The "Today I did something to my car" thread

Compton

Got some new wheels today (BBS RS Reps) , and fitted them. Now to get springs or coilovers..

challengemaster

Today I finished editing a photo of Metzgermeisters Mazda 6 MPS...

I'm sure he'll post it everywhere by the morning

EPM

vectra wrote: »

Washed the vRS and replaced all interior bulbs with LED's.. Nice lighting now in it.. Will take a pic tomorrow night

Absolutely fantastic mod:p

EPM

They work really well with the vrs interior due to it being so dark. They don't look tacky or too bright. I had the same set up in mine and it was excellent.

vectra

OSI wrote: »

Would appreciate seeing some pics. I got LED's for the rear number plate lights and like them, but I kind of like the subtle soft light of the interior lights and would expect the LED's to be too harsh, no? When are the stadium lights going into the boot?

Will post a few pics tonight.

Am looking at getting No. Plate lights as well but believe it is difficult to get them to suit canbus.

As for the boot lights
I live right next door to a Rugby pitch so when they are late night training their Stadium lights light up the boot for me

Ardennes1944

Canbus bulbs are easy to get vectra. Are yours a festoon or 501 type? Ive a spare set of canbus 501s if you want them

Cork airport lights up my boot at night :pac:

vectra

Ardennes1944 wrote: »

Canbus bulbs are easy to get vectra. Are yours a festoon or 501 type? Ive a spare set of canbus 501s if you want them

Cork airport lights up my boot at night :pac:

Festoon on the No. Plates and 501's in the Boot.

OSI wrote: »

I got my number plate lights from here, they're meant to be CANBUS error free, apparently they just need the right resistor rating or something, they work fine on the GTI for me anyway.

Cool,
Are the No. Plate ones 39mm ?
Thanks for the link:cool:

Marty McFly

I recently got my car lowered never liked how she sat so high making the wheels look lost in the archs, also spent about 7 hours on Friday gone cleaning every last inch of her, now have her booked in for tints on Friday ive been hmmm and hawwing over the tints for months now still not sure but ill never know for sure till I get it done im hoping it turns out well .

Before:


After:


Sorry for pic quality taking off phones.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Just installed an xcarlink iPod adaptor into a MKV Golf.....easier than I expected

omb0wyn5ehpij9

OSI wrote: »

Is it any good?

Yeah, decent sound quality from it. Can connect any device via an aux in jack, or else there is the iPod/iPhone connection (which also charges the device)

E39MSport

Tailpipes quick fix



more to do

edit: - I've been advised to get hold of some autosol.

Stealthirl

Rich11 wrote: »

get the car lowered and it will look sweeeeet:cool:

yup its on the list along with a few other bits.
keeping it for a year or 2 and going to try sell it on as its almost worthless now bein an 05 with 220K miles
Iv replaced the turbo,breaks and alot of other bits so it'd be a wate to sell it now

no1beemerfan

vectra wrote: »

.....replaced all interior bulbs with LED's.. Nice lighting now in it......

Did the same thing to my Laguna....does make a difference alright, plus you don't have to worry about the missus leaving the light on after reading something/doing the makeup!

Hal1

Got my pollen filter changed, so no more fogged up windows :pac:.

166man

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Ebay is great for some stuff. I was going to ask Confab for his one but I was afraid it may pass on the curse

Mind me asking how much it was for a new one, and how easy it is to fit it? Really need to replace the front one on the 156..

dgt

I think the decent weather is bringing the best out, getting more done in comfort

















That'll do me for now

E39MSport

You're Mad !

alexlyons

whipped out the centre console of my 06 focus and gave all parts and under it a good clean.







any thoughts on removing the window switch panel or the surround? want to clean all the sh1te out from it. already removed the lower part of the handle and no joy.

colm_mcm

alexlyons wrote: »

whipped out the centre console of my 06 focus and gave all parts and under it a good clean.

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/294148/194751.JPG


https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/294148/194752.JPG


any thoughts on removing the window switch panel or the surround? want to clean all the sh1te out from it. already removed the lower part of the handle and no joy.
https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/294148/194750.JPG

Compressed air.

alexlyons

ye that might work and I have a quarter of a canister in the shed, but if i could separate the parts it would be done with soap, water and a brush!

Nissan doctor

alexlyons wrote: »

ye that might work and I have a quarter of a canister in the shed, but if i could separate the parts it would be done with soap, water and a brush!

http://www.ocdireland.org/

vectra

Nissan doctor wrote: »

http://www.ocdireland.org/

Thanks
Just what I needed

vectra

OSI wrote: »

Would appreciate seeing some pics. I got LED's for the rear number plate lights and like them, but I kind of like the subtle soft light of the interior lights and would expect the LED's to be too harsh, no? When are the stadium lights going into the boot?

OSI wrote: »

I got my number plate lights from here, they're meant to be CANBUS error free, apparently they just need the right resistor rating or something, they work fine on the GTI for me anyway.

Some pics here for you.
They may seem a liitle more blue than they actually are.

OH
what age is your gti?
Apparently from '08 on the No. plate bulbs need extra resistor packs. ( typical)
Gonna order them though.

Taken in Daylight










Taken in the Dark

Top Dog

I'm guessing from the photos that you went with the bright-white rather than the warm-white Vectra?

Voodoomelon

That's pretty cool looking with the white exterior, and i'm not normally a fan of the white/blue hues.
Still prefer warmer, softer lights though.

Compton

very good quality shots there, must be a good camera?

vectra

Top Dog wrote: »

I'm guessing from the photos that you went with the bright-white rather than the warm-white Vectra?

Bright white I think

shblob wrote: »

very good quality shots there, must be a good camera?

My son took them with his Canon d450

dryadssaddle

A few weeks back a valve bent in the engine of my Starlet so the engine needed replacing.
i figured that since the engine was out i would give the rusty rocker cover a bit of a clean up.
Here's what it looked like.



I'm not too picky on how it looks so i just used a wire brush and cleaned it to get off most of the rough surface rust.
I decided that since my car was blue, i would make up a 12 valve graphic using photoshop but change the colour to suit the exterior of the car.
This is the graphic i made.



I got the graphic printed as a vinyl sticker and gave the cover 6 coats (without primer) of black glossy spray paint and hand painted the toyota lettering with a white gloss paint.
The paint'll probably flake off and the sticker will probably melt and that's hoping the replacement engine works once it's fitted but for now, i think it looks fairly nice

JerCotter7

Only got the slip ring and E46 cruise module this week so not a lot to do.

Wired up the connecter going to the slip ring.


All wired up and has power now.


Controlling the radio. I can only change station and volume as far as I know.

delly

So, since I picked up the E46 the rocker switch for one of the rear pop out windows was bust. A common enough problem with the plastic nib of the switch broken off, but being unable to find it in the module to glue back on, I bought another online. I got it today, a 3 minute fix and happy days!

20 minutes later I headed into town and pulled up at a carpark, and with the driver window down halfway to get my ticket there was an almighty BANG!! It seems the car isn't happy with 4 functioning windows. I had a look online and there are plenty of guides for replacing the regulator, so we'll see how it goes.

Jimdagym

Today I drove my car to Sligo and back.
470km, and that's about enough for me for one day..

Fiona

Gave the car a quick tidy up this morning, the wheels are in bits can't wait to get them split and polished.

Big Nasty

Looks great!

Washed the 7er and the T/A this morning then went for a quick blast.

No pics!

Gary ITR

I was getting my car cleaning gear together then realised the car is up in the office...

I'm not arsed going up to get it so it may sleep there till Monday

bennyx_o

Collected the car today after some unexpected repairs and gave it a quick wash, once over with some Blacklight and was half way through putting a coat of wax on it when the heavens opened.

JerCotter7

Connected the cruise control to the MFSW. Then connected the module to the cluster instead of the ASC light. Was wondering why it wouldn't work. After about 3 hours I just realized now that I never had ASC so my cluster is missing the bulb

Must put the bulb in tomorrow. Good thing I just ignored the fact it wasn't working. Would be annoyed now if I had wasted 3 hours over it.

Stealthirl

vectra wrote: »

Some pics here for you.
They may seem a liitle more blue than they actually are.

are they the superskoda kit ? was thinking of them myself

EPM

Stealthirl wrote: »

are they the superskoda kit ? was thinking of them myself

They are the SuperSkoda ones alright. But of advice if you're buying them make sure it's a bulk order to make the most of the P&P as it can be a little off the wall otherwise.

Johntegr

New wiperless bootlid. Debadge, destickered, desomethingelse. Wash. Light wax. Done.

MetzgerMeister

After having enough of seeing rust all over my calipers, I decided enough was enough and did something about it.

First they got a 5 minute wire-brushing, clean down with brake cleaner, another 2 minutes of wire brushing and clean again followed by rub rub a cloth.

Then it was straight on with the paint. I used Hammerite hammered silver direct to rust paint in a small tin. I put on one thick (but not too thick) coat. Let it dry for an hour.

After that I masked up the disc with tin-foil (excellent for this) and sprayed on petrol-resistant lacquer. I used this because I found before that the stuff I use to clean my wheels stripped the lacquer on my last car. I have switched to a less acidic product but I applied the lacquer just to be sure.

I didn't take any before shots and only 1 after shot as I was working against the weather!

Here's the finished product:

EPM

Changed my front dims and fogs for H11 Osram Nightbreaker Plus. Took hours in the end to swap as you have to take out the wheel arch liners but the drivers side was a p1ss take it was so hard to get to. My arm and hands are skinned. The standard halogens weren't bad tbh but not a patch on the xenons in the vrs. Still the improvement is welcome and I'm pretty happy with them.




I bought a couple of sets of Phillips W5 LEDs to try out in the number plate lights and door courtesy lights. The door lights come on when the cars unlocked and I was too lazy to go rooting for something to grip them with as they were hot so I left them off until during the week. I did the number plate lights though.

-Corkie-

I must do something with my dims they are sh1te.

Johntegr

Reminds I've a bit of moisture in the High-beams on the DC5 that isn't budging so looks like I'll be opening it up and using the aul cotton wool on a drill trick!

EPM

I bought three pairs to have some spares. They were about €35ish from powerbulbs.co.uk.

Saab Ed

Johntegr wrote: »

New wiperless bootlid. Debadge, destickered, desomethingelse. Wash. Light wax. Done.

Good stuff. You'd never tell its a Honda Integra Type R now at all. Proper stealth

Johntegr

Saab Ed wrote: »

Good stuff. You'd never tell its a Honda Integra Type R now at all. Proper stealth

Well I was going to leave the spoiler off when I put on the lid but it just doesn't flow right, it looks weird. I'd never paint my brembos and try basterdise some hubcaps onto the alloys.

Nissan doctor

Saab Ed wrote: »

Good stuff. You'd never tell its a Honda Integra Type R now at all. Proper stealth

Apart from the wheels, brakes, spoiler, colour, badges, seats......

:P

vectra

EPM wrote: »

Changed my front dims and fogs for H11 Osram Nightbreaker Plus. Took hours in the end to swap as you have to take out the wheel arch liners but the drivers side was a p1ss take it was so hard to get to. My arm and hands are skinned. The standard halogens weren't bad tbh but not a patch on the xenons in the vrs. Still the improvement is welcome and I'm pretty happy with them.


I bought a couple of sets of Phillips W5 LEDs to try out in the number plate lights and door courtesy lights. The door lights come on when the cars unlocked and I was too lazy to go rooting for something to grip them with as they were hot so I left them off until during the week. I did the number plate lights though.

Looking good. Would it have been possible to remove the headlamp units?

Did you get a chance to try the blacklight?

-Corkie- wrote: »

I must do something with my dims they are sh1te.

HID Kit ?

Johntegr wrote: »

Reminds I've a bit of moisture in the High-beams on the DC5 that isn't budging so looks like I'll be opening it up and using the aul cotton wool on a drill trick!

Remove the bulb and get a hold of a hairdryer.

EPM

vectra wrote: »

Looking good. Would it have been possible to remove the headlamp units?

Did you get a chance to try the blacklight?

headlights out seems to be a bumper off job. This was the owners manual method.

Didn't get a chance to shine it up. There was showers here all day and it's filthy again now. Have it in the boot to try out during the week.

dr.fuzzenstein

Oil change on the CMax, bastid of a job.
Jack up car, put in axle stand, crawl halfway under car, undo 7-ish bolts to remove under engine cover, undo sump nut, which helpfully points towards rear, but no matter, because the oil filter is also at the rear of the engine, undo same, get covered in oil, you need an arm with an extra joint to screw new oil filter in place, redo sump nut, refit under tray and crawl out of engine.
Everything needs to be done upside down, lying on your back, clearly a car designed to be serviced on a lift.
Next week: Her MX5, a pleasure to work on, especially since the airfilter is on the driver side of the engine, under the inlet manifold, easy to get at and remove. Still need to go under car to undo sump nut, but not nearly as bad.
Also, lazy way possible, suck oil out using pump, no need to jack anything up.