Redspire's Widow Maker

[redspire]

Without further ado, here's a little history of me with Aspire's.

I bought my first Aspire in 2010, it was a 97 automatic 3 speed greyish tan Aspire. I literally almost wrecked it pulling out of the car lot because I wasn't used to the tight steering. Things over the years happened to this Aspire that made it so it is just sitting now, but this thread isn't about that Aspire, it's about my current Aspire! The Widow Maker!

I picked up this puppy for $600 delivered, and it was the best buy that I've ever made. I replaced the headlights the first day because they were all cracked and broken, luckily I had another Aspire sitting for parts.

1000946_10201179351199534_1865003885_n.jpg
I also changed the spark plugs that day because the car was idling and taking off terrible, which temporarily fixed the problem!

[redspire]

The next thing that I did to the car was order some blue NGK spark plug wires to replace the factory wires.

I also swapped the stock filter box over to a cone filter from my old Aspire. This was eventually swapped out to a Red cone filter to match the cars color pattern.



Then I started my new job, and a coworker of mine rubbed some Scratch X 2.0 onto my car and showed me the difference. I spent a whole day restoring the car's original color.
Before Pictures:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/1098362_10201179352199559_465323717_n.jpg

After/Before shot :


After:




I also waxed this car for the first time in probably it's whole life!

[redspire]

The next thing that I did was paint the interior. I spent a lot of time researching what type of paint to use, and I decided on using Krylon Fusion paint. It has a great spraying tip that applies the paint evenly. It also bonds with the plastic so when I rub my seatbelt on the door panel every day, it doesn't peel or flake.
Before color:



Dash before paint:



My rig job on the Dashboard painting since I didn't want to take it out.





Finished Product:

[redspire]

Next I polished the headlights with a Meguiars Headlight Restoration Kit (Buy the one with the drill bit, trust me, it works!)
Before:

After:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/601361_10201179355839650_968222260_n.jpg

I then painted the rims after sanding the rust out and cleaning them off. I chose flat black because I figured it went well with the red color and matched my interior.

Before:

After:

[redspire]

A few days ago I installed LED underglow. I bought a roll of LED's on amazon a while back and never got around to it. I had to solder wires where I had to cut them off the roll, and never having soldered before I suffered numerous burns on my hand lol. Next I'd like to install some LED's on this interior (Any suggestions where?). I think it turned out rather well. I hooked them up to a toggle switch and pulled the power from the Interior light dimmer power supply.

Pictures:

[redspire]

Then today I installed a new intake that I've been fabricating for the past 2 days. It was a fun way to spend my lunch breaks at work!

Before:


After:

[redspire]

Me and a coworker took it out a few days ago for a photoshoot, Results:

[kumalaba]

great job & i like your photos. looks cleaner w/o the bra.

[navdoc101]

Good lookin' 'Spire!! Keep up the upgrades.

[purg3d]

Nice. I like it a lot. Is the wiring harness typically routed above the radiator support on aspires? That scratch x 2.0 really brought back the shine!

[TheNewAmericanSpirit]

That interior is crazy! Good job on all of it!

[redspire]

Thanks for all the positive feedback guys! kumalaba, I'd love to remove the bra, but the front bumper is just in too bad of shape, I'm trying to get ahold of another red 97 front bumper but I cannot seem to find one anywhere. Thanks navdoc101, most people think I'm stupid for putting so much time into it, but it's the labor of love! purg3d, as far as I know yes, both of my Aspires have the same setup, and it looks factory, and I do agree, the scratch x 2.0 did wonders, I really couldn't believe it, every time I see an oxidized car I just want to tell them how easy it is. Thanks TheNewAmericanSpirit, I really thought it was a good color pattern, I'd love to redo the carpet black, more than likely in the future.

[Powerstiva]

That scratch x 2.0 did an amazing job! also i agree about the bra though, i dont personally like the look of them

[redspire]

I've been looking into this plasti-dip business. Im thinking of painting the whole car flat black? Any input or suggestions on this?

[Festevil3]

I've been looking into this plasti-dip business. Im thinking of painting the whole car flat black? Any input or suggestions on this?

I like the red