Farrar's car blog

[Farrar]

First coat of Rustoleum is on the passenger seat hardware. This Rustoleum is fantastic stuff -- I brushed on a fairly thin layer and as it dries I can see the brush-strokes vanishing. Won't help the bubly texture of the rusted metal underneath, though.

For preparation, I hit the rust with my Dremel's little wire brush, then sandpaper, then Acetone, then a vacuum cleaner to make sure the surface was super clean and there weren't any little bits hiding in the nooks and crannies. I have to wait 24 hours between coats, which means the earliest the next coat can go on is 7pm tomorrow. I plan to do a coat a night every night this week that I can, which means three to five, then re-install the seats next Saturday.

I bought some posterboard to start making templates for my custom console, and a remote keyless entry system which consists of two remotes and a control module. I will start testing that as soon as I am able, since I have only 30 days to return it if it doesn't suit my needs.

First coat is dry. Looks good so far!

SANY0107.jpg

[Spittybug]

Farrar, it's time....... save your pennies and come over to the "light" side: EFI. Ditch that old fashioned carb and find salvation.................

[Farrar]

Farrar, it's time....... save your pennies and come over to the "light" side: EFI. Ditch that old fashioned carb and find salvation.................

I would love to, but at the moment I am working on the lock module/ remote keyless entry/ starter interrupt, fixing the seat bottoms, replacing the wood and carpet, replacing the evaporator...

BTW, here's my lock module. I finally got it open!

SANY0109.jpg

From what I understand, I am to replace the two innermost/topmost resistors with 10k ones, correct?

Later that same evening

Remote Keyless Entry installation is in progress. I had to call it quits for the night, but I am hoping to get back to it later this week. It will be difficult working on this, the console, and the seats all at the same time. I hope I can keep my head on straight.

And then there's the wood panel -- that will have to wait until this weekend at the earliest, as I do not have a shop at my disposal.

[Farrar]

Second coat of Rustoleum went on the passenger seat hardware tonight. As someone pointed out in another thread, it's nice using oil-based enamel -- if you have to wait two days between coats, no problem. Fume control while painting is being handled excellently by the bathroom vent fan. Makes me think it will be easier to fabricate small fiberglass parts than I originally thought -- no need for an outdoor workshop if I can just cover the bathroom in protective plastic and turn on the fan before I work.

Also made a tiny bit of progress on the RKE installation tonight, before I had to get back to my homework. The RKE module includes a way to send a ten-second signal to the parking lights when the "unlock" button is pressed. I added a relay to give my car this functionality. This makes a total of four relays -- one for the lock signal, one for the unlock signal, one for the starter kill, and one for the parking lights. There's also a "trunk pop" option which involves -- you guessed it -- another relay! (Obviously I am not using this since I don't have a trunk actuator -- yet.) I don't know where the manufacturer of this system expects folks to get all of this extra space for relays. Modern cars always seem to have everything crammed into as little space as possible. For my installation, I plan on getting a project enclosure from Radio Shack, cutting the appropriate holes in it, and mounting it inside the driver's cubby hole for easy access.

The great thing about this system is that every pulse it sends is negative. I was concerned with having to install diodes everywhere, but since all I have to do is make connections to ground, and most everything on the car is switched ground anyway, it's not as much of a fuss as I thought it would be.

Anyway, here's where I am with that:

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You can see that, as usual, I am labeling the relay sockets. And just for fun, I used some of the old relay sockets that I removed from the car a little while ago.

[dvonk]

...and if having two people (sean & dermot) with similar avatars isnt confusing enough, enter Farrar.

[sean]

...and if having two people (sean & dermot) with similar avatars isnt confusing enough, enter Farrar.

He just couldn't refrain from the awesome any longer

[dvonk]

clearly--i guess ill just have to keep calm...

[ccurzio]

Just made this. It's a quick-fix.

[sean]

Just made this. It's a quick-fix.

Nice!

[dvonk]

haha, love it.