Bling bling

Hello, my dear readers!

This time, I will tell you about something I did a few days ago. Finally, I found a pair of 2005+ "jewel" S60 tail lights and I went ahead and bought them. Also I bought a pair of 2007+ side mirrors with integrated side markers that I will cover in the next post. Here are the beauties:

The very next day I started the disassembly of my tail lights. This process is very easy. All you have to do is open the trunk and then release the cover on both sides using the knob.

Behind the " mystery " door we find this: the tail light assembly.

The tail light is held in place attached to the body via four 10mm bolts that are placed on the tail light's screws.

After you unscrew these bolts and remove both the connectors, you can pull the tail light away from the car.

Now comes the tricky part. You must understand that this job is not 100% plug and play. There are 2 things you must consider when you decide to do this kind of job. Firstly, when you buy the new tails, be sure you buy them complete with the electronic parts (the parts where the bulbs are fitted) because the electronics from the older type of lights will not fit. Secondly, you must know you have to modify the tail light a bit since the new one has a very long plastic guidance pin that will not allow it to fit your car (if your Volvo S60 is made pre 2005). 

What you have to do, and what I did, was to cut the pin that you see in the picture above. However after you cut it, you are left with a hole.

So, I used some clear silicone to seal this hole so that when the cold and wet season comes, I will not have any "surprises"

 Until now I have showed you the work I did on only one headlight. But now, I show you the end result of "trimming" and sealing the pin and hole respectively, at the other light.

Almost done, now all I had to do, after the silicone was dry, is to assemble my new jewels back on the car.

One last note, the connectors fit perfectly with the electronics of the new tails, so no worries there.

Hope you like the result and maybe, who knows, you will do this kind of conversion to your car also.

Safe journeys everyone!

Behind blue eyes

Hello again!

As you may have read, I really want to facelift my car. I've made a few steps in that direction. Now, it was time to do the headlight.
So, this post is the last time we will see my car looking like this:

What I did first? Well, I started by buying the new headlamps. I really wanted the ABL (ACTIVE BENDING LIGHTS) models but they are so expensive and in the end the bending function will not work. So I settled for the halogen 2005+ model.

The new pair of headlights were nice and all, but I was still haunted by the look I really wanted, but fortunately I have a friend that works at a specialist shop that told me he could make them look closer to the 2007 ABL headlights and make them bi-xenon by adding a projector lens. So, I agreed.

First step was to disassemble the headlight glass so that the projector could be placed. The glass is held in place with some sort of industrial adhesive, nothing a little heat from a professional heat gun can't handle. Of course you need a pair of strong but steady arms to complete the separation.

Here's how it looked after removing the glass:

We also removed the outer chrome trim surrounding the inner headlight that was held in place by a few small clips. This step is optional but it assures that you don't let any of the industrial glue to land on this chromed part.

Afterwards, we removed the metallic guide and assembled the projector lens.

The lens are Morimoto Black Series and they fit perfectly in the original bulb socket. They fit H11 bulb. 

All was needed now was to make them look better and not out of place so we used a no name chrome trim.

After wiping all the finger marks it was time for the heat gun again to place back the glass and to seal it.

This modification of the headlamp left me without a park light, so I decided to move it to the side on the orange reflector area (like the US models).

All of the steps mentioned above were done on the other headlamp as well.

All what was left to do was to buy a pair of H9 halogen bulbs for the high beam (although I now had bi-xenon, I still wanted the close to stock look). 

So after a little trip to a 24/7 parts shop, I returned and it was time to put the headlights on the car. So, we needed to make a few modifications to the wiring. I also draw a diagram because I only managed to take one blurry picture (I was holding one headlamp with my leg, bended over the the engine compartment and took the shot). I recommend, however, to do this part at an electronist shop, or at least, if you don't have the experience, to go to an electronic expert. This photo is for the right hand side (passenger side) headlight.

If you'll like to see a short video from that day, follow this link.

Also if you have any more questions regarding this topic, please let me know in the comment section or on my facebook page.

I should mention now, that all the little fiddly work was done by my wonderful friend Grigoras Ionut whose hands are golden and let's not forget the rest of the team at CARSX. It's because of them my car looks like this now:

Thank you all!

Safe journeys everyone!

  

Seeing double

Hello people!

This year, just before Christmas, I decided I wanted to give me a present. So, I started by buying an used 2005 Volvo S60 rear bumper with all the brackets. So I searched the net, and in the end, I found one in Hungary at a salvage shop. After speaking several times with the owners of the shop, I went ahead and bought it, along with a pair of 2005 Volvo S60 tail lights, based on the pictures they sent me by mail:

However, they proved to be very deceitful and highly unprofessional. I ended up getting this piece of junk and no tail lights after nearly a month of waiting:

The sad truth: it wasn't even the same color as the one depicted in the photos they sent me

This was the "icing on the cake": broken plastic trim 

After looking at it, I almost decided to drop the entire project, the blog and everything. After almost a month of being constantly on the road, I managed to get the car to a specialist shop, where my muffler was cut down. A few days later, my new tips arrived, so we started by changing the rear bumper. We did this for 2 reasons. First, my obsession of updating the looks of the car to the newer P2 Volvo S60. Second, it was much easier to cut the hole in that spoiler for the right hand exhaust tip. 

Original bumper off

The conversion of the rear bumper is very easy if you have the side brackets. They are needed to ensure a perfect fit. Even with the '02 brackets installed you can mount the newer bumper, but the fitting will be a little off. 

I'll cover the rear bumper conversion in another post in the DIY section.

What followed was a lot of welding.

The split for the dual exhaust

The split installed

Measuring the clearance of the new left exhaust tip

 Final position of the exhaust tip

Left side tacked into position

The rear bumper was then cut to match the left side, and the exhaust pipe was tacked also into position.

All it took was to finish welding all the parts together and presto:

 The main advantage of this system over the commercial ones like I mentioned in my wish list is that the exhaust coming out of the dual pipes is equal or symmetrical

In January I will take the rear bumper back to the specialist shop for repairs and paint and I will keep you posted. Till then, one last picture:

I will end this post wishing you all, a Merry Blessed Christmas and A Brand New Year full with wishes that will come true!

Safe journeys everyone!

UPDATE: 25.01.2014

Hello all!

I managed to fix and paint the bumper at a specialist shop. Now, the rear end transformation is almost complete. All I need now is to rebadge the car with the new spread VOLVO lettering and a pair of 2005+ rear lights.

Leaving the shop

At home, in the garage

Safe journeys everyone!