How to Sleepy Eye/Lazy Eye a Mitsubishi GTO/3000gt

I mentioned I wanted to try this soon, but I didn't realise it would only take me 30 seconds to do... (cue the that's what she said jokes)

So what is Sleepy Eye or Lazy Eye? This is where your pop-up headlights aren't fully open, but aren't closed either, it's a paradox a bit like a bar just before kick out, the doors open, but are you hell gonna get served.... although funnily enough it can make your car look like it's had one too many beers... and the rest!

Sleepy Eye GTO

This is probably the easiest mod I will ever do to the car... It doesn't really count as a mod, just something cool to do for pics with pop-up headlights really. Beats the googly eyes I keep seeing hairdressers put on their mx5's  (that's what we call a "miata" to those across the pond by the way).

The first step, which I'm sure will come as a shock to most, is to open the bonnet.

GTO engine bay. Headlight height controls circled. 

In the pic above I have circled the "headlight height control dials". I'm sure this will have a more technical and slightly less made up title, but as my manual is in Japanese I'm gonna go with that for now... it's catchy. Up close it looks like this:

Dial with cover

 It is a rubber cover which hides the actual "headlight height control dial" underneath. This should pull off easy enough.

Actual dial

 

With your headlights popped up, turn this dial the opposite direction to the arrow (anti-clockwise) and the headlight will start to lower itself. It's that easy! I found the cover to the dial handy as a gauge to use to ensure the headlights were at the level, although the cock eyed look might appeal to some people.

GTO with 1 Lazy Eye

And on that note I'll just leave this here:

I prefer the look of the Sleepy Eye on the GTO without the lens below the headlight itself, sadly this is the sidelight and I probably wouldn't get away with doing a delete on this in the UK, not that anything seems to ever get done about those driving about with only 1 headlight, but it would be just my luck to get screwed over it, so I think I may nightshade that somewhere down the line. 

Below is what it looks like with both sides done for now though.

This wasn't all I got up to with the GTO this weekend however, in my next entry (hopefully later this week) I'll be removing this:

Check out my last entry - The Beast is Back

If you would like to laugh at my lack of progress in real time you can follow me on social sites by clicking the links below or search the @s :

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The Beast is Back!

I have finally got the GTO back, and she runs! That GTO shaped hole in my garage is gone, snuggly filled with my baby. I'm a happy boy. 

Always love a fat arse!

I missed the call to pick her up yesterday whilst driving home. I got back with 5 minutes to spare before the garage closed so called them and arranged to pick her up today instead. So last night I couldn't sleep for thinking about her. And I thought of her whilst I was getting ready this morning. And I rather struggled to concentrate at work today, watching the clock ticking down till I could leave and pick her up. 

Back home where she belongs.

Mrs 3oD was kind enough to drop me at the garage to pick it up, but as we set off and headed the 15 miles or so home I decided I couldn't stop. I live up in the hills, with many a fine B road to blast down and having not driven her for 4 months the temptation to go for a little hoon was too high.... I just wanted to drive, and drive, and drive.... 

After a short while, I pulled over, and just had to take some photos of her as the sun was setting. (I even used the big boy camera, not just my phone! Oh so grown up...) 

Not the first I took, but by far my favourite!

In truth, blasting through the countryside made me realise how far I have to go with this car. It highlighted a few issues I had forgotten about from before she was taken off the road in February.

Under heavy braking the steering wheel was shaking uncontrollably in my hand, I have experienced this same feeling before in my Hawkeye when the brake rotas needed replacing through slight warping. This is the reason my next big purchase is planned to be a big brake kit, and I will probably be taking her easy until I get that installed, she still stops fine but I don't want to take any chances. Thankfully she's not a daily so doesn't need to see many miles in that time. 

Another issue is third gear had always been a little hard to find, and with changing the clutch this was much improved, but still not ideal. When I get round to ordering a short shifter I wonna have a look at the selector mechanism because it feels more like that than the box itself, but in all honesty I can see 2017 bringing a gearbox refurbishment. I think I would be kidding myself if I thought anything else, this is a 90's Mitsubishi after all!

The winding mountain roads also made me realise that I should have probably gone for a stage 2 clutch. I warned warned by the manager of the garage how heavy it was before I got in the car, but was still shocked at how much force it took to depress the stage 3. My left leg is gonna be ripped! That is something I will get used to, and the extra torque it can take will hopefully one day be a necessity for the 3 of diamonds!

Find some more of my pics below, I need a bit more practice, but hopefully I'll get there with using that camera soon. 

Check out my last couple of posts:

Still no GTO

Car Porn

If you would like to laugh at my lack of progress in real time you can follow me on social sites by clicking the links below or search the @s :

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Clutching at Straws... or rather an invoice for a new clutch (finally)

If you follow my posts regularly you may have realised I missed a week last week. It was one of those weeks where life got in the way of cars sadly... Much to the dismay of Mrs 3ofdiamonds I was having to work down south living out of hotels #firstworldproblems

Sadly this has meant that I have not had much chance to do anything with the GTO, I have however used this time to finally shop for a new clutch which is now ordered and should be here by the end of the month!

I did a bit of research into performance clutches and still probably couldn't explain it very well, so instead here's a handy tutorial I watched on youtube:

From local suppliers I could only find an OEM replacement which meant that from the get-go that option was out of the question. It would have allowed me to get the car on the road faster, however I didn't see the point of buying a clutch now only to buy another in just a couple of months. 

This meant I was going to be shopping online. I found a wealth of OEM replacements available on various sites. When I got the GTO I read on many a forum that parts would be hard to find and really expensive, so was pleasantly surprised at the choice. The more I looked at performance clutches however, the more I was getting messages back saying that I couldn't order them, or that they weren't in stock with no indication they would be restocked.

Just as I was about to resort to importing from the other side of the Atlantic or trying to learn Japanese to order a JDM replacement clutch, I did find a couple of sites which stocked them and ended up torn between a kit on each, the first was h-tune.co.uk and was an Action Clutch kit. Beyond stage 1 however there was no organic option and I had decided against a metallic kit moving forward for trying to preserve the feel of driving under normal driving conditions.

Stage 2 Action Clutch - Kevlar with 70% increased capacity over OEM and looks like a piece of art!

So from my available choices I came to realise that the best option would likely be a stage 2 clutch to give the best balance between drive-ability and potential for increase in performance. Which is why I ultimately opted for a stage 3..... Typical bloke, what I need and then some! This is why I am not allowed to do the weekly shop...

The clutch is a Competition Clutch kit from demon-tweeks.co.uk and will be good for a torque increase of 150%. This will be more than I could ever possibly need and gives plenty of room to grow the power figures over the next couple of years. Luckily its not going in a daily driver otherwise everyday would be leg day! The clutch is ceramic, so although it will lose some drive-ability going for a stage 3, it hopefully wont lose too much. It was described by Competition Clutch on Demon Tweeks as "Ultimate 'Street and Strip' Kit" and as "Ideal for enthusiastic fast road driving". The latter of the two statements shall put that to test on the mountain roads in the summer.

Stage 3 Competition Clutch - Ceramic

Following installation there will be a 500 mile break in period and then it will be back to business as usual. I still have a couple of parts to install from January I have been waiting to get the car rolling again before installing (such as the 57i induction kit) so will hopefully be busy with her again soon!

I have also been trying the new Amino Garage app. First thoughts are that it is a bit like google+ or facebook but just for cars. No random pictures of food. No shots of legs in the bath or on a beach. Just cars! (Well, and the odd bike). Check out the app. You can follow my profile here.

If you would like to laugh at my lack of progress in real time you can follow me on social sites by clicking the links below or search the @s :

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