My exterior styling project thread, A look at me do up my car thread... Options

[Mangozac]

Well I finally received the rest of my kit on Friday and fitted it yesterday. I thought I'd start a project thread too so that I could make some notes along the way and show off when it's all done

Fitting was an interesting exercise. I drove the car up on some makeshift ramps and jacked up the rear side that I was working on in turn. The best thing we have for when working on the car is a foam 'camping mattress'. I'd hate to ever sleep on it but it makes lying under the car soo much more comfortable

Oh yeah also notice the black stainless steel mesh I put in the front vents a couple of weeks ago!






Yeah I know that there's big gaps. They have been moulded using a heat gun but until they are taped everything still bends back out 5-10mm.

So here's the notes/questions:
The front lip is kind of nasty to put on. It has these fibreglass brackets underneath that have to be bent whilst the lip is squeezed into place. I wouldn't want to mount/remove it too many times. Also it tends to gouge bits of paint from the front bumper where the lip piece comes up and into the main front vent.


This pic is showing where the skirt meets the front wheel well. The other skirt was a much tighter fit and needed a bit of filing and heating to get it on. I did as suggested here and cut up the mud flaps but I think it looks a bit dodge. I'll investigate getting a pair of the correct parts to go there (anyone got some they want to part with?).
Also, there's a bit of a mark left from where the mudguards wrap onto the side panel. I'll have a go at polishing it out today - may have to give it a go with a buffer...


Last picture. These are DCW OEM rears and needed a fair amount of work (compared to the Topmix parts). I've just got the one screw that you can see on the inside of the well holding them on. I reckon that once it's taped up it should hold on OK but if anyone wants to advise otherwise I'm happy to listen
That wheel arch is looking really nasty - I swiped a post there early in the year and although it didn't bare any metal, it took off a lot of the top coat of paint (the car had been resprayed so it's the original coat that shows through). I'm thinking of getting some touch up guys to attack the area and get it looking better than it currently is...


Hopefully I'll get the kit painted this week. I was thinking about getting the painters to do the final fitting too (they do a lot of this stuff) but we'll see what happens.

It's so great to finally have it all coming together! I'll definitely get some pics posted as soon as it's all finished.

Zac

[Redline08]

404 is the cleanest non-ricey kit you can go with, good choice!
Rims are tight too.

Lemme know how much you pay for the painters to paint it, im tryin to get a feel of how much a full 404 kit and paint will cost. Thanks!

[SlowCelica94]

Good lord, that looks unsafe. Please do me a favor. Never use those 'ramps' again and make certain you have jackstands under the car while working with this whacy ramp.

Not trying to be a dick, I just don't wanna see anyone get hurt.

[Culpable04]

404 is the cleanest non-ricey kit you can go with, good choice!
Rims are tight too.

Lemme know how much you pay for the painters to paint it, im tryin to get a feel of how much a full 404 kit and paint will cost. Thanks!

that's not a 404 kit, it doesn't even have 404 parts, if I'm not mistaking is a magic front lip, stock side skirts ( replicas, and TRD rear extensions.

[dustin15brown]

that's not a 404 kit, it doesn't even have 404 parts, if I'm not mistaking is a magic front lip, stock side skirts ( replicas, and TRD rear extensions.

correct

[Redline08]

looked like it, looked alot like it, sept for the rear extensions.

[goferris]

hey that's what my car is going to look like once i am done sort of same color even. i am putting on the 2 poster with risers and instead of the trd splitters i am just going to use ssIII splitters. a'm getting my magic lip in a week or so. looks good buddy.

[DeW_H0e_GT]

404 is the cleanest non-ricey kit you can go with, good choice!
Rims are tight too.

Lemme know how much you pay for the painters to paint it, im tryin to get a feel of how much a full 404 kit and paint will cost. Thanks!

lols

[Mangozac]

Good lord, that looks unsafe. Please do me a favor. Never use those 'ramps' again and make certain you have jackstands under the car while working with this whacy ramp.

Not trying to be a dick, I just don't wanna see anyone get hurt.

Wow calm down dude
I do appreciate the concern but don't worry - I wouldn't do something like that with my car if I didn't think it was safe. My neighbour props his BMW up using the same planks and my Dad is a builder and says that they are more than ample to hold the car. That said, I am planning to get some stands though.

that's not a 404 kit, it doesn't even have 404 parts, if I'm not mistaking is a magic front lip, stock side skirts ( replicas, and TRD rear extensions.

Spot on!

[Mangozac]

I finally got the parts painted today:



I was originally quoted $700 - on mates rates - for a body shop to paint them so I got a quote from the Touch Up Guys for $350. The guy came to my house and sprayed them in the driveway. I can see a few spots on the clearcoat where tiny bits of dirt and crap have landed whilst it was drying. A good polish should bring them out with no dramas. The extensions are a bit dodgy - he didn't fill the mould marks properly but for the price I can't complain too much. Besides, it's all done now...

If all goes to plan I will fit them on the weekend. Then the week after I'll give her a full clean and wax before taking her out for some glamour shots with everything on

Based on that last sentence I really need a girlfriend

Zac

[QuintinGT]

Based on that last sentence I really need a girlfriend

hey its alright my celica is my girlfriend too

[Mangozac]

It's all done!

It took a few hours to do but it's finally all on. Comments after the pics:







OK I'm not 100% happy with the way it turned out but here's some of the things I discovered:

1. Double sided tape doesn't stick to the fibreglass unless you sand it down really smooth first.

2. You can still hit the parts with a heat gun to aid in the moulding but don't be overzealous or you'll damage the paint.

3. Get GOOD tape. I bought some no name brand stuff that was crap. Dad had some expensive stuff handy (I don't know what brand) and that worked a lot better!

Unfortunately, the colour didn't match perfectly. It's close enough, but it will forever irritate me

Also, the spots where the top of the skirt curves down to clear the door will not stay stuck on. The tape keeps coming off and the skirt sits about 10mm away from the panel at that spot. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to remedy it? I hit it with a heat gun and then left some braces holding it in place but sill no luck

As I said before I'll do a proper photo shoot next weekend. I washed the car before fitting the parts but it's already filthy again. And there's a big white bird crap on the spoiler!

Oh and in case anybody's wondering....... IT'S NOT A 404 KIT!

[DSRT-FX]

welcome to the tom's special edition replica club lol -R6

q. why did you go with the trd rear splitters?

[dustin15brown]

need a drop now... and I really love your lip... I might go that way and just get rid of my splitters

[BloodyStupidDave...]

q. why did you go with the trd rear splitters?

Mmm. I know it is a personal thing, but the combination of TRD splitters and Euro skirts doesn't work for me as-is. You either need to mold the splitters or mold a fake seam line a couple of inches above the top of the rear of the Euro skirts so that the lines flow round the car better.

[Mangozac]

welcome to the tom's special edition replica club lol -R6

q. why did you go with the trd rear splitters?

Thanks man.

I dunno why I chose the TRD splitters. I liked the curves of them better, and imho I think they look just fine on here. I mean if you're gonna get really anal, the tom's lip and the skirts don't line up perfectly anyway.

Unfortunately all of the tape holding the top of the skirts from the door back has given way, so that section of each skirt is now sitting about 10mm from the panel. Looks awful . I'm considering just biting the bullet and gluing it on with some sikaflex. Of course if I did that I'd have to setup braces to hold it in position whilst the sikaflex sets overnight.

[DSRT-FX]

welcome to the tom's special edition replica club lol -R6

q. why did you go with the trd rear splitters?

Thanks man.

I dunno why I chose the TRD splitters. I liked the curves of them better, and imho I think they look just fine on here. I mean if you're gonna get really anal, the tom's lip and the skirts don't line up perfectly anyway.

Unfortunately all of the tape holding the top of the skirts from the door back has given way, so that section of each skirt is now sitting about 10mm from the panel. Looks awful . I'm considering just biting the bullet and gluing it on with some sikaflex. Of course if I did that I'd have to setup braces to hold it in position whilst the sikaflex sets overnight.

i think the sikaflex would fix that problem -R6

[Mangozac]

Next step. As some may note from a previous thread of mine, I was looking for a set of stock tails to do some LED experimenting with, but ended up buying NGHTKD's JDMs as he was having problems with them (two of the mouting bolts on the right hand unit had been sheared off).

They arrived on Monday, and, yesterday being Saturday I found some time to fix them. First, I pulled out what was left of the mounting bolts and replaced them with those from the stock tails I'd just removed. I don't wanna sound like I'm bashing NGHTKD but he did a pretty dodgy job of removing the amber parts from them! Instead of sealing back up the turn signal after removing the amber lens, he just pulled the section he'd opened up off completely!
So I got some 1.5mm plastic sheet and used a heat gun to mould it to fit back over the giant holes. A coat of silver paint on one side, black paint on the other and some silicone sealant to hold the plastic in place and you can hardly tell they've been modified!

Anyway here's a pic:


I have one question though:
The outer pair of the red panels don't do anything. And it seems that they didn't on my stock lights either
The inner pair light up dim when the headlights are on and bright when the brakes are on but the outer pair don't do anything. I'd expect they might be brake lights also. I noticed that the globe inside is only a single filament one (i.e. it doesn't have dim and bright options). Any suggestions? My copy of the electrical manual is on my work computer so I'll have to wait till tomorrow to take a squiz at that...

[HaRv3sTeR]

nice...needs a drop now

[dtlwrc]

Really cool! I love your front lip, very good work!

[DSRT-FX]

used as rear fog lights. aus cars dont have the fog switch that belonged in the right side air vent near your steering wheel.

just use a parallel circuit to make them work, but the jdm's should have came with a new wiring harness. hope this helps -R6

[malpaso]

welcome to the tom's special edition replica club lol -R6

q. why did you go with the trd rear splitters?

x2 damn nice look . IMHO SS-III rear splitters would look a bit better

[Mangozac]

used as rear fog lights. aus cars dont have the fog switch that belonged in the right side air vent near your steering wheel.

just use a parallel circuit to make them work, but the jdm's should have came with a new wiring harness. hope this helps -R6

Ahhh that makes sense. They didn't come with the harness so I'll just parallel the circuits myself. Thanks man!

x2 damn nice look . IMHO SS-III rear splitters would look a bit better

I never liked the look of the SS-III rears, but probably the most correct reason is simply the fact that I bought the extensions before anything else and before I had planned the rest But I'm happy with it so it's cool. Thanks for the props.

[CelicaZR]

Nice and clean
Keep it up!
Are you goin spoilerless?

[trdproven]

Time to lower your car and bring out the best of it

[Mangozac]

Nice and clean
Keep it up!
Are you goin spoilerless?

Thanks mate. I was originally hoping to but it means getting the holes patched and the whole hatch resprayed and I am suffering from lack of spare money . I don't mind the spoiler that much...

Time to lower your car and bring out the best of it

Hmmmm so everyone keeps saying. So I suppose the question is by how much? The problem is that I already scrape on my driveway if I drive in straight on which means it will only get worse if I lower her
I'm all for a sporty ride but are shorter springs gonna make it more uncomfortable? And I wouldn't go for a set of those super expensive coil-overs - what is a set of normal springs worth?

I think I'd rather invest in some larger wheels (18") to fill up the wheel arch all around than simply lowering it. Suggestions?

[goferris]

don't get bigger wheels
that will only make it higher off the ground. just pick up some tein s-techs
they aren't too expensive.
as for the spoiler holes, what i did was i just got some silver stickers from lewfx and covered the holes. you really can't even tell unless you are looking for it. i also have the 2 post spoiler covering the holes for the most part so it worked out pretty well. eventually i am going to repaint the whole car. at that time i will worry about getting thim filled. i'll probably lose the rear wiper and sprayer as well as the antenna all at the same time.

did you ever get the jdm tails to work?

[Mangozac]

don't get bigger wheels
that will only make it higher off the ground. just pick up some tein s-techs
they aren't too expensive.
as for the spoiler holes, what i did was i just got some silver stickers from lewfx and covered the holes. you really can't even tell unless you are looking for it. i also have the 2 post spoiler covering the holes for the most part so it worked out pretty well. eventually i am going to repaint the whole car. at that time i will worry about getting thim filled. i'll probably lose the rear wiper and sprayer as well as the antenna all at the same time.

did you ever get the jdm tails to work?

No I still have to parallel the circuits to get the other red panels to light. Will check it out on the weekend.

Some Tein S-techs huh? Just had a quick look and the price seems right. So now it's just a matter of working out how much to drop and if it will be worth the hassle of having to drive diagonally over every speed bump/driveway. Hmmm maybe I could rig up some sensors to alert me if I'm going to scrape on something. And stick some steel plated under the bottom of my lip - I've already grazed it a couple of times.

As for spoilerless, maybe I'll pull it off one day and see if I like it. Whilst your sticker concept sounds ok, I'm still not totally sold on it

[goferris]

from what i have read on the boards you will want to replace your struts at the same time while you have it all out anyway. kyb gr-2 is the strut of choice. i guess they are the OEM replacements.
as for the lip, i remember reading that there is a scratch guard stuff you can use to keep the scratches from showing. it's supposed to work really well and is suggested on lips and splitters and such.
all in all i wish that my car looked like yours. it's almost there

as for the sticker concept i will try to take some pics and post them tonight just so you can see. it actually doesn't look all that bad. but then again it's just a temporary fix.

This post has been edited by goferris: Dec 4, 2007 - 5:50 PM

[m0dd3d1]

Love the look mate! I'm getting the same front lip! Paint looks great.

[Mangozac]

from what i have read on the boards you will want to replace your struts at the same time while you have it all out anyway. kyb gr-2 is the strut of choice. i guess they are the OEM replacements.
as for the lip, i remember reading that there is a scratch guard stuff you can use to keep the scratches from showing. it's supposed to work really well and is suggested on lips and splitters and such.
all in all i wish that my car looked like yours. it's almost there

as for the sticker concept i will try to take some pics and post them tonight just so you can see. it actually doesn't look all that bad. but then again it's just a temporary fix.

Things start to get a bit expensive when you start talking replacing the struts also

I had a look at the KYB oz website and they don't seem to have the same model names as in the US. Would my best bet be to ring a suspension place, tell them I want some tein s-techs and get them to recommend some struts? Actualy, there's a suspension place across the road from my work. I'll be fitting them myself of course...

That scratch guard stuff sounds interesting. Will have to check it out. Some pics of the stickers would be appreciated.

Love the look mate! I'm getting the same front lip! Paint looks great.

Cheers

[NGHTKD]

man i just read u ****n baggin me, ill ****in kill u. hahahah nuh mate, tis all good. i just couldnt reach the bit that held the orange bit in so im like screw it, ill jus cut it off hahaha. they look good man!!! im buyin some LED JDM's off Yahoo. (http://page9.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/k47606310)
but yeh the jdms' rlly suit silver more than any other colour, and ur car looks awesome, good work.

cheers,
cal

This post has been edited by NGHTKD: Dec 20, 2007 - 11:41 PM

[Mangozac]

(http://page9.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/k47606310)
but yeh the jdms' rlly suit silver more than any other colour, and ur car looks awesome, good work.

Dude those are sweet! I was thinking of doing a similar thing, but with heaps more LEDs so that you can't notice the individual dots so much. But then I bought the JDMs off you and was like screw it these will be cool enough. You have to show pics if you get them!

True the JDMs do suit the silver well. Thanks for the comments man.