"Secret Weapon" - Complete Interior/Exterior Overhaul
 

Hey there folks!

I just got back from another year in Iraq, I'm getting out of the Marine Corps in 3 weeks, and I've got some cash to burn. I've procured a 1999 Alero 2.4L, and I'm gonna turn this thing into one sexy beast! I've never documented a project before, so I apologize if things get a little hairy. All advice, comments, and criticisms are welcome!

I'm going to start with the interior (black leather, black cloth, gloss dark blue accents, blue LED lighting) while I wait on my hookup to get ready to paint and install my body kit, which can be seen here:

http://www.rushkits.com/-strse-12664...off/Detail.bok

Here's the rims:

http://www.wheelsnext.com/default.cf...lor=HYPERBLACK

As for the new seats, Kragen has an awesome deal going on right now where you can get TWO black faux-leather sparco-style generic seats for $250. I traded a friend of mine a couple 8" subs and an amp for these seats after we found out they wouldn't fit in his jeep.

I'm going to hang on to the big pieces of the interior and cut/sew/cut/sew/cut/glue/sew/cut some vinyl/leather to fit while my hookup takes care of the exterior.

Please note that the PVC WAI was kind of a joke/proving-a-point kind of thing. It actually sounds cooler than most WAI's, surprisingly. :lol: Also note the gauge cluster being held on by zip ties... :yahoo:

Here goes nuthin'...

not just any PVC mind you... black painted PVC..... hahaha =)

sounds like your interior will be pretty bangin tho.

Don't forget to upgrade those gauges and maybe bezel. Oh and just a sidenote apparently at some point in time I learned that heating pvc piping can create toxic vapors... Not willing to back that up with a guarentee but I'm sure I did enough research that I just went to our great plastics shop here and got some better plastic tubing to make my super "Water Pipe" out of.

Thats actually ABS pipe. :D

Ok ABS whatever... I have limited brain space so for the purposes of this project, I'm calling it PVC. :)

The PVC came black! Me and my buddy were down at Lowe's looking at the regular white PVC and we couldn't find anything in a 3" diameter, so we started wandering around. They had a whole selection of black PVC pipe, I assume for downspouts and larger outdoor drainage.

I did actually order some gauge faces yesterday morning and forgot to mention that in the first post.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...9811&rd=1&rd=1

After I ordered them, I saw another set I liked a little better, but they're pretty much the same. No biggie.

I'll have some more pics up tonight after I get back from the junk yard. I plan to do a full conversion to auto windows and mirrors too, so I need an assload of parts.

-Brad

Eh Brad, right on!

First off, glad to know you're back home safe, and enjoy the retirement. Veterans club eh? I've noticed that there's quite a few military folks on here. But yes, good to see you back.

As for the Alero project you've gotten yourself into - yeah, it starts to feel like you've 'gotten yourself into something' - right on! Can't wait to see this one turn out.

Aside from seats and sound system, what other plans do you have for the interior? And yeah, that is a sweet deal on those seats.

For guages, just my 2 cents on this one, try autometer. They've got high quality guages - Myself personally, I'll be going with the Cobalt line for mine - but there's a lot out there. Only issue though, if you do go with them, call them directly and find out about availability on certain guages - either in production, or if they'll work with a GM car.

Float around the site, there's A LOT of things people have done that might give advice and ideas. So long as you stay away from a horrible, horrible swade green and blue interior, you're gold. If you can't find it, there's more than enough people willing to throw out advice and help. So yeah, I'll sum up here...

Welcome back, good luck, and I'm looking forward to seeing this project unfold.

Edge.

Well, I just blew my entire afternoon at the junkyard. Not a single Alero in sight, but I did find a couple Grand Ams and an ASSLOAD of 3800 engines, completely clean and untouched. I was tempted... :)

Anyway, I spent the better part of 2 hours trying to get a turbo off a Dodge Daytona Shelby GT, but decided it would be easier to pay $30 more and get one off ebay or something. Anyone have any thoughts on small turbos (and required components) for the 2.4L? I don't want to spend any more than a few hundred on a turbo because I plan to do an engine swap in a year or so anyway.

I spent a couple hours scraping on the dash vinyl as well. I'll post some pics and lessons learned when I get done tonight.

-Brad

Ohhhhh... the scraping... yeah, that's going to have a few good stories attached with it I'm sure.

angle grinder with the right disc works wonders on that vinyl

sound_xtreme is hereby added to my list of heroes... I was using a razor blade scraper like a dumbass... haha.

Another little kink in the works... WheelsNext is out of stock on basically everything on their damn site. Soonest I can get ANY of the five different rims I picked out is 6-8 weeks, so that part of the project will have to go on hold until I can find a suitable supplier. Not only that, but the third time I called, they kept me on hold for 15 minutes, came back and said "Sorry dude. Just one more minute. It'll be less than a minute..." So I waited 5 more minutes and hung up. They apparently don't need my money too badly, so I'll find someone who does.

My buddy finished welding on my temporary exhaust today, mucho ghetto just like the intake. :lol:

Hmmm. I wonder if a heat gun on a low setting would melt the glue enough for the vinyl to just peel right off. The part of the dash that is exposed to the sun peeled up no problem with zero residue on the plastic frame.

...I just don't want the vinyl or foam padding to burst into flames. :eek:

-Brad

Man, I need to find a place to host my pics... Photobucket or something...

I wanted to take a step back for a minute and go into detail about the removal of the dash since I am documenting this process to help others in the future.



In the pic above, you can see where I had to cut the dash frame to allow the wires from the fuse boxes on both ends of the dash to pass through. Your only other option is to disconnect about 50 or so wires from each end of the dash, label them, and hook them back up how you found them when you're done. I prefer snip-snip and gorilla glue, personally.



Above, you can see the problem suffered by 90% of Alero owners. The perfectly clean black dash frame to the right of the picture indicates where the glue has dried out and completely released the vinyl from the frame. On the left, you can see where the glue is still intact and the foam peeled off the back of the vinyl as I pulled it away.



Initially, I was using a razor blade scraper to try to remove the foam padding and glue from the dash frame. As mentioned earlier in the thread, using an angle grinder with a really thin disc is MUCH faster and more effective.

On a side note, WheelsNext jerked me around on the purchase of my rims so much, I decided to go with a different company. I spoke to a guy named Robin at WheelMax and he hooked me up with a 10% military discount on some sweet 18" gunmetal rims and Toyo Proxes FZ-4 tires for $1100, mounted, balanced, and shipped. Here's a link to the rims I ended up with: http://www.wheelmax.com/product.asp?ProdId=10732

I contacted my buddy about getting the body kit installed and painted. I'm trying to head back to cincinnati from SoCal on the 29th of this month, so I'm pushing his time table pretty thin. I'm supposed to go meet with him this weekend to discuss time table and price. I am going to stop in LA on my way there and pick up the body kit, which came out to about $430 after tax.

More later...

-Brad

So I take it the vinyl on the dash rolling up from the sun isnt just my problem either it happens to other people too.

i've seen that happening on a couple other aleros, mine has yet to have that problem though...

should look awesome when ur done dude

I didn't notice it when I bought the car, but it's peeling back on me too... which is why I'm probably going to be redoing my interior also.


Things are looking good! Thanks for the how too on removing the dash.... I would have ended up taking all those wires out and putting them back in... but I think I'll just do a quick snip snip of the dash like you did. lol

Definately coming along so far very well man. Yeah, I know the feeling of getting jerked around with some companies - can get really frustrating for sure. BUT, good on ya so far. I really can't wait to see the finished product.

Sorry it's been a couple days since I have been able to post an update, but I just drove 400+ miles one way to take the Ho to the painter. The body kit and wing will be delivered to his place next weekend, and he says work is slow right now so it should be done in 2 weeks or less. This guy is great at what he does, and only charged me $1500 + paint cost to do the entire paint job, body work to remove dings, and paint and install the entire body kit! My rims and tires will be here Monday, and I got my Vibrant strut bars on Thursday. I have almost the whole interior sitting in the floor in my living room and garage, and I'll post more pics as soon as I start painting on Monday or Tuesday!

-Brad

Ha, I like. I like a lot.

Watching and reading someone else doing similar things (interior wise) as I am... a very refreshing change in point of view.

But, sounds like it is making some very good progress.

Painting has begun! It's kinda dark outside right now, so I'll try to get some better pics tomorrow so you can see the color better.

Here's about 25% of the crap I need to paint. lol.



And here's my test subjects, the fuse panels, getting their first coat. (and another close friend of ours can be seen in the background.)

Quick update... The Secret Weapon is currently being painted and having the body kit installed! The rims/tires came in the mail on thursday, and I've begun wet-sanding the interior pieces! I'm sorry I haven't had time to document the steps I've taken this past week or so, but the military is really sticking it to me for wanting to get out. Duty after duty, time-sink after time-sink. I haven't even had time to check out of medical, and I am leaving the base for good on the 29th. :rolleyes2:

When I get back to Cincinnati on April 4th, I will throw up a bunch of pics I have been taking but haven't had time to crop and chop for posting here.

-Brad

Good job so far!

When I saw : " rims/tires came in the mail " I had this wierd image where the mail man tries to squeeze 4 wheels in your mail box :lol:

Welp, I got all moved back to Cincinnati and got a settled and a few job interviews out of the way. Aside from the body kit fiasco, I'm back on track. I got to work on the dash for a few hours tonight... Got the batting glued to the dash that I am going to use as padding for the new black vinyl I have ready and waiting.

For this, I am using 3M's strongest spray-on adhesive... I think it's #90 in the green can. About $12 at Lowe's. This stuff sets up like cement, so I shouldn't have the crazy peeling issue like with the stock vinyl.





...and here are a few shots of the Alero with her 3-day-old paint job, which is the Ford G9 series Vista Blue Metallic Effect. Beautiful, except for the BS body kit.







Tomorrow, I'll be throwing on some, if not all of the vinyl for the dash. That's gonna suck...

-Brad

looking great!!!!

you mentioned vibrant strut bars... F & R ones?? is it just me or does the rear not fit?? im about to toss this pos up on ebay..

Yep, I bought both and they fit just fine. The rear one is a pain in the ass to install though. It's like the mounting points back there have washers welded over the holes or something. I just installed mine over the washers. It doesn't sit flush against the tower, but it's only off by the thickness of the washer which is like 1/16th of an inch.

looks good man! you should post some more pics

Today was not nearly as productive as I wanted it to be, but it is a HUGE pain in the ass to get the vinyl down into the cracks of the seams in the dash. I ended up using a butter knife to poke it all down in there. lol.





...but you gotta admit, it came out absolutely fabulous. :coolio:

I still haven't trimmed that right end to mold around the side so it's sticking out a bit and I am waiting for the glue to cure before cutting out the vent hole there. I am astonished at how well this turned out... woot!

-Brad

do you mind getting me a few good pictures please? i'd greatly appreciate it darlin.
azulitoalero@yahoo.com

Looking great!!! Really! Keep it up man

Put a 454 in it!!

^ de da de

I didn't forget about you... Just been a hectic couple of days. I'll post them up here for all to see, hopefully tonight.

-Brad

Actually, I am in the process of putting an LS1 in a 1984 Fiero SE. Should make for interesting reactions when I smoke a 911 turbo in a $500 car. :p

O.O ooohhhhhh

im a huge Fiero gal....
you shouldnt have said that!!

I wanna see pictures and videos!!

Well, all I have right now is the car and some of the parts I need. I'm pretty sure I have the engine locked on, but if the deal falls through I have about 50 backup plans. lol. Not sure if a Fiero engine swap thread is appropriate on an Alero board. :)

I'll post a link to a thread on a fiero board when I really get knee-deep in the project, but the Alero takes priority since I'm so far along. :)

-Brad

I've discovered people on this forum are very open minded and don't mind talk about other vehicles. Some of us don't even own Aleros.

But the Alero project looks good. Keep up the good work and continue posting pictures of the progress.

Not sure if this is what you wanted... I can't get my camera to take a picture in any kind of focus for a top-down view, because it has to be so close when I put it up inside the hole there.

For anyone who isn't up to speed on the conversation, this is just a shot of how the Vibrant strut bars fit in the trunk, which is a bit funky but it does work.

Let me know if you need anything else. :)

-Brad

EDIT - The guys at A+ Performance shipped my bars to me assembled incorrectly. They had the rear bar attached to the front brackets and the front bar attached to the rear brackets. Just in case there's any confusion, the C-shaped brackets go in the rear and the full circle ones go up front. :)

and i assume thats the cavelier/sunfire/grand am one? They said it wasnt long enough to fit in my car.... the front fit fine though....hmmm