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That's one beautiful FD bro! Much respect. Which lip is that again, saw it before but forgot? I was thinking of the mazdaspeed rep from shineauto, but I think I much prefer the one you're running.
That's one beautiful FD bro! Much respect. Which lip is that again, saw it before but forgot? I was thinking of the mazdaspeed rep from shineauto, but I think I much prefer the one you're running.
Its the Mazdaspeed carbon fiber lip from Shineauto!
I am equally thankful for the help I have had from those who have had their part in the car up to this point, mainly Anthony, Adan, and first and foremost, my father.
It feels amazing to finally have it how I've envisioned it for so long
It took me 3 years, with a lot of planning, consuming my life as a passionate hobby / obsession.
The whole thing has been so much fun. And Im not going to lie, it was a little bit stressful at times too.
These are the results of the countless hours spent, and a great amount of care put into this car.
It has been a very personal experience. And it has been my attempt at building a dream car.
Every single one of these cars is special. These cars are functional art in the manner that they evoke emotion and inspiration to many people all around the world. Not to mention they are one of the most exceptional sports cars in history.
It is my opinion that it is all of our responsibility as owners to preserve, maintain and most importantly, enjoy these unique machines to the best of our ability.
BRO! I just did this!! (Right click and save) these are my new desktop background pics
Thats a gorgeous FD! You've done an awesome job!
Congrats and now enjoy it!
I picked up an AEM water/meth kit on Black Friday
And also a Titanium rear strut bar from Japan. Super nice piece.
I haven't installed either yet. Just been enjoying the car, the weather has been great this spring.
I didnt like the burnt look that came on the titanium bar, so I removed it with some hydrochloric acid "Blue Remover". It worked really well.
Got the titanium rear strut bar installed this summer!
Looks awesome, and definitely adds some bling to the interior.
Also recently, got the car professionally detailed with a 1-step polishing and System X MAX – 10 year Graphene Ceramic Coating as well as the glass done.
Results turned out phenomenal for a 1-step and the car is incredibly smooth to the touch, as well as much more protected now.
Plans for next year are installing the AEM AI kit and hopefully, finally, bringing this baby to some car shows!!!
Love the rear strut bar and how you can still use the interior strut caps, makes it look that much cleaner. I wonder if you can still use the privacy cover with it as well?
Love the rear strut bar and how you can still use the interior strut caps, makes it look that much cleaner. I wonder if you can still use the privacy cover with it as well?
Yeah, I'm not sure about that! I never had the privacy cover with my car.
The hip new word seems to be "OEM +" these days, but your car is the text book definition on proper execution - keep up the great work!
Thanks Rick!! Clean OEM + is exactly what I am going for
I cant wait to see your car back on the track! It has to be getting close!
Originally Posted by theunitedforge
Hows the pineapple racing keg holding up? Nice build here, lots of stuff!
Also hows that kaaz 1.5 way lsd? Im currently driving a mazdaspeed 2 way that keeps acting like its welded -_-
Thank you! The Pineapple Racing keg is in great condition. It has about 25,000 miles on it, and was put in the car in 2004.
The KAAZ 1.5 LSD seems to be doing its job fine enough. It gets clunky at low speeds around turns. But other than that, it does its job well enough.
Recently Picked up a new daily driver.
2001 first gen Tacoma 3.4L V6 Off-road Prerunner with 155K miles. Super clean truck with one of the best engines ever made.
Its in such good condition, it really doesnt need anything.
I'm very happy with it so far.
Recently Picked up a new daily driver.
2001 first gen Tacoma 3.4L V6 Off-road Prerunner with 155K miles. Super clean truck with one of the best engines ever made.
Its in such good condition, it really doesnt need anything.
I'm very happy with it so far.
We're on the same wavelength lol great choice. Just got mine a couple weeks ago. 2000 3.6L 4x4 SR5 with rear locker with the TRD-Off Road package as well. Just doing preventative maintenance on it, changed out the original 25 year old radiator with an OEM replacement, all diff fluid + transfer case, rear axle seal+bearing replacement (had a leak), rear brake cylinder replacement and brake shoe replacement with trans filter, oil and engine oil change. Oh and fuel filter and charcoal cannister.
In June going to do a complete paint job on it, and eventually get bilsteins and 33" tires setup on it. Currently have body spacers from previous owner, 32" tires and and the current shocks are still good so no point in jumping the gun with that now. Love the truck to death.
Picked up some Efini Key blanks from Japan. Nice touch to the overall car.
Also realized that the car was missing something I didnt even know it originally had at one point.
Picked up a BubbleTech trunk release trim piece. Love BubbleTech for their super easy installs, and amazing OEM-like quality products.
Finally got the car to a CAT scale to weigh it. Been wanting to do this for ages.
I have always wondered how much the car weighs, it seems like for everything removed, something else is added.
(Remove the 30lb spare tire? Add 30lbs of chassis reinforcement!)
Really satisfied with how close the car is to breaking even to its factory curb weight
This is the weight of the car with a 3/4 tank of fuel, no bodies.
Amazing how close it is to 50/50 distribution.
I think the 60lbs bias towards the rear might be from the massive lead acid battery, the fuel tank, mazdaspeed spoiler, and the half cage in the car.
I am now considering switching to a Lithium Antigravity battery lol.
It has been super hot here these past few weeks. It makes driving and working on the car less desirable
While driving the car last week I turned on the AC for the first time to really use it. Unfortunately, I soon discovered that it doesn't work. The compressor activates, but the air that comes out of the vents is the same temp as the ambient air outside. So I have been going down the massive AC rabbit hole on the forums. I decided I will probably bring the car to a local Mazda dealership for an evac on the system. I also bought some cans of R12 refrigerant, still haven't decided if I want the dealer to do the recharge or if I want to do it at home.
As for everything else, the car is running great.
Planning on eventually installing the AEM Water Meth kit this summer.
So, on 7’s Day I took the car up a canyon and the coolant temps got pretty hot.
It was on a hot day, and the car was going up a steep hill the entire time. 102C was on the PFC.
After the got back home I decided to address multiple issues with the car simultaneously in the following months.
Replacing the old Fluidyne Radiator that has a small leak, updating the Air Conditioning system and at the same time, installing the AEM Water Meth kit I bought 2 years ago.
As well as looking into the leaking Oil Thermostat that came with the Sakebomb Garage Dual Oil Cooler Kit.
So come September, with the garage temps a little cooler and a few parts acquired, the work begins with tearing everything out of the engine bay.
I personally have never dug this far into an engine bay before. I was a little hesitant at first, but after a while everything came out pretty easily and quickly.
And the further things go, the more things I realize I need to clean, replace, fix, or improve.
Pulled the super old crusty Fluidyne radiator out of the car
The leak looks like it was from a damaged fin or weld, I wasn’t 100% sure.
Gutted all the old OEM AC Lines, compressor, condenser, dryer. out of the car.
I didn’t evacuate any refrigerant out of the system, I did test the schrader valves on the high and low side of the lines before disconnecting anything.
I honestly think there was nothing in the system for a very long time. Hilariously, when I broke apart some of the connections, literally DUST came out lol
With everything out of the front of the car, the first priority was to remove the evaporator to determine what type was installed in my car. Turns out it was a MANA Evaporator.
MASSIVE SHOUT OUT TO JP3 Motorsports for innovating and making all the super awesome AC Kits for our cars, as well as providing the YouTube instructional videos. Top Notch products and Customer Service.
The evaporator removal was actually not that hard, and surprisingly, I did follow the JP3 how to video on YouTube.
The evaporator itself was not too dirty. Compared to what I’ve seen from others online lol.
Hit it with Simple Green coil cleaner and hosed off with gentle water before compressed air.
The next day I did the same with the ASP intercooler
Pulled off the Alternator, and saw some coolant residue on the water pump housing. Turns out everything was put together with gasket maker.
No OEM Paper gaskets anywhere on the pump or the housing.
Upon further inspection of the water pump, the pulley was shot, squeaking, and overall, just looking bad.
Initially I was just going to replace the water pump, but the decision was made to pull of the whole housing.
There was also coolant seeping from the coolant level sensor. And all the nipples on everything were corroded pretty bad.
HOLY CRAP this was quiet the challenge.
A few of the studs holding the housing to the block came right out, and a few were literally fused to the housing through the electrolysis of the coolant leaking into the housing and then being mixed with the steel stud and the aluminum housing. We double nutted and torqued the crap out of it while twisting the housing back and forth and eventually it got loose enough to spin it out of the threads completely.
Even with the housing out of the car, the stud was still fused in the housing. We PB blasted it and hammered it out with a punch.
Once you have it all back together, do a coolant system pressure test to make sure you got all the leaks fixed. Also, might be time to replace some of those old coolant hoses while you're in there.
