Reflecting On My Pillars

Anyone with a car usually ends up having issues with the pillars. Whay are the pillars you say? Well theyre the peices or plastic or metal that are between your windows along the side of your car. Example:

Behold my PT's Lowly Pillars... They are discolored and sad looking. Since Im all DIY I decided to paint them versus buying pillar covers. Now while the original pillars were a glossy black, I think it was dumb cause well... nothing else on the car is glossy black... So im going to paint them to match the side mirrors, Flat Black.

To do this I bought a can of adhesion promotor (from an auto store) and Krylon Fusion Flat Black Spray paint for Plastics (I sware by this stuff). Basically I did what I did for the bumpers when I painted it and covered the car with newspaper to catch overspray. Then I applied Adhesion promotor (which is optional but I had some left over from the bumpers) Then I started painting.

Dont be alarmed that wet paint reflects! It will dry flat trust me... So while its drying I did the other side. After I was done I removed the newspaper and was just about floored at how amazing of a difference the PT is with the newly painted pillars!

This made me so excited that I decided to paint my antenna bezel chrome! While I was planning on buying a chrome ABS plastic cover for it, I figured why not try chrome paint first before coughing up the money for a cover!

So once again tape and newspaper...

The trick with chrome spray paint to make it atleast a little convincing is to spray it with glossy black first. then with the chrome enamel. Spray Enamel comes out thick so be careful to avoid runs! Once it was done and dried I was happy with the results! While its not as realistic as a cover wouldve been in recreaing a chrome look, It will do for now until finances allow. Note my short antenna! My fiancee had to have a short one.

The other day when I was at the junkyard getting the shelf for the shelf mod I also got a rear view mirror out of a 2001 PT. While my current mirror is fine, this one had something I wanted... Map Lights!! While my PT has map lights and a overhead console I want to add mood lighting to the car eventually. And while most people change out their map lights with colored lights, I still wanted white light if I actually wanted to read something. So Ill hook up the new mirror one day eventually and post the results of it. And if it turns out great then ill tint the lights so the map lights on the mirror can be part of the mood lighting while retaining the factory consoles white light. The new mirror is pictured below and its the one on the left, mine is on the right. I like the oval shape too!

Im so pumped for Cruizin Clarion this year. Im hoping my PT holds its own amongst all the other much more impressive PT's!

It's A PT Thing!

So I orderd alot of merchandise from Cruiser Motorsports and it all came today! Above im showing off a cover that goes over your third brake light so when you press the brake it says something. And what better for it to say than It's a PT Thing. It was extremely easy to install and adds a great custom look to the PT.

I also got decals to cover up the airbag warning label that comes on most vehicles. This classy decal adds alot of PT style when the sun is bright! Also I got one for the bench in the back to cover up the directions on how to use it. While these look to be made from brushed alluminum they dont seem very alluminumish. I would liken them to one of those thin magnets that people hand out like business cards. Still, Very great product and easy to apply.

Wonderful!

Now there was something I really wanted and its a thermostat radiator cap. Its quite useful really to get an accurate reading on your coolant temp and people always seem to notice it. Unfortunatly they only had orange... Which doesnt work for me as well as red or some other color wouldve but I'll make it work I suppose! Either way its very handy and I should install something like this in all my vehicles!

Another thing that I ordered was the chrome door handle cups. These things basically keep your pt from getting scratched in that area. Plus they add a nice touch to it! Before you stick these on please use rubbing alcohol or something cause they dont stick too well. I went to walmart and bought some locktite double sided adhesive strips and put on em and they will never come off.

Last but not least by any means is my hood ornament. It adds a bit of retroness to the PT and while some may not like it, It will eventually flow very well in the grand scheme of things... Also did the locktite strip on it too. This is probably my favorite thing of all that ive done to the PT besides the grill and the diy painting ive done in some areas!

This was my first time shopping at CMS. Overall I would say Cruiser MotorSports is a great place to go to get some of these great items at a decent price. Shipping was very good as well. Out of the main PT Cruiser accessory websites to go to Cruiser MotorSports is now one of my favorites!

White Male Seeking Storage Space In PT

Anyone familiar with vehicles knows that occasionally you need more space to store your little things. My PT Has a storage drawer under the passenger seat but not under the drivers seat. Why? You may ask. Simply put, Chrysler doesnt want to be responsible for any accidents thanks to the driver digging around for things between their feet! The shelf is not on rollers so it takes some effort to open the drawer so it wouldnt just slide open while youre driving.

So to make extra storage I decided to take a visit to my friend "Taupe" out at walters salvage yard

In order to add the shelf to the drivers side you have to first get the brackets and shelf out from underneath the passengers seat of another PT. To do this you can follow the instructions for removing the seat out of your own pt that ive put in below.

First things first, Move the seat youre working on removing all the way up towards the front of the car. From the back seats you can see two 13mm nuts. These two need to be removed. They may be on very tight, remember that these screws keep your seat from flying out in the event of an accident.

From there you need to go to the front of the car and remove two more 13mm nuts from underneath the front of the seat. You may have to slide the seat back again. These may be on tight as well and are the last nuts to remove before your seat will come out of the vehicle

Once they are removed carefully remove the seat from the car. Be careful not to scratch the door while removing the seat. After its removed feel free to do some deep cleaning!

Now with the seat removed and on a clean surface as to not get stains on your fabric, you need to remove two plastic covers that are meant to hide the ugliness of the underseat. These are easily removed by using a phillips head screwdriver.

Now with those removed there are only two 1/2 inch nuts to remove to remove the metal bracket. Its a tight squeeze but by no means impossible to remove them.

Once its removed youre all done! All you have to do now it put the new bracket on with the shelf and youre complete. Installation is the reverse of removal. Just remember to tighten all the nuts and screws tight, Youre life could depend on it!!!

Heres a picture of the bracket with the shelf, and the bracket that doesnt have the shelf track.

Once you have everything put back together you can bask in being able to have more storage room. I used this drawer to store my owners manual, registeration, purchase documents, and some extra fuses. Ideally I would only recommend to store things that wont be used often, as you really dont want to have to get something while driving. And to protect my hiney, Im not responsible for any damage done as a result of performing this mod.

So Little Time...

So for the past few days I've been ridin' in style with my setup previously listed in the last post. That is until today when my new Pioneer speaker arrived! Man is this thing amazing!

This is a monster of a subwoofer. Google it for yourself! Its a perfect match to the sub box thats in my car and also works great with my amp! Its wired at 1ohm and is capable of giving you one heck of a back massage!

So this is how its wired, 1ohm. This is a DVC sub with 2 ohm voice coils vs the 4 ohm most get in a dvc.

I could go on and on about this system but I bragged in the last post and seriously im not done yet so sit tight folks youll get to see alot more of this sub!

Here it is compared to the polk AKA my travelling sub

Now thats not all I did today, nope not at all!!!

So I've been eyeballing chrome caps for all the tanks under the hood (IE. Washer fluid, coolant, brake fluid etc..) but they are pretty expensive. So I decided to do some spray painting! After researching the process to get a decent finish out of a spray paint I came out with this

Yup a chromish tylenol top!

Basically I used Rustoleum Gloss black for plastics and did a preliminary coat. After about 15 minutes I applied the Duplicolor chrome and this is what It looks like. Not real chrome but its shiny enough to pass as some sort of metal and it is an enamel so it doesnt have a painted feel to it.

Here the coolant cap (just one of the things I painted) before I did it and after

Not bad I say, And its held up great under the hood after a long drive today and so what if it comes off over time, ill just paint it again. Also im getting a paint pen so I can paint the letters black.

So getting in the painting mood I decided to fix that ugly rear wiper issue alot of pt owners have.

So to do this I bought rustoleum Metal Satin black. This is a non glossy black that will help it look factory

So since were going to be doing some painting we should cover the area well!

Now after this I sanded the arm as best as I could to ensure a great finish, Note the area at the top where the paint has just worn off with time. After your sanded (and removed the little plasric button at the base of the arm) you can give it a few nice coats letting it dry between them a little.

Afterwards this is what you get.

Obviously I forgot to put the plastic button back on and I did so after taking this but look at how nice and new the wiper arm looks, no more unsightly grays!

Yes my car needs a bath, I wash it like everyday but its so dusty and polleny out here in PA right now...

So now that this day has ended im fairly worn out and ready for some rest! Can't wait to do some more to the car soon!

Feel free to post your ideas or comments below!