOUS results!!!!

Looking good friend

Bob.