In the beginning:
Bought her 8/7/08: she had water spots all over the windows, the mismatched gas door, a sometimes-working headlight switch, a stock radio, foggy gauges, a missing center cap, unbalanced tires (and what I found out later was an out-of-round wheel), a burnt-out fog light, and other various points of attention. BUT, I loved her because compared to my old dime, this was luxury. Didn't hurt that its a Saturn (3rd one I've owned) and it has the V6 and 8-speaker system.
She has new shoes!! 18" ADR Propulsion wheels got mounted. There's hardly ANY road noise compared to the old tires, and the ride is a lot smoother.
Here are some better and slightly more creative shots, including the gauges and new headlights. The one showing the back bumper... the bumper sticker insert... almost didn't work because it sat on a shelf too long, and the sticker wasn't peeling on the right side. A day of laying on a 100 degree dashboard (and some gentle handling) did the trick!
Yes, that last shot is sideways. It won't rotate. I <3 Cardomain's new editor. But its a wheel shot, and you can see how good of a fit the wheel is - the caliper tucks into the bend in the spokes. And that lip! :)
With Tony's help, the badges on the hood and sides got replaced with black ones.
Chopped the antenna... very easy mod. Spraypainted a few coats of black on it and some clear coat and it's good to go.
And, just for sh*ts, a shot of me in the trunk trying to pop out a small dent right above the gas door. It was in a pretty awkward spot.
Clear corners arrived, but I still need to take some pics of them and of the black badge on the trunk. BUT, I knocked two more things off my wishlist: subs got wired in, and I had a Flowmaster exhaust put in (18" generic, as Flowmaster doesn't make anything specific to the L series... but then again, who does? Parts are hard to come by. :P)
Exhaust:
The tips are angle-cut and rolled, which looks a lot cleaner and better than the regular angle-cut, non-rolled ones that were on there before. You can hear it, but it's so subtle that most people (and the 5-0) wouldn't look twice.
Will update with pics of the clear corners, black trunk badge and the subs - which, btw, even with a capacitor STILL manage to make my headlights flicker... next update you'll read: "Eskimo installs her first alternator" ;)
2/5/09
Well, it wasn't my first alternator that went kaput. Teaches me to take my car into the major chains to get stereo work done. Turns out when they pulled the deck to hook up the RCA's (I'm guessing), they un-did one of the crimps in the wires for the stereo and it caused a bad ground that was more annoying than it was 'bad', at least at first (it seemed like just a blown fuse, something they were happy to fix the next day). It made the dash lights go out. But it went bad again, and it went bad quickly, and I wound up stranded and the car locked in gear. The BCM had to be replaced, which is actually kind of common to have go out on the L's, from what I understand. On a high note, my keyless entry works better now. :) It wasn't very reliable before. I just felt kind of stupid afterward because the dealership went back and looked to see what was causing the bad ground, and that loose wire was something I could have totally found and fixed myself. Not to mention when I went back to the stereo folks the first time, I said the words "BAD GROUND" and "LOOSE WIRE" and they totally blew it off like I didn't know anything. You live and you learn, though, and now it's running good as new. Being able to see my dash lights at night is a plus. :D
In light of it all, I've decided I'm going to undertake a special project that I haven't seen on any 1st gen L's yet, at least not done 'right'. There isn't a wrong way to do it, per se, but in my mind if you're gonna do this you might as well go all out. And no... it's not a body kit. :) It will be a few weeks in the making, but as soon as it's done, I will post pics.
(Short) Wish List of Mods:
Tinted rear windows
Black trim pieces (to replace the wood pieces around the stereo and shifter)
Replacement speakers all-around .... THAT I WILL INSTALL MYSELF >:)
