HHR Nut's Amethyst HHR (56k Warning!)
03-21-2006, 04:47 PM
#1
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Thread Starter
Join Date: 01-21-2006
Location: United States
Posts: 120
Featured HHR March!
Here's my Majestic Amethyst Metallic HHR 2LT. Ordered January 16 and picked up on March 1.
2LT Package (2.4L, Sport Suspension, Chrome Appearance Package, ABS, Fog Lights, Pioneer Premium Sound System, Auto Dimming Mirror with Compass).
Additional Factory Options Ordered:
Automatic Transmission
Sunroof
Gray Leather
Side Head Curtain Airbags
17" Polished Alloy Wheels
Roof Rails
Running Boards
Splash Guards
More pics coming...
2LT Package (2.4L, Sport Suspension, Chrome Appearance Package, ABS, Fog Lights, Pioneer Premium Sound System, Auto Dimming Mirror with Compass).
Additional Factory Options Ordered:
Automatic Transmission
Sunroof
Gray Leather
Side Head Curtain Airbags
17" Polished Alloy Wheels
Roof Rails
Running Boards
Splash Guards
More pics coming...
Last edited by SIHHR; 03-21-2006 at 09:28 PM.
03-21-2006, 04:59 PM
#2
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Join Date: 01-21-2006
Location: United States
Posts: 120
Here you get a pretty good view of the 3/4" Chrome Molding I added just above the running boards.
I de-badged the back because I hate polishing around emblems. The GM Emblem on the side stayed because it's easy to polish around the square. :)
Also visible, my AVS In-Channel VentVisors... added to vent the car a bit in the summer or to let moisture evaporate when the weather is indescribably wet. No, I don't smoke. Here are a few closer views of the visors:
...and here you see my stubby antenna from SoCalHHRs:
... and you can kinda see the strip of 3/4" Chrome Molding above the windshield. I wasn't sure if I was going to keep it, but it's growing on me.
... and there's more
I de-badged the back because I hate polishing around emblems. The GM Emblem on the side stayed because it's easy to polish around the square. :)
Also visible, my AVS In-Channel VentVisors... added to vent the car a bit in the summer or to let moisture evaporate when the weather is indescribably wet. No, I don't smoke. Here are a few closer views of the visors:
...and here you see my stubby antenna from SoCalHHRs:
... and you can kinda see the strip of 3/4" Chrome Molding above the windshield. I wasn't sure if I was going to keep it, but it's growing on me.
... and there's more
03-21-2006, 05:07 PM
#3
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Join Date: 01-21-2006
Location: United States
Posts: 120
Here's the chrome bumper protector that I made because I didn't like any that were available (GM or elsewhere). IMO, the picture doesn't do it justice.
I made it out of 1-inch and 3/8-inch (modified) chrome molding and it turned out a lot nicer than I thought it would.
I made it out of 1-inch and 3/8-inch (modified) chrome molding and it turned out a lot nicer than I thought it would.
03-21-2006, 05:08 PM
#4
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Join Date: 01-21-2006
Location: United States
Posts: 120
Picture outside of an abandoned car wash. In this picture, you can see the chrome above the windshield a little bit better.
In all of the above pics, the two front windows were tinted to the legal limit here. After a week or so, I decided way too much light was getting inside I'm used to tinted windows... but 8 windows (tinted or not) was letting in way more light than I was used to....sooo I put 20% tint over the factory tint in the back window.
You'd be shocked at how much darker ALL the windows looked just by darkening that back window up. I've since tinted the rear side windows (doing this as time allows). No pics of the new tint yet, but even without the back seat windows tinted, it's looking pretty nice and it doesn't really look like there's a dramatic difference in the tint percentages.
That's it for pics of the outside...
03-21-2006, 05:23 PM
#5
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Join Date: 01-21-2006
Location: United States
Posts: 120
I covered the airbag decals and the ambient night light (meant to illuminate window controls).
That light drives me crazy, so I covered it.
The visors don't look upside down from the outside because you can't see them through my tint strip...
Created with Photoshop and printed with an inket printer. Not purchased.
03-21-2006, 05:29 PM
#6
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Join Date: 01-21-2006
Location: United States
Posts: 120
1/8" chrome molding added to dress up interior door panels. Purchased at Pep Boys. One roll of 20' will do all four doors (with about 3 inches to spare).
Driver's Door (sorry the pic's not so great):
Passenger Door:
And... the last 2 pictures (for now). The iPod install...
NOTE: See Post#51 of this thread for the new, improved iPod install.
The DLO TransPod Direct is WAY too big.
iPod Mount made out of a modified DLO Transpod Direct. With exception to the audio out plug seen in the this picture and a tiny bit of the aux wire plugged into the radio, no wires are visible.
The iPod is in a 'Sleevz' Titanium-colored case by RadTech.
The picture just above is the driver's viewpoint of the screen. This was the best location that wasn't very visible to the outside, let me see the iPod screen with my eyes still on the road AND let me access the iPod controls. It looks like the scroll wheel is blocked, but it isn't.
Before actually installing, it seemed that there was a better location, but clearance issues (depth) prevented access to the scroll wheel.
I'm still working on it... it's a tad rough around the edges (a bit of sanding, filling, and a repaint are in the near future).
The iPod itself is not visible from the outside of the car EXCEPT from the windshied-- you can just see the top.
I've created a hood that fits over it that shades it from the sun and completely hides the iPod from outside view. Needs to be painted - no pics yet. :)
Color is a close match to the car's interior. The Transpod is currently plugged into the end of a cigarette ligher extension cord behind the radio bezel and between the air vents. The cord runs behind the center stack, through the center console, then emerges just next to and then plugs into the 12v jack on the back of the center console (er, can't really call it a console, can I?). Eventually, I'll tap into the car's electrical and hide the plugged-in-jack. I really prefer to not have cords or plugs visible at all.
The aux in plug (into the radio) plugs in with a slim right-angle plug minijack, then slides behind the bezel around the radio, to the other side, then travels behind the dock to plug into the left side aux in jack on the TransPod.
I may completely hide the aux wire in the future, but not in the mood to mess with that right now.
The mount itself is made out of something-like-epoxy called RayCrete, though when compared to epoxy, it's very lightweight. The 'mold' (so it perfectly mounts to that area of the dash) was created with loosely-bundled aluminum foil, then covered in RayCrete, let dry, drilled holes, filled holes and covered in RayCrete, let dry... Repeat... until the mount volume was 75%+ solid epoxy-like material. It's pretty darn solid.
It's mounted to the dash with velcro for bricks. The mount is permanently attached to the back of the Transpod with epoxy.
Commercially available mounting solutions were much too deep to be used where I wanted, including Pro-Fit's LoBoy.
The Transpod itself has been seriously modified. It was disassembled and re-shaped. Holes were drilled in the back for a more solid connection to the mount. The light was completely blacked out (IMO, aside from blinkng alarm lights, any light on the dash screams "I have electronics in here, please steal me!" -- that's why I try to do somewhat stealth installs)... and it was painted.
Sorry no better pics of the iPod install from farther back. They'll come in time.
Also, I added aftermarket mats (Nifty Catch All Premium) to the front-- bought em before I bought the car because I heard how horrible the factory (especially the driver's side) mats were. I recently replaced the stock mats (I left them on top of the Catch All Mats) with the HHR all-weather (winter) Mats. The cargo mat was also replaced with the OEM all-weather Cargo Mat.
No pics of those yet, either. Soon.
That's all for now, I think. :)
Driver's Door (sorry the pic's not so great):
Passenger Door:
And... the last 2 pictures (for now). The iPod install...
NOTE: See Post#51 of this thread for the new, improved iPod install.
The DLO TransPod Direct is WAY too big.
iPod Mount made out of a modified DLO Transpod Direct. With exception to the audio out plug seen in the this picture and a tiny bit of the aux wire plugged into the radio, no wires are visible.
The iPod is in a 'Sleevz' Titanium-colored case by RadTech.
The picture just above is the driver's viewpoint of the screen. This was the best location that wasn't very visible to the outside, let me see the iPod screen with my eyes still on the road AND let me access the iPod controls. It looks like the scroll wheel is blocked, but it isn't.
Before actually installing, it seemed that there was a better location, but clearance issues (depth) prevented access to the scroll wheel.
I'm still working on it... it's a tad rough around the edges (a bit of sanding, filling, and a repaint are in the near future).
The iPod itself is not visible from the outside of the car EXCEPT from the windshied-- you can just see the top.
I've created a hood that fits over it that shades it from the sun and completely hides the iPod from outside view. Needs to be painted - no pics yet. :)
Color is a close match to the car's interior. The Transpod is currently plugged into the end of a cigarette ligher extension cord behind the radio bezel and between the air vents. The cord runs behind the center stack, through the center console, then emerges just next to and then plugs into the 12v jack on the back of the center console (er, can't really call it a console, can I?). Eventually, I'll tap into the car's electrical and hide the plugged-in-jack. I really prefer to not have cords or plugs visible at all.
The aux in plug (into the radio) plugs in with a slim right-angle plug minijack, then slides behind the bezel around the radio, to the other side, then travels behind the dock to plug into the left side aux in jack on the TransPod.
I may completely hide the aux wire in the future, but not in the mood to mess with that right now.
The mount itself is made out of something-like-epoxy called RayCrete, though when compared to epoxy, it's very lightweight. The 'mold' (so it perfectly mounts to that area of the dash) was created with loosely-bundled aluminum foil, then covered in RayCrete, let dry, drilled holes, filled holes and covered in RayCrete, let dry... Repeat... until the mount volume was 75%+ solid epoxy-like material. It's pretty darn solid.
It's mounted to the dash with velcro for bricks. The mount is permanently attached to the back of the Transpod with epoxy.
Commercially available mounting solutions were much too deep to be used where I wanted, including Pro-Fit's LoBoy.
The Transpod itself has been seriously modified. It was disassembled and re-shaped. Holes were drilled in the back for a more solid connection to the mount. The light was completely blacked out (IMO, aside from blinkng alarm lights, any light on the dash screams "I have electronics in here, please steal me!" -- that's why I try to do somewhat stealth installs)... and it was painted.
Sorry no better pics of the iPod install from farther back. They'll come in time.
Also, I added aftermarket mats (Nifty Catch All Premium) to the front-- bought em before I bought the car because I heard how horrible the factory (especially the driver's side) mats were. I recently replaced the stock mats (I left them on top of the Catch All Mats) with the HHR all-weather (winter) Mats. The cargo mat was also replaced with the OEM all-weather Cargo Mat.
No pics of those yet, either. Soon.
That's all for now, I think. :)
Last edited by HHR Nut; 04-25-2006 at 12:03 AM.
Mark
03-21-2006, 06:05 PM
#10
Senior Member
Join Date: 10-14-2005
Location: SoCal
Posts: 5,359
Originally Posted by HHR Nut
I covered the airbag decals and the ambient night light (meant to illuminate window controls).
That light drives me crazy, so I covered it.
The visors don't look upside down from the outside because you can't see them through my tint strip...
Created with Photoshop and printed with an inket printer. Not purchased.
Now I'm jonesin' for a set of those visor decals - except I have a grey interior...
You are a bad man.
BUT - on the upside, your HHR is looking killer!
(and I like the chrome strip above the glass too!)
Door panel molding looks nice as well! Good job!
