I'm glad people like the headlights, overwhelmingly everyone has said they're an improvement over the old VT stock lights, and the HIDs at night.... WOW. I CAN SEE. I've aimed them to as close to factory aiming specs against a wall as I can get. And I've done a lot of driving and parked the car in an empty carpark and driven past and towards the front of it from various angles with the HIDs on, and I don't get any harsh glare or irregular beam patterns or light bleed. They cut off like normal HID projectors and they are an incredibly good upgrade. ^ I did consider the clear bra material for over the light lenses- I have it all over the front of my FD RX-7 and I really like the stuff a lot. What I have noticed when using it (I applied it myself on the RX-7 and it turned out very neat) is that on a piece of clear plastic such as headlight lenses, it makes the clarity go a bit... I don't know how to describe it... Opaque? Slightly wavy? Sort of like looking through a coke bottle. So I'm a bit hesitant to spend the money on it and have the headlights lose clarity. I've been looking at the fog lights now, and I'm thinking of removing them and doing a similar blackout style inside the lenses to match the headlights. ************************************************************* And also, I've been looking at the front guards (fenders) and thinking I could take them off and do something subtle near the side indicator lights, maybe an inverse scoop behind the front wheel, etc. I know VZ or one of those models has a nice looking side indicator across a scoop looking insert thing. I'm on the fence whether I should do something like that on this car....
I reckon it would compliment the front well from all that work you've done. I don't know if they sell the guards so you can put the insert ones from the VZ in, but it'd be worth a search.
I see what are you talking about on the distortion... heck, there is no winning on headlights except for buying new or.... made out of glass. In another hand, will crack from road debris... Yellowing or Cracking....
There are some awesome UV coatings you can get that effectively replace the factory UV coating, so you should get at least a few years out of an application after you restore a yellowed headlight. Also to help avoid yellowing you can apply paint sealant to the headlights from new every few months or so, same as when you do your cars and it will help a lot. Best option I have found. I wouldn't be using that clear bra stuff on the lights though.
I just priced up the idea of venting the front guards (fenders) with the VZ SS flutes- the cheapest pair of VZ indicator flutes are over 250 dollars.... I'll either have to make something or do what I did with the headlights and Grange grille- restore something cheaper/in poor condition. I didn't think that a pair of what look to be plastic clip in trim pieces, would be that expensive, comparatively speaking. I do want to do this, but I might just get a bit creative with what I do. Story of my life really.. There is also the possibility that I just remove the stock front guards/fenders and use them to make parent moulds out of fiberglass and then mould my own scoop type... things... into a fiberglass or composite set of guards of my own design.
I have a WH grange just bought today and I just wanted to know if anybody knows how to change globes in map light in mirror as it isn't working
"WHD" what the? Grange didn't get all the luxury items like rear roof climate/stereo controls or the rear passenger vanity mirrors or the rear passenger headphones or the self levelling rear air suspension or the rear roof mounted speakers, sorry. If you wanted the luxury spec interior and all those extra items, you had to buy a Caprice only. Grange was more stripped down inside. And you can't easily retrofit those things unfortunately. Grange is based on Statesman. Statesman was the base model with the least available luxury equipment. No power seat position memory. No individual driver & key memory like mine has, etc. A Statesman also has a bare roof with no controls or anything- Statesman have VIN numbers that begin "WHY-xxxxxxxx". Grange VIN number also begins WHY-xxxxxxx" as they are really Statesman bodies. Caprice VIN number begins with "WHZ-xxxxx" as they are different. To change the bulbs inside the vanity mirrors, you need to pry the mirror in half along the outer edge. It unclips and reveals the bulbs inside. Its a weird design.
Ok, small project flash update! As I might have shown you earlier in the thread, I am able to do some re-upholstery work. I'm learning as I go, anyways. I found some suede (some people, especially Americans like to call it "Alcantara") in the same colour as the dark pewter leather in my car. I'll admit, the Alcantara fabric was moderately expensive, but I just like the stuff so I bought a roll of it. The first thing I wanted to try it out on, were the cold hard plastic B pillar trims. They have a fake leathery looking 'grain' moulded on the plastic, but they don't fool anyone. They looked tacky and I figured they were an easy pattern to cut and try out. Behold, on the left, is the stock standard plastic B pillar trim cover. On the right, is the other side pillar cover that I've spent some time upholstering in the suede/alcantara. The upholstered one looks and feels infinitely nicer. I'm impressed with the work I managed to do. It looks factory. I made sure to underlay 2mm thick foam backing all over the pillars first, and then make the covers to slip/sew over. This way when you touch the pillar, it feels soft and not hard. Here's both pillars done. I love them. I waited til my wife was asleep and then made a mess of the living room with scraps of fabric and stuff... I'll probably find a few other interior parts to do in the coming few days. More complex parts. When I was younger, my Dad once said something to me that still applies to most things- "If you do it right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all."
Funny though... I never heard of Alcantara as a fabric but I heard it many times as Alcantara in Spain. We call it as far I know from suede to faux leather, etc... Anyway, never the less, looking forward to the end of the project to see the outcome. Very true, a nicely done job goes unnoticed; perhaps that is why good employees never get recognized ;-)
I can't get decent photos of the pieces installed, as its dark when I leave for work, and dark when I get home at the moment, so it will have to be on the weekend. But I'm happy so far. The test was today when my wife was in the car. I asked her to pick out the pieces I upholstered. She couldn't find them. I pointed them out, and she said she swore they were always like that. So it fooled her... I got a bit more confident after reading some more upholstery tutorials at work today. Hence I give you a two-tone suede glovebox. The lower suede matches the suede inserts in the doors. The upper suede matches the dashboard colour. I was that confident this time, I even trimmed the insides of the glovebox to match, so its two-tone inner and outer suede. No plastic/vinyl surfaces on any part of the glovebox anymore. Clipped the glovebox back in earlier (had to use a torch as its dark outside) and it works and closes and does everything like factory but looks and feels a lot nicer. Its cold and rainy outside, and it gets dark at 4pm now, so small fiddly projects like this are good to do indoors where its warm. And importantly, just like when I did the leather steering wheel refinishing work, I'm learning new skills as I go. So at the end, I'll know more than when I started.
And for anyone debating pulling the trigger on suede like I am apparently now doing, I'd have a read of this article on suede/alcantara first, as it outlines what an absolute fickle $%^& it is going to be to keep clean and look after. Suede Is A Garbage Material For Car Interiors I knew this going into it, and I try really hard to detail the interior and keep things clean. But if you've got a daily driver car that gets used hard, suede will turn into a mess really quickly and you'll need specialized cleaners just to keep it from matting and looking like complete @rse. I'm up for that challenge, as my old BMW M5 was full of the stuff inside, and I was religious about it. Also, my sofa recliner in the living room is covered in the stuff too, so I already have a stash of the cleaner chemicals, cloths and nap brushes and all that specialized junk already. I can just use it in the car too. We are apparently getting a puppy towards the end of this year, and I fully expect the sofa to go to complete garbage shortly after that happens..
Excellent work done there man But yeh, as for myself i did my 3M Wrap on interior parts but thats about it. Suede when done nice looks good but can also quickly wear out and look really tacky and yuck and not to mention can get dirty real easy I would be scared to even touch it due to the normal oils us as human seep through our pores Good work though
Cheers, I'm actually sitting here thinking that the roof lining looks easy enough to me.... And I have plenty of material to do it.... It wouldn't be likely to get stained or be a well worn area as its above people and it rarely gets touched. I have the sunroof and the rear roof mounted sound system and climate controls, so there are some tricky spots. But I know I can stitch now, and cut templates. I miiiiight just give the roof lining a go, and go all the way down the pillars. It has cream colored fuzzy material on it at the moment. I think I'd be happier if I retrimmed the whole roof in this darker grey. And then I could stand back and say I did that myself. Yeah, I might just tackle it.
Here are some photos, although trying to get the stupid camera to focus on the dark interior with the bright morning sunlight coming in the windows threw the lighting off a bit. I've just finished doing the fuse panel cover under the steering wheel in the same 2-tone suede as the glovebox, so the dash balances out on each side as well.
It's going to be an ongoing project. A few pieces here & there as time permits. Although I won't be doing the entire upper dash pad (the largest piece) as I think that would be too much and too difficult to clean/maintain. I'm just going to add accents of it around the interior, as the WH cars already have some suede areas from factory. But being Holden, they didn't add too much, as it was expensive and I guess they also thought it might be too finicky for a lot of owners to care for.
That looks really good. I think I need to do this on my Berlina. As you already know if you careful with suede or alcatanara and keep up with cleaning then its a nice fabric. Only real issue I have seen is they don't like direct sunlight and will fade, black goes to a nasty brown colour. You should be fine with what you are doing around the car, I would't do the upper dash for his reason though.
I figured there have been so many photos of the interior, parts, etc lately and there haven't been many photos of the entire car. So lets break it up a little bit. Something different. When I first got the car in mid 2014: And currently in 2016: Both photos taken in the same carpark vicinity. Its come a long way. When I first bought it, people gave me funny looks for what I saw in it. But it just took some time for what was in my head to materialize into reality I guess.
