LED replacement...

OK I mentioned it before but here are 2 pics of my fog light switch. I soldered in a resistor to reduce the current enough for the LED. This is a standard, run-of-the-mill, dime a dozen red LED; not one of those "HYPER" Leds you can get from eBay. This little sucker is bright enough and it is almost too bright - even with the dash light dimmer turned all the way down it's pretty bright, I might need a larger limiting resister - but for now it works and its fine.

Notice that little brown rectangle? - it's the original (now burned out) bulb. Once I determined the polarity of the leads I soldered my connections and oriented the LED to fit inside the switch housing. VIOLA! an LED powered switch that will last nearly forever... plus its red not a washed out amber.

If you wish to copy my idea you have to send me $10 for the useage rights. :)

Got something done...

OK - More tradegy, another inlaw has passed away only days since the last death in the family - this one completely unexpected.

spent a lot of my day off over at our new home. Measuring, planning, figuring out what has to be done before we move in. - Lots of work and only 30days to get it done - looks like the Mirage has to take a back-seat for a while.

Saturday I got off of work a little early and went home, father-in-law was mowing the grass, after relaxing for a few hours I went out to "just do something" to Misty... Found a busted rear passenger window... Doesn't that just suck. Riding mower kicked up a rock and chucked it through the window. Oh well - He already told me he would pay for it so I'm not really worried but that pretty much killed my mood for the rest of the day.

Today - As the title implies, I did get something done. I started off trying to clean up a hole I drilled through the firewall (originally for the NOS line) and fit a wire grommet into it for the alarm and some extra wiring... but the multiple layers of steel proved more than I could deal with... gave up on that - put some Dynomatt Xtreme over the hole and moved on. I decided to put the "sun-visor" tint strip across the windshield. This time a little smaller and a little lighter than before - keeping everything cop-compliant ( completely legal ;) ) And - this went well... I didn't have a chance to snap any pics before it got dark out but I'll get them tomorrow. And hopefully I'll have a chance to call the glass people as well... The duck-tape is oh-so-stylin let me tell you.

:)

Finally something more.

OK - A lot has happened recently. Quick run-down.

Got the broken bolt out of the dash, reinstalled all the painted pieces and the dash panels. Added some carbon fiber wrap on the mirror trim, around the fog light switch, and the dimmer switch/cruise control switch panel. (no pics of that yet)

Also replaced the burned out indicator bulb in the fog light switch with an LED.

Changed out the reverse strobe lights... instead of one strobe bulb of the dual unit in each of the taillights, I found another identical strobe unit on the discontinued shelf (for less than $6) and drilled another hole in the tail lights so now their are 2 dual strobe units in the car - one for each tail light, 2 stobes in each housing. Both turned up to the fasted flash rate.

Replaced the oem style wiper blades with a newer "I beam" style with a teflon blade. Nice look.

I ordered the roof yolks (support brackets that keep the sheet metal of the roof stable) after arguing with the people from the dealership about not needing "freight" to ship two pieces... They arrived.

Family member passed away. She was very old and everyone knew it was coming so it was not a great shock but it was still a lot to deal with.

Clutch went out and had to tow the car home.
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Got a new Clutch Master Cylinder and Slave Cylinder... needed to get a new clutch line and ordered one from Road///Race Engineering (GREAT COMPANY). Couldn't get a new one made at the local race shop for less than the $20 that Road///Race charges -Great Deal!

Got some more pics of the LED in the switch but they are still in the camera...
Got some other things that need to be "buttoned up":
(My new TOP TEN)
1. Install the Visor tint strip.
2. Put the matching piece of CF on the passenger door.
3. Solder and wrap the connections on the second strobe light unit.
4. install some RTV silicone on the CPS Housing. (its leaking oil)
5. Add the wiring for the LED Roof lights.
6. ***Isntall the new Roof Yolks***
7. Finish the rust removal and painting of some of the dash brackets (that can't be removed easily)
8. Install the window roll up modual on a metal bracket up under the dash on the hump.
9. Run the wiring for the windshield LEDs and the Alarm Siren.
10. Order the door handles, trim, and a new Brake Master Cylinder Cap from Mitsubishiparts.com

I hate rust, and I hate knowing that there is any lurking under some plastic trim pieces. In earlier posts I mentioned that there was rust that needed to be dealt with. Sure for the most part it’s just “flash” rust, or surface rust… almost like a dust, but its still there and it still bothers me. And you for the most part no one would ever see anything except the guy vacuuming the carpet (uh-that would be me) but I still know its there. So I set out to de-rust, clean, and paint all the exposed steel metal up under the dash.

OK here is the metal "crash bracket" located inside the steering colomn - NASTYThese are a few panels located up under the drivers side of the dash - you can see the surface rust I'm hating. This is with the Navel Jelly - Rust remover product applied...
You can see just how well this product works at removing the rust with little to no sanding.
And some good quality Rustoleum paint...

Some pieces are flat, some got gloss... wasn't concerned with the finish - just that they were protected from rust.

Here is one shot of a piece installed (passenger side inside under the glove box)

I’d love to get the carpeting done and back in the car but there is still a ton of work to get done like wiring from the trunk to the dash, wiring from the alarm to the center console, window roll up/alarm interface module, wiring from the dash to the engine, battery cable from the alternator to the trunk, and more sound deadening (Dynamat).

With that much work I figured that I should work from the top down, getting the headliner back in would be very nice as well and there is less to do. A little bit of 3M Window Weld for the new roof yolks and some more Dynamat on the rest of the sheet metal. A minor amount of wiring going to some LEDs that will be mounted in the top of the A,B, and C pillars. But I will be re-wrapping the headliner with a different material and of course the plastic pillars will be trimmed in suede. I got the roof yolks ordered and I’m waiting for them to be delivered.

Today I started putting the painted brackets back in, broke a bolt off (by hand mind you). I was really pissed – still am. Now I have to use an “Easy out” (or something) and try and get the bolt out… plus I saw 2 more pieces of metal that look like total crap (rust) that I need to treat. AND some of the wiring that needs to be done will be impossible to reach with the cover in place. I’m getting really frustrated. So I just bolted up what I had left and cleaned everything, I had to accomplish something and since the dash was dirty and dusty as heck I decided that I would just clean it, dress it and wipe the windows. It was a real downer.

Something new... Nah not really.

We went on vacation and encountered a bad alternator on our Ford Focus. Bought a new battery just to get down there, replaced the tensioner while there, had to have a tow dolly to get home. Thank God for Awesome-Inlaws. My last day off was spent replacing the alt. even though the test equipment said it was fine there was nothing else to replace. Everything else was new, belt, tensioner, batt. Cables are clean and tight, and the inline fusible link (most retarted thing I've ever seen - its put in there like an after thought). Anyway back to my car and purpose of this blog...

I have finished "restoring" my AC system, even bought more freon, but have yet to get to my buddie's shop and suck off the car.
AC system mods
New expansion valve, all O-Rings, Valve cores and caps, and drier.
Polished every hard line and the drier. (polished by hand with steel wool and then Mothers)
Ran Rubbing Achohol through everything, then a "professional" purge chemical.

If nothing else it looks good... the rest of the engine is dirtier than all heck - but hey it's progress. I've got to sand and paint (rust) a few more brackets up under the dash, then I can install/reconnect the radio and get some other wiring done.

Near future plans... some more dynamat extreme on the rear pillars and roof section, seem sealer on the roof supports, get the remaining tint off and repair the broken defroster lines... then I can retint the back and side windows, put in some fiberglass speaker boxes.... etc.... etc....

Here is the reality of 10 years of Florida Sun and rain. Not to mention multiple wax jobs and possibly over washing. I used to detail the mirage nearly every weekend. It looked great all the time... until I started slacking on it and now the damage is revealed...

Finally some Photos!!!

OK so I've had this for a while now but NO PICS... Well about a week ago my lovely wife snapped a few great shots of my car. I had to scale them down a bit so they would fit on here.

Ok, Ok, Ok, I know what your saying. No my car does not look that good. Thats my Mirage with a little bit of photoshop.

Here is the original un-touched photo, just reduced in size.