Finally had a nice day here to wash and take a couple photos.

She's pretty much stock right now, lots of mods in the works..... Would love to lower it but the roads here scare me (suburbs of Detroit), some of the worst roads anywhere!








The anime decals I had made

 

What's your future plans for it?

As for lowering.. if you want a slight drop just go with springs if you want to fully adjust your height go with coilovers. Just cause you have coils doesnt mean you have to slam the car, just set it at a comfortable height for yourself to enjoy.

 

clean car, nice base to do cool shit. but get rid of the decals, its cheesy. just sayin.

 

Nice. I can't to see your mods in the future.

 

Well, as far as mods go, I have alot of different things in mind, but a wife to please as well, so 'money' and 'timing' have to fit, and seeing as I just bought this car for 7k, had to immediately drop a trans in it (1k), and some maintenence parts (1k), she says no more for a bit......

BUT

I snuck in an Ingalls engine torque damper, she didn't say a word!!! (That should be here Tuesday)

Immediate future mods are going to be maintenence parts - New SS brake lines, Legend front calipers (don't know what to paint them yet, it's between black and silver) and probably the Brakemotive slotted/drilled rotor/pad combo.

Torn between new springs and coilovers..... Both me and my wife really like the OEM feel to everything, so I was leaning toward a spring kit that'll knock a couple few fingers off the stock height...... Just as long as *whatever* I do, it dosen't rub..... I always have my whole family in the car (5 people)

Wheels are an enigma to me...... I really like how the stock ones look, but have seen soooooooooooo many that look REALLY nice on this car! - So, for the meanwhile, I'm probably going to give the stock ones a really nice repaint.

I've always thought that spoilers on this car really define her ass nicely, so I WILL be getting one to put on, it's just a matter of making up my mind (stock or A-Spec). I have a really awesome junkyard I deal with, and they are on the lookout for me.

Hehe... I wanted to 'show my colors' without being a cop magnet... this was the result, removable cling clear vinyl digital print. My wife likes it

 

Looks to be in great condition

 

Went on pretty easy, took about an hour taking my sweet ass time.

Makes a big difference in engine roll, I set it a touch more than half dampening (12mm, 10mm is the stiffest, 15mm the softest)

Think my rear motor mount may bite it soon tho...... will have to add those to my ever growing list

 

Looks good. You should do your pulleys next.

 

Man I want one of those

 

Very nice. I need to invest in one of those

 

Where did you find that ive been looking for those, gues i havent been looking in the right places lol

 

http://store.excelerateperformance.c.../i-389457.aspx


This store is one of this websites sponsors, highly reccomended

 

Had a few minutes, and a few bucks....

New exhaust tips!



No funds for a whole exhaust system right now, plus this car needs to stay 'wife friendly' for a while..... so loud of ANY caliber is a big no-no..... for now......

BUT....

It dosen't mean I can't make it prettier

 

For the record, Sean at BrakeMotive ROCKS! I ordered my brake package Wednesday at 145pm, recieved my brakes Thursday at 145pm!



Now I just need to order the new SS brakelines, and get new calipers all the way around.... unfortunately the ones I have are on their last legs.... ripped dust boots.....

NOW, here's a question to bounce off of you guys.....

What color should I make the mounting brackets and calipers when I get them in.......

 

I had the same dilemma on paint but I painted them black because if you paint them a bright color it just points out how small they are especially the rears. Get the legend calipers for the front when you swap them

 

Hehe, already in the works

 

Good start. I like those Anime clings. I wanna put some on my glass window at work. LOL.

 

anime stickers are mad weird but good progress! i need to get one of those Ingalls dampers.

 

Not feeling the anime stickers, but to each their own. Progress on your car is on point though. What kind of exhaust tips are those?

And for the engine damper, are you supposed to feel a difference while you drive? I know that it's supposed to lessen the amount of engine movement, but how do you tell if it does or doesnt without looking at the motor?

 

Anime. Video games. Cars. TaxiCabs. - Life -

DC Sports - got them at Advance Auto.... kinda lined up just right, they just happened to have 2 of these kind, and only one of every other one..... and this one looked the best - to me -


Well, you simply look at the motor.

Find someone you trust and have them brake torque in reverse and drive to see what it is or isn't doing.

And as far as feeling the difference? Yeah I feel a difference It feels like more of the power the car has is being transfered to the wheels instead of being wasted rolling the motor.

My experience thus far is, it has more bite into the road at heavy throttle, alot less front end lift when I get on it.

I like that.

 

really digging the tips how difficult was the install?

 

Not hard at all, did it in an hour taking my sweet ass time in my driveway.

The 'worst' part of the job was moving the factory strut bar to get the bracket under it, but that was easy, just remember the 2 bolts on each side of the firewall, access ports are in the windshield cowl.

 

My calipers are fucked....... Dust boots ripped, pistons sticking, hardware chewed to shit......

The new Legend calipers are being ordered today, along with new rear calipers, because those are just as fucked.....


NOW.......


First, should I get SS brake lines to go with it? I've read in alot of different places on the various forums here that SS lines like to fail..... I'm almost thinking I should stay OEM for now.... Anyone have any bad experience with them?

Second, what color should I paint the calipers and mounting brackets? Black over black? Black Calipers, silver brackets? Silver on silver?........ I'm not sure I want a really loud color on there, but if someone offers a pic of something different that looks nice with SSM?........

Third, because I have to dump a ton of money into maintenence parts, I find no budget for wheels..... Thinking of painting the stockies I have now.... What color would look nice with my car..... Gunmetal? Graphite? Maybe color match to my car? I don't know............


Opinions, statements, ?

 

Go ahead and get stainless steel lines while you are at it. Wish I would have now, but I'm goin to wait till I have to change the flui again. I would paint them either black or silver don't mix the colors on caliper and brackets IMO. I would just save the money from painting the wheels till you can save up for some wheels.

 

New calipers should be delivered today!

After careful consideration I have decided to go with blue calipers. I've seen a few pics of SSM cars with blue calipers, and I think it looks real sharp. Gonna go with 1200 degree high heat ceramic for the base coat, then multiple coats of blue, if it turns out how I think it will, it'll be a darker blue, not so 'electric' bright.


Incedentally enough, I also ordered the xlr8 motor mount package today, as my current mounts are going south even more.... starting to get some torque shifting in my wheel now..... I just hope this car dosen't become a rattle trap with the fixed mounts, however, I am definitly going to appreciate the fact I should never have to do that job again for the life of the car.


Pics will come as parts come in!

 

look, i like anime porn just as much as the next guy...

wait.. this isnt lewd and non nude section..

whoops.

 

FINALLY got everything in..... Sometimes I REALLY HATE my parts-house...... Sometimes it seems they TRY to fuck everything up, but they finally got it right!

Let there be PAINT!



Install comes tomorrow!

 

Got the new calipers all the way around installed! I think it turned out pretty nice!









Got the new xlr8 motor mounts in today as well..... well..... most of them......



Notice something missing????

They failed to include the other mounting bracket for the front / rear..... They are making good on it, although I would have liked to seen them next day air it to me rather than waiting 5 days for the missing part to come in.......

The excuse given was the boxes come pre-packaged from the manufacturer, it's their fuck-up. Seems to me maybe XLR8 should VERIFY what comes to them before they blindly sell and ship.

Just as a word of advisement to everyone considering ordering from them.... make them OPEN and VERIFY everything is THERE!

 

ALOT has happened in my life these last few months, so I had to go MIA......

These were actually purchaced and put on a while ago, maybe a couple weeks after my last post above. Got a steal for them, $300 for the whole set







As soon as I get up enough cash, suspension parts are next..... needs them pretty bad.......

 

Comin along, those wheels are very uncommon.

As for the motor mount issue, yes it sucks, but from a retailer standpoint (me), it would take an unbelievable amount of time to go through EVERY box that comes in, just to avoid the 3% of boxes that aren't right. Good to hear they are taking care of it though!

 

Very true^^.

Unfortunately op, you were the very small percentage that that happens to.

What do you plan on doing to suspension? Just lowering it?

 

I'm over it, have been for some time, installed the front and side, waiting on the rear for when I get headers.... Would totally order from XLR8 again, they are good guys over there

Thinking coilovers would be a bad idea, would hate for them to sieze up in these michigan winters with all the salt, probly gonna go good struts and some lowering springs.

 

Been quite some time since I updated, so here it goes!

I've done a few things....hehehehe......

Got a nice bonus at work for Christmas, so I got a timing belt kit AND an OBX Racing under drive pulley!





Boy that pulley really woke up this motor!!

http://s1049.beta.photobucket.com/us...e2cd8.mp4.html



So the next day after installing the pulley I go to do the timing belt replacement.... Only to find......




Looks like a frickin new belt!!!!! I'm thinking the previous owner got it done before selling the car, there's no way in hell this belt has 160k miles on it + 10 years old!





Proof for everyone Aisin parts are Honda o.e.!


Today I installed my new Ingalls adj. Camber low profile upper control arms, lower ball joints and tie rods, inner and outer.... Don't have pics of them yet, but will very soon!

Coming soon is going to be a nice suspension setup, but I'm still tossing around some ideas of what to get.......

 

how is the idle with the UD pulley? have you tried turning all the accessories on? any decrease in performance in things like radio/AC/heat?

 

With ALL accessories ON, everything runs slower, wipers move a bit slower, lights dim a little, but that's with literally EVERYTHING running including brakes and turn signals.

I don't care one bit if my blower motor runs a little slow at a red light, the power the pulley creates is far greater a boon than losing a little accessory power

 

I can't wait to lower this beast now!

 

Looks good do those allow you to adjust camber?

 

yes

 

How adjustable are they? Eibach makes a set of camber bolts that adjust -1.75/1.75, I've been debating getting those.

 

Ingalls makes 2 different sets, the ones I got adjust from -1.0 to +1.25

I didn't want to go with the more radical set, as I am still stock, and when I DO get to lowering the car, it will not be slammed due to our roads out here....