Tweet
Alrighty turdheads, everything in my first post here will be shiz I've posted elsewhere on the site, but I'm gathering it all together and will post further updates in this thead so I don't keep cluttering up the boards with lameness.
My car the day I bought it:
I picked up my first turd in '06 after my wife got rear-ended driving my beater Olds. The car was totaled out so I took the cash and dumped it on the '00 SL2 you see now.
Spent the first year or so just lurking and soaking up knowledge and am just now finally starting to spend time actually working on the car.
As it sits right now:
Exterior
I painted the headlights, tinted the sidemarkers and tails, wired the sidemarkers to blink and so far have replaced all four turn signals, sidemarker bulbs, and the 3rd brakelight with LEDs. Also, those are 17" BSA 233 wheels wrapped in Toyo rubber, still working to afford to drop the car but it's not a super high priority at the moment.
Interior
I installed a start button (and wrote a write-up, search for it if you want to do it), replaced the cluster with one from a Vue, replaced the bulbs in that with blue LEDs, put blue cold cathodes under the dash, and up top that's a TomTom One (left) and a BEL Vector-series RD over the rearview mirror. I threw some plexi in the oven to shape the bracket and it's just held up there with some 3M high-heat double-sided tape.
Engine
I'll get a pic of my very dirty engine bay once I've cleaned it up. In there right now I have an ebay WAI, an ebay STB, and some MSD wires. Also, my original muffler was rusted out and since I'm wanting to replace the exhaust anyway I went ahead and bought the muffler I'll be wanting then, it's a twin-loop and already sounds great.
Planned:
Exterior
I have a paint job in mind that'll leave the lower 2/3rds of the car silver and the top 1/3rd or so a darker metallic. I'm also wanting to drop the car and do some work in the grille area, haven't found material that I like yet, I'd prefer to go with some heavier honeycomb stuff if I can find a big enough piece. I also have enough high-power LEDs en-route to finish the tails and not have to worry about that tint being too dark. Still, I'm thinking this weekend I'll do some sanding to lighten them up before I clearcoat. If I wreck them I still have enough Niteshades to start over.
I'm also looking for some black emblems.
Interior
I have a full hide of very nice suede and leather, I'm waiting on some tools to do the stitching so I can re-wrap the dashboard and do the door inserts and headliner. I'm also wanting an overhead console of some sort in which to fit an SAFC.
Tint will happen in the next few months.
I'm also watching for a deal on a Pioneer DEH-P77DH. Haven't decided on a sub yet.
Engine
I ordered the '99 IM from 04blownion and will be mating it to a GSI TB I've had kicking around here for a while. Verdict is still out whether I'll run a shorty or CAI off of that, I'll probably try it both ways and see which one works better for me, I have pretty cold winters to consider.
I'm also wanting to find a header (not sure if Hotshot made one for 3rd gen, I'm looking) and am saving for Thermal R&D catback though with that twin-loop muffler a glass pack might be smart to cut down on buzz.
I'm also looking for another block to do a turbo build-up without having the car down for more than a weekend at a time, if the worst happens I'll still have my mostly stock motor on which to fall back. Since this car is my beater I'm not gonna worry about a tranny swap on this motor, I'll mate a manual to the build-up motor and do the rest of the swap when we drop that in. No ETA yet as I'm still doing my research and am bleeding cash (married).
By necessity I may be going over to a slim radiator fan in the near future, mine doesn't seem to be kicking in and the car has been overheating in traffic.
More to come.
My car the day I bought it:
I picked up my first turd in '06 after my wife got rear-ended driving my beater Olds. The car was totaled out so I took the cash and dumped it on the '00 SL2 you see now.
Spent the first year or so just lurking and soaking up knowledge and am just now finally starting to spend time actually working on the car.
As it sits right now:
Exterior
I painted the headlights, tinted the sidemarkers and tails, wired the sidemarkers to blink and so far have replaced all four turn signals, sidemarker bulbs, and the 3rd brakelight with LEDs. Also, those are 17" BSA 233 wheels wrapped in Toyo rubber, still working to afford to drop the car but it's not a super high priority at the moment.
Interior
I installed a start button (and wrote a write-up, search for it if you want to do it), replaced the cluster with one from a Vue, replaced the bulbs in that with blue LEDs, put blue cold cathodes under the dash, and up top that's a TomTom One (left) and a BEL Vector-series RD over the rearview mirror. I threw some plexi in the oven to shape the bracket and it's just held up there with some 3M high-heat double-sided tape.
Engine
I'll get a pic of my very dirty engine bay once I've cleaned it up. In there right now I have an ebay WAI, an ebay STB, and some MSD wires. Also, my original muffler was rusted out and since I'm wanting to replace the exhaust anyway I went ahead and bought the muffler I'll be wanting then, it's a twin-loop and already sounds great.
Planned:
Exterior
I have a paint job in mind that'll leave the lower 2/3rds of the car silver and the top 1/3rd or so a darker metallic. I'm also wanting to drop the car and do some work in the grille area, haven't found material that I like yet, I'd prefer to go with some heavier honeycomb stuff if I can find a big enough piece. I also have enough high-power LEDs en-route to finish the tails and not have to worry about that tint being too dark. Still, I'm thinking this weekend I'll do some sanding to lighten them up before I clearcoat. If I wreck them I still have enough Niteshades to start over.
I'm also looking for some black emblems.
Interior
I have a full hide of very nice suede and leather, I'm waiting on some tools to do the stitching so I can re-wrap the dashboard and do the door inserts and headliner. I'm also wanting an overhead console of some sort in which to fit an SAFC.
Tint will happen in the next few months.
I'm also watching for a deal on a Pioneer DEH-P77DH. Haven't decided on a sub yet.
Engine
I ordered the '99 IM from 04blownion and will be mating it to a GSI TB I've had kicking around here for a while. Verdict is still out whether I'll run a shorty or CAI off of that, I'll probably try it both ways and see which one works better for me, I have pretty cold winters to consider.
I'm also wanting to find a header (not sure if Hotshot made one for 3rd gen, I'm looking) and am saving for Thermal R&D catback though with that twin-loop muffler a glass pack might be smart to cut down on buzz.
I'm also looking for another block to do a turbo build-up without having the car down for more than a weekend at a time, if the worst happens I'll still have my mostly stock motor on which to fall back. Since this car is my beater I'm not gonna worry about a tranny swap on this motor, I'll mate a manual to the build-up motor and do the rest of the swap when we drop that in. No ETA yet as I'm still doing my research and am bleeding cash (married).
By necessity I may be going over to a slim radiator fan in the near future, mine doesn't seem to be kicking in and the car has been overheating in traffic.
More to come.
Comment