Lotsie- sounds good on the tear drop. Do they send you progress picts or anything? . Be kinda neat to see the progress.

 

so this coming weekend (or next weekend given the weather), i need to detail the FitSW. ive yet to do any serious cleaning since delivery last December. hahaha.
dd = low priority.

only have Hydro applied. looks great though.

plan of action is:
clay. probably need 2 lumps looking at the contaminants on the car. i noticed during my Z's claying, the Meg's blue clay started to get pretty aggressive after about half way point on the car. as mentioned earlier, it started to polish the car than just clean the surface.

wife drives the FitSW all over town and downtown so things can get pretty nasty on a white car.

then some Amigo luv.

then some Griot's PaintSealant.

then Nero the interior, Clarity the inner glass.

hope to be done within 3hrs... probably take more like 4-5hrs.

then QD the engine bay.

 

my 120v craftsman air compressor (inflator) is crapping out.

need to get a new one... mine is a re-badged one that looks like the Bon-Aire BA121L.

 

i think im going to get the black&decker one this time. it's also 120v and has much better reviews on amazon... will see if my local Ace has it.

going to take apart my pos craftsman one to see if i can salvage it though...but since it was kinda smelly (like motor burning smell with werd metal noises) yesterday i doubt it's going to work too much longer.

 

*crickets*


...anyway, the commutator on the motor was past its usable height so basically i used it to the max. so tossed it last night before it truely burnt out with a flame.

anyway, my wife ordered up the black&decker ASI300 for me through amazon so i should have it by next week. much better reviews on that one vs the one i had.

 

Meh. Little pansy air compressors.

It amazes me that you "go big" on cars and musical instruments and vacuum cleaners and detailing cars and workbenches and so many other things... but you won't go big for the compressor.

I guess I should be happy that I have at least ONE thing better than yours.

 

hahaha. well, noone's perfect, right?

did you see Roland's new product intro? they released some new drum kits and some other stuff. nothing that i could really use. i was hoping they'd release more stuff for the high-end keyboards.

 

hey my 11" long nose pliers from griot's just came in. high-end made in china quality.

i gotz the straight and the angled ones... from the wifey. too lazy to go shopping at sears.

and got the MF Cleaner as well. my last bottle got a crack some how. started leaking.

 

*crickets*

 

I got a set of the super long dual jointed ones. Love em.

 

Wooo, those are cool! I might get one down the road as well.

Got a Pioneer 2din DVD player today for my Z. will install tomorrow or the day after or the day after tomorrow or the next day.

 

Probably sooner then you get that stain painted on the garage ceiling!

 

ay... you're right, i STILL haven't painted the ceiling yet.

 

that black&decker air pump thingie came in today. it's about the same size as the craftsman that crapped out. which is nice..but it's like 10x louder. and it's orange in color. it clashes with my other colors in the garage.

my old craftsman sounded like thud thud thud thud thud thud thud
the new B&Decker sounds like beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

but it has auto psi shut-off... so i can set it at 40psi and wont have to worry about over fillin by accident.

 

installed my stereo in my Z today. i was going to detail my FitSW but i ate too much lunch and could not move. (excuses excuses... )

anyway under-exposed picts from my phone, but you get the idea.

easy car to do, actually. took more time to make my custom EZ felt trim to cover up a slight gap between the HU and factory 2din bezel...

factory stereo out...


testing and programming the steering wheel interface along with my e-brake bypass switch...


everything plays... test complete.



red push-button is the e-brake bypass switch. no im not going to be watching DVD's when im driving. the reason for that is because i want to have the option to watch dvd's in my car while in the garage but i dont want to risk rolling the car just to disengage and engage the ebrake.



final look...


another angle. it's factory finish.



you're wondering wat that tag is on my steering wheel... it's a reminder tag that my battery manager is connected to the car.

 

Latest update pixs of our trailer









Mark

 

Just got done detailing the other FitS (2009 one). wanted to finish earlier but it was drizzling all morning so too humid to do the sealant.

Dried up around lunch time so took about 3hrs to wash, clay, sealant. Did the interior glass, nero'ed, vac'ed while I waited for the sealant to dry. (Griot's Paint Sealant). Not sure why by my sealant separated even after shaking real hard...maybe it was out in the sun too long the other day. I had the detailing cart out on the driveway with the DP waffle towel shading it. Maybe it wasn't enough. anyway, the sealant dried like usual so I just used it this time.

Will order a new bottle and more red pads next time. I rather just use new pads for the sealant each time than washing it. It takes forever for the sealant to wash out of the pads even with the MF towel/pad cleaner.

 

Lotsie- so your trailer's like a mobile house almost.

I didn't know it was wood inside. Thought it was a metal "box" kinda trailer.

 

Yeah it's either real wood/plywood, for the body and cabinets, or real fake wood, for the vinyl floor.

Mark

 

So you got it at Ikea?

 

Going to motor my Z this am to tune the EQ. Should be fun.

Then wash my FitS, hydro, clean the inside, and motor my G late afternoon.

Anyone else detailing/doing car things this holiday?

 

Motoring in a while.

 

Going to wash the MINIs today. Hopefully get a new addition to our rolling stock, (not the teardrop)

Mark

 

got back from motoring and tuning the Z's HU. got it to sound goood.
the stock speakers are boomy and tinny with no mid...so added quite a bit of mid and tuned out the boominess, left the high freq flat cause it's already pushing the tweeters quite a bit. got about 170miles on the car. i need to put more miles on it so that i can stomp on the gas to see wat it can do.

going to have a quick break and wash the FitS next.

lotsie- are you getting new wheels?

 

Hopefully today. They will be an addition to the fleet, not a replacement.

Mark