Winter mod... Found something to kill time with.

http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/8967/20061213image0001kk3.jpg

http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/7111/20061213image0002aw4.jpg

I still have to go to the pick n pull and snag a upper steering colum cover. I've never glassed b4, so if i ruen the shit out of these things, my stockers will still be mint. I've also got 45 bucks in LEDS comming to switch all 7 of the autometer gauges I have and have comming to be bright as hell. Then to do the Gauge cluster mod... I should be able to kill the month between now and college with this.

:wink:

I'm aiming for something like this...

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/5958/54717854fulllm6.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/corey_munn/gaugeincar.JPG

nice! good luck with that, it looks kinda difficult but what do i know

well have fun with that :)

Steal your own ideas damn it cody. :lol:

I personally like to have heat/ac coming from those vents lol

That'll be hot cant wait to see it finished :grinyes:

I personally like to have heat/ac coming from those vents lol

The car hasn't been driven in temp that would require me to even need the heat or A/c... During the summer the windows are always down, since A/C gives me a headache for some reason.

Shit good luck with that bro, its going to be really hot when its finished.

since A/C gives me a headache for some reason.

damn what is with that? ive met several people with that problem

I just think a/c is for pussies, women and children. I dont think Ive ever had mine on since I got the car. Lord only knows how much dust would blow out of those vents if I ever turned the a/c on. :lol:

Its simple why you would get a headache from AC. It is probably very old, never been flushed and re pressured, plus your vents are all dusty and the AC lines etc are all dirty. You are blowing out dirt and dust and refrigerated air, some people probably dont take well to that. You would need the vents cleaned and the filters cleaned out, or else you are just spraying dirt and spores at yourself. Ive never even had AC on any of my vehicles and it doesent bother me, i prefer to open the window in the summer, plus there is less to break, smaller serpentine belt which can arguably mean less work for crank = more hp. Thats just my 2c.

Its not just in my cars, its in every vehicle i have been in. The heat once in a while i throw that on, but not very often...

On a side note, i started cutting the PVC piping tonight and i have alllll day tomorrow to screw around with this thing. I'll be snapping some pics along the way since i am a pic whore in all..

Cut piping to a good lenght..


http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/4422/20061214image0001sc9.jpg

Then hack away with dremel the heater vents..

http://img283.imageshack.us/img283/9927/20061214image0002hr1.jpg

http://img283.imageshack.us/img283/2641/20061214image0003xm1.jpg

... and this kids is why you take math...or pay attention in shop class very well..

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/6206/20061214image0004mg0.jpg

Cut out your designs....

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/7837/20061214image0005ba8.jpg

Trim a little more and play with some epoxy and fight with the cups while the crap cures so they sit in the right position...

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/3765/20061214image0007qz3.jpg

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/397/20061214image0008hl3.jpg

Test fit...

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/5139/20061214image0006ng4.jpg

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/6716/20061214image0001akl5.jpg

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/6894/20061214image0002py5.jpg

http://img330.imageshack.us/img330/862/20061214image0003jp6.jpg

http://img330.imageshack.us/img330/9063/20061214image0005iz5.jpg

http://img330.imageshack.us/img330/3166/20061214image0006gl8.jpg

Nice! i wish i could do that

Nice! i wish i could do that


As the saying goes... "measure twice, cut once"..

Is really the only thing you need to take into consideration. Anyone can do this part, tomorrow i start laying down the filler to build a base with and try to start shaping these things. When i attached the pods to the bezel i think i have them out a little too far, but i can't fix that not without going a few hours backwards. Its just going to require more of an eye to get this sucker to look good. Good thing i don't have to be to school till jan 18th... lot of time left to play. :)

As the saying goes... "measure twice, cut once"..
And...."Kindness matters"

HAHAHAHAHAHA good one lance i seen that on the chair too this mod looks pretty sweet i might attempt putting a gauge behind the steering wheel by the hazard light switch Keep up the good work tho man

And...."Kindness matters"

Thats like the 3rd person to tell me that... Am i missing something here? I obviously know kindness matters.. i just don't see the relivance of it to the post...:frown:


http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/168/20061215image0001ev0.jpg

http://img429.imageshack.us/img429/3855/20061215image0002kk5.jpg

http://img429.imageshack.us/img429/5236/20061215image0003yx9.jpg

http://img429.imageshack.us/img429/7609/20061215image0004xe9.jpg

http://img429.imageshack.us/img429/9281/20061215image0005wc1.jpg

Yes i know about sanding, but between my dremel with sanding bits and my palm sander, was a piece of cake...

Also i was going to keep the cig lighter, but then i said nahhh.....

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/457/20061215image0006wo3.jpg

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/5238/20061215image0007ou8.jpg

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/7922/20061215image0008bt6.jpg

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/9343/20061215image0009oo9.jpg

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/3797/20061215image0011ha9.jpg

Thats like the 3rd person to tell me that... Am i missing something here? I obviously know kindness matters.. i just don't see the relivance of it to the post...:frown:
lol are you serious bro? It's on your pillow. Nice work tho, lookin' good. I wish you were around here to do my fg projects.

Are you planning on painting your interior or are you going to try to match it to your stock interior color?

Are you planning on painting your interior or are you going to try to match it to your stock interior color?

I've got a paint thats pretty damn close to the stock Charcoal gray. I'm not one for the whole painted interrior thing.

You should do another one of your "How To" write ups. I wanna do some gauge modding and molding and I've never heard of epoxy until recently and would like to know what to use the stuff for and how to use it.

Epoxy is like a 2-part superglue that comes in a syrnge. You have to despense the liquids in equal amounts and then mix them together to make a homogeneous mixture. There are different types per say... ones that take 1 min to cure up to 24hrs. 5min is the average tho and is what i used for my project. When you are bonding plastic to other plastic the 24hr one is the strongest. When I mounted the cups to the wooden pod it worked like a charm. But when i went to glue the pod to the bezel, and i was flexing it the epoxy was actually starting to crack since i used the 5 min multi perpose one which is why i have the fiberglass body filler as a mold for the cups. With normal fiberglassing that is a big no no structural wise. But since this is just a base for the actual fiberglass i didn't give a rats ass... I've been doing alot of reading on this and so far i haven't encounterd any problems with what i am doing. I have to work these next 2 days so i won't be able to get any more progress till like tuesday and weds. But then i leave for seattle on friday till jan 2. I'm hoping to atleast get 2 coats of glass on by then. We'll see...

Looks really good so far man, keep up the good work. I would say make sure to keep posting pictures but then I rememberd it was Cody I was talking to :lol:

Fastforwards here....

http://img321.imageshack.us/img321/5160/20061220image0001ko5.jpg

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/7531/20061220image0002kw7.jpg

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/9736/20061220image0003oi5.jpg

I realized tonight that one of the mounting brackets had been busted off somehow, not by me. It the one by the driver side vent. So I am currently in the process of trying to figure out how I am going to make another one, Right now i built like 3 layers of glass up and am letting that harden and going to see if that will do what i need for it to do... Other than that... Just got to sand everything down, spread some body filler and fix any high spots, primer, sand, paint... done ski! :)

:eek: fuck does that look good bro!!! Wanna make one for me? :)

:eek: fuck does that look good bro!!! Wanna make one for me? :)

I have no intentions of ever doing another one of these damn things. It is soo labor intensive trying to fix your errors from not knowing what your doing. LOL...I spent probably 2-3 hrs sanding this bitch today before the last coat of resin in those last pics. Tomorrow that gets sanded down to smooth. Gotta fix that mount, and get to the fun parts where its going to look like it should... Only downfall i leave for washington in 2 days now.

... and i still have to do my steering colum cover pod. :eek:

I'm a nit picky person so i have spent alot of time sanding to make sure there are zero high spots in the top layer of resin. I'm at the point where i just need to sand down the area where i made the new little bracket and then sand the entire bezel so the primer adhere's and dosn't have the normal texture. Break out the new body filler i bought... From what i was told its comparable to evercoats low grade filler... lol. I really didn't feel like driving 20 miles to pick up evercoat from a body shop supply store.

http://img124.imageshack.us/img124/6795/20061221image0001vr3.jpg

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/4049/20061221image0003hg2.jpg

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/7867/20061221image0004cu3.jpg

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/1502/20061221image0005tw1.jpg

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/7580/20061221image0006ls4.jpg

I'm off to Seattle washington tomorrow morning till jan 2nd, so finishing this up is going to have to wait till i come back. But so far i am liking what i am seeing. :)

Yeah im liking what i'm seeing also :)

So you decided to do away with the cigarette lighter after all huh??

Yeah im liking what i'm seeing also :)

So you decided to do away with the cigarette lighter after all huh??

I didn't want a hole that was going to sit lower than the rest of the gauges, also is going to make my nitrous switches easier to mount. :wink:

Primer was still a little wet.

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/7943/20070108image0005ys0.jpg

couple little mishaps to correct, primer again and then finally paint!

Wanna fiberglass my 6.5"s in my door panels for me? :grinyes:

Lol.... Fiberglassing is a pain in the ass and very time consuming. I'm actually already wanting to redo this whole thing. LOL.. I want to do it with 2" couplers and flush mount the gauges so they sit flush instead of sitting like they do in normal gauge pods. Because then you just take the 2" tubing i have and make inserts for the couplers to hold them in place..Oh well... Maybe if i get bored with this one or if i feel like killing another several hrs i'll do it over and put this one up for sale.

are you still gonna glass a gauge ontop of the steering colum? i think im going too and im gonna get a air fuel ratio gauge to go there.
Nice work so far tho can't wait to see it all painted

are you still gonna glass a gauge ontop of the steering colum? i think im going too and im gonna get a air fuel ratio gauge to go there.
Nice work so far tho can't wait to see it all painted


Yes i still plan on doing that. I am going to move my tach i have on my A-pillar right now, and mount it there. Its the only different one i have out of the 7.. lol.I have a few gauges i might say :)

Gonna hook the Boost gauge up to a vacuum line for now? ;)

Doneski untill summer actually gets here and i can take the car out and hack away the heating ducts that are blocking the installation of this guy. Its far too cold in my garage and very little light to see what i need to get at to remove it. Need to hit it quickly with some 400grit and then 1 more coat of quick primer... So here is how she sits in primer till then.

http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/4724/20070113image0001uy2.jpg

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/5359/20070113image0003rk1.jpg

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/7307/20070113image0004mb8.jpg

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/6262/20070113image0002ge7.jpg

There is absolutely no seperation from the glass and bezel anywhere or cracks starting to form. I let it sit in my garage over night, brought it back inside for the day, then put it back in the garage at night to put it through some serious temp changes. Nothing happend :). So i don't think i did too bad for my first attempt at fiberglassing something. However, i'd like to tackel useing those 2"couplers and make the gauges sit completely flush. I caught the fiberglassing bug.

Looks damn good!

cody, thats startin to come together really nice.

i didnt read at first and i saw the pics i thought you were gonna paint it...and i remember when i painted mine you said you dont usually like the painted look you like the stock charcoal look and when i saw the painted pic i was like OOOO NOOO!! lol...GL

cody, thats startin to come together really nice.

i didnt read at first and i saw the pics i thought you were gonna paint it...and i remember when i painted mine you said you dont usually like the painted look you like the stock charcoal look and when i saw the painted pic i was like OOOO NOOO!! lol...GL


I am in search for a spray paint that matched the stock color as close as i can get it. If i can't find something close enough to call it a day, i will take it to a body shop and have them shoot it for me. I don't like the painted look ;)