$800 Cavalier

[MP81]

Never a dull moment with this ****ing thing. Ugh.

[Lortay5408]

I love this thread. Hopefully you get more free time to work on it.....so I can get more free time to look at it.

[MP81]

Thanks! This thing certainly keeps me loaded with fresh projects.

[MP81]

Another full Sunday on this car. Put the new radiator in, along with a new lower trans cooler line (had to snap the original - the nut and the line were no longer separate entities). Of course it wasn't as easy as it should've been.

But it's in, I don't see any leaks, and temp was sitting right in the middle of the gauge "zone" while sitting there idling. Guess we'll see tomorrow!

Didn't really take any pictures today - only a few before I started - it was way too hot out and I just wanted to get this thing done.

New versus old radiator. The new one is significantly thicker. And not a piece of shit.





Also: Rock Auto was awesome and got this radiator and trans line to me in less than two days. Fantastic!

[MP81]

Something to be said about interior lighting.

Installed my new SuperbrightLED 10-SMD LEDs into the dome light and trunk.

The stock dome was a paltry 38 lumens and the trunk was 75. The new LEDs are 177 lumens a piece.

[formula218]

LED interior lights are a great upgrade, they make the interior so much nicer looking.

[MP81]

Absolutely. This one is a 365% brighter light now - basically like I installed a sun in the dome light. The stock light didn't even overload the camera sensor.

The Cruze has four interior lights (two domes, two maps), and I swapped those all over (along with the trunk) to 75 lumen LEDs as well. Even though it wasn't overly dim from the factory, it's much brighter now.

[thisisthewayilive]

Led interior light was one of the first things I did in the Camaro too. All of my vehicles get that treatment now.

[formula218]

Makes me wish my firebird had lights inside it lol.

[Atrus]

Very cool. I heard the morimoto LEDs work really well - even maintaining the factory "theatre dimming" effect. They are expensive though.

I had seen these on Amazon and considered trying them out. $12 for two seems good to me!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NTOJU28/...I31QZLTSM0SLM9

or

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZJF7GTY/...I3UIZSLT1Q97QZ

I *think* those would fit, but haven't confirmed.

[MP81]

These are what went in the Cruze interior/trunk/license plate, and what the Cav's license plate will get too:

https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...rofit-car/206/

For the Cav's dome/trunk light, since I hardly had a length restriction, due to far more lenient factory mounting (and no reflector), I went with these:

https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...car/1677/4010/

[MP81]

Bout time I did something with these...bought the subs (used) almost three years ago with the intention of putting them in the car...

Just bought the rest of the stuff this past week...just a slight delay.






The subs are 12" MTX Thunder6000s, rated to 250W RMS each.
Pioneer GM-D8601 monoblock amp, which will put out 500W RMS @ 2ohm (perfect for the pair).
Belva 2.46 cubic foot 3/4" MDF carpeted box with 5-way binding posts (didn't feel like making my own this time).
Belva 4 gauge amp wiring kit.
Solid subwoofer grills so I can put shit in my trunk.

Should sound more than decent, especially for what I spent - have this same series of sub, just in a 10", that I've been using (via a Crown d150a sII amp) in my PC's surround sound for years (came in my IROC), and have been more than happy with it. They're old, but they're in great shape.

[hoogiesngrinderz]

Trying to rattle it apart now, eh?

[MP81]

Trying to rattle it apart now, eh?

Oh it already started that long ago...

...I'm just trying to finish the job.

I'm thinking of installing some sound deadener on the trunk and maybe the deck. I can't recall the cheaper one than Dynamat that everyone seems to go with. Fatmat, or something else?

[hoogiesngrinderz]

Frost King from Lowes/Home Depot if you want to go real cheap