Monday, July 13, 2009

I forgot how much of a pain...

...Working on a Civic is if you have big hands.

Gotta give it to the asians, they're freakn efficient. I *love*
efficiency... so the utilization of space in the engine compartment is one of the things that really set them apart in making cars.

However, this comes at a price.

If you have hands over a size "S", you're gonna have fits trying to fit your hamhocks down in the cracks and crannies between hoses, lines and filters, cause they're designed for someone with *teeny* hands to be able to manuever.

So a little backstory... Jill sometimes has a hard time seeing at night, and civics have the 1) lowest candle power stock bulbs ever & 2) have the most constrictive LOS for their headlights because of the lowprofile and low hoodbrow. So I bought her two sets of the SilverStar Ultra Xtravisions.. 300% the candle power of the stock bulbs, white-white light instead of amber, and supposedly a 10 ft side-lighting extension... hopefully to keep her safer. So I thought it'd be just like replacing the bulbs in the escape... pull two caps, badda bing, badda bang, we're done.

wrong.

I had to end up pulling the wheel-well back so I could wiggle my hand in the headlight cavity and change the driver's side completely blind. Big time PITA since Honda secures all of their lights with dual hinge clips; which are hard to take off even when you can see the dang things. The Passenger side wasn't as bad, cause I had more room to work from the top because I didn't have the battery in the way (the only problem I ran into was the starter was still warm... ouchies).

Anyways... love a Honda, some of the best cars out there. Hate working on them with decent sized hands.

For anyone interested in if the Silverstar's make a difference.. We're gonna go test driving in a second, then I may post pictures of the Civic vs. Escape from the front (I've got stock amber-lights).

Peace!

EDIT: No Pics tonight, I just got done adjusting them and it's 10:20. They do make a difference... I dunno if it's as prominent of a difference as I was hoping for (although on bright they are BRIGHT) but it is a difference. The biggest thing is in the FOV, it's about 10-15ft further on each side of the road, instead of being narrow with the Stock lights. I'll try and post some front pics maybe tommorrow.

4 comments:

Jillian said...

You are AWESOME!!! Thanks love =)

cindy glawson said...

Good Job Mister.

Pat said...

YOU ARE AN AWESOME HUSBAND!!! YAY FOR MY DAUGHTER!!!

C Jones said...

You should drive one of those quality, made for your hands, AMERICAN CARS... oh wait...