Saturday, May 07, 2011 - 02:59 am, by: Murray Lund(Murray)
Hi all, Just back from overseas and my 'Shine' copy bodykit is sitting ready to install. Quality looks fine at this unfitted stage.}
My Plan: 1. Wash kit with soap and hot water - to remove releasing agent. 2. Wipe down with grease remover 3. Dry fit - drill mounting holes etc (will have a crack at front first. I have the link to the remove front bar topic on SC). 4. Make any adjustments, sand down with 80 then 240. 5. Remove parts and send to paint shop. 6. Refit
Any other suggestions or tips? (I haven't done this before but am pretty handy with cars.) I also have a new set of lights to fit at the same time, and will get the bonnet resprayed - few chips). PS: how are the trims on the bottom edge of the doors held on? I don't have the wider trim strips yet from the 97 model (I think). M
Saturday, May 07, 2011 - 02:05 pm, by: Ali Saeed(Ali)
Sounds about right, side skirts are bit weirder, but if they are good quality, they should be pretty easy to fit.
word of advise, fit the rear bar first, its much easier. if you need the method, let me know ill type it up for you, or you can search the clublexus forums for some pictures
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - 05:16 pm, by: Murray Lund(Murray)
Progress report on my AC/Shine body kit - have been working on the front and rear bar, washed, degreased, sanded, and a few small imperfections repaired. Only major bit of work was round the blinkers in the front bar. Have been quite happy with the quality of the kit to this stage, but have yet to test fit them. I have a new set of lights from Costa's groupbuy, so next step is to fit them and test fit the bodykit. If fit is good, remove again and off to the spray shop.
PS: Anyone know how the moulds on the bottoms of the doors come off? Anyone have the late model trims for sale.
Monday, May 16, 2011 - 04:35 pm, by: Murray Lund(Murray)
Progress report on my AC/Shine copy kit - removed OEM front bar today (thanks to Kanchana Pathirana for his tutorial on SC). Did an initial test fit of the new front bar. Drilled mounting holes and fitted the side mounting brackets from the the old bar. Fit is good round edges and bonnet, waiting on new high beams which I am expecting in the mail tomorrow before checking the clearances round the lights.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011 - 04:09 pm, by: Murray Lund(Murray)
Progress report - removed rear OEM bar, test fitted AC/Shine bar, made a cut out for the rear number plate light, cut some black mesh for the front bar openings. Little work to do on rear bar to get it just right but it's pretty close. (I'm a bit of a perfectionsist). Still waiting on front high beams so haven't done anymore to front bar.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 - 04:11 pm, by: Murray Lund(Murray)
Progress report - made a new seal for the rear number plate light (one side had a bit of cardboard in it instead of rubber), fitted new high beams, bolted new rear bar on. DIY can be a bit frustrating sometimes. Thanks to Kevin Trac sent me a pic of his AC/Shine copy kit just fitted to his black Soarer. Looked very nice indeed and inspirational to keep plugging away.
Thursday, May 19, 2011 - 04:09 pm, by: Murray Lund(Murray)
Progress report - tidied up the fit of the foglights and improved the fit of the rear bar behind the wheel arch. Have to check the fit of the headlights next. I also want to get a set of 97+ door trims before fitting the sideskirts to make sure the lines flow neatly.
Sunday, May 22, 2011 - 04:39 pm, by: Murray Lund(Murray)
Some progress pics - still to do, adjust fit of high beams properly, fix some mounts for mesh in the front air intakes, fit some brackets to attach the under trays at the front. Haven't touched sideskirts yet.
Sunday, May 29, 2011 - 03:52 pm, by: Murray Lund(Murray)
Progress report - back at work this last week so progress has slowed a little. ordered a set of 97+ door trims from Amyama in Japan. Have rear bar and lights all fitted to my satisfaction and ready now to just take off and paint. Front bar has headlights, fogs and side indicators all fitted to my satisfaction, still have to fiddle with the high beams to get them to fit just right. Front bar itself is fitting fine. I have glued in some mounting brackets for the front undertray and for some black mesh I am putting behind the grille and the holes that are between the fogs and the grille. Getting there slowly. I think I will get the bodyshop to trim and mount the side skirts, but will wait till the door trims arrive so the skirts line up nicely with the line of the door trims. Plan to get the bonnet resprayed at the same time. Then some new exhaust tips to fill the gaps in the rear bar.
Sunday, June 12, 2011 - 04:23 pm, by: Murray Lund(Murray)
Progress report - high beams fitted. 97+ door moulds arrived from Japan through Amayama.com - good price relative to local. ($360 delivered). Have fitted passengers side skirt. This was easier than I thought, removing the old door moulds and the matching pieces on the body is quite simple. Bit handicapped by crap weather in Sydney and working in a carport. Also battery died, so car is hard to move around. Battery is only 12 months old so is under warranty and will be replaced on Tuesday (Long weekend). To do: fit drivers side skirt, sand bonnet back ready for painting (one small dint to fill), and then it's ready for painting.
Friday, July 08, 2011 - 04:11 pm, by: Murray Lund(Murray)
Progress report, had the bodykit painted last week, but bit of an issue with paint matching, so they are going to do it again next week. Pearl is a pain to match, but the bars ended up quite a bit darker shade than the car.
Saturday, July 16, 2011 - 05:25 pm, by: Murray Lund(Murray)
Progress today - bodykit picked up, paint match much better this time. Rear bar fitted and boot linings fitted. Front bar - fogs in, high beams in, 97 chrome grill in, black mesh in lower bar openings. Ready to go on in morning. Having a few problems getting the fogs to work. It had after market fogs in the lower grill opening, but in rewiring the plug fittings for the OEM fogs I might have shorted the after market relay I think. Will have another look tomorrow. Looking good!!
Sunday, July 17, 2011 - 04:49 pm, by: Murray Lund(Murray)
Front bar on, numberplates on. Little frustrations - you go to put on the new aftermarket headlights and the blinker wiring won't reach the bulb because the rear of the light body is a different shape.
Ben Lipman Goo Roo SA Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car
Sunday, July 17, 2011 - 07:35 pm, by: Clayton Carlyle(Clayton)
Howd the second respray go Murray?? Also did you have to trim much on the sides of the front bar? Mine seems very tight and bulges abit. Yours looks very fitting and tidy, cant wait to see the finished result.
Monday, July 18, 2011 - 05:03 am, by: Murray Lund(Murray)
Second respray much better. Where the front bar bolys on to the front guards I ground it back to what seemed like a reasonable thickness. The front bar does seem to flair out below this a bit wider than I would like, but will probably look OK when I get the skirts on.