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Be careful when you lift the car under differential, you don't want the housing to crack, you may want to place hockey puck or piece of wood in between.
@primavera: No worries, my jack has a rubber insert in the cup that supports the car. It should nicely support the diff spread over the cooling ribs. Good tip though.
@MikeFig82: I will do a full review of my suspension setup (KW V3's, Ultra Racing bars) soon. Many people seem to be interested.
Onwards with the build...
Cleaned and painted my brakes. Looks a lot better. Still want something bigger though, but I'll have to figure out what fits. Maybe something from a gen3 GS430/460. These 19's make the brakes look so tiny. For now they at least are clean. Painted the hubs black, calipers with some Alfa Romeo 694 Grigio Sterling I still had from my 156.
Up next I threw on a GFX front lip.
And last but not least I ordered a Tanabe Medallion Touring axle-back exhaust. Will take some 3 to 4 weeks before it's here from the States. Really excited what it will look and sound like. Had it on my Honda and loved it.
@MikeFig82: I will do a full review of my suspension setup (KW V3's, Ultra Racing bars) soon. Many people seem to be interested.
Onwards with the build...
Cleaned and painted my brakes. Looks a lot better. Still want something bigger though, but I'll have to figure out what fits. Maybe something from a gen3 GS430/460. These 19's make the brakes look so tiny. For now they at least are clean. Painted the hubs black, calipers with some Alfa Romeo 694 Grigio Sterling I still had from my 156.
Up next I threw on a GFX front lip.
And last but not least I ordered a Tanabe Medallion Touring axle-back exhaust. Will take some 3 to 4 weeks before it's here from the States. Really excited what it will look and sound like. Had it on my Honda and loved it.
Thanks,
You're really going to like the Tanabe. I hesitated to get it, because I didn't want the extra noise. It's the perfect exhaust not too loud almost just like stock. It really makes the rear end pop. I get compliments all the time on it. Just let it break in. It will melow out I'm about 2500k miles on it barely.
Finally managed to get my hands on an OEM look spoiler. Also bought a roofwing of the same guy. Fitment is very nice. Now search for a decent bodyshop that doen't charge half a million to get them painted.
After some weeks of waiting (had to be shipped from the US to the Netherlands) the Tanabe is on. Absolutely love the way it looks and sounds. It's really nice and quiet on long trips and when cruising, but has a nice burble to it when you floor it. Only could have been a little louder at high RPM's, but I might just get an intake to compensate for that. I was thinking about an Invidia mid pipe but I don't want to riks it starting to drone on the highway or being loud like a Civic (been there, done that, pissed the neighbours of).
New exhaust made for a good excuse for a little shoot.
Has been a long time ago I posted something on here...
Did a few updates in the mean time.
Just before winter I decided that I didn't want to put on the ugly and damaged winterwheels I had. They were some ugly aftermarket 18's I bought the car on. Good thing was that I had the right sized tires for a nice pair of wheels...
So I got in touch with the guys at Showoff Imports and they made me a sweet deal on a set of Rota Grid's. Yes, I know they are rip off TE37's, but Rota makes quality reps. They are light, strong and decently finished. Good enough for winter.
Went with a set in Matt Bronze. Sizes are 18x8.5 +30 F and 18x9.5 +30 R. Tires are Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme S in 225/40/18 F and 245/40/18 R.
After that I finally got my spoilers to a bodyshop and had them painted 1G0. Also dropped the car some more.
Next I did some less noticable updates.
Because I had some vibrations while braking I replaced the OEM LCA bushings with some stiffer ones from Hardrace.
And because I don't particularly like my neighbours I bought an Invidia midpipe to complement the Tanabe axle back that was on the car already. Still not a 100% sure I like how loud it is on cold start up's in the morning. It really is on the edge of being too loud.
Once you step on it and get to 3000rpm you forget all that though. Damn, does it make a great sound when driven in anger.
With winter almost over I started to make plans for the next mods. Decided I wanted to perfect the stance of the car. Not like hella stancenation million degree camber fender to lip kinda crazy, but just a bit more agressive. I already bought some parts to do this. Got some APR extended studs to be able to run some spacers. Since clearance at the front will be an issue (like on every 2IS) I also ordered a Hardrace front camberkit. Will give it a degree more camber to gain some clearance. Will have to roll my arches and shave the front bumper tab a bit. Then I can throw the extended studs on and measure how much space there is for spacers. I think I will go to something like a 20mm rear and 12mm front.
To fill the wheels some more I also bought some calipers from a wrecked '08 GS450H. I think these are the same calipers as found on the IS350. Also ordered some new pads and disks for all 4 corners. Painted the calipers in Alfa Romeo Grigio Sterling to match the rears. Just have to get some stickers. Also ordered some braided brakelines.
For now I put the car back on it's 19" Work's and adjusted the height to match. I think it will be very nice when it sits just a little wider on it's wheels and has these 335mm brakes on.
Beautiful car! I had no idea these came with cloth interior, that's pretty cool! Your pictures are amazing and those wheels look incredible. I wonder if they'd work on my 2010 AWD?
06-14-18 | 04:41 AM
