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civic
siR site : my car : history of a re-birth
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| Since
I got creashed by that @#$%& truck, my car went to the Body Shop: Autotecnica,
in Ciudad Merliot. Here is a history of a re-birth, since the car is gonna
change color (from yellow to electron blue), the rims are gonna come out
white, JDM one piece headlights, Honda motorcycle gas door, JDM taillights,
electric rear view mirrors, sedan rear door handles (with no key holes),
OEM electric keylocks, OEM siR rear
seats... that's all I can remember now. So, here is the History of my car at the Body Shop: |
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Stage One: Preparation. 1st DAY: August/12/00: 
 
My car was disasembled at every angle you can imagine on the interior of it. No seats, no roof, no sunroof, no carpets, no everything!! That's good, because it will help on giving it the right treatment it deserves. The white door you see on the car is out of a 88-89 USDM Civic (damn, I wanted JDM), and that's why it doesn't have the seat belt on. It is one good point in favor, cuz since I have my harness, I won't be needing anymore the belt. I want to buy the RH side door to macth them, without belts. We'll see... The front of the car... well, it doesn't have one now, since the procedure of instaling the EF2 front started already. That front is out of a Civic Sedan with the OEM One Piece Headlights, which I'll install now!! I already bought the electric rear view mirros (pending pic) and the JDM sedan rear door handles. 2nd DAY: August 14/00: 
 
The OEM si front was removed, and the EF2 front sitted in place. That front is different: it grows the whole lenght of the car about 3"!!!! The fender and hood of that JDM Civic are bigger than the USDM Civics! Weird. Order of the photos: 1st is the one at the left top, then start counting to your right, and last is the one at the right bottom. 1st: a pic of the white JDM front in place of the red OEM USDM front. 2nd: see haow bigger the front is? #1: is the position of the OEM USDM fender's outter screw. #2: the position of the outter JDM fender's screw. #3: see the distance from the outter JDM screw to the bottom of the fender? #4: is where the USDM fender ends. 3rd: just an explanation of the gap between the hood and the lights. That space is around 3"!!!!!! 4th: a closer look at the lights on their respective place. 5th: the gap from another point of view. I got the idea on making the Supra taillights conversion. What do you think about it? Today, I got discouraged on making the front end conversion, but we'll see what happens tomorrow... 3rd DAY: August 15/00: 
 
 
 1st: shows the gap between the JDM fender and the USDM fender. As you can see, the JDM is taller and wider than the other one. 2nd: cutting the hood. Since there's a space need to be filled, the hood needs to be cut inorder to fill that gap. 3rd: taking appart the hood. 4th: once the hood was taken appart, it was easier to measure it with the headlights on, and it was easier to see if it was gonna fit. Looks to me that everything will fit just good!!! 5th: see how that front stretches the engine bay, and thereby, the lenght of the car? 6h: the JDM small fender piece welded to the USDM fender. Now everything starts to look in place!! 7th & 8th: cutting the right side's JDM small fender piece. 9th: welding the RHS JDM fender to the USDM one. Tomorrow: the hood!!!! 4th DAY: August 16/00 
 
1st: can you see the front end fitted to the car? 2nd: the last pic of the hood as OEM. 3rd: the hood being burned and chopped. 4th: can you see my new gas cap? 5th: the gas cap from inside the car. 5th DAY: August 17/00: 
 
1st & 2nd: A lateral look of the hood as how it should fit the lamps. 3rd: a closer look at the new gas cap. 4th: the hood being prepared for welding. 5th: a 3" wide piece of metal being welded to the gap on the hood. 6th: under the hood view. 6th DAY: August 18/00: 
1st: the welded metal at the middle of the process. 2nd: the finished product: the hood on its place, like it should!!!!!!!! 3rd: a side view of the welded hood and fenders. 8th DAY: August 21/00: 
1st: there is a gap between the hood and the fenders. 2nd: the fender being prepared for finishing. 3rd: now the gap is gone, can U see it? 4th: RHS view of the hood + fender. The front end of the car is almost done. Just some finishing touches are missing, but the hard work is almost finished!! 9th DAY: August 22/00 
 
 1st: A side look of the car without its screaming yellow paint. 2nd: A closer look at the fender. 3rd: the new gas door. 4th: the car without the windshield. 5th: inside the car, withou the carpet. 6th: the machinery that makes everything possible. TENTH DAY: August 23/00: 
1st: working on the gas cap. 2nd: the gas cap finished. 12th DAY: August 25/00: 
1st: a look at the car, ready to be prepared for painting. 2nd: a look from the back. 3rd: a look from the RHS. 13th DAY: August 26/00: 
 1st: a closer view to the hood and the mods made to it. 2nd: the primer materials, and the high gloss clear coat. 14th DAY: August 27/00: 
 This 2 pics just to show you my JDM style taillights!! I lost the count/Sept/2000 
 Primer time!!!!!! The first pic ae my siR rear seats, the rest is about the primer time, from preparation to finish!!! One more week and my car will be sporting the desired Electron Blue color with white rims!!!!!!! That will be on the next column!!!!!!! |
Stage Two: Painting. Day One. 
 
The paint is ready to be sprayed!!!! The first two pics are a color sample and the bottle with the paint itself. The 3rd shows the entire car on primer. 4th-6th shows the car with the first parts painted in electron blue. Take in consideration that the car is under shadow, so the color looks a little bit darker than on the sun. I'm so happy, since 2 more weeks and the car is out!!!!! Since my point of view, the car will look cool!! Day Two. Nothing big happened, just the sanding of the primer and mask of the parts already painted. Day Three. 
 
  The whole car got painted, but the color is not what I thought/wanted it to be, it's darker and kinda purplish, but it looks good, it's just that it's not the electron blue color. Day Five. 
Remember how dissapointed I was regarding the tone/color of the new paint? Well, that was because the polishing was missing, but as you can see on the 6-7 photo, the car was polished on a small portion of it, and the true final color was revealed!!!! My God, it's just what I wanted and ever dreamed of!!!!! The shine is like a mirror, and the color is beautiful!!!!! On the first 4 pics you can see all the plastic parts (bumpers, side moldings, door handles and interior parts) with primer and the respective plastic chemical to bond it to them, so they wont pell off easyly!! Still have to paint the valve cover with the same color!! Now, I'm SUPER HAPPY with the color of the car, and I can't wait to see it finished. The rims are gonna be pure white so they contrast with the color of the car. Day Seven. 
 
 
 
Plastic painting day. All the plastic parts: bumpers, door moldings, door handles, rear view mirrors, interior audio console and some other parts where painted today. Everything starts to fall in its place, and it seems closer the day that the car is gonna come out of the shop. Luis, the owner, says that next tuesday will be the date, but they'll try to get it out by saturday since sunday is a quarter mile in Santa Ana, and I want to take it there for SHOW OFF!!!!! Another thing: I learned that the One Piece Headlights work like this: on the outer part of the headlight you have a H4 bulb, which is low and hi beam on the same bulb. So the inner part of the headlght is for another light. The stock light that comes in it is a 55W, but I'm gonna install 100W yellow fow light, and hyper white on the low-hi section. The pics from first until the lights are the parts painted without clear coat. After the beams, they have the clear coat, and ready to be installed on the LBM. Day Nine. 
 
 
The rims where painted. At last!! They look kewl!!!!! Also, there is a pic of the color combo that the seats will sport: red/blue. Still missing the logo on the seat, which will be done tomorrow. Also, the mechanic started to put together the car, all the pieces that where taken apart. Looks like saturday will be the day, but next week will be the polishing of it!!!!! Day Ten. 
 
 
 
the 6th pic is the front finished!!! OH MAN, I JUST LOVE IT!!!! I can't wait to drive around my new BLUE car. Other misc pics of the ride, and some info on the differences between the HB manual rear view mirrors and the Sedan electric ones!! Take a look at the Sedan door handles without key holes, the interior parts painted and the JDM style taillights!!!! I can't wait to have it on my hand and start driving around with it!!!!!! Day Eleven 
The dash was painted, not all of it, but the part that goes below the windshield. 2nd: a pic of the computer monitor for the siR logo ready to be embroided on the cloth. Too bad I wasn't able to see the machine actually do it!!!!! :-( 3rd: the interior of the LBM on the first stages of assembly. 4th: The solution for the gas cap. 5th: The dash almost ready! 6 & 7th: the logos on the new upholster of the seats. Day Fourteen. 
 
 
Wow, this day has been BEAUTIFUL. I got a new set of Falken 205/40 tires, the rims are complete, the car was moved from the position its been for the last month or so, the paint of the valve cover was taken away in order to paint it Electron Blue, the RHS was totally polished to its final shine, and oh boy, the car looks just BEAUTIFUL!!!!! I'm so happy, and I can barely contain myself to have it on my hands and cruise!!!!!! Day Fifteen. New windshield in place. Both sides of the car are polished and with the respective rear windows in place, as well as rear view mirrors. Day Sixteen. The LHS was polished. New white faced cluster was put in place. You must be in front of it to see the shine!!! The car looks terrific!!!!! October 14th. the car is on my garage, just have to connect the new 1 piece headlights (i'll do that tomorrow) and check some other minor electrical conections. The car looks great man, I've already turned some heads on the street!!!!! END OF UPDATES. |
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graphic design:
pedro velado | copyright
| all rights reserved |
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