Time for something 12 degrees Different (56k No No)
by ACProductions » Tue Nov 01, 2011 5:17 pm
Hello all! (PREPARE FOR A NOVEL!!!!)
My name is Amir and I'm a long time lurker of this site and have finally decided to make a thread. I was holding off making a thread earlier so I could show more progress on the Lara. Alas being a broke ass student one can only do so much.
Some of my history. I've been into cars for about 7 years now (I'm 22). I went through all the stages, ricer, know it all, ghetto rigging mechanic, and now after all my learning (mostly through mistakes) I'm finally here.
I come from the Honda Scene, more specifically the Honda Prelude. I've had about 6 or 7 over the years and well, I wanted to try something different and a little more unique.
I don't have much experience with modding Solaras. In fact the only experience I do have is rocking the parents 97 Camry V6. Man o man did I use to abuse that thing, in a loving manner of course. I tinkered with it, adjusting things like the Throttle kickdown cable for harder shifts, or smoothing the edges on the manifold valve, eventually I went on to stick a 50 shot and shortly after ruined the transmission.
I tend to ramble a lot so bear with me, I'm almost done.
ANYWAYS, the time I spent with my parents Camry, truly inspired me to do something with that car. I was planning on a TRD supercharger and a Manual swap but the Car had to go to my brother. The upside of that trade was that I happen to stumble across my current Solara.
She hasn't been named yet but here she is. 2001 Toyota Solara SE
The day I picked her up after a gooooooooooooooooooooood cleaning
She was wicked wicked wicked dirty, inside and out, the inside was greasy, almost like it was part of the interior. No before pics
SO I got to work, I had to pass the Maryland Inspection and the car needed some much needed TLC. Full Tune-up, full brake job, and some lighting issues.
First off
Problem: Hazy Headlights
Solution: 3M headlight restoration kit
Wicked hazy
Wicked Clean
It's a night and day difference
Next Problem: Car runs like shite
Solution: Tune-up!
I am in the process of making a write up for tune up so stay tuned!
Nothing like getting a big box of parts. Puts a smile on my face errytime
Old SHITE dual prong plug
New Delicious Iridium
Old nasty PCV
New NGK Wires
Also done but not pictured: Oil change w/ a can of 6 cyl Restore, Air Filter, and Fuel Filter (yeah yeah I know)
NEXT PROBLEM!: Car won't heat the hell up
Solution: Change thermostat, hoses, and fans (not necessary but I had them) (Also trying to make a write-up)
That top THING was what was in the car. Bottom is the new thermostat
The 2 12inch slimfans I had sitting around after my last Prelude build. Sure the size is wicked different but I figure the higher CFM flow of the slim fans would make up for their smaller size
I ran into some issues here since I wanted to keep the factory plug and the pins on the fan were too big to work in the stock plug so I had to go through the hassle of de pinning the old fan connectors, re-soldering them, and re-fitting them into the stock connector.
Let me tell you, that was THE BIGGEST PAIN IN MY ASSHOLE. Seriously. End result? I only got the one fan wired up. The a/c fan can wait
Here are some misc pics when I was working on it.
Midway between putting on new brakes and fixing the strut mount
Yay! Shiny new rotors! Lifetime warranty too!
"Hey Amir, why is the back seat out?" Well friendly inquisitor, I had your classic rear end knocking noise, which I knew to be the sway bar links. Except they were tight, same with the bushings sooooooo I diagnosed it and turns out it was the Pass Rear Strut Mount. WHAT A BITCH! I had to take out the entire rear just to get to those 3 little bolts.
Midway through the brake job I had the rear caliper slide pin seize in the bracket and break off. yaaaaaayyyyyy
So I had to salvage a spare bracket from the junkyard.
Naturally lady luck decided to take a crap on my chest and after I finished up the rear brake, I moved to the front only to find that both front calipers are SEIZED!!!! BITCHY CUNT MC BALLSACK. ANYWHOS I rebuilt both front (thank god they were in a good enough condition) and got that all done.
Last problem: Half of the interior lights are busted
Solution: LED interior!! ( Also planning on making a write-up for this too)
Before:
After:
You may notice the fuel gauge light came out kinda blue (if you're wondering I used 6 SMD bulbs for the 194 main lighting and regular LEDs for the 74 warning lights)
Gotta get that fixed.
Managed to do 2 outta the 3 switches and the dials. The A/C switch requires soldering and I need steadier hands than my own not to screw it up. (The small wedges for the switches were single SMDs and the backlighting for the Dials were 3 bulb LEDs)
Also did the dome and front map light (6 SMD for the dome light and 20 SMD for the map light)
Also not pictured I did the trunk, glove box, ashtray, and cig lighter light.
Left to do?: All exterior lighting
But yeah. So thats kinda where I am.
My future plans include:
-TRD Supercharger (to be determined (I need to figure out if the motor can handle it))
-Kaminari Lip kit
-Rota P45-R Gunmetal Wheels (I was originally thinking 17's but decided they won't fit this big ass car. Maybe 18's)
-Tokico Hp Blues with Tein S Tech Springs
-OBX Exhaust
-OBX Headers
-NGK o2 Sensor CEL eliminator
-Fidanza Lightweight Flywheel
-ACT Stage 1 Clutch Kit
-Apexi SAFC II
-TWM Short Shifter
and to top it off a rather impressive Audio upgrade (Still in the planning stages)
I look forward to getting to know you guys and this community better over time. It seems a little dead (no offense) but with dedicated members like you guys I'm sure life will come back.
If you read all of this KUDOS! and thank you
My name is Amir and I'm a long time lurker of this site and have finally decided to make a thread. I was holding off making a thread earlier so I could show more progress on the Lara. Alas being a broke ass student one can only do so much.
Some of my history. I've been into cars for about 7 years now (I'm 22). I went through all the stages, ricer, know it all, ghetto rigging mechanic, and now after all my learning (mostly through mistakes) I'm finally here.
I come from the Honda Scene, more specifically the Honda Prelude. I've had about 6 or 7 over the years and well, I wanted to try something different and a little more unique.
I don't have much experience with modding Solaras. In fact the only experience I do have is rocking the parents 97 Camry V6. Man o man did I use to abuse that thing, in a loving manner of course. I tinkered with it, adjusting things like the Throttle kickdown cable for harder shifts, or smoothing the edges on the manifold valve, eventually I went on to stick a 50 shot and shortly after ruined the transmission.
I tend to ramble a lot so bear with me, I'm almost done.
ANYWAYS, the time I spent with my parents Camry, truly inspired me to do something with that car. I was planning on a TRD supercharger and a Manual swap but the Car had to go to my brother. The upside of that trade was that I happen to stumble across my current Solara.
She hasn't been named yet but here she is. 2001 Toyota Solara SE
The day I picked her up after a gooooooooooooooooooooood cleaning
She was wicked wicked wicked dirty, inside and out, the inside was greasy, almost like it was part of the interior. No before pics
SO I got to work, I had to pass the Maryland Inspection and the car needed some much needed TLC. Full Tune-up, full brake job, and some lighting issues.
First off
Problem: Hazy Headlights
Solution: 3M headlight restoration kit
Wicked hazy
Wicked Clean
It's a night and day difference
Next Problem: Car runs like shite
Solution: Tune-up!
I am in the process of making a write up for tune up so stay tuned!
Nothing like getting a big box of parts. Puts a smile on my face errytime
Old SHITE dual prong plug
New Delicious Iridium
Old nasty PCV
New NGK Wires
Also done but not pictured: Oil change w/ a can of 6 cyl Restore, Air Filter, and Fuel Filter (yeah yeah I know)
NEXT PROBLEM!: Car won't heat the hell up
Solution: Change thermostat, hoses, and fans (not necessary but I had them) (Also trying to make a write-up)
That top THING was what was in the car. Bottom is the new thermostat
The 2 12inch slimfans I had sitting around after my last Prelude build. Sure the size is wicked different but I figure the higher CFM flow of the slim fans would make up for their smaller size
I ran into some issues here since I wanted to keep the factory plug and the pins on the fan were too big to work in the stock plug so I had to go through the hassle of de pinning the old fan connectors, re-soldering them, and re-fitting them into the stock connector.
Let me tell you, that was THE BIGGEST PAIN IN MY ASSHOLE. Seriously. End result? I only got the one fan wired up. The a/c fan can wait
Here are some misc pics when I was working on it.
Midway between putting on new brakes and fixing the strut mount
Yay! Shiny new rotors! Lifetime warranty too!
"Hey Amir, why is the back seat out?" Well friendly inquisitor, I had your classic rear end knocking noise, which I knew to be the sway bar links. Except they were tight, same with the bushings sooooooo I diagnosed it and turns out it was the Pass Rear Strut Mount. WHAT A BITCH! I had to take out the entire rear just to get to those 3 little bolts.
Midway through the brake job I had the rear caliper slide pin seize in the bracket and break off. yaaaaaayyyyyy
So I had to salvage a spare bracket from the junkyard. Naturally lady luck decided to take a crap on my chest and after I finished up the rear brake, I moved to the front only to find that both front calipers are SEIZED!!!! BITCHY CUNT MC BALLSACK. ANYWHOS I rebuilt both front (thank god they were in a good enough condition) and got that all done.
Last problem: Half of the interior lights are busted
Solution: LED interior!! ( Also planning on making a write-up for this too)
Before:
After:
You may notice the fuel gauge light came out kinda blue (if you're wondering I used 6 SMD bulbs for the 194 main lighting and regular LEDs for the 74 warning lights)
Gotta get that fixed.
Managed to do 2 outta the 3 switches and the dials. The A/C switch requires soldering and I need steadier hands than my own not to screw it up. (The small wedges for the switches were single SMDs and the backlighting for the Dials were 3 bulb LEDs)
Also did the dome and front map light (6 SMD for the dome light and 20 SMD for the map light)
Also not pictured I did the trunk, glove box, ashtray, and cig lighter light.
Left to do?: All exterior lighting
But yeah. So thats kinda where I am.
My future plans include:
-TRD Supercharger (to be determined (I need to figure out if the motor can handle it))
-Kaminari Lip kit
-Rota P45-R Gunmetal Wheels (I was originally thinking 17's but decided they won't fit this big ass car. Maybe 18's)
-Tokico Hp Blues with Tein S Tech Springs
-OBX Exhaust
-OBX Headers
-NGK o2 Sensor CEL eliminator
-Fidanza Lightweight Flywheel
-ACT Stage 1 Clutch Kit
-Apexi SAFC II
-TWM Short Shifter
and to top it off a rather impressive Audio upgrade (Still in the planning stages)
I look forward to getting to know you guys and this community better over time. It seems a little dead (no offense) but with dedicated members like you guys I'm sure life will come back.
If you read all of this KUDOS! and thank you
FREE CHILTON MANUAL
The speed at which a woman says "nothing" when you ask her what's wrong is inversely proportional to the size of the coming storm.
The speed at which a woman says "nothing" when you ask her what's wrong is inversely proportional to the size of the coming storm.
-
ACProductions - Regular SolaraGuy Member
- Posts: 147
- Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 8:08 am
- Location: Havre De Grace, MD
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Musubi
