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Sedans Kia Amanti 2007 Kia Amanti
103 messages, Last post on Jun 19, 2008 at 6:17 PM
You are in the Kia Amanti Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
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Replying to: mikewellsesq (Jul 14, 2007 1:05 pm) My name is Larry Robichaux,south Louisiana Cajun name ofcourse.Pronuced "Row B Show.So please bare with me I'm not too computer literate. I purchased a 2007 Amanti three weeks ago and was completely satisfied till I saw your re-badging to Opirus project.You made a great looking vehicle even better looking.To make a long story short.I expect to recieve a Opirus luxary grill,rear chrome garnish,and the GH380 lettering by the end of this week.I am not mechanically inclined but able to follow instructions.My question is was it very diffuclt to change and are specilal tools required?.Any advise you would care to share with me will be greatly appriciatd.Thank you in advance. Larry
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Replying to: larry70301 (Jun 09, 2008 8:08 pm) Glad to hear that you are enjoying your Amanti. You will enjoy it even more once you transform it into an Opirus. People are always asking me "what kind of car is that?" and admiring it's good looks. I am assuming that you have looked at my project photos at: http://www.carspace.com/mikewellsesq/Albums/mikewellsesq%27s%20Album/Amanti_Opir- - us.JPG/page/photo.html#pic If not, please do refer to them when reading the advice below. You will need some kind of an off-set Philips head screwdriver for the front grill replacement, as the clearance in the area behind the grille is very tight. Getting good leverage is difficult. A ratcheting-type tool, with a Philips screwdriver head, would be ideal. Be careful about dropping tools or screws, it may be hard to find them again! The shrouds in the engine compartment are not that difficult to remove, as the black plastic screw rivets can be loosened and pulled out with a light touch. Obviously be careful not to damage or scratch the new grille whilst installing. I had the rear deck garnish put on by my Kia dealer, but I had removed the trunk lid inner liner to scope out the job, and I think it would have been relatively easy to do the work. I don't think you would need any special tools for undoing the rivets that hold on the garnish. The lettering is pretty easy to work with. First, I removed the existing "Amanti" nomenclature by pulling off the chromed plastic letters using a combination of dental floss and WD-40 spray. They are attached by 3M automotive adhesive, and the WD-40 will loosen it up just fine, and then use a rag and more WD-40 to remove the residue. I then wiped down the area I wanted to put the "GH380" lettering with a mild cleaning solution, dried it well, and then used painter's bue tape to mark off a level line for placement. I looked online for photos of the Korean market Opirus from the back to see where they position the lettering, which is about two inches above the "crease" in the trunk-lid that runs from the corner of tail-light to the other tail-light corner. See the photo in my Gallery on CarSpace for an example. Carefully place the letters (they are nestled in a foam template) after removing the film backing from the adhesive. Press them on with gentle force so that they make good contact; then remove the foam template and the tape. The Korean market “KIA” steering wheel badge from Korean Auto Imports (they have them in black or blue) sticks onto your existing round KIA badge, but I found that the “divot” in the airbag cover is a little too deep for the 3M auto adhesive tape on the acl of the badge to make good contact. Luckily, I had a roll of the same tape, and just cut out and extra piece to stick on top of the tape that came with the badge, and that was just enough to make good contact, and the badge is on nice and secure. The center wheel caps with the Opirus “O” design look very nice, much nicer than the plain silver “KIA” caps. They can also be ordered from Korean Auto Imports. The wheel center caps are replaced by taking the wheel off of the car and popping out the installed cap and pushing in the replacement from the “back” of the wheel. I had my dealer do this. The rear window badges are installed by first removing the existing flat-black painted trim pieces. You remove them by taking out one screw holding in the plastic trip piece that goes around the tope and sides of the rear door in the inside of the car, and then by carefully pulling it away from the rubber door seal so that you can get to the back of the metal blank behind the trip piece. Three screws hold it in. Remove the trip piece and replace with the glossy black trim piece with the Opirus red carbon-fiber-look badge. Put every thing back and stand back to admire. My wife did not like the look; she felt it was too much “bling”, so I put back the plain flat-black trim pieces. If you are interested in the Opirus trim pieces for your project, email me at patrickhenry”at sign”mac.com. With the successful re-badging of your Amanti in the beautiful and exotic Opirus, you will be the envy of your neighbors! Good luck, and "Laissez les bons temps rouler!"
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Replying to: billh6 (Jul 17, 2007 11:41 am) I should be receiving the Opirus luxary grill,the rear garnish,and the GH380 lettering from KAI soon. I hagalled with some guy named James for about three or four days and offered a a final price of $350.00 for the three items.It was accepted. Somehow I feel he would have accepted a bit less. Hope this reaches you in time and saves you a few dollars.I have a silver Amanti bought a few weeks ago and absolutely love that car.Saw Mikes' re-badging job and just had to have it.I'm 59 but still very agile and will attempt to do the job myself.{I was lucky just to get my wife to allow me to re-badge}HA! So far no complaints about this car . Larry |
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Replying to: mikewellsesq (Jun 10, 2008 3:05 pm) Larry
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Replying to: oneij (Apr 07, 2008 6:25 am)
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Replying to: larry70301 (Jun 11, 2008 11:13 am) Pertaining to the re-badging my Amanti to Opirus. received the rear garnish ,the center wheel caps and the GH380 lettering via priority mail today Friday 6/13/08.I am awaiting the Opirus luxary grill to arrive next week. To make a long story short unless you have the professional tools and automobile body work knowledge be prepared to have the rear garnish replacement done by a dealer or a business that deals in body work. It is not a matter of simply removing six screaws and inserting the new chrome garnish and replacing the six screws. The license plate lights have to be removed,not exceptionally difficult. But the truck lock has to be removed and that's the hard part. If you have a flexible phillips head screwdriver removing the screws is not too difficult. But once their's done you're left with egg on your face as to what to do next. Seems there are two small brackets screwed into the the lock and the outside wall with no access to remove them to finalize removing of the garnish. After much time trying to conceive of any possible resolution to this problem I had had enough and just replaced everything to the way it was.I e-mailed Korean AutoImports to ask for tec.assistance will keep ypou posted if they can help or not.Mike or anyone else can offer advice or assistance it would be greatly appriciated as Iam sure it is going to cost alot to have a pro do the job.Thanks to all.The old Cajun Marine. Larry
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Replying to: oneij (Jun 12, 2008 3:06 pm) |
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Replying to: larry70301 (Jun 13, 2008 6:02 pm) I remember thinking that the trunk lock would probably be too tricky for me to work on, and decided to have the Kia dealer replace the trim piece and the wheel center caps. They did a nice job and did not charge all that much. I recommend that you talk with your dealer and see what they would charge to do it. The final effect is quite worth the extra expense - the Opirus logo looks a lot better than the big KIA oval! Did you have better luck with the grille?
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Replying to: mikewellsesq (Jun 14, 2008 3:10 pm) Thanks again for your response. I am still awaiting the grill to arrive. Should be this coming week. KAI is awaiting a new shipment. Sure hope the grill is easier than the rear garnish. I can tell it is going to look great as yours does on your Amanti. Man My wife and I love this car with each passing day. Here in south Louisiana the terrain is flat so we are experiencing excellent gas millage. We live in the country so traffic is not an issue to diminish fuel consumption. One of our three daughters lives about 45 miles away and we're getting 29.7 avg. per trip,providing the the instrumentation is correct. Another daughter lives about an hour north of Atlanta,little over 600 miles from here. Let you and all interested what kind of interstate millage next trip we take there. Once again folks to save you some frustration,unless your very familiar with wiring and bodywork on auto and you have the required tools,don't attempt to change the rear garnish yourself. The center wheel caps were pretty easy. I used an old butter knife. I used my bench grinder to file down about a 1/2 area as flat as I could until it slid between the center cap and the rim. After that it was just a matter of popping them out. I was scared to use too much force at first. Once you expermint after the fist the rest are real easy and the new ones just pop right in . The GH 380 lettering as Mike said if you go to the OPIRUS web site you can see the lettering runs fairly even to the crease at the bottom of the trunk{right Side}, Mikes web site has all his pictures of the re-badging project and his OPIRUS looks fantastic. Thanks again Mike. Talk to y'all later. Larry |
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Hello Mike and all Amanti owners considering re-badging. Just to let you know one of our local body shops charged one hour of labor to install the rear Opirus garnish. This came to $45.00 plus tax for a total of $48.60. Well worth it. KAI told me yesterday I should be receiving the grill Monday or Tuesday of next week. Mike I am going to remove the engine cover then decide whether I'll attempt to do it myself. Will let all know how it goes. Thanks to all. Larry |
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