Whats goin on most recently in the life of my Intrepid
Oct. 7: I FINALLY re'wired my HVAC (heater controls).. the F*ckin white lights worked when I hooked em up to a battery..I'm gonna have to take it apart AGAIN to see why... but I did a custom mounting board (made out of a old 3 ring binder plastic cover) for the leds for the dashes n fan around the dial.. I put 5 leds in there so it's evenly illuminated... so in total.. in my HVAC there are 14 leds at work..10 blue and 2 white. (Pic in newest pics section) I think Im gonna put my rear seats and passenger seat back in for the winter, take off my rims and put on the factory rim/tires for winter.. gonna pull a mold of my headliner..and put it back in..
Oct.5: (havent updated in a minute) A stray 12v. wire contacted the mounting bracket for my floor shifter...welded it's self to it...and blew a 40 amp fuse.. the Ignition on/run fuse..which pretty much killed the car, coasted to a stop..power steering went..brakes even went almost all the way..good thing I wasnt going faster than 40mph when it happened..or I could be in for some body work..lol
Sept. 12: been half assed working on projects.. got my master switch leds wired with blue and white leds..Painted switch/buttons flat black & gloss clear coat.. THIS switch is a bitch to put leds in also..I didnt think it was going to be..till I tried putting the switch back together..had to cut the top half of the switch up some to get the buttons to function properly..I'll have to tackle that project from another angle next time.. but front window switches are white..and rear window switches are blue.. door lock switches will be all blue. so down my door the leds will go.. mirror switch(pictured below) door lock switch(Blue), master switch front windows(White) Mast. Sw. rear windows(blue). And for the passenger and rear doors.. lock(blue) windows(white). Also been sort of working on my door panels..I am making it so the speakers are in sealed enclosures, I want my midbass and midrange sealed separately.. Also during this process I have to plan my led set up I had in mind for the doors around this project.. MY problem is that I like to have easy access to all parts of my projects..so I can replace anything fairly easily if needed..that makes it 500 times more difficult to do a project..than simply slopping a project together..one of the reasons it takes so long for me to do projects..
Sept. 6: Adding pics of HVAC finished Illuminating !! PHuuuuuuuuck!! WELL I guess I forgot to put resistors on my HVAC white Illumination..cos I hooked it up and they both popped right away..guess that's what I get for working on 3 projects at once AND guess I'm re'doing it again..lol..too bad cos I got it right this time..minus the resistor part..(no room for resistor where leds were mounted..was planning on putting resistors outside the HVAC unit)....( I am putting more leds in to Illuminate the dashes around the dial..its weak now compared to the rest of the switch) ....Also adding pic of the headlight switch...notice white dash on knobs vs' blue Illumination of rest of switch..thats how the HVAC will be when I put new leds in. Oh yea..I took my ventvisors off to repair the one with a hole in it, I want to mold them a little bit..and paint them metallic black.
I'm throwing in a couple interior pics of the state of my car..Interior parts are "scarce" IN the car..in the HOUSE..now that's a different story..lol ...and yes the headlight bulbs you see in the pic are of 9007 bulbs..they are from my 95 Intrepid I used to have..giving the bulbs to my brothers gf.
Aug. 31: added pics of headlight switch and HVAC..kinda.
Aug. 29: Had to replace my 9006 pig tails on my headlights.One of the headlights went out but when you wiggled the harness/pigtail it came on...I noticed that one of the connections was a little melted..I have the high temp. P'tails installed ..and theyre still melting..guess it's time to change my headlight set up.. HID..or LED.. I might led the 9006's and leave the high beams as they are..I RARELY have to use them. (bought new pig tails and replaced my old one that was f*cked up and returned them for full refund..they have a year warranty on them)
Aug. 27: Havent been messin with the car much..just a lot of drawing out stuff here n there..deciding what I want to do..seems like I do that a lot..but I'm not doing it till I'm satisfied with the idea. Over the last 2 days I have been wanting to put a light coat of niteshades on the amber part of my tails...Might do that this weekend..and while I'm at it I'll do my center brake bar(sand lettering down N re-paint). I've been waiting for a couple weeks for a shipment of leds to come in from Hong Kong..and they're here..so a couple projects are on now..(needed 5mm leds that were not pre-wired).
Aug 8: Posting pics of my newly repainted tail lights..as well as the custom painted black headlights (like the diamond black headlights people pay over $150 for on ebay) mine were accomplished with some time, effort and about $8 in spray paint) (pics down the page a bit) will mark with UPDATE
Aug. 4: Painted my tail lights with a new design.. metallic black to match the center light bar.. I'll get pics hopefully this weekend. I like the new look though.. As for the sub enclosure from July 06 posting.. I sold it with all 4 subs.. someone got a kick ass deal..$25 for a custom sub enclosure with a LOT of hours spent on it ..as well as effort and a little love..lol I needed the money though..so f*ck It!
July 28: Havent been doin anything lately...concentrating on getting a job and shit.. Havent even been thinking much about the ride.. sellin a lot of stuff ( damn bills )..so some things will be changing .. mostly with the audio system ... also my brother didnt pay the cable bill so the internet is out at the house.. at the library now...HA!
July 06- Couple days ago got my front rotors and brake pads changed ( friend did it who is skilled at mechanics I helped as much as possible), painted some of the suspension that was visible as well as the calipers ..all gloss black.(painted rotors before installing them..black)..took a bit to get the masking tape off of them cos I painted them a while ago and they were occasionally sitting in the sun in the room they were in. ..next weekend will do the rear. ///// So I got my sub enclosures about 95% done and now I'm considering just using the 15" Crossfire subs instead..which will mean a new pair of enclosures...gladly I didnt cut the hole in my beauty panel yet..less wood wasted....I can probably use about 50% of the boxes I already constructed...will have to make sure to seal them up completely for sure. I actually didnt care for how the 4 10's looked in the car.. I am going for a stealth look with the install, the way the 15's would be mounted will give a more stealthy appearance. ....SOOOOO I wasted some mirrored aluminum, some plexi glass, some mdf, a little bit of white vinyl, some adhesives, and some duraglass..but I'm used to wasting a lot to get to the point where I'm satisfied. :)
June 30- Tonight I absolutely did not feel like doing anything..I tried to force it..but just moved a few things around..and sat in my little plastic outdoor chair and stared off into the tree..lol...so tonight was a chill night for me
June 29- .. ... This sub box is takin me ages.. Glued whole box together, Duraglassed the pieces I wanted to, Vinyl on the sub face panels..mirrored aluminum on the floor and roof of the sub enclosure .. Tomorrow I think I'm gonna cut a plexiglass panel to add a little flair to the sub firing chamber to cover a seam while adding style..toss in a few leds..MAYBE I'll throw in the red strobes I have layin around that have no true place in my car at all..lol (doubtful that I'll use em though) depends on my mood... To put my box together I'm using 2" screws(every 2 inches), 1 1/2" brad nails (nail gun), Elmers wood glue, silicone sealant, Duraglass ...and if you want to count the spray adhesives for the vinyl and metal too..lol... should be damn stable. ............ I cut up a bunch of pieces of Plexi glass and Lexan ..to use in the lighting I plan on doing.... Bla bla....SUB boxes should be done tomorrow.. beauty panels are next on the list.. need to get my capacitor back from my brother..so I can finish my wiring.. Del Sol's charging systems suck. ..I think I got a good design for a amp rack..but need to wait till after July 13th..thats when my window is being re tinted 20%..I got plenty of projects to keep me company till then.
June 25- Got all 4 holes cut for my subs..through double 3/4" MDF ...surprisingly all 4 holes were absolutely perfect the first time..the sub fit in snugly with no play...holes pre drilled ..Tomorrow I am gonna do duraglass on the seams on the front panel..to strenthen it .. Vinyl the woofer mount panels..(white marine vinyl)..and measure and cut the mirrored aluminum sheets for the area between the subs top and bottom...neon will be installed .. Gonna get my rear window re-tinted with my lifetime warranty ..the tint is starting to separate from one of the defroster lines in the rear window..gonna get it done darker so if I go with my amps in the rear window area..I wont have to worry about them being visible ..not like I would ever put anything in so it can be removed easily..lol ... Umm..Tomorrow I think I'm gonna work on my beauty panel for when the rear seats are folded down...I am gonna have to do it in 3 sections cos I want to fill in that whole area so it looks right..will probably add some lighting effects to it...I am a lighting addict...
June 11 thru 24- Workin on little things here and there ..New style shift selector illumination..the EL wasnt cuttin it for me..the gauge cluster might get the same treatment..we'll see..also sanded down the shifter panel..so the textured look is gone..I need to get it smoother still..not sure if I want to go TOTALLY smooth or put a slight textured paint on it.., Running some wiring cos I am relocating my trunk release switch as well as adding a second switch...., sub enclosure..decided to go with a clam shell configuration with the 4 10" Memphis M3's ..box is about 70% done as ot tonight..( no sense in doing fiberglass for the woofer face with how the subs are going to be mounted) going to seal the seams with fiberglass instead of silicone.., cut the holes for the subs and cut the second top for the box..I did dual layers of 3/4" mdf on some of the walls of the enclosure to add strength . I got a few ideas on the beauty panels..but final decisions are yet to be made......... Been doing a lot of thinking so the WORK has been slow lately..I did make a lot of progress on the box tonight though..I think I'll cut a port to fire through the back seat armrest area....The amps have 4 possible homes...decision yet to be made on that too..... Door panel fiberglassing is going ok..got the rings made, got the major part of the rear of the door panel made..to seal it off and make it an enclosure (used 1/2" mdf).. I know how I want the crossovers mounted ..just got to cut the plexi, add the leds, stretch the fleece, spread the resin..yadda yadda...I know I'm missing some things..but it's 3:35am and I am sleepy..goin to bed!
June 10 09- Been doing little things every day..mainly trying to fully make a decision on which subs I am using..and how to do the box ..I have migrated away from cutting into the rear deck ..simply because there isnt much room between the 6x9 trough and the rear window.. I'm leaning more towards facing the subs downward at a slight angle ..we'll see how it ends up. Today I started my ash tray delete panel..and decided (so far) to put in my digital voltage meter in... I got the mounting surface made for the meter, stretched the fabric over the hole..(used an old Kentucky college basketball jersey) the material stretched the way I needed it to..and is nice and smooth which means less sanding in the later stages... got that layer done + 2 layers of fiberglass mat..should be plenty for its purpose.. I'm letting it dry overnight and tomorrow I'll hit the face with some body filler and smooth it all out and paint it ..chrome/metallic black probably.. UPDATE: Ok..so last night about 1am I decided to hook up my white led strip & my green leds in my gauge cluster at the same time..and it had a VERY unexpected VERY cool side effect.. the white lights lit up pretty much the entire gauge face..but the needles left a shadow on the gauge face.. The green leds being mounted away from the white strip made it so the green light shined only where the white shadow fell.. so the whole face lights up white..and the shadowed area lights up green...it's actually really cool ..I would have gotten a pic of it last night but it was too late to stop by my parents house to take a pic... I'll try to get one tonight and hopefully it shows up .
June 6 09- Wet sanding, buffing, polishing & waxing completed (center light bar).... I cleaned out the water gutter thing around the trunk opening today..it needed it . ..Made my 5 1/4" & 6 1/2" speaker rings (mdf) for my door panels today . Had to go buy some more Dupli-color clear coat cos I am almost out..went to AutoZone..OUT..went to Wal-Mart..OUT.. went to Meijer they had 4 cans so I grabbed 2 of em & picked me up some buffing compound for when I detail the exterior. .... Wet sanded, buffed, polished my headlight again today..cos I seen a small imperfection that I missed the other day.. I seen how bright the turn signals are with a non painted tail light..I think I'm gonna allow some of that light through this time when I repaint my tail lights..
June 5 09- Painted light bar today..the same metallic black that I used in the interior... I'm letting the clear coat cure overnight and tomorrow I will wet sand it, buff it out, polish it, throw a couple coats of wax on it and call it done....In the meantime I'm masking the tail lights for the new paint job.. got a spare set of tails installed till I get the others painted.
June 4 09- Removed brake lights and brake light bar off of the trunk.. Time for an overhaul.. one of the tails is fading rapidly..the other tail is still nice and dark.. damn Niteshades.. I'm painting the unnecessary areas in black ..and doing something a bit more with the brake light area..just to switch it up a bit....Pics when done..as always.
June 3 09- Been workin on getting these little orange dots off of the tail end of my car.. rear of the trunk, rear bumper area.. they wont come off..no other way ..so I'm wet sanding them out, buffing , polishing back to shine....If I keep it up I might wet sand the entire car....Also took the wool buff pad & foam polishing pad to the headlights with some scratch remover after wet sanding them too....Incredible . I have no idea what the orange shit is..but it's only on the back side..they are all very tiny orange dots..not like paint or anything..I have no idea what it is..and neither do any of the paint shops I took it to ..lol They'll be off of my car soon..wet sanding is a pain in the ass that's for sure!.. but the results are worth it..without a doubt!!
June 5 09- Painted light bar today..the same metallic black that I used in the interior... I'm letting the clear coat cure overnight and tomorrow I will wet sand it, buff it out, polish it, throw a couple coats of wax on it and call it done....In the meantime I'm masking the tail lights for the new paint job.. got a spare set of tails installed till I get the others painted.
June 4 09- Removed brake lights and brake light bar off of the trunk.. Time for an overhaul.. one of the tails is fading rapidly..the other tail is still nice and dark.. damn Niteshades.. I'm painting the unnecessary areas in black ..and doing something a bit more with the brake light area..just to switch it up a bit....Pics when done..as always.
June 3 09- Been workin on getting these little orange dots off of the tail end of my car.. rear of the trunk, rear bumper area.. they wont come off..no other way ..so I'm wet sanding them out, buffing , polishing back to shine....If I keep it up I might wet sand the entire car....Also took the wool buff pad & foam polishing pad to the headlights with some scratch remover after wet sanding them too....Incredible . I have no idea what the orange shit is..but it's only on the back side..they are all very tiny orange dots..not like paint or anything..I have no idea what it is..and neither do any of the paint shops I took it to ..lol They'll be out of my hair soon..wet sanding is a pain in the ass that's for sure!.. but the results are worth it..without a doubt!!
May 31, 09 -Today I did some more work on my sub enclosures...I got the enclosure all mocked up..I just need to make my trim rings tomorrow and see what's going to look best while still sounding right. I pretty much doubled up every wall of the enclosure as well as put in supports.. so it's taking a bit longer..plus I dont have a table saw here..just a jig saw and a circular saw.. But I did make the majority of the cuts over at my parents house..on my dad's table saw.
May 28 09 -Broke out my spare set of door panels today (May 24, 09) and started cutting ..muahahaha.. ($90 shipped from AZ - ebay) So I decided to put my Kicker 6 1/2 Midbass , 5 1/4 midrange component set + 2 crossovers in each front door for now.. The 8's will go in later..unless I decide otherwise.. I dont have the spare cash for another amp right now considering I havent had a job since Jan. 10 2008 ..lol ..I sold my Alpine 4.100 but used that money on necessities..........Bills..pfff!!
I am also doing a couple more little projects with the door panels. I got both doors totally taken apart (all plastic welds drilled out and all pieces removed from the door panels).. the areas I plan to mount the speakers is cut out as well as the area for the crossovers..which are going to be recessed in fiberglass "tubs" .. OH..also the area where the factory speaker was...I'm not putting anything there..so I'm wrapping the speaker grill with black vinyl...that or making a panel to fit behind the grill to black it out.... I'll update this when I do more work on the project.......... Also today I decided what I want to do with my headliner..and my visors. so that project is next in line ..tired of not having interior lighting from the overhead console...lol.
Newest pics..on interior page May 27, 2009
Temporary Update ..where my 300M clock is mounted: perfect positioning When in driving position I can see the clock through the steering wheel with no obstructions, I think this is the perfect spot. Modding the hole was a job..Good thing I got the $7 Harbor Freight rotary tool (dremel but way cheaper). The hole was absolutely perfect except for the very top there is about a 1/32 spot where I got a little heavy on the sanding..the adjustment buttons are a little oversized cos they refused to work freely..I wiggled the drill bit in the most precise way possible ...till they worked right...let me know what you think.... I was insanely close for the pic so it looks worse than it does in person.
I have 2 leds mounted in the clock..switchable Blue or White..& the face is tinted 35% to match the gauge cluster tint (20% was too dark for the clock)... I'll get better pics later..I had access to the camera so I got the pic...wires hanging and all that..I didnt even waste time cropping the water bottle out ..
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JAN. 16, 2009 : Brand new Interstate Battery
Feb. 15 2009: More work done on gauge cluster evolution .. Re-Tinted glass with 20% which is still darker than double 35% tint....Put my Stainless Steel gauge bezel on the 300M cluster....Removed white led singles and I am changing them to either 8 3mm leds OR a white led strip just like the blue one. ALSO while I had this apart I put a couple more layers of blue on my digital displays to KEEP them looking blue ... I went with 4 green leds where the white were mainly for daytime driving when necessary ALSO added a led strip to match the blue one.. (more info in section titled Gauge Cluster Evolution on Page 2-pics of most recent soon). Took my 300M clock that I am molding into my dash and tinted the face 35% so it can easily be seen in the daytime but still matches my tinted cluster.
Feb. 28 2009: Pulled my OTIS (overhead console) out & re-wired everything with 22 gauge wiring so the piece fits against the headliner flush like it should.(had 18 gauge before). Put a few more layers of Blue on my digital displays to keep them true blue ( a little of the green was still shining through before ).............I will be re-wiring my center console cup holder mod also...The wiring is pretty tight in there also..because it is a moving part..
Mar. 05 2009: Pulled out my headliner and am covering it in a charcoal colored suede like material, They didnt have the color I wanted in suede so I went with my next choice..What I got actually feels and looks better than suede in my opinion (personal preference) Taking apart the visors are a bitch to say the least ..but I am determined ! I am not simply wrapping the headliner & visors but I am taking it a step further.. Pics soon.
Mar. 05 2009: Pulled my Heater control unit (HVAC) and fixed the uneven lighting on the buttons, Installed 2 white 3mm leds to Illuminate the indicator line on the knob (which now matches my headlight switch) ......... Also on Mar. 5: Took off my door panels and figured out which wires are Illumination for the door panels and courtesy lights..... Installed the Auto side mirror adjustment switch which I modded with blue & white leds (not an easy mod) ..Just have to finish the led swap for master window switch and door lock switches.
YOU DONT HAVE TO RUN NEW WIRE INTO YOUR DOORS TO INSTALL LEDS / NEONS but the lights will always be on..door lighting is constantly on..for some dumb reason.
Mar. 23 2009: Took headlights out..took ONE apart and painted some of the reflector flat black..changed up the LED set up in the light.. I had to go out and get some more paint so I had to put the lights back in..Will finish the other light this week..now the car looks like it's got a black eye..lol ( should get a pic of that but probably wont) . The dodgeintrepid.net method of taking the light apart did not work at all for me..(the oven deal) so I used a utility knife, screw drivers, and heat gun .. Will update and pic soon.
Mar. 24 2009: Mounted my 300M clock today..went with a better location..required some pretty precise cutting..and some removing of dash bracing (about 1") But the Location is Perfect.. I'm glad I bought the $8 Harbor Freight Dremel type thing..it's Incredibly useful ..I've already got my money's worth out of it !! ..as with everything..pics soon.. I have to go out to my parents house to use the camera..I dont have my own ..Cant justify spending the $ on one for the amout I would use it ......
Mar. 27 2009: Did some wiring got a lot of lighting goin in .... Started my spare battery, capacitor, 200 amp relay, circuit breaker Mounting rack..This is going in the front half of the spare tire well and will be hidden in a partially sealed enclosure*bottom, rear , partial sides, and top* The rear will be open to allow any necessary ventilation and to allow wires to be freely ran through & easy access if needed.
Mar. 28 09: Got Illuminated ignition ring (Thanks to Meanmugga for the deal) ..Installed and changed light to white..just needs to be wired up so it dims down with the interior lights.
Mar. 31 09: While working on a panel (cutting it down) My utility knife slipped and cut a 4" gash in the palm of my hand which required 14 stitches..so I wont be doin much with the car for a week or 2 ..gotta give this time to heal
April 9 09: Havent posted in a bit.. lately I've been workin on.... : Installing blue LEDs in my Epicenter so the logo is lit up....designing a mounting solution for my cd player which is out of the ordinary, as well as one for my radar detector.. The radar detector is a tough one..because I have to keep one side clear..so the speaker is not covered up ..I've considered relocating the speaker to solve this issue ..which is what I'll probably do..But I'll have to leave a small gap to get to the volume .. I still want it to LOOK good too.
April 14 09: Took the stitches out of my hand today.. totally painless & FREE ..work will begin more frequently on my car again soon.
April 17 09: Installed Dynamat Extreme on the roof of my car since I have my headliner off still..and I filled between & underneath the cardboard insert stuff on the ceiling (under the headliner) I filled that in with expanding foam to sound deaden that..I didnt feel like peeling all that adhesive shit off of the roof. About to go out and make SOMETHING to do a 3-D headliner design.. I have way too many Ideas to only have 1 car..I need about 10 project cars to use all the ideas I come up with lol
Page 1: Exterior
Page 2: Interior
Page 3: Audio-Updating
Page 4: Recent Updates Audio
Page 5: Recent Updates Interior/Exterior (temporarily bs page)
Page 6: List of items in/on car
Page 7: List of items to be modified
Page 8: Whats goin on MONTH BY MONTH
Page 9: Time Line/ Journal deal
