DIY Projects

[Scorpma82]

Hey guys,

Just thought I might bring out an idea......

I see quite alot of threads for major componentry, '63's, '54's, 32's, KM132's, LSD's Coilovers so on, so on and so on.

But it is difficult to find details on smaller projects.....the little 1% extra details that make a good car, into a great car.....things like repainting minor trims, cleaning products (and techniques)etc etc etc
There also seems to be a bit of a shortage (or its just a bit thin to find) on things like cost efficient hints and tips .


I'll start off with an example of what I'm going about.

The other day I decided to try an new 'home remedy' cleaning technique.

I decided to use my Astron twin carb manifold as the test bed for my 'experiment'

Basically, all I did (literally) was place the manifold in a sturdy plastic tub, pour a cap full of "VANISH" fabric whitener, and filled the plastic till the manifold was completely submerged.......

Whilst the water was too hot for my bare hands, I decided to vaguely run the brush from an old dustpan I had lying about and mixed the Vanish in with the water and metal.......once I could tolerate the hot water, I used nothing more than a steel brissled BBQ mate (With scraper on he end) and some steel wool to get into smaller nooks and crannies.......the end result????

It got at least 90% of the dirt removed....if you're planning on painting the componentry afterwards, this could be an effective cot effective method to take.....I'm sure I could have gotten a better result if I paid more attention with the brushing (I only brushed for about 15mins) and I'm sure with a better assortment of brushes....you will reap and better result

But for less than a single dollar, and the most technical piece of equipment I used was a kettle to boil the water with......the results punched well above its weight
No need for compressors, airguns,blastings kits etc

[Belial]

Electric Boot Release.
(Copied from my other car's build)

Finally got around to installing/fabricating an electric boot release for the Pig.

I have had electric boot release for almost as long as I can remember and you don't realise how much you use the boot and have to stuff around with the keys when you go out for a cruise.

Worse yet is turning the car off to get into the boot.

I have all my crap in the boot, so if people want to check out my interior, they get an un-obstructed view.

I was toying with the idea of putting a factory style boot release on to but you still have to open the drivers side door to open the boot. (Again, at a car show, I'd have to get out my keys, unlock the drivers side door, open the door, pull the release, close the door and lock it again)

So here's what I have come up with....


Stick finger under here...



Push on button mounted into factory dimple...



....and BLAMO, the electric motor opens the boot lid.



Now of course, this is an XB Sedan BUT you can adapt the process to any car.

If you already have a manual "Pull to release" boot, you can use the same latch and affix the electric motor pull line to the same tab on the latch.

All you need to do is grab a boot motor from a wreck. The one I used was out of a VN Commodore. ( I used this as the boot lid was off the car and laying on the ground!

I refined it a little after these pic's were taken with a better push button switch from Jaycar and added a relay in the boot, feeding the motor.

[Belial]

If any of you are looking at stripping your engine bay....

Don't even bother with paint stripper.

This was all done with 1 "Flap disk"

[Scorpma82]

great work guys....thats the stuff I'd like to see be put on the site.....the lil stuff

heres a video of a guy (named Peter Anderson) thats video blogs all of his restorations....he waffles a lil bit but as far as DIY restorations are concerned.......cleardly the best in the business.....heres a sample of a small hint/tip he's done

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEnWr7cawVA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsdKYtHsSc4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVD3XvfNCGg

This guy has heeaaaps of videos on hand and I recommend looking through them
(N.B. I'm not saying this guy does everything absolutely correctly...but he does everything on his own...and uses methods that have worked for him......if you have a method that suits you..that's fine)

[Scorpma82]

Here's a lil experiment that i tried some time ago......results would be alot better with more experience (this was my first attempt)

http://www.sigma-galant.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=9732

[Scorpma82]

Another one I attempted.....same story applies with the steering in regards to quality

http://www.sigma-galant.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=9649

[Scorpma82]

bump

[Sigmaproject]

great work guys....thats the stuff I'd like to see be put on the site.....the lil stuff

heres a video of a guy (named Peter Anderson) thats video blogs all of his restorations....he waffles a lil bit but as far as DIY restorations are concerned.......cleardly the best in the business.....heres a sample of a small hint/tip he's done

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEnWr7cawVA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsdKYtHsSc4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVD3XvfNCGg

This guy has heeaaaps of videos on hand and I recommend looking through them
(N.B. I'm not saying this guy does everything absolutely correctly...but he does everything on his own...and uses methods that have worked for him......if you have a method that suits you..that's fine)

This guy is quite interesting. Subscribed to his channel..now to go video watching for a couple of hours

[Scorpma82]

You'll need more than a couple of hours lol.....but yet....I really like his blogs.....goes to great detail....very clever in producing results with limited resources