Twingo status + photoshoot

"Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan'" (otto-the-croatian) 10/07/2019 at 13:00 • Filed to: merci twingo, twingo, project, tips

10

11

Yo! Here’s a small recap of the Twingo project, along with some pictures.

Svended for your viewing pleasure!

So it’s been a little over a year since I got it - my first car, btw - and I’m loving it. I’m still into it as I was on the first day, except now the future mods list has grown even more, and I’m getting more irritated by how slow it is. Recently my friend and I changed the timing belt and water pump, which was a scary job for a first-timer. If you get that wrong, the Twingo’s dead. But we managed without major issues (and by “we” I mean I just handed my Rimac-employed friend the tools). It wouldn’t start when put back together, it just cranked over, but it turns out there’s a kill switch which just needed to be pressed to let it start.

Zip-tie is temporary, I promise!

Cupholder! Opening the door with a tall bottle is tricky, but still more practical than driving with one hand.

Lately I’ve been installing cheap aesthetic mods, like the $3 Aliexpress shift knob and a pretty sturdy cupholder, which I drilled into the door card. I made the mudflaps myself, with a piece of rubber from Bauhaus and some screws. I planned to fit them to the back wheels, too, but the exhaust comes down straight in front of the LR wheel, which makes it difficult. I might drill a hole in the bumper to extend it, maybe buy a cannon ricer exhaust (or just the tip). A new steering wheel is coming soon. I’ll lose some safety without the factory one, but I don’t trust the 20 year old airbag anyway.

I also fitted cheapo LED side-markers which blink like a new Audi-VW - video in the comments.

Wallpaper material.

Future mod ideas are either lifting it and putting chunky wider wheels on, or lowering it and putting chunky wider wheels on. I plan to fit the headlights with a grill-guard thing - prototype pictured below. This would go well with the lifted aesthetic.

The left foglight is out service.

Don’t laugh at my cardboard speaker grille.

I also plan to fix a lot of the little problems here-and-there, like the busted speakers, rust issues, refreshing the backyard spraycan-paintjob wheels, adding vintage-bugatti-style belts to the hood, a front splitter/airdam, a rear boot spoiler some Twingos had, etc.

I have to sow a proper shifter-boot in the future.

The 2D logo on the bumpers is from my friend and mine’s design studio, 2Designers, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! - He self-promoted shamelessly.
So there you go! I hope I’m doing an ok job safekeeping the car. The Twingo is currently close to the bottom-end in the used car marked, as I understand, and a lot of owners are just beating th em while they last and scrapping them. So hurry up Yanks, import away while you still can.

Thanks for your support and help, Oppo. I love you people.

MERCI TWINGO

CB > Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' 10/07/2019 at 14:29

2

Looks pretty sweet!

Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' > CB 10/07/2019 at 14:36

0

Merci!

Tareim - V8 powered > Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' 10/07/2019 at 15:01

1

a good start for a 1st car, if you want more power swap in a bike engine :D

Shoop > Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' 10/07/2019 at 15:39

1

Hon Hon twingo 

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' 10/07/2019 at 20:14

1

Ooo, loving the looks! Personally not a fan of the lift kit / headlight grill idea, but it’s your car and it will still look awesome with them anyway!

Wish I had more time/money to do things to the Accent...I’ve thought about replacing the current very grungy/very curb damaged 1998 Ford Escort alloys I use on it for summer rims (for the record, they were damaged when I got them, which is why they were so cheap). Would love to go with a set of painted steelies as well, but have no idea what color I would go with...

It’s a dark blue-gray color, so it’s hard to find matches for....thinking maybe white or not gold, but bronze? I think bronze would look quite smart on steelies on the car.

Liking the yellow fog lamps for sure. I have Selective Yellow bulbs in mine, but the assemblies themselves are still clear. May buy some tint sometime to give them the yellow treatment. Is tint the way that you did yours...? Mine would look something like this if I tinted them yellow:

That cardboard speaker grill is just classy :P

Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 10/10/2019 at 10:38

0

Hey, thanks! I agree with the bronze wheels, definitely. I wanted to do that on the twingo but I couldn’t find the exact color I was looking for. Make sure you buy a bunch of the spray cans because it can be difficult to find the matching color in a few months, when you inevitably decide to paint more stuff in with the same accent . No pun intended.

The yellow fogs are a yes from me, too. I would make sure to get a yellow which is closer to orange than it is to green, and I would avoid lime yellows, but thats just my preference.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' 10/10/2019 at 17:37

0

Yeah, I’m not sure I’ll be able to find the exact color bronze I want either, so we’ll see!

As for the fogs, yup...I want more of a golden yellow rather than a ‘sunny’ yellow or lime yellow. How did you do yours...? Tint film on the lights or spray tint, or?

Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 10/11/2019 at 03:26

0

Yeah some sort of tint film, a foil-sticker. Using a hair drier or a heat gun really helps to shape it right. I did a dark tint on the taillights, too, I just cut out the circles where the main light is. Before the whole assembly was reflective red, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' 10/12/2019 at 15:44

0

Ah, never noticed the dark tint on the tails! I’ll have to try the tint film...never done that before though, so I am worried I would screw it up...

Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 10/13/2019 at 07:01

1

If you can find it cheap, like just for a few bucks, go for it. If it’s really bad just tear it off and chuck it out. At least you then have the knowledge that the foil is difficult to fit, instead of wondering.

VW Max > Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' 10/20/2019 at 19:22

0

I don’t know how I missed this earlier, but I love how this is coming along.

Hopefully there are still good Twongi when I can actually afford to import one.