ivtaku7's Ultramarine Mad JDM Daily

[ivtaku7]

Well now that it's finally warming up in the Northeast I've been able to get under the car and make some improvements to the cars handling. When I order the coils the guys over at RCE helped me put together a list of all the parts I would need to get the most out of the car as a weekend toy. In addition to the coils, I've added SPC LCA's, Whiteline Subframe Inserts (KDT922), Whiteline Differential Bushings (KDT925), Whiteline Front Control Arm - Lower Inner Rear Bushings (W0509), and the Whiteline Positive Traction Kit (KDT926).

Right now I've only had the time to do the Subframe Inserts and Diff Bushings, but the difference is night and day in terms of driveline slop. Shifting feels much more direct and the power to the ground feels more immediate. Without a doubt, I would recommend these two products to anyone.

I'll report back when the T0s, LCAs, and other bushings are installed for final impressions before I put better tires on.

[ivtaku7]

Before I put the summer set back on I decided to dip them Vintage Gold with a few coats of Glossifier. I'm pretty happy with the color and the way they came out. I'll probably test a few more colors before I decide on the color of an aftermarket set.

[TeutonicShift89]

It's a subtle look on those rims. I have a lava I'm looking at powder coating the stock rims gold as well--just got to pick which color. Someone shared PrismaticPowders.com and maybe it'd be worth a look for you too as well.

How are your winjets doing? Was the HID worth it? Any unforeseen issues come up?

[ivtaku7]

Originally Posted by TeutonicShift89

How are your winjets doing? Was the HID worth it? Any unforeseen issues come up?

The Winjets are fine, no fogging, hazing, or condensation. Light output for the HIDs is solid and in my opinion worth it to match the bulb color to the LED strip. If I was going to do it again I might consider retrofitting them, but for now the plug-n-play kit suits my needs and the wiring is pretty tidy.

[ivtaku7]

Whelp, as of 4/30 the RCE Coilovers, SPC LCAs, and all Whiteline bushings have been installed. Pressing out the old bushings was a big pain in the ass, even with less than 10,000 miles on the car there are signs of rust and I'm glad some of those parts have been replaced. The SPC Toe bushings absolutely had to go in. When we got everything installed and did the first toe measurements in the rear I had about 1.5" Toe Out and that's when we determined the Toe Bushings had to go in and now I'm sitting at about 1/8" Toe In without a laser alignment.

First driving impressions are that they were worth every penny. The coils feel great, slightly stiffer than stock, but not overly rigid. I'm excited to get a performance alignment and was thinking of just going with something within RCEs recommended settings (Camber: -1° F, -1.7° R; Toe: 0 F, 1/16th Rear; Caster: 6.5° F), but I'm not an expert and open to suggestions for a car that's a weekend toy on stock wheels.

Now that the springs are settled it's dropped about 1 & 1/8" in the front and 1" in the rear

[ajaxthebetter]

Maybe a typo, or maybe I'm reading it wrong, but you'll want your camber adjustments reversed. IE 1 degree rear, 1.7 front. On the first page of the meaty tire thread, Jive turkey throws out some solid alignment specs--I'd read through his advice as well.

[ivtaku7]

Originally Posted by ajaxthebetter

Maybe a typo, or maybe I'm reading it wrong, but you'll want your camber adjustments reversed. IE 1 degree rear, 1.7 front. On the first page of the meaty tire thread, Jive turkey throws out some solid alignment specs--I'd read through his advice as well.

Maybe the RCE instructions are wrong then because that's straight from them. But I'll take a look at that thread.

[ivtaku7]

It's been a while since I last made an update, but I finally got an alignment and some spacers from @B2 Auto Designs to get rid of the goofy sucked in look of the car lowered on stock wheels. The quality of the spacers is excellent and overall I'm really happy with the way the car sits currently. We knew after installing the coils that the alignment was going to be pretty out of whack since there's only so much you can do with toe plates and a manual camber gauge, but it turned out to be worse than I thought. Word to the wise, go get a professional alignment as soon as possible after installing coils! I also picked up some white LEDs for the trunk, dome, license plate, and side markers from @Diode Dynamics which go really well with the headlights and definitely brighten up the interior/trunk at night.

Alignment Specs


Before Spacers


After Spacers

Couple extra cell phone pics