In April 2010, we ordered LED halos with the voltage regulator from Flashtech USA, a competitor to Advanced Automotive Concepts and a vendor at LXForums.com. On the 27th, our white LED halos arrived. We also got some 3M two way tape, 3M Adhesive/sealant, and some new gloves.

We used two way tape for the halo's. I didn't want to use epoxy. (more green!)

Next is the removal of the headlights.

Remove all the pushpins on the top of the fascia. Remove the plastic rad support covers.

Use a 9/32" nut driver to remove the two screws. The front facia will need to be pulled forward a bit to get the headlight out, thats why the push pins need to come out.

The Oven.

We baked the lights one at a time- 25 minutes at 275 Degrees. All of the sealant needs to soften up so the clear front will seperate from the housing.

Once they came out, we used a screwdriver and began to pry the housing off. This is why I needed new gloves. Pry all around the housing and loosen up the sealant the best you can. Then you can grab a corner, pull and seperate and work your way around the light.

We removed the reflectors and gave them a couple of coats of the spray tint. The tabs can be popped out on the backside of the housing.

Installing the halos.

New we took each halo, and figured out where to drill for the wiring. Each halo on both sides will be in a different spot, so if you drill in one spot on one light, it won't be the same for the other headlight. Then we peeled away to two way tape and attached each halo. Gently push it on but be careful not to break the PCB holding all the LEDS. I think you'd need to reef on it pretty hard to break it though. Now would be a good time to hook them up to power to make sure everything works properly.

Here they are attached to the housings. We also used some Windex brand glass cleaner and a soft paper towel to clean all the silver. I had some water spots in there from when I drilled in to install the strobes and flushed the housing out with water.

Here's the wires coming out the back.

We used a heat gun to clean off the old sealant on our lenses. We used an upholstery tool to peel the old adhesive away from the lenses. It worked perfectly.

Drill a hole in the back housing so the wiring can exit the headlight.

We laid a bead of the 3M sealant on the housing, and attached the lens. Once it was all tight, we applied a bead of sealant around the lens.

Then we used come cables to keep it all tight while it all cured.

Halo Wiring

The Flashtech system came with a voltage regulator. Some folks over at LXForums decided this was a good way to keep the voltage constant to the LEDS- these are electronics after all so a voltage regulator makes perfect sense when you think of it. You can run all the LED's off it, and also later install the halo fog lights to the regulator. We had to run a new ground for the regulator. When doing wiring- do it right the first time!

The regulator isn't sealed, so we used velcro to mount it to the backside of the radiator. UPDATE- The new plan is to get a plastic project case from Radio Shack to encase the regulator. A perfect solution.

The Finished Product!

In March 2010, we got this coolant tank cover off a forum member from custommagnums.com. It covers the coolant tank and the power steering resivoir. It's purpose is for looks only.

We got it and at first painted it, but I wasn't happy with the finish. Then I used the same vinyl I used for the firewall cover, so I wrapped it.

Here's some photos.

And the slideshow version. Click one...

Porting the 3.5L V6 Throttle Body

Porting and polishing is one of the easiest *free* horsepower modifications you can do. You can estimate at least 5HP and maybe up to 10 depending on a few things, like your CAI, fuel, etc. The entire goal in this is to increase the amount of air coming in. More air = more horsepower.

First, lets remove the air intake and the throttle body itself.  You can see instructions on that over here.

The upper entrance is exactly 70mm. So we want the entrance of the intake to be 74mm, with 2mm being removed all around the opening, tapering to the middle where it is 68mm. On the outer exit of the throttle body, the stock size is 68mm, but we want to open it up to 72mm.

Don't grind any area near the butterfly. Just leave it where it's at. Just taper TO it.

What tools will I need?

• Pneumatic or Electric die grinder
• Carbide Cutting Bits (cylinder with round tip works best)
• Flapper wheels or Sanding cones (80 grit, 120 grit)
• Caliper (for measuring diameters to check for accuracy and consistency)
• 500 grit, 1200 grit, polish compound, 2" cotton rag buffing wheel (for polishing....optional)

Here is the throttle body in it's stock form.

You'll see quite a bit has been taken out. This is past the rough cut.

Here we needed to take a bit more off the top to get it to 74mm.

Here is the top in the (almost) completed state. It just needs the finishing polish by hand. Look at it compared to the stock photo. This will let in a lot more air.

Here is the bottom before it was rough cut.

Rough cut.

I don't have a picture of the bottom final product, but there was a lot of polishing with the flapper wheel- I started at 80 grit, and then to the 120 grit, then a lot of hand sanding with 500 and 1200 grit sandpaper.

Once you are done, pull fuse #11 so the computer can reset and start over to relearn.

In February 2010, we ordered and received a ported and polished lower manifold for the 3.5L motor. Installing it is and can be a challenge, so we're going to walk through it here.

1: First, disconnect and remove your CAI or factory intake. Disconnect every electrical connection, sensor and vacuum hose thats connected to the upper intake manifold. Removing the electrical connections is easy- just pull out the small red tab as far as it will go then press down on the tab to pull the sensor out.

2: The upper intake manifold has a few bolts to remove. There are two bolts on the passenger side that also need to be removed that are on the support bracket.

3: When the bolts are all undone, the upper manifold can be removed. Pull it up and out. On the back of the manifold is the EGR valve- you might be able to pull it straight out from the rear before the upper manifold comes out. Or while you are pulling it out, you might need to use one hand to hold the tube when the manifold comes out. We didn't have a problem with the factory strut brace thats on the car, some may have a problem. If you need to, remove it. Once the EGR tube is disconnected, you'll need to pull up while turning the upper manifold so it clears from the transmission service tube.

The EGR valve is below:

4: Check the gasket on the valve to see if it's still in good shape. This one was, there was no need to replace it. Replace if needed.

5: On top of the head on the passenger side is a foam piece. Gently remove it and don't tear it.The upper manifold sits on this.

COOLANT HOSES:

We need to disconnect the coolant hoses. These are held on by clamps. We used pliers to loosen them. There are three you need to undo. But first, you need to drain coolant. On the bottom of the radiator on the passenger side is a hose that comes out the bottom. This is where the coolant will come out. On the bottom of the radiator is a tab. Turn it counter clockwise one full turn and the coolant will come out of the tube out the bottom of the car. Put something down to collect the coolant. Just drain enough that there's a bit left in the coolant reservoir, you don't need to do the entire system.

There's two coolant lines on the back of the manifold. Remove these FIRST before anything else.

Then you can remove the front coolant hose.

FUEL RAIL:

The next task is the fuel rail. The rail is bolted on with the same bolts that hold the manifold on. Towards the front of the car are two longer bolts. When you put this all back together, make sure these longer bolts are put back in the front. On the rail are the injectors that sit in the heads and squirt the fuel in. The fuel rail is quite easy to pop out. I started at the front of the car and popped it out towards the rear. Each injector has a small seal. Just be careful with these injectors and don't bump them around.

Once all the bolts are out and the fuel rail is loose, the lower manifold can come out. We put it up on the bench upside down.

On the bottom is a coolant tube. This needs to be removed and installed on the new manifold.

CLEANING AND HOUSEKEEPING:

While we had this all apart, I decided to clean up a bit underneath the plenum. This motor only has about 30K and is really clean, so there wasn't much cleaning to do. Also, when the old manifold came off, some coolant spilled into the head and I had some coolant at a valve. Not a big deal though. I took my shop vac and cleaned all around the heads, and inside each valve stem. I also took compressed air and blew out each valve stem and it was all nice and clean.

READY FOR THE NEW MANIFOLD:

After we cleaned the gasket surface on the heads, we were ready for the new gaskets. We bought all of our gaskets from Auto Zone for $21. It included the two manifold gaskets and a new plenum or upper manifold gasket. This was about half of what the dealer charges.

Next we placed the new manifold on the heads. We did this carefully. Look all around the manifold and see to it the gasket is on properly. Check and double check before you put the fuel rail back on and tighten up bolts.

Now you can pop the fuel rail back on.

When you put the upper manifold on, you can replace the old gasket with a new one.

INSTALLATION AND TIPS:

Installation will be reverse of removal. Also, here are some tips. Make sure the radiator valve is closed before you refill. You can re use your old coolant or use new. When you start your car, keep the radiator cap on the reservoir off so any air trapped in the coolant system can escape and keep the system running like it should. When putting the plenum back on, I put the EGR tube in first and seated it, ensuring it was in properly. If you have any EGR problems here, you will throw codes. Double and triple check all your connections. Check your vacuum lines. Make sure things are not crimped and put back exactly how it was removed.Disconnect your negative on your battery and let it sit for a couple of minutes. You'll need to reset your PCM because your computer has a lot of new learning to do. It will need about 300 miles to really learn the new system and fully awake the car.

DIABLO TUNING:

With the added air being used, we found we needed to add fuel to the mix. Using our Diablo, we added 3%, 4% and 5% fuel at each setting in the WOT area. These numbers were suggested to us by Ryan Walsh at AECarbon.

As always, we have all the photos shown above available as a slide show. Just click one.

On January 25th 2010 my catch can arrived from 3G. An oil catch can will "catch" the oil vapor that is released through your PCV system and condense the vapor in the can so that you don't recirculate nasty oil sludge back into your intake.

Step 1: Mount the catch can. Take a look at our photo to see where we mounted ours. We mounted it here because it will be easy to pull out and check.

Step 2: Disconnect the PCV tube at the plenum. Connect it to one side of the catch can.

Step 3: Use the other supplied hose to connect the other side of the catch can to the PCV valve at the plenum.

Done.

Click for larger

This is a list of a few things you can do with the FOB and you dont need EVIC:

To turn off/on "Flash Lights On Lock/Unlock":
1. Press the UNLOCK button for 4 to 10 seconds.
2. While the UNLOCK button is pressed, (after 4 seconds) press the LOCK button. Release both buttons.

The "Flash Lights On Lock/Unlock" feature can be reactivated by repeating this procedure.


To turn off/on "Remote Unlock Driver's Door 1st":
1. Press the LOCK button for 4 to 10 seconds.
2. While the LOCK button is pressed, (after 4 seconds) press the UNLOCK button. Release both buttons.

The "Remote Unlock Driver's Door 1st" can be reactivated by repeating this procedure.


To turn off/on "Sound Horn On Lock":
1. Press the LOCK button for 4 to 10 seconds.
2. While the LOCK button is pressed, (after 4 seconds) press the PANIC button. Release both buttons.

The "Sound Horn On Lock" feature can be reactivated by repeating this procedure.

Automatic Door Locks at 15mph:


For vehicles not equipped with the EVIC, the Automatic Door Locks can be enabled or disabled by performing the following procedure:

1. Close all doors and place the key in the ignition.
2. Cycle the ignition switch between LOCK and ON and back to LOCK 4 times ending in the LOCK position.
3. Depress the power door lock switch to lock the doors.
4. A single chime will indicate the completion of the programming.

Automatic Unlock:

1. Close all doors and place the key in the ignition.
2. Cycle the ignition switch between LOCK and ON and back to LOCK 4 times ending in the LOCK position.
3. Depress the power door unlock switch to lock the doors.
4. A single chime will indicate the completion of the programming.

To turn off/on "Flash Lights On Lock/Unlock":
1. Press the UNLOCK button for 4 to 10 seconds.
2. While the UNLOCK button is pressed, (after 4 seconds) press the LOCK button. Release both buttons.

The "Flash Lights On Lock/Unlock" feature can be reactivated by repeating this procedure.

Source

We wanted to remove the rear windshield wiper for a couple of reasons.

1: We never use it, and

2: It looks so much better with a shaved rear

We began by removing the inside hatch plastic cover by removing the two screws that are inside the handle used to close the hatch.

Once they are out, grab the plastic cover and pull it down. It's held in place by several clips. Disconnect the plug to the light.

Next you can remove the bolt that holds on the rear wiper. Remove the wiper by pulling it straight off. It might be rusted on and need some force. Mine came right off.

Inside the hatch, disconnect the plug that powers the wiper motor. Then remove the three bolts that hold the motor in place. Then pull out the entire assembly.

Remove the rubber grommet and your hole will be ready.

We went to the local hardware store and bought a 1" plastic plug. We really need a 1 1/4 inch but they didn't have any. We'll continue to look but for now this 1" will just barely fit.

Clean the plug with some laquer thinner, prep it with plastic primer, and give it the paint, followed by the clearcoat. Pop it in the hole and you should have a cleaner look.

My eyebrows were ordered on May 1st 2009 and they came on May 16th. I found the vendor from custommagnums.com and placed an order. I bought them off eBay.

I also have the Mopar touch up paint. The cheapest place I could find the 5oz areosol can was- yes- the dealership. Everywhere online was expensive. I got two cans from the dealer for the price of 1 with shipping from most online vendors.

The eyebrows came with 2 way tape on the backside. I did a few coats with the Cool Vanilla, then a few coats of Mopar clear. I decided to also order a can of Mopar clear because I heard stores about the color changing with clear from a different vendor. I just decided to keep it all the same.

One picture has a rubber peice. This is pushing the headlight out because it sits in too far (from the factory) and the eyebrow had a smaller gap between the eyebrow itself and the hood/fender. Pushing the headlight bucket out a bit made it more of a gap, evening out the two headlights.

Here are some shots. Click any image for a larger view. Click the left or right side of the photo to scroll through.