Plain Jane OEM nothing to see here rebuild

[JustJeff]

Got some JDM fogs for pretty cheap. Bought them off somebody who was parting out a front clip. They were pretty scratched up. I followed an online guide for restoration. I wet sanded with 400, 800, 1000, and 2000 grit. Then polished with some Plastix. The guide actually called for 1500 grit mixed in there. I thought I had some but didn't and didn't want to go back out to the store. The guide called for doing one pass horizontal and another vertical for each grit.

The results are a good start but not good enough. From a distance they look pretty alright. But up close you can see light scratches from the sanding. I'm gonna do them over. Any advice would be appreciated.

I wish I had taken a before shot or two, but all I have are the afters.




One deep scratch that was missed. I may go back and start with 320 grit. You can also see the sanding marks.


Sanding marks really show with them lit up






Anyone have advice on how to do this better? My plan next time around is to start with 320 for the deep scratchs and make sure I have some 1500 grit. Probably use more pressure. Also, I wasn't using a sanding pad or block, just hands. I'll use something next time.

[RETed]

Are you doing this by hand?
Power buffers would help a LOT.

I'm not a pro at this, but we used to mess around with plastics and rubbing compounds and *Brasso*.
I'm sure the dedicated plastic polishes work, but Brasso was something that was always around, and we had to take care of a lot of brass when I used to do the ROTC thing back in high school.


-Ted

[JustJeff]

Yeah doing it by hand. I don't own a mounted wheel. If it doesn't turn out well enough by hand I may look into a buffing bit for a drill or my dremel. My concern with the dremel is how fast that spins.

I own a foam/sponge pad for sanding bodywork. As of yet I can't find it. Hopefully tonight after work I have time to get to the body supply shop. I need a sheet of 1500 grit.

[RETed]

Dremel is way too fast and too small - you're going to gouge the plastic.
Even if you manage to slow it down, it's going to take a long time to do the whole lens.

What I did was get a buffer attachment for a drill.
Most of the buffer covers - usually wool or equivalent - are too course for your application.
I used a discarded T-shirt and covered the whole thing - cut & tied to fit snugly - to give you a more finer (smoother?) buffing surface.
Work slowly until you get a feel for the buffing action.


-Ted

[Pete_89T2]

Originally Posted by RETed

Dremel is way too fast and too small - you're going to gouge the plastic.
Even if you manage to slow it down, it's going to take a long time to do the whole lens.

What I did was get a buffer attachment for a drill.
Most of the buffer covers - usually wool or equivalent - are too course for your application.
I used a discarded T-shirt and covered the whole thing - cut & tied to fit snugly - to give you a more finer (smoother?) buffing surface.
Work slowly until you get a feel for the buffing action.


-Ted

Agreed, but save yourself some time & guesswork and just buy the Meguire's or an equivalent headlight restoration kit. The Meguires kit comes with a buffer attachment for your drill that is just the right size for headlight work, and has a washable pad that has just the right level of abrasiveness for the job - it's on the fine/soft side. I found that if you follow the directions, run the drill at 1/2 to 3/4 of max speed and bear down with moderate pressure, you'll get good results. Multiple passes from opposite/overlapping directions works best. For the FTP lenses, removing them from the car & securing them in a vise makes life easier.

[JustJeff]

My thing with the kit is that I already own alot of wetsand paper. I'm also prepping body panels for paint so I already own a variety paper.

I do own a orbital buffer and all kinds of bonnets (microfiber, terry cloth, wool), I think 12in. II've got one of the lenses out of the mount. I could hit it with that but I"m concerned with how large that is and that I'd end up hitting the metal frame the lense is in.

I'm thinking if I use a buffing wheel I'll have to do it with a drill bit. BUT will just using the Meguire's Plastx buffer/polishing clean up those "swirl marks"? I'm thinking I have to work those down with wetsanding, then hit with a buffer.

[JustJeff]

Sweet Baby Jesus!!!

The engine has life again. I had broken off the stud at the LIM for the coolant feed to the turbo. Had to take the intakes and turbo off to get it out. That being done, the engine turned over and idles.

Issues that still need worked out:

1. Exhaust leak, it's a small one but it's dinner time and cold out.
2. Efan blew the fuse. I manually turned it on to check the wiring and it ran till I turned it off. Then would not turn back on.
3. Gauges STILL aren't working right. Well the aftermarket ones, OEM gauges work fine.

[Pete_89T2]

Originally Posted by JustJeff

Sweet Baby Jesus!!!

The engine has life again.

Congrats!

Originally Posted by JustJeff

Issues that still need worked out:

1. Exhaust leak, it's a small one but it's dinner time and cold out.
2. Efan blew the fuse. I manually turned it on to check the wiring and it ran till I turned it off. Then would not turn back on.
3. Gauges STILL aren't working right. Well the aftermarket ones, OEM gauges work fine.

On #2, when you "manually turned it on", how did you do that - shunt/short circuit the fuse terminals to get it to run? With a new fuse in there, does it tend to blow out the fuse as soon as the fan kicks on? If the answer to both is yes, then it sounds like your fuse may be undersized for the inrush current load. Whenever you start an electric motor, the instananeous current draw is many times higher than its steady state current draw. If the fuse can't handle the inrush current, it will blow out every time.

[JustJeff]

Originally Posted by Pete_89T2

Congrats!



On #2, when you "manually turned it on", how did you do that - shunt/short circuit the fuse terminals to get it to run? With a new fuse in there, does it tend to blow out the fuse as soon as the fan kicks on? If the answer to both is yes, then it sounds like your fuse may be undersized for the inrush current load. Whenever you start an electric motor, the instananeous current draw is many times higher than its steady state current draw. If the fuse can't handle the inrush current, it will blow out every time.

I wired in a manual switch and mounted it on the dash panel below the steering wheel. I flipped the switch and it came right on. Flipped the switch again and it turned off. Then never came on again. I'm using a 40amp fuse on an inline holder.
I'm going to go over the wiring again. I believe the ground wire going from the relay to the ground is undersized. I'm going to go all 10ga wiring for the fan. Right now some of the wiring is below that.

As for the gauges I'm suspicious of my ground for both the boost and pressure warning gauge. The water temp gauge is grounded in the engine compartment. The boost and pressure gauge are grounded in the cockpit. Last I checked the temp gauge worked fine, but I did not check it last night. I was kind of rushed trying to get to a family dinner. Starting up the car and idling it was the last thing I did before leaving kinda hastily.

[JustJeff]

One thing I forgot to add last night. I've got soft brakes. I thought that I had bled all 4 brake lines well enough. I didn't see any air in the lines at all. But still soft brakes. Last time I took it down the street and back I had to use the ebrake.

I'm guessing the master cylinder is bad. I don't know if it's related or not, but when I first filled the reservoir I came back the next day and the whole thing had drained from a leak in the seal/s at the bottom. I filled it up and put some screw clamps around it. It hasn't leaked since. But the brakes haven't worked right since then either.

[Pete_89T2]

Definitely replace that master cylinder, any leaks there result in no brakes.

On the fan wiring, is it still per the schematic diagram on post #112? Is it blowing those 40A fuses when turned on with the switch, or is it just not running repeatably when you flip the switch on/off? If it's the latter, first thing to check is the wiring & grounds - may have a loose intermittent connection somewhere, or its also possible the relay contacts may be going bad (carbon arcing). If it is blowing that 40A fuse, you've got a short circuit to find.

[JustJeff]

Originally Posted by Pete_89T2

Definitely replace that master cylinder, any leaks there result in no brakes.

On the fan wiring, is it still per the schematic diagram on post #112? Is it blowing those 40A fuses when turned on with the switch, or is it just not running repeatably when you flip the switch on/off? If it's the latter, first thing to check is the wiring & grounds - may have a loose intermittent connection somewhere, or its also possible the relay contacts may be going bad (carbon arcing). If it is blowing that 40A fuse, you've got a short circuit to find.

I haven't worked on the car since. I'm trying not to let a sniffly nose and raw throat turn into a full blown cold...what with family coming into town for the holiday and all. Last night I opted not to lay around on cold concrete.

For the brakes I'm trying to get some speed bleeders to make sure I've got them bled properly. Problem is, my small town doesn't carry much in the way of metric parts. For anyone reading, four piston calipers on our cars are m8x1.0. I'm assuming the rears are the same.

I'm trying to avoid replacing the master cylinder if I can. Obviously for the work involved, but also for one other reason. I've got a southern vert shell that I very well may be keeping. For now it's been my parts car. I'm giving thought to taking my time with that shell. Giving it a proper paint job and swapping my turbo drivetrain BACK into it. I"ve already taken the clutch hyrdaulics off the shell, less work I create for myself down the road the better.

For the blown fuse. It turned on fine with a flip of the manual override. It stayed running till I turned it off. When the temps started to rise I checked to make sure the fan would turn on with the thermoswitch. I flipped the manual override to make sure it was operational....and got nothing. Temps weren't high enough yet for it to have turned on with the thermoswitch, I was just testing it. That was my cutoff point for cleaning up and heading to dinner. The only thing I did from that point was check the fuse and saw it was blown and bleed some of the air out of the cooling system.

I believe my ground wire for the fan is smallish and that might be causing my problems. The gauge on it is smaller than 10, maybe 12. I'm going to go through the wiring and make sure it's all 10 gauge. Well I probably won't do the thermoswitch wire that big. My understanding is that thermoswitch doesn't need that large.

[Pete_89T2]

Originally Posted by JustJeff

For the brakes I'm trying to get some speed bleeders to make sure I've got them bled properly. Problem is, my small town doesn't carry much in the way of metric parts. For anyone reading, four piston calipers on our cars are m8x1.0. I'm assuming the rears are the same.

Instead of speed bleeders, look up the Motive Power Bleeder and get one of those instead. It's basically a pressure bleeding system. Best under $50 tool that I ever purchased - makes brake bleeding & fluid flushing so easy you'll want to do it just for fun.

Originally Posted by JustJeff

For the blown fuse. It turned on fine with a flip of the manual override. It stayed running till I turned it off. When the temps started to rise I checked to make sure the fan would turn on with the thermoswitch. I flipped the manual override to make sure it was operational....and got nothing. Temps weren't high enough yet for it to have turned on with the thermoswitch, I was just testing it. That was my cutoff point for cleaning up and heading to dinner. The only thing I did from that point was check the fuse and saw it was blown and bleed some of the air out of the cooling system.

I believe my ground wire for the fan is smallish and that might be causing my problems. The gauge on it is smaller than 10, maybe 12. I'm going to go through the wiring and make sure it's all 10 gauge. Well I probably won't do the thermoswitch wire that big. My understanding is that thermoswitch doesn't need that large.

With that fuse blowing you have a short. Going back to your schematic, I assume that 40A fuse is between the battery + and the fan + terminals as shown. Somewhere, that current flow is being shunted to ground. Is that wire that says "optiional idle up" currently connected to anything? Maybe it's shorting somewhere in the harness? I don't have the FSM handy at the moment, so I don't know what that ECU pin 1O is supposed to be doing.

[JustJeff]

Originally Posted by Pete_89T2

I'm hoping to get the bleeders tomorrow on my lunch break and bleed the brakes tomorrow night after work. BUT that bleeder does look pretty nifty, I'll check the shop for one.

I don't have the idle up wired into the ECU yet. I'll eventually do it, but it's not very high on my priority list ATM. The relay is just about new and I believe 40amp. I've got ignition power tapped from one of the green harnesses by the battery. It's either a 4 or 6 pin harness, IIRC.

[JustJeff]

hehe I guess I need some basic instructions on how to quote in forums....