All posts tagged body work

19 inch Wheels Install, Bucket Seats and Window Tinting

Over the last two weekends, I did a few important changes to the Infiniti G35 coupe. The original coupe came with a set of 20 inch aftermarket wheels and tires (Figure 1). So I procured the original 19 inch Forged Rays (Figure 6) from a seller about a hundred miles away a few months ago for $450, through Craigslist, which was a bargain. As you can see in Figure 7 that the 19 inch wheels look pretty good too.

Moreover, I also procured a pair of reclining racing bucket seats (Figure 9) made by Procar by Scat for about $280 on Facebook Marketplace. However, someone pointed out that these were knockoffs so I did feel a bit cheated! :( Oh well! These seats were in a Chevrolet Chevelle, so at least the brackets and sliders that came with it can be sold for something, and they look original since the part numbers are engraved on them.

To make myself happy, I decided to get the windows tinted on the car. I had been waiting for a while and feeling lazy to get it done and this Memorial day weekend I paid about $275 to get it done. 20% tint on the driver and passenger windows (Figure 8a), and 5% tint on the rear windshield (Figure 8b) and the strip on the front windshield (Figure 8c).

Patching the Vinyl Window on the Porsche Boxster S

The previous owner had used packaging tape on the 4 inch size tear in the vinyl window on the soft top (Figure 1). When I had washed the car in August 2019, I had taped it further with silver 3M duct tape which stayed on for quite a while. I decided to fix the vinyl window using Lamin-x transparent vinyl tape from Amazon for $14.

I also purchased a full replacement vinyl window and stitching kit for $99 from EMiata. Even though their website looks 20 years old, they do sell Boxster replacement windows and a full stitching kit. But this post is for the temporary fix, as the stitching requires about 4-5 hours of serious work. And it is still winter and too cold to be doing that outside.

Fixing Dents on the Porsche Boxster S

The Porsche Boxster S I purchased had a salvage title because it had a massive dent in the left rear quarterpanel, as shown in Figure 1, and a broken tail light. Fixing dents on a car requires real talent and experience, neither of which I had. Nevertheless, I gave it a try in late 2019 by buying a hammer and dolly, and a stud welder set. However, I failed to achieve a good result so ended up giving up after some effort. About 14 months later, in 2021, I decided to hire a cheap body shop guy off CraigsList to get it fixed up so I could make the Boxster my daily driver going forward. I had sold my actual daily driver, a 6-speed manual transmission 2017 VW GTI S, since I was not driving it due to the pandemic.

To make the Boxster my daily driver and to get the salvage title converted to rebuilt title in NJ, I needed the dent fixed. Below is my experience trying to fix the dent myself and then hiring a profesional.