Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I've been very busy these days that I no longer have time to do projects let alone write about them... I really miss writing... :)

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Voxy's Glove Compartment

Voxy and I had a lot of "bonding moments" (a.k.a DIY projects) before she had to go and I will be sharing some of them from time to time. I know I have a lot of Voxy projects I have not yet shared with you since my PC's hard disk crashed a while back and I'm still in the process of recovering my old files/pictures.

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Farewell Voxy - till we meet again...

1.55 years

18.66 months

81 weeks

570 days

13,680 hours

820,800 minutes

49,248,000 seconds

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HP 60 Ink Cartridge Refill

Ink Refill Stations are everywhere nowadays and they are somewhat cheaper when compared to buying genuine inks. But HP and Epson challenged these refill stations with cheaper ink cartridges. Brand New  Black HP 60 ink cartridges (value/economy pack) costs around 400-500 pesos only and can compete with stations that charge around 300-400 pesos per refill. But what works for me (and is very very cheap) is refilling cartridges myself. 

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Jumpstarting A Stalled Car with Battery Cables

Remember how I made a very long pair of jumper cables a while back? (read about it here) Well, I finally got to use them a couple of weeks ago. My car's battery died down and instead of bringing it to the service center for recharging - I've decided its time to put my jumper cables to the test!

My cable is 7 meters long - much longer than the ones you see in auto shops because it its designed to be used with my VW beetle (you'll see why it has to be that long later on).

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How to Download Your Friend's Album in Facebook

Weird as it may sound, I've never really been into Facebook until just recently and I've just realized what I've been missing all this time.:) While going through some of my friends' albums - I saw tons of pictures that brought back fun memories and I just had to have copies! Copying a single photo in FB is easy - just right click on the image and you're done. But copying an album with 200 pictures could become quite a task without the right apps.

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All Souls Day Project - Mausoleum Makeover

Honoring our dead relatives. Every November 1, it has been a family tradition to visit and pray for our departed loved ones. We have a small and cozy mausoleum that houses the graves of our deceased relatives. Our family has always been in charge of cleaning it up a couple of days before Nov.1. These past years, I've been very busy with work and stuff that we usually just hire someone to clean it. But fortunately, I was able to free up some time this year to do it myself.

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Change Oil - Toyota 4A-GE Engine (Push Works)

I've recently received a request to do a DIY change oil. My car is not yet due for one but fortunately, my friend Push's car is! Being an avid DIYer himself, he dropped by and allowed me to help him do his oil change.

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Not All Plugs Are Created Equal (Denso/Norenell Sparkplug Seminar)

Last week, my friend got invited to a spark plug seminar sponsored by Denso and Norenell's trading and I get to tag along :)

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How to replace a scooter's rear brake shoe

Lately, I've noticed that my rear brakes are not braking as it should. The stopping power has diminished to a point where I rely solely on my front disc brakes and rarely use the ones in the rear.

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Makeshift Fuel Tank/Can (to check fuel consumption)

Time to test my carb's new main jet - to see this - I am going to check how far Voxy can go on just a liter of fuel. 

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Replacing a VW Carburetor's Main Jet

I've always felt that Voxy guzzles up gas like it's water. VW fuel gauges' tend to give out inaccurate readings - at least mine does - and I've paid for it dearly by having to walk several miles because I thought she still had some gas :( I was left with no choice but to resort to the unconventional but tried and tested "peek in the tank" method to see if I still have fuel left. I think I'm just being paranoid but whenever I take a peek in the tank- I end up asking "where the heck did my gas go?!?"

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What's with all the bull*****... I mean fuss? ( A handyman's take on the Cybercrime Law)

Much has been said about the recently implemented RA 10175 or the “Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012”.  I never really gave this subject much thought until recently (I’ve been so busy with my projects). I realized that this issue is huge since aside from being the subject of numerous articles for weeks now, there are currently 8 petitions filed against this law. You can’t even go online without coming across this topic – and this has made me curious. What is this really all about?

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Lancer Project: Finished!

Note: Click on the pictures to see better images.

After hours and hours of hard work - I believe my Lancer is ready to hit the road once again!

 

 

Here's a quick look at some of the problems I had to deal with. I also had to work on the interiors, center console, the trunk, etc. etc. etc. Whew! :)

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Mitsubishi Badge Restored!

Before I could "unveil" my rejuvenated lancer - there's one last thing I need to work on - the Mitsubishi badge in the trunk. ( the one that proudly shouts out her lineage and heritage :-D )

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Lancer Project : Color Sanding and Buffing

I'm now almost finished with my Lancer project and I'm getting excited. :)

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Lancer Project: Beaks Tie Bar Installation

Look at what Santa brought in! Actually, Santa in this case is my good friend Push - he is our group's resident mechanic and like me - he loves DIY projects (I'll share some of his projects soon) . He sells class A (copy) Beaks Tie bars and unlike the flimsy knock offs you often see - the ones he has are actually pretty sturdy. Most of our group members (Team Autoridad - alright here we go!) bought one for their rides years ago and they still look and function as good as the day they were installed.

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Lancer Project: Working on the trunk

I decided to check my Lancer's trunk to see how things are  back there.

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Window Type Aircon Installation Part 2

Now that I've secured the A/C in place, time to finish up this project.

 

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Window Type Aircon Installation

Let's take a quick break from the Lancer Project :)

As mentioned in my previous post, I recently got married and Of course, my wife had to move in with me. To make the transition more bearable, I wanted to make her new home as comfortable as can be. To make way for her arrival, my room had to be rearranged - and my aquarium, desk and fishes had to move out to make way for her stuff (bags, shoes, clothes, etc. etc. etc) . We had to buy a new cabinet, blinds, and aircon to seal the deal :) The handyman in me just had to do everything myself :) First up in the list is to install the aircon!

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Tidying up my Lancer's Interiors!

Time to finish tidying up my interiors!

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Dengue Tips and Reminders

Last week, I found myself feeling very sluggish and weak. I tried to brush it off as a slight hay fever but after a several doses of biogesic, I still can't snap out of it and saw my temperature continue soar to as high as 40'C. After 48 hours of on-off fever, I was finally coerced by my wife and Mom to finally drop by the hospital. After several tests, I've confirmed what I've feared all along, I was positive for dengue.

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Lancer Sound Setup/Speaker Cover Repairs

Now that I'm the process of tidying up my lancer's interiors - next up on the list are my speaker covers. I have a cheap but decent sound setup - a Pioneer ***** drives two 6 inch speakers in front and a pair of 6 x9 speakers at the back.

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A/C vents repair

Like most old cars, my A/C vents already have several issues. First issue that I'll deal with are the horizontal panes - they are not in sync anymore :(

The vents could be removed through several clips that needs to be lifted up very carefully ( If I'm not mistaken there are 8).

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Hazard Switch Repairs!

My hazard switch's backlight was busted years ago and I never had the time to have it replaced. Most electricians would prefer that you changed the entire switch but as I found out - the bulbs in this thing could be easily replaced! So I decided to try it out! :)

  

After the center panel has been removed (read how here) - I can now access hazard switch assembly. First, I have to separate the switch from its housing by pushing it out with a small screwdriver.

 

Now that we have removed the switch itself, we have to take it apart to access the tiny bulb inside. Circled in the pictures above are the two clips we have to pry out TIP: Be careful not to break them :)

Take note of every component's place and orientation. The switch is a precise piece and if something's out of place you will have a difficult time putting it back together let alone make it work.

The rubber bulb holder is located underneath this white plastic - it could be easily pulled out from its terminals.

Here's the bulb/holder.

The new bulb in place. TIP: The little bulb is called a "12V rice bulb" and costs anywhere from 12-20 pesos per piece depending on where you bought them. Make sure you to have it tested before buying it. 

Loop the wire in the holder and cut off the excess.

Now's a good time to clean the contacts to ensure that your switch will work seamlessly for years to come. Now that the bulb has been replaced - all thats left to do is to put it back together - put the "white piece" inside the switch's housing - the black metal wire goes in the notch - this serves as the lock when the switch is pushed in and out. Afterwards, its just a matter of placing the green part back in place. :)

My dummy switches (the ones beside the hazard switch) are already faded and worn out. Flat black paint will definitely look good on these but since I'm keeping the costs down I decided to use some leftover CF sticker instead (plus the CF look will give it some attitude :-D) . I decided to do  this without removing them from the dashboard a couple of weeks ago and the results were not that good so  I decided to do it over again now.

The using the leftover CF sticker raises several issues. 1. The adhesive part of the sticker is full of dust and already dried out  2. I don't have a heat gun to mold the sticker in place.

For this sticker to be useful again - I first had to wash it with some soap and warm water - that removed the dust. I was thinking of using my wife's hair dryer in place of the heat gun. PROBLEMS SOLVED! Washing it with warm water somehow stripped off its glue. I considered using mighty bond, elmers glue, glue gun and contact cement (rugby) to replace the dried out sticker but I figured that mighty bond will make the CF sticker brittle, the glue gun will leave behind lumps and elmer's glue will take a while to dry. So rugby is the way to go. The trick to using this stuff is to apply it on both the sticker and the switch and let it dry for about 10--15 minutes before joining them together.

I was suprised to see that the rugby made the sticker rubbery and stretcheable! I no longer have to use heat to manipulate the sticker to hug the corners of the rounded switch - I just needed to stretch it in place!

After trimming off the excess - I'm done!

Can't wait to put everything back in the car! yehey! :)

A/C vents repair coming up next!

Thanks to http://www.mitsulancerph.net/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1183689034 for guiding me in this DIY! :)

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Lancer Project - Removing the Center Dash/Console

Back to my Lancer project!

After going through the things that still needs to be done with my Lancer,  I'ved realized its still quite a handful. I'm through with the semi-interior detailing and most of the major repairs (bumpers and semi- washover). Time to add some checks to the list of things that need to be done. Today, I will deal with the center console panel.

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Carwash (Funwash) at Home!

We're spending the weekends at my in-law's house. It was a lazy Saturday afternoon and with nothing to do - I decided to give Voxy a bath. The monsoon rains we've been experiencing has left her filthy :( and before I can go back to my Lancer project - I better clean her up first. 

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Flooded Car /House: What to Do?

We live in a certain part of town that has a reputation for floods : (  A couple of years ago, my lancer and scooter got flooded and fortunately, there were no "major major" damage done. But I learned a lot of things from that experience. Number 1 is that an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure.

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Lancer: DIY Interior Detailing

My goal is to make this car nice inside out - restore it to its former glory :) Time to go to work.

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Lancer: Unwrapping

After the paint has dried, time to remove all the newspaper and tape! It's just like Christmas and you're unwrapping the gifts you've just received from Santa :)

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Lancer washover - budget mode

Everyone claims that after all the prep work - the painting part is going to be easy! Based on my experience (painting voxy and max) - painting is a bliss compared to prep work .. so I assumed that it will be the same for my lancer.. Boy was I wrong! :)

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Lancer: Final Preparations

Lancer Project: Prep for paint

As usual, the most tedious part of any paint job is the preparations : ( After countless hours spent in applying body filler and sanding it down, now its time to prepare the parts where you don't want paint to seep in.

Always opt to remove the parts that you can easily remove. It is more practical to remove parts like lights, moldings, etc. rather than to mask over them.

A good example is the lancer's cheek lights -

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