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4 different sets of 19" wheels....not happy with any of them...I should probably sell them instead of being a wheel whore. That was my 2014 summer.
and yes ice...I should've went with 20s
2014 was a wild ride that ended early for me. Excuse the Instagram photos! It was an accurate timeline of things that happened.
Winter time and I had my white steelies rocking snow tires.
While still during winter, I received my long awaited Work Emotion XD9s. I always liked the XD9s, got it as a sick deal through work(Work wheels through work lolz). Very rare to see JDM wheels on a Euro.
It was winter and I liked the look
Bring it on Spring weather!
At Golden Gardens meet with Calbeee
I loved the JDM mismatched wheels but really wanted a colour scheme, like my distant distant VAG cousin, the GT3RS. So I got them finished in red.
At spring meet with Calbeee
Friends started getting bagged left and right!
Then there's the "Latest pic of yo whip at the Cypress waterfall". The photo that started the short trend:
Went to Stancewars 2014 at Bellevue College, photo by insomniac ft Calbeee in person.
Hung out with Seattle/Texas/Cali friends, it was a blast
When things go smoothly, something just goes horribly wrong. A man gets dumped by his gf, goes on a GTA spree stealing multiple cars and crashing them. I was the last car caught in the hijack spree. He crashed "Miley" a few kilometers away from my house as I got hijacked at the end of my block. Thanks to Cho for giving me a ride home, I swapped my Euro tail lights out for stock ones as I knew it'd be totaled.
Drove around the block in my friend's R34 GTR V-Spec. That definitely put a smile back on my face.
Dealt with insurance for too many weeks, they lost the paper work for Miley and my car just sat there. September rolled by and I got a new mk7 GTI. Much more refined, but too refined for my liking.
Will I bag it? No I don't think so. Will I modify it in any way? I doubt it. I bought springs and just lost the motivation to put them on or tinker with the car. Just going to go with the flow and save some money now.
TL;DR - improved on my own driving - was able to get 7 seconds faster just before my tires heat cycled out at the ridge
Spoiler!
I finally decided to make my own journal for my 2007 Lotus Exige S
The Lotus Elise S1 and S2 were originally a dream car of mine since 2000 when I first saw one in a magazine as an teenager
Before actually purchasing my Exige, I was driving a E46 M3 which I was tracking and enjoyed very much but as my friend was selling his Exige I knew that I had to get it or else I would regret this years down the road.
I was on the fence of actually purchasing the car until I finally drove it.
That very first sweeper I took going at 80km/h made me realize how different the car was compared to my E46 M3, and that moment I got addicted.
After I took ownership of the car, I quickly did an oil change and went to Pacific Raceway for a track day the first week.
despite being my first time on the exige at the track, i managed to run a very similar time to that of my modified e46 m3 which was a respectable 1:38:xxx
after the first track day with the exige, i had a rough idea on what i wanted to improve on the car and what i wanted to add
first mods that i put on the car were a larini dual tip exhaust and a difflow 5 element railer diffuser
shortly after installing these 2 mods i headed to another track day at the ridge motorsport park, which was my first time at the ridge actually, i instantly fell inlove with the ridge and preferred it over pacific raceway
that was the last track day of the 2012 season
during the winter i decided to strip my car and continue with the mods
at this point i decided to upgrade the suspension of the car and went with nitron 2-way adjustable coilovers
nitron vs stock track pack bilstein
before actually installing this set of coilovers nitron introduced their new 46mm race suspension which is an improvement over the older nitron 40mm suspension
i decided to quickly jump on the 46mm and sold the 2-way adjustable since it would probably do more harm than good as I would not know how to properly adjust 2-way coilovers anyways
after my suspension was installed i decided to improve upon the aero of the car to make it even more stable than it already was.
i added:
APR Canards
APR GT-200 Wing w/ Custom wing brace made by my good friend Austin at FFD
IMRP Side Sills
at this point the car was looking closer to completion in terms of aesthetics
shortly after completing these aero, i knew i had to balance the whole car by adding a splitter
the first concept of the splitter turned out to be too wide and not sticking out enough
since this first revision wasn't sturdy enough as it was flapping a lot on the highway i decided to remove it and continue to do more track days and get more seat time
in between 2012 and 2013, i decided to make the exige more reliable than it already is since the powerplant is from a toyota celica
stock exige s has fuel and oil issues when running r-comps so i replaced the stock oil pan with a baffled oil pan and also added a surge tank
to make sure the car had adequate cooling, i changed out the stock intercooler with a bigger intercooler from RLS and enlarged intercooler tubes
at this point i was very satisfied with how the car was handling and looked but under some highspeed turns i felt the front lifting a bit compared to before due to the imbalance of the aero setup.
with the help of Curtis from The Speed Syndicate, he fabricated an effective splitter that was chassis mounted to the crash structure of the car making it viable for the track
this pretty much concludes the journey of the lotus for now, i ended the season by running a personal best of 1:53:9xx at the ridge motorsport park
i still have some new plans for it from 2015 to improve it even more but we will leave that for another post in the future
Man was I ever exited! So exited that after only 10 days my spitfire was taken away from me.
While she was in the impound I had some time to reflect on how I was such a bad bad boy.....After many seconds of refection I snapped out of it and decided to order car parts.
Ohhh it was like christmas came early
Went from stock 17x7.5 to 18x9.5 wrapped in 255/35/18 PSS
Coilovers are a must
Stock exhaust is really hurting looking so I picked up a Tsudo
Then finished up the summer with a trip up to Kelowna
Started 2014 like this. Spun a rod bearing on Halloween 2013.
Tore the engine down, and rebuilt it. Wiseco pistons, 3rd gen 3SGTE cams, new intercooler with one piece piping, brand new OEM seals all around, new OEM ancillaries, new OEM hoses and lines, Cometic MLS HG, machined block and head by Alec's, JDM crankshaft, and some other little stuff I'm probably forgetting.
During the rebuild, scored some brand new Work Meister S1Rs from swfk.
Got it all up and running, then proceeded to fail aircare LOL. Slapped 3 months insurance on it, drove it for 1000 km, then road tripped to Long Beach for ToyotaFest. Smart.
On the way there, snapped a timing belt 100 miles north of Sacramento. Our convoy took refuge in a sketchy motel alongside I5, and swapped in an AutoZone belt the next morning. Took 5 hours total. Proceeded to bomb it down to Long Beach after we were done.
At the event.
There were over 40 MR2s there, so of course I didn't win anything with my otherwise stock car. Still, was a blast.
On the way back, the convoy hit a dead coyote on the road. In my defense, it's hard to avoid roadkill when going 140 kmh. It caused this.
Cracked my front lip. I stitched it up when I got home, and then snapped another timing belt. Just cuz I was missing a washer. Great. Replaced and fixed that, and around there I hit a pothole and blew out a rear tire.
So I slapped my old Meister S1s on the rear.
I then spraybombed them. Kill me.
Then, deleted EGR.
Finally installed a boost gauge.
Bought some tires, and mounted my S1Rs on the rear and relocated the S1s to the front. Fenders rolled by Serial Nine.
Replaced the alternator, got a new front lip, and 5 mm spacers for the rear.
Had another road trip, this time to Portland for a dyno day at KO Racing, an MR2 specialist shop. I didn't dyno my car, since it was literally the same as when I did it at RG (165 whp, 159 wtq). I just did it for the trip, and to hang out with other MR2 guys.
On the way there, some dolt backed into my car. Pain in the ass, total idiot.
Had a friend wrap the roof. It's off colour, but idgaf, lol.
Some Auto X stuff.
Got some engine bay bling. 3" intake pipe with a new filter.
And then right before I stuck her in storage, I handed her off to FastTrack to fix the side where the dude hit me.
Got the car back a couple weeks later, and threw her into storage. So end 2014 Woulda liked to have snuck in coilovers somewhere, but the lack of money said otherwise. Hopefully I'll get those over winter; finances are tight right now. If not, I'll get little stuff like more engine bay bling, maybe some suspension stuff, and get the coils during 2015 driving season.
Long story short, went from basically a stock run of the mill Element to one with most of the mods I've wanted to do for a long time.
ST lowering springs
Ingalls Stiffy engine torque damper
Gibson catback
DIY SRI
RBB intake manifold
OEM R32 GT-R wheels
Upgraded all the speakers
OEM SC tail lights
OEM '07 head lights
OEM '07 grille
Didn't track my progress in 2014 very closely, doesn't help that most of the photos I took magically disappeared...so here's a couple photos from the EOC meet I attended.
Upcoming mods for 2015:
Coilovers to upgrade/refresh my entire worn out suspension system (probably Ksports as they have higher spring rates and front camber plates and more adjustability than what TEIN offers for the Element)
Install front compliance poly bushings which I already have and purchase Function7 rear LCAs
Hopefully getting started on taking steps towards rebuilding my engine, either a full K24A2 motor swap or a K24A2/K20A2/K20Z3 head swap of some sort, with new pistons and cams. I'm craving A LOT more power than my current give or take 140ish whp. I'm aiming for at least 200whp but I'll probably have to strengthen my transmission at the same time. Probably won't bother with boosting as tuning will be a nightmare with an auto trans, will have a lot more issues than a swap or NA build.
__________________ [13-03, 11:25] MG1 when you hit the brakes, it shoots cum at pedestrian - bukkake
[12-03, 19:06] meme405 That e30 is so mexiflushed I thought we were in albuquerque
[12-03, 23:03] rb when i see a modded element. I have nothing but respect. either the parents kicked him out or the guy is killing hookers in the back
Driving it for winter earlier this year (winter tires = 0 issues at all):
Had a claim for front bumper, so I color matched some new bits and pieces:
before:
after:
got some wheels
photo shows the lips refinished by green's, faces waiting to be powdercoated
went to LA with BCMR2 with my gf with her own mr2, kakucaekz
took part in the #lookwhatyoustartedsteve cypress waterfall immediately the day after I got back:
daily for the summer, multiple sea to sky drives, some back roads from maple ridge to harrison, seattle a few times, etc
disassembled wheels, changed wheel face to piano white, changed tire size, get the front bumper re-done (paint mismatch):
another BCMR2 event with 30+MR2s: Ocean Shores, WA
pretty awesome, it's legal to drive on the beach here for miles and miles!
went autocross twice, original 24 year old clutch died on the 2nd one, codriving with immorality (it was my fault, not his):
replaced it with the help of le gf, mb_, and immorality:
and got a chip from the LA chip, which turned into a 3 foot crack the first day it was below 0...so I managed to get the very last available OEM windshield in California. thumbs up JP Surrey Toyota
then bent both right side wheels on a raised pothole...(alley between 22nd/normandy just west of boundary)
so just in time for storage, back to oem chrome to the dome wheels:
Short and sweet. The Mazda3 stayed the same throughout winter and spring, and I realized that I missed driving manual. After getting thoughts of lowering a Tiguan to lower (was going to be auto) I was informed that a freshly traded in mk6 Golf TDI had arrived at the dealership that ticked all my boxes (manual, not out of warranty by mileage, no accidents). Got that instead, and the work will begin in 2015.
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!
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Woulda liked to have snuck in coilovers somewhere, but the lack of money said otherwise. Hopefully I'll get those over winter; finances are tight right now. If not, I'll get little stuff like more engine bay bling, maybe some suspension stuff, and get the coils during 2015 driving season.
