Operation X

Well it looks like I do have a leak in the system. Since it started after the new pump, I’ll pull it back out and see what I can find.

I’ve been meaning to grab some pics of my projectors at night and I did. Of course my new phone has a much better camera than the old phone. So the pics looks underexposed compared to the others but you get the picture.

Bottom line is I like my projectors.

Stock:

C-10 Conversion

Low:

High:

Custom Projectors

Low:

High:

So, I tackled a few annoyances this weekend. First, I replaced the Driver HID ballast as it was on the fritz. TRS replaced it free of charge. (5 year warranty)

Second was to tackle a few hiccups on my Keyless ignition. Third was to swap my headunit back to the 6300 since my din and a half decided to go bad or at least sick with static and popping. Not bad for a 10+year old headunit that has been used pretty heavy.

Step one unhook everything. :-\ I really didn’t want to. I took a picture to remember the colors and thankfully so because I had forgotten what pink was.

Upon inspection it seems these cheap fuses are terrible. Every one of these fuses melt under a load. I need to throw these fuses away. They suck.

Another potential problem was cheap relays.

This one is the “On” relay. It carries the current when the car is running. Seems buying robust components is important if you want a reliable system. Go figure.

I got the relays hooked up and then realized I’m out of electrical tape.

A quick run to Lowe’s and problem solved.

Fuse replaced and its ready for install.

Hours later:

To celebrate, I washed the car. Finally.

I got bored, so I decided to fix a sticker that I noticed was not up to par.

The new one doesn’t flow as well, but oh well.

My fuel system continues to have problems.

It left me on the side of the road yesterday after work. My knowing that I have a fuel leak assumed that whatever was leaking just finally let go and holds no pressure.

I first had to unhook the speaker box from over my fuel pump hatch and thats no easy task. I peeled back the carpet. Luckly had the tools in the car to pull the pump. It’s still a bitch to unhook the lines over the tank as I didn’t cut the hatch big enough to reach them easily.

But I did manage to pull the pump after an hour of messing around. I checked everything. I reseated the primary and tightened the hose clamp at the pump and checked the line for splits. nothing looked out of place. :-\

So I put everything back together and tried to start the car. Nothing.

So following my second instinct. Check the simple stuff.  Turned out to be the fuel pump relay. I’m so stupid. It would have taken me 5 mins to find it but I decided to make an idiot out of myself instead. Go me.

So since I’ve been tinkering with the car a bit, I decided to tackle one of the projects revisions that I’ve been wanting to do.

I have not liked the Color rendering of the LEDs in my dome light that I modified.

And for those who don’t know what color rendering is, the quick version is the ability of light produce color on objects. its get really complicated but the yellow street lights that make you look all the same color have a low CRI (color rendering index) at around 30. A standard light bulb has a CRI of 100. meaning it renders color 100% essentially. Fluorescent and LEDs usually have a CRI of 80 which is what most artificial light is standard at.

So what’s the problem? Well, LEDs themselves cannot be “white”. They can look white but they do not produce 100% white light. Its works by 1 of 2 ways. 1.) A combination of Blue Diode and Yellow substrate which most/all 5mm or similar LEDs are. They are the Cheaper kind. or 2.) They are Blue LEDs that are behind a White Phosphor which will react to blue light. The mix of phosphor determines the color of the light and the CRI.

Bottom line if something like a red LED only puts out red light, things can only reflect red light. red things look red and blue things look black because they don’t reflect red. Believe it or not that is the short version.

So my first install looked like this. As you can see everything looks the same color while in fact they are not. If your working in the back and trying to locate a red wire is somewhat challenging.

Old LED setup:

This is the new LEDs that I acquired from work. These require a heat sink of some kind to keep the heat away from the leds. A piece of sheet Aluminum is more than enough.

Its pretty thin.

Black finishes the inside of the dome:

It looks pretty sexy so far.

So to recap this is the old output and appearance.

And here is the new LED Strip. So much win.

This is without the lens on because its super bright without it.

This is a super overexposed shot to show the difference front to back.

Well, G19 is right around the corner and here is my list this year. It’s not very long thankfully.

-Finish the interior (headliner, door panel swap, etc)
-Rims/Tires
-Looking into power window conversion (aftermarket, considering I don’t have the wiring for stock)
-Basic tune up and maybe some repairs here and there

This year I might actually get to check off all of them. LOL

So, I get to check off one of them right now

I managed to catch set of C5 rims with a decent set of tires on them.

I had to drive to AL to get them but it was worth the drive I think

they were pretty dirty so I decided to give them a good scrub and polish

I was so happy it turned out to be 65 on saturday because it made this not so bad to do

By the end of saturday they were all polished. I just needed to clean up the mess and mount them.

On sunday, Damn it was cold. It went from 65 on saturday to a low of 20 saturday night. I’ve never seen a 45 deg shift in one day. Hey Winter, I hate you!

I did manage to mount and clean them up. The car is still filthy but at least the rims distract you from that.

It honestly doesn’t look like my car anymore. I’m so used to black salad shooters.

To anyone that is mounting c5 rims on an LT1 hubs, get ready to file or sand material out of the center. It’s about .015″ smaller than you need it to be to fit. Nothing a minute or 2 with a round file couldn’t fix.

So by now I usually have my gathering plans as to what I will have done in time for G19.

My list is small, which makes it easy lol

–First thing was the rims, which is done.

–Interior- Finish it. (Door panels, headliner, new steering wheel, etc)

-I’m going to try and clean up some wiring for like the stereo and such to get it looking cleaner.

–The Big thing on the list this year, besides the wheels, is what I’m calling an Autoloc conversion. Autoloc is a company that offers modular components that update an old car to have new car features. power windows, locks, keyless ignition, and a number of other stuff.

I’m going to convert my doors to power (windows, locks)

I’m also going to get an RFID module that will immobilize the car when I walk away and also lock the doors. When I return it will unlock the doors, completely hands free.

Finally, I’ll be ditching my touch screen ignition. I’m sorta heart broken to do it. I’m proud of it and it’s been a very reliable system. The downside is that it uses batteries. Which will fail at some point. I’m going with a more conventional push button start. That should be more reliable and have a greater shelf life than my battery operated system.

My goal is to never have to pull my keys out of my pocket.

The power windows are a universal kit that attaches to the crank. I hope that it works as well as the factory and maybe even survives longer