I bought my TL on 12/7 and it has been in my shop ever since. It's a 2001 TL w/Nav. and I found a hell of a deal on this car, but it was in need of some corrections. Here's a few pics of the repairs in progress. I hope to have this thing on the road again by Wednesday. My first mod other than the new paint job, hood, left fender, and headlights will be removal of the airbox resonator down in the bumper. Then I will take the old lamps I have and attempt clear and blackout. Will post more as I go.





any tips on opening the headlamp capsules without busting tabs??

 

if your doing this, might as well go with the 02-03 front end!! i love them so much better.

they have fogs..~!

 

Yeah, but that would've costed a lot more....there's a whole lot imore involved in that conversion than meets the eye.

 

Here's some pics of the bad bodywork and unrepaired areas. Using a different host, so not sure if they will show up. Let me know if you guys can see these or not.

Fender:notice rust and bondo not even painted, the lines were horrible as well.


Radiator support/Left rail: Wasn't even pulled/aligned right, rust still showing. The hack drilled a new hole in the left headlamp tab and upper tie bar just so it would mount.





Hood: Drilled, bondo, and wavy as hell.

 

so, can you guys see those damage shots?

 

nope, just x's

 

thanks... I'll try again later...

 

Okay, here is a collage of the damages before I repaired them.

Fender:notice rust and bondo not even painted, the lines were horrible as well. Radiator support/Left rail: Wasn't pulled/aligned right, rust still showing. The hack drilled a new hole in the left headlamp tab and upper tie bar just so headlamp would mount.
Hood: Drilled, bondo, unrepaired underside with rust, and wavy as hell.

 

Yeeaaa!!! My car will have the outer panels painted first thing in the morning. Here are pics I took today of the progress. I might even have her put all the way together by the end of the day. I am so excited. I've waited almost a full month since I bought it.







a little dusty...I hope they rinse her off before spraying....j/k, they will, she's just in for the night.

I will upload the completed pics this week sometime. She'll be nice and spotless.

 

yeah....02 n 03 front n the back is look better than 99 to 01...

 

Nice!

 

Does anyone know if the fenders on a 99-01 will fit the 02-03 headlamps??

Without fenders being needed, that conversion would've run me around $1800 in parts vs. the $650 that I spent. And I work in a body shop, so that's with discount. For avg. Joe, that conversion probably costs near $4-5k. This car is just my toy. I still plan on buying the '03 TL-S w/Nav. in Anthracite whenever I find one.

 

no.

in that case, never mind what i said in my earlier post above..

 

I wouldn't waste my time with the 00-01 front end

But definately the 02-03 front end w/ factory front lip

 

that's nice....let us know how much "time" you spend on your conversion....money too.

 

Okay...I didn't get my car painted yet. But now I am certain that it will be painted in the morning. Here's a collage of how it looked today. Weather has been really crappy here, raining and humid...until today, finally cooled down a bit. The bottom right pic is just a photoshop of my trunk shaved. I might ditch the "A". What do you guys think??

 

PAINTED TODAY!!!!!!!! Here's some pics.

The second one down shows the left rear door to quarter. We painted from the rear doors forward, the quarter has original paint. The color match is PERFECT! I love my painter.
















Didn't go as planned, but I am happy now. On the road tomorrow!!!

 

Looks great man! congrats!

 

thanks a bunch...

 

I finally got my TL on the road last Friday. Came home to upload pics and the threads were shut down. So, here they are. Completed pics. I'm in love now. Came out really well, worth the wait. Let me know what you guys think.

 

nice work! any modifications in the future?

 

a few....i'll keep em posted....