CNR33

Well I had looked at doing this myself (sanding back and respraying) but was too scared that i'd stuff it up. They quoted $500 cus they HATE having to peel the black film off the dash. They said if I did it myself, it'd be $300, ended up getting it all for $280. It is a lot, but just looks nuts compared to the half decomposed crap that was there. That also included a massive fracture through the entire dash and smoothing over the antenna switch housing. I understand why they charge that much to do the peeling, its a crappy job, but if you've got the time, why not? They need your dash for a week to do it, or 2 if they sandblast it to get the film off. They can do any kind of colour or finish you like, I would NEVER do it, but their woodgrain comes up a treat. *edit - oh and my mate and I did the boot install ourselves*

This was taken in pretty crap light, but once you're in the car it looks great. My old one just looked tacky cus it had peeled. This gives it a nice edge.

Give The Dashboard Centre a call. They can pretty much do anything you want. Just had the plastic dash/gear box surround of mine coated in a carbon fibre finish. They did a great job. www.dashboardcentre.com.au

I had the same problem, I couldn't really bring myself to sacrifice the space saver, although I doubt when the time comes, I'll trust it enough to actually use it! :confused: Anywho, after a few attempt, my mate and I managed to come up with a "somewhat" practical design that still leaves access to the space saver. Basically its just a frame with a top plate that houses the 12" and one of the 3 amps, could easily be designed for 2 subs tho. Bonnet Pins hold the plate tight in place. It's not really designed to be taken off frequently, but the option is there. Once the plate is out, you reach through, undo the space saver and it slides out through the frame. The panels on the side house the 2 other amps and also leave room for some tool and crap down either side. Took a fair bit of stuffing around (and i'm yet to replace the back plate, but otherwise, it sounds great, doesn't rattle, and i'm quite happy with it.

www.chipsaway.com.au Give these guys a try, they do a pretty good job, fixed up some keying 'problems' for me. Well worth a phone call

any chance i get! I'll be at Bells on Tuesday also, just thought I'd get people's thoughts, I had contemplated selling the car and buying a 33 GTST, but I figured now that I have the car exactly how I want it, I may as well just dump a turbo engine in it. I've read the countless threads about how much of a waste it is, but i've also been looking at the poor resale of N/A cars, plus stamp duty, and i could be getting a car that's been thrashed. It's my first car, and I kinda like the idea of building it up, but realise its silly to chase power in an n/a engine. I don't plan to race it (yet...), and not really hoping for 200+ rwkws(again, yet...), but I think the car just deserves to have that little extra something :aroused: ...oh and I should mention that the current engine is overdue for its 100k service, so by the time you factor in up to a grand for that, i'm on my way to a better engine with almost half the milage. Any advice would be much appreciated

Brumby's Smash Repairs in Heidelberg West (very handy, bout 200m from my place :wassup: ) They really went above and beyond what i expected. The guy said the best luck he had was finding the Front bar and Reo at the same place. Every other piece required a separate trip to get exactly what i was after. I'm just kicking myself I didn't just get the entire car sprayed while it was there, although the rest of the paint work is pretty good. Now I just have to adjust to driving REALLY carefully into driveways and over speedbumps! Thanks for the complements guys, I'm just happy to have it all sorted after about 3 weeks.

Getting smashed into isn't always a bad thing... After my Phillip Island fiasco, I finally have my car back, and its better than ever! As annoying as it was to get quotes and deal with the insurance company (who were most accommodating I must say), this was a very positive outcome for me. Sick of driving around looking bone stock, I went and bought myself some skirts a few months back, then started looking for a half decent m-spec front bar. Soooo glad I didn't rush into it! I was quoted everywhere between $300-$800 to fit the skirts alone, no spraying or anything I was a little hesitant of the assigned panel beater, but now I can't praise him highly enough. He did a brilliant job, and really went above and beyond to make sure the car looked great. For an extra $200, he fitted the skirts & rear pods, upgraded my bar & reo to an m-spec, resprayed both guards (and repaired existing damage), re-aligned and sprayed the bonnet (again existing stuff) and also sprayed the entire drivers side of the car. The paint work has come up mint, and I'm thrilled with the outcome, looks like the prang was a blessing in disguise; nobody got hurt, and i saved like 2k! :kewl: Big thanks again to Al and Saff Cossie for all of their help. Those cable ties held on for 3 weeks! Sorry Al, didn't get a set of new headlights, but the guy said he hunted EVERYWHERE just to get one that was a great match to my other one.

I thought I would get bagged for reccomending a Nikon Coolpix. I got one for my 21st two weeks ago, love it. Easy to use, good quality. One more positive vote for the staff at Teds tho, the guy that served me knew his stuff, and gave me 2 of the Gold cards, so I get 20 free prints per months for a year.

Congratulations mate!

Best of luck for the trip & settling in up there mate, don't be a stranger, and i'll keep you posted on the new front bar and the springs you were after. Cheers mate Chris

Considering how upset i was to find ants on the car, i think i composed my self quite well. I was pretty pissed at first, then realised that getting annoyed isn't going to do any good. I was actually taken aback by the help offered yesterday from the club. It's the first time i've been in a prang, and must say, it went "well", cept for the whole 'smashed car element'. If it'd happened while i was by myself, it would have been a much different story. Having the front bar back on helps my pride a lot. The looks people gave me driving to the track (sans front) were a bit painful, but now i just look like a clumsy driver with a few nasty scrapes and dints. It does help that i had already factored in getting a new front bar, its just annoying to drive around a banged up car for a few weeks when i take a lot of pride in it. Ah well, the greater good will prevail, nobody got hurt, and fingers crossed, i get a decent assessor and a nice new front bar *aparently the pics are too big to upload, so just have a look in my gallery.

What can i say? :confused: P.I will always stand out for a different reason than just my first SAU cruise. Had a great drive down, but then god spoke to me, he said, "Chris, you need a decent kit", and sure enough, right then and there an angelic messenger was sent in the form of a vn station wagon (with a trailer full of dirt), gracefully parting me from the heathen stock front bar. Divine intervention maybe, but he did also sent a miracle worker, a true Macguyver-esque saint, known only as 'AL'. I have to send out a massive thanks to everyone that helped out yesterday, as you saw from the mess, there was no way i'd make it back to melbourne, and I really appreciate all of your efforts. The bar held true on the trip back and while it may take a few weeks to get it all replaced, the car is perfectly drivable and is a great weight off my mind. Saff Cossie, I wasn't sure what I do if the bar didn't fit in your car, I was about 10 seconds off snapping it in half and throwing it in the back and also for running and getting the gaffa tape from the hardware store, you're a top bloke. _________, for the miracle cable ties. I'll have a replacement pack for you at the meeting. Hopefully you didn't need any yesterday arvo, but they did save my neck. (sorry, i missed your name, could someone please edit for me?) Lukas & Scott (Let me drive), thanks for the comic relief and the escort back to melb. I should have bought a better quality cb! To the boys in the Subaru Forester (i think), that's for the offer to take the bar back to melbourne for me, would have been great if not for our great Vice-Prez Al, I can't thank you enough mate, the detail that you went into yesterday was amazing, i wasn't too concerned about the indicators working, but now i don't have to worry about being defected (well, for that at least) You went above and beyond and it really shows. (Although it does look funny having 4000 cable ties under the bonnet. For anyone that i missed, (cus there was a lot of you) and to the club as a whole, thanks again, for the help, use of your tools or even a "man that sucks", eased my pain... I was incredibly lucky in that the other guy was a good bloke. He admitted fault straight away, helped get the bar reinforcement off the car and processed the claim within 2 hours. Now, to find a few decent panel beaters in the area that will be able to get these parts in the not too near distant future.... i'll keep you posted. I've got some 'good' pics, but can't upload them at the moment, I'll do it at work on tuesday. Thanks again

can they make a decent parma? :aroused:

It's been a while since the last dyno day, does anyone have a contact? :idea:

Hey Hesh, if you're not opposed to eating them, would you mind spending a while getting all the little bastards out of my car?