Monday, January 14, 2019

More Car Stuff

Here's a couple of the things I've been up to. Finally made some progress on getting a bit more black paint on Scruffy. After I got my gravy (a new record amount!) I went to Home Depot for some interior paint and spray black paint.

I was mostly wanting to get the hood painted, as it was the only panel of a completely different color. There were a few scratches to fill. While I was at it, I did the front bumper and the passenger side fender. I guess the front bumper had some different color, too, where scrapes had been painted over by the previous owner. The first round came out fairly terrible, I got a lot of runs. Lord help me, I'm just not that good at spray painting! The bumper and fender came out pretty good, but the hood didn't get the satin look. Looks like straight flat black. Still better than it was. You can see I had the trim over the window on that side off for painting, but I cracked the plastic on the next one back. I epoxied it back together, and it still needs to be sanded.

Onto Jade, I bought my wife a new stereo for her for Christmas. Tried to get the same one that I'd gotten for Scruffy, but apparently it's no longer available. Had to go up several model numbers, and it seems very similar. A few minor moves of the buttons and a smooth knob are all I can see that's different.

For the first time, I got a plug in wiring harness adapter. I was able to do all my soldering and shrink tubing at the kitchen table, a real plus this time of year with it getting dark so early. Worked flawlessly! All in all, the installation went fairly smoothly.

She loves being able to play music from her phone through it, and the customizable lighting! Purple, of course!

And finally, something my wife got for me for Christmas, new floor mats for Scruffy! They're cut to size, and I think they may be the best I've ever gotten! A few cuts, and they fit right in and lay nice and flat, and stay put!

2 comments:

Aye said...

A couple other little things I did:

Put in the window regulator for Jade's drivers side rear window. That has been bad since we got her.

Opened up the inside of the hub area on Scruffy's rims. They fit, but are snug going on, and require a few (or several) rubber mallet whacks to remove. Didn't want to get stranded with a hard to remove rim! One guy on a forum had stated it just needed a few seconds with a hone, but due to the construction a hone doesn't actually work. Die grinder does.

The mirror dash cam in Jade for some reason would never overwrite the old files. Every few days, the card would be full, and you'd need to re-format it. Of course, this was all too much for my wife (and truly a bit of a pain, not to mention defeating the purpose if it were full and something happened). Happened on one with a touch screen for less than the previous ones, so I got it. Figured it would be an easy install, just swap the mirror and plugs. I was half right. The power plug worked fine, but the rear camera plug is a smaller size. Bought an adapter for $5 to keep from having to run the wiring again, but that didn't work. Ran the wire to the trunk and plugged it into the rear camera, and that didn't work, either! Had to change the camera, too!

Realized that I haven't changed the oil in Jade since we'd got her. Thought she had an oil change light, but apparently not. Funny thing, the '99 model is a change over year, has the 3rd generation style engine (at least on some), but the 2nd generation body, interior and electronics. Anyway, did the usual and bought the oil from my work and the filter from the Auto Zone by my work. This was on Thursday. The guy at Auto Zone tells me that they're having a promo on Saturday where you can bring your old oil filter in, and get a new one! Of course, puts me under the gun to get it done on Friday, and it's only from 10 till 2, while I'm at work. Did the deed, and ran over on my lunch break. Not only did I get the filter, they also gave me a slick double chamber oil filter recycling container, a funnel and a rag!

Aye said...

Two other things:

1. Those boss floor mats are still outgassing the rubber or adhesive, they've smelled real strong when I first put them in, and still have a bit of stink to them.

2. Just today the other side rear window regulator went out on Jade. That, and another center cap for Scruffys' wheels are now on my shopping list.