Huge thanks to Vicious for the WD40 tip! I did a little googling after you mentioned it in Matt's thread, and found an old porsche forum thread that mentioned the same thing. I couldn't find WD not in a spray can, locally, but they did mention another chemical called Xylene. picked up a qt of it from a local hardware store, filled up a spray bottle, dabbed some rags and got to scrubbing. insane it took no elbow grease, just wiped right off.

I was dreading the other 3 wells, but now I can't wait. just in time too, paint prep starts on Thursday!


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.evo...6a324e29a.jpeg
was stuck here making some okay progress with hand tools
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.evo...1c544ded4.jpeg
10min wipe down
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.evo...649de5f74.jpeg
the secret sauce!

Nice. this is a good time to use those plastic bristle brushes no one uses. also get a pack of 'acid brushes' from HF or Amazon.... cut the bristles really short to make them stiffer... that should help get into tighter spots.
when you're done you would be able to comfortably stick your head into the wheel wells or stay under the car longer staring at what's broken

doesnt it snow in Portland? if so then you might need some cleaner undercoat

funny you should say that, i have a ton of them that i bought for scrubbing the bay down. genius idea to cut em down tho!

it does occasionally, but this is a dedicated trailer princess, I’ve got a few other cars for beating on the public roads lol.

Thanks again for the tips, saving me a massive amount of time. :chug:

rags will get gross. use paper towels :) fold it a few times to collect more gunk

found a pic

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.evo...8b86ba2b03.jpg

What product is good for new liner though!?! My head is swirling trying to figure out what is good, what is crap or what will induce rot in your car!

sorry snowbelt folks. you will need to doubledown on undercoating(not the ones that harden). I'd probably spray lithium grease in every hole in the frame if i lived up there. maybe drill drain holes too

I replace my liners every 2-3 years, whenever it has too many holes from testing wide wheels/tires/springs/and track events etc. with painted wheel wells I just clean everything with dishsoap/water and a large paint brush. .nothing will really stick to the liners if you dont let the dirty stay too long or scrape/scrub it for dirt to cling to

How does that chemical affect the seam sealer?

Rubberized undercoating traps moisture from what I've read, and hard to get industrial/military-grade coatings work best.

"that shiet is permanent" lol those oil based products wont affect it.
I think you'd want a CRC Corrossion Inhibitor type stuff (see reviews on Youtube), instead of something that hardens or washes away

Finally wrapped the bay spray! came out amazing for not having painted a car since my teens, and using rattle cans. Longest wait was for the clear coat which was backordered but super nice stuff, quick drying time too. probably gonna order some more for the headlights before I refinish and sell them off. (USC 2k glamour if you’re curious)

Quality is just what i was looking for, for my track potato so def not show quality. But I appreciate it none the less, it's more than I had to do for something that might get totalled out on first lap haha.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.evo...e96b9c8ad.jpeg
sanded down with the scotch pads, and 80 in some places.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.evo...437c51571.jpeg
2 coats of primer
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.evo...9457403b2.jpeg
2 coats of high temp flat black
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.evo...add364fc4.jpeg
3 coats of 2k glam

Installed a Kenwood DMX1037S head unit based on WalkerWakaWaka's recommendation! Mounted as flush as I could adjusting the brackets and grounded the parking sensor wire as suggested. Really sweet unit. Snappy UI. Android auto works really well, even wirelessly. Took a couple of tries figuring out which wire to tap for the reverse sensor wire (it's the smaller brown wire leading to the back behind the driver's side kick panel, at least in my 2003 Evo). Also installed a Kenwood CMOS-740HD back-up camera as well. Picture looks awesome and works perfectly once I found out you have to go into the camera settings and change the picture to HD instead of standard. Thanks again for the recommendation!

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.evo...04b9bbdb05.jpg

Looking great! I think you will come to love it...I sure have.

Something to note...if you attached the dimmer/illumination wire and you have your illumination rolled all the way up, your backlight settings will not change when you turn your headlights on. They actually change briefly but then flip back to full brightness. I found that out the hard way. To adjust the backlight, you push in the volume knob and go into illumination and then you can get the brightness/backlight you like. You would think you could find these settings from the home menu and Settings but you cannot. You can only access it by pressing the volume knob in. I presume Android Auto works the same way as Apple Car Play, but when you are in the playback area for one of those, you can change more brightness, color, tint, etc. settings versus only backlight when you are viewing one of the Kenwood menus.

Is that a custom wrap on your steering wheel? What did you go with and how do you like it?

Second on the steering wheel, looks like a custom carbon design. I want to do somwthing similar except regular circle, full carbon design. The evo 9 steering wheel is seriously one of the most attractive/awesome looking oem wheels ever made.

carbonetics offers what you are looking for. I plan on getting one my self.

Thanks for the tips. Got the steering wheel from zencarbonfiber.
Looks like it's $100 cheaper than what I paid. Lots of ways to customize it. Expect a 7-8 week build time though. No core required. Happy with the result, wheel feels nice in hand. I ended up pulling off and spray painting the bezel around the horn and shifter satin black.


​​​​​​Edit: Just checked. Seems like the head unit dims with my lights like it's supposed to. Goes from max 4 brightness down to 1 when I turn the lights on.