I finally decided to make myself a thread I can call my own. I'm not expecting to do any major builds in the near future, but since I'm always doing little changes to my car, I figured I might as well put them all in one place and stop cluttering up the rest of the forum.
A bit about me and the car. I bought my 2002 Ford Focus Svt in June, 2010 and had no real hands on knowledge about working on or modding a car except some basics I learned from my dad and from reading auto magazines. Over the past few months I have done a lot of work on this car and have really learned how to do many things. In other words, it doesn't matter how much knowledge you have, you can do anything that I have done. Furthermore, I will be the first one to admit that I have not done many things in the best or most efficient way possible. I am just learning and having fun.
Thread Rules (Or lack thereof)
Feel free to post any kind of comments or questions. If anyone would like to know how to do anything, let me know and I can give you some of the resources I used. Becuase of the way I have this thread organized, it doesn't matter how cluttered the rest of the thread gets. Post anything you feel like from suggestions, questions, and random comments. I won't feel bad if anything gets a little of topic. [thumb]
Nite shade spray on tint from Advanced Auto Part. Simply tape off the reverse lights and any other areas you don't want tinted and spray. The darkness is determined by how many layers you put on. I think I did about two very thin layers and than did one more later because I wanted the light a little darker. Before you do it, I'd suggest practicing on something else so you know how dark to get it per spray; I first did it on my bumper's side markers and ended up getting them too dark because I didn't know how thick to put it on.
After I tinted, I went back through and clear coated, sanded, and polished much like you would if doing a regular paint job. That way, they have a very glossy look just as if they had come out of the factory tinted. (In pics you may see that my passenger side taillight is a little cloudy, I think I sanded through the clear and into the tint. Someday, I need to reclear coat that one so it matches the drivers side light).
One more word of warning. You taillight probably will warp slightly. You can see it on my taillights; the tint holds in the heat from the lights making the lights warp slightly. It hasn't been to bad and my lights were already slightly warped before I tinted them. What you see on my car is after driving with lights on for about an hour a day for almost a full year.
I used a dremel to cut out the orange plastic reflector. I was expecting to see only black plastic for the turn signal housing but to my surprise, I found this. Before I took this picture, I had already painted the nonsilver part of the inside black.
Lastly, to cover the opening, I used pieces of plastic packaging (the kind you can never open when you buy something from a store) with a layer of window tint spread over it.
The only thing I need to do to finish is replace my bulbs with an orange ones. I had one bulb that I'm using but I thought for sure that I had two sitting around somewhere. I guess it's time for another trip to the salvage yard.
Here's the finished product and a couple others I took today.
What grille was that in the first place? or did you makle the center mesh stuff too? I like it alot! It looks different than normal tinted lenses. There is a bit of a gap between the grille and the hood, but in all honesty I like that. Makes me feel like there is more air flow over the motor to keep it cooler! haha Not sure if it does or not though. Oh and I get all my bulbs from a car parts store. Just cuz there like 2 dollars or something like that. and the nearest junkyard is 50 minutes away from me. lol Although since my dad works at ford he usually has alot of misc. stuff like bulbs.
My bulbs are usually free from the junk yard (they always throw the little stuff in free if your buying larger items). [neener] lol
The grill was originally an Svt grill, but as you said, I cut the ford badge and mesh out. The material I'm using right now is some kind of mesh guard. I don't really like how it looks at certain angles (like the one pictured when you can see through it really easily) but it works for now until I can find something better.
And the hood gap can be traced back to the fact that all but two tabs are broken. I need to figure out a way to hold the grill up better.
I know. I feel the pain too but I never intended to take it this far when I started. I was only planning to take the badge off and keep the turn signals as they were but some other things didn't work out as planned so I kept chopping until I got what you see here.
It's a little drafty with the broken glass, but what can I do when I put so much time into the car. I just have to sacrifice a little in other areas. [hihi]
It's so nice not having salt and winter road grime all over the car again isn't it. I'm amazed that my car still looks like I just washed it even though it's been 4 days.
I hate that
Its always seems to rain after I wash my car
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