Tinted Tail Lights!

I have been thinking about this for awhile and sadly its probably my last mod of the summer before school (I should really be packing instead of writing this lol). I saw on dude (owner of the "Danger Van") on the AFC who had tinted tail lights. It looked very cool indeed. I spent some hours researching what to use and do. I bought some VHT Night Shade spray paint (found here) and went to work! I pulled out the Tail lights (quite simple really just take off some bolts and pull 'er out)

here are the bolts to take off
Then I pulled it off and it looked like this:Then I taped off the tail lights where I did not want the paint to go. I left the back up light unpainted. After that I painted a thin layer, moving the car back and forth. It proceeded to do that about 2 times, waiting a half of an hour before the second layer. I actually held the car too close to the tail light on my first try and it ended up with a slight 'zebra' pattern (that is, a few dark lines are more visible if you study it for a bit, and the paint formed a few darker puddles). But I actually like that one better, it gives it more character.



I really am satisfied with the results. I hope that it does not come off in a carwash, it shouldnt. I was going to clear coat it but the guy at advance auto parts said I do not need a clear coat with Nite Shades. I would love to put a Manik Black Tail Light Guard over them but the world seems to have no more of those for a 'tek... sadly...

Here are some photos:
Before:
After ( its hard to tell from the photos b/c they were taken into the sun):

Dome Light

So finally.. Finally I have my dome lights done. I bought some LED bulbs for my dome light a few weeks ago when I bought my HIDs and turn signals. The actual bulbs were the wrong ones. The stock bulbs had wire that wrapped around some metal tabs, and the LEDs I bought were cone shaped on the end. So I had to drill some holes to hold the LEDs in. However not just any drill would do, I had to go buy a 3/32 Carbon drill bit for drilling into heavy metal. This bit worked and now I have LED lighting in back! (oh and its red!). Also when I went to buy the drill bit I bought some VHT Nite Shade Black spray paint for.. drum roll... my tail lights =). I want to tint them a bit black. I also installed my turn signal bulbs but they hyper flash b/c the car thinks they are dying because LED bulbs use less power than halogens...

oh and I also added a darkish tinted license plate plastic cover to the front and it darkens the plate to match the car. It looks great!

122 Minutes and $171.10 Later...

Alright! So I ordered a HID kit the other day from v-leds and installed it tonight! It took me about 2 hours and now my lights are baller! I spent quite a few minutes trying to figure out the instructions until i figured i should just try and connect everything and that strategy worked quite well =)

i also tried to install my LED turn signals but i do not know how to wire the ballasts for it so i had to put the old ones back in.. oh and the LED red bulbs for my rear dome light do not fit either :angry: but i my HIDs do! =)

anywho, heres some pix! (for those of you who are HID-less and have no idea)
the photos make it look VERY blue, its more closer to a very clear white in real life. and i really like how far on the side it extends (see image)

Flaps for Mud

So I bought some mud flaps the other day off of amazon so that my lovely lil tek will be protected from all the salt in the winter.. They were only $30 total and installation was quite easy. Basically I lined up where I wanted them to be marked it. Then I drilled some holes in the flaps (and the car if necessary; front had holes already, back didnt) and then screwed the mud flaps on!

Here (Powerflow 6401 Pro-Fit Splash Guards-Car. 1 pair) are the ones I bought on amazon. I was fairly satisfied, however there is a crevice on them where dirt and stuff can build up when kicked up from the wheel. They fit nicely though and hopefully will last awhile.

Here are some photos...


Finished product:




me holding the flap in one hand, camera in the other- before installed

the goods..

Purchased HIDs...

Wow. So I spent a bit of dollars last night. I upgraded my lighting, I have been looking at HIDs vs Sylvannia Superstars Ultras for the headlights in my tek for awhile. I mean, com'on there is no way batman drove with crappy headlights. And my lights really suck; I found this out driving home from a twins game one night, my eyes were straining and knuckles white at the wheel... So yea I bought some HIDs from v-led
s through ebay. They look pretty legit. I also bought some other stuff too so I could save on shipping. I got somz red LED dome lights for the inside, LED turn signal bulbs (good ones too, because mine are sucky) and a resistor for the LED turn signals bulbs... All in all the whole kitten kabutool came to $200. Then I found a coupon code for v-leds on the interwebs; and saved $30! That was legit. So im stoked for my new headlights to come so I can put 'em in! They are blue and should last the car's lifetime. They are the kind that most caddys and beamers and stuff have- thus very legit.
Check some photos out:
HID 35W 6000 Blue Bulb Kit


Bought two of these 212 bulbs for the Dome lights on the interior, then the whole inside will be red!


Resistor to fool the DIC into thinking the bulbs are getting normal wattage
Nice Turn Signal Bulbs (pricey but I figured the $12 upgrade would be worth it)




Oh also the other day I bought mud flaps so that my car does not get salt and stuff on it from the winter. They came today and so I have to install them tomorrow. Although only the front two wheel wells have bolts or places to screw them in... So the back two might be a little bit improved..

installation of the d+p

so wow was installation a duzy. i started right after i got off work at about 5pm. I finished when it started to get dark around 8 or 830pm. i did break for dinner, but dont get me wrong it took a while. it really did not take all that long to install it but to wire the cables and it hooked up to the fuse box was tricky. oh and i failed to mention that i dropped a fuse down this gap in the car and i spent nearly an hour trying to fish it out. i failed and it is still down there somewhere. that was frustrating, but speaking of frustrating... i wanted to wire it directly into the car's fuse box so that it starts up and turns off. easier said than done... i spent nearly 2 of the hours trying to get this accomplished. it just would not get power, so i eventually ended up using the cigarette adaptor. i posted on the AFC and apparently i wired it to the wrong fuses.. oops, ill have to fix that sometime.

so it works great! its not Cd quality, one thing i was striving for but i guess i do have my whole library at my fingertips (literally) so i should not get spoiled. also its way more safer. also another reason its not perfect is that it seems like every station here in rural MN has something on it.. very disappointing... i have yet to mod the color of it. it is blue and the rest of the car's interior is red =( . i think i will try and put a jell in it from my job at school when i get there.

overall grade: satisfied.

Now I can drive & play..

So today I got back from my mission trip to boonville arkansas. It was a totally great experience serving Christ and it was my first trip as an adult advisor.. When I came back the drive + play kit I ordered off amazon was sitting waiting to be installed! The parts that wire it directly into the stereo are in still in the mail so I just wired it up via FM transmitter. It is probably the best FM transmitter I have seen but still not near CD quality which is what I am looking for. I am actually sitting in my car right now rocking out and blogging and stuff... But it is truely amazing. I love the click wheel and little screen that mounts on the dashboard. It was really easy to put it in, but the tricky part will be wiring it into the stereo. Anyways great thanks goes to callforhelp62 from the 'tek fan club online. He (or she) helped me and convinced me to get one (totally worth it). He also posted an amazing tutorial on how to install it into the stereo. (link: http://www.aztekfanclub.com/SMF/index.php/topic,8227.0.html). I will try and take photos, might now happen, I am exhausted.

Meeting My Music Needs in the Tek

Today i ordered a Harman Kardon Drive + Play accessory for my car.




I hear it is the best iPod accessory out there and it is also very much safer than a normal iPod. It comes with a little screen you can mount up by your windshield so that you dont have to look down to change the song, very convenient. It was like $200-300 when it came out but on amazon it is only $40! What a deal huh! I am going to wire it directly into the car and so the quality will be a lot better than just a FM transmitter..

i HATE fm transmitters. Its ridicilous- we can put a man on the moon but we cant make a decent FM transmitter. I much prefer just a cassette adaptor to a transmitter. They are ancient of days but still work like a charm. Thats one of the things i wished my tek had: a cassette player. Or at least a CD player that played MP3 cd's rather than the 18 track normal audio CD's. I can stand them for a while but they are starting to drive me crazy... so limiting! (and im sooo spoiled by the iPod/all 30 gigs of library in my palm). So this drive + play thing should be sweet! Unfortunately it will the screen is in blue but i have been in contact with a current owner and tekker (of the AFC) and he says it should be easy to mod that color to red. However the clicker wheel thing is a different story. But i suppose that will be lower down and so i wont worry that much about it. Well im off to a missions trip for awhile- when i get back: time to look for a pro tinter for the windows and installation of the drive = play!!

Continuation of Interior Lighting Mods

After going to the twinkees game today I got back and decided to work on ze' batmobile... So I grabbed a trusty needle nose pliers and went to work. I was losing daylight and so I just replaced the mirror lights with red. Now the most of the interior lighting is red, just missing the back dome lights (the store did not have any).. I also grabbed my camera and took some photos:

left side:


right side:


mirror/map lights:


all of the interior

Second Mod- Interior Lighting

So my second mod.. After numerous postings and "i do what?" threads posted on AFC I found out what light bulbs to buy in order to transform the interior into a more Gotham City atmosphere... I went to Advance Auto Parts today (open on the fourth i know?!) and bought a 2 packs of #914 bulbs (2 in each pack). I went to work this afternoon and replaced the the foot wells under the dash in front. It looks wicked! I tried to remove the lights in the rearview mirror but it didnt work very well. Also they did not have any bulbs in red to replace the dome light in back =(.. I also took apart the center console and replaced the shifter bulb which had burned out.. It looks great, oh and happy fourth!

First Mod - Changing the symbol

Thus begins my modding.. Today I had a great epiphany.... There are loads of people who modify cars and their 'teks and so in the words' of Bono, I will follow.. My idea is mod my tek is... drum roll......





Batman's Batmobile...

I used to play with Batman action figures as a kid, I had tons and I even had massive batcave. So the interior lighting is already red (well just the gauges) and with the outside being black, it has the beginnings of the esteemed Batmobile. I also did my first modding to it; I covered the red pontiac emblems with electrical tape- making it black. The difference is monumental and I cant get over how wicked it looks!

before:



after:



It is not perfect but you cant tell at all until like 2 feet away..

It is the first of my modding towards making it the Batmobile. The other few mods I have done have just been done to 'accessorize' it.. I added a mega-mirror (gives wide angle perspective to rear view mirror), bought a sun shade, bought a comfy steering wheel cover and an air freshener...

My list of future mods:

Tint the front windows
replace steering wheel horn cover with bat symbol
seat covers (potentially one with bat symbol, other black)
put bat symbols in the fog lights
darken turn signals in front
darken tail lights
black rims
bigger tires
buy the pontiac HUD
get a chrome or black fuel cover
and maybe get it lowered and body kit

most of this is funds pending..

Photoshoot

Today I did my first photoshot of a car. I like photography and my tek and so i combined them into a few hours of fun. I did a little HDR (which turned out great) and its now my wallpaper on my computer. Other than that the shots were not amazing, but black is hard to photograph. Oh and I forgot to mention that I washed it and waxed before. Note to self: Always use Nu Finish when waxing a car. I was scared because I heard that black does not wax well. Well the Nu Finish worked like a car, I would totally recommend it all!





check out some of my shots...






HDR:

First Wash

Today the tek was washed. We were doing a carwash at church to raise money for our mission trip to Arkansas this summer and so everything was in hand for a good ole wash. I did it after we were all done, and only I was allowed to gently give it a good scrub-down...

The Buy

First Entry: So I drove over to New Ulm to look at a Black 2002 Aztek. It was priced at $7000 but we were looking to haggle them down. It looked in really good condition and was just the base model (although 'base model' in tek-speak means loaded with nifty extras others dream about, ie a cooler that is in the center console and you can remove!). I thought about buying a rally, but they are just not worth the extra cha ching right now and I want to get a fully loaded tek when i am older...
So anyways we drove up (after hours of research and staying up late in the library) and after much debate, bought the car. They were real sticklers but we got them to drop the price down to $6200. We even had to speak to the manager guy, who reminded me of John Candy. So I wrote the check and drove it home! (check out the photos I took at a Subway lunch stop with my cell phone... oooo such great quality) It feels great to fully fund such a wicked car by myself. I am going to take great car of her, weekly washes and such.. In fact when I got home I spent about 2 hours detailing the inside of her with a wet rag and dusting her off..
24 hours of owing an Aztek = Totally diggin' it!!