[BPF_Kona]

I also wondered why it was like that, will you be adding any mesh or material? It’s a lot more open now so from a lighting perspective, more can poke thru or higher chance debris will fly in.

 

[13r1an]

I also wondered why it was like that, will you be adding any mesh or material? It’s a lot more open now so from a lighting perspective, more can poke thru or higher chance debris will fly in.

It's an air dam. Theoretically forces air into the places they want it (the middle) without allowing air (or debris, as you mentioned) going places where it is unnecessary or not beneficial.

However, for me, it's an aesthetic shortcoming and needs to be corrected prior to paintwork. I do not currently have any plans of adding any mesh. No fear of stray water/rocks/animals going through that hole and smacking into... what, the inside of the fender liner? It's just big open space back there, and one side will have the new air horns installed. Wouldn't want 1/8" of plastic damping any of that sound now would we?

 

[13r1an]

Got my 3D floormats in and I LOOOOOOOOVE them. Favorite brand of floormat, hands down.

 

[13r1an]

I'm going to accidentally dominate this thread cuz nobody else is apparently working on their Konas right now.

Here's ya teaser pic to hold ya over for a few weeks. First and only panels to go "back together" after paintwork. Actually I ended up taking MORE parts apart and off the car.

Phase 1 of 3 of exterior paint is complete. I didn't hit the progress goals for the car by end of year quite like I was hoping so it'll likely be another 4 weeks before I start driving the thing.

 

[Mainia1]

I'm going to accidentally dominate this thread cuz nobody else is apparently working on their Konas right now.

Here's ya teaser pic to hold ya over for a few weeks. First and only panels to go "back together" after paintwork. Actually I ended up taking MORE parts apart and off the car.

Phase 1 of 3 of exterior paint is complete. I didn't hit the progress goals for the car by end of year quite like I was hoping so it'll likely be another 4 weeks before I start driving the thing.

I worked on mine. But you can't double post as this thread will turn a good post into a nul with time, unless it can be categorized.

Kona AWD rear diff clutch coupler oil change 70w-75...

So looking through the Kona service manual my eyes caught an "oil cavity" I thought did not exist. I received some mis- information from someone on Bob's the oil guy forum that our rear diffs had a magnetic engaged rear AWD system and the clutch plates were encased in a steel tube welded close...

www.hyundaikonaforum.com

 

[13r1an]

oh for sure, anything anyone posts here just gets lost to history. but "I got new floormats" didn't deserve a dedicated thread. Oh I did forget to post the "I installed the air horns" but that'd really just be a link to my IG cuz that's where all the pictures are. I felt safe pinging out my random minor things here until I have substantial project accomplished worthy of it's own thread.

 

[BPF_Kona]

I have the same mats as you, love them; it’s a pain to take off due to the stiff ness but that’s what helps with keeping the junk out.

Quite the teaser indeed, interested on how the green will play with the rest of the car.

 

[13r1an]

Quite the teaser indeed, interested on how the green will play with the rest of the car.

WHEWWWWWWWWWW you're telling me. The black roof two tone setup is really peevin me cuz it's throwing my "primary and accent" color scheme off. Black is supposed to be neutral but it becomes primary when I get rid of both the shades of silver/gray accent. Anyways, yea, I'm embracing it but phase3 is still the undetermined remaining parts, like the mustache in particular. Phase2 is just front and rear bumpers and side skirts, all of which I know how they're getting painted, but big labor intensive so it's a matter of time. Chippin away slowly but surely!

 

[BPF_Kona]

phase3 is still the undetermined remaining parts, like the mustache in particular.

My Kona is mainly black but those offbits of like the tan-ish grey, throw me off so I’m trying to decide how I should fix the mustache. How difficult is that getting to?

 

[ThatDude]

Went to install the big mouth air intake from SoCalGarageworks only to find out it's the wrong part. I reached out, the company they get them from now says on their site, for N where it originally had it as N/Nline. . . so the part I have looks completely different from what SoCal ha on their site and looks like it would work, whereas the one on the Velossa Tech Site is what I HAVE, and completely different from where I bought it, lol.


All that said, it wsas good to get the front bumper off and have a look at things, especially where I hope to source a factory fog light kit and do the install. The grill's lower section where they would live is it's own piece and will hopefully be a simpl install when the kit become available in the USA.

But as a fact finding mission, I'm so happy to know that the lower piece will come out easily from the bumper

 

[13r1an]

My Kona is mainly black but those offbits of like the tan-ish grey, throw me off so I’m trying to decide how I should fix the mustache. How difficult is that getting to?

Well first, obviously, you'll need the bumper off. If you can handle that, getting the mustache off will be no problem. My biggest complaint is how floppy and flimsy these bumper covers are and these trim panels are held in by a very large quantity of one-way clips... so, if you have a say in the matter, just have someone there to hold it steady so you can work down the line with two hands unclipping and pushing it out. I did it alone but it was unnecessarily difficult that way.

I'm struggling between white or black for myself... But promised I'd finish Phase2 and do a mockup before I made my final decision.

 

[13r1an]

Phase2 of paint is "complete" as of Friday. Should have some pretty killer teaser pics to release on Fri the 13th.

 

[BPF_Kona]

It is something I want to get to but in the grand scheme for my Kona, low on the list. Mechanical over aesthetics for now.

On a side note, I added some anti-theft valve caps. People can’t seem to keep their grubby hands off my stuff. I get it, you’re jelly my car goes zoom zoom and not vroom vroom but I don’t want to keep buying them. We’ll see how long these last you need a really tight grip (haven’t tried it) or the right size Allen wrench.

 

[13r1an]

Precisely why I got an EV.... so I didn't hafta waste any time with mechanical stuff. Just right to the pretty stuff, the drivetrain is HANDLED!

Dude, like valve stem caps? I didn't even know valve stem cap theft was a thing. Did you have fancy cool ones? Cuz I just rock the basic lame black caps... super cheap...

Last night was big. Put in about 7hrs on some reassembly and mockups but mostly on design and game-planning. Phase 3 got expanded to 2 parts as the lower tail assemblies are now cut open and headlights and eyebrows should be coming off today. I was supposed to have the car picked up for a paint correction today before I start putting the shiny new panels on but the dude still hasn't shown up so I'm not banking on it. Worse case is I'll do it myself but it's one of those tasks that I'd rather sub out if possible since my time is better spent on other tasks. If anyone is curious about seeing these updates live, my IG Story is where it's at. I'm really excited about how this job is coming out. The styling on this vehicle is just going to be completely redefined by this work.

 

[BPF_Kona]

Totally get it, I just can’t stop from tinkering with things I think can be improved.

I didn’t either honestly. Mine had some grey ones from the factory and then one went missing so I bought 4 cheap ones that just have a white H logo on them and then 2 were taken off.

Nice! is your ig same as your username?

 

[13r1an]

Car got cleaned and buffed, lowering springs arrived, and all the exterior trim panels got back installed... the vision is starting to come together and it is something rather superb. Phase3A paint happened yesterday, which was mustache, rear bumper lower trim, and all the components of the rear lower lights. Eyebrow lights are apart and into design phase. Paint needs some time to cure before assembly since it's so cold so 3A is gonna hold up 3B progress just a weensy. It's been an eventful last 2 days. Of course, I have now added a Phase5... Still aiming to be scootin around in my freshy fresh by Feb.

Socials are in the signature. IG handle is ByThirteen

 

[ThatDude]

Got a

Car got cleaned and buffed, lowering springs arrived, and all the exterior trim panels got back installed... the vision is starting to come together and it is something rather superb. Phase3A paint happened yesterday, which was mustache, rear bumper lower trim, and all the components of the rear lower lights. Eyebrow lights are apart and into design phase. Paint needs some time to cure before assembly since it's so cold so 3A is gonna hold up 3B progress just a weensy. It's been an eventful last 2 days. Of course, I have now added a Phase5... Still aiming to be scootin around in my freshy fresh by Feb.

Socials are in the signature. IG handle is ByThirteen

Looking forward to seeing the end results, sounds like a great build in the making.

Ever do any custom light work for an MINI's?

As an aside, got an alert when I went to check out your website. Not sure if you're building it or having it done, but I'd ask about it.

 

[13r1an]

Current status: I got to tear into the headlights on the 13th and finally learned once and for all why nobody has done a retrofit on these lights. Ya'll got one-piece cast aluminum projector assemblies. LAME. Good news is 13 is on the case and immediately took a ton of pics and got em over to my homie at Custom Brackets & Designs (CB&D), which specializes in retrofit brackets. We had a pretty lengthy convo about the topic and he ended up buying two headlights off ebay for development: a pre and a post facelift halogen projector headlight housing. So it took me all night to get my retrofit completed but, in the future, it'll be a 30min process to swap projectors with the proper bracket. So all ya'll complainin about weak headlights should be EXCITED for that future development because it truly is a gamechanger product. When all is said and done, you'll see the output of what a proper build should look like.

So other than that, lower tails are in the process of getting resealed, mustache and rear lower trim are back on their respective bumpers, upper lights are making slow progress... overall I'm juggling a LOT right now and as much as I want to just play on the car and get to driving it, client projects and work at home are both very demanding on my time right now.

ThatDude! ....... yea I've worked on Minis. They suck, lol. Every lighting circuit, including interior bulbs, is monitored and pulsed which makes very simple bulb replacements turn into a very complicated process. As far as the website, man I wish I could explain that to ya. You're not the only one who has told me "your website is wonky in this or that way" but every time I bring it up, it works fine for me. And so I tell my web developer dude and he says everything is kosher too. So I got no idea. It ain't infected? Regardless, I haven't updated the site in over 2 years, that takes so much time to do writeups and I'm never wanting for work so I just stick to IG and YT as my free "advertising" platforms. I just use the website build request form to funnel all my new-client workflow. Appreciate ya letting me know though, that's mighty fine of you.
edit: we found the problem on the site and fixed it. apparently it only showed up when accessing the site through a link, and I always just typed in the URL directly so I never saw the problem. the server my site is hosted on had been hacked and so yea, we're in the process of swappin away from it.

 

[13r1an]

As of yesterday, the rear bumper is finally back on the car. YAYYYY! Man that's a good feeling when parts go ON the car! I'll do a dedicated thread to the rear lower light mod and install when I post the stuff publicly on IG & YT.

Chipping away at the headlight and eyebrow light builds lately and set aside all of today to make some big strides forward.

 

[miniceptor86]

On the seventh day it rested.