Uniacidz Ride VX SS Monaro Themed

[uniacidz]

I call him Krunchy the Beetle.
Stuck and died in my third brake light.

But the lil bitch got his/her karma, to remove it took about a hour all up.

And then

And thennnnn

 

[kangavxss]

Haha, first he gets baked by the sun then blinded by ur breaklight.What a way to go...did you give him a decent burial???At least he went out in style cruising in your ss..lol

 

[uniacidz]

Haha, first he gets baked by the sun then blinded by ur breaklight.What a way to go...did you give him a decent burial???At least he went out in style cruising in your ss..lol

Burial, erm no. Was flicked and it travelled a good couple metres.
And it prob got to travel from Sydney to Port Macq and back, 750km or so, something it prob never did.
Be good if it was alive experiencing it

 

[uniacidz]

Headlights Repair Part 1

2nd Set spare fixed
Bought these about a week or so ago for about $100
Drivers side stone chipped and internal fogging of lense
Passenger side - Yellowing of lense internal and external.
So basically after i bought them and got them home, reliased the passenger side was yellow on the inside and decided to resell as had a CBF moment
After brielfy looking at them after i bought them, decided to chuck up on ebay and buy some new ones which were far more expensive

Ebay messages, and some guy (Chad) offered $100 for them as they were, comes round and inspects and then takes out $70 and says due to the passenger side being yellow etc
EVEN though we settled on even $100 and thats what i reckon they were worth, the tosser only brought $70 with him.
Told the the guy off for wasting my time and then i opened the electric gate to let him out.
So removed the headlights off ebay as even though in description stated no postage, people were bidding from interstate as well.

So decided to try and fix them
Using my TurtleWax Headlight Restore kit which i have used on countless things on the car, decided to finally use it on headlights.

Tools and gadgets used
1. Turtle Wax Headlight restore kit - Not essential but you need the headlight polycarbonate sealer to stop yellowing from re-occuring
2. ScratchX 2.0
3. Oven
4. Oven mitts
5. Good nerves.
6. Side panel of a desktop computer or something similar as a barrier insulater

Now, the polycarbonate and plastics are designed to handle up to 104degrees of direct heat(from my readings) and higher ambient heat, however make sure you rest the headlight in oven on a temp insulater from the rack by using the computer side panel or something similar

Basically
1. Preheat oven to around 90degrees celcius
2. Make sure light has gone off for about 2 mins so the rack and other parts inside oven are stable
3. Once reached all above, open oven and whack computer side panel onto rack and place clear lense down the headlight onto it (remove globes and rear covers prior)
4. WATCH it and WATCH it. If light on oven comes on, immediately reduce the temp so light goes off.
NOTE - Prediction after leaving oven door open whilst installing headlight will reduce the oven temp by about 20degrees, this is fine.
5. Leave for about 5-10 mins
6. Remove with oven mitts and place onto table and pry apart with a butter knife
NOTE - two screws on back grey section need to be removed, one large near edge close to indicator and one small next to edge on side of indictor
Internally, to remove the black shroud, 3 small screws. You will find em.
7. Pending on degree of damage and fogging etc, use and experiment with headlight restore kit and changing grades as per instructions
8. Use ScratchX 2.0 on final polish. Works great on headlights on also both side indicator lense as well.
9. Use the headlight restore sealer on the lense as instructed. I used one coat on insides as this stage
NOTE - IT IS ESSENTIAL to use this sealer. Stops yellowing and fills in lil imperfections and swirls etc.
10. Let cure for 24 hrs as it states.
11. Reheat oven again as before in steps 1-3 and place both parts of headlight onto computer side panel and let it sit again for 5 mins in oven
12. Remove both parts using lovely mitts and press both sides together and whilst cooling make sure all panels lined up and back in proper clips and placing.
13. Whilst cooling down, use the headlight sealer on the outside this time, i did 2 coats within 60mins of each other.

Currently headlights are resting and curing.
Im kinda glad I did it, and will be doing the set on the car as well over the weekend approaching
The drivers side on the car has become increasingly and rapidly worsening so will try to fix it anyway and prob post up a good before and after pics.
Once all done, will decide on which ones to keep and if to have a spare set or sell off the spare set

First 3pics is the original ebay pictures
The rest are from my fixer up of them.

Hope this helps someone

Ebay Pic 1
Both drivers and passenger

Ebay Pic 2
Drivers side fog

Ebay pic 3
Passenger side yellow and fogging

Oven

Apart

Both

Drivers Side

Passenger side

 

[uniacidz]

Headlight Repair Part 2

Took off the original headlights and took pictures to compare with the ones i did earlier.

The spares (which are the ones i did earlier) are along side in the pics.
You can see the original ones that i took off the car are well beyond acceptable.

Haze is on inside and outside of lens.
Got my work cut out for me on these ones i reckon

Im just amazed how quickly they deteriorated.
They were never the best but last couple weeks just seemed to get bad really fast

Anyhoos will attempt perhaps in the morning after i have had some rest.
And yes, car bumper, airbox, battery and CAI are all off the car, car is deadbolted as well, but easy to open.


Drivers side comparison

Close up

Front set are the originals i just took off car
Rear the spares i did yest

 

[James_aitchison]

Every time I see the spares that you just cleaned up it looks as if there isn't even a lens! Very good write up thinking doing the same for mine, tried just an Amour all Cream Cut and Polish on the outside made it little bit better. Nothing like what you have done though

 

[uniacidz]

Been doing further research.
Some people say the sealer only lasts a week, others have no issues.

Backup plan is to use clear gloss urethane with 50/50 mix of mineral spirits and wipe on using scotch blue cloth.

So will see how it goes and if original sealer wears off, will use the urethane mix.

The original headlights still downstairs.
Too tired right now to take apart.






Sent via HTC Velocity + [HolicsROM v1.3] [SWEEP2WAKE]

 

[uniacidz]

Headlight Repair Part 3

Original Headlights
Well after identifying i mightnt be able to fix them up, decided to go old school and 1500 and 2000 wet & dry using the turtle wax lubricant, then cloth scratchX 2.0 and the sealer.

I really thought they were going to be binned, but managed to salvage them and get them to a decent state.
With the encouraging results, i might try the urethane + mineral spirits 50/50 mix with scotch blue cloth and wiping them.

So im happier, as means I definately have a spare set now, and with further tweeking, might be able to get them really good.


Drivers side Original

Passenger Side Original

Spares at the back, originals at front

 

[djdomohudson]

Fun activity bro. They finished up really good!

 

[uniacidz]

Fun activity bro. They finished up really good!

Fun activity??? hahahaha
The Passionpop helped only slightly.
Happy with the results, gonna try being more happy buy using the urethene method i reckon.

Spare wheel Removal
Gonna regret this more then likely but have removed the spare tyre as a experiment and will see how it goes.
Did this last week and seems more perky and lighter in the rear.
IS a 17inch VX SS full spare, seems to weigh bout 22-27kgs as its not a light one surprisingly. Seems heavier then my BSA wheels.

To compensate for the lack thereof spare, I have done what alot of car manufacturers do and that is,
1. Holts Instant areosol blow up tyre thingy stuff
2. Two air compressors in boot
3. Full multi puncture repair kit that can do side wall basic repairs and full punctures etc including valves, and other
Think its this one and all of this stuff fits nicely in the spare wheel well.
Legalities - if you have a spare wheel, it has to be roadworthy. Thats it apparently. Doesnt have to be installed, but does have to be roadworthy if being carried in the car.
SCA Tyre Repair Tool Kit - 36 Piece - Supercheap Auto Australia

I already have Coles Roadside Assistance and NRMA Roadside Assistance anyway, two spare tyres at home, one full spare inflated wheel at home.
Any of the roadside assist's can flatbed me back to my home if needed in case of full tyre blowout

The only time i would envision using the proper spare is when going on a drive to see mum, up the coast or somewhere remote.
So before heading off, can pack in the spare.