Page Three: The Modifications

Most of the changes I’ve made to the car are purely cosmetic.  I like to turn heads but I don’t need the temptation and speeding tickets that go with all the performance mods. So far here’s what I’ve done:

Windows Tinted

Black Pinstripe

Chrome Fender Trim

Chrome Grill

Custom Made Mini Chrome Grills for the Fog Lamp Housings

Spoiler

Blacked-Out Taillight

Wheels

Forward Tilt Hood

Dual Exhaust

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Forward Tilt Hood

The forward tilt hood mod was my favorite and most difficult project on the car yet.  It was also been the most time consuming one.  I always thought that forward tilt hoods looked cool and they seemed to be a trademark of several sports cars.  I started doing some research on cars that had forward tilting hoods trying to find a car that I could use parts from to convert my car’s hood with.  I stumbled across a write-up some custom shop did on a forward tilt hood project for a mercury cougar using parts from a late 80’s Buick LeSabre.  From their write up the project seemed pretty straight forward with few complications.  Of course once I dove into the project with my car complications started popping up all over.  I got all the necessary parts from a LeSabre in a local junk yard but found the majority of the parts could not be adapted to work with my car and served only as inspiration for fabricating custom parts.  The finished product came out the way I wanted:  the hood still used the factory hood release, slides forward, flips up, and is completely secure when closed.

The hinge itself connects to the back of bumper frame and the under side of the hood.  The curved arms allow it to extend farther forward and sit more upright, allowing for more room when working in the engine bay.

Special brackets were fabricated that mount to the hood in place of the rear hinges; these brackets lock into a hook on the inside of the fender and hold the hood in place when closed

The rear catches came from the LeSabre and required relatively little modification to adapt for use on the Reatta.  After the modifications were made they were installed in the same locations as the original hinges.

A prop rod from a medium duty truck was re-shaped to fold in the proper direction as well as conform to the contours of the underside of the hood.   Once installed it was trimmed to the proper length and a clip was installed that locks the prop rod to the underside of the hood when not in use

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Taillight Blackout

The taillight is blacked out with a specal paint called “Nite Shades” from VHT.  I removed the taillight assembly prepped it sprayed it with several coats of the blackout paint, clear coated it and then put it all back together.  It adds a lot to the look of the car.

Taillight with lights off

Taillight with parking lights on

Taillight with break lights on

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Wheels

These are the original wheels

 Before I could afford the new wheels I replaced the center caps with black ones from a LeSabre T-Type (the two cars used the same rim but with different center caps)

The new wheels are 17” Motegi SP5’s in gloss black

Page One: The Overview

Page Two: The Glamour Shots

Page Three: Modifications (You Are Here)