Okay, I've decided that instead of creating a new thread for each question I have in relation to the quest I am currently on towards a first car, I'll have one consolidated thread to keep the moderators happy :)

[current scenario]
Over the past couple of months I've been in the search for my first car. I now have my P's, so it's only a matter of obtaining an engine with 4 wheels. I now have a 1999 TH Magna Exec which is currently awaiting payment and then I'll be free to drive it. But that is a good 24 hours away (hopefully).

One of the first things I intend to do is give it some proper lovin' and give it a detail clean, inside and out. Wednesday morning, provided I have the car, I'll be cleaning the living hell out of it, which of course involves buying cleaning stuff. which brings me to my first couple of questions for the thread:

What should I be using to clean internal dash/console areas and should I just put armor-all on the dash when finished? What do you guys reccomend (not too pricey) to use when washing the car? And when cleaning the engine, what should I do and what should I avoid when doing it? Where to not squirt water etc haha.

And what fluids should I be looking at replenishing/replacing, and oils?

What should I be using to clean internal dash/console areas and should I just put armor-all on the dash when finished?
I just use a 'chux' brand cleaning cloth (available from your local supermarket) in a bucket of water to get all the dust off the interior. Then I go over the interior with a trim detailer. I use Meguiars Gold Class Dash and Trim Foam Protectant - I'm fond of it, but it may be a bit too shiny for some people's tastes. As far as 'off the shelf' products go, I would be sticking with Meguiars, Mothers, Autoglym and Bowden's Own.


What do you guys reccomend (not too pricey) to use when washing the car?
I've used Meguiars Gold Class wash previously but I'm currently giving their NXT wash a go, which seems pretty good too. Again, I would stick with the above brands.

I don't use Armor-All any more - its just turns plastics white over time. Meguiars have good polishes.

+1 on the Meguiars polishes.
Scratch X is fantastic for deeper scratches (like the ones that appear around door handles or the door sill/scuff plate area).
I'm also quite partial to their Deep Crystal Wet Look wax.

It's pretty important to protect the paint with wax after washing becasue the magnas (particularly the darker pigments) seem to suffer commonly from clear coat deterioration.

Be careful if usng a pressure washer. If you've got some paint defects or stone chips, pressure washing can make it worse (seems obvious, but I've done it... and I'm not the only one :)).

I used to use Meguiars but have since discovered that Meguiars is mainly crap. Im in the middle of putting together a detailing tutorial from my own experiences. Off-the-shelf products like those mentioned above contain lots of silicone as it is cheap and gives instant results as the silicone covers up faint scratches and swirls. It doesnt rectify the underlying problem with the paint whereby the clearcoat needs proper correction to get long term results.

Some meguiars and autoglym products are excellent. Autoglym do a 5l container of super strength degreaser and i am still discovering ways of using it in various dilutions. As a wheel arch degreaser and engine cleaner it is unbeatable.

It may sound awfully dangerous and horrible, but half a cap full, or even a full cap of methylated spirits into a full bucket of water seems to work strangely well. I wouldn't use it every wash incase it ends up stripping something. Try a small amount on a small low area of your car, but I have washed all families cars with it and it comes up like new and stays clean for a while longer (or so it seems). This is just my opinion and if you don't like the idea of it then don't try it. :)
And when washing engine bay try and avoid electrical things. Like fuse box etc. Some people cover their fuse box with a plastic bag as well.

I'll pick some Meguiars up after my exam tomorrow then. In other news, I've got the car. She goes alright and ticks all the boxes. :D

http://i.imgur.com/7a2Qm.jpg

Gratz man! You'll soon catch the modding bug as there's a TON of things you can do to a Magna, without making your wallet cry, either (but that part is only optional).

I'm not sure on the inside myself (but I'll be saving the info in here) but I know a lot of the guys (and myself) love using Mothers Clay Bar (http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/Mothers-Clay-Bar-System.aspx?pid=10774#Description) and Carnauba Wax (http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/Mothers-California-Gold-Carnauba-Wax-473ml.aspx?pid=0041#Description) on the outside, it gives it that really "smooth" feel and shiny look, after a good ol' fashion wash, of course.

If you're planing to change anything on the car, or even simply take some nice photos, post a thread in the "Member's Machines" area (http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=45). Even if your car is stock, it's great to see the "evolution", or even some nice photos. Plus it acts as a sort of "worklog" for yourself. :)

Gratz man! You'll soon catch the modding bug as there's a TON of things you can do to a Magna, without making your wallet cry, either (but that part is only optional).

I'm not sure on the inside myself (but I'll be saving the info in here) but I know a lot of the guys (and myself) love using Mothers Clay Bar (http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/Mothers-Clay-Bar-System.aspx?pid=10774#Description) and Carnauba Wax (http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/Mothers-California-Gold-Carnauba-Wax-473ml.aspx?pid=0041#Description) on the outside, it gives it that really "smooth" feel and shiny look, after a good ol' fashion wash, of course.

If you're planing to change anything on the car, or even simply take some nice photos, post a thread in the "Member's Machines" area (http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=45). Even if your car is stock, it's great to see the "evolution", or even some nice photos. Plus it acts as a sort of "worklog" for yourself. :)

Oh trust me, I will. :)

First mod on the list is cruise control. The car doesn't have it. Drove from Heathcote to Nagambie to Mooroopna today, and while maintaining speed wasn't too much of a challenge, I'd like the extra security of knowing I'm not speeding and the fuel efficiency by having cruise. Where would be the best place to source the parts to install it, and how much will it likely cost? And is it an easy DIY job?

Wow, that brings back some memories... TH Exec 3.0 Auto?

Fitting factory cruise control is a bit of a bigger job, involves swapping out looms. If you take the factory route do everything in one hit - Cruise, Climate, Power windows.

Anything is possible - Just depends how much time and money you want to spend. My car was exactly like yours when I bought it in 2007. I've since changed engine, transmission, wiring bumper to bumper, body kits, interior bits, etc...

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/db_newman/1974b7b0.jpg

Wow, that brings back some memories... TH Exec 3.0 Auto?

Fitting factory cruise control is a bit of a bigger job, involves swapping out looms. If you take the factory route do everything in one hit - Cruise, Climate, Power windows.

Anything is possible - Just depends how much time and money you want to spend. My car was exactly like yours when I bought it in 2007. I've since changed engine, transmission, wiring bumper to bumper, body kits, interior bits, etc...



Yep. TH Executive. Not sure if mine's 3.0L or 3.5L. I did some googling around and going by the VIN, it's apparently a 3.5? I'll have to look in the car itself, it must say something somewhere.

I was going off your front guards.

3 possibilities...

1. It's a 3.0 (No badging on the front guards)
2. It's been debadged
3. It's been in a front-ender

The VIN will not tell you if it is a 3.5, however the option codes will.

What type of badging would be on the front guards?

3.5 TH's got a "3.5" badge :) See: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/1999-2000_Mitsubishi_TH_Magna_Advance_sedan_03.jpg

3.5 TH's got a "3.5" badge :) See: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/1999-2000_Mitsubishi_TH_Magna_Advance_sedan_03.jpg

Ah, I see :). I guess I'll save a bit of fuel then.. hopefully...

You'd be suprised... 3.5's are actually better on fuel.

You'd be suprised... 3.5's are actually better on fuel.

Gawd, don't tell me that.. :) $74 for a full tank. travelled over 100km's already, curious as to the mileage that I'll get with this.

So I just went for a night drive and noticed that the low beam headlights don't illuminate all that far in front of me. The high beams are fantastic, just worried about the low beams as I went for a drive on a back road through the middle of nowhere and anything >20m isn't illuminated.

Is this how they're designed has the globe sunk/other problem.

There is the potential that they're misaligned or aren't sitting properly.

Globes do deteriorate with time - if you do a lot of night driving, I would consider replacing the bulbs with something better, even if you 'fix' the problem. I would recommend the Philips Xtremepower +80s.

What is the easiest way to obtain internal bulbs for my car? I'm planning in doing a full conversion to coloured lights or stay with white, depending on what i can get. I'm planning on doing the cluster back lights, fan/temp controls and gear selector lights. Are the globes obtainable in retail stores, if so were? Thanks.

take all the lights you want replaced into jaycar and you should be able to find all the exact ones, or wire new ones into their place if you can't find some matches for a few. I know of a lot of members on here that have done some substantial lighting upgrades and hopefully they will chime in. but its usually as simple as changing the bulbs out to the coloured LED's you want.

take all the lights you want replaced into jaycar and you should be able to find all the exact ones, or wire new ones into their place if you can't find some matches for a few. I know of a lot of members on here that have done some substantial lighting upgrades and hopefully they will chime in. but its usually as simple as changing the bulbs out to the coloured LED's you want.

That's good then. I went to Autobarn and the guy ripped the light and the black stalk apart (this is the instrument panel gear lights). Hoping he didn't break it baha.

I'm thinking of going to blue lights? I'll have a look at some members threads. I'm thinking of going either all blue or all red. And then I'll buy a head unit to match. Which colour looks better? I read somewhere about someone using blue LED's in their dash and they came out really light blue. We also have a FG XR6 which has all blue lights, which looks damn sexy. Might try to mirror that look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyRAks5DKQg Blue works well (ignore my blown auto trans in this vid lol).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyRAks5DKQg Blue works well (ignore my blown auto trans in this vid lol).

I watched the video before completely reading your post, I came back ready to say "wtf, your tranny is rooted!" haha.

Speaking of the transmission, occasionally I use the 3, 2 and L gear positions on the selector when taking off, similar to a tippy, taking off in L, changing when neccessary, to 3rd when I reach the speed limit, and then to Drive and continue cruising. Is this going to be bad for the transmission? I wouldn't think it would, because it's going to be in the exact same gear anyway, I'm just telling it to be there instead of it doing it itself. The only difference is that in Drive, it will change at about 5500rpm, I keep it going a bit more when changing, which is the only possible reason (over rev, but it has measures in place to stop that..)

one last question, the car idles a bit rough (vibrates a fair bit) when it's in drive and stopped at the lights. I usually just tap it into neutral until the lights change, when they go green i take my foot off the brake, change to drive, and once it starts moving, i accelerate.

Depends how much you abuse it, no worse then driving in D... They use the same trans for 4sp auto and 4sp tippy.

Rough idle is usually caused by dead engine mounts.

The autos don't like to be thrashed *too* much - mine ended its life with a slip in second, third, and forth gear blown to bits. First gear was the only one that did not suffer. That was after about 100,000km on non-stop abuse.

Thats my arguement. But when I googled it, i get mixed responses, half saying use of it will wear out the trans. And the manual says its for climbing hills and engine braking. But maybe they're just hiding the racing factor of this car.. P for Proweling for races, R for Race, N for Night racing and D for Drag. haha.

I'll look into the engine mounts. If they're buggered how much will they set me back, and is it a DIY job?

Everything is a DIY if you put your heart in to it :) Not sure what they are worth, haven't broken one in a while.

Fair enough. I'll let it be until it gets worse. Trying not to spend too much atm.

What particular globe type is used for illuminating the gauges in the instrument cluster?

Alright so I've noticed that the driver/right hand side fan doesn't appear to be coming on. I haven't seen it come on yet, although the left hand passenger side one does when i've gone for a "powerful" trip or it's been a warm day. Is the behaviour of the right fan normal? I've noticed that after driving around, the engine area is fairly warm, and tends to hold onto that heat for several hours.

Also, where can I find information on the type of bulbs used in the interior of the car, such as cluster, a/c etc. I've found that the illumination bulbs in the cluster are t10s or something like that.

Cheers.