My 1999 Vehicross, "Silvia", progress thread

What does that doooooooo. LOL. I never thought of removing that switch there and doing something like that. I feel like I just wanna steal ideas from everyone here. I like that! :thumbup:

haha ya I was looking around for a place and I saw that area so I popped the switch and the blank plate out and sat it there and it fit almost perfect. I'm gonna extended the wires for the heater mirrors up to the dash soon and put it there along with my light switches

Here's an update for my thread, customized a Rage roofrack to fit the VX roof rails and got my basket mounted. Took the VX for a little offroad trip with a buddy of mine who just recently bought an 01' Ebony, it was his first time out and we had just finished the lift and tires the day before:

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5052.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5056.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...0904212105.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...3822967540.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...0904212238.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...0904212307.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...0904213250.jpg

Winch and winch plate are in, gotta start working on that soon:

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5060.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5061.jpg

Cleaned her up today (finally :lol: ) and got her looking all spiffy again:

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5141.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5149.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5142.jpg

In this pic you can see the big scratch running up the hood:
http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5113.jpg

TADA!

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5143.jpg

it ran up the hood, up the windshield and then down over the passenger door/1.4 window and left a scratch from the side window all the way to the taillight, now you can barely tell it's there, the worst was the hood

Gawd, what an ugly VX! (Today opposite things saying am I.) Hate that VX.

LOL, thanks Zeus, I think, or should I say screw you Zeus! I was cleaning up and found some of this old tire gel I used to use in my car show days, it was the best thing I ever found for tires, looked good for a long time so decided to try it on the cladding, we will see how it holds up to my dirt road lol:

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5150.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5151.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5152.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5153.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5155.jpg

Well, I got the lights mounted almost a week ago but didn't get around to wiring them up between the kids and the oh so hot weather lol. Finished everything up today and decided to take some pics and do a little write-up.

I purchased 4 long-range 100 watt off-road lights from harbor freight to mount on my roof rack. I went with these because I tried them out on my 97' Rodeo before and was very pleased with the quality and brightness for the price (spent less than $50 for all 4). Plus I like the hard black plastic housing with light guards too. I mounted them using 4 CB antenna mounts bolted to the roof rack:

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5150.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5185.jpg

I ran the main power wires for the lights to the underhood fuse box, since the wiring included with the kit had inline fuses etc, I used the main power supply stud on the fuse block to connect the wires to:

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5171.jpg

I ran the wiring down through the grommet on the passenger side firewall, down under the footwell portion of the carpeting, up behind the center portion of the dash and up inside the lower steering column section and up to the far drivers side portion where my new switch panel is mounted. I took some pics of just the wiring and then went back over everything with wire loom:

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5174.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5167.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5169.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5180.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5181.jpg

(as you can see, the fuse holders are tucked behind the center area here, I left them somewhat exposed for the pic and tucked them back when finished, I can easily reach in and access them for fuse checks)
http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5170.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5175.jpg

Now this little "grabber" tool is awesome, I have 2 of these, just route it where I want the wires to go, and grab the wires and pull them through (a coat hanger and tape works too but this works awesome, and I had the tool so I use it lol)
http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5176.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5177.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5193.jpg

I used the dash mounting stud here for my ground for the switches, I added a washer so the ring terminal is contacted by metal on both sides when tightened down:
http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5179.jpg

Here is the new Rodeo switch panel (thanks Bart!). The first 2 switches (left to right) are for the 4 lights up top (one per pair, I'm thinking about rewiring everything to one switch but It's nice to have a choice of not using all of them) and the far right switch will either be for a pair of rear lights I'm thinking of adding or something else I'm sure I can use it for eventually lol. I had it so I used it to fill in the panel.

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5161.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5162.jpg

I ran the roof wiring down through the door channel, using some excess weatherstripping to shield it from the door, and tucked it inside the interior panels, everything is down through the panels and under the carpet up to the dash. I used the lower seat belt mounting bolt to run 2 larger gauge ground wires up to the top so I could have a good ground at the lights, one wire per pair of lights:

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5184.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5189.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5191.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5192.jpg

Here is the finished install on the switches and lights:

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5163.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5164.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5194.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5195.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5196.jpg


K, so decided to pull along the side of the house to take some pics of the lights at nightfall on my fence. Here are some daytime pics for distance reference (measured it out, it's about 50ft to the front portion of the fence fro where the lights are, and with the fence opened it's about 92ft to the rear portion of the fence)

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5198.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5201.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5203.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5204.jpg

Here are the night pics:

Just headlights:
http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5205.jpg

Just roof lights:
http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5207.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5209.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5213.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5210.jpg

Headlights and roof lights:
http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5208.jpg

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5218.jpg

With the gate opened:
http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5214.jpg

Headlights on with gate opened:
http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5217.jpg

Just for reference, I took this pic with all lights off (I have not a single piece of externally lighting on the house for these pics, and the street light is out so it's REALLY dark)
http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5215.jpg

I parked in front of my neighbors house with the truck pointing towards the end of my street, it's gotta be at least 30 yards
http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5219.jpg

went down the road a minute ago for a better pic. This dirt road is pretty wide and long (haha). I can park across it and there would still be room for a truck to get by.

Just headlights:
http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5220.jpg

Just rooflights, headlights off:
http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5221.jpg

Now you need to go on Ebay and upgrade em to HID, would cost less than 100 bucks to upgrade all 6(head lights and roof lights), then you would be in big trouble, it would be so bright....

Hail RamAirZ, King of Double-Posting...

Kewl, luks gud wit da lites! Now clean your steering wheel you disgusting slob! ;)

Ya it would be bright as heck Chris. I may eventually upgrade to HID but the headlights are pretty bright (the last pic doesn't show it well but this one looks alright)

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/IMG_5205.jpg


They light up the road really nice at night. It's one of those later mods I'll do, I'm happy with everything for now though, the spot lights really make things bright lol. And how could you do 6 HID's for $100? The kits for our headlights are about $200, some of those super cheap ebay kits are still over $100. Maybe I need to go look again

And VT, yes hail me, if you count the post on the planet for them it would be higher :laughing: I thought a write-up would be nice for some people, but just for you I'll just start keeping everything in here. I just thought alot of people don't read build threads and search for certain items.


And thanks Zeus, but the steering wheel is worn there, I've tried cleaning it lol.

Alright, here is how it works. H3 or H$ kit on ebay, 35 bucks, thats two lights down, multiply times three...voila. 100ish. If you combine shipping. Get your ebay bucks back, and you are under 100. I did the cheap 40 dollar kit from Hong Kong, that was 20 months ago, no flicker, no pulsing, no strobing, no burnt out bulbs...best deal ever. Had to swap some wires on the factory harness, but nor problemo. They are BRIGHT, you'll see at Hallowharrie on the night run.

gotcha, I had ran one of those kits (it was a LONG time ago) and they were garbage, the ballast took a crap. The newer ones must be better. Since then I hadn't trusted any of the "cheap" HID kits, and your right, swapping some wires is nothing :laughing". I'll have to check them out next month for sure. That would be a nice upgrade. I wonder how hot they would get in the offroad lights, hhmmmmm. Question for ya, do you not have high beams anymore? Those kits are usually single's. Honestly though I never use my high beams anyways as it is.

No worries, just givin' ya grief RamAirZ... :)

I know :laughing:

you can get them with high and low also and what I have read somewhere the heat from them is lower than regular headlights, the light output is higher but not the heat.

I don't think you can get the high/low one's for $35 though lol. I've got a few other things to buy first but I'll end up trying those out.