Looking great! Jealous that you're in the reclining chair, with the pooch, and enjoying the fresh mountain air. The midwest humidity is oppressive as usual. I run a window A/C in my garage and it can't keep up in the mid day heat. You're living the dream!

Dudes! It is hot here too. The thermometer at the house is reading 80F today which is our record high for the year and no humidity to moisturize the skin!!!

Oh how I do NOT miss the Midwest...

Alright folks. Sorry for leaving on a cliffhanger. Right after my last post, the screen on my personal computer took a which made dealing with photos and posting updates too much of a PITA. Wound up buying a new computer and finally have it set up so good to go.

I left off promising an update on refurbing the bottom side of the targa so here we go. First was installing the Perlon headliner. None of the three 914s I've owned still had their headliners so this is super cool to me. I have always assumed it was the lack of headliners that kept my teeners from riding quiet as a Caddy

Next was the rear targa seal. Some of the screw holes in the targa top were wallowed out so I filled them with JB Weld and redrilled them before the install. There is a trick to installing the 914Rubber piece. The original seals have metal strips embedded in the sides. The 914Rubber piece doesn't.

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You have to cut the strip off your old seal and use it to clamp down the new one. Honestly, it would be nice if new strips were included with the replacement seal because they are sharp as shit when you cut them off.

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After a trial fit, I removed it to apply a good bead of 3M Weatherstrip adhesive.

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And here's what the strip/clamp looks like installed.

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Next was installing the side seals. I used a lotta glycerine lube and pulled the seals through the channels using needle-nose pliers to get a grip. Here's a shot with all the seals and refurbished latches and latch blocks attached.

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Of course, none of this does any good without a way to latch down the top. So the rear latches got a makeover. My quirky car has what appears to be one early and one late style rear latch. That seems to be a theme with this car and I kinda love it.

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I'm sure I have a bunch of pics of refurbing these but basicall, they were disassembled, the chrome latch got a cleaning and the other got bead blasted and repainted. The latch hooks appeared to have some kind of plastic coating so I did my best to replicate.

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I also cleaned up the rear roll bar pad and filled the cracks with black silicone. Someday I may try to repair the cracks properly with urethane patch and reskin the pad with fresh vinyl. For now, this will have to do if I want this project to end sometime soon. In the process of installing the pad, I discovered the tabs on both ends of the rear defrost has pulled off. That explains why it wasn't working. They were still soldered to the conductor strip, but the strip had detached from the glass.

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After a bit of research, I learned that this is the kit to use for such a repair. It is more expensive than kits usually sold at the FLAPS, but lots of reviews say those don't last and this one does.

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Of course, I failed to get a pic of the finished result. You would have a hard time telling it was repaired though and now I get proper voltage across the defrost grid.

Okay, let's see how the top fits. This looks pretty nice.

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Oh! I really like this.

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Let's see how it fits at the rear

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Doh! Fuched it up!

The 914Rubber seals come long and have to be trimmed to size. Clearly my method for doing so sucked. Time to order replacements....

So the side seal incident was a wake-up call that I've been half-assing this project all this time. It was time for a little OCD to FINALLY kick in so here we go...

First was a new method to trim the length. This time I trimmed them BEFORE installing in the tracks by latching down the targa top WITHOUT the side tracks installed, and jamming the rear wedge end of the seal into the rear seal so the two angled seals compressed a bit. Then I marked the front edges about 3mm longer than where they met the front seal on the windshield frame. I really should have tried to get a picture but the operation took both hands and also, I suck.

After cutting the seals to length while my ass was puckered, I installed the seal tracks with a bead of weatherstrip adhesive under them. Note there is some adjustment side to side which is important for a good seal to the tops of the windows. I screwed the track on except for the forward most hole. The location of that hole got marked so I could find it after the seal was installed. More on that later.

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Then I lubed and pulled the side seals into place, making sure to locate the rear ends properly. I massaged the fronts back into the track as much as possible to relieve the stretch and let them set for a couple days to relax more before doing anything else.

After they were given a chance to rest, I started the LONG process final fit. I latched the top down and noted the fit. I massaged the seal forward or back to get good compression with the mating seal at the rear, but not too much. After that was right, I moved to the front and marked it for trimming. Remember I had cut it just slightly long. The plan now was to sneak up on the perfect fit with compression against the mating seal at the front, but not so much that it buckled or distorted the seal. It took probably a half dozen passes of putting the top on, marking, taking the top off to trim, and again, and again. Once I was happy with that, I adjusted the side windows for fit. One side was dead on right out of the box. The passenger side required adjustment which meant pulling the interior panel off to make adjustments. The adjustments themselves were easy enough but the compression of the door and glass against the seals caused the door latch to be too tight. Tight enough the flimsy flapper handle would likely fatigue. So lots more time get that adjusted right. All told, I had about 12 hours into getting those side seals just right.

But wait, I'm not done. Remember that missing screw? Well here's how the original seal was attached. There was an oval hole in the seal over that front screw and the screw went through the rubber and track into the targa top to sandwich the front end of the seal and secure it with a washer.

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Seems like a good idea so let's add more work to the project. To make the holes, I heated up a scratch awl cherry red and melted the hole out using my taped mark as a guide. Then I drilled a small hole through the back of the seal at the mount hole location, lifted the front of the seal out of the track and wallowed out that hole slightly with the heated awl. Now I used tweezers to feed the screw with washer through the open front of the seal and screw it down through the oval hole. Nice! Now the front of the seals are secure and creep proof just like factory!

But wait. Still not finished. The original seals had rubber plugs glued in at the fronts to close them off. Seemed like a good idea to me.

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I thought about just plugging them with silicone but noticed the seal opened fatter than the profile of the plug. I was worried that just squirting in silicone would prevent the seal from squishing in properly against the window. That could cause distortion and a leak - or worse - a whistle.

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I could use the original plug to form the contour but I only had one of them. My solution was to cut it in half.

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Then squirt a plug of black silicone into the opening.

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Shove the plug in and clamp it to hold the shape while the silicone set. I used this super sophisticated specialty clamp cut from a piece of cardboard.

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And here's the final product. You have no idea how satisfying it is to sit inside the car and see that neat oval hole in the seal just like factory.

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Okay, so the top is all done. How did we do? Hermetic fuching perfection!

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How can this car not be quiet as a Caddy? And I have to tell you, the sound of closing these doors with the top on and windows up makes me positively randy.

One more quick update before calling it lights out.

These arrived a couple weeks ago.

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I think the GE Nighthawk lights were these re-branded. It's a lot to spend on headlights, but we have a deer or two around here that are actually the least of the worries. I frequently drive on roads you have to worry about smacking into buffalo at night!

Completely plug and play. Took about 15 minutes to install. No point trying to aim them until the power train is in and alignment is done.

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Yeah, Brent, this project has been a hack all the way through

I covet your window gaps. They are magnificent and will keep out the driving snow (which you're probably going to be getting in a week or two now that it's August).

Fantastic work on the targa. So now that you have that all sussed out I think I’ll just send mine out to you. Seems like a good business opportunity. Seriously, great work on what seems like a simple structure. I know i had cleaned the latches and dressed the rubber on mine but you have me thinking there’s more to be had for better weather proofing. Lights look good too. Improvement over the H4’s smart move.
Like Rob said get ready for that snow!

Coming together nicely. Always love the attention to detail. Especially on the seal fit. Those window seals are total 1970's affairs and would never pass muster with modern NVH and water leak targets but your's certainly fit as good as or better than they ever left the factory.

Keep hammering on it.

Again with the hammer?

Not sure if you guys are joking about the snow but it definitely feels like fall in the mornings now. We usually get our first light flurry of snow in August so I'm expecting to see some in the next couple weeks.

It has been a brutal summer. There were at least five full days when the temp at our house spiked above 80F. One day, it read 87F!!!! We actually had to close the windows to keep that blistering heat out. Thank goodness it was only the one day. Whew! This is no joke. A couple weeks ago I was in town for a vet appt. and heard guys on the radio warning people to stay safe outside because it was "dangerously hot." I looked at the car thermometer and it read 87F... no humidity. These people don't have a clue.

Can't resist:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_wS0Kw6k9c


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I'll try to do a few short posts over the next few days to get caught up. Anyone have an interest in boiled tit?

I've got Marc's nice D-cup for the left but my right tit wasn't looking so good. It was mushed up from being mounted on a dented bumper for decades.

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I let it sit for a couple months to see if it would remember its shape, but it didn't. Well, who doesn't like a hot tit, so I decided to try boiling it.

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Well whadya know? It worked! That small crease is on the bottom so won't be noticeable. Important thing is it won't dangle down all droopy.

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Not out of the woods yet though. I busted off one of the studs when I removed it.

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I took a guess that the studs have disc heads embedded in the foam so decided to try drilling and tapping for a new stud. I don't know if my hunch was right, but there was enough meat to thread in a new stud at least.

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I had a few repairs to make on the bumper tops so I bought this single part urethane adhesive based on another thread (that will be another post). I used the same stuff to anchor a new stainless steel stud in. I just filled the drill cavity with the goop and screwed the stud it.

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After a good clean up, it should be good as new.

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That is truly Fuchn’ Amazing! Your patience level is next level! I got as far as swapping out the latches and will add some plated hardware and paint the latch receivers at the back. Then I’ll call it good.

Well....considering the top refurb 'splanation.
With Brent you not only get a picture is worth a 1000 words....you get the 1000 words as well.
Yea baby!
I never feel as crazy I as think I am after reading Brent's latest project.

So, Brent, if I got this right, you just did a tit implant.

And you give me a hard time for how I spend my time!

Oh, and by the way. We need to schedule a time for you to come out and refurb my car's roof. You did a "top" job on that!

Seriously, I agree with the others that you really have taken all this stuff to the next level and your documentation is going to help countless others with their restos.
Really, really great stuff. Thanks!

Okay, time for an update. I've mostly been toiling with getting the bumpers, valences and rocker covers into shape. It is coming along but tedious and boring because it is just a repeat of the endless body work - strip, straighten, weld, straighten, blah, blah, blah. I needed a diversion to feel like I had accomplished something so here it is. Whadaya think?

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What? You don't see it? C'mon man, it's right there in the middle of the pic. Here, maybe some better lighting will help. Boom!

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That's right bitches, I may have discovered the ultimate stealth third brake light yet. No cutting or drilling. 100% reversible. It is BRIGHT too. This thing will literally damage your eyes if you stare at it too long. It also functions as as a tail light. This should increase visibility and safety considerably. BTW, both these pics were taken with the full sun shining right on the light.

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You know there are going to be details so here we go. The light is a flexible 9 inch LED strip for motorcycles. It isn't cheap, but quite a bit cheaper than a coffin. I went with the smoke colored tube to help it blend with the black targa trim. If I had bright work trim, I would have gone with clear. I also bought their little dual converter that creates a high and low circuit. It's just a resistor and a couple of diodes encapsulated in epoxy but only $5 so beat having to make my own.

I'll admit, I'm a bit psycho about wiring harness so I wired this one up with color coded wires and piggyback connectors so the wires match factory wiring where the harness plugs into the tail light.

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Here's the final assembly with the LED strip attached.

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I got a little excited and forgot to take pics of mounting the light, but it is just side mounted onto the targa trip with 3M trim mounting tape. They sell a special side mounting kit but it is just a strip of tape and a strip of black backer plastic to stick onto what was the bottom of the light. I already had the tape on hand so just went rogue. The wire was just tucked inside the trim strip with a few small pieces of tape to stick it to the bottom just to keep it from flopping around while I snapped the trim strip back on.

Then it was just a matter of running the wire down the back of the sail panel - again using a few pieces of tape to hold it down.

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I added a shrink wrap ahead of time on each wire positioned where the wire would exit the trim strip to add a little protection where it would be pinched. I tucked the wire inside the trunk seal welt to minimize wire exposure to the elements. That the exposed wires got a coat of liquid electrical tape for both extra protection but mostly to hide them.

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The thin wires exit the seal welt a couple inches down - again protected by shrink wrap where they are pinched. Then it was just a matter of tucking the sleeved harness behind the factory harness.

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You'd have a difficult time seeing anything suspicious was happening at the connections to the tail lights.

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With everything installed, here's the only bit of wire showing. If anybody decides to comment on it, let's be honest, you really are kind of a dick.

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Here's a closer look at the light unit itself.

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And here's the monster truck view of the light. I'm pretty happy with the extra visibility this will provide.

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Gee thanks, Brent. Now you have me thinking about running another wire in my recently completed rebuilt harness.

Looks really nice!

Brent!



You are running out of summer.


Time to get it on the road.


Don't make me come all the way over there.

He he Between COVID, the new job, and getting three years behind on lots of other projects due to this car, I made a decision about a month and a half ago to not even try to get it on the road this year. It could still happen, but I don't want to rush and have a LOoong winter ahead to get everything buttoned up just right. I'm counting on you to help tune these carbs though.

Very tidy work, as usual, on the lights .

Nice. I also have a motorcycle strip light which works great. I like that this one also serves as a daytime running light.

Isn't that a 'lil bit of exposed wiring?



Just kidding Brent, beautifully engineered as always!

I do love that blue protective wrap.... Maybe one day for me... for now everything I do around the car aids in the 'patina'

Really like this Third brake light set-up. May put that on the list for this winters projects.

BTW, I am also running the Trucklites headlights and Hella yellow horns...

You are gong to love both. When you finally start driving it, that is....

Something about 3rd brake lights on a vintage car just rubs me the wrong way.

However, having had my 1st teener totaled by an idiot that drove into the back of it at 45mph while it was stopped, I totally get it and think that it IS the wise thing to do. Especially so in light of what just happened to Clay's car.

I really like the way this one is so low profile and well hidden. Well done Brent. Put this one in the books as another lesson to copy.

Really makes me wonder . . . . is anyone doing a wireless version? That sure would be sweet and would avoid that unsightly wire showing. . . . Just kidding! They are all clunky as crap!

Very nicely done Brent. I wonder about the running light feature you added to the 3rd brake light though. I have thought about doing exactly that but wonder if it would somehow minimize the alerting factor of the 3rd brake light when it illuminates? Regardless, that is a nice clean job and our cars definitely need a high-mount 3rd brake light -the brighter the better.

Hi Michael,
I had the same concern and was fully prepared to not install the dual module. After a quick bench test, that concern vanished. The brake light function is blisteringly bright and the contrast between brake and running light function is impossible to miss. I've also toyed with adding a strobe module to the brake function but I think the brightness alone is a good enough attention grabber. I don't want to give drivers following me seizures.

Hey Brent, did you know you’ve got a little piece of wire showing?

Finally! There were three clowns I knew for sure would have to say something and thank goodness you all have!

Damn, I just can't shake that clown designation ...you always threaten with that nasty name but you never come thru.

BTW, way to firm up that tit. What a stud.

Jeez, do you have to be such a dick about it?

... better?

Blue protective wrap????

I thought that was just Brent's 1st attempt at doing a custom "wrap" job on his car.
He's outside the box on a lot of things as we know....

I'm looking forward to it. We just got this creature buttoned up and road worthy.. the carbs tuned in well after finally sorting the timing.


My car needed some work too; Road America tore it up: The fan belt gave up, which took out some plug wires, and while it was cooling down I heard the rotor split. Good thing was it was on the out-lap of the last session.

Time for an update. I can't say it's been boring here. It's nothing like what California and Oregon are dealing with, but last weekend we had a 7,000 acre wildfire burning nearby. We were just outside the evacuation zone so weren't affected too much other than keeping a watch on the situation in case it jumped the Interstate to our side. However, we have several friends who evacuated, one who lost her home, and another who had a backfire burn right to her doorstep while her neighbor's homes burned to the ground.



Then on Monday, we had this which quickly changed the fire situation.

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That fire is still active and 68% contained but the weather has returned to seasonable temps so it could flare again. It doesn't pose much threats to homes now though.

Yesterday I finally got the bumpers, rocker covers, and valences ready for paint. I did the best I could with the mangled front valence but it still needed a lot of filler (nothing thicker than 1/8" though).

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I ended yesterday with two coats of epoxy primer on all the pieces followed by a bit of glazing putty to fill a few sand scratches I had missed before calling it a night.

This morning I got an early start and put two more coats of primer on.

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As I finished spraying, smoke filled the valley and all hell broke loose with sirens. Then a black plume of smoke rose from the other side of the ridge less than a mile from our house. By the smell I knew it was a house fire. I told the wife we might have to leave and set about prepping. Soon after, we got the call from the sheriff's dept. telling us to "be prepared" to evacuate. We were very careful to design and landscape our house so a fire could sweep through and leave it unscathed. Truth be told, our property would really benefit from a fire ecologically and as a fire ecologist in a former job, I'm a stickler for having a home resilient to fire.

Unfortunately, I've let a lot of piles of combustible shit pile up around the house as a side effect of the Porsche project. Doing that cleanup I've been putting off for too long became mandatory so that occupied our time. I watched a helicopter repeatedly fill buckets from the beaver ponds just a few hundred yards down the road. That made me happy because years ago when some people wanted to whack the beaver because they worried they would damage the road, I pointed out that the beavers had built a free fire pond and we may be glad to have it some day. Today was that day. As I worked, I watched the smoke plume and it seemed to be clearing so I was pretty sure we wouldn't have to flee but kept cleaning up anyway. It needed to be done. Then we got the all clear. The house that caught fire burned to the ground but the fire fighters were quick to get a perimeter around it to contain it.

Time to get back to work so I sprayed color on all the parts. I used SEM satin black chip guard on the valences and rocker covers. I probably wouldn't do that again. I love the armored texture but it seemed to react with the epoxy and got severe solvent pop in many places. If I did it again, I would let the epoxy fully cure for a few days and then sand. The tech sheet said one hour to top coat and I gave it 4 in the hot, dry sun but ... After letting the first two coats of chip guard dry, I sanded it down with 400 grit to smooth out the pop. The original finish is a heavy orange peel texture with sags so I wasn't going for perfect. The end result looks good, but is not a match to the original texture. i think it will wear like iron though. Very tough stuff.

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The bumpers got several coats of SEM Trim Black (sorry Marc - @Kelty360 ). I've sprayed a lot of this from rattle cans but this was the first time spraying from a gun. Man, this stuff is pure pleasure to spray. A nice contrast from the PITA chip guard.

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Last, I installed the front and rear valences. They look pretty good.

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Thanks to the excitement today, I didn't have time to finish the bumpers or rocker covers but will try to get them done during the week.

No need to apologize Brent, you're the one that has to look at them.

Your fire story is really scary. I remember you pointing out that beaver pond. I can't imagine what a three mile evacuation trip down your road would be like. Especially if there were flames on the sides of the canyon. I wonder how the bears at that exhibit by the interstate react to the fire and smoke. Stay safe my friend.

Glad you’re safe and no property damage. Bumpers and valences look great especially having to work under those conditions.

Damn Brent, that is quite the situation there. So glad to see you guys are safe.
Valances look good. Hope you get to keep at it and the fire incidents settle down. Oh & Happy 914 day :-)
Stay safe buddy.

Talk about working under stress... Looking good.

Okay. Big doin's out here in the sticks. Bumpers and rocker covers on the car!

The rocker covers were a triple Bee-otch to install! Despite having "dry fit" them several times, they were still a PITA to fit. I tried riveting the tops first and then screwing in the bottoms. That didn't work. I could not get the screw holes to line up. Reversing that by screwing in the bottoms first and then snapping them on to the thresholds to line up the rivet holes worked, but scraped paint off my pristine threshold edges. It won't show, but I need I'll need to revisit to make sure bare metal isn't exposed. I think the problem is they are used rocker covers that have been on another car and didn't quite have a custom fit for mine. Anyway, they are on and look great.

The rear bumper went on with only one small mystery. The PET shows a spacer washers on all of the mounting studs of the bumper top. 914Rubber sells them so I bought a set for both ends and installed before mounting the bumper top to the bumper. When I installed the bumper on the car, the bumper top was too high. I pulled it off. Removed the spacers, and reinstalled. Looks great.

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I'm starting to think the spacers in the PET are the hard plastic spacers that fit into recesses at the base of the mounting studs. You can see the disc I'm talking about at the top of this pic and a couple more pics further down.

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Oh, I did have a small tear in the rear bumper top that needed repair as well as a couple mounting studs to replace. I want to give a shout out to @gereed75 for this excellent post on repairing bumper tops with 3M 5200 Marine Adhesive Sealant. This stuff creates a perfect repair! Stud repair in progress.

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Here's a pic after the sealant cured and before sanding. I haven't snapped a close up of the final result, but what's the point? It is invisible.

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Now for the front bumper. The top had a large tear in the front middle that I repaired with the 5200 which is what is happening with the clamp in the earlier pic. After the sealant cured, I sanded the repair down with 80 grit and it was looking great but every time I moved the piece, I heard the completely disintegrated subframe crunch and there was a mushed in place right at the nose that was never coming out. Then I remembered the date was 9/14 and thought, "hey! sale!" So I went to my computer, found bumper tops at 914Rubber on sale for $50 off, and clicked the order button.

This is where the mystery of the bumper top spacers reappears. I mounted the new bumper top to the bumper with single spacers and mounted the bumper to the car. Even with the spacers, the bumper top sat low to the front trunk lid edge. Those spacers are squishy so I could have loosened the nuts on the bumper top to raise the height but didn't feel like the top would be securely fastened. First, I did a little investigation and found that the height of the 914Rubber top from mounting surface to rear top edge was 4mm shorter than my OE piece.

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I'm not sure why as everything else looked spot on but now the spacers they sell started to make more sense (BTW, I could find no instructions for installing these on the web site). However, single spacers weren't cutting it so I grabbed the set I didn't use on the rear and doubled up spacers on all 5 studs. That let me snug up the nuts better while maintaining the height needed. I did add blue loctite to the studs just to help prevent the nuts from vibrating loose.

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The bumper went back on the car and I was very happy with the alignment.

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Note the missing horn grill. That became an issue. I had a NOS grill I bought decades ago plus the original on the passenger side.

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I discovered the original (at least original to me) was painted black over chrome. That is a mystery since the only chrome bumper 914 I've had was an appearance group car with fogs. I don't remember those grills ever being chrome. Whatever, the chrome was starting to peel and needs to come off. Blasting didn't work so I tried all kinds of solutions suggested on the interwebs to strip that stuff off. Nothing worked. I think these were chromed with a much different process than modern chromed plastic. It looks like they were sprayed with a conductive paint, then copper plated, then chrome plated over the copper. At any rate, I give up and will bite the bullet and buy an overpriced replacement.

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I have hardware for the license tag frames en-route so should get those on this week. Will get the horn grill ordered ASAP. Then the windshield is the last bit of body work to do. Only thing left for now is admire.

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Marc's D-cup has served her well but...

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Now she's a free-swinging hippy!!!

Nice ass too.

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Of course the most important thing with bumpers is how well they look after dark.

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Oh! Now that's interesting....

Whoa! UFO!!!
That’s pretty cool man. Nice idea. That surpasses those damn warts any day.

oh, come ON!
that's brilliant (so to speak)

Man, the car looks really good. Loving the silver/black simplicity and stock finishes on the Fuchs. Also a lot of brilliant touches, like those corner LEDs. Nearly invisible, and then can't be missed when it counts. Nice work.

Glad you dodged some bullets on the fires, too...

Looking really good. Love the hidden side markers.

That’s a bright idea! She’s looking really good!

Thanks all. The camera is kind to those Fuchs. They are a bit rough and will be sent out for professional reconditioning at some point. They will definitely remain original finish though. I think Porsche got those exactly right.

I will admit that I"m feeling pretty smug about those stealth markers. I do share Phil's ( @Superhawk996 ) dislike for adding LED bars and such to a nice vintage car like this but not as much as I dislike being smashed by a monster truck that didn't see me. I've never understood the saying "can't have your cake and eat it too." I see no point in having if you don't eat it. In this case, I believe I have managed a full on European look and light setup while also remaining 100% US DOT compliant. Here are a couple more tricks on this car.

First, if anyone is interested, here is the light bar I bought. Basically the same as the brake light only I went with a 4.5" bar with clear covering to blend most closely with the silver of the car. https://www.customdynamics.com/amber-led-truflex?cat=430

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Of course, I had to color match the harness to the OEM wiring for the side markers. The connector here is only temporary. I'm going to order a couple double connectors like are used for the console wiring and elsewhere. I found I can easily stuff neoprene foam into the ends to make them water resistant. These will do for now though.

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The bar fits nicely in the recess on the body behind the bumper.

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Because of the recess, I found that another driver positioned just behind the door of my car can't see the marker unless they are about 6 ft away to the side. The solution was this 3M black reflector tape.

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I stuck a 1/2" wide strip on the rear edge of the bumper. If you get at just the right angle in daylight, you see a bit of sparkle but otherwise the tape just melts out of view.

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At night with the light on, it is a different story. The marker is now visible to about 18" from the side of my car. This pic is showing nothing but reflected light.

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The DOT standard calls for front side markers to be amber, placed as close to the front of the car as practical, and at least 15" above the road surface. I measured and half of the bar is above 15" so I think this qualifies. I haven't adjusted the front suspension height yet but don't think it will move that much. I'm going to go ahead and claim this is a side wart delete that is still US DOT compliant.

But there's more. DOT also calls for rear side markers to be red. I think they give American drivers too much credit in thinking that different colors front and rear will help other drivers know which direction your car is traveling, but that's their justification for the wacky rule. Regardless, I swapped all of the bulbs for LED lights from Super Bright LED. Fabulous decision! The front signals and running lights are MUCH brighter as are the rear signals and brake lights. I couldn't see any difference between the LED and incandescent tail lights which I think is good since you don't want to blind people following you. But here's the fun part. I used red LED bulbs for the rear side marker lights. The result is near magic. When the lights are on, the rear tail light fixtures look like they are completely red. You can't tell the difference from a full red US style lens.

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I'm really bummed the camera can't pick this up but when the signal comes on, it flashes BRIGHT amber with a stark contrast to the running lights. Even my wife was impressed. The camera just doesn't do it justice.

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And we'll finish with one shot of the headlights up. This is the first time I got to see what they really look like.

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Beautiful work Brent - not just the lights though. The whole car looks very 'clean' and stylish.

Only just seen your weather pics from earlier in the month. I can't understand how you can go from the fires of hell, to knee deep snow and then bright sunshine all in the space of a week. We often joke that we get all four seasons in one day but we don't get those extremes. Very odd.

Just one thing - I don't want to nitpick - did I miss the bit where you put the engine in ?