1:1 Projects

[FASTBACK340]

Made my own LED reverse/tail lights for my 1:1 `Cuda.

Now THAT'S a reverse light!

And the LED taillights…...

[FASTBACK340]

I have manual steering and at times it's a PIA….. I also have a custom wheel, which is 14 1/2" diameter. The stock wheel is 17", but not really "stylish". Grant finally released a larger diameter (16") aftermarket wheel. Although it was a $45 wheel (cheap….) I wanted the larger diameter. Soooooo…….

Here's the wheel

After a visit to my local tint/wrap shop for some nice 4D carbon fiber wrap. Cost me a $20 tip..….

The final detail is a chrome lapel pin mounted on the horn button.

[FASTBACK340]

I also decided to update the look under the hood….

Instead of body color for the 6Bbl. lid…….

Again, 4D carbon fiber wrap.

[FASTBACK340]

First order of business was to strip-out the grilles and lights.

I also upgraded the headlights to H-4 Halogens. I spliced in the required relays and circuit breakers. And since I was adding the H-4's, I bought a set with the Halo's.

Some #0000 steel wool, a piece of Wadding clothe, a spritz of argent here, some flat black there, a new set of parking light lenses…...

And the Mistress gets a facelift.

[Joe Handley]

Can't wait to see a glamor shot of the new lights once you get the car out back together!

[1930fordpickup]

I really like the brighter rear lights . Everything else is a step up also.

[cobraman]

Nice work !

[slusher]

Great upgrades. Love the headlights....

[Ace-Garageguy]

Very clean work. Looks great.

I'm intrigued by the carbon-fiber-look wrap. How does it work?

It looks like you did a perfect job getting it to follow some difficult contours that couldn't be done so nicely with real carbon.

[mikemodeler]

Nice details there John. Subtle but very effective, really like the carbon fiber work, gives it a nice updated look.

[Jaguar man 21]

I like the carbon it looks mean

[FASTBACK340]

Very clean work. Looks great.

I'm intrigued by the carbon-fiber-look wrap. How does it work?

It looks like you did a perfect job getting it to follow some difficult contours that couldn't be done so nicely with real carbon.

First of all, thank you all for the comments. I appreciate the feedback and encouragement. Doing work like this full time is a dream come true and I'm always on the lookout for new details. The carbon fiber 4D wrap is really neat stuff. It's hard to "show" what it feels like, but it has an actual "weave" texture to the finish.

And it's thin. Bump it with a heat gun and you can get it to pretty much follow any contour (within reason….). My air cleaner lid has one or two small imperfections, but I'm not complaining. The kid did a great job on both the air cleaner and steering wheel.

Again, I wish I could better show the texture…… Bill, if your curious enough, you can find it on e-Bay in varying amounts and prices. You can gamble less than $20 and play with it.

Last year I had bought a carbon fiber dash overlay for my car. When I ordered it I asked if they could delete the heater and radio openings. This is what I got. BTW: Look at the horn button done with 2D carbon fiber. It's basically printed on a glossy finish. VERY low-rent, but all that was available back then….. But the dash is from DMT (Detroit Muscle Technologies). Jim reproduces TONS of hard to find and one-off gasket and body seals for 1:1 muscle cars. The factory hood insert gaskets on my car are made of un-obtainium, so Jim sent me a set of prototype gaskets he made for me to try (I used to be a moderator over at a Mopar site….. and it had perks) for these impossible to find gaskets. Great guy, great product.

So here's the steering wheel throwing down the next challenge: BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH thing is too close to the dash, I need a spacer/thicker mount. The directional stalk is about 3/8" from the rim, and the pistol grip shifter hits the wheel going into reverse. It's like a chess game.

BTW: That's a Halon fire extinguisher on the trans tunnel. Halon is pricey, but so were those aluminum cylinder heads and 6 Bbl. set-up. Carry one guys. A simple fuel leak can cause enough heat to ruin stuff fast. The Halon won't corrode the aluminum or ruin your wiring harness like Home Depot $20 Kidde units. Keep those in the kitchen. Carry it and make it ACCESSIBLE, not in the trunk!