Modifications you did when young and stupid...

[2011G6E]

Thought this might give people a few laughs, and bring back a few memories for the older amongst us *cough*...

What modifications have you/did you do many years ago when you were younger, that make you look back and ask yourself "What the hell were you thinking?"

I'll get the ball rolling:

* I fitted a HiClone type thing to a TE Cortina Rally Pack that we owned...took off the single throat Strommy and fitted the thing underneath it. Cost me about $45 at the time I seem to recall, the equivalent of maybe $150 plus now, close to what they charge for the useless things today. I ended up coming to my senses and fitting a damn Holley and manifold like a sensible human being and really picked up power and economy...

*We had a UC Sunbird, and I fitted a "spark enhancer" thing that a guy at the local show was selling. He had a six cylinder Valiant with one of these finned things on top of the dizzy...you unplugged the coil lead, stuck this thing in the coil lead hole in the dizzy cap, then plugged the coil lead into the top of that. It supposedly "enhanced and boosted" your spark...I should have damn well realised that you can't get more energy out of any system than you put in, so there is no way the thing could possibly work without an external power supply.

* Cutting the middle out of thermostats or just plain throwing them away to "increase the cooling flow of water" without knowing how vital it was to let the water stay in the block a while to actually pick up heat rather than let it fly through as quickly as possible...

* When very young and stupid, I remember knocking the guts out of a muffler with a crowbar because "a free flowing system will make heaps more power"...this was with the standard exhaust manifold and standard sized pipe...

* Fuel additives...I must have tried a few when I was young and making not a lot of money. You try anything to increase economy when you're tight...


I must say, I never went as far as welding up diffs (for a road car) or other similar mods...I soon learned better...


So come on, 'fess up, people...

[XR6_661]

- Clamp on exhaust tip from Autobarn.

- Leds. Leds everywhere

- Shoddy painted dash in red on an EA Falcon.

[LG17]

We just fitted the wheels on backwards on old humpies to make them look wider.

[nstg8a]

Hmm, I've always been a bit out there with some of my mods.

Went through a ricer stage with my old integra, big commo boot spoiler, graphics etc.

Mechanically it was an awesomely fun car to thrash, it just looked like too much fried rice.

[XRGhia]

Spray can paint job...


I'll get around to saving enough and getting it pro sprayed in its original colour...

[xtremerus]

Originally Posted by xrghiawagon

Spray can paint job...


I'll get around to saving enough and getting it pro sprayed in its original colour...

I hand painted my car, and then put a hand painted 3 inch 'GT' stripe down the middle

[Rastus]

I done the ultimate mod on the old XC 302 Clevo!.......Reversed the Air Cleaner lid to hear the glorious induction sound from that thermoquad. Awesome. So much extra power!

[JOESBOSS]

i cut a 4inch hole underneath and in side the base of my V6 VN dual fuel commodore's airbox and fitted a pod filter with a pvc plumbing elbow to direct the air from behind the bumper. would have worked better if i had actually enclosed in.

oh and the pvc elbow fell out one day and i ran over it on the Gibralter Highway, scared the **** out of me, i thought something had blown up under my car.

[The Yeti]

Originally Posted by xtremerus

I hand painted my car, and then put a hand painted 3 inch 'GT' stripe down the middle

Not as silly as you might think

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/b...b/viewall.html

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by xrghiawagon

Spray can paint job...


I'll get around to saving enough and getting it pro sprayed in its original colour...

What's wrong with a spray can paint job...? You say it like it's a bad thing...




All these were done with spray cans...house paint at that...

I'm sure I have more...I know I've done a couple of other cars and bikes with spray cans. The trick is to put the cans in a bucket of hot water (out of the tap, not boiling of course) for a while to warm them up...the paint flows on much nicer when it's warm. Good quality clear varnish over the top and it's right! It's all in the prep.

God I wish I still had that AP5 Regal with slant six and push button auto...
In case you were wondering: eleven tins of paint for the black body, four tins of white for the roof...

[nstg8a]

Reminds of these YouTube vids of cars being painted with rollers. Actually turn out mint. But a whole shi, ahh bucket load of work.

[AndyXR6T]

I think everyone's had a crack at painting various parts of their cars with the old spray can.

I had a 88 pulsar that I resprayed with a compressor. Bought the paint from a paint shop pre mixed, preped the whole car up, turned the garage into a spray booth and went nuts. Couldn't figure out why the paint was so thick and creating orange peels..., turns out you need to add thinners

My first car had new and improved **** factor things on it every day.
Sub in the plastic checker plate parcel shelf with flashing neons... Nismo stickers left right and centre... Cut off the rear of the muffler for a cheap alternative to a cannon exhaust lol
The list is endless

[Jim Goose]

Oh... who remembers the stone flector ???? lol

I put a set on.

I think i painted as many bits matt black with a spray can that i could... grill, rear panel where number plate was, bottom cill panels, on my first car.

[Windsor220]

Cold air intake. Thinking that it would make a difference to an NA 4 cyl.

[Burnout]

Painted stripes on a Ute - used a 4 inch brush & Black Dulux High Gloss.....

[cheek]

Window washer out of an EL falcon that is purely for squirting pedestrians, hang on that was a month ago :P

[nstg8a]

Originally Posted by cheek

Window washer out of an EL falcon that is purely for squirting pedestrians, hang on that was a month ago :P

Lol, I used to have a r31 skyline powered by the mighty l20 na 6... I ripped out the entire windscreen washer system, remounted it in the boot with the jets in the arches spraying straight onto the rear tyres. Then filed the reservoir with diesel.
Was almost as entertaining as squirting pedestrians.

Originally Posted by Auslandau

I don't understand ...... wouldn't you stock what was selling and is more popular? They are not there to promote Fords products but to turn a profit. It is up to FoA to do the promotional ground work on behalf of the dealers.

[FalconXR6]

Stick on ef xr6 bonnet vents on a vp v6

[SLO247]

My first nice car was an EF Ghia years ago. Fitted $60 worth of fancy headlight globes that were worse than the standard ones.

Aside from that I hacked some speakers into the door trims off my first car. Which was a very pretty maroon lancer. We all thought it was fantastic.

Good thread.

[RAPID_BA]

Years back a guy at uni said he ported his stock throttle body. He had a vn commodore and I had an xf falcon. He once showed me his work to prove it ( in uni car park too). Looked like someone run a file through his throttle body. All rough and uneven scratched to buggery. I could only imagine the metal filings going through his motor as I don't think he would have even took it off to "port it"

I thought it could get no worse but another mate bought a VL commodore from the auction. When he drove round with his dad to show us, first day, noticed it had a vk commodore back end and a vl front end and vl motor. with a rear spoiler To hide there was no VL boot lip. Someone had done a cut n shut and created the hybrid VL/vk . His dad thought it was a great buy and crowed like a rooster about it but was red faced when we pointed out the anomaly. We pulled up the carpet to reveal the welds in the body. Plenty of scratching his head for the dad. He copped crap from us for a good 5 years as he insisted it was a good car and kept it.

My own worst mod was hsv badges on a vs ss commodore I owned when I was 21

[robbyj]

Originally Posted by The Yeti

Not as silly as you might think

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/b...b/viewall.html

That was an awesome read!

buying 20's like everyone else does. Although they looked good they were just a pain.

And the classic home made neon job. Cheap ebay LED's. Whole job cost about $50, was fun for a month or two.

[Evgeni]

Anyone remember those 3 bladed clip on aero blades you stuck on the windscreen wipers for extra downforce. I painted mine chrome on my XC many years ago...lol

I put a set of genie headers on an XE 250 - didn't insulate the air conditioner hose running next to it and blew it up on a long trip one day. Not sure what is worse, an lpg backfire or an air con hose exploding. New set of underwear either way.

[MrEL]

CIG Locker.

[b2tf]

Guilty of the spray can paint jobs but mine was mostly engine bay stuff that you thought looked really good - until you finished it.....

[FERG_51]

Fitting large 250 stickers to the front guards of my 200 XY Falcon and XW style superoo stickers. Reminds me of Chev badges on 6cyl Commies
today. Fitting a Speco floorshifter to the same ole XY.

[nstg8a]

This was my integra, just remembered I even did the 'type R' badges too....

It's not just a chev thing lol

[RepSpec]

when i had my XG panelvan, i built a raised floor to "store things including the spare tyre" so it had a it of height to it. got it all made out of mdf and pine to mount it on, took it to a party and had a girl at the time climb in the back and mentioned how she wouldn't be able to sit up properly in the back and it was a bit cramped for head space... that came out the next day...cost about $150 and a days work cutting ect...

had a yellow xf ute before the van, put green neons in the tub...
also had a bench seat but wanted bucket seats, so found some, had them fixed up and upholstered and fitted them...same girl told me a bench seat would have been easier....

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

Oh... who remembers the stone flector ???? lol

I put a set on.

*Ahem*...
"Remember them"? Hell...I walked out in the yard and took these photos ten minutes ago...



They actually work really well...stones that flick up from the wheels and bounce along under the sills can't bounce up to hit the paint on the side.

In this photo...taken in 1982...you can see my 17 year old self in my long gone Charger (*sniff*) and it too was fitted with Stone Flectors...quite a lot of cars had them back then...

[Jim Goose]

Are those things still made?
I actually saw a car with them fitted a few months ago and thought.. wow ! they are still around!

and yea they do work well.

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

Are those things still made?
I actually saw a car with them fitted a few months ago and thought.. wow ! they are still around!

and yea they do work well.

Not sure if they still make them...I got that pair off an old Kingswood that I got for parts. They're stainless steel so I think they'll pretty much outlast the car...