Car is back at Kilo having the engine reinstalled. The wheels have also been swapped out, ending up with a more aggressive "evil" look. I like the old setup a lot, but I kind of dig the new look.

Some pics. The engine is not in yet so it should all come together once the front end is lowered from the weight. We will then dial in the height of the front and back. The new rims are 10s on the front and 11.5s on the rear with 275 35s on the front and 315 30s on the rear.

Pics:

 

Love the new wheels

 

Looks great! The red in the wheels kind of turns it up to 11.

What's the deal with the bumper lights? I do not see your Audi style lights.

Vince

 

damn david that thing looks pissed. great.

 

^ Thanks for the compliments guys. I'm really liking the new look. Pissed and angry is what I was after so hopefully I'll get there.

Regarding the Audi style front turn signals, they are here with me while the car is in the shop. Wanted to try to improve on the distribution of light and see if I could brighten them up as well. I've got three new test light "tubes" here on the workbench so we will see what I come up with. So far, none are perfect so I am going to try a few other ideas to see which one is the best.

 

Thanks Gordon. Ironically the front will get an emblem, they just hadn't put it back on when the pics were taken. All of the emblems on the car (Flying "M") have been painted matte black to match the wheel centers so you won't see then nearly as much as the stock ones. Hopefully this will allow me to keep the emblems without the car looking too cluttered. In fact, the emblems outside of the front are on the car in the pics I posted.

I guess I can always take them off if they don't turn out the way I imagine.

 

That thing is mean looking! Love those wheels!

 

Damn that's looking really good! The red strip and wheels are a perfect addition.

 

im sure your painter knows, but i would hold off on the tape and clay (for the vents) as well as the emblems for a while to ensure the paint is cured.

 

Very nice. Def like the no emblem look also.

 

Thanks for the comments guys, I appreciate it. Tvon, I really am glad I added the red stripe to the wheels as the look is what I had imagined. Just enough bling to draw your eye to them but to also give a nice overall effect.

SuperDan, gotcha on giving the paint time to dry. The body shop did not want to add on a clear bra for at least one month so we are waiting on that. They did put on the blacked out emblems though so not sure why that was okay. I guess they figured the surface area for those was not great and they used silicone to attach the emblems.

As to the no emblem crowd, I really like a nice clean look and you get that without adding in the emblems. My strategy was to matte black them out so they still give a clean look but to add the "Mazda" name to it all if you look close enough. The emblems are there, just not in your face like the chrome ones were. Now that I don't have polished lips on the wheels, though the blacked out approach was the way to go.

 

WOW what a difference!!! SICK!!! Love the new look but then again i have a special place in my heart for black wheels with red ahahahhahahahahah

WELL DONE David


by the way, Gordon should not be allowed to use the "QUOTE" option at the bottom of the page. i've gotten used to the fact that he has never used it and kind of like it!!!!!

 

^ Thanks Simon. I am sure my brain remembers the red stripe idea from your car as it looks killer on yours. I think it adds a new dimension to the car.

As for Gordon I can only lead him in the right direction and then it's up to him. He does have a retro thing going though doesn't he?

 

Looks great but the those little pictures are a big tease.

 

^ LOL. Keep on keeping on Gordon

 

Yep, they are a bit puny aren't they? Don't know how that happened but it just builds excitement for the next set of pics

 

looks like ill have to drive it again so i can give you comparative feedback about the changes.

 

^ Will do and I think you'll notice quite a bit of difference as when you drove the car, it had major problems and was putting out only a little above 400 WHP. You'll definitely feel the 675 WHP versus that. Of course you drove like a grandmother so it may all be a moot point

 

David I couldn't imagine what 675whp feels like. The fastest fd I ever been in was Rxman720b's red 3 rotor from back at the 2004 Sevenstock. He gave me a ride because he knew I had bought my own 20b the previous year and was about to start my conversion. To this day, I will still never forget that experience. He was making around 550whp and that scared the **** out of me. Where you ever able to put that power down?

 

^ Trey, yes I could put the power down. With the big sticky Michelin PS2s on the back, and with control of the throttle, it really isn't that big of a deal. Now if you romp on it, all hell's going to break loose, but the power can be managed quite nicely.

Curiously though, since I don't consider myself a great driver, I drive the car at low boost (12 PSI = 575 WHP). This just gives me a better sense of comfort, albeit maybe a false one as that is still a lot of power.

 

Looking good david.

 

As the saying goes "I will lead a horse to water but I ain't going to suck on his *** to make him drink"

Gordon....don't use quotes....it's better that way!

Again...car looks sick. You still plan on painting it?

 

^ Too funny To answer your paint question, look back 2 pages for the answer. Hint - it's all nice and shiny!

 

in my defense it wasn't my car, and I would take care of anybodys car. plus I wasn't very familiar with it.

 

^ I'm just poking fun at you and do appreciate the care you took. Next time we will romp on it a little though as it will be healthy