Just thought I'd post it up if anyone cared. -LED Reverse bulbs -New tailight center panel. -The keylock is now located above the license plate inside the bumper. before: After: And yes I know my garage is a mess, and yes I know my tailpipes need pushed up. Thats courtesy of the ******* muffler shop who couldnt follow my directions. I think I may try removing the clear piece under the tailight housing, that thing seems to diffuse an aweful lot of light.

looks good man! how did you relocate the lock over the liscense plate? great job. killer bird. -Matt

Well, the lock is attached to a cable thats about 12 inches long, just remove it, drill some new holes down below and mount it. I'll see if I can get some pics tommorrow of that, I gotta clean it up first, ran outta daylight and its kinda messy.

nice project tho, car is looking really good. I wish that my camaro was that far along. Is that a daily driver? That is my plan for mine. Im just trying to get the $ to put a windshield in mine lol then get it running. What all have you done to your bird? -Matt

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Nice.

thanks guys.

85, no its not my DD. I drive around a pos 95 Jeep Wrangler to work and school. I started this car last year when I got rid of another 91 that was rotting apart pretty much.
I have all my mods listed on my fquick page, check it out. The big mod to come is the LSx motor that I'm getting this month or next, soon as I find one with decent miles that isnt gonna break the bank.

www.Fquick.com/orinackra

kudos on the project man, i love it!!! very interested to know how you succesfully moved the key hole. I know it's not difficult but i just am interested to see how well it came out before i start moving mine and drilling new holes as i also thought of this before, just didn't wanna tread water and be the first.

P.S. Love the door panels, good job!!!
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i just realized...we have almost identical cars...at least when i started mine...bright red door jambs and such...and primer gray body. Nice look! Haha

hahaha yeah, they are pretty close! Its hard to believe this car was once red.
Thanks for the props.
I'll get some pics of that lock when I go down there tommorrow or the next day. Its not really pretty looking, i will say that. but it works.

Is the keylock under that lip above the plate?

Is it possible to put it behind the plate and use a Camaro style flippable frame?

my only issue is how waterproof is it. I don't expect to drive it all that much in the rain, but i don't want to leave it outside my garage over night and morning dew be inside my hatch window and such.

With putting it behind the plate...i can't assume it's that easy getting it down to the bumper reinforcement, not to mention if you were...you would need to have it set outwards an inch to two depending on year/model to make key cylinder flush with bumper cover. Then again with a little ingenuity and plenty of time and resources anything is possible.

Didn't think about that though. Guess that's the only place you could put it.

Though if you're anything like me, unlocking with a key isn't the first option so it doesn't matter. Inside release or remote is what I'd prefer. (Obviously you might not have remote release but if you got a chunk of time free, it's cool to do)

Thats very nice...
1. What LEDs did you use?
2. Where did you get the center taillight panel?

- I got my leds here:
http://autolumination.com/1156_1157.htm
I ordered the 27 led towers, but they sent me the 30 led ones for some reason, 2nd ones down.

- I made the center piece with an old beat up stock one. It was gathering dust in my garage, so I bondo-ed over the keyhole and painted it. The emblem I got from a 80's Sunbird trunk in a junkyard.

I know what you guys mean about the waterproof thing. This cars not my daily driver, but I still may drive it in the rain. The lock is kinda hanging down there right now, which is why i want to go back and make something a little nicer and seal it up.

I dont know about getting it behind the plate, it was a stretch getting the cable this far.

Love the spoiler. The hood also makes it look a hell of alot better. What do you plan on painting it btw? With those fourth-gen rims, black would really look great.

you rob a junked fourth gen or something? got the door panels, spoiler, rims. Wouldn't be surprised if you got the whole dash seats and console.

wow amazing mods man, that thing is killer... What did you use for primer? spray cans? i love how you are just making the car your own style. I also want to know what the paint plans are. later man -Matt

you know, it probably woulda been cheaper to get a 4th gen donor, with all the stuff I have. But no, I've been piecing it together for awhile now. Next 4th gen mod like I said earlier is gonna be an lsx motor later this year.

It is just cans of primer for now. I wanna do the engine first cause I'm honestly on the fence paint wise. I really like 06 GTO Spice red, black, or two tone spice red on the bottom, and black for the scoop, mirrors, roof, and wing. Basically top half in black. But I really cannot decide.
btw, I appreciate the kind words, I spent alot of time and effort on this car, and I love it, and it makes me feel accomplished to get some recognition for it.

I would of assumed you had some kind of LS1 in there unless you were building up something special. Haha. :-) Your hood is almost fourth-gen like!

I have to admit, I almost dont want to post these pics, cause I didnt realize till I looked at em how horrible the moving of the lock was. I'm like a mad scientist with a hacksaw lol. But the hole needed cut. As far as where I put the lock, I'm trying to figure out a better place to put it, but I really have no ideas.

don't go out during the day with that :-p, your gonna end up with a lisense plate bulb ticket if it doesn't shine through enough, lol. Nice idea...my only concern is weather driving again is if water build up is more prevalent there than up where it was it would end up rusting potentially. Then the hole would pose it's own problems, lol. Great idea...do you yourself a little guinea pig testing and see how it does after a year, unless you don't take out your car even when there is a chance of rain. Then you will never have to worry about it. Nice idea thought, just need a little more...idk. Maybe cut a hole to the right of the plate light and rivit it to the bumper cover to fit and finish??? If you got enough lead, if not it can't be that hard to dismantle and add more sheathing and wire.

The reverse light is a sweet mod, nice job, I wonder how it would look if you get the whole red tailight in l.e.d along with the reverse light.

yeah the guy that owned the car before me primered the backend, I guess he didnt mask anything off. I'm replacing that light with leds soon too. I'm looking at a white 6-led bar that should light up the plate really nicely. As for the water, I hear ya on that, but the only thing I can think of is to to maybe wrap the whole back of the lock housing and the cable housing with waterproof tape or perhaps some kind of heat shrink. I'm not too worried about it right now, I dont plan on driving the car till spring, and even then I'm only planning on driving it on nice days.

The other thing, about fit and finish, theres a flat lip above the plate in the center, where the plate light is. I could drill a hole there and mount it, theres enough cable left to go that far.
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I suspect it would look great, but at 20 bucks a bulb, 6 bulbs... thats alot of cash for lights. Maybe one day.

yeah i feel you on that!!!

Sweet. I can dig it.

wanna know something funny? you made it hilariously EASY to break into your car, the lock pops outta that plastic housing, one quick turn with a screw driver and your in. ALSO you can be lazy and grab that cable and tug on it, that ALSO pops the trunk really easy, im not flaming you, cool idea, but man, your gunna lose your **** that way!

How well, do you think, those work under the red tail light lenses? Or maybe.....Red LED bulbs from them?

I bought some amber LED bulbs for the front, but they were PATHETIC in the daytime. Pretty nice at night, but horrible in the daytime light.

I want LED bulbs for my STS taillights, but not willing to buy 8 LED bulbs & realize that I wasted that much money on them.

what year STS?

'07 .....My custom built, 100% custom designed, SMC components, circuit board unit.

an 07 STS should have LED tail lights.... including the decklid light, ive worked on MANY STS's never seen one with bulbs

You are totaling misunderstanding..... How many STS do any lighting without bulbs, LED or incandescent? Mine can light both.

My STS were DESIGNED in '07 & put on my 87 GTA.

Look at my avatar or the link in my sig.

OH ****! I THOUGHT YOU MEANT A CADILLAC STS! LOL
My apologies lmao.

though your STS is now peaking my interest, what would it take to procure such a setup?

A minimum buy of 10 units (got 9 friends that want one?) plus the willingness of my friend to actually build some more.

lol unfortunately i make up the entirety of the la grange park sect of thirdgen.org

What about rigging up a cable release for the hatch.For your plate lights they sell lighted bolts which work.

awesome set up dude

I think it'd be the same amount of ease to do that do the stock lock location. Jam a screwdriver in and pow. The thing is with mine, its tucked above the plate in the bumper, you'd never ever see unless you knew where to look. You would actually have to look up from the ground under the bumper to see it. I have to feel around for it. I do see your point though. I guess I'm just not worried about something like that happening. I dont even use the key, I just hit the button on the dash.


PS. I just went out and tried to tug on it... I'd have to cut the lock out of there to get my hand in a position to do that.


Its already a cable release? I completely forgot about that license bulb and the fact that I primered right over it. Oops. I really wanna get some sort of led bar style bar. Better add that to the to do list haha.