Update time!
Lot of things have been installed recently!
The car has been lowered for a few months now, and I like the way the wheels sit in the fenders, but being 18" wheels, it still sits a little higher off the ground than I want it to, so it was time for some aero/aesthetic parts. I picked up a brand new set of side skirts, and a like new front lip from a local for $50 for all three. The look was good, but apparently it was too low for daily driver duties, as I snapped the front lip in half with 2 weeks of it being installed. (On that note, also got ran off of the road but a tractor trailer that wasn't paying attention, which snapped my rear diffisuer in hand...:angryface
Rounding out the aesthetics upgrades was a TRD-style duck lip spoiler. Looks okay, but I'll be replacing it soon enough; most likely with a VIS trunk.
I've had the Kartboy shifter, and the Perrin shift bushing installed for a few months now as well, and the shifting experience still wasn't smooth enough for me. I added a Raceseng Slammer shift knob to try to remedy that issue. My first impressions of it are great! I've been using it for about 2/3 weeks now. The quality is great, the feel is great, and it really made a noticeable difference in every gear transition except from 1st to 2nd. I've got a full Motul 300 fluid change planned to see if that helps me at all.
One of the very first mods I did to this car was to install spot mirrors, as the blindspots in my car were really bad. They got the job done, but I decided to pick up the blue-tinted Rexspeed concave mirrors as a more permanent solution. These are truly a must-have for this car! The blind spots are almost totally eliminated, and the blue tinting really helps with the annoying headlight glare from other motorists at night.
Also made some lighting upgrades. Sold my Valenti tails, and bought some JDM Tom's tails. Really like the way the all red housing looks with the Ultramarine!. I also added LED license plate bulbs, and switchback turn signals from Diode Dynamics.
On to the performance goodies! Some of you may have heard about my issue with 1320 and the leaky header they sold me. After fighting with them for weeks, and gaining no ground, I sold the header as a project header, and picked up a RevWorks UEL header. This one had already had the collector reinforced, and was professionally checked for leaks. I have to say, the sound is great, and it's so nice to not have a leaky exhaust! Lastly, I installed the Perrin True-Cold Air intake. I was really apprehensive to take the front bumper off, but a buddy a few beers later, and the job was done!
A few pictures, showing most of the mods:
I'll be dynoing the car on August 6th at PTuning in Manassas, hopefully I'll be in the 210-215 RWHP range. Stay tuned for more updates!