Cheap mods?

[GAGT7386]

I am looking to sooner or later throw so money into my car and its modifications but right now I just don't have that kind of cash. So I was wondering what are some cheap but decent mods out there? If anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them

THANX

[3 DeeJay]

Vinyl.. over the ambers.. and overlays..

[Kdawg207]

which thread would you like a response in....one is all you need

http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20212

[matts]

clear the taillights, go crazy with krylon. put some gutter guard for your grilles......i'm sure there's more

[Jscarano13]

LEDS cheapest mod yet

[matts]

naw, you can clear your taillights for free. if you wanna paint some of your interior parts you need like $5 worth of stuff. gutter guard is kinda expensive at $25.

[GAGT7386]

how exactly do you clear the taillights? I have seen it done on other cars but dont wanna try it without knowing what I am doing first. also krylon?? sorry if i sound stupid but what is that?
anyone know where to get some overlays for the rear?

[matts]

clearing the gt lenses:
1. Open trunk and remove carpet from behind tail light.
2. Remove 4 hand removable nuts that secure light.
3. Remove tail light.
4. Disconnect cables.
5. Remove rubber gasket from around light, secured w/ epoxy like glue.
6. Use flat blade paint scraper, start at one end and carefully pry the outside edge of lens where 2 halves are secured. You’ll hear cracking sounds, but this is normal. Take your time. Best to start at rounded bottom edge.
7. Remove red reflector lense held by small tabs.
8. Place bead of silicone around edge of lens where they were separated.
9. Place halves back together, clamping to ensure good seal. Allow silicone to dry for 12 hrs.
10. Reinstall rubber w/ epoxy.
11. Install new 3157 or 3357 bulbs. (3357 is same as 3157 but with more wattage)

the only bad thing about the clear lights is the red bulbs. your best bet is to go buy LEDs and modify them to work. i bet i spent $100 on red bulbs, i never did find any that were actually red glass. all of them are painted red.....even the ones that claimed to be red glass.

krylon is spray paint. if you wanna paint interior parts you just gotta have time, spray paint, and a little sand paper. just take the piece out, you dont even have to sand it really, just take some type of cleaner to get all the protectants and oils off (i usually use engine cleaner) spray a few light coats on there and finish up with some clear coat.

i paid $25 for a box of gutter guard. but i actually made money on it. i charged some people $25 bucks to make them some grilles for their grand ams :D. but a box of like 100 ft, im not really sure how much came in the box because it's been about a year since i even saw the box, is about $20-30 bucks, but get the metal kind. just take your current grille out, use a sharpie and outline it on the metal, and then take some metal shears, regular scissors might work, and cut it out. you'll probably have to do some trimming on it to get it to fit like you want it. and be careful, because that stuff CAN cut you up pretty bad. i've still got scars from where it cut my fingers up. and that stuff will also scratch your paint if your not careful.

and you can get overlays from our advertisers at the top of the page.

[ecko70]

any chance of a pic of your gutter gaurds? interested to see what they look like

[GAGT7386]

where did u put all ur krylon? that whole tail light removal sounds pretty difficult how long it take u to do it? got any pics?

[matts]

http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/attachment.php?s=&postid=226560
there's a pic of the tail lights.

i'll try and get a pic of the grilles tonight.

i haven't painted any interior parts in my girlfriends car yet. i've wanted to but i just haven't taken the time. i painted the entire interior of a cutlass i had. and i've painted some parts for some of my friends vehicles. just take a look through some of the old threads to find some pics of painted interiors. they go from mild to wild.

[2002GT]

Gutter Guard is $1.32 at Lowe's or Home Depot

[kubiache]

-Where in Grand Rapids are you?

If you wait until spring there's a couple of us around you that could probably help you out...it's too cold right now...cold makes me lazy.

[2002GT]

hahaha... man i feel like a douche... it's like 60 here and i dont feel like modding my car, hahaha

[matts]

a 1.32??? where in the hell did you find it for that. even the cheap ass plastic stuff was $8. :lol: i looked over the entire lowe's inventory here

[matts]

here's a pic of my gutter guard homemade grilles. and the pontiac sticker is actually black, but it's reflective, so it showed up yellow. i'm not tacky enough to put yellow stickers on a silver car:P

[matts]

and what the hey, i took one of her LEDs lit up. picture doesn't really do it justice, they look better in person

[Pte Socks]

thx for the instructions on how to clear your tails matts. I wasnt sure how to do it either.

[matts]

anytime.......wait a min. you mean i've posted that like 3 or 4 times and you've never read it?!? :lol:

[Gimli]

Removing the intake resonator is free...

http://www.n-body.net/tech/techdisplay.php?id=11

[grandam01]

so if a guy was to take the original tail lights and paint the bulbs red instead of buyin new ones could that be doens or do i really have to buy red or LED's

[3 DeeJay]

Painting them would be a bad idea I think. It would prolly crack and fall off.. You can always get these cover things to go over them that are colored. When I had my clears that's what I used until I was going to get leds, but I went back to SE tails.. :)

[matts]

the paint will hold up for about a week. i forgot about the little light covers. they work, but don't look good. you have to get them on the bulb perfectly or else white shines through and the white comes close to overpowering the red

but LEDs are your best bet

[grandam01]

where does one get these nice littel covers?

[matts]

autozone, pep boys, o'reillys, etc

[GAGT7386]

how much did you pay for your LED's? also are there any that can replace the white backup lights? i know that you would need 4 b/c there are two in the tail lights and two below.

[matts]

naw, you can find a colored bulb to use for turn signals. i paid $60 for my LEDs, but i messed one up and had to buy another pack. you could probably do it for like 30 or 40

[GAGT7386]

where would i get the colored bulb for the turn signal? and how many would i need?

[grandam01]

how hard is it to put the LED's in is it a hassle or replacin whats there. and i am gonna look to doin clear tail lights. why can't i do the clear tail lights to my SE. and if i have to buy GT lights will they be a simple replacement for whats already on my car.

[matts]

the GT lenses are the same as the SE except they don't have the black lines......as far as i know. you can take your SEs out and put the GTs in.

modifying LEDs for the rear is easy. i'm not sure what it takes to put them in turn signals.

[ssvejiita]

hey neo..those courtesy lights are pretty bright..are there any mods you did to get them like that??

[Azrael]

Originally posted by matts
i'm not sure what it takes to put them in turn signals.

From what I understand you need to add a load to the signal lamp as the LED's don't draw enough current to trigger the thermal timer thingy. A permanent method is to splice a large wattage resistor called a load equalizer across the wires but I hear they get excessively hot (needs to disapate up to 30W of heat).

The best method I saw was to grab an extra bulb harness from a wrecker and splice it in then hide the extra bulb behind the carpeting (lots of space there). You'll have to replace that bulb eventually but it runs cooler than a load equalizer as it disapates some of that energy as light as well as heat.

[matts]

so in other words:

splice another bulb harness on, but put the real bulb under the carpet or where ever, and then put the LEDs in the slot for the GA? that's a pretty good idea

but i just remebered something. the taillights have that big piece that snaps into the back of the taillight on the 99+ (not sure about earlier). so that wouldn't work. but good idea if you had individual bulbs

[Azrael]

The idea belongs to magyver over at the gagt forums. I believe he comes here too but I don't know if he goes by the same name. You can ask him how he did it as I'm not sure exactly how.

[matts]

yeah he comes here too. if you see that magyver post some info on it. i might be interested in doing it

[Hexx]

magyver = the man

[Azrael]

You can find him working on the idea at the bottom of the page here (http://www.grandamgt.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15109&perpage=20&pagenumber=2). He doesn't mention on how to splice the wires togerther though. :shrug:

[Black99GT3]

oh wow i really like those tails cleared..i wish i could do that, but i know i was jack something up......

[Prospeeder]

DUDE! Your Pontiac and the emblem is lit up, were did you get those!?, is it on the back too?