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My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 3:07 am
by shagymc
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 3:28 am
by shagymc
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 4:21 am
by shagymc
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 4:48 pm
by shagymc
Today I decided to nix a regular radio and do an iPad dash. I've built a few and with the new kits from sound man car audio, the work is pretty easy if you know what you're doing. So Here's what I started with:
I had to cut the factory radio bezel to fit the kit in at the angle I wanted. I couldn't exactly center it due to there being a small space on the right for the pad to slide into but I think it looks good regardless:
A little CA glue (super glue):
Next I mounted it in the car and used 3M 42/40 to epoxy the two pieces together. This stuff is great for plastic to plastic. It cures as ABS so it expands and contracts just like the factory dash so there's way less chance of cracking, however You only have a 90 second work time so you better be set up and ready to go.
Did a little body work, realized there was a crack (possibly from not letting it cure long enough), so I dremeled it out and re laid more 42/40 in there and now it's sitting.
I also fixed the hatch and fuel release levers while it was setting up and replaced my door poppers with new low profile ones. I'll be working on the panel above the the iPad here next and I have an idea how I want the power window switch and door pop buttons. I'll keep them coming!
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 10:39 pm
by marley4us
cant wait to see more looks cool
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 6:58 pm
by shagymc
Got the T3 coolant pipes today. Out of the box they looked great however getting them in was a bit of a struggle. The bracket that held the two together broke due to the stress I put on it from getting it in place. A little effort though and I got them in and connected and they look way better than the old make shift pipes. To get the bottom pipe to be stronger and more sturdy I drilled a hole in the broken bracket then put a hose clamp through it and around the top pipe around a coupler I cut.
I'll be out of town until the 15th but I'm gonna be working on the iPad dash next week until it's complete.
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 9:03 pm
by shagymc
Deleted to consolidate my thread
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 7:23 pm
by shagymc
Today I got home from my trip up north and got my Drift Warrior Fab bash bar mounted and My new Kouki bumper. The bar was cake to mount, utilizing the factory holes. I lost the hardware somewhere so I had to take a trip to lowes. It's also designed with mounts for the factory JDM bumper and using nuts and a washer, you can adjust the height of the bumper to fit flush. I love the design and am very happy with the way they turned out. The only issue I'm having is that one of the parking light ballasts is barely hitting. I may need to change it to a different type, but that isn't a very big deal.
It's amazing how beefy these factory bumpers are, lots of plastic. I'll be finishing up the iPad build this week hopefully and I'd also like to get the rear bash bar on.
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 7:59 pm
by shagymc
Worked on the dash a bit tonight. I got to use my Sonus filler specifically made for mobile audio applications. I wasn't sure what to expect but it laid great with minimal bubbles. It sands amazing too. I never thought there'd be a filler that sanded better than rage gold but this stuff is it. I'm shaping it with 180 grit.
Area prepped and cleaned:
Filler applied and curing:
A little sanding to try and get the shape I'm looking for:
The shape is coming together, I just need to sand a little more and get more filler on to fill the imperfections. I'm pretty happy with how it's coming together, it should have a nice factory look. I didn't take any pictures of mounting the other parking lights and getting the front bumper permanently mounted. I also continued to work on the main electronics panel, when that is finished I'll get pictures up of that too.
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 6:06 pm
by shagymc
As far as the iPad dash is concerned, I finished shaping the dash. Here I'm filling some imperfections:
This is after sanding, I know it's not perfectly centered but the right side sticks out a little bit more so it had to shift slightly left. I think it's barely noticeable though.
And finally test fitment. Everything looks great(Don't mind the crappy looking panel with the switches, that's just a test piece and not a final install).
Sunday I'll finish sanding down the rest of the panel and then lay some primer down. Should be finished by the end of the week.
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2014 8:04 pm
by shagymc
Deleted to consolidate my thread
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 6:41 pm
by shagymc
Today I got the dash finished. I hated the satin look of the paint I was using so I spent some cash and bought some SEM plastic/vinyl satin paint. I didn't take any pictures of the process but I sprayed 3 light coats over the existing paint. I let the coats 'flash' before spraying the next. After the 3 coats, I sprayed 3 dust coats with the can about 6 inches farther back from the panel. It gives a slight textured look and also takes some of the sheen out of the paint. The finished product speaks for itself. It's not a perfect paint job or fab job for that matter but it looks great to me.
The next thing I did was cut a piece of black suede to use as a soft surface for the iPad to lay on. I used some Weldwood contact cement for a solid hold and brushed it over the dash back and the suede.
I let them both get tacky then stuck the suede on. There's slight lines in the Soundman kit at the edges, so lining it up is a breeze. I'm very happy with the finished product. I just need a mini which I should be getting next week sometime to glue in the charging/output cable.
I tried to get a close up shot so you can see the texture:
I was going to do more but I couldn't find a wiring diagram for my power windows so I spent the rest of the day looking for one. I have it now though so tomorrow I'll finish the switch panel up and maybe start mocking up the speakers in the door.
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 8:20 am
by rekik
WOW... GREAT WORK!!!
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Fri May 02, 2014 6:29 pm
by shagymc
Finally got some money saved up and bought an iPad mini to finish the dash. It fits perfect and looks great!. I glued the lightening connector in and this is my finished product:
I ordered my carpet and some Hertz components so I'll be starting the door panels as soon as they show up. I'll probably start wiring the amp and run the wires this week.
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Sun May 18, 2014 10:00 pm
by shagymc
Pretty much just collecting parts right now but I'll be working through the week to make progress. I've gotten electric side mirrors, brand new interior carpet, a pair of hertz high energy components and a few other odds and ends. Hopefully I sleep a little...
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 6:04 pm
by TruenoJon
Hey man.. I gotta be 100% honest the bezel look amazing and I'm gonna go as far as asking if there's a possibility you can make one for me??? Let me know how much
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 6:56 pm
by joel23
looks good... nice build........
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 7:52 pm
by shagymc
Deleted to consolidate
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 8:28 pm
by shagymc
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 9:30 am
by TORPARTS
Damn! Awesome work! Duma Approved!
Keep it up your breaking our necks! Lol
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 4:54 pm
by shagymc
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Sat May 31, 2014 11:39 am
by yellowsnow4free
Thanks for sharing your work on repainting your mirrors! They look great
Eventually I'd like to repaint mine too, along with a lot of the other black trim on my car
Keep up the great work!
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 8:29 pm
by shagymc
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 10:34 pm
by shagymc
Deleted to consolidate my thread
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 7:53 pm
by shagymc
I know I haven't posted in a while, been busy with work and personal stuff. I still have to finish the side mirrors but I'm hoping to be done them by next weekend. Tonight I got some time to work on the ashtray bezel and tray itself. I'm just wanting to make it the same color and texture of the iPad dash. This will also fix any scratches and wear that happened due to it being almost 30 years old. I started by tearing everything out so I had just plastic.
I taped up the ashtray and sanded the front down with 320 grit(not shown). The same thing was done to the bezel itself.
After everything was sanded, it was sprayed with 3 coats of High build primer. Unfortunately, the can must have been a little clogged because the first coat of primer on the ashtray sprayed some paint debris all over it.
The Ashtray bezel:
The bezel needs some sandpaper love still, but I finished up the ashtray with 3 coats of satin black SEM paint and a dust coat and It looks good. I'll have better pictures when the whole piece is done.
Tomorrow I'm hoping to clean up the rough areas on the bezel and lay some more primer and paint however I've been working on a neighbors golf cart so it may take a back seat to that tomorrow. Updates soon
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 7:27 pm
by shagymc
I got my new hood this week, Seibon Carbon OEM, so I mounted that today. I noticed some fitment issues with the headlights so I spent most of the day trying to get them to look right. I think part of the major problem is my fenders are messed up but finding fenders at a reasonable price is almost impossible. They only seem to pop up when I don't have any money. Here's a shot of what I was working with at the start:
Then this is what I ended up with:
After I fixed that issue, I finished wiring up my switches, the driver and passenger window switches and the two door pop buttons. The LEDs around the door pop buttons matches my dash lights so that worked out well. I had to run a power window wire but that wasn't to hard. The extra wires there are for the cig lighter:
I finished up the day running an emergency pull cable for the driver door in case the solenoid fails or a fuse blows:
I still have a ton of stuff left. The paint on the heater control dash bezel turned out like **** because my cats knocked it off of the table so I need to re sand and paint again. I also need to finish the doors. I haven't decided how I want them to look yet. I have ideas brewing though. Looking at the blank is very motivating though.
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 6:55 pm
by riddleyo
Lots of good work here, keep it up.
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 10:53 pm
by shagymc
Thanks Riddleyo,
Deleted to consolidate my thread
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 8:17 pm
by shagymc
Deleted to consolidate my thread
Re: My recap and ongoing final stretch of building my Hatch
Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 8:54 pm
by shagymc
Decided to tackle the issue of not having wires ran for the power mirrors tonight. I only did the passenger side since I ran out of heat shrink but it works and that's all I care about. I started with getting the wiring diagram from the Service manual. I used it just as a guide for the hard wire. The factory switch had a plug that went into it so I tested the ignition 12v and ground connection and everything was good. In the door, I found the plug that fit the mirror harness and then cut the other end off because the plug wasn't in the kick (Which is why I had to hard wire them).
There are 3 wires that connect to the factory mirror harness. So I measured out 3 wires from the switch to the passenger door. I used red white and black. After they were cut to length I tied them to something stationary, and then twisted them together with the drill. This is something I like doing because it gives them a nice look and keeps them together for ease of routing trough the car.
Once they were twisted, I twisted and soldered on the factory plug that plugs into the mirror harness in the passenger door. I ran out of small heat shrink so I just taped up the 3 connections then used 1/4" heat shrink to keep them looking nice.
After the plug was connected, I happen to still have the dash off, so routing the wires with the factory harness was easy
Had a small helper with me
After the wires were ran to the factory switch, I just temporarily connected them to see if they would work.
The mirror worked great so tomorrow all I have to do is get some heat shrink and come home and finish the driver side and then hard wire it all to the factory switch. If anyone needs the wire colors for these let me know.