93 SR Hatch build in the Mitten State

[wannabdr1ftr]

you sir built a perfect car

[kyles1988]

man that powerfc looks so sweet velcro'd to your dashboard.

[CamryOnBronze]

Gee thanks, Kyle. It does look pretty good all not burned up and whatnot there, doesn't it? lol

[kyles1988]

wow...you got me there.

[Broadfield]

Originally Posted by CamryOnBronze

Gee thanks, Kyle. It does look pretty good all not burned up and whatnot there, doesn't it? lol

Harsh!!!!!

[kyles1988]

Its ok, I've been following him around in threads for weeks ripping on him. check the interior thread.

[holemilk00]

Yeah Damon really needs an amazing idea on what to do with that commander. I wonder if he used bride velcro?

[CamryOnBronze]

lol. I really didn't have a problem with where/how it is mounted until you guys pointed it out. I haven't really found a better place for it- I like being able to monitor knock and water temp, so I don't want to hide it away- we'll see I guess.

So I got some advice from Jacon at AutoLavish and picked up the products he recommended for me last night. I've got to try to get as many of the swirls and scratches out as I can in the next two weeks, so I figured I would give it a shot. I'm just going to be doing this by hand, so the outcome is not going to be crazy or anything- but I am already impressed with the test section I did last night. Like I said, not perfect, but a lot better!

Here are the products I will be using:



I left some pretty terrible micro-scratches when I had a tarp duct taped to the car this spring while the hatch was in for paint, lol. As you can see, most of it has been reduced to nothing- pretty awesome! This was really bugging me, so I am glad it is making such a big difference! Especially considering it is being applied by hand.



Here a less severe area- still makes a pretty nice difference!

[Image Lost]

So yeah, I'll have to do the whole car next week- I'll probably work on it tomorrow night a bit as well. Aside from that, I sorted out some lighting issues last night. Matej told me to run 921 bulbs in my front signals instead of the 194s that came with my D-Max position lamps, and thankfully that solved my fast blinking issue! I need to pick up another pair for the running lights, since the light output is a lot better as well. Now people can actually tell I am turning from the front of the car, haha.

My replacement H4 clear headlights also showed up from Sonic Motors, so I threw those on the car. I hit the headlight shrouds with some trim paint to freshen them up a bit as well. I dropped one of the previous headlights I had while trying to fix a wiring issue the night before my trip to Illinois, so that is why I needed to replace them. Thankfully they are pretty cheap, haha.







That's all for now. I'll update again next week when I have finished with the wax and whatnot. I am expecting my engine harness from Wiring Specialties by the end of the week as well, so I will install that and post a detailed writeup for everyone when I get a chance!

[oldboy]

just finished reading... amazing work! i hope my hatch gets half of what yours has! lol
good luck and i will be keeping an eye on this for updates.

[Om1kron]

I see your rock chips setting in lol. Godamn black paint. I'm going to try and have some more urethane thrown into the next batch of magnetic black I pick up.

[Broadfield]

Originally Posted by Om1kron

I see your rock chips setting in lol. Godamn black paint. I'm going to try and have some more urethane thrown into the next batch of magnetic black I pick up.

You just need good paint, it needs to be prepped properly and it needs to be applied to the proper thickness. The place that does my paint work I consider the best around. I have driven my car on multiple 1000 mile round trips and it literally does not have one single rock chip on the entire front end.

[CamryOnBronze]

Yeah, I consider mine to be the worst paint, lol. The kid didn't do any prep work- and since my lip was white in a previous life, it has chipped away to white underneath, making the chips x1000 more noticeable. I have gone over about 100 chips at least so far with touch up paint and it still looks like that. Just a crappy painted I'm afraid. I plan to have it redone this winter, though!

[yellowxhoodie]

ive been shopping around for new lights myself. Are these the lights you got?
Euro-Clear-headlights-h4-Conversion
those are the only ones i see on there.

[Om1kron]

Originally Posted by Broadfield

You just need good paint, it needs to be prepped properly and it needs to be applied to the proper thickness. The place that does my paint work I consider the best around. I have driven my car on multiple 1000 mile round trips and it literally does not have one single rock chip on the entire front end.

Lets just say I spent 600 bucks on my paint, primer, clear, and the presta all in one buffing kit and I probably have one of the nicest paint jobs around lol. Then again the labor was all free. I just don't take care of the paint since I know I can have it repainted anytime I want lol.

[CamryOnBronze]

Originally Posted by yellowxhoodie

ive been shopping around for new lights myself. Are these the lights you got?
Euro-Clear-headlights-h4-Conversion
those are the only ones i see on there.

I actually have these ones, without the projector thing, in clear:

7X6-EURO-CLEAR-SEALED-BEAM-headlightS

They look pretty solid for how cheap they are, haha.

[holemilk00]

Just break down and get the whole car painted while you're down there again man, I'm sure Toby can get you in where he has his work done.

[Broadfield]

Originally Posted by holemilk00

Just break down and get the whole car painted while you're down there again man, I'm sure Toby can get you in where he has his work done.

Yeah, you tell him man!

[kyles1988]

Oh yeah, we know the painter, head body guy, and number 2 in command there.

[holemilk00]

I think I might have to come with Damon next time to check these guys out, I have two cars waiting for paint that I can't find anyone I trust up here to do. I hate I had to cancel for the BBQ.

[CamryOnBronze]

^ Toby/Kyle- this is the guy I was telling you about- Shane. He was going to come with me to the BBQ but wasn't able to. He is also the one with the Silvia Aero bumper and sides I mentioned to Kyle the other day, haha.

I'd love to get the whole car painted, but I truly can't afford it any time soon. Maybe if I found a nice hookup, but sadly I don't think it will happen this winter, haha.

[holemilk00]

I found one place around here Damon that does a lot of show quality cars, and my room mate just happened to know the guy that is head of the body shop, my hook up price on the two tone with the body work and paint. $1800. So I feel ya oh the "not this winter" part, although if I can sell a few things............

[Drift_This]

The arm rest and glove box look amazing man. The Meguiar's products are very good. Manly only thing I use. I also use certain 3m products. Those are crazy good too.

[Om1kron]

hey I was just razzing you about the paint chips cause I feel your pain, this turned into a discussion trying to get you to paint the car. LOL fuck that dude it's got monet paint and aint nothing wrong with that. No need to take the car out of commission again.

[tqstarburst]

i have a question,what did you use to mold/put the bride skin on your door panels and armrest?

[CamryOnBronze]

Originally Posted by Om1kron

hey I was just razzing you about the paint chips cause I feel your pain, this turned into a discussion trying to get you to paint the car. LOL fuck that dude it's got monet paint and aint nothing wrong with that. No need to take the car out of commission again.

haha not a problem man- the paint on my car is a common discussion between my friends and I. It kind of drives me nuts sometimes, since the car has a lot of nice parts on it, but the paint is far from perfect. I have learned to live with it though, aside from the horribly painted aero stuff. The lip absolutely needs to be redone! But yeah, the more I drive it the more chips I get- I guess I'll think of them as badges of honor for now, hahaha.

tqstarburst- For the door panels, I used some kind of super intense smelling adhesive that Toby hooked me up with, applied with a spray gun. He has a how-to about it on his blog, broadfield.wordpress.com. As for the arm rest and glove box, I used off-the-shelf 3M Super 77 spray adhesive. It didn't work very well with the cheap faux suede I used previously, but it worked really well with adhesion promoter and the foam backing of the Bride fabric. Seems to be on there pretty good!

[Broadfield]

Originally Posted by holemilk00

I found one place around here Damon that does a lot of show quality cars, and my room mate just happened to know the guy that is head of the body shop, my hook up price on the two tone with the body work and paint. $1800. So I feel ya oh the "not this winter" part, although if I can sell a few things............

Wow, $1800... that's probably not a very good paint job... or you are getting one hell of a deal. That is DIRT cheap. You REALLY get what you pay for when it comes to paint jobs. The paint alone and materials to paint an entire car is about half of that. Usually what I call a "good" paint job would be about $5000. Of course what one person calls a good paint job I might think is garbage. I'm pretty picky on my paint work. Absolutely all glass, trim, moldings etc. etc. must be completely removed. Even after I filled the vents on my fiberglass fenders and rough blocked them to what I thought was pretty damn good, my body guy spent another 8 hours getting them ready for final paint... and that was just two fenders. That was a wipe of Gold Rage body filler on the entire fender, then he blocked it completely down. Then a wipe of Evercoat Glaze on the entire fender, and blocked completely down. Then the entire fender was sprayed with polyester filler and blocked completely down. Lastly the entire fender was sprayed with primer and blocked down. Then base and clear.

[skylineguv]

So, SOOO clean! By far the nicest S13 I've seen.

[holemilk00]

Originally Posted by Broadfield

Wow, $1800... that's probably not a very good paint job... or you are getting one hell of a deal. That is DIRT cheap. You REALLY get what you pay for when it comes to paint jobs. The paint alone and materials to paint an entire car is about half of that. Usually what I call a "good" paint job would be about $5000. Of course what one person calls a good paint job I might think is garbage. I'm pretty picky on my paint work. Absolutely all glass, trim, moldings etc. etc. must be completely removed. Even after I filled the vents on my fiberglass fenders and rough blocked them to what I thought was pretty damn good, my body guy spent another 8 hours getting them ready for final paint... and that was just two fenders. That was a wipe of Gold Rage body filler on the entire fender, then he blocked it completely down. Then a wipe of Evercoat Glaze on the entire fender, and blocked completely down. Then the entire fender was sprayed with polyester filler and blocked completely down. Lastly the entire fender was sprayed with primer and blocked down. Then base and clear.

You're also comparing a quality job in an area with a somewhat thriving economy compared to a quality paint job in Michigan, SE Michigan to be more exact. This part of Michigan was in a depression 5 years before the rest of the country had even uttered the word. As for the 8 hours on two fenders, I could easily see it happening with a body guy that is a perfectionist/compulsive. As far as being able to put a price on a "good" job that's a pretty relative statement don't you think? I've had several cars painted in my life time, from a 57 fairlane 500 to a DSM, and I'll be the first to admit paying a lot of money doesn't guarantee a "good" paint job and a "good" paint job doesn't always have to be the most expensive. Usually a shop that has been around for a while without having to get by on doing collision work is usually a great sign of a shop that does quality work. My vert is currently on a rotisserie waiting for someone who knows what they are doing, and that won't be someone picked on price but rather experience and references. As for the price I was quoted on getting my car resprayed a factory color, it was a bit of body work, on all steel body panels, with a quality well known paint, and while I was getting a bit of a hook up because of a friend of a friend, I know its a really good price, that's why references and a long hard look at previous work went into my decision to get a car done there. But I have to say that what sold me was, after I acknowledged that there is no such thing as a perfect paint job, the owner of the place said he would give me the promise that he wouldn't stop working on the car, until I am 110% satisfied.


Back on topic, Damon, I know you beat yourself up on your cars paint a lot, way more than you should in my opinion, but you need to pat yourself on the back for having a car that looks amazing, especially in 18 year old paint, and its something that 99% of people aren't going to notice anyway because of the appreciation of the hours of amazing work you have put into that car under that paint. Your car looks great man, sit back and take in the glory.

[yellowxhoodie]

curious to see the light output on those lights. If you could post some pics whenever you get a change id appreciate it.

[CamryOnBronze]

Thanks for the compliments, guys- I really appreciate it. I know I am too hard on the car sometimes- I guess I just try to stay as modest as I can, since I would have never expected this car to generate this much attention. The paint does bother me a lot of the time, but I am so happy with the car and so grateful to be driving it every day with a minimal amount of issues. I guess I just never want anyone to be super dissappointed or think I am a poser when they see the car in person for the first time, haha.

yellowxhoodie- I'll get you some pics of the output this weekend. It's actually not too bad- I am just running the cheap H4 bulbs that they came with.