Car Progress Thread v2.0, Replacing rusted out quarter panel... yay body work. Options

[jcbass7]

Clutch broken in ... I tried my best to baby it, hopefully I wasn't too hard on it early on lol

[richee3]

I demand some epic videos now!

[jcbass7]

vid's coming soon!

So I bought the DCW gauge cluster, but the design blocks all of your warning lights from view.. really frustrating to spend that much and have such a design flaw. I'm not to be able to see my gas light when it comes on... so that needed to change. So I came up with a solution and will post pics soon.

[SwissFerdi]

Kmh indication - proper! Welcome to the units that the rest of the planet uses. That cluster cover is so, so nice as well.

[LexusIs3double0]

Looking very good man. Very nice. 100trd man that's fast! Lol. I wanna see some vids too. At least text me one.

I got the wifey to give me the go ahead to come visit on your break so I'm in 100%. I even bought a dailey to drive down there in. Even tho my real car is much more reliable...

Oh and do you get weekends off. Because I might be driving down to ocean city md for that vw h2o show it's sept 29&30th but I'm undecided. It's kinda in the middle of us if you can make it ill def go and get a hotel room. And lots of beer

[doGGy]

vid's coming soon!

So I bought the DCW gauge cluster, but the design blocks all of your warning lights from view.. really frustrating to spend that much and have such a design flaw. I'm not to be able to see my gas light when it comes on... so that needed to change. So I came up with a solution and will post pics soon.

You are the first person to mention this... Kinda strange - cuz i had these covers on all of my celicas and never had any problems (and no one mention anything like this before who bought a cover...) with the warning lights - cuz if somthing lights up - it clearly visible that the corner where the glasses for the warning lights are all lights up pretty good... its not a design flaw - there is no other 'easy' solution to get around this... Its just not that EASY visible with the cover.. Anyway - post what solution you come up - it will be intresting to see it

[jcbass7]

You are the first person to mention this... Kinda strange - cuz i had these covers on all of my celicas and never had any problems (and no one mention anything like this before who bought a cover...) with the warning lights - cuz if somthing lights up - it clearly visible that the corner where the glasses for the warning lights are all lights up pretty good... its not a design flaw - there is no other 'easy' solution to get around this... Its just not that EASY visible with the cover.. Anyway - post what solution you come up - it will be intresting to see it

Doggy,

I'm not bashing the cluster, its a really high quality piece and I do like it very much. The issue isn't the glass being tinted, its the angle at which the lights are on and where I sit. I'll post pics and vids in a bit of what it looks like and how I altered it. I just couldn't see the gas warning light unless I leaned towards the center of the car.

This post has been edited by jcbass7: Aug 4, 2012 - 10:01 AM

[jcbass7]

Ok so here is a few pictures showing what I am talking about..

In ALL of the following photo's the Oil Pressure warning light is ON.. I slowly move backwards (past where the sitting position is in relation to the gauges) and you will see the issue I am referring to..







Notice how tough it is to see this light when its on? I'd have to lean to the left to even notice it illuminated during the day. (at night there is a red glow you will see and then you can lean left to see what light is on)

The trim around the rpm gauge is blocking the light... if you lean you will see it is on..




Here is a video to show you how far back you need to be for it to be easily visible/ how much you need to lean around to notice the light..

[jcbass7]

since there is the same problem on the other side (mainly the gas warning light) I came up with a way to alter the gauges to make it work.

I also switched from the GT4 warnings to the us so I have the cruise control light again..



to this..



ok so here was my solution... take the warning card itself and push it up to the back of the glass on the DCW cluster..




the new card in place



then build new walls to block the light from the other warning lights. I only need the check engine, cruise and gas light on this side..



And then testing to see how the gas light works and if it is more visible.. (the background light isn't too bright since its not in the car. It's just as bright as the stock set-up when its in the car) You will notice how you can actually see the gas light now and it was in the same location as the oil light but on this side. With it pushed forward, it is now visible at any angle in the car so I won't have to lean to either side to see if its on or not.

[ricochet1490]

.

This post has been edited by ricochet1490: Aug 4, 2012 - 11:34 AM

[jcbass7]

And a comparison photo showing the original issue (depicted by the oil light on the left side) and my solution (the gas light) on the right side. Both lights are on in both pics.

.

?

This post has been edited by jcbass7: Aug 4, 2012 - 11:42 AM

[doGGy]

Ah... Well - as im a bit on the Tall side (6'5) maybe this is why it was no problem for me, cuz my seat is always as far as possible.. Nice solution! But it would be pretty hard for me to implement it in the 'mass' production and it would be pretty hard for 90% of people to install it.... And im not telling you that you are bashing something! Constructive criticism is best thing actually!!

[jcbass7]

Ah... Well - as im a bit on the Tall side (6'5) maybe this is why it was no problem for me, cuz my seat is always as far as possible.. Nice solution! But it would be pretty hard for me to implement it in the 'mass' production and it would be pretty hard for 90% of people to install it.... And im not telling you that you are bashing something! Constructive criticism is best thing actually!!

I do love the product, just had to tweak it to fit how I sit in the car lol. This is my fourth piece from you and as always, amazing product! I agree that it would be very difficult to do this with the mass production since everyone's clusters have different light set-up's and I've changed mine a few times lol. Just gives me another excuse to tinker with things lol.

Now if you offered a new climate control design for the US guys.... you'd be getting more business from me lol

[thatmr2]

did you ever start the project on the rear quarter panel yet? I'm anxious to see how you did. I need to do mines, lol

[jcbass7]

did you ever start the project on the rear quarter panel yet? I'm anxious to see how you did. I need to do mines, lol

no not yet, I'm not comfortable with my sheet metal welding yet to chop my car apart lol...

[thatmr2]

lol I don't blame you, I would love to do it myself but you know how the weather in MA is since you were from here before. How's Florida? I only have a carport and don't have the welding tools. I'm trying to find a new celica but can't find a 2.2l.

did you ever start the project on the rear quarter panel yet? I'm anxious to see how you did. I need to do mines, lol

no not yet, I'm not comfortable with my sheet metal welding yet to chop my car apart lol...

[jcbass7]

lol I don't blame you, I would love to do it myself but you know how the weather in MA is since you were from here before. How's Florida? I only have a carport and don't have the welding tools. I'm trying to find a new celica but can't find a 2.2l.

did you ever start the project on the rear quarter panel yet? I'm anxious to see how you did. I need to do mines, lol

no not yet, I'm not comfortable with my sheet metal welding yet to chop my car apart lol...

FL is good, too hot to work in the garage during most of the day though.. kinda sucks, but atleast the car doesn't rust all winter in the snow and salt. But.. we do have a hurricane coming soon lol, you win some you lose some.


UPDATE:

Started swapping the car over to the top mount charge cooler from the stock ST205 GT4. Thanks to Dustin/Stef and Twisted, I was able to source the parts needed. Pics will show my progress















cleaning out the never used holes for the pump






small ding in the I/C


repaired with JB weld. I was going to bring it to have it welded back shut (no damage to inner core) but was worried the heat from the welding would burn a hole in the inner core since it was pressed right up against it. Cold weld with JB worked just fine.






fixed


Lagging the charge cooler











realized I don't have the location to bolt this down..

[jcbass7]

Top mount is in and running, installed my boost gauge today as well.

pic





Run Video



I lose tire traction when I hit 9 psi in that video because the roads are wet and my tires are bald.

This post has been edited by jcbass7: Sep 4, 2012 - 7:29 PM

[Batman722]

wet roads and bald tires, nice combo Jesse

Glad you got everything up and running.
how does the top mount feel compared to the front mount ?

[Tigawoods]

I realized the gas light location as well when I installed mine. Since the car is unplugged I havent been able to see if it is completely out of view from my seat position, but I may need to replicate the mod you came up with.