Last build: Scarlet, AKA Penny Racer

[DriverOne]

Well, it's been a long time. My LX is now a parts car (frame rot, yay!), the sole purpose of which will be to provide the L+ and my brother's "GT" with necessities before we turn the back end of the LX into a trailer. That means that the L+ will now have the Aspire upgrade as well as the Ranger headlight upgrade (crystal lens, non projector), LX interior, glass, stereo, bumpers (gotta have my hitch), and all interior LED lighting conversions on top of the B6 already in the L+ and assigned G trans. I'm covering the plastics with black vinyl to rid myself of the discoloration. Next, I'll install a true cloth headliner, refabricate door panels (thanks to RazorWing for her donation of a sewing machine!), install custom carpeting (that I just learned how to do), modify the '90 grille as a large-mouth grille with some Lowe's gutter mesh behind it, and finish the car off with Junspeed's custom Festiva wing and a front lip from Ernst (if he's still selling them, I haven't checked yet). Every bushing I can find available in poly, I'm buying, from front to back. Hopefully I can get door seals. I also plan to get in touch with Greg about rebuilding the steering rack. Oh, and a couple extra gauges. I'll keep the stock-size exhaust for now. I have in mind to drop the car an inch, MAYBE two.

Pictures will come. I'm especially excited to see what the wheels will look like when they're fully repaired. A set of Federal Formoza FD1 165/60R14 tires are on their way to replace my now-worn Toyo Proxes T1-R in 195/45R14.

Personal checklist:

EXTERIOR
Swap to LX glass
Install headlights
Trim & modify grille
Bumper swap (secure hitch)
Install driving lights
Lower car
Refurbish wheels
Mount new tires to wheels
Install Aspire swap from LX
Mount wheels to Aspire swap
Install Junspeed wing
Install Ernst front lip

INTERIOR
Install new carpet
LX interior swap
Update LED lighting
Install gauges
Cover plastics
Install headliner
Install stereo
Smile

ENGINE
Install cone filter adapter
Trim and reroute OEM downpipe

[1990new]

Ambitious plans you have there. Looking forward to the pictures.
Glad to see you active on the forum again Dustin.

[DriverOne]

Thank you, Jess. I'm glad to be back.

[Festevil3]

Where you been??

[DriverOne]

Where you been??

I've been here the whole time. I just had no reason to post anything, you know? Why post if no progress has been made?

[htchbck]

Why post if no progress has been made?

Ask NovaSS and all his posts over the years about not getting any work done on MiniGun

[DriverOne]

Headlights:

[DriverOne]

Sickspeed shift knob, 2" dia. This model has an actual brass threaded insert. It fits well, and doesn't move around like the set screw knobs do over time. There's a set nut that backs against the knob. I'll probably use a bit of blue loc-tite instead of the nut, because it messes up the ergonomics.

[DriverOne]

I'm seriously thinking about making my own tail lights. I've got hundreds of ideas in my head, and a source for clear acrylic resin. I'm thinking a lot about this design in particular:

[1chrisapple]

watching ur thread and those taillights are sick

[DriverOne]

Thanks. I'm a truck driver, and I have been looking at the "oval" tails as a possibility for a while. The reverse bar is as easy as an eBay DRL LED bar, so I've got what I was looking for: a means to replace lights as I need to, on a DOT-approved, standardized-fitment basis. More to come on that later, but here's my source for acrylic: http://www.alumilite.com/howtos/Tail...oEquipment.cfm

Basically, I could match that Galant design, within the Festiva lines, and my tails don't have ribs

[DriverOne]

Well, the tires are going back. The highway speed shudder from the oblong tires was enough to break the wires on my dash AUX-IN hub in a short manner. No more tires from Tires-Easy.com for me either. Take a gamble, and lose. Also, I found another place that has the tires I WAS looking for in the first place, so I'll get my money back soon, and then I can order the 165/55R14 tires (Same brand. I like the tires but they seemed too old.) I originally intended to mount. The tire sway in curves was annoying with the 60 profile, and while the 55 might not be much different, at least they're only 0.2% larger than the stock size, so my MPG's will be closer to correct. Yet another thing I noticed, I'm having to downshift a lot more often. That could be some other reason (low oil pressure, maybe?).

[DriverOne]

The housing of the Festiva tail is 7" at it's widest point, meaning that the 6-5/8" ovals fit like they were designed to be there. There are several options available in the oval tail, many of which look cheap and "plastic" (I know they are all plastic). Since I'm using the Junspeed LED wing, I want to continue the horizontal LED bar look into the tails, like this:


And because I'm a sucker for these, I'll probably add them too. By the way, with a little modification, the ovals fit in the front turn signal location as well.


Reverse lights are easy, and inexpensive (low-intensity) DRL's do the trick:


There still has to be a way to mark the extreme side of the tail lights, so a single LED will be mounted in the side of the housing. I originally thought I'd try fiberglass as a shroud, but I may go with steel plating. The sunken look of the tails is sort of what I'm after, but I need something to grip the lights on the sides. Either way, I'm not sure yet. As always, if anyone has any ideas, please post!

EDIT: A few things; the tail lights may or may not be enough reflection as per DOT regulations, so red reflective tape (trust that it will be artfully utilized) may be added to trim the entire housing to keep things legal. Also, the OEM cyclops is done. It's outta there. My goal with the design of the semi (red) tails is to stand back and see three lines - the upper LED bar and two smaller bars below. Since the design of the Galant offers a bit of clear in regards to the turn signals, I'll go clear with those. They won't light until they're needed anyway. The rear wing will have a progressive strobe controller mounted inline to add that bit of attention-grabbing that the texters need to pry their eyes away from what the cute puppy did, and realize that yes, I am stopping.