Finaly done....or am I?... *UPDATED Nov 3*, Starting winterizing/rear end overhaul Options

[Valo666]

hahaha so sure enuf i have the exact same button next to my vent for my fogs. haha verry niiice... did u get it from autozone?

i have no idea of where i got it..i got it like 2 years ago...but we dont have autozone up here

so thats really slowing you down...is there a way to get oem and put it in, then put in a new mount for it so that it goes inside...

it doesnt pop up above the roof when its closed, only when its open. and it hasnt been open for like 2 years. And if i wanna go out and put a new OEM sunroof in, i gotta weld in a new roof pannel, re-wire it all, etc. So thats a possibilty ive been thinkin about, but frankly i dont wanna have to pay like $800 in labour to have that done. Im content with the sunroof/glasstop i got now.

[kerosene]

honestly Valo, wouldnt it be a one time fix if you were to do a oem one? once its done its done... and you cant do it?? doesnt seem to be too complicated..

[Valo666]

doesnt seem to complicated?...cutting my entire roof off, weldin in a new one, wiring up the new sunroof, and then painting my roof isnt to complicated??...ok then....Im fine with my sunroof as is right now though. Winters coming up, i dont care if my sunroof will open or not....so when spring comes around, ill get it fixed and working again....its not that big of a deal...like it hasnt worked/been open for almost 2 years now, so im really not that concerned about it.

EDIT:my sunroof is like a good 4inches longer then then an OEM one and at least another 2 inchs wider too...its no where close to the size of an OEM one

This post has been edited by Valo666: Oct 17, 2007 - 9:47 PM

[kerosene]

oh wow, that is much bigger... i kind of see why you want to keep it than.... as far as the "how to" the issue i see is that you wont be able to do it alone... I mean, if you know what your doing its not too bad... week worth of work?

[Valo666]

probably..but the main things are $ and equipment. I have the tools to cut the old roof off, and i could do the welding of the new roof on, but i dont have a good welder/have acess to one. Plus i wouldnt really trust my self to do a big job like that. But i also dont have $300 for a new roof pannel, or $ for paint right now either...so its not really a big deal. Even now with it sealed, its still nice to have just because it lets alot of light in the car.

[kerosene]

I get ya Valo^^ good luck on sunroof

[Valo666]

So, hopefully im gonna be starting my new project in the next week or 2. Im planning on taking out my tail lights, plate surround, rear bumper, and pretty much all of my rear suspension and cleaning up my underside and the parts. I had my car parked for about a week and a half when i needed my new O2 sensor, and because of the moisture down in my garage, my controll arm up where it mounts to the subframe is clunking now. Im guessin that the joint up there got rusted out a bit. So now, i just gotta pull supplies together to get this all ready to go. I got a liter of undercoating that i just got for $5 at canadian tire..lol...it helps when you have friends who work in the parts department, im gettin some TRD strut rod bushings coming in from japan sometime soon, i have 3 drills and wire brushes for all of them *incase i have some friends come help*, all my tools, 3 cans of areosal rubberized undercoating, 3 cans of flat black spray paint, a tub of grease, and im gonna b ordering some new cam bolts for the sub frame. So pretty much, the entire rear end of my car is gonna b in peices sometime hopefully in the next 2 weeks gettin fully cleaned up and making it look like new. It sucks right now though because i have this clunk from my controll arms, i got a squeak from my strut rods, and my rear end feels alot looser then it should because of them. So hopefully when its all put back together, it will be 10000% better feeling and looking.

[Valo666]

so..i started my pre-winter project. I started to clean up my underside and get rid of any rust i had. I had some starting on the underside of my hatch and also on the bottom of my doors again. So i used some primer thats also a rust inhibitor on the doors, hatch, and my crash bar.




im gonna b painting the rest of it up tomorrow when its fully dryed and cured.

Earlier in the day i painted/primed the crash bar and then while i was waiting for the rest of the primer on the doors and hatch to dry, i washed my gas tank with a hose and some spray cleaner, and when that was dry, i threw on a few coats of ruberized asphalt undercoating. I had to take my little mascot off to clean him, so for the winter hes gonna b riding up in the cabin instead of hanging below the car.





I also sprayed my rockersills aswell, ive only done 1 so far mainly because i ran out of masking tape and newspaper, so tomorrow when i get the paint, im gonna b gettin the rest of the stuff i need.


and my mascot just chillin watchin me paint


my next big thing has to wait a week or 2. I have to get a new set of bushing for the controll arms, and im waiting on my TRD strut rod bushings to come in. So hopefully when all that comes in im gonna pull my controll arms off and clean up my subframe, controll arms, strut rods, and the rest of my underside.

[azian_advanced]

cool.. this reminds me of when i prepped my car for winter a couple of years back..
what's really useful is the heated seat mod, which i suggest btw.. and this year, i'm thinking of puttin in a 12V heater that's wired up with my starter module and maybe put some kind of shield in front of my radiator...

[kerosene]

now how much actual rust did you have on your doors? mine is almost soft, and from what i read and saw, when it goes soft you should replace...

[Valo666]

mine wasnt soft, it was just surface rust coming though. I had the rust completely cleared up 2 years ago, but i didnt have any oil spray or any rust proofing put on, and here in Windsor they over salt the roads horribly. Like, it snows 1cm, they put enough snow down that day to last the entire winter. 1cm of snow and the roads are always white afterwards just due to the salt. The doors are still solid and so is the hatch, i just needed to clean em up a bit.

And ive been thinkin of doing the heated seats thing too, but im still not 100% on what im gonna be doing with my interior. Im thinkin i might put the sparcos back in, but im not 100% sure if i wanna put em back in, or get a new back support piece and some new seat covers. The OEM seats are wayy more comfortable, but i have my sparcos just sittin around doing nothing. So im still not 100% sure of what im gonna do.

[kerosene]

yea, from what ive read, when it gets soft time to get replace....since rust is like a cancer and just keeps spreading...

i dont think sparcos are that bad... i just dont like the 5 point harness, that is a bit uncomfortable....

OEM seats look nicer, the fit with the overall look of the car and some nice covers would be nice... along with the heated

[Valo666]

yea, from what ive read, when it gets soft time to get replace....since rust is like a cancer and just keeps spreading...

i dont think sparcos are that bad... i just dont like the 5 point harness, that is a bit uncomfortable....

OEM seats look nicer, the fit with the overall look of the car and some nice covers would be nice... along with the heated

U havent been in sparcos for that long have you??..lol..plus its illegal to use harnesses on the street.

Sparcos are fine for just driving around for a bit, but after a long ride, you get a bit sore.

But yea..i might just go with the OEM seats, im still not 100% sure. All i know is that the new foam peice is $225 from the dealership and then i need some new seat covers, but still isnt to bad.

[Valo666]

quick update..i finsihed about 2/3rd of my underside undercoating, finished the rust clean up with a fresh coat of paint, i did some de-badging and re-badging. Any ways, im covered in undercoating all of my arms that doesnt want to come off, but im happy with the work so far. Any ways, ill let the pics do the talking

how shes been sitting for the day

So heres the spots that i found had rust, and i found some new rust under my door sills, so i cleaned thouse up too.





thats only after 1 coat of paint, hense why its kinda pinky in colour, it will be a nice red tomorrow.

the rebadging...

im gonna b puttin this other Apexi badge i got like 2 years ago from a friend of mine on the cooling pannel too next weekend when i head home.

and the underside. I missed a few spots, but after i saw the pics, i went under it again and re-shot them.



I also did behind my tail lights just to reduce some road noise.


and how i did it all

best $15 ive spent..lol

I should have the front end all finished up tomorrow and the rest of the rust work done soon. So then i still have to wait for my bushings and ill be set.

[rayneezy23]

car is commin along really well great job!!!