Finally!

[Thomas91169]

Took some days off work to have some fun with the cobra.

Yesterday (Wed) and today i will tackle the outside. Started off by washing with dish soap to remove old waxes and residues, and then claybarred the entire car. then hit it up with Optimum Compound on the upper surfaces (hood, roof, decklid) to remove as much swirls, chips, scratches, etc that i could. Used the orange pad and PC on 6krpm. removed alot of little chips on the front bumper and hood areas from rocks, looks really nice now. Still have a few larger chips that wouldnt come out.

3/4 way done with polishing the car. Still have to do the passenger side tomorrow. Using Optimum Polish with the orange pad at 6k as well. two passes on upper surfaces.

Will also seal with Optimum Poly-Seal (white pad at 6k, one pass) and wax (Natty's Blue applied with microfiber) today.

Friday i will tackle wheels and interior. Gonna remove all 4 corners and hit them up with Natty's Wheel Wax inside and out. *Might* spray my calipers red while im at it. might be too red for a redfire though, gonna try to find the one you mix and paint on so i can mix it with a little black to darken it up to match redfire better. Interior ill just go to town with Meguiars stuff and a microfiber. Also got these foam closures from work that we use between our panels, they are like a self-adhesive 1/2" x 1/2" x 1/4" tall foam block. Gonna use those fuckers on like every panel i can take off and stick them behind. Got the idea from Dodge, took my buddy's neon faceplate off and they use Felt strips between any plastic connections. Ingenius. We used these on his rear panels and imagine that, no more rattle!

If i have time i will start the Catback Polishing process. gonna use the writeup we have in our ME Articles from SpecV. Im going for that insane-o mirrored look, so gonna spend extra time with the 2000 grit. Going to use the PC to polish it, will have to see how that works. I have a Mothers PowerBall too just in case.

Saturday im gonna track down some NGK TR6IX, a fuel filter and finish the exhaust. after i wake up from my hangeover.

Sunday i might just drive it.

Gotta shop for a deck too, my Alpine 7998's LCD died. Plays music and searches fine, but you have no idea what you are doing if you try to do anything more than next/last track. thinking about a CDA 9884, pretty cheap and does what i need it to do. Only thing i wish it had is USB and Bluetooth but those decks are too pricey still.

lately ive been in the dumps with the car, random rattles and noises getting me down about it, but i think sometimes we lose touch and just need to spend some time to get re-acquainted with our possessions. Moved the GSX to the street even though my buddy is currently borrowing my exhaust manifold (worst sound evar is a 4cyl with no exhaust manifold). Really, spending even just 4 hours with it today, going into the garage and seeing it there all shiney (and im not even halfway done!) just is a good feeling. Maybe i need to do this more often. Tackling one issue at a time hopefully, ill get her all back to her good graces.

[wiarumas]

now thats a true american way of spending the 4th.

[Brent]

Sounds productive man

[Thomas91169]

Paint:







Wheels:





Polishing Exhaust:





(just washed the driver side in these pics)
















Thats where im at now. Pics of the paint came out shitty, its not hazy at all in person, and unlike my last detail, i have zero swirls whatsoever. Worked the wheels inside and out, and cleaned the wheel wells pretty dam good (like OCD good)

Cant get the polished catback to turn out like a mirror shine like others have been able to do with the same techniques. Im doing the whole speil, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500 grit and then polishing with a powerball and drill. I was using Mothers Mag and Aluminum for a bit, but switched over to this Blue Magic stuff that worked way better. I then got sick of the powerball wanting to always work its way off the pipe, and took out my pc and this stiff ass foam pad that came with it and used that on the pipes. Then again, my pipes are about 64k old, they were the original owners first mod done a week after purchasing the car, so theyre a bit abused. However it has made a world of difference and makes them look like new, and will definitely clean up the rear end as far as looks go.

BTW im digging the sound of the bassani c/b with no tailpipes. I only had enough time today to do the drivers side tails. Very deep and rumbly sounding, and uber loud in throttle. And unlike before, it doesnt mellow out around 2k, it keeps getting louder with rpm. Needless to say my mileage this tank will suffer greatly.

[1234]

Nice!!

[SpectorV]

nice, the shine may be due to the type of metal, some may not shine~ mine needs to be built up more and wet sanded to get the mirror shine. You may need to simply spend more time polishing, I spent 3-4 hours per pipe polishing.

[Herbstang]

Very Nice !!

[Thomas91169]

Quote: Originally Posted by SpectorV nice, the shine may be due to the type of metal, some may not shine~ mine needs to be built up more and wet sanded to get the mirror shine. You may need to simply spend more time polishing, I spent 3-4 hours per pipe polishing.

ive spent around 5 hours with the drivers side on the process. but then again, its 110* out, so im probably working a little slower. On the Pass side, i might get some pads for my PC and sand the shit out of the pipes, take out all the little imperfections from the manufacturing process, and go from there. or hell, maybe i should stop wasting my time and just get them chromed.

I havent started the passenger side yet. Im actually loving driving around with no tailpipes and basically Bassani c/b dumped at the mufflers. Sounds freaking awesome. I wish they made a black plastic rear lip thingy with no dual cutouts cause id freaking run like this forever if it didnt look so doofy with the cutouts there and no pipes. I wonder if its easy to take off, maybe make one out of fiberglass, paint it black and reattach it.

[Fishers Stang]

wow man that looks great. your doing a great job! I wish I spent the 4th weekend cleaning my car but I drove 12hrs to meet up with my GF at her internship to ask her to be my wife sooo i guess it was time well spent! haha I love the black rims also.

[Zim]

hey if you're interested i have a kenwood kdc-x891 (google that bitch) that has available bluetooth, has a usb attachment, and i have an ipod attachment. I used it for like 2 months in my mustang before i sold it. if you're interested ill sell it pretty cheap and its a sweet deck

[Thomas91169]

hrm. Im an Alpine whore to be honest. I really like the CDA-9884, however i really want USB connectivity, as i store most my music on my BBPearl's flash drive cause we cant stream at work and radio reception sucks (not to mention the only stations that do come in are Spanish!)

Have you tried the USB interface? If i get bored this weekend i might to try some of the USB interfaces, i want to see if they pickup a phone as a mass storage device or if you have to play the audio on the phones onboard music player and the deck picks up the audio through the usb.

PM me your ME homeboy hookup!

[Zim]

Well here it is

[Zim]

Id probably sell it for 175 shipped

[Thomas91169]

I think i figured out the whole polishing thing.

yesterday i just took the 1000grit and 1500grit and just sanded one little spot vigorously for hella long (i was watching nascar so it didnt seem too long), after a bit the shine really starts to come through, especially when you move up to the 1500g. Still some spots (like bends and weld areas) just wont shine up. Finished both sides and just too damn lazy to reinstall the pipes (plus its hot as fuck and you cant taste the smoke in the air from all the forest fires and the smoke just sitting in the valley with 0 wind). Gonna drive around another week without tails! i love it!

[nighthawk756]

Nice!! Lookin' good!!

I desperately need to clay bar my car. I need to get busy.

[Thomas91169]

Polished C/B turned out nice.




and the obligatory Domestic vs, uhh, Domestic:

[1234]

That looks damn good