So I recently acquired my 1996 Subaru Sambar supercharged AWD super deluxe. Needless to say its in rough condition. To even get it running correctly I had to change almost all hoses as they were so cracked and brittle they just fell apart (made truck sound like it was miss firing, and coolant was flying everywhere). After fixing most of the mechanical issues (still need to replace almost all seals), I have no started on the cosmetic fixes. When I picked up my lil truck I noticed they deleted the AWD button from the shift knob and replaced it with a switch, and in doing so left a massive hole. I thought this would be a great opportunity to add a little flair to the truck, and so I bring to you my turtle knob! The process wasn't too bad. 1. Plug up the hole with some plastic and seal it with silicon and wait for it to dry. 2. Painters tape the ever living piss out of the knob. 3. Add your base color (mine was deep sea blue). 4. Use a vacuum chamber to get out any bubbles and use either a heat gun or blow torch to pop remaining bubbles. Don't heat up too much or you will cause more bubbles. 5. Placed my lil turtle buddy in and propped him up with some wire so he wouldn't sink to the bottom. 6. I then waited for the epoxy to become "tacky" and made sure the turtle didn't sink. 7. Lastly, I mixed up and added some clear epoxy, vacuum chambered the entire knob, and let it sit over night. Hope ya'll enjoy! If I did it again though I would probably try to put a light seal coat inside the knob first as I think I kept getting micro bubbles from the epoxy trying to seep into it. Either way I am happy with how it turned out and it now feels like the life of the kei truck is fully at my finger tips now.
