Newfoundlancer's Build-up Thread
Jan 14, 2007, 08:12 PM
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Newfoundlancer's Build-up Thread
Hey guys... hope winter is treating your mitsu's well. Since it started up here in Newfoundland, Canada I've been lucky enough to have a storage spot this year. As a result, some long overdue mods are happening. For the winter, I am now driving a '94 Geo Tracker LSI 4x4 which is a lot of fun in the snow!
Most of my mods have been carried out without a whole lot of picture taking, as I do not own a digital camera besides the one in my cell phone.. and it's only lately that I've begun bringing my girlfriends camera to the garage with me.
Anyways, I'll begin by bringing everyone up to speed on what I have done so far, and show the few pictures that I do have.
This is what the car looked like from the dealership. She was a demo model, so they tinted and applied some vinyl badging to her. I think it's clean and looks nice so I've kept it.
The next step I took following stock was the installation of:
-Pioneer DEH-P6300 50w x 4 Head Unit
-Rockford Fosgate PUNCH 12" Subs x 2 on a Sony XPlod 1200w Amp
-CodeAlarm Security System
-Autostart Remote Starter
-Sylvania Silverstar 9007 Headlight Bulbs
-Ebay CAI
-Ebay Short Antenna
From here-on, I'll try to keep my mods contained to 1 post each for organization purposes
Most of my mods have been carried out without a whole lot of picture taking, as I do not own a digital camera besides the one in my cell phone.. and it's only lately that I've begun bringing my girlfriends camera to the garage with me.
Anyways, I'll begin by bringing everyone up to speed on what I have done so far, and show the few pictures that I do have.
This is what the car looked like from the dealership. She was a demo model, so they tinted and applied some vinyl badging to her. I think it's clean and looks nice so I've kept it.
The next step I took following stock was the installation of:
-Pioneer DEH-P6300 50w x 4 Head Unit
-Rockford Fosgate PUNCH 12" Subs x 2 on a Sony XPlod 1200w Amp
-CodeAlarm Security System
-Autostart Remote Starter
-Sylvania Silverstar 9007 Headlight Bulbs
-Ebay CAI
-Ebay Short Antenna
From here-on, I'll try to keep my mods contained to 1 post each for organization purposes
Last edited by Newfoundlancer; Jan 19, 2007 at 07:00 AM.
Jan 14, 2007, 08:18 PM
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As soon as the car went into storage, she went up on jack stands for her slumber:
Wheels were stripped off, along with brake drums, calipers, and rotors. As well, I noticed that the placement of my CAI had resulted in the filter rubbing on the solid clutch line and consequently had wore a hole through it. I thus replaced that and twisted the intake piping to prevent it from happening again.
Wheels were stripped off, along with brake drums, calipers, and rotors. As well, I noticed that the placement of my CAI had resulted in the filter rubbing on the solid clutch line and consequently had wore a hole through it. I thus replaced that and twisted the intake piping to prevent it from happening again.
Jan 14, 2007, 08:20 PM
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I next painted the calipers and drums. The drums were severely rusted, so I brought them to a local place which provided sandblasting services. I wish I had a before and after of this.. but unfortunately I do not. Here are the components following the painting:
Jan 14, 2007, 08:28 PM
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Since I had the brakes off, I decided to upgrade the lines while I was at it. I ordered a set of Magnum braided steel brake and clutch lines from eBay. The fittings of the new lines were different than the stock lancer setup however. I ended up having to use a flanging kit to remove the old fittings from the solid brake lines, install new fittings, and re-flange the lines. I believe it was worth the effort though since I think the magnum lines are of really high quality and have a PVC coating over them as well as high quality fittings. I do not have pictures of the clutch line, but it is installed. The clutch line was by far the hardest to put in place, as the connection point to the clutch cylinder is wedged between the driver side strut-mount housing and the brake booster with many obstacles in-between. For people with stock air-boxes still in place it would be even worse. As you can see in the pictures, Canadian winter salt usage, as well as living next to the ocean causes a lot of corrosion in key areas. In the second picture, you can notice that there was a bracket holding onto the rear brake line. The bolt twisted apart when i tried to socket it off... I may or may not replace it.
EDIT: Here are pics of the clutch line installed:
EDIT: Here are pics of the clutch line installed:
Last edited by Newfoundlancer; Jan 15, 2007 at 09:35 PM.
Jan 14, 2007, 08:42 PM
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This mod was actually done before the braided steel brake lines mentioned above, but I kept the brake work together for convenience. It's the Eibach Pro-Kit. Installation was rather easy, however an impact driver was needed to remove the top strut bolt on a couple of the assemblies. Some people elude to not using spring compressors for this job, but I didn't take any chances. I won't go into how I did it since for anyone mechanically inclined, you can figure it out pretty easy.
I will point out one thing however, which I also added to the DIY section a while back. When doing the rear springs, loosen the suspension on both the left and right sides before removing the strut assemblies from the car. It will allow the sway bar to remain attatched to the control arms and give a lot more movement ability when manipulating the various parts to get the assemblies out. I wish I could describe it a little better, but it's one of those things you gotta see to understand.
I will point out one thing however, which I also added to the DIY section a while back. When doing the rear springs, loosen the suspension on both the left and right sides before removing the strut assemblies from the car. It will allow the sway bar to remain attatched to the control arms and give a lot more movement ability when manipulating the various parts to get the assemblies out. I wish I could describe it a little better, but it's one of those things you gotta see to understand.
Jan 14, 2007, 08:52 PM
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Next, I ordered rims and tires.
-Azul Speed-6 Gloss Black/Polished Lip 18" Rims
-->18x7.5 42mm offset
-Fuzion ZRi 215/35/R18 Reinforced Sidewall Tires
The rims arrived on January 2nd, 2007.... Happy New Years to me!!!
The tires arrived 2 by 2... one lot on January 12th, and another 2 are coming today! I got the first 2 mounted and quickly brought them to the garage.
-Azul Speed-6 Gloss Black/Polished Lip 18" Rims
-->18x7.5 42mm offset
-Fuzion ZRi 215/35/R18 Reinforced Sidewall Tires
The rims arrived on January 2nd, 2007.... Happy New Years to me!!!
The tires arrived 2 by 2... one lot on January 12th, and another 2 are coming today! I got the first 2 mounted and quickly brought them to the garage.
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Jan 14, 2007, 09:13 PM
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Next came Dynamat'ing the trunk. This took a couple of days, gave me quite a few superficial cuts on my fingers from rubbing on the sharp edges of the aluminum backing, and was pretty tedious. I used the silver backed Xtreme Dynamat as I am told that this is the most effective of its brands. The final product was worth it however, and the bass is greatly enhanced and crisp. I also covered the back of my licence plate with dynamat and behind my tail-lights as I noticed that they were rattling A LOT. I can safely say that any rattle that is left is near impossible to eliminate, and it doesn't sound ricey in the least.
One thing to mention however, is that during the process of rattle elimination, I came across what seem to be thin plastic vent covers to the trunk. I can only assume that they let air escape from the trunk and prevent air and water from entering. I basically had to reach up between the trunk housing and the rear fenders to find these, but the subwoofer bass was causing them to vibrate open and closed so fast that it was a very noticable buzz. I may be criticized for it, but with only a gentle tug, I removed them. I guess I'll have to monitor the moisture levels in my trunk for a while.
And finally with the liner and subs reinstalled:
One thing to mention however, is that during the process of rattle elimination, I came across what seem to be thin plastic vent covers to the trunk. I can only assume that they let air escape from the trunk and prevent air and water from entering. I basically had to reach up between the trunk housing and the rear fenders to find these, but the subwoofer bass was causing them to vibrate open and closed so fast that it was a very noticable buzz. I may be criticized for it, but with only a gentle tug, I removed them. I guess I'll have to monitor the moisture levels in my trunk for a while.
And finally with the liner and subs reinstalled:
Jan 14, 2007, 09:30 PM
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And my latest mod is the infamous DIY blackened headlight housings... All I can say about this is that I've been trying to build up the nerve for what seems like 3 and a half years since I got the car. Anyways, following the dynamat install, I was running low on projects which I could do right away without ordering more parts, so I said hell with it. I was either going to do the DIY or eBay some. So, I took out the stocks and brought them home.
Last night, I followed the DIY procedure... 275 degrees fahrenheit for 5-6 minutes on a cookie sheet covered by a moist towel. I'll mention here that you should be sure that your cookie sheet is big enough to cover the entire width and length of the headlamp. I began with a very small cookie sheet and nearly melted the side edges of the headlight which didnt have a buffer between them and the oven burners direct heat. So, with a bit of coaxing, and a bit of nerve to apply a good amount of tugging force, I got the headlights apart. The black housing can then be put aside until reassembly. With the clear lens side, I removed 2 screws which released the chrome housing that is to be painted. As far as the infamous lens to the signal light housing which is apparently super-easy to break, if you take a second to look at it, there's 2 points on the back which mount it into the housing, a shorter and a longer, with the shorter of the two being on the top. If you take a long stick of some type (I used the back of my screwdriver) and put it through the lightbulb hole so that you can apply pressure to the inside of the lens cover, then use a butter knife to apply pressure to the short clip, the lens pops out very easily. I used a twisting motion with the butter knife so it used the chrome housing as a pressure point to push on the clip. Oh... by the way, lay your chrome housing face down on the floor while doing this. I tried balancing it on my leg while trying to get the lens cover out and ended up putting too much pressure on it causing it to snap. I didn't take a picture so I can't describe it overly well, but all I'll say is to definitely lay the whole thing down flat on the floor when applying pressure to remove the lens.
Once I had the housings out, unfortunately I never had any sand paper near to rough up the surface, but I went ahead and sprayed none the less. I had some black enamel paint left over from doing the windshield wiper arms on my winter vehicle, so I used that. I applied a few coats and reassembled when dry. I pressed the housings together as much as I could before re-baking them on the same temperature for 5-6 more minutes, squeezing them further together, and then baking again for 3 minutes and applying further pressure around all edges. I haven't had a chance to find out if they will fog up yet, but I sure hope not.
Here are 2 pictures showing a before and after, with the before featuring my lovely girlfriend As for the second, the flash is really bad for showing all the rock chips taken out of my paint, but I figure that will be remedied when I get a body kit asap... You get the idea of the headlights at least
Last night, I followed the DIY procedure... 275 degrees fahrenheit for 5-6 minutes on a cookie sheet covered by a moist towel. I'll mention here that you should be sure that your cookie sheet is big enough to cover the entire width and length of the headlamp. I began with a very small cookie sheet and nearly melted the side edges of the headlight which didnt have a buffer between them and the oven burners direct heat. So, with a bit of coaxing, and a bit of nerve to apply a good amount of tugging force, I got the headlights apart. The black housing can then be put aside until reassembly. With the clear lens side, I removed 2 screws which released the chrome housing that is to be painted. As far as the infamous lens to the signal light housing which is apparently super-easy to break, if you take a second to look at it, there's 2 points on the back which mount it into the housing, a shorter and a longer, with the shorter of the two being on the top. If you take a long stick of some type (I used the back of my screwdriver) and put it through the lightbulb hole so that you can apply pressure to the inside of the lens cover, then use a butter knife to apply pressure to the short clip, the lens pops out very easily. I used a twisting motion with the butter knife so it used the chrome housing as a pressure point to push on the clip. Oh... by the way, lay your chrome housing face down on the floor while doing this. I tried balancing it on my leg while trying to get the lens cover out and ended up putting too much pressure on it causing it to snap. I didn't take a picture so I can't describe it overly well, but all I'll say is to definitely lay the whole thing down flat on the floor when applying pressure to remove the lens.
Once I had the housings out, unfortunately I never had any sand paper near to rough up the surface, but I went ahead and sprayed none the less. I had some black enamel paint left over from doing the windshield wiper arms on my winter vehicle, so I used that. I applied a few coats and reassembled when dry. I pressed the housings together as much as I could before re-baking them on the same temperature for 5-6 more minutes, squeezing them further together, and then baking again for 3 minutes and applying further pressure around all edges. I haven't had a chance to find out if they will fog up yet, but I sure hope not.
Here are 2 pictures showing a before and after, with the before featuring my lovely girlfriend
As for the second, the flash is really bad for showing all the rock chips taken out of my paint, but I figure that will be remedied when I get a body kit asap... You get the idea of the headlights at least
Last edited by Newfoundlancer; Jan 15, 2007 at 09:14 PM.
Jan 14, 2007, 09:48 PM
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You can likely notice that my driver-side windshield wiper arm has begun to corrode at the hinge. I removed the arms, sanded them down, and sprayed them with a flat-black rust paint for metals. They are currently drying at the garage, and I was out of memory on the camera when I was up there tonight, so I'll have a pic or two of those tomorrow.
Last edited by Newfoundlancer; Jan 14, 2007 at 10:31 PM.
Jan 14, 2007, 10:29 PM
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Just a random pic of messing around at the garage... You just gotta ask yourself one question: "Am I ready for nuclear winter?" I sure am!
Last edited by Newfoundlancer; Jan 14, 2007 at 10:35 PM.
Jan 14, 2007, 10:30 PM
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So, that's basically all the mods that I have so far... I'm currently waiting on my drilled/slotted rotors to come from some eBay store, and a set of ceramic brake pads from a local auto parts store so I can fully reassemble the brakes, bleed the brake and clutch system, and get the car down on the ground to have a look at the stance and check wheel rub/clearance, etc...
Future Mods:
-DIY Urethane Engine Mounts
-RRM Front/Rear Strut Bars
-RRM Lower Tie Bar
-RRM Sway Bar with Perches
-DEPO Rear Tail Light Housings
-Magnaflow Street Series Muffler/Resonator
-Darker Tint
I may also be removing my reflectors tomorrow, roughing them up with some sandpaper and doing a gloss black paint finish onto them. I'm not sure about that yet however. I'll keep you guys updated.
Future Mods:
-DIY Urethane Engine Mounts
-RRM Front/Rear Strut Bars
-RRM Lower Tie Bar
-RRM Sway Bar with Perches
-DEPO Rear Tail Light Housings
-Magnaflow Street Series Muffler/Resonator
-Darker Tint
I may also be removing my reflectors tomorrow, roughing them up with some sandpaper and doing a gloss black paint finish onto them. I'm not sure about that yet however. I'll keep you guys updated.
