Post by mdscooby on Apr 12, 2013 19:11:54 GMT
Alright guys
Thought i'd stick a project thread up of my car to show what it first started out like to what it looks like now, hope you enjoy the read.
I'll start off with a couple of pics of the car when i got it in May 2011. The car was completely standard apart from the 18" Kahn RS-V alloys and light tint on the windows.
The first mod which was done appeared a few months later in the form of the HKS SSQV BOV and a Blitz Nur-Spec S back box which i luckily got off a friend for a very reasonable price.
A few months later i invested in a set of BC Coilovers as the rear shocks needed to be replaced due to the known issue of the rear shocks leaking. Since i found the ride height of the car to high as well and i wanted a bit more flexibilty they seems like a good choice. Also a set of braided brakes line with AP DOT 6.1 race brake fluid were fitted.
Not much else happened with the car for about a year until about May/June last year when i got a set of black mudflaps, front splitter, rear diffuser and ZunSport Grilles. The grilles were fun to put on involving much contortion and the odd bit of swearing to get them out.
At this point i'd like to thank Darren Windowlicker for his help fitting the rear diffuser, certainly was a bit of fun doing it.
A few days later i fitted a pair of rear sub-frame bolts to aid in the stability of the car, that required alot of elbow grease to get the last half inch of the bolt in
Unfortunately a few months ago i managed to crack my front splitter on a speed hump which involved having to remove the splitter and attempt my first fibre glass repair job. Considering i had never done it before i was quite impressed with myself and after sanding the splitter down and giving it a coat of primer and black paint it looked pretty much brand new again. After this slight incident i took the car back to Datum Motorsport who do all the work on my car and got them to raise the car by 20mm and adjust the geometry which did help the handling a fraction.
In October/November i bought a set of second hand Brembo's and sent them and the rear calipers off to GodSpeed for refurb and a new coat of paint. As i wanted something different and i already had an idea in my head what i was going to do with the car i decided to get the brakes painted cadburys purple.
While the brakes were being fitted the following items were also fitted to help the handling of the car:
The lower arm pins on the front suspension were also flipped round to give a free 0.5 degrees of caster. Once all this was done the geometry was setup with a few tweaks here and there and the brakes were bedded in the car was ready for some test runs. The change in the way the car handled was immediately noticable and it hugged the corners at speed with no problems. The kevlar pads were also quite impressive, plenty of bite and they give you the confidence to really give the car some and know that you can stop.
Christmas time came and went and what followed in the new year was a trip to Letchworth Diamond Wheels for them to refurb the alloys as they really needed it. As the alloys were going to need powder coating at the end i opted to change their colour and i went white. The guys did a brilliant job they did it in 24 hours and it only cost £50 a wheel which is pretty reasonable.
Now i know everyone says white alloys are a pain to keep clean and that i'm going to regret it but the day after i got the car back i took the alloys off the car, washed them down and applied a nano-polymer coating to them which creates a permanent seal on the alloys and any dirt or brake dust just comes off with some soapy water a cloth and they look spotless afterwards. The coating just needs to need topped up every 6 months if needed.
The next step was taking the car to the bodyshop to have the front and rear end resprayed including the boot and spoiler. All panels which weren't resprayed were G3 compound polished.
The bodyshop done an awesome job on the car she looks pretty much fresh out the show room. Now i just need to save up some more money to start on the performance parts which, because I'm not pushing it to far will probably just be a full decat, Walbro fuel pump and an Ecu-Tek re-map due to the pistons that are an issue with the 2.5's. The power i'll get from that (290bhp / 300ft-lb) coupled with the handling mods will make the car a pretty good all rounder. I'm never going to be able to afford to forge the engine etc so i'm keeping it simple.
As i want to keep it part stealth part USDM in terms of styling i'm changing the rear bade to a chrome "i" and de-badging the front which will have a set of Hella Super Twin tone horns behind them painted in the same purple as the calipers.
Hope you've all enjoyed reading
Thought i'd stick a project thread up of my car to show what it first started out like to what it looks like now, hope you enjoy the read.
I'll start off with a couple of pics of the car when i got it in May 2011. The car was completely standard apart from the 18" Kahn RS-V alloys and light tint on the windows.
The first mod which was done appeared a few months later in the form of the HKS SSQV BOV and a Blitz Nur-Spec S back box which i luckily got off a friend for a very reasonable price.
A few months later i invested in a set of BC Coilovers as the rear shocks needed to be replaced due to the known issue of the rear shocks leaking. Since i found the ride height of the car to high as well and i wanted a bit more flexibilty they seems like a good choice. Also a set of braided brakes line with AP DOT 6.1 race brake fluid were fitted.
Not much else happened with the car for about a year until about May/June last year when i got a set of black mudflaps, front splitter, rear diffuser and ZunSport Grilles. The grilles were fun to put on involving much contortion and the odd bit of swearing to get them out.
At this point i'd like to thank Darren Windowlicker for his help fitting the rear diffuser, certainly was a bit of fun doing it.
A few days later i fitted a pair of rear sub-frame bolts to aid in the stability of the car, that required alot of elbow grease to get the last half inch of the bolt in
Unfortunately a few months ago i managed to crack my front splitter on a speed hump which involved having to remove the splitter and attempt my first fibre glass repair job. Considering i had never done it before i was quite impressed with myself and after sanding the splitter down and giving it a coat of primer and black paint it looked pretty much brand new again. After this slight incident i took the car back to Datum Motorsport who do all the work on my car and got them to raise the car by 20mm and adjust the geometry which did help the handling a fraction.
In October/November i bought a set of second hand Brembo's and sent them and the rear calipers off to GodSpeed for refurb and a new coat of paint. As i wanted something different and i already had an idea in my head what i was going to do with the car i decided to get the brakes painted cadburys purple.
While the brakes were being fitted the following items were also fitted to help the handling of the car:
- CDF Racing droplinks
- CDF Racing ALK
- Whiteline rear 22mm ARB
- Aztec Performance OEM discs & Kevlar pads
The lower arm pins on the front suspension were also flipped round to give a free 0.5 degrees of caster. Once all this was done the geometry was setup with a few tweaks here and there and the brakes were bedded in the car was ready for some test runs. The change in the way the car handled was immediately noticable and it hugged the corners at speed with no problems. The kevlar pads were also quite impressive, plenty of bite and they give you the confidence to really give the car some and know that you can stop.
Christmas time came and went and what followed in the new year was a trip to Letchworth Diamond Wheels for them to refurb the alloys as they really needed it. As the alloys were going to need powder coating at the end i opted to change their colour and i went white. The guys did a brilliant job they did it in 24 hours and it only cost £50 a wheel which is pretty reasonable.
Now i know everyone says white alloys are a pain to keep clean and that i'm going to regret it but the day after i got the car back i took the alloys off the car, washed them down and applied a nano-polymer coating to them which creates a permanent seal on the alloys and any dirt or brake dust just comes off with some soapy water a cloth and they look spotless afterwards. The coating just needs to need topped up every 6 months if needed.
The next step was taking the car to the bodyshop to have the front and rear end resprayed including the boot and spoiler. All panels which weren't resprayed were G3 compound polished.
The bodyshop done an awesome job on the car she looks pretty much fresh out the show room. Now i just need to save up some more money to start on the performance parts which, because I'm not pushing it to far will probably just be a full decat, Walbro fuel pump and an Ecu-Tek re-map due to the pistons that are an issue with the 2.5's. The power i'll get from that (290bhp / 300ft-lb) coupled with the handling mods will make the car a pretty good all rounder. I'm never going to be able to afford to forge the engine etc so i'm keeping it simple.
As i want to keep it part stealth part USDM in terms of styling i'm changing the rear bade to a chrome "i" and de-badging the front which will have a set of Hella Super Twin tone horns behind them painted in the same purple as the calipers.
Hope you've all enjoyed reading