looking good so far man

btw...your avatar brings back A LOT of memories at the arcade

 

yes it does.. i love street fighter 2, but not as much as i love street fighter vs xmen. lol you could do the crasy 130 hit combos

 

Shin Akuma is the man. Memories, I play all of the old Street Fighter Arcade games on my Modded Xbox. Those along with my NES, Genesis, Sega MAster System & SNES games get more play than my Xbox games.

 

interior is going to look sick!!! looks great so far...

 

Looking good man

 

Thanks for all the support, everyone! I made the first cut into the cluster today for the climate control today. It was, ummm...interesting to say the least. I should have some pics up on Monday night, my schedule is bonkers for the next few days.

 

In spite of being bogged down with 12-hour shifts, I managed to get some work done on this thing. I first sanded the whole unit down with the typical 60, 150, 220, 500, and 800-grit papers to give it a baby-smooth finish. I also filled in all the holes and leveled all of the transistion lines with body filler and glazing putty. Don't mind how it looks at the top, if you look close enough yoiu can see the black fleece underneath.



The I cut the climate control face and made the cutout for the unit. The picture is a little off-center, so the unit does not appear fully lined up, but in reality, it's pretty darn close, although not perfect. I had to starts taking pictures inside since the camera lens fogs up not 0.01 seconds after I walked ouitside.

 

what did you use to do the cutting?

 

Man, you're at Rowan University? That's where I graduated from. Easiest school in SJ! (unless you're an engineering major).

BTW ... nice work ... coming along ...

 

I used a Dremel with a fiber-reinforced disc since I found these have a much longer cutting life than the regular discs. They also don't weaken as much when they heat up from the cutting...fortunatley, I've only had one of these break off and send a heated shard of death into my face.

Which I was. Chemical engineering...ranked 3rd in the country for public engineering...and no - IT WAS NOT EASY. While I was taking my diff eq. course I downloaded an old test from the same course at U Penn...imagine my fury as their test was EASIER. It's no joke there, but I have a good job now thanks to it. But I it take it you're close to Rowan?

 

Looks good Dan-


Just a thought. I remember when Don helped me with my failed fiberglassing attempt we had an issue when the rubber ring on the inside of the shifter trim went back on. Your body filler seems to be at the top edge of where the ring will go. Have you tried to see if that ring will get back on? You may have to sand it there to avoid cutting the ring, like we just did.

 

I bought a Dremel kit a while back from HomeDepot. Do you know how to make a straight cut with the dremel? Do they sell some sort-of attachment that guides the cut?

 

Thanks, Nilesh! Not quite sure what you mean by he rubber ring...do you mean the flange of the shifter boot that attaches to the shifter opening? I hope I am not going to have another issue to face, here!

 

Gah! forgot you weren't automatic. We have a rubber ring that lines the inner circle of the shifter trim. You guys have a flange that will connect the leather boot to the inner ring. I guess, make sure the filler isnt in the way of the flange popping back in!

 

Actually, no. My parents are, but I moved to Tampa 5 years ago. I highly reccommend it.

I lived right next door in Pitman one year and those dumpy apartments on Mullica Hill Rd. for two years. Can't say I miss Assboro

 

I've got some good friends in Mullica Hill. Dan how close are u to there?



BAHAHAHA Assboro.

 

Well, I have tried a number of things.



This multi-purpose cutting kit is supposed to work like a router, but it does not really cut worth a damn. All ot does it heat the crap out of the bit. I don't recommend it for cutting fiberglass.



The mini-saw attachment also sucked. This was supposed to allow me to get nice and smooth cuts, but it did not work out too well, either. The blade is really short and did not work out too well, either.



These cut-off wheels are teh B0mz0r. My weapon of choice. The blades are VERY durable and large, so you can cut through thicker surfaces (such as in my case where I have 2 to 3 layers to cut through. It's hard to make a precise cut at times, but that's what body filler is for.



I would imagine this diamond wheel is very good as well, but the blades tend to get SUPER hot from horizontal friction when cutting and will cause a blade to break every now and again. The fiber discs above are $7/4 discs whereas a single diamond wheel is $14. I feel better knwoing that a busted disc is only running me $1.75...not $14.

 

About 40 minutes...and yeah, when I had to venture outside of Rowan's shiny Engineering building I did find myself in the heart of exactly that - Assboro. What a crap town.

Yeah, since I am a manny driver I have some clips it attaches to, but there is some body filler over the one set of clips, so I might have some trouble down the road! *knocks on wood*

 

Well better to sand it down now before you forget (if you forget) and paint it.

 

it looks very good, i cant wait to see more pics, this is the first i have heard of mixing the hardner and body filler together, when i did mine i just used straight up body filler, what is the bennifets to mixing the hardner to it?

 

I think you might have mixed your words a bit here. You ALWAYS mix hardener to body filler, otherwise it would never harden. I think you are referring to mixing resin & body filler? When you mix the two you get a pourable mixture that will create a smooth surface over the peice, fill in most of the holes and gaps, and is MUCH easier to sand than fiberglass.

 

this is like a movie, im dying to see the end result...

 

Haha, I like that. I should have a pretty ample amount of time on Saturday to work on this, with any luck it should be 90% done.

 

You can mix fiberglass resin and body filler? I never knew that. Would it be regular resin or resin with its hardner and body filler with its hardner?

 

Damn I sure am late to comment on this thread of your's Dan, But you da man! I can't wait to see the final pic(s)!!

 

Ok, your mix would consist of:

50% Resin + appropriate amount of MEKP - mix thoroughly prior to adding the body filler
50% Body filler

 

Alright! I am damned determined to get the cuts done this weekend after spending every waking moment at work this past week. Here we can see some pics of the climate control face attached with body filler and sanded. There are a few rough spots which will require some attention later on.



and now for a close-up.

 

I have to give credit to Nilesh for riding me, I mean motivating me, about flush-mounting the HU, so here's how it came out! I will have to usesome Tiger Hair to fill the one side in since I sanded down to far (40-grit = paper saw, seriously ). But I must say that it looks hella good mounted this way.





and a shot from the top. It's a bit contoured, but only if viewed from this angle, so I can live with that.

 

Sah-weeeet.

That is all, carry on por favor.

 

Very nice job man

 

looks good, are you mounting a tv at the top of the hu? or are the vents going there? btw i thought an audiophile like you would have an eclipse hu...

 

damn, that flush mount HU does look damn good...

 

Thanks! The screen will go above the HU, which will sit below the air vents.

I was seriously considering an Eclipse HU, but at the time I was shopping for HUs they did not have a unit that was Sirius ready. I picked up the 9833 for a VERY good price, and it has a multitude of tuning capabilities, so I really cannot complain.

 

looks good man!

my eclipse is sirius ready

 

lookin very gud man... much props...

 

Would it be easy for you to replicate the project now that you know how its done?

 

Oh, hell yeah...why do you ask?

 

cuz he probably wants his done also lol! That's tight.

 

No of course not

 

wow you deff. f@*%ed up your car man