Never be afraid to cut up your car!
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So, the shift knob came off easily. There are two of those star shaped bolts (can't remember the name of those type of screw heads) and the chrome collar at the bottom of the knob. Slip the chrome part down and remove the two bolts. The knob is not glued so it'll come off easily. The plastic parts pop off with a thin flat screw driver. Front piece first (pull from the bottom) and then the top piece (lift from the front).
I painted the from piece to match the yellow of the car.
Got a bit of very soft yellow reminent piece of leather and sprayed the back with Super77 spray glue. I attached it to the plastic and stretched it to conform to the shape. Then I trimmed for a 1/4 inch border and folded it around the edges for a nice fit.
I snapped it all back together and there it is! Looks nice.
http://tinyurl.com/yh2okx8
The link above is to sample music from a CD called Dafös by Mickey Hart. Some of these tracks will put the best stereo systems to the test. Crank it up and it'll blow out any marginal speaker system. (I used to work at a company called Aphex Ltd. and we made pro audio studio processors and equipment and used this CD to shred speakers).
If you like going the SPL route (and have a good meter) there are several good sets of test tones and sweeps available around the net. I can post a link to my favorites if you like.
Modified the turn signals by adding silver colored faux carbon fibre adhesive sheets. I covered the entire lens of the turn signal, used a heat gun to "pull-form" the edges to the shape of the lens. After that, I used 1/4" wide masking tape as a guide for my Xacto blade and cut away strips of the faux carbon fibre.
As soon as I can afford a pair of turn signals I am going to remove the amber lens and replace it with heat molded clear lexan and swap the bulbs with amber colored signal bulbs. I'll also "french" the turn signals.
MAAS M203 17" wheels. About 4Lbs heavier than the stock 14" steel rims. Tires are the 17x7.5 Hankook Ventus HRII H405 - 205/40/17 Get them at WheelsNext: http://tinyurl.com/m598u3
Added flashing LEDs to the alarm system on the car. The two black buttons were dummy buttons on my car.
Just got my wondows tinted at Tint Master out in Woodland Hills, CA. They did a great job that took about 2 hours and the price was right. It looks awesome and my radar still picks-up signals.
Subwoofer/spare wheel well conversion
I decided to make a subwoofer enclosure from the spare wheel well.
I bought the Pioneer TS-SW1201S4 12" Subwoofer with the Pioneer GM-D7400M 800watt mono amp as my upgrade. Remember I have the Pioneer AVH-P5900DVD in dash receiver and I want to keep it in the family. So, I cut a panel of MDF to cover the spare tire wheel well. I can leave the spare in there because the shallow mount subwoofer will still clear it (it is mounted from underneath to keep the top as flat as possible). Fill in the space with dampening cloth and mount it as shown below. I bought a sheet of medium density fibre board (MDF) about 24" x 50" x 3/4" for $8.99 from a local lumber yard (Fisher Hardware at 1600 Lincoln Blvd in Santa Monica). According to the spec sheet of this sub a 22 liter enclosure with a 3 inch port will get me in the ball park for the best response. I am close to 22 liters with the spare wheel in the well.
Finished Installation. It works very well. Sounds superb. Some may not like the speaker grill, but it I had to find a grate that would keep dog paws from destroying the speaker.
From Womanizer to Crazy Train, from Norah Jones to Edith Piaf. What an excellect sound system. Boom!
Hmmm, I thought this might be a cleaver idea. Made a cut out to hold my Xenon Flash Light just above the parking stub holder. Made the hole to fit and glued a receptical on the inside (it's white but, I'll switch it out for a black one when I find one).
Notice something unusual about the car?
Look closely at the front door handle. No Key hole!
I bought a pair of rear door handles and with a slight modification to the mounting hole at the back end of the handle housing they fit great. Mine came to me black. So, I got some paint from Automotive Touchup. The closest yellow I could find was the Pontiac WA229L (I have a 2008 Aveo).
I moved to Los Angeles, CA. Bye bye Seattle. I'll miss her.
A nice but small touch is painting the gauge rims. I used Plasti-kote FM8135 to match my outside mirrors then clearcoated them. They look nice at night as they reflect the gauges and add a bit of sparkle.
Below I added skateboard grip tape to the passenger airbag and along the tops of the door panels. Why? Because I have a dog! Her paws kept sliding off the door so I added some grip!
Update - I still have the blue tape on the car. They are indeed hard to keep clean (especially with a dog in the car). And the piece over the passenger airbag has shrunk a bit from the Sun light. I bought extra sheets just in case. I still like them and besides they work like emery boards 8-o
It's been a while since the Sun has been out (at least here in Seattle, WA) and I decided to do some work on the Aveo. I have the Pioneer Premier TS-D720c speakers ( http://tinyurl.com/ol8ot6 ) in my doors and on the dash. The passive crossovers look pretty cool. So, I dremel tooled the dash and mounted them up where they can be seen. I also hacked a pair of metal flake blue Monster cables and routed them through a set of LED rings. Turned out nice I think. Cut out a couple of speaker rings for the front door 'cause the windows just touched the speaker butt end. That gave me a total of 1.125" standoff for the windows to clear the speaker magnet. The stock door panel fits over the mod just fine.
I want to do something to the front turn signals. My concept is below. Split the lens making the top half clear and installing high intensity LEDs spaced evenly. How I'm going to do it is the only question!
In my efforts to lower the visual stance of my car I tried to add some fake carbon fiber vinyl to the car. It works pretty well. at least I think so. BTW, this stuff is the bomb. Accept no substitutes! http://www.decalfx.com/carbon_2_sheets.html
I've installed the CD-UB100 USB adapter from Pioneer. Totally awesome. 16GB Flash drive holds all my music - so far! Here is a pic of the adapter installed.
I'm starting to do more to the interior. Started with the stereo and now working on the dash. Yellow clocks to match the exterior color.
"This car is the most fun I've had in a long time."
Especially coming from a Chevy Tahoe at 10mpg!
My great little car when I first got it. I parked in front of where I work.
I decided to add my own badging! "Vahana"
Vahana or a Hindu vehicle , sometimes called a mount , is an animal, mythical entity or chimera (or sometimes a divine attribute) closely associated with a particular deity in Hindu mythology . Sometimes the deity is iconographically depicted riding and/or mounted on the vahana; other times, the vahana is depicted at the deity's side or symbolically represented as a divine attribute. The vahana may be considered an accoutrement [1] of the deity: though the vahana may act independently, they are still functionally emblematic or even syntagmatic of their "rider". The goddess or god may be seen sitting or on, or standing on, the vahana. They may be sitting on a small platform called a howdah , or riding on a saddle or bareback.[2] Vah in Sanskrit means to carry or to transport .
The USA version Aveo does not come with a bulb in those cool projectors so I milled out a hole and took the yellow bulb from below (the running lights) and popped it in! Cool.
Looking at all the Flip DVD installs, I wanted my vents to clear. So, I flipped the mounting upside down! Sweet.
You can see the BlueTooth inside the back of the tray and the Ipod plug to the left.
I had to have the Gentex 31 electrochromatic mirror with temp and compass and map lights. A little bigger than stock, but it works super. You can get them at: http://tinyurl.com/mk8fmm About $187.00
Here's something kinda fun. The Aveo group asked what a convertible Aveo would look like. Here is my concept. It has a targa bar to keep a visual line for the overall shape. The windshield is canted downward an additional 3 degrees but the length is the same. This really helps keeping the eye flowing to the back. Without it - the car becomes really boxy.
