SAMARAI's '91 Red Bute from Australia! :P

[SAMARAI]

Howdy Calibra.net-ers! Im proud to introduce to you my '91 Calibra C20XE Redtop.
Very recently I unfortunately crashed my old white Calibra and after a few weeks I saw this red Calibra and I just had to get it.
Even though my white one was written off, almost everything in it is perfect so what better donor car for this new Calibra that is needing a little TLC

So here’s to another journey with my Calibra.
As with my last ride thread, I’ll be documenting my progress not just to keep ya’ll up to date but for my own record keeping of my journey and work done on my calibra.

Without further adieu, here are some photos when I first got it and then preceding those pics are some before and after shots of work I have done on the car so far.







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(The night I got it home I couldn’t contain myself and began with some basic freshening work even though it was 2am) hahaha







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Next, the front bonnet badge was returned to its former glory!





aaaaaaaand also the steeringwheel badge got some love!





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Next the speedo was ripped apart to get some white LED love.
So much better!
I also installed chrome dial rings.





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I next made a trip to my local u pull it and nabbed some spares one of which were these C pillar plastic covers.
Old ones were faded and annoying me.









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Next was an interior swap including all door cards and front and rear seats.
I don’t have many photos of this stage but enjoy the few progress photos I took.





Was hilarious seeing the car completely stripped of seats and door cards.
When stripping out the new red cali, I found a 1c coin, a floppy disk and an unused cigarette. Winning

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Lastly was the rim swap, since the red cali is a 1991 its rims are quite outdated. My white cali being a 1995 model had the facelift rims, so in the name of freshening the car up I swapped the rims.

Before


During




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I’ll be uploading an After photo soon but I ran out of time on the day.
I’ll leave you with this last photo, I managed to score a same colour calibra bumper at my local U-pull-it which was in better nick! Winning!



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Thanks for reading guys and girls.

Mods so far:
- LED’s in boot, numberplate lamps, speedo and dome light
- Opel badging on steeringwheel and bonnet
- Pre to Post facelift calibra rims swap
- Smoked repeaters
- Fixed rear wiper motor
- Interior swap
- Blind spot mirrors

To Do List for the immediate future:
- Darkest legal tint
- XX plates
- Chrome opel badging on the tailgate
- Sound system install
- LED strip install in footwells, under doors and in boot
- Turf install in footwells (front and rear)
- Install my custom made Angel eye headlights from the white cali
- Mirror glass on the left wing mirror
- Colour code handles and respray mirrors

Cheers guys

[EddeyDancer]

Damn shame I'm not local, to assist you with all that fun...

I bet you're feeling better now!!!

[SAMARAI]

Damn shame I'm not local, to assist you with all that fun...

I bet you're feeling better now!!!

ahh yes, definitely is always fun when getting hands deep into the car. Maybe one day we will cross paths mate.

Yes for sure im glad to be driving another cali, it will take some time for me to restore it to as good if not better condition than my old one, but thats half the fun

[craigyboy]

Good work mate,Sorry to hear about the white one.

[SAMARAI]

Good work mate,Sorry to hear about the white one.

Cheers mate.
All good bud, these things happen. Glad I'm alive to mod another cali

[SAMARAI]

Seeing that today was a day off aka a day to work on the cali.. here are some progress shots

Starting with Yesterday I did a claybar, polish and wax.
The red was red.. but now its truly red and making me smile so much! This was the first time waxing a car and to my luck a few hours later a bird shat on my bonnet. A water pour on it and the s**t slid straight off!! wax powaaaa! mind you the s**t must have been fresh still

Rear end when the Polishing was done!




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While I was in the detailing mood, I hit up the trim and handles with forever black! Love that stuff.

BEFORE


DURING - Blaaaaaacked on the left strip, stock faded on the right.


AFTER




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Also Blacked my steeringwheel.

Faded Grey


To BLAAAAAAAAAAACK!


Had thought that I had lost my bee sting aerial. My eyes caught it on the ground as I was cleaning up, it was wedged in the gravel driveway!
Less RC car spec! Winning!

Before


AFTER


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After performing at a Chrissy Eve gig it was to my secret spot in the Adelaide hills for some post detailing photos!
Hope you enjoy and merry christmas lads and gals! Have a great new year!













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Today however I had the morning free so in went my Kicker Sub and Amp and also the turf
Cranked the sub after connecting it and even with the s****Y stock speakers it wasn't too bad but I nearly ******* myself! I had forgotten just how good my sub felt to my ears! But the stock speakers need to be swapped asap. A few are rattling.. soooo annooying!





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To end my update, I leave you with my Custom brake light template.
My phone can't do justice in low light but always good to advertise the car to the driver behind when stuck at the lights xD

On the ASAP to Do list!
-Tint
-Swap the rooted front right shock. So left and right front shocks and springs from my white cali to red cali.
- LED footwells
- Swap stock speakers PRONTO!
- Fix rooted bonnet cable (ergo can't shut it or face needing someone to push down on it and yank the bajeesus out of the handle.. feels like its gonna break. hope i can swap the cable from my white one. need to look into that asap! any help is appreciated!!!

[EddeyDancer]

The Bonnet release cable can be adjusted... The Mechanic fixed mine, years ago...

As for that turf outlay...

[SAMARAI]

The Bonnet release cable can be adjusted... The Mechanic fixed mine, years ago...

As for that turf outlay...

hrmm might need to get a mechanic to look at mine. its so terrible at the present moment!

hahaha Eddey! well its just for some laughs, but soon will be replaced with something even better!

[SAMARAI]

Woops seems I forgot to upload the pics of the custom brake light!
Bit of blaaaack spray paint, laminate and double sided tape! boom!







My phone really can't do low light justice but you get an idea

[EddeyDancer]

Get the Black plates on ASAP

[wuffy]

The white calibra doesn't look too badly damaged, if the chassis isn't twisted couldn't you just fit new wishbones to the front, or whatever is broken and bent on the front for new or second hand parts?

[SAMARAI]

Get the Black plates on ASAP

Two steps ahead of you Eddey
I have ordered a replacement set of the old black XX plates I had as the front plate got damaged in the crash.
They are about a week away.

The white calibra doesn't look too badly damaged, if the chassis isn't twisted couldn't you just fit new wishbones to the front, or whatever is broken and bent on the front for new or second hand parts?

Being that the whole chassis on the front end was smashed/pushed in it would need pulling out etc and also whole new radiator supports and like you say wishbones etc.. but to be honest, im having too much fun modding a cali from scratch again.. atleast this one has a sunroof xD but i do like your thinking man. I did contemplate it but I always go with the presumption that when a cars chassis is bent.. it'll never drive the same again.

[craigyboy]

Get the Black plates on ASAP

Two steps ahead of you Eddey
I have ordered a replacement set of the old black XX plates I had as the front plate got damaged in the crash.
They are about a week away.

The white calibra doesn't look too badly damaged, if the chassis isn't twisted couldn't you just fit new wishbones to the front, or whatever is broken and bent on the front for new or second hand parts?

Being that the whole chassis on the front end was smashed/pushed in it would need pulling out etc and also whole new radiator supports and like you say wishbones etc.. but to be honest, im having too much fun modding a cali from scratch again.. atleast this one has a sunroof xD but i do like your thinking man. I did contemplate it but I always go with the presumption that when a cars chassis is bent.. it'll never drive the same again.

Get it fixed and have the two callys on the road

[SAMARAI]

Get the Black plates on ASAP

Two steps ahead of you Eddey
I have ordered a replacement set of the old black XX plates I had as the front plate got damaged in the crash.
They are about a week away.

The white calibra doesn't look too badly damaged, if the chassis isn't twisted couldn't you just fit new wishbones to the front, or whatever is broken and bent on the front for new or second hand parts?

Being that the whole chassis on the front end was smashed/pushed in it would need pulling out etc and also whole new radiator supports and like you say wishbones etc.. but to be honest, im having too much fun modding a cali from scratch again.. atleast this one has a sunroof xD but i do like your thinking man. I did contemplate it but I always go with the presumption that when a cars chassis is bent.. it'll never drive the same again.

Get it fixed and have the two callys on the road

If only it were that easy for me! would be so awesome though.
But alas would cost too much for me to do a chassis overhaul and get it pulled out and would need to replace all the suspension/steering rack etc so atleast I have a new cali to tinker with and a donor car to provide any parts I need.

[SAMARAI]

UPDATE TIME

-BADGES vs DE-BADGED

So guys to kick it off, I had some spare time between a shift at work so I decided to see If I liked my chrome badges on or off the car.
Whats your thoughts?





I personally think that debadged looks cleaner and a bit more like a mystery car, but in the 2 weeks since taking these two comparison photos and looking back at them now, I think I want the more classy look with the badges on the car. I always do/did like a less is more approach and debadging to my eyes looked like it was too much of a ricey approach to present the car. The badges on looks more grandpa spec but I do like to keep the car original.
Im up and down with thoughts as to what to do. Thoughts?

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- FRONT DOOR SPEAKER REPLACEMENT

So since buying this car the front right speaker vibrates at all volume levels. I couldn't take it anymore and as soon as I had time to take off the front door cards and swap in my old speakers I did. I also found out that the front tweeters weren't working so in went my old spare white cali stock speakers and tweeters.
(I would have put in my aftermarket speakers that were in my white calibra currently but there was a leak in the window sills and those two front door speakers were completely rusted and not working)

(Old rooted speaker at top of photo)
(Newer 1995 model calibra stock speakers at bottom of photo)


For now I am more than happy with the stock 1995 calibra speakers and tweeters in the fronts as they are WORLDS better than what was in my red calibra currently.
When monies allows I'll hopefully be able to get new speakers and amp them at some point down the track. For now Im loving life! Calibra has such a small cabin that my sub in the boot just resonates throughout the whole car! winning!


Speaking of my sub.. There was a special on FireExtinguishers so for s***s and giggles I installed one next to the sub. Hopefully will never need to use it.



Also while my door cards were off I compared the newer 1995 fully cloth cali door card to the 1991 part cloth part vinyl door card.
At some point I may swap the top halves of front and rear door cards as I like the vinyl bottoms of the door cards. To my eyes it makes the interior of the car look more upper class. Thoughts?



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-BONNET RELEASE CABLE ADJUSTMENT

When I bought my car the bonnet never fully stayed down.. I later found out that the locking spring pin that sits screwed into the bonnet was loosened because it seems the bonnet release cable is stretched.



After much swearing, sweating and blisters I finally adjusted the locking mechanism so that I can open and close my bonnet without needing someone to push down on the bonnet. Someday I may look into replacing the cable as it is still quite firm to unlock the bonnet.. I need two hands to pull the lever to release so I will need to get round to it someday. I don't want to break the handle or snap the cable.. looking at threads of people doing this already seems like an arse of a job :C


-RUSTY BONNET STAY to BLAAAACK!
While I was at it I also swapped bonnet stays.





The one in my red cali initially was the grey rusty one so I swapped in the stay from my white cali which was a nice blaaaack and also sprayed the bottom base from grey to black too! winning! (Its all in the small details) xD

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- DASH MAT INSTALL AND BLAAAAACKING OUT

So since my dash had 3 cracks that were annoying me, I managed to score an original calibra dash mat.. but the grey colour made it look too grandpa spec so I decided black would be less noticeable!

Here's a montage.



Muuuuuuc better! Generally im not a fan of dash mats but atleast the cracks are hidden.. dash mats are sometimes a necessary evil!

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- TINTING THE TAIL LIGHTS

A mate had a spare can if tail light night shade (Tint)... so I decided to see how it looks.
I taped off the already factory tinted middle section and sprayed two light coats over the red sections

MASKING OFF


DURING


AFTER


I have to say its come out pretty good. But if Im honest its a tad too dark for my liking.. its almost seems too ricey to my eyes!
I may turpse the spray off and try again with one less coat and see how that turns out.
For one its too dark and has strayed too far from the stock tail light colour which in my books means not factory and ricey. If it was half the darkness maybe I can live with it. Secondly Im too afraid of getting defected (As Police will argue it blocks too much light to pass through therefore not doing their intended purpose to warn other drivers to my presence)
What are your thoughts? after a full 24hours of curing on the car.. it has lightened up a little. So its on the brink of being passable for me.. maybe my eyes are still getting used to it. I am also taking into consideration that I soon want to colour code all the handles, door and bumper trim and roof racks.. so I think the tinted tail lights will stick out like a sore thumb.

Another Angle


NIGHT SHOTS




At night time, you cannot even tell that the lights have been tinted. Only during the day is it a little visible.
In the last photo I tried to let the HID's show on the road infront.. HID's for life.. A MUST FOR ALL CALIBRA OWNERS!

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- BLACK XX PLATES

The more astute of you would have noticed the new plates I had installed on the two pictures above.
Albeit being the old plates I had on my white cali, in the crash I had to order a new set since the front plate was damaged so it was a long 2 weeks of waiting for these plates. I love them.

BEFORE



AFTER




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TO DO LIST (In the upcoming month)
- Darkest Legal window tint
- Swap front suspension from white cali to red cali (As the strut is rooted on my red one) (Will be my first time doing such a mod, I have a mate helping out.. hoping its not too tricky)
- Velcro for the dash mat so it stops vibrating down the dash from my subwoofer (First world problems )

(In the next few months)
- Swap the remote central locking unit from my white cali to the red one. I miss having remote entry.
- Colour code the handles, mirrors, bumper and door trim and roof racks.


Something like this.

I also like the debadged and smoothed bonnet like the newer model calibras. it looks cleaner.
Contemplating removing it in the name of aesthtics.
Thoughts?



I think it will look like a more premium model and shave some years off the car.

Thats all for now folks.
Give me your thoughts!