Wow, you've been busy.....

 

Hopefully you don't have to do it again, but if you do...lift the back seat one side at a time rather than going at it from the middle. It makes it much easier to do with one person.

Nice progress so far!

 

Nice progress so far, can't wait to see more.

 

Well almost there. Glad I went with 2012 tails. Just gotta get the exhaust in and do inspection.

 

Looking gooooood!!! Can't wait to see the exhaust put in.

 

I can't believe how fast you are getting all this done! You're a beast!

 

Wow that was pretty damn fast. Looks great! Can't wait for more pics man.

 

I wish you had your body shop in the Chicago area, I would have brought my Grigio TL to you to fix!

Fantastic job on the rear, pics look nice!

Cheers,

Nick

 

The rear bumper on the passenger side isn't aligned properly. Otherwise looks awesome. Great job.

 

Don't get me wrong I LOVE my 3G, but your making me want a 4G... im anticipating the long to come finished product!

 

Great work so far, glad to see that the car would be back on the road soon

 

Great job man. 2012+ tails looks right at home. Not to take anything away from but I however would of did the 12+ rear bumper conversion simply because it's hasn't been done on a Grigio that I know of. I also prefer the location of the licence plate which is a little higher up and I like the smaller reflectors. It would of been a good look IMO. Well done regardless.

 

Thank you. Picture was taken with the bumper hangin on the top clips only. Not a finished product yet just another progress pic. Once it complete there will be a pro shoot.

I thought about that but after comparing both with their lip kits on i like this one much better. Plus i"ll have a custom quad exhaust wich again frames better on this one.

 

Beautyfull! It's amazing how funny the rear looks without the exhaust. Can't wait to see the new tips.

 

Damn... your moving along! You should paint that silver piece in the rear the same as the car.

 

When are you putting the exhaust on??

 

 

wow great stuff in this thread!

 

Quick update...

Car is at a new shop where it will get inspected and new mufflers welded on.

Test fitted everything today and looks doable. The only problem is, and this is for anyone that wants to do the same muffler/tip set up, magnaflow mufflers are much longer than the factory ones and passenger side muffler has to be welded on under an angle (i'll post pics when its done). Tips will be staggered about quarter of an inch.







Gotta say I enjoy walking up to this ass every morning already and its not even finished yet

 

Very impressive work!! Keep it up!!

 

Car is coming along great.. keep up the good work.

Do you ever though about doing a 2012 conversion up front? I love the way the newer front bumper looks.

 

So got the exhaust installed today, overall very happy with how it turned out. Wasn't a professional installation by any means, a friend of ours that was doing inspection on it offered to get those on and since i'm planning to upgrade to ATLP in the future I let him do it and I think he did a great job for what its worth.



As I mentioned before the hard part was to squeeze behind the muffler since it's longer so there wasn't much room left to work with. Way to make it work was to weld it under angle....and it works.







As far as sound when I drove of the lot I was disappointed. Sounded a bit loud for my taste but then I realized that no carpeting in the trunk whatsoever could have something do to with that also.

.....I gotta say though, after I took it out on open road and hit it with paddle shifters...omg I'm in love lol. Specially downshift from 3rd to 2nd has a nice deep garble to it, sounds pissed off, never thought just mufflers could make such a difference but again I never had a true dual exhaust either.

I'll record a couple videos and take good pics later. Brought it home finally tonight and tomorrow gotta iron out couple minor things and then its completely finished.

 

Looks neat!

 

nice job.. but dont you think the exhaust tips are sticking out from the bumper just a tad much.

also you could have just made your passenger side exhaust with flanges so that you can bolt it on to your midpipe rather then just welding the whole damn thing. that way you have a cleaner job.. that welding looks shotty.

 

Great job. Looks awesome. Loved this thread. Have a blast .....until the next one.

 

I'm not crazy about the exhaust because the tips look too big and as pot said they're further out than I'd like. That being said, if you think that a set of mufflers is too loud wait till you get ATLP, XLR8 or Megan for that matter, all the aftermarket options IMO are too loud. MY currently setup is perfect in my opinion; HFPC/long jpipe. Loud when I want it, near stock quiet when I don't.

 

Not bad-you'll get used to the sound.

 

Had my camera in the car on the way home from work today decided to snap a few pics of it finally cleaned up.











Love this car, seems to be a great balance of performance and luxury. Got used to the exhaust tone now and liking it more with each day.

Speaking of exhaust, to address the concern of it sticking out a bit to each its own I guess. It was welded in with a though of a lip kit being installed in a very near future and I think it will look just right.

Appreciate everyones support and feedback through out this restoration. At this point I see this as ground zero. Now we build

 

Just over a month ago it was a totaled TL & now it's is a fantastic looking TL. Congrats on your ride & the way it came out.

Cheers,

Nick

 

 

Switchbacks installed

 

When are you getting the lip kit for the rear?

 

I was hoping to get the full kit before winter and then wheels/coils in spring but I was offered some vossens yesterday for a reasonable price so those might end up collecting dust in the basement til spring instead. I pushed pretty hard to get this car restored in a short period of time now gotta chill and recollect myself lol.

In a mean time I'm getting little things out the way. Hated the yellow DRL lights and ended up installing some LED 9005 with resistors to match new switchbacks. Much better now. Phillips 6000k bulbs are on the way to replace stock HIDs as well.

 

What happens when you go to sell this car with a Salvaged Title?
Was it worth it to put this kind of money into the vehicle? How much do you have invested so far?

 

Is it worth it? Every penny...ONLY because i'm doing about 80% of the work. For anyone else that has to have this done somewhere it would be pretty pointless. When a potential buyer comes to look at the vehicle I let them take it to a mechanic of their choice for inspection to give them a piece of mind. I also document the reconstruction so there's nothing hidden and clear what was done. I make something on the car every time its sold, might not be much sometimes but never lose a dime. Buyer is also happy because in this particular case they would get a car under book value with no flaws since car was hit in the trunk all mechanics and drivetrain was 100% unaffected so it drives like the one off the lot. I DO NOT buy to flip, i buy it for myself and usually keep the car for few yrs.

Figured I would answer since this is not the first time you ask me this, seems to really bother you for some reason.

Either way not seeing this car go any where for a while, I love it.

 

My intention was not to bust balls! I think it's great that you were able to restore the car and I like the looks. I was more concerned that you didn't get burned down the road. In addition, I see a ton of salvaged title cars here in South Florida, pretty cheap and have wondered if they would be worth gambling on.

 

Got ya. Honestly I've heard a ton of horror stories out there, not sure if I would be able to buy a salvage fixed vehicle lol. Guys welding two separate frames together, welding door hinges to the car etc. Unless you know the story behind it I say don't gamble on it.

 

Good shot Grig....the coordinating lights look good.

 

Those welds are horrible.

The rest of the car is looking great.

 

Wow nice work! The headliner and new paint look great, ...............