I finished mounting the passenger side skirt and pulled it out for better pictures. I also checked the clearance going into and out of my drive way and I've got about 1.5 inches at the front and 3 inches at the rear, so I don't need to adjust the ride height Josh
Wiring up the lights. The brake lights aren't working for some reason (probably a fuse), but here's the tail light, side turn signal I'll mount in the chrome fender vent and the parking lights and low beams. Josh
I finished wiring up the front lights. There's parking lights, low beams (all 4), low beams with fog lights, high beams and parking with turn signals lit up. I'll probably have to disconnect the inner low beams because these lights are already pretty bright and I don't want to blind oncoming traffic. Josh
I finished wiring up the tail lights. Here's the tail, brake, turn and reverse lights all in one housing. I still have to connect the tag lights and mount the third brake light, but I'm happy with my progress. Josh
Now that all the lights are working, I ordered slotted and drilled rotors with ceramic brake pads. I cleaned up the brake calipers and brackets and decided to paint everything aluminum silver instead of the traditional hotrod red. Josh
Front brake parts came in, so I threw those on really quick. Threw the spare on just for a picture. Josh
I removed the transmission cooler and filled it with trans fluid and re-installed it so i wouldn't have to top off the trans (it's a 2 person job) . I used a length of angle iron with some riv-nuts to mount across the back of the bumper where the air dam mounts. I made a pair of drop down brackets to secure the bottom of the cooler. Then I painted everything black Josh
So I took my first test drive to the gas station to put fresh fuel in it. There's no windshield yet, so it was a little windy. I went back home and got some better glasses to do a proper test drive. I heard scraping when I hit deep bumps and thought it was hitting the fender. Turns out the lower control arm scrubs on the inner lip of the rear tire. The rear tires have too much offset. So now I have to pick different rims. Option 1. Buy a pair of front c6 wheels and paint them to match Option 2. Go with the c5 chrome wheels I picked out first. (Not really liking the way they look after seeing the bronze wheels) Option 3. Paint and polish up the original g8gt wheels (I have 8 of them) I kinda like that they look like hot wheels car wheels. I'm open to any and all suggestions Josh
On my 3rd test drive, the left tail light was hanging by the harness when I pulled into the driveway. So I put a riv-nut in each one to keep them from popping out Josh
For the wheels, I kinda like the chrome C5 wheels out of the 3. Then again, I'm into simpler looks and this car is anything but simple.
How about just putting a wheel spacer on?... 1/4" should do it. Or mod the control arm for more clearance. Cut that bump out and weld a flat to it.
I was looking at the c5 wheels and wondering how they would look with bronze inserts to break up the chrome. I might tape one up and paint on the tape to see how it looks before I commit to it. They actually make modified lower control arms to run 15 inch drag pack wheels. I thought about cutting a relief and boxing in to clear the lip. I really need to remove the rear coilovers and articulate the rear suspension to find out what hits and where. But the rear wheels being 10 inches wide already things very tight as it is. I thought for sure I'd blow a tire on my test drive. As always, I'll keep you posted as things happen Josh
Well, for now, I'm sticking with the c5 wheels because that's what I have. I did, however paint the inserts bronze because I felt like they had too much chrome. I painted all 4 wheels and then test drove it to check for clearance issues since they sick out about 1/2 inch further than the c6 wheels. Josh
I agree. I'm surprised how much better they look with that subtle change. I was searching for another pair of c6 front rims, but I really wanted those 275/40 tires out back. Josh
I went to the junk yard looking for late model side view mirrors, hoping to use the power mirror switch in the center console, but no luck. Every cool mirror option I found mounted to a sub structure inside the door and I didn't feel like buying a set of doors just to retro fit some mirrors. So I walked over to the classic car section and picked up a set of remote mirrors from a 73 cadillac el Dorado. When I got home, didn't want to drill a big hole to feed the remote section of the mirror through, so I cut it off flush. Well, if you didn't know already, the only thing holding the glass in the mirror head is those tiny cables. Oops. So I went into my attic and found a remote mirror from a previous skylark I owned, and it mounted me thy factory location without any drilling or mods. So I took the manual mirror from the driver's side and mounted it on the passenger side, just like I should have done in the first place. Josh
I mounted the third brake light I got from a Ford fusion a while back. With the angle of the tail gate glass and the structural support for the window frame, I had to mount it about 3 inches from the edge so I would be able to access the bottom to bolt everything down and run the harness to the light. Josh