Total newbie finally begins his modifications - Page 3 - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums

Compunerd · 06-21-2012, 10:00 PM

Just finalized the purchase of the ABL panels through the classifieds here on Camaro5, so I'll post pics when I get them installed. Finally got my cup holder plate from ChevyMall shipped to me, and it should arrive tomorrow. Cup holder lighting FTW!

Compunerd · 07-04-2012, 06:57 PM

I got pulled over a couple nights ago after going to the midnight showing of The Amazing Spider-Man... for not having a front license plate. Seriously? Half the people in this city don't have a front license plate.

Ordered a no-drill bent style front license plate bracket from JacFab.

Douchebag cop owes me $73.

Compunerd · 07-10-2012, 03:40 AM

I installed my ABL panels and lighting, and got my dash ABL installed as well. I'm not too happy with my dash, though. The light is too bright on the ends, but dims a lot VERY quickly towards the middle of the panel. I sanded the trim a bit to let the light through, but it didn't help much at all.

I may have to look at the el wire solution for ABL if I can't figure out how to fix this.

red70tvhs · 07-10-2012, 04:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hakai20

I got pulled over a couple nights ago after going to the midnight showing of The Amazing Spider-Man... for not having a front license plate. Seriously? Half the people in this city don't have a front license plate.

Ordered a no-drill bent style front license plate bracket from JacFab.

Douchebag cop owes me $73.

great work so far! Sexy Cars attract cops, its one of those evils. A State trooper pulled me one day and inspected my GTO unbelievably... Last time it got inspected like that was when I took it off the dealer lot... after listing all my "no no's" on his handy dandy notepad, he proceeded to tell me he was about to write me for 7 tickets, asked me if I would step out so he could see my rear window tint from the inside, I said sure, He poked his head inside and said "well it would be 8... but I gotta ask, is that your assault pack?" I said yes sir it is he replied "are you in the army? if so may I please see your ID?" I showed it to him, and his exact words "Well from one army dog to another I'l let you go this time, BUT if I ever see this car again and you havent got everything, now I mean everything fixed on this car, I'l have it towed and impounded, and This is way to pretty of a car to be drug onto a rollback... You have a nice day now!" Did I fix anything? Nah... did I avoid that area... Yeah... lol diddnt cost me any money luckily... Unless he wants to give me 8.99 for a new pack of hanes lmao.

Compunerd · 07-11-2012, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by red70tvhs

great work so far! Sexy Cars attract cops, its one of those evils. A State trooper pulled me one day and inspected my GTO unbelievably... Last time it got inspected like that was when I took it off the dealer lot... after listing all my "no no's" on his handy dandy notepad, he proceeded to tell me he was about to write me for 7 tickets, asked me if I would step out so he could see my rear window tint from the inside, I said sure, He poked his head inside and said "well it would be 8... but I gotta ask, is that your assault pack?" I said yes sir it is he replied "are you in the army? if so may I please see your ID?" I showed it to him, and his exact words "Well from one army dog to another I'l let you go this time, BUT if I ever see this car again and you havent got everything, now I mean everything fixed on this car, I'l have it towed and impounded, and This is way to pretty of a car to be drug onto a rollback... You have a nice day now!" Did I fix anything? Nah... did I avoid that area... Yeah... lol diddnt cost me any money luckily... Unless he wants to give me 8.99 for a new pack of hanes lmao.

Yeah cops can be jerks when the jealousy flares up. So can regular people, too. Tonight I had some jackass in an old beat up pickup tailing me all over town flashing his brights in my eyes every chance he got. At first I thought he was trying to tell me something like my brights were on, but they weren't. After nearly a mile of this and several turns that would make a cop think I was drunk, I finally said screw it and went to the store like I originally planned... he followed me into the parking lot and sped off as I was opening my door.

Haters gonna hate. Though I'd have been PISSED if he rear ended me while acting like a jackass.

Compunerd · 07-11-2012, 01:19 AM

Got my ABL installed MOSTLY to my liking... the weatherstripping helped out a LOT. it still fades a little bit for about 6 inches or so toward the center of the dash, but for now I'm satisfied with where it's at. I'll probably go back and readjust the weatherstripping again later on, but for now I'm tired of jacking around with it.

I also need to come up with a solution for the ends of the panels where light shines out at my door panels through the gaps between the dash and the trim. It's also MUCH brighter on the end by the passenger side where the light is mounted. I'd like to tone that down a bit and make it flow evenly across the whole panel.

I used the wiring harness 2SSRS/Ofer offers at gen5diy.com. The thing was a definite life saver since the stock harnesses for the ABL aren't in my car. I attached it to the wiring harness beneath the center console. Putting the panel back on was a tight fit, but I made it work with a little finagling and wire adjustment.

I got my cup holder lights installed as well.

Compunerd · 07-17-2012, 05:44 PM

Had a mishap with the dremel the other day, got a LOVELY little scuff on my trunk lid. Thankfully, it's not bad, or I'd still be in the fetal position, crying.

Time to warm up the buffer.

Compunerd · 07-19-2012, 08:51 PM

I went and bought some Quixx Paint Scratch Remover and destroyed that scuff like the fist of an angry god. Pretty impressive how well Quixx works, if you ask me.

Culb · 10-12-2012, 04:08 PM

Hakai, I see what you're saying about it being a little brighter in some places but even in spite of that the inside of your car looks so amazing. I'm very jealous right now.

Compunerd · 10-15-2012, 11:37 PM

Got my set of black CF NS-1 stripes about a month ago. I love the look!

I also bought a set of SLP fade-to-black gill stripes to give the side of the car a bit more character. From a distance, these stripes make the gills look like actual functioning vents.

Next, when looking at the car from the front or rear, I decided the extra width from the black roof ditch mouldings made the flow of the stripes look off. I ordered a can of SIM spray paint and some flex primer from paintscratch.com, and painted my roof ditch mouldings. You can kinda see them in the pictures below, but I don't have close ups yet. I will take some soon and post them.

Lastly, I ordered a blue LED rear bowtie from AAC. I got it installed, but since my car is a 2011 model, I had to drill a hole in the trunk to feed the wiring through. Talk about nerve wracking! I think it looks good, though, so the risk was worth the reward.

Compunerd · 10-16-2012, 04:06 AM

The car has just under 12k miles on it, and about 6k of those are after I decided I should install a catch can. So... the next "big" mod will be an RX Catch Can/Breather Cap. I'm already kicking myself for waiting this long.

agent_z28 · 10-20-2012, 01:58 AM

I love your interior lighting, it looks even and professional when lit. And the wire-light looks cool, I havent seen that before.

Compunerd · 10-20-2012, 02:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by agent_z28

I love your interior lighting, it looks even and professional when lit. And the wire-light looks cool, I havent seen that before.

What exactly are you referring to when you say "wire-light"

Culb · 11-02-2012, 12:47 PM

By the way Hakai, I thought I should mention that when you installed your afterburners you're supposed to tap 2 wires into the same tap, then clip that into the tail light of your choosing. If I hadn't read that on other threads I probably would have purchased more taps as well, but the 4 they provided worked for my afterburner install. You might already know this information by now though.

07-11-2012, 01:19 AM	#34
Compunerd Drives: 2011 1LT SIM Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Quincy, Illinois Posts: 161 View My Garage	Got my ABL installed MOSTLY to my liking... the weatherstripping helped out a LOT. it still fades a little bit for about 6 inches or so toward the center of the dash, but for now I'm satisfied with where it's at. I'll probably go back and readjust the weatherstripping again later on, but for now I'm tired of jacking around with it. I also need to come up with a solution for the ends of the panels where light shines out at my door panels through the gaps between the dash and the trim. It's also MUCH brighter on the end by the passenger side where the light is mounted. I'd like to tone that down a bit and make it flow evenly across the whole panel. I used the wiring harness 2SSRS/Ofer offers at gen5diy.com. The thing was a definite life saver since the stock harnesses for the ABL aren't in my car. I attached it to the wiring harness beneath the center console. Putting the panel back on was a tight fit, but I made it work with a little finagling and wire adjustment. I got my cup holder lights installed as well. Attached Images Last edited by Compunerd; 07-11-2012 at 01:37 AM.

07-17-2012, 05:44 PM	#35
Compunerd Drives: 2011 1LT SIM Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Quincy, Illinois Posts: 161 View My Garage	Had a mishap with the dremel the other day, got a LOVELY little scuff on my trunk lid. Thankfully, it's not bad, or I'd still be in the fetal position, crying. Time to warm up the buffer. Attached Images

07-19-2012, 08:51 PM	#36
Compunerd Drives: 2011 1LT SIM Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Quincy, Illinois Posts: 161 View My Garage	I went and bought some Quixx Paint Scratch Remover and destroyed that scuff like the fist of an angry god. Pretty impressive how well Quixx works, if you ask me. Attached Images

10-15-2012, 11:37 PM	#38
Compunerd Drives: 2011 1LT SIM Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Quincy, Illinois Posts: 161 View My Garage	Got my set of black CF NS-1 stripes about a month ago. I love the look! I also bought a set of SLP fade-to-black gill stripes to give the side of the car a bit more character. From a distance, these stripes make the gills look like actual functioning vents. Next, when looking at the car from the front or rear, I decided the extra width from the black roof ditch mouldings made the flow of the stripes look off. I ordered a can of SIM spray paint and some flex primer from paintscratch.com, and painted my roof ditch mouldings. You can kinda see them in the pictures below, but I don't have close ups yet. I will take some soon and post them. Lastly, I ordered a blue LED rear bowtie from AAC. I got it installed, but since my car is a 2011 model, I had to drill a hole in the trunk to feed the wiring through. Talk about nerve wracking! I think it looks good, though, so the risk was worth the reward. Attached Images

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06-21-2012, 10:00 PM	#29
Compunerd Drives: 2011 1LT SIM Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Quincy, Illinois Posts: 161 View My Garage	Just finalized the purchase of the ABL panels through the classifieds here on Camaro5, so I'll post pics when I get them installed. Finally got my cup holder plate from ChevyMall shipped to me, and it should arrive tomorrow. Cup holder lighting FTW!

07-04-2012, 06:57 PM	#30
Compunerd Drives: 2011 1LT SIM Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Quincy, Illinois Posts: 161 View My Garage	I got pulled over a couple nights ago after going to the midnight showing of The Amazing Spider-Man... for not having a front license plate. Seriously? Half the people in this city don't have a front license plate. Ordered a no-drill bent style front license plate bracket from JacFab. Douchebag cop owes me $73.

07-10-2012, 03:40 AM	#31
Compunerd Drives: 2011 1LT SIM Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Quincy, Illinois Posts: 161 View My Garage	I installed my ABL panels and lighting, and got my dash ABL installed as well. I'm not too happy with my dash, though. The light is too bright on the ends, but dims a lot VERY quickly towards the middle of the panel. I sanded the trim a bit to let the light through, but it didn't help much at all. I may have to look at the el wire solution for ABL if I can't figure out how to fix this.

10-12-2012, 04:08 PM	#37
Culb Drives: 2012 2LS Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Memphis Posts: 62 View My Garage	Hakai, I see what you're saying about it being a little brighter in some places but even in spite of that the inside of your car looks so amazing. I'm very jealous right now.

10-16-2012, 04:06 AM	#39
Compunerd Drives: 2011 1LT SIM Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Quincy, Illinois Posts: 161 View My Garage	The car has just under 12k miles on it, and about 6k of those are after I decided I should install a catch can. So... the next "big" mod will be an RX Catch Can/Breather Cap. I'm already kicking myself for waiting this long.

10-20-2012, 01:58 AM	#40
agent_z28 Drives: yyy Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: 888 Posts: 67 View My Garage	I love your interior lighting, it looks even and professional when lit. And the wire-light looks cool, I havent seen that before.

11-02-2012, 12:47 PM	#42
Culb Drives: 2012 2LS Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Memphis Posts: 62 View My Garage	By the way Hakai, I thought I should mention that when you installed your afterburners you're supposed to tap 2 wires into the same tap, then clip that into the tail light of your choosing. If I hadn't read that on other threads I probably would have purchased more taps as well, but the 4 they provided worked for my afterburner install. You might already know this information by now though.