Pete’s GS400 Build Thread by Sevenevez

5 minute(s) of a 283 minute read

3-11-2013

Sick of the Hood falling down on your head? Replace those worn out Hood Struts in 10 minutes flat.

Bought mine on eBay for $29 from deezeeauto and the brand is "StrongArm" and they come with the swivel ball bolts so you dont have to drill out your old ones. 

Unscrew the factory ones with a 12mm

Reinstall the new ones Used a (7/32) - Done Deal! Hood Raises up by itself. 

3-12-2013

k2motor LED tails from eBay.

pretty simple plug-n-play

work great

i might need the damn inners now too

only issue, anybody know how to cure this light on the dash?

Ok, now we tackle the inevitable riveted spoiler brackets so we can mount the Junction Produce Replica spoiler. 

Disclaimer::...

BEFORE the haters chime in. I don't advise anybody doing this the way i did. I paid cash for my car and i am not afraid to mess it up if i do. I did everything with what i had in my garage. 

So once you take off your factory wing. This is what you are stuck with.

I tried to drill them out, then i used the Dremel. still no go. Then i tried a big grinder, but i was afraid i would hit the paint. So i went back to Drill Bits, just stepping them up a size each time. It's tough because the rivet would spin with the drill bit. At any rate, after about 40 minutes i finally popped them off on the bits. Pain in the AS5 i tell ya. But i won this round.

Here's what you got. Holes and Squares and what not. My biggest problem was that the square hole was actually bent UP. (probably from years of people lifting and pulling on the spoiler to open / close trunk.) i knew i had to get them bent in or flush to fill the holes. 

I suppose i coulda called a junkyard and searched for a black onyx trunk. But i didnt, i just kept goin 

Test fit

So i took a soft mallet with cloth wrapped around tips of screwdrivers to bang them in. 

Then i busted out some super dense body filler and got to work

Smoothed her out dry and wetsanding from 220, 400, 600, 1000, 2000

Gettin there

Almost flush

This is rattle can blend Black Primer / Black Onyx / Clear

I shoulda spent one more day with some thinner body filler and done it all one more time for a perfect flat result

The Griot's Garage Random Orbital can really bring your paint job back to life. Looks almost perfect

Done Deal!

heck yeah. i have used that orbital on Everything. Great investment. And it blows the Electric standard ones out of the water. I have one of those too. The "random" orbital basically makes it fool proof to leave a burn, swirl or scratch. ( assuming you dont have any dirt on your car 

It's well worth the money. The cans of Black Onyx i get are a perfect match. I generally use black primer to ensure my black onyx is as deep as factory. The more coats you can spray of every element and the more time you have especially if you let it dry and wet sand 2000 grit/3000 grit. Then your final polish on High with the Griot will bust out the shine and have least amount of orange peel