VT Berlina - Leather, Lowered, 18" Inters

[bpottz]

1998 VT Berlina Daily
Just a stocker v6
Fully optioned inc. Black Leather interior

Lowered
De-Badged (Except for Lion's)
18" Calais Internationals
Resonator Removed - Stainless Steel Twin Tip
Calais Grill
Series II Indicators

Next Up:
Remove trolley strips
Cut + Polish
White Walls

any comments/suggestions appreciated

Cheers, Ben.

[bpottz]

basically looking to make a nice looking cruiser, as a daily, its only a v6 - not worth doing power mods.

trying to keep everything legal. well, as legal as humanly possible

[bpottz]

decided against monaro lights, too common and the VT lights are really growing on me.

also, does anyone have any suggestions for 18" wheels that look good on a vt but arent over-used? preferably chromies. 2nd hand or new.

or if anyone is selling any, willing to consider swap + cash for the difference in value. mine are 3 month old 18 x 8's with near new tyres and no ugly curb rash's. have the recipt from "Wheel Works" in Adelaide - $1800 inc GST + labour + tyres.

[nicko]

arent the vt calais 17" x 8??

As for rims i say stick to holden mags, maybe some vx clubbie rims? car looks nice btw mate

[Archers]

arent the vt calais 17" x 8??

As for rims i say stick to holden mags, maybe some vx clubbie rims? car looks nice btw mate

nice car ya got there man love the rims and black leather really nice m8

[bpottz]

cheers for the comments guys,

leather is a little worn as expected for a car 10 years old, but got some leather stuff in a cupboard somewhere that will bring it back to life. still looks nice tho.

and im thinking that they are copies of inters, because original internationals are 17" yes. so lookalikes..

i like them tho, because they fit pretty nice, so it doesnt attract to much attention but still looks nice and has a great stance. and doesnt say to cops "pull me over and find something to defect me for" which is just about all chrome wheels are good for these days.

tossing up wether to keep them or not. if i am staying with the holden wheels ill keep these. its these or some tasteful chromes.

[bpottz]

trying to keep everything legal. well, as legal as possible

well.. as you can see - not doing a very good job so far but i promise ill keep everything else legal =]

[bpottz]

also, was walking past my car yesterday afternoon, there is a "dent" in my front left quarter. about the size of a kneecap asif someone has done a 'specky' on it to mark a footy.

it hasnt damaged the paint and should pop back out easily will just need to wait until thursday when i get it on the 2-poster and ill do it at the same time as my brake pads etc. but im still ****ed off. i want to know what its from.

also - flushed the coolant out on sunday and put in some decent stuff (the **** in there was like water), took the air filter out to give it a bit of a blast with the compressor and i was having a look at it holding it up to the light, and as i moved one of the 'fans' the sahara desert poured onto my face. so it cant of been breathing too easy. see how it runs now..

fixed my cig lighter the other day. fixed my windscreen washers (attaching the water hose to the nossles helps). just need to align them as half the water is blasting whoevers sitting behind me.

oil change, brake fluid flush, rear pads, cv boot and engine mount will prob all get done on thursday. LPG + upper cyl is in 3 weeks.

clear indicators bought + LED's tomorrow.

[Ozzie]

very nice, the rims suit it. though if it were mine the first thing id do is remove the black/chrome side strips off and change the rear lights & garnish to vx maybe.
theres something about the yellow indicators and the clear reverse lights that dont match and look odd.
maybe some clear side indicators aswell

[bpottz]

maybe some clear side indicators aswell

as i said at the bottom of the last post, i have already ordered them.



had the car on the hoist at tafe for the class to look at for our exhaust/emissions module today. got gasses from the cat checked aswell as back pressure, also found a very small leak just before the ressy.

pressure test was good - absolutely no blockages or anything.

also, another class tested my coolant for stray voltage and found nothing



Gas check results were (posting for my own future reference so feel free to ignore):
Hydro Carbons (HC) - Unburnt fuel : 63 parts per million (compared to 400 on my mates VN)
Carbon Monoxide (CO) : 0.179%
Oxygen (O2) : 2.1%
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) : 14.0%

[Branch]

damn dude that leather is off tap. jealous. and that is lowww.

[bpottz]

thanks mate

clear indicators now on - easiest + cheapest + best value mod i have ever done. 24 bucks got me a set of indicators and globes and literally took less than 2 minutes to change, no tools needed. cleans up the car soo well, its amazing what such a small thing can do to the looks. very happy. will post pics soon.

now just need to think about what to do with the ugly black strip.. ive seen them painted white - not a fan. and ive seen them taken off, but have heard that they are a bitch to get off because they leave so much **** behind. and i also like having something there just incase i park next to some wanker or little kid who doesnt know how to open a door.. any comments appreciated..

[bpottz]

am considering selling or trading my wheels too, 18" Internationals, near perfect, one tiny tiny rash on the very edge of one of the wheels, no wheel nut scratches or anything, tyres and wheels 4 months old. all recipts bought from wheel worx for 1800 inc tyres.

looking at trading for 18 or 19 inch chromies and will compensate for diff.

either that or make me an offer.

also am looking for vt s2 tail lights (clear indicators).

[bpottz]

Got a couple of new pics from a little spot i found but they are crappy phone pics sorry (but the ugly old orange indicators arent there taking your attention away from the car)

[benjamino]

hey mate,
nice car mate, looks good!
ive got the same black strip dilemma,
id advise against takin it off urself,
and yes painted white looks shtty,
so i got a quote for a panelbeater to take it off, they have to respray the doors, $50 an hour..
so maybe about 3-400 to remove the strips...and after that, jus be careful where you park

leather interior=jealoussss

[bpottz]

hey mate,
nice car mate, looks good!
ive got the same black strip dilemma,
id advise against takin it off urself,
and yes painted white looks shtty,
so i got a quote for a panelbeater to take it off, they have to respray the doors, $50 an hour..
so maybe about 3-400 to remove the strips...and after that, jus be careful where you park

leather interior=jealoussss

why pay a panel beater to do it? just use a caramel wheel on it to get the **** off.. if you want any tips just ask someone like daron who did it himself. you dont need to re-spray

[Zyklone]

Sweet ride mate!

[bpottz]

Got some decent oil and coolant in her yesterday, brake fluid done today. rear pads and disc machine probably next weekend aswell as removing the resanator, not sure if i should go with a nice tough SS oval tip or chrome twins.

Tint should be happening within a month, followed by replacing caster, and stabaliser bushes with nolathane and then engine mounts.

got my JC sticker now too =]

[bpottz]

got some blue LED parkers today, also got my resonator removed replaced with a stainless steel straight through pipe with a straight cut (no lip) twin stainless steel tip, and JC sticker is on =]

chroming grill this weekend hopefully if not next

sorry about image quality again.

parkers

headlights

sticker

exhaust tip

[bpottz]

dual fuel installed today, tune + pickup tomorrow

[rch-13z]

very nice bud, this is exacting what I wanted my car to look like when I first bought it...

mmm leather!

[CANYONERO]

dual fuel installed today, tune + pickup tomorrow

BBQ conversion! ok, each to there own. i love my gas... in my daily..

[bpottz]

yeah... i know, im not a fan.. but on first year apprentice wages.. its either that or i spend half my pay on petrol.

but it is dual fuel not full gas conversion so i still have petty for when i want a squirt. gives me more money to spend on the car itself. and this is my daily!

further down the track ill get a ls1 weekender (on real mans fuel).

and its costing me basically nothing. 100 bucks after discount and rebate. which i will make back in 2 weeks of driving.

oh well, everyone has to make sacrifices. now lets not mention the BBQ anymore.. i promise the next news i have will be good news not dissapointing

[bpottz]

very nice bud, this is exacting what I wanted my car to look like when I first bought it...

mmm leather!

thanks mate, few things to come yet before im happy.. but im fairly pleased at the moment considering i havnt had it for long or spent much money. i LOVE your's tho, everything about it, and love the new redwalls too when i get new tyres im getting white walls on this, which should make it look like its tucking even more.

[CANYONERO]

yeah, i wish i was on gas for my first year of my apprenticeship. but i couldnt bring myself to putting a tank in my ute. no way in hell i would do it to my commo, but as a run around daily, gas is awesome. i dont mind having a gutless auto car for the daily grind to work and back (50k round trip) with peak hour and traffic lights. i can get my HP fix from my manual LS1 lol.