Custom switch panel

This post is on the customized switch panel that I fabricated using fiberglass and acrylic.

I will try to explain in sequence the steps on how I made the custom panel.

Step 1
Using a piece of acrylic as the faceplate of the panel, measure and cut holes for the toggle switches. I am using lighted LED switches.

Step 2

Once the holes for the switches are cut, shape the outer edge of the faceplate.

Step 3

Using styrofoam, shape the body of the panel to the desired shape. First start shaping using a sharp knife and styrofoam cutter (the hot wire type) and later refine the shape using a coarse sandpaper i.e. 400grit.  

Step 4

Once the desired shape is achieved, cover the styrofoam with masking tape thoroughly. Next, cover the item with a thick cloth. Any thick cloth that could soak resin will do. To make sure that the cloth sticks to the item, I used a thin double sided tape. Then mix the fiberglass resin with the hardener in small quantity (the resin will react and harden quickly and mixing too much might be wasteful) and apply the resin onto the cloth. Depending on the temperature and qty of hardener used, it may take up to 1 hour for the resin to harden.

Step 5

After the resin has hardened, mask and attach the acrylic faceplate and then apply the fiberglass putty. Apply and shape the putty making sure that the edge connecting the body to the faceplate is flushed.

Step 6

Once the putty has dried, sand the item smooth with a file and followed by coarse sandpaper.

Step 7

I finally wrap the item the carbon sticker and painted the sides of the acrylic faceplate a flat black colour.

These switches connects to the customized relay banks in my earlier post. I am currently using one switch to trigger my SPAL fan that I had mounted in front of my radiator to aid in the cooling process.

14 inch SPAL fan

Fan mounting process

Custom Relay Panel

Hi All,

Wow..it's been more than a year since my last post.

Will try to update more often. Today I'll just share with you the customized relay panel that I have made for the car. The main purpose for this mod is that I wanted a cleaner look for the relays that I was going to use to power the accessories that I have in mind. After researching in Google, I bought the necessary items online and at the infamous Jalan Pasar.

It all started with a blank piece of acrylic that I bought at a hardware store in Bangi.

The piece of acrylic after cutting and drilling holes

After carefully planning the layout of the relays, fuses, wire terminals and wire routing, I drilled holes in the acrylic for the wires to go through. The idea is to have the wires tucked in behind the panel for a cleaner look. Each wire is routed behind the panels using rubber grommets. 

These are the end result...

Front view

Rear view

Due to the lack of available space in the engine bay, the only available option to mount the panel was on top of the battery. This location also enabled me to have the live wire from the positive terminal to the fuses to be as short as possible, an important safety precaution in case of a short circuit.

This relay panel is activated by a switch panel inside the car which I am currently using to power my 14 inch SPAL fan. 

I will include the information of the switch panel in my next post..

July 2014 update

Hi all,

Hahaha...its been quite a while since my last post. MALASSSS....hehehe..

Just an update on what I have done to the red neo, not in chronological order btw :-

1. Installed the customized window shades
2. Carbon vinyl wrap on dash panels, plastic door trims and a-pillars
3. Painted other plastic door trims
4. Customized boost gauge pod for the a-pillar
5. Installed and wired up the Works Engineering boost gauge
6. Installed an APM double core radiator
7. Bought an original SPAL radiator fan
8. Heat shielded the upper radiator hose and air conditioning pipes
9. Fabricated and installed a Cold Airbox for the air intake

Current projects:-

1. Fabricating a switch panel for the dash for the SPAL fan and other accessories
2. Fabricating a Cold Air intake pipe for the Cold Airbox via utilizing the OEM snorkel.

Near future projects :-

1. DIY radiator diversion plate for better cooling efficiency
2. Downpipe Heatwrap using DEI Titanium wrap (bought from Rev Performance Sunway @ RM280)
3. To finish vinyl wrap driver side dashboard panels
4. Paint driver side and middle dashboard A/C vents.
5. Paint the intercooler black
6. Fabricate an intercooler water spray
7. Heatwrap the post intercooler pipes

(No. 3 & 4 will be done once I figure out how to dismantle the parts...☺)

By the items listed in the completed projects and the ones in progress, I bet you can already guessed that I have opted to go for the Forced Induction route for power....

Yup, the redneocpsr3 is currently hooked up with a TD04hl and churning out 150whp at a measely 0.25 bars of boost. Fuel is managed by a Unichip management system and tuned by GT Auto of sunway. Why only 0.25 bar of boost you ask? Well, suffice to say that it will be increased to at least 0.5 bars before Aidilfitri...insya Allah if I have the time.

I will be posting each project listed above in the near future but for now, I'll just leave a few pictures for you to enjoy...

Selamat berpuasa...

How to remove satria neo's aircond vent

Since I could not find a single post on the internet on how to remove the ac vent of the neo, let me share with you on how to do it.

Step 1. Turn the outer ring to make the internal flap open fully. Failing to do this would not enable you to depress the tabs as per Step 2 below.

Step 2. Press on the two tabs located approximately at 4.00 & 8.00 o'clock at the rear of the vents. (Picture below)

Step 3. While holding down the tabs, gently but firmly pull the vents out. 

DIY Painting Plastic Dashboard

Ok, well maybe not the whole dashboard but rather certain bits and pieces of it.

Since the neo's interior is quite bland and boring, I have been thinking of adding a bit of color to brighten things a wee bit. I started diy painting plastic bits of the dashboard since my first car, a 1.5litre Proton Wira which had the ugly wood-like pattern on the center console.

Painting plastic bits is not that hard but there are several steps to be taken to ensure quality result. 

For the example below, I decided to paint the top plastic part of the handbrake lever in candy red paint. Here are the steps:-

1. Using a 1000 to 1500 grit sandpaper, wet sand (sanding using water) the entire surface to create a slightly rough surface for the paint to adhere to.
2. Then wash the entire piece with normal dishwasher liquid to clean any finger oil or residue. This step is important to make sure that the entire piece will be coated evenly with paint.
3. Using a plastic primer paint (bought at ace hardware) coat a thin surface of the plastic part. Make sure that the entire surface is coated. 2 thin coats would suffice. Make sure you wait at least 10 minutes between each coat.
4. Once the primer is dried, apply 3 coats of either sparkling silver or chrome paint. Always remember that the first coat needs to be a very thin coat. I used the chrome paint for this particular piece. Again, make sure you wait for each coat to dry properly. 10 to 15 minutes between each coat. But if you're impatient like me, you could speed up the process by using either a heat gun or hair dryer.
5. After the final coat of chrome paint is dried, you can proceed with 3 coats of candy red paint. Be sure to use the same process as above in applying the coats.
6. Finally, apply 5 to 7 coats of clear paint to protect the paint. At this point, you need to let it dry overnight as the next step needs you to apply pressure to the piece and you MUST make sure that the paint has properly dried. You cannot skip this part and use the heat gun as this would make the paint still a bit soft and applying pressure to this piece would ruin it.
7. Once the part has properly dried, you will notice that even though the piece is shiny, the light reflection is still a bit hazy. This is because the surface of the piece is still not smooth enough. To make it almost a mirror like reflection, you need to make the surface as smooth as possible. To accomplish this you need to wet sand it again.
8. Use a 2000 grit sandpaper and lightly wet sand the surface. I usually wet sand under a running tap of the kitchen sink. You are basically making the top clear  as smooth as possible. This is basically the reason that we applied a lot more coating of the clear paint as we do not want to sand through the clear paint and onto the candy red paint. Be sure to sand firstly vertically and then horizontally. Use light pressure only. Check your progress by wiping the part dry with a paper towel. The part should look hazy and uniformed. There should be no trace of the clear paint. 
9. Once you are satisfied that the piece is as smooth as you want it to be, the last step is to polish the piece. I usually use a headlamp restorer polish compound and a clean cotton cloth to polish and buff the piece. The result would be a professional looking painted item. After this you need to again let it dry overnight before placing back the painted piece to your car.

   

   After wet sanding

   
   

   

   3 coats of chrome paint

   
   

   

   3 coats of candy red paint

   
   
   
   

   

   After 5 coats of clear paint. Notice that the light reflected from the painted piece is still blurry.

   
   

   

   After wet sanding with 2000 grit sandpaper

   
   

   

   The polishing compound that I use

   
   

   

   The finished product after polishing. Almost mirror like finish

Front & Rear Camera

I have been having trouble estimating the curb when parking the car lately. A bit paranoid of scratching the front diffuser. The first time I parked the car when eating out at the mamak resulted in a 3 foot gap between the curb and my front bumper..cesss..nampak sangat nubis kubis bawak kereta.

Needed a way to see front side without me getting out of the car. A front view camera!!

Wifey has a similar camera installed in her mpv but the view from the camera is not exactly what I am looking for. It only shows the view in front of the car. I need mine to see both the front of my car and any object in front of it. The camera needs to be facing downwards to obtain this view. 

Hmmm...I might need to fabricate a housing using fiberglass for the camera in order to accomplish this.

So, in order to get this project started, I need to have the necessary accessories. A quick search at Mudah and RM205 later, I am the proud owner of the 3 essential items for the front and rear camera project.

Two cameras, one each for the front and rear and a converter to switch between the two cameras. The cameras cost RM80 each and the converter is RM55.

Now contemplating whether to DIY the install or just have it done at the shop. Most probably the latter...hahaha...we'll see..

Update 10 April 2014 :-

I decided to let the installation to be done by somebody else. Penat and dah tua nak terbongkok2 dalam kereta. The installation is basically straight forward with one MAJOR setback. Apparently the multimedia unit ( model name NY8000) does not come together with the rca input connector. For all those neo cps r3 owners out there, if you decide to install a camera for the car, then you need to have this connector.  So to cut the story short, I ended up with both camera installed but until I get the connector, both cameras are a sort of decoration for the car.

Upon searching the net, i got to know that there is a shop in bukit jalil that have these connectors in stock for RM200 per set. Phewww...mahal kot for just the connectors. Oh well, there's nothing I could do about it. Going to get the set tomorrow.

By the way, the shop charged me RM150 for the installation wiring and workmanship.

Update 11 April 2014:-

Went to Bukit Jalil to EA Autoworks to get the RCA connectors. A bunch of good guys there. Will most probably do my audio install there in the future. Anyway, here's a pic of the RCA:-

Apparently, it was produced (sold?) Autolab Malaysia. A company somewhere in Cheras/Pandan.

Update 12 April 2014:-
Went again to the shop to finish the install. Reached there (jalan reko) at about 10.30am and the shop was not opened yet!! It finally opened at 11am. It took quite a while to finish the installation what with several problems encountered such as:-

1. No image during DVD playback, only sound.
2. Reverse image (left to right) for both front and rear view camera
3. Unable to use the steering wheel remote control buttons
4. The front panel could not sit flush due to the excess wires and rca cables at the back of the player which causes the player to sit slightly forward.

All these problems took extra time to diagnose and resolved. It was nearly 3.30pm when everything was working and the install was done.

Can't say that I am satisfied with the quality of the work done. And to top it all, the shop charged me an additional RM65 just for workmanship only. WTH!!

He already charged me RM150 for the wiring which he said was for all the wiring and installation. It wasn't my fault that the player did not come with the connectors from the factory. 

So the total cost of having the front and rear view cameras installed is as follows:-

Cameras and converters     RM205

Installation (1st)                    RM150

RCA connectors                    RM200

Installation (2nd)

       - workmanship                RM65

       - 80amp relay                  RM50

       - additional RCA cable   RM50

                                               ---------------

                  TOTAL                   RM720

Perghh.... boleh tahan mahal gak ni. Could have bought a Superstreet 4-2-1 extractor for this price. Should have done the install myself. 

Oh well, safe to say that I would definately not be going to that shop anymore. 

Future mods

Being a fickle-minded person, today I have decided on the following mods according to sequence :-

1. Open pod filter (Apexi) with custom piping, DIY heatshield and CAI
2. Full exhaust system (R3? Supercircuit? Rojak? hmm...decisions..decisions..)
3. Plug cables (NGK? Nology? MSD custom made?)
4. Spark plugs
5. P&P heads by Nasty Port Flow
6. 3 Angle Valve job
7. High cams (need more research for this as there are conflicting info on this...adeke aftermarket high cams for CPS?)
8. Adjustable cam pulleys
9. Engine management. Haltech piggyback? Just in case I opt for the forced induction route in the future. ' may the boost be with you'

I have also experienced that there is a significant voltage drop once the ac kicks in and the lights do dim a bit when extra electrical accessories are turned on. Perhaps this is why I have read that many neo owners install voltage regulators and additional grounding cables to mitigate this issue. But from what I know, aftermarket grounding cables are mostly for older cars where the oem grounding may have corroded and might not flow current as good as it when new. 

Never experienced this in my previous ride so it is a bit annoying. Hmm..more research I guess..pakcik google..ooo..pakcik google..mai sini sat..