6G Celicas Forums

Wetsand and polish?

Also for those interested I found an even cheaper source of microsuede on Amazon and they have 21 colours to choose from: https://www.amazon.com/Charcoal-Microsuede-...arcoal&th=1 So far that's the cheapest I've found it anywhere, well for charcoal anyway. Was thinking depending on how well it works for the shift boot might use it for other parts of the car.

This post has been edited by Box: Sep 26, 2016 - 2:10 PM

yup. first was an initial fine polish, then decided we wanted more out of it, so 2000 grit wetsand followed by 3 stage compound/polish using the Rupes system and a rotary.

Definitely looks deeper and richer, once the rest of the car is done it should look really nice.

I don't know, I didn't look too hard and it's all loomed up, probably 14 or 16ga. 5A load per bulb roughly at 12.8ish.

Hmmmm, maybe it's time to develop some custom high beams.

I like how the upcoming Camaro ZL1 looks pretty much nothing like the 5th gen Camaro now, one of these in black would be so badass:

We only wetsanded the hood as that is the biggest part of the car. In the future, I may go back and do the entire car once the HPC glass coating has worn off and done its job.

And I would look into doing a projector retrofit for lighting if you're still on halogen housings. Beats those damn cheap ass plug'n'play BS. Retrofit kits have gotten a lot cheaper over time but still offer great performance.

Ah ok. You have one of the few cars that's red I like, the colour you ended up using is really nice. Oddly enough I hate bright plain red, but I like the medium-dark jewel toned reds.

I'm happy with the E-codes and 100W/80W bulbs currently since as far as halogen setups go it's probably as good as it gets, the problem with any kind of retrofit beyond E-codes is that they don't exist. Well there's the cheap generic stuff on eBay that's more looks than function and don't work as well as E-codes, some would probably make good candidates for breaking open and sealing a projector inside though. Which I'd like to do some kind of bi-xenon setup but it'll mean piecing together something and hoping the components exist. For the time being though where I am now is leaps and bounds ahead of the factory sealed beams, I'm actually comfortable driving at night even on low beam.

A lot of those ebay lamps have horrible glass lenses that terribly distort projector output though, useless trash.

I came across one at some point it was all plastic, but from looking at the specs for the new Morimoto D2S 4.0 there needs to be at least 117mm of housing depth and I'm just not sure it's there to be had. Of course getting the sellers re hocking all the generic eBay specials to provide dimensions is probably impossible. This is why I did what I did, not exactly what I wanted but I knew it'd all work without ripping my hair out and then I could take my time putting a HID setup together. Speaking of the D2S 4.0 from reading the writeup on the TRS site I look forward to seeing them in use.

They're looking to be pretty good projectors that's for sure. You'd need to use the lens and housing as a front and then attach the projector to the back and have it hang out the back the rest of the way, not sure you have the depth in the pop ups for that.

Had I been thinking I'd have measured out how much room there was when I had the headlamps out changing bulbs, with as long as the headlight doors are if any car with popups has a chance it'd be it. Of course this is some way downs the road, so I guess if I start collecting information now I might have all that I need by the time I'm ready to buy everything.

Honestly you'll gain width but loose the high intensity hotspot you're used to now and may not like it much at all at first or may not like it at all. Drive a car at night with HID projectors for a little bit to see if you even like it vs your blazing sunbeams you have now.

I've driven and ridden in my brother's Genesis which has H11B projectors with a HID conversion and here recently he added Morimoto H1 minis with a HID conversion for additional low beams and high in place of the H1 halogen high beam. I have noticed the lighting is more consistent in it's distribution and there aren't the obvious hot spots like how it is with my halogen setup, even before adding the H1 minis. It's a tough one as the high intensity on high beam is fantastic and I'd dare say is as good or better than HIDs, or at least the conversion style. Low beam leaves some to be desired but that's just the nature of the beast having the filament shields on low. Really that'd be the whole reason for HIDs is to get the best low beam possible, that and the extended life and lower wattage draw. Colour temperature is almost a wash since I'd want to use 4300K o.e.m. bulbs and with the higher wattage halogens getting the proper amount of voltage they're somewhere in the mid-upper 3K range easily.

Also you were right, the other night going out to dinner I came to an intersection and pulled up next to a newer car using halogens and my low beams washed them out. To be 100% honest I rather put the money into suspension first since with HIDs I'd want to use the Morimoto D2S 4.0 with Denso ballasts and Philips bulbs, almost $400 right there and then finding a housing that'd work. That's like lowering springs, control arm relocation brackets, and maybe rear shocks. *Sigh* I miss cheaper suspension parts. The coil-overs I want are $1,850 and the Watt's link conversion is like $850, though in fairness everything is made in the U.S.A. but still.

Anndddd....final-ish results:








Still got a few small spots to touch up, but overall, loving it.

Meh.

yo mama

lip is a bit chapped. needs some back to black on there.

and stop taking pictures with a potato.

Forever Black is pretty good stuff, seems to be holding up really well on my Celica plastic bits so far.