The Chronicles of 95riosnake's OCD Machine

[Psychorugby]

Re-routing/hiding wires is a big way to clean things up, and essentially it's free. It just takes patience and you have to be careful to hook things back up correctly, lol. There are still a lot of wires I want to hide but haven't felt like diving into any more of it yet.

Other than that, take things off, sand and smooth them, paint and reinstall...another cheap thing. Back when I was in college and money was hard to come by I would just keep taking things off and refinishing them. It made a big difference in how things looked and the materials costs were pretty low.

Wire tucking is something I definitely want to do, I just don't know where to begin or if I can do it without pulling the motor. I'll probably pull the motor when I get into my new house so that I can clean and paint some things. I also plan to get the sme Taylor spark plug wires. Your engine bay is a thing of beauty and I want mine to look similar (minus the procharger since that isn't in the cards right now). I'd be interested in seeing any of your build pics and am looking forward to updates on this thread.

[95riosnake]

Yea I have a bunch of pics on my laptop at home, I never had a build thread until now and the more I did to the car, the more I put off making a thread because I'd have so much work to do to document all the past stuff. I am going to try to gradually go through and post previous build phases as I have time to.

[F8L GT]

I keep staring at Dan's pictures wondering what I can do to even get started making mine look anywhere near as good. What are easy things under the hood to change out in a weekend or two?

Just start tearing into it and getting it done. Kinda like what I did with the underbody lol

[Psychorugby]

Yea I have a bunch of pics on my laptop at home, I never had a build thread until now and the more I did to the car, the more I put off making a thread because I'd have so much work to do to document all the past stuff. I am going to try to gradually go through and post previous build phases as I have time to.

You and I talked via PM on another forum some time ago and that's what put me down the path of redoing my 95. I've bought the entire suspension and most of the brakes. Past that, I am still trying to figure out what I want to do. It's a spare time and money project so it could take a LONG time.

Just start tearing into it and getting it done. Kinda like what I did with the underbody lol

This will probably happen in September/October when I get into my new house. I plan to at least take everything off from the trans back and do the Dan mod as you call it, then the motor might come out as well. That is unless my wife takes me up on my offer to sell my DD, paint the 95 and make it my daily driver so she can have her Jaguar XF.

Edited March 6, 2013 by Psychorugby

[Yeahloh95]

once this white stuff is gone dan i can come help with the box and trunk , it will help me to want to get back on yellow car

[Steve-Oh]

Real jealous of that thread checker. Simple things like that make my time in the garage a happier one!

[95riosnake]

Real jealous of that thread checker. Simple things like that make my time in the garage a happier one!

If you want one, they're only $17.99 plus shipping! :thumb: See below:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Heavy-Duty-Metric-Fastener-Find-Check-a-Thread-Thread-Gauge-Finder-/170912409556?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27cb2c67d4

There's another seller on eBay trying to sell the same exact one for $39.50 plus shipping...haha

[Jeremy95GT]

I bought one this morning after I read the updates in your page and seen the one u bought lol... I'm such a copy cat... But I'm so tired of having to drive 20 mins to Lowe's to check bolts lmao

Jeremy

[95riosnake]

^ I always had to take them to work with me to check and it was always a PITA, so I know how you feel lol.

[Jeremy95GT]

Yes for sure; once you find a standard checker, lemme know lol, I ain't about to pay 50 bones for one lol

Jeremy

[Number Tew]

I ordered it as well haha

[95riosnake]

Yes for sure; once you find a standard checker, lemme know lol, I ain't about to pay 50 bones for one lol

Jeremy

Yea I found a place selling the inch one, but it's $35 plus shipping, not a horrible price I suppose, but I like $17.99 better so I'll just keep an eye out. I feel like I deal with far more metric fasteners anyway so I'm good for now.

I ordered it as well haha

Haha nice, well I hope you two gentlemen enjoy the price as much as I did. It'll make it that much nicer each time you use it.

[Number Tew]

They jacked me on shipping, ended up being like $30, but I was like....eh, already in it to win it, why not haha.

Thanks Dan, I'll have that and be all excited like you

[95riosnake]

Man that blows, I paid $17.99 + 7.60 shipping...must just be more expensive to your area?

[Jeremy95GT]

Ya i paid less than 8 bucks for shipping aswell... But 35 aint bad for a standard one, i seen one that was around 50 so im almost ready to pull the trigger on a 35 dollar one,,,

[Number Tew]

Yea, it was $30 and some change. Nobody wants to send stuff to florida

haha!

Thanks again though bud, i might also go for an SAE one on the next pay check ;p

[Brian]

Dan, find me a job in PA and a house down the street. :bowdown: :notworthy:

[95riosnake]

3/9/13 - Who needs a spare tire anyway?

You may remember I mentioned plans to make an enclosure to put the subwoofer down in the spare tire well. Here's the progress on that from yesterday and today.

Picked up all the supplies (please excuse the mess on the shelf behind the work bench, lol)

- 3M Paint Spray/Pesticide Respirator

- Fiberglass cloth

- Fiberglass resin

- Fiberglass hardener

- Plastic paint mixing cups (with ounce measurements on sides)

- Mixing sticks

- Latex gloves

- Cheap paint brushes (the cheapest available - these will thrown away after use)

- Masking tape

- Cooking spray

- Aluminum foil

- Liquid Nails (for attaching the MDF top board)

So, with all that in hand, it was time to line the spare tire well with the aluminum foil, being careful to work the foil into all the curves. Then I taped up the seams and any tears with masking tape to seal it all up.

Note the board here, this is to create a recessed place for the speaker terminal cup, then I can just route the speaker wires up below the taillight panel then around the driver's side perimeter of the trunk and up to the amp under the deck lid.

Now that the foil was down, I sprayed a coat of the cooking spray and laid down the first layer of fiberglass cloth. I cut it into long strips, then smaller rectangles until I got it all covered:

Then strapped on the respirator, put on some gloves and mixed up the resin, (10 drops of hardener per ounce of resin) and brushed it on:

(^ I know it looks like there's nothing there, but the cloth turns translucent as the resin soaks into it.)

After another layer of glass and more resin:

Then after a third layer of cloth and resin:

At this point, I was out of fiberglass cloth because Home Depot only had three packages in stock, so I left it to cure overnight. Then took the wife out to dinner to make up for the house smelling like resin

Fast forward to this morning...Saddled up the DD, went to Lowe's and picked up 5 more packages of cloth. Then I needed to sand the surface of the cured resin to give the subsequent layers something to adhere to:

Vacuumed out the sanding dust and added another 3.5 layers of glass and resin. I added a bit more to places I thought looked a bit thin. What you can't see here is 2.5 - 3 hours of bending and brushing on resin (SO MUCH FUN!)

So above is how it sits currently, letting it cure over night again. I won't be adding any more layers, it's about 3/16" thick now, which is fine for my needs. Tomorrow I'll pop it out of the trunk and peel off the foil and tape. Then I'll need to make a cardboard template for the top board to cut from MDF. It'll also need some internal reinforcing underneath the top board to strengthen it.

Probably not the most visually exciting update but I thought I'd share anyway. It's also somewhat of a bonus tutorial for all you guys on the first step of making a spare tire well enclosure :thumb:

Edited March 10, 2013 by 95riosnake

[Jeremy95GT]

Wow, Dan your the man....

Jeremy

[Brian]

:bowdown: :notworthy: I think that's all I'll ever be able to say you to Dan..... you find me a house yet?

[95riosnake]

Haha, who knows...some of my neighbors might move soon if they get sick of smelling resin and paint while listening to cutting and grinding, lol.

[Brian]

I'll gladly smell that to live down the street from you. I'd learn so much.

[Number Tew]

Ha, you shoulda flown me up there, we coulda knocked that out in no time ;p

I coulda probably saved you a bunch on the glass too. When you go to pop it out, it may be a bit difficult because there's not much of a flange there. If you have trouble getting it out, you can drill a hole in the bottom somewhere and blow some air into it. Will help release the glass from the foil.

And 6.5 layers of glass, that's plenty thick. Maybe even over kill ;p

Crazy guy haha

<3

[Number Tew]

O and p.s. Resin has a smell?? ;p

[95riosnake]

Thanks man, I saw some people online building theirs up to like 1/4" thick, but that just seems like a lot to me, lol. I'm just going to scuff a line inside and liquid nail a MDF vertical center rib in place, then use a little more glass around the base to secure it. That'll support the center of the top board, and also give me something to screw into. Planning to use liquid nails around the top edge of the tub to attach the MDF, then use a couple layers of glass over the seam between the two materials.

[Number Tew]

You could even use a regular filler in the seams, an epoxy, instead of glass. Unless you are confident in your glass finishing work. There was a time when I was like wtf, I hate this stuff! lol

I guess after almost 3 years of working in it every day you get pretty good ;p

[95riosnake]

Well to my delight it popped out pretty easily after a little tugging. Here's how it looked, freshly-popped lol.

Starting the tedious process of peeling away the foil and tape:

About 2 hours later:

If I could offer any advice to someone about to do this project, I would recommend trying to keep the foil as smooth as possible. In the areas where it was crumpled/smashed, the resin really gripped onto it. This made it pretty difficult to peel away. I'm going to sand down the outside/bottom and add a bit of filler to get rid of some of the texture from the foil (necessary? no...but I'll refer you to the title of this thread ). You can also see a few small areas here and there where the resin didn't fully penetrate the cloth, so I'll be brushing on a little bit more resin in those areas.

I'll be moving the rest of the work on this project to our shop at work now that I don't need the car close by, I'd like to isolate my garage from all the sanding dust lol. So my next update will have a slightly different setting. :thumb:

[Brian]

Can you make more than one box from that mold?

[95riosnake]

No not really, this is the box, not a mold. To make another would mean repeating all the steps on this page. I'd sooner take a shot to the nuts than do it again lol. Plus if I make the house smell like resin one more time I'll be sleeping on the couch lol.

[Brian]

Haha understood. It's all good. Keep up the great work. Jealous.

[Number Tew]

Well, you could cast a mold off of that after it's finished. That would be you're finished part, or what you call a plug. Wear long sleeves at least when you start cutting. Or just buy a tyvek suit for $1.50 and tape the wrists up.

I also reccomend putting some cornstarch baby powder on your arms and neck. Make fun, you'll thank me later. ;p

In the future, you could have brushed the back side of the mat with the resin, then laid it down and pushed all the air out. That's generally how you do it to ensure no dry spots.

Looking good though

[95riosnake]

^ Thanks for the tip lol, fiberglass itch is a terrible thing so I'll do anything I can to avoid it.

And yea, in hindsight there are a few things I would have done differently but I think with a little touch up work it'll be good. I haven't done much fiberglass work where I molded it against something else. Usually I'm just fiberglassing two things together, or fixing SVO skirts (I've fixed them at least a dozen times over the years). I'm sure with some more practice I'd have this stuff down pretty good lol. I really can't stand the smell of resin though, one of the most noxious smells I can think of.

I was washing cars outside today so I gave the tub/enclosure a good scrubbing with some dish soap afterwards, the mixture of Pam and the adhesive from the frog tape had created a pretty awesome coating of slime all over it. It's nice and clean now though, ready for sanding.

Edited March 10, 2013 by 95riosnake

[Number Tew]

Ha, I don't even know resin smells anymore

But you should wear a respirator with it because of the styrene in it. I'd also reccomend a dust mask when you are sanding. Start smoothing it out with 80 grit. If I was at work I would be smoothing it out with 24, so don't worry about going too low. The 80 is perfect for fillers and stuff to get in to. I would use a D.A. so you aren't throwing around as much dust.

I might be able to get you a suit from work if you can't find any, lol I keep one in my car for when I have to get in it on a dirty day ;p

[95riosnake]

Yea I was wearing a fume mask when I was brushing the resin on and couldn't smell a thing (mask is shown in the supplies pic) I meant the lingering smell in the garage after it cured. I'll see if we have any of those suits at work. They sometimes have them for our paint booth. If not I might take you up on that

[Yeahloh95]

nice job dan

[Number Tew]

Yea, I do believe Lowes and such sells them for $2 each or something. My most expensive suits at work are like $2.35 and they have elastic wrists waist ankles and they have pockets lol. So they are cheap!

I'm not trying to take over your thread man. But if there's one thing I can call myself an expert at, it's fiberglass lol

[95riosnake]

^ Cool, I may just run by Lowe's and pick up a suit then. And you're not taking over the thread lol, I'm working with fiberglass, and you're offering knowledgeable advice on working with fiberglass...that's about as on-topic as it gets! :thumbsup:

[95riosnake]

So I'm looking for opinions from you guys. My retrofits need work...the projectors are aimed down a bit too much inside the housings, causing me to have to aim the headlights up waaay too much and causing a big gap underneath them. It drives me crazy how much I hate it.

I don't really have time to dedicate to fixing them properly right now since I have a bunch of other crap going on with the car so I was considering throwing a set of headlights on it in the meantime until I get a chance to work on the retros. I have three options:

1) Throw on a set of smoked cobra headlights and corners (photoshop)

2) Pull my old projectors off the shelf and throw them back on temporarily

3) Roll with the ugly ass gap until I have time to fix it (or aim the headlights down to look good, but illuminate only about 10 feet in front of the car at night)

I'm not sure how I feel about the smoked lights against the polished wheels, but it worked great on 95sc's car over on SVTP.

Any opinions?

[F8L GT]

I vote smoked cobra's myself. Never been a fan of projectors unless the vehicle came with them

[Steve-Oh]

Never noticed the gap before until you just pointed it out. I just really dislike the style of those old projectors and agree that the smoked might look goofy with the polished wheels.