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Yep, seems every bowtie emblem I see on an HHR has some crazing going on. I painted one by removing the clear / gold bowtie from the chrome base and painted the backside black, then glued it back to the base. It turned out good, but doesn't solve the crazing issue.
It's funny. I work for an OE and the money we spend on our emblems and logos is crazy. The specs we demand of our suppliers must make them scratch their heads at times, but they last a long time in direct sunlight. I'm surprised GM doesn't do the same...
I have door panels from my 4th HHR that I'm restoring for my kid. I'm going to try wrapping that strip in vinyl as well. I'm concerned about some of the bends, but, we'll see.
Yes, I'm in the process of figuring out the substitute bowties that are usable from the newer bowtie selections. So far, I've found that the 2017-19 Spark has one usable bowtie for the liftgate. The most intriguing factor that's a game changer in this series, is the lack of polycarb. It reminds me of the 1969 Camaro's bowtie my friend Chuck had.
For those door panels, I'm considering doing a wrap as well, but I've been disheartened to discover the melt-n-weld buttons used to fuse the strips into the door skins. I know everything nowadays is made disposable, but really, that just made me shake my head, like when I discovered that my tonka truck's tires were only half tire facades. Now I'm forced to buy a hair dryer. Ah well.
Yea, just a few more minutes, turned into an hour and a half, but the work is done now. Time for a cold one!
Last weekend I spent hours crammed in the engine compartment of my boat getting it ready for the season. Carbureted (Edelbrock 4bbl marine carb) 350 V8 with electronic ignition conversion. The boat is a 26' 1981 Sea Ray 260:
When I got the boat the electrical wiring was a disaster. Wires everywhere, inline fuses everywhere, batteries were open and not in battery boxes, etc.
I rewired everything using marine fuse boxes (there are two) and put the batteries in boxes (there are two). The last thing you want is a spark in an engine compartment with gas fumes.
I used to work as an electrical engineer for a defense contractor and designed military high-reliability 3D wire harnesses (we used only Teflon-insulated wires), so I am very OCD about wiring anywhere.
I also added a fire/water/gas fume detector in the engine compartment with an alarm on the dash.
That’s not OCD , Steve that’s just wanting things neat and tidy, and safe as they should be. Looks far better in the after you rewired and encased the battery.
Kinda embarrassing, but this is what I did: After having my new wheels for 2 months already, finally got my TPMS reset. Made an appointment with the local big-box Tire chain & I didn't even have to get out of my car. They found a small leak in the LF tire and fixed it. Tightened the valve stem, put the rim back on the tire, rebalanced, torqued all lug nuts, checked pressure on all tires and FINALLY reset the monitors which took all of 30 seconds to reset. For the first time in exactly 3 years since I've owned this HHR, I no longer have a 'low tire' indicator illuminated on my dash. They charged me $0.00
Good day.
Looks good just check your ventilation of the engine compartment. I used to be a USCG Boarding Officer and we checked every inboard for proper ventilation.. It is not a bad idea to have a boat safety inspection done just to check every thing out.
Ron
Today, I squirted some Super Clean in the transmission fluid soaked area where the right side output shaft seal was leaking , let it set for 5 minutes and blasted it off with my pressure washer, being careful not to directly spray the new seal, I then wiped it with a cloth and brake cleaner spray. Then I thought, hmmm, I had better top up the transmission fluid, it took a 1/4 of a quart.
