tbang

I'll start with the general introduction. My first car was a disaster and not so tragically was totaled by a friend and no one was hurt so no harm done. My second car was also a disaster, but a good disaster. 95 240sx. All it took was one drift video from Japan on YouTube and a few episodes of mighty car mods and I dove head first into some modding that was way out of my league as I promptly purchased an sr from my neighborhood friendly jdm shop and somehow managed to get it running just barely. At the time my modding theory was, "run it till it breaks then replaced it with whatever I can afford at the time" with a job at McDonald's whatever I could afford usually wasn't much. It should be no surprise to hear that I went through 3 turbos, 2 motor rebuilds, then a long block swap before the oil pump cracked and I finally said forget it, granted in much more colorful terms, and gave the shell to a friend under the conditions that he store all of my blown Sr motors, help me rebuild them once I graduate and move back, and lastly that he uses the shell on his rb swap, which he did. Please learn from my mistakes, sr20s can be incredible and reliable motors, but not when you're an ignorant jackass like I was. I promptly quit my job, bought a sonata (after not having a car for 3 years), got back into college (LSU geaux tigers!) and did my best to forget about cars. Then, on a whim, I took a friend to test drive an rx8 that I had seen on autotrader, just to test drive it. She was an 04 with 75,000 miles. Not ideal, I had heard the horror stories of all that goes wrong with the 04s and high mile rotary motors in general. But then I drove her, power was underwhelming but came on quick and was consistent and I couldn't get over how she revved for days. Everything mechanically and maintenence wise checked out. The guy wanted 8,000 I got the sonata for about that a few months ago so I talked the dealer down until we traded car for car and with no money out of my pocket, a dropped jaw on my friend and a big smile on my face I drove home with Roxanne.

I find Chrome to be tacky so first things first I painted the wheels. I'm also quite particular with which wheels I like, the person who had her before me put on what I have identified as some cheap enkie wheel, not great but at least they're not some cheap eBay wheel, also good tires so that was nice. I was leaming towards all white wheels, roommate liked black so we did one of each, and fogged out the tail lights.

Bracket for the clutch pedal snapped and it wasn't a recall just an out of date extended warranty I had to buy a new one, but I double checked it and it's got the proper reinforcements. Next there was some serious body roll and general slouchiness from the rear end, both rear struts were blown which leads me to last week.


Stance super sports. The install wasn't too bad, took me probably 5 hours including a food break. I followed a write up I found here and it was very helpful. Here's how she sits.
Attachment 200750

Dirty, I know, I have to park her outside because of where I live. Also, sorry about the quality, these are all pics from my phone, which has a crack across the camera.


That's how she sits now. I saw someone is a speed 3 with the flying m cut up like that and I loved it so thanks random mazda owner for the idea. Other than that on the interior I've wired in an aux cable to the cd player, another write up I found here. In the near future I ordered some purple plastidip for the wheels and badges, I think it'll look good but if not, no harm done I can just re dip them another color until I get proper wheels. Speaking of proper mods, I plan to auto x her occasionally but mainly dd. I've learned here that bolt ons are useless so I'm focusing on tires and suspension. Maybe a bigger radiator for some peace of mind. I'll post as I mod, I'm loving this car the more and more I drive it.

rickeo

iTrader: (1)

I don't recommend you do, but if you plan to keep those wheels, these would make a world of a difference.

tbang

Yes spacers are a must for me. I'm waiting until I can roll my fenders though. I'd rather do it myself but if I can't find a roller then I'll take it to a shop. I can't justify buying one because I'll only use it once maybe twice. Anyone in the Baton Rouge area have one I can use?

tbang

Purple plastidip came in this week. I wasn't able to start till later in the afternoon so since its cold I'm going to wait till tomorrow to peel off all the over spray. As someone who has painted his fair share of wheels among many other things, using plastidip has been much easier and less time consuming and much cheaper. Granted it's not going to be the same quality as proper paint or powder coat. It's great for trying out more outlandish colors, like this bright purple. I'll get better final product shots tomorrow morning when I get up.


Speaking of tomorrow, I'll be in New Orleans for the drift event at nola motorsports. If you see a guy napping in a hammock at any point, come introduce yourself!

kops

iTrader: (1)

Nice car, but I'd call it a day with the rims...

tbang

Rims are the next thing to go, however, I plan on buying a proper set of wheels so it's going to take me a bit to save up... in the mean time...Purple!

rickeo

iTrader: (1)

Oddly enough, it.. is better than chrome...

tbang

Haha it was cheap chrome so it was horribly tacky in person. I want to make it pop a bit more, so tomorrow I'll probably peel a spoke off the driver front to reveal the white paint because Ken Block and Jdm. If I don't like it, which I am leaning toward, I'll peel the rest off and redo it. I still have a can and half. Those pics were from today at nola motorsports park. I was the only 8 there! C'mon guys, I know you don't have girlfriends so you're not tied up on a romantic weekend with anyone. If you happen to luck out and have found that lucky lady, then it's high time you spent a shady afternoon with your hot mistress like I have today with Roxxanne. Yes I spell Roxxanne with two x's now because she's so sexy.