HERE WE GO

HICAS lock bar arrived at work this morning.

Immediately made the call to Dennis. Bringing car in on Wednesday night, work will be done on Thursday with hopefully Friday as buffer - Saturday pick up, very optimistic!

192 LEDs!!!

On the public holiday (thank you dear ANZACs) I decided to finally get a project done – modifying my reverse lights from a single globe to double LED panels. Yes. That is correct. This was relatively simple, merely time consuming. All I needed was:
LED panels (ebay!)
Solder kit (mate lent me his)
Oven
Reverse lights (I bought a spare set from a wreck to practice on/in case something went wrong)
Tape

screw driver.I’ll let the pics speak for themselves.

 

 Polish up the lenses with Glassylite!

Practice solder and tape with an old LED panel

Accidentally snapped the wiring while stripping the plastic so had to resolder it together.

Two panels together. 48 LED x 2 … hehehe This is just for one side!

Taped up the wires

Stuck it in the civic to test out the soldering – PERFECT!

Come back and work on second set – above, pictured are the complete panels + reverse light housings

That spare perspex is really coming in handy. Used it as backing to make the panels stand up inside the housing. Superglue!

Plug in, tape up the wiring, glue the bottom and put into position – wait around 30-60min to set.

We have a winner.

Also, picked this up on Friday….heeee heeeee heeeeee

And stuck this guy in the car too! However as I predicted, his head is too heavy and there’s no good surface to mount him in the 34′s dash. So I found an even better place…he sits IN the ashtray now (pics later!). Thanks mate!

And a quick note: King springs + Bilsteins have arrived. Now waiting for some cash + HICAS lock bar and then I can send Mr Skyline into the shop!

Hurry up!

Would like to sell my TE37s so I have extra cash to buy other stuffsssssssss!

Like: Cusco catch can, sway bars, LABOUR, proper project Kics nuts....

Few more to add

Well, been looking around and also realised there's a few things I forgot off my previous list.

• Fix up security
• Swap out gauges! Want black faced gauges. GReddy preferably!

Also LED dome lights have arrived, and that means reverse lights =) helllllll yeahhhhhhhh can't wait for some BRIGHT LIGHTS! And stuck one into the civic already for interior. It's a very nice pure white, not blue-ish at all.

and an update, from Feb 25:

1. Camber kits - KCA347/348
2. Castor kit - I don't think I need this actually, since I have adjustable castor rods...
3. Coilovers
4. Tyres
5. Stickers, valves, caps, etc.
6. REAR INNER TIE RODS!!! - High priority  

I.E. ALL ORDERED!

Looking ahead

Alright so I've got a massive backlog of stuff to put into the car - what I'll call 'Stage 1' modifications. But already I'm thinking ahead. So here's a quick list of what is projected to get done this year, and that will be that for the year. The first two items are really more suspension parts so they belong to Stage 1 but, I haven't bought them yet so I'm just sticking them in so I remember too.

HICAS lock bar

Front and rear sway bars (maybe)

FMIC

Optimise exhaust

Nistune + tune

Now let's have a quick look at the cost of this...sad face!

HICAS lock bar - 60-100$

Front and rear sway bars (maybe) - $400

FMIC - $600?

Optimise exhaust - ???

Nistune + tune - $1000

So that's at LEAST $2000 still to go.

More things to do

Great news:

Have finally decided upon suspension, and I've gone with a set of Bilsteins. It will be a shock + spring setup so not on-car height adjustable but it will bring both comfort and handling at the same time. I've paid for them so now am waiting for confirmation of receipt of payment...then things will be underway for them to be sent over!

Few things to do either soon or when I have time:

• Paint brake calipers
• Oops, that's all.

Nah, just kidding. I have a LOT of stuff to put on - but this will wait till after I get my handling/suspension sorted, then everything will go in the car at once -and boy I've got some nice things to put in the car. CAN'T WAIT.

Also, reminder to self: call Leon when I have money!

It's been a while

Been a bit quiet lately, mainly because it's leading up to SUSPENSION TIME. Visited Dennis at Grim Performance and had a chat, most likely will take my car and parts there to him and let him take care of it. Knows what he's doing for sure, I trust him. So just waiting to find the right set of coilovers or shocks/springs. Will be MASSIVE update very soon as I've had bits and pieces arrive here and there, I don't want to put any on yet until I get the suspension fixed up. Then everything will be sweet as.

Quick arrival update: wheel centre caps and NISMO stickers arrived from Jesse Streeter today, excellent customer service and turnaround times. Will definitely use his services again in the future - and if you want to source Japanese parts, GO TO HIM!