Pretty Much Done..

Today felt like finishing the job so here's some progress. Seriously without mood, I cannot do it. That's why it is pretty slow progress. Plus I am a busy person (Ahaks!).


Paint stripping. Safety first! Glove only. Should wear long sleeve, long pants and something to cover up my face.

Old silicone that I used years ago had harden. So bought a new silicone sealant.

The RX3 grill had been resprayed to black color.

Here's the almost finish parts of RX3. Quite happy when it shine.

Fitting back the lense with new sealant.

Should be water-tight now.

Now only left the fitting of the cover and walla, it's new!

Some AutoSol will bring the shine back. Hopefully.

DIY : Tail Lamp Restoration.

*I actually had done this DIY process few years ago. You guys can check it out here for more further step explanation:

Part 1.
Part 2.
Part 3.

Stuffs for this DIY process are:

*Spray can. Bought two silver and one black color.
*Autosol.
*Sand paper (400 and 1000)
*Paint stripper and brush.

Carefully remove the lenses as it will crack if you push it. Don't try your luck especially if its a pretty rare stuffs.

Clean all the stuffs and let it dry. Only after that you can judge if its restore able or not worth trying. In this case, everything are in good shape and I am pretty confident and with my previous experience, I can refurbish all of these hopefully. What make this project special is that the car sport a facelift of RX3, and to be exact the 10A facelift. Take note that the facelift itself cost thousands of Ringgit if you wanna buy it.

We manage to score a new set of front bumper signal. Thanks to the Ipoh trip and Wan DV for helping us sourcing stuffs.

Autosol is a great stuff. It can shine almost everything. This is due to its abrasive feature. What I don't like about it is that this thing eventually will 'polisht' up your skin too during the polishing process. Now I am in pain.

The cleaned lamp cover was sprayed to silver color to reflect the light bulb better.

And one of the worst thing I had experience was the paint removal of the bumper. Its my first time working with the paint removal and only after it touch my skin I know how corrosive this thing is! God I hate this thing. Time consuming and I only manage to do 1/3 of the bumper.

For the lenses restoration, what I did first was using the Autosol to rub off the top layer. I did my best for like two or three times before polishing it with Headlamp Polish. What differ these two polishing liquid are its abrasive grade. Autosol is pretty much coarse while the headlamp polish is fine. Shine effect can only be achieved after the fine grade of polish process.

Emblem done. For the second time, I manage to restore it again. Pretty happy with it.

My first attempt was two years ago. Heck, it was coincidence that both photo look similar!

The tail lamp cover. The right one had been restored to its glorious state while the left one havent. Cant do it today coz my hand hurt from too much exposure from Autosol.

One side done! :)

Two years ago, I restored these:

While it was on my Bee. I love this square tail lamp. Really muscular looking for Mazda 808.

Successful Surgery.

Finally got a time to finished up the paint job and with the job completed, I'd say the project is done successfully now.

Backtrack, while the overfender was painted with white color.

And the next day tried to fit it in, the color was perfectly the same. Really worth my RM22 can spray. By far that is the most expensive spray can I ever bought.

And for today's work, started a bit late around 4pm. Kinda rushing coz the weather is great. Sunny and hot. Suitable condition for spraying job.

Took me almost 40minutes to wrap the car.

And few hours later, after many coats from the white color to the clear coat, its done. Looks nice without the bumper.

Oh, the rare grill had arrived. Unfortunately KE74 trim does not fit the KE76 grill. Damn it. But luckily the bracket holes are the same as KE74, just a bit longer. So I'll cut it a bit to force fit em.

And the results. Not bad for a half ass paint job.

Project : Face Lifted. Part V.

Did it during the weekend. So basically, I just remove everything to get started. Even the overfender.

Keep on sanding till I'm happy with the curve.

Not bad for DIY work. Took me 30 minutes to complete both fender.

Overfender had been sanded and ready to get new color.

Project : Face Lifted. Part II.

The next day after checking the stuffs that had been sent to me, only to found out that the square headlight is from a Datsun B310. Also in other word, the square headlight used here is the universal square type. Can fit most car, such as B310, Blackbelt, the KE72, KE74, and also noticed that the 180SX also using the same head light.

Knew about the 180SX headlight coz the other day, decided to have a shotgun ride with the foreman during testing. Although it end up on a roadside after having a clutch pump failure.

Back to the observation, I noticed that the lamp given to me is a seal beam type. Meaning that there's no bulb change. Once broken, replacement is a new unit of this thing. Which also mean I cannot use my trademark Blue/White H4 bulb if I am using this. Anyone interested with my used set? Selling it at RM40 only.

Although they said that seal beam produce brighter light, I still prefer my old bulb. So, asked them to order a new non-seal beam headlight. Depo from Taiwan.

There goes my favorite blue reflection on a headlamp.

Interior had been stripped out for major rewiring.

Since I got a lot of free time, and was provided with this stuff:

Polished my old bumper to its glorious shine. As good as new.

Some Autosol and polishing in progress.

What else can be shine? The Equip - Yes. The Riverside - No.

See how buff it is!

Done!

End of Part II.

Friday the 25th.

Okay, other than the court case, tried to comfort myself by doing some works so that I'll be occupied. And after finished my 1st week exam, decided to went back to Mok's house since she's doing some cuppies that people ordered. Fugly without the front spoiler.

And there's some noise that had been bugging me since I bought the rear AE86 adjustable. There's this squeaky noise every time there's movement. I do suspect the bushing would be the problem. So, jacked up Rolla and I was using anything that is available that time.

And the adjustable was removed. Some people were already asking what adjustable is this. This is an adjustable set for the Corolla AE86 by a local company, ACE suspension. Yes it is a coil over. Yes I do not need to use the separate spring and absorber and yes, it is plug and play. Hope it helps.

Upon inspection, found out that the top bushing on the absorber was not on the correct size. It should be fitted nicely not this loose.

I was thinking of putting some grease and hope it will stop the squeaky noise. Until I checked the bushing for the mount. Okay, I am noob. #Fact. So I just think logically and I don't have any automotive experience. And you know what, I don't give a shit. Coz I'm homo.

Here's the absorber bushing. For below the dust cover and on top of the dust cover.

And the top mount bushings. Noticed that the top had two bushings but different in size.

So I just removed the bigger diameter bushing for the top mount and fit everything back. And greased everything necessary. And the squeaking noise is gone now. I am happy again. Anyway, found out that the bottom screw's thread had worn out. Went to a local workshop to have some spare screws. The absorber will pop off (a lot of chances to occur) for sure.Lucky me and hopefully nothing will happen after this.

 

While the car was still on the jack, I tried this thing. Some sort of tar rubber for the undercarriage. Once it dried, it will become gummy. Act as a anti-rust and also sound deadening.It is very thick and I had to use kerosene to dilute it.

Did the tire arch, and also all undercarriage from front till back. And I am a messy dude after that. I am running 1' spacer on the rear set so that my pussy offset wheels will be pushed more to 'fill' the over fender.

When its done and while I was filling some gas, I noticed that the rear set had gone even lower than before. I am happy with the stance now and also no more scraping hump problem after rerouting the exhaust pipe.