Car seat quick fix

this will be a short post, but since we are on the topic of upholstery. i just want to share with you guys a quick and easy tip to repair old worn out car seats. So maybe your car seats are torn or stained and it is making your interior look awful, a simple way to fix this is to use a car seat cover.

now before you go out and buy seat covers make sure and check what type of seats you have. all car seats were not created equal. for the seats in the back they usually come in 50/50, 60/40 and may other measurements which represent how the back seat folds. if you want to preserve this ability find the right seat cover. also the position of the seat belts on the front seat also the addition of air bags and arm rest can decide which cover can fit on your front seats. when purchasing please take all these into account.there are universal ones which uses zippers in various positions to control the width of the seat cover to allow it to fit on any configuration.

to install seat covers you will have to remove the seats, consult your owners manual to find out how.then i slipped the covers over the seat and used the provided bands to adjust the fit. i think they gave me a professional look without having to reupholster the cars seats. what do you think?

                         

Engine swap

looking back now i don't think i ever mentioned much about the engine swap so i am going to give you guys a quick look about it.

the above is the original  G4EK also know as the Hyundai Alpha engine its specs are as followed curtsey Wikipedia.

The G4EK is a 1.5 L engine, with a bore and stroke of 75.5 mm and 83.5 mm, respectively. The SOHC 12 valves 1.5 S generated a respectable but not notable 92 HP (69 kW) at 5500 rpm and 97 lb·ft (132 N·m) at 4000 rpm, 

the above is the engine that replace the original one. this is the Nissan GA15DE locally know as the "B14 engine" its specs are as followed.

The GA15DE is an 1.5 litre (1,497 cc) engine with DOHC and throttle-body electronic fuel injection. Bore and stroke are 73.6 mm (2.90 in) and 88 mm (3.5 in). It produces 104 hp (78 kW) at 6,000 rpm and 135 N·m (100 ft·lbf) at 4,000 rpm.

This engine swap nearly made me give up on the project.sadly as much as i prefer to do things my self, the car engine was an area that i preferred not to touch. to get the job done, a certain Arima based mechanic was chosen (name with held for reasons). The original plan was to repair the original engine since i had a second engine of similar built, and the transmission in the car was still good. however the mechanic advised me to change to the B14 engine, which really and truly made since due to its popularity and good supply of parts. so i decided to change the engine instead.

it cost me about $11,000 to change which included labour, B14 engine, brake repairs, transmission and the cleaning of the gas tank. this did not bother me as i had the cash plus, i planned to sell the old engine and transmission to pay for the car. however after the job was completed and i returned for the car. the mechanic claimed he threw away the old engine. now i don't know about you but one the engine was relatively good and just needed parts from the other one to work properly. plus the transmission was good. so why would you throw them away. plus a number of small items in the car was missing.(strike one!)

however since i did not record the old engine numbers and had no way of proving otherwise, i could not raise much of an argument. so i decide to let it go. after driving home, i realized that the car had a strong smell of gas in it. after deciding to investigate. i decide to look under the hood. only to find a hole in the fuel return line, causing gas to be sprayed over the hot engine. (Strike two!) i repaired this myself.

a simple explanation for the fuel return line as explained by an on-line forum member: Fuel injection systems rely upon a high pressure pump to provide well timed high pressure fuel pulses to activate the injector and spray fuel into the cylinder. If any air bubbles find their way to the high pressure side of the fuel injection system it unlike fuel can compress and throw the fuelinjection timing off. So a small amount of fuel is allowed to flow past the injectors and IP and return to the fuel tank carrying any air bubbles that may find their way there back to the tank. This is referred to as a full return (to tank circuit).

last but not least the brakes were still giving trouble, the car was filled with dirty engine oil, the engine was not tuned and the transmission was leaking fluid. (strike! three your out)

at this point i was tired fed-up and actually placed the car up for sale, until someone gave me some advice on how to complete my project. and this is why i wont recommend the same mechanic to anyone

Attempt at upholstery

hey guys. the car being about 20 years old, had some issues with the dashboard upholstery being cracked. so i decided to try my hand at changing it. lucky for me my mother and my aunt both teach a class on upholstery. so i had no shortage of help and advice.

after watching a few you tube videos, and consulting with my mom and aunt. i went out to purchase the necessary materials, which was about a 2 and a half feet of leatherette, a can of contact cement. some sponge to form a base and cutting tools.

first attempt.

for my first attempt i ripped of the original layers till i got to the base. cleaned the surface so that it was smooth and free of dust. then i applied the sponge to the surface using contact cement. after that was done i applied the leatherette over the sponge to obtain these results. 

attempt 2

after covering the sponge with the leatherette i decided that the sponge gave the leatherette a lumpy appearance so i decided the do the whole thing over using fleece leatherette, which is basically the same as leatherette but there is a small cotton layer under neat the leatherette. this provided better results, in my opinion.

 

DIY project speaker moulds

Keeping in-line with my theme on the sound system I decided to build a moulding for the speaker, so I can attach them to the wall. this was a collaborative effort between myself and ophelia sookhan over at Do It Yourself by Ophelia.click here to see more from her.

How to make molding for your speaker using Styrofoam and glue.

In this tutorial we will be using the boss CH6500 6.5 2 way speaker; however any speaker can be used.

Step 1

First you will need to get some Styrofoam. In this case this speaker is about 2 inches thick; I was only able to find 1 inch thick Styrofoam board. So we will have to join them together, to get the appropriate thickness. In the package for the speakers you will receive a speaker grill to cover the project; we will be using this to get the shape and size for our cutout. So to begin place the speaker grill over the Styrofoam and using a marker draw around the plastic grill. Repeat this step twice for each speaker.

Step 2

Now using the utility knife cut out the shapes you just made. Note: make sure the utility knife or whatever you are using is long enough to reach trough the Styrofoam board or you will have a hard time getting the circle out.

Step 3

Now there is about ½ an inch of metal surrounding the edge of the speaker. Normally this space is used to drive screws trough to mount the speaker to a surface. We will be using this space to mount the speaker to the Styrofoam. So our next step is to measure a smaller circle inside the first one leaving space for the mounting area. You should be left now with something that looks like a wheel or basically a ½ inch thick circle that’s hollow in the center. This will be the top piece.

Step 4

Now looking at the speaker you will realize that it gets gradually smaller towards the bottom, at the bottom of the speaker is a large magnet. For the lower ring we only need to make a hole large enough for the magnet to fit trough. You should be left with a similar ring like in step 3 but the hole will be smaller.

Note: before we proceed to the next step make sure everything fits together properly and the speaker fits when both rings are placed together.

Step 5

Providing all steps was followed and the speaker fits properly. You can now glue the two rings together. You can use a hot glue gun, contact cement or most craft glues (not paper glue), To achieve a good bond. Let sit for a few minutes to dry, the time for this step will depend on the type of glue used.

Step 6

Now that the glue has dried we can move on to mounting the speakers into the mold. Now in the package you should have receiver some washers for the screws to go through. We will be using these to mount the speaker to the Styrofoam as screws may not hold properly to Styrofoam alone. Put the speakers in the rings and then place the plastic grill on top. Mark out where the screws will be placed. Now using those markings insert the washer’s right under the screw holes/marks about a ½ an inch under the surface, or just enough to prevent the screws from coming out easily.

Step 7

Make a small hole in the side to allow the speaker wires to run through, and then assemble the whole thing. Place the speaker in the center followed by the grill on top, and then screw them together. Clean up any rough edges and you’re done.

Optional: in this tutorial I covered the project over in a carbon fiber vinyl. This is not necessary but it will make the project look better.

Old commercials for the Scoupe

Hey guys quick post while im getting my sound system post set up,
browsing YouTube at 1:39 in the morning and i cam across the original commercial for this car. makes you realize one how old the vehicle actually is. and two the change in the way we advertise things. check them out

and another

sound system

Hey there,
when i bought the car, the previous owner had recently taken apart the dashboard. And in doing so had taken out the factory radio and speakers with it. also the rear speakers where badly damaged due to rotting from being in the car so long. so i was left without sound system in the car.

i am of the firm belief that while driving down the highway, one is required to have his favourite beats playing. therefore this problem needed to be rectified. so i decided to install a new sound system. as my parents were currently in the states at this point in time i decide to purchase what was needed on-line and have them deliver it there, and they would bring it for me. so i went ahead and purchased a new 1600W amp along with some speakers and a new head unit to install in the car, all courtesy of Boss

this is what i bought.

now there are two ways to install a new sound system into your car.

1. if all your wiring from the factory is still present and in good shape you just need to change the head unit and get a wiring harness for your car to hook it into the existing sound system. then changing the speakers and amp, would be simply finding the correct size and then swapping them out.

however in my case, the previous speakers, amp and head unit were gone, plus the wiring behind the dash was messed up. so i have to do a complete rewiring. 

2. so option two, a complete rewiring for the sound system. i will have to run all the wires my self and find a way to tap into the cars power supply to get my system to work.

i was able to use the rear mounts for the speakers. however due to some issues in ordering the new speakers (did not pay attention to the speaker size) i will not be able to use the front speaker mounts. so i will be making some new mounts for the speakers to fit on the door instead of the dash.

the wiring in the dash for the head unit has been rendered useless by the fact that the old speakers are no longer connected and the wires are in a mess. so i will cut and seal the ends to prevent short circuiting and only use the power and ground from them. also the original antenna for the car is missing. so i will be using this as an opportunity to switch over to a new electronic antenna from Nippon America

as to the exact steps taken to install this i will make that known in a later post

see ya

(history) clean up process

when i bought the vehicle i did a long clean up process which included taking out the seats carpets, dashboard and trims. to see what the condition of the underlying body was in. so before i move on i just wanted to share these pics with you.

inspiration

been looking for some inspiration on how to proceed with he build when i found the website cardomain.com. found some interesting work done by other people using the same car as me. so im posting a link for you to see what i found.
http://www.cardomain.com/makemodel/1994/hyundai/scoupe/ls-coupe-2d/

Steering wheel

just posting a video i took of the installation for you guys please enjoy.

Aftermarket steering wheel

Hey guys,
Just got the parts to install an aftermarket steering wheel. Bought the parts online at ebay, it was originaly a kit which came with the steering wheel and the boss kit. But the boss kit did not fit my car so I had to but another one. Planing to sell the old one if anyone interested.

So for those of you not familiar with what a boss kit is. It's just an adapter that is bolted on to your steering column to allow you to attach an aftermarket steering wheel.  How ever most manufacturers make there steering column in different sizes so you need to find the right one for your car's make or brand. Cause its not easy having all the parts to a project ready to go and have to wait for a next part to ship in. So for now bye will uplaod a video later on the installation.

See ya

Back bumper acquired

Hi all,
I received a tip from a fellow user on the popular trinidadian auto forum, trinituners.com. the individual told me that the bumpers from the Nissan B14 can fit on the hyundai scoupe.

Based on this tip I headed down to a nearby foreign used parts place, where I was able to pick up a B14 rear bumper for $400.

Sadly I did not have any transport to get it home so I had to walk over 5km. While the bumper was not heavy being made primarily out if ABS plastic. After a while of walking it became a little dificult to find a good grip. Walking down the road I got a lot of funny looks from people driving by, probably wondering what this boy doing with this bumper.

But all is good I got the bumper home and cleaned it up using purple blaster to remove the built up road sludge and dirt and will be installing it soon, so stay tuned.
See ya