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Post by gold94corolla on Aug 1, 2014 23:10:36 GMT -5
Yep, I drove by there on I-10!! I didn't quite make it in to FL though
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Post by gold94corolla on Aug 1, 2014 23:11:35 GMT -5
Continuing where I left off... I got pulled over in Texas so they could search the car, and he didn't put the trunk carpet down right so it didn't seal. Well, I learned why the drain holes are normally plugged up. Dirt and pollen got all over everything, coated all of the stuff I had in the trunk. Dirty Trunk by gold94corolla, on Flickr So I pulled everything out ... all the carpets, the rear seat, the subwoofer..... and then hosed it out. Gutted Trunk by gold94corolla, on Flickr While the tail lights were off, I put the stockers back on, so that I could eventually mod the LED tails. OEM vs LED Tail Lights by gold94corolla, on Flickr Looks like this half stocked, and with the stock lights back on OEM SD Head lights 1 by gold94corolla, on Flickr OEM SD Head lights 2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr OEM Tail Lights by gold94corolla, on Flickr Then I figured what the heck, why stop there? Decided to gut the entire interior, everything except the main dashboard. Every single piece of plastic, carpet, and sound deadening came out and got thoroughly stocked. Seats Removed by gold94corolla, on Flickr Floor Carpet Removed by gold94corolla, on Flickr Gutted Interior 1 by gold94corolla, on Flickr Gutted Interior 3 by gold94corolla, on Flickr Gutted Interior 4 by gold94corolla, on Flickr Gutted Interior 2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr I washed the floor carpet like this.... turns out there was a cup of coffee spilled in the back! Got all that junk out, like new again! Carpet Washing by gold94corolla, on Flickr I had to put all the parts in the basement, since the pollen was in full force outside (no point in putting it back in the car, freshly washed, until after the pollen) Lots of Interior Parts by gold94corolla, on Flickr Ended up putting just the driver's seat, floor mat, and armrest back in so it was driveable. Drove like this for a long time lol. Ready to Drive by gold94corolla, on Flickr Then I re-ran the wires for the rear door LED strips by drilling a little hole for the wires to run through, instead of pinched in the door seal. Rewired Door Lights by gold94corolla, on Flickr Last but not least, was washing the outside of the car. Finally, all stock again! Car Finally Washed by gold94corolla, on Flickr The suspension was so much higher without all that weight in the interior lol Car Finally stocked by gold94corolla, on Flickr The car definitely drives quicker and louder without all that in there, but it did get old pretty fast. Oh, and I forgot to mention, that in order to put the stock headlights back on, I had to replace one of the low beam HID reflectors since I had broken one of the mounting tabs. Opened OEM SD Headlights by gold94corolla, on Flickr So that's it for "post-trip recovery", stay tuned for more mod-like activities.
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Post by gold94corolla on Aug 3, 2014 20:47:56 GMT -5
So, for the update that I wasn't looking forward to.... as most of you already know, less than 24 hours after taking this pic, I manage to side-swipe the back corner of a huge bus that was sticking out into my lane and didn't swerve enough to avoid it. It was just enough to clip the entire side of the car, from one bumper to the other. Wrecked Back Angle by gold94corolla, on Flickr Wrecked Front Angle by gold94corolla, on Flickr It knocked of the mirror, and destroyed the fender and two doors. The front door handle was broken so that it didn't work anymore, but the windows still worked fine. Front door doesn't close properly either, but still no leaks. Bent Door by gold94corolla, on Flickr It clipped the front tire a little, but not the front wheel..... but the back wheel did not escape damage. Damaged Rim by gold94corolla, on Flickr Of course there was no damage to the bus's bumper, but it left this weird film all over that I was able to easily rub off, leaving perfect paint underneath, not even a scratch lol. Weird Film Stuff by gold94corolla, on Flickr After rubbing it all off the paint and wheels, and taping the mirror back up, I was ready to go lol. stocked Front Angle by gold94corolla, on Flickr stocked Back Angle by gold94corolla, on Flickr stocked Side by gold94corolla, on Flickr I got over it pretty fast.... stuff happens. No reason to get depressed about it, though I still have to fix the damage. I did get a new mirror on Ebay though ($150), and I swapped my blue cover on so that it at least matched. New OEM Mirror by gold94corolla, on Flickr New Mirror Installed by gold94corolla, on Flickr Still need a new fender and new doors, not really looking forward to replacing the doors lol.
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Post by gold94corolla on Aug 6, 2014 23:27:01 GMT -5
Opened up the projector retrofitted head lights because the projectors needed to be redone Then I bought a brand new set of OEM replica head lights so that I could have brand new lenses. Ended up using everything in the new head lights except the painted bezel. One side opened Other side Put the painted bezels in the new head lights, put the chrome bezels and new HID reflectors in the old head lights, and closed them with the old lenses to create a complete set of head lights for backup, so I could sell the rare black chrome ones I just put back on. Installed 4300k HIDs in the high beams using the stock Denso ballasts (remember the low beams are powered by adjustable Bosch ballasts that are somewhere else in the engine bay). The blue arrows point to the components I installed for the high beam HIDs. The red arrows point to the low beam ignitors (they are external to the ballasts), and the green arrows point to the LED DRL switchbacks in the signals. I then experimented with a set of OEM LED DRLs from a 2IS. I had to trim them a lot to get them to fit, and ended up trimming it too short. It looked kinda cool, but really wasn't worth it in the long run. Made an inventory of all my extra HID parts lol Next up were the fog lights. Again, the lenses were ruined from the road trip, just like the head lights. So I bought some brand new OEM Depo replicas on Ebay for $200 something, and took them apart to swap in my painted bezels, just like I did with the new head lights. Old vs New fogs The new lenses are so much clearer!!! Even the yellow projector lenses look a lot clearer, and sure enough, the output is a lot sharper as well. (old is on the left, new on the right) Done! Perfectly clear, looks so much nicer (too bad the rest of the car looks like garbage lol) I guess that's enough pics for one post lol
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2014 18:12:39 GMT -5
I'm glad you're in the pat to recovery, you my friend are a real example of do not give up, after your experience with the corolla and now this I would buy me a pontiac Aztek and keep it stock for the rest of my live!!!
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Post by gold94corolla on Aug 7, 2014 21:01:20 GMT -5
lol well I'm always gonna mod, but my next car will be another upgrade, so hopefully not as many mods! But I gotta have wheels, suspension, and exhaust at least lol
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Post by gold94corolla on Aug 7, 2014 23:32:49 GMT -5
More stuff! So since I had that accident and destroyed the mirror, I was looking for replacements. I ended up ordering a pair of power-folding JDM mirrors with blue-tinted wide-angle blindspot eliminating mirrors. They have an amber LED signal built in, so I can get rid of the ghetto ugly signals I had before lol There are 15 LEDs facing out the front, and 3 LEDs facing down the side The lens carries the 3 LED side lights all the way out the back, so the signal can be seen from any angle I still had to buy the USA mirror, because I'm planning on swapping the mirror bases so that they have the correct viewing angle (LHD instead of RHD). Taped up the mirrors for painting Painted And clear coated.... I have never done clear coat before, but this is the real deal stuff. It has activator and must be used within 24 hours. I am hugely impressed with the outcome for spray paint!! The clear coat leaves behind this reflective dust lol... gotta wear a mask when spraying. Since I had to use the rest of the clear coat, I redid the front lip paint. Sanded Primered Painted (this is usually how it looks when I'm done and installing it back on the car) But now, clear coat! It didn't come out as well as the mirrors, probably because the mirrors had been painted and cleared before. The front lip came out with some serious orange peel. So I decided to learn wetsanding! Practiced on the mirrors (since I wanted to do another coat of clear anyway for durability). This is after 1000 grit and then 2000 grit. I thought it was fail, but then realized I needed to buff it with compound to get the shine back. I used Meguiar's Ultimate compound and a microfiber cloth by hand to stock it back up, which actually worked nicely. So I did the same thing on the front lip. 1000 grit, 2000 grit, and the compound with the machine buffer. Then sprayed another coat of clear, and it came out almost perfectly (well the orange peel was gone, just a lot of pitting from years of rocks) I then hit up the mirrors with another coat of clear Again, I had half a can of clear coat left, so I had to use it up. I bought another Altezza grille from Japan, one that was in perfect shape (mine had been modified with Bondo somehow and was coming apart). Painted it (this is what my first grille looked like when I installed it... just paint, no clear) Clear coated!!! Pic doesn't do the mirror shine justice. No orange peel on the grille, since it was already painted/cleared from the factory. Still had more clear coat, so I redid the rear lip. Sanded, primered, painted, and clear coated it. Came out great, but again with some orange peel. I had just enough clear for one good coat, so I'll do what I did with the front lip and wetsand/buff it, then spray another layer of clear. At this point, this what the car looked like. No lip kit, stock lights, and "stock" wheels back on. I sent the Works in to get rebalanced, since the one got a little chunk taken out of the edge. Thought the rebalance would help, but it didn't lol, so that was a waste. lol, the car looks so high off the ground with no interior or lip kit more to come
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Post by Rinconrolla on Aug 12, 2014 10:53:56 GMT -5
Looks real good !!!
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zigg
New Member
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Post by zigg on Aug 13, 2014 9:34:23 GMT -5
Wow you do a amazing job !!
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Post by gold94corolla on Aug 13, 2014 19:30:29 GMT -5
Thanks guys! After many many years of having a 7" screen in the car, I FINALLY installed a backup cam!!! I bought this one, due to it's flush-mount shape: www.sonicelectronix.com/item_40487_Crimestopper-SV-6820.EM.html When it arrived, it came with everything needed (including the hole saw and enough wire for a large truck lol) Crimestopper Rear-View Camera by gold94corolla, on Flickr Wanted to install it under the trunk bar with the license plate lights, so I removed that piece (which required gutting the inside of the trunk lid). The only place to install it was on the left or right side, to avoid the lights, mounting bolts, and lock. I picked the left side to match more where I sit in the car. Choosing a Camera Location by gold94corolla, on Flickr Drilled a hole in the plastic, inserted the camera wire, stuck it on with the included double-sided tape pad, and tightened the nut. Rear-View Camera Mounted by gold94corolla, on Flickr Next, I used the hole saw bit to drill into the trunk to run the wires. The poor saw bit broke just as the hole was completed lol Hole Drilled in Trunk by gold94corolla, on Flickr I couldn't be more happier with the fitment!!!!! 100% spot on. Rear-View Camera Installed by gold94corolla, on Flickr Barely visible under there Rear-View Camera Far Away by gold94corolla, on Flickr Standing at the trunk, it's slightly visible if you are looking to see it (I never see it though lol) Rear-View Camera Up Close by gold94corolla, on Flickr Ran the wires along the stock wireloom, and ultimately to the front of the car. (the wire is marked with green dashes) Rear-View Camera Wiring by gold94corolla, on Flickr Connecting it to the headunit was a simple matter of plugging in the video RCA, and connecting the ground and electricity to the reverse light power (which was already connected to the head unit, very easy). Turned it on, and it worked perfectly, first try!!!! Perfect output and alignment. Rear-View Camera Works! by gold94corolla, on Flickr Instantly loved it lol, I couldn't be happier with how this DIY came out. Should have done it years ago! Oh, and I've got this JDM upper dash compartment, but in order to use it, I'd have to remount my ScanGauge somewhere else, but I can't think of a better location. Oh well for the compartment! JDM Dash Tray Fitted by gold94corolla, on Flickr
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Post by Rinconrolla on Aug 14, 2014 12:27:23 GMT -5
looking good bro !!!
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Post by gold94corolla on Aug 16, 2014 0:11:15 GMT -5
More random mods! I replaced the old ugly hazed dome light cover with a new clear style, looks so much nicer! New vs Old Dome Light Lens by gold94corolla, on Flickr New Dome Lens Installed by gold94corolla, on Flickr Still got the two 5000k LED boards soldered in there, super bright New Dome Lens Lit Up by gold94corolla, on Flickr I got a new set of sidemarkers, they were supposed to be smoked, but they didn't look very smoked to me. So I easily broke them open and painted them flat primer black to match all of the other lights. Also redid the paint on the head lights, since it was looking scratched up (top 3 pieces are painted in the pic) Head Lights and Side Markers Painted by gold94corolla, on Flickr Sidemarkers came out very nice looking Completed Side Markers by gold94corolla, on Flickr Comparison to what I had before New Side Marker Comparison by gold94corolla, on Flickr Installed (I had to color the LED bulb inside from aluminum to black) New Side Markers No Tint by gold94corolla, on Flickr I didn't like that look, it didn't quite match the darkness of the fogs, and the lens ripples were too obvious. So I had to put a light tint over them after all (it was a dark tint on the old sidemarkers) Comparison again. Came out almost identical, though the new isn't as yellow looking and isn't chrome inside. New Sidemarkers Tinted Comparison by gold94corolla, on Flickr Much better match this time! New Side Markers Tinted by gold94corolla, on Flickr Yeah that was basically a waste of time, but I wanted to see if the smoked sidemarkers would be smoked enough, and then they worked, I had to improvise. I replaced the original chrome ball shift knob with this OEM Lexus knob out of an F-Sport, because it was perfect for my car. New IS-F Sport Shifter by gold94corolla, on Flickr New IS-F Sport Shifter by gold94corolla, on Flickr Re-mounted the sub to the back of the baffle board as to increase clearance, since I think the foam was hitting the metal Re-mounted Sub by gold94corolla, on Flickr Then I put all of the interior back in, because I was tired of the road noise, heat coming up through the floor, and generally not having an interior lol. Re-built Trunk by gold94corolla, on Flickr IMG_6488 by gold94corolla, on Flickr IMG_6489 by gold94corolla, on Flickr IMG_6491 by gold94corolla, on Flickr At some point before this post, I forgot to mention that I lowered the coilovers by a full two turns on all four corners, since it looked stupid without the lip kit and extra high due to lack of interior weight.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2014 1:46:52 GMT -5
Did you get a quote on the fixing of the right side?
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Post by gold94corolla on Aug 17, 2014 22:37:39 GMT -5
I'm gonna do it myself one of these days lol, it will be an interesting learning experience.
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Post by gold94corolla on Aug 19, 2014 22:28:09 GMT -5
So I went on another vacation after my trip around the country. The pics I'll be posting at this point were taken in late June/early July. I got a bit ahead of myself earlier with the modification pics, but whatever. The new fog lights are installed in these pics, but not the new side markers or reverse camera (to give you an idea of time line) I was able to take my bike with me because it fit easily inside without any interior installed lol Easy to Fit A Bike by gold94corolla, on Flickr Oh, the vacation was to Elk Neck State Park peninsula at the top of the Chesapeake Bay in North East, Maryland. So the pics again try and capture the scenery. IMG_6157-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr IMG_6160-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr IMG_6161-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr IMG_6162-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr IMG_6163-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr IMG_6167-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr At North East Lighthouse by gold94corolla, on Flickr
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Post by akuma64 on Aug 20, 2014 0:48:19 GMT -5
VERY impressive work man. Im less afraid to paint my parts on the car after seeing you do some of the work. Cant wait till im out of school so i can travel like you do haha
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Post by Rinconrolla on Aug 20, 2014 7:50:54 GMT -5
Love the speaker in the center of the seat
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Post by gold94corolla on Aug 20, 2014 19:19:03 GMT -5
Yeah Rincon that's the sub, and it's perfect since it means I still have 100% of the trunk space! VERY impressive work man. Im less afraid to paint my parts on the car after seeing you do some of the work. Cant wait till im out of school so i can travel like you do haha The secret to painting is 1) good paint and 2-part clear coat, and the 2) wetsanding/buffing/polishing I'm still learning though
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Post by gold94corolla on Aug 20, 2014 22:03:05 GMT -5
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Post by gold94corolla on Aug 21, 2014 22:22:14 GMT -5
Took some pics of the lights 3000k HID fogs only (custom wired) Fogs Only by gold94corolla, on Flickr Fogs + 5000k HID low beams Low Beams & DRLs by gold94corolla, on Flickr Low beams + white LED signal lights (DRL in dim mode) Low Beams & DRLs by gold94corolla, on Flickr White LED DRL (bright mode) + fogs Fogs & DRLs by gold94corolla, on Flickr Rear lights Rear Lights by gold94corolla, on Flickr Rear Lights Angle by gold94corolla, on Flickr Sunset pics! IS300 On The Bay by gold94corolla, on Flickr IS300 Sunset 1 by gold94corolla, on Flickr IS300 Sunset 2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr IS300 Sunset 3 by gold94corolla, on Flickr
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