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Been a little bit but some recent things have gone on with the G. First I caved and decided to save the PSS and get the SPC camber set. Rear camber arms, new toe bolts, and Front upper control arms. Install went pretty smooth and brought to the alignment shop right after. Sketchiest ride I’ve ever taken. Tried my best to keep things as close to the were when I took the stock stuff off but the car was EVERYWHERE. Alignment came back and I am super happy to with the results. I did notice that the top of the front upper control arms will hit the top of the wheel well if I accidentally hit a brutal pot hole or something but haven’t had that issue in a while. Unfortunately car was hit in a parking lot, no cameras around so brought the car to the body shop to get fixed.
Wasn’t too bad but with the winter coming and the salt season I wanted to get it fixed asap. Body Shop did a great job on it. Next was getting setup for Winter. With the temps dropping I needed to get a snow setup bad. My stocks wont fit with the BBK upgrade so had to start looking at new wheels. Ended up with the Enkei EKM3 in gunmetal 18x8 +40. For tires I found a great deal on a set of Blizzak WS-80 since the WS-90 just came out they were on nice deals.
Test fit the wheels today to make sure they cleared the BBK before getting them mounted. Feel like this color makes the calipers pop more than the black.
Nice looking wheels, good choice. Can you please take side pictures of the wheels when they're installed? I just want to see how much they stick out past the front and rear fenders with 40mm offsets
Originally Posted by cmckenzie15
Been a little bit but some recent things have gone on with the G. First I caved and decided to save the PSS and get the SPC camber set. Rear camber arms, new toe bolts, and Front upper control arms. Install went pretty smooth and brought to the alignment shop right after. Sketchiest ride I’ve ever taken. Tried my best to keep things as close to the were when I took the stock stuff off but the car was EVERYWHERE. Alignment came back and I am super happy to with the results. I did notice that the top of the front upper control arms will hit the top of the wheel well if I accidentally hit a brutal pot hole or something but haven’t had that issue in a while. Unfortunately car was hit in a parking lot, no cameras around so brought the car to the body shop to get fixed.
Wasn’t too bad but with the winter coming and the salt season I wanted to get it fixed asap. Body Shop did a great job on it. Next was getting setup for Winter. With the temps dropping I needed to get a snow setup bad. My stocks wont fit with the BBK upgrade so had to start looking at new wheels. Ended up with the Enkei EKM3 in gunmetal 18x8 +40. For tires I found a great deal on a set of Blizzak WS-80 since the WS-90 just came out they were on nice deals.
Test fit the wheels today to make sure they cleared the BBK before getting them mounted. Feel like this color makes the calipers pop more than the black.
Start of winter mode happened today. Picked up the wheels being mounted and balanced and installed them today. Sorry for some potato pics since I was in a hurry. Gonna try and get a wash in tomorrow and take more.
Not too much went on this winter. The blizzaks were amazing and do not think I will ever run a non dedicated snow tire in New England again. Got some parts stored up for the spring, two main projects I am going to tackle are the sport bumper swap and my headlights redone. I already have the bumper just the trim pieces, lip and some paint. I have been contemplating whether to go with the factory painted one or the ebay lip. Price is what is is, I think with paint they will probably be in a delta I could live with going with the OEM painted. I am just worried that the paints are going to be a little off if I get the bumper painted and then add the factory lip. Anyone have experience with that? As for the headlights I already have the honey comb sti clear lenses for the swap ready to go. Just need to order some halos as I want to go quad halos and figure out if I just want standard white or RGB ones. Probably go with the standard white or switchbacks. I also will be changing bulbs and putting a switchback into the turn signal and want everything blacked out. Then I need to figure out if I want to DIY this or send to a shop. I know a shop quoted me like $800 for everything. Only part I am worried about is wiring with the headlights if I go diy.
Other than that during this quarantine time I am non essential at the moment so putting these big money projects on hold for now and may tackle my interior trim wrap. Funny I tried looking up wrap on Amazon and nothing is shipping until like mid April. I guess everyone is wrapping **** during this time. Here is a pic as well I got when it was snowing with a better pic of the winter setup.
Great picture! I also loved my Blizzaks while I had them on (I have an X sedan) and it felt even more planted and I had to work a little to make it let loose on slippery conditions
Great picture! I also loved my Blizzaks while I had them on (I have an X sedan) and it felt even more planted and I had to work a little to make it let loose on slippery conditions
Yea they’re amazing with the X. I’ve had some gnarly drives in some big storms heading up and coming back from Vermont this year and felt the most comfortable I’ve ever been driving in the snow. Car felt heavy and planted and only kicked out when I made her. Love them but I’m ready to get the PSS back on to really get into the corners again.
Been busy here and there since the last update. I am getting back into photography while I’m on this extended break so still learning, shot some of these pictures WAY too wide so apologize about them.
Ended up ordering some wrap online, nothing was really available on amazon that would get here in a timeframe that I wanted. I decided to go with a forged carbon wrap, I know its not everyone’s cup of tea but I wanted to try something I haven’t seen a lot of and went for it. As I ordered the wrap I also came to the conclusion that since I would be taking the shift console apart that I might as well switch out the shifter while its pulled. Got on eBay and ordered a q60 **** and shift boot. I originally wanted a carbon fiber **** with a blue accent but the standard weave vs the forged I thought would clash so went oem. Here is when things started to go south. Wrap came in early April, boot was shipped and on its way for a few days later and the seller I got the **** from said it was gonna be delayed then said it shipped, did not provide a tracking #, never answered me back and then cancelled the order on me after about a week wait. That kind of killed the vibe of the project. Ordered another and it came in yesterday so I ended up diving back into the project.
When the warp originally came in I wrapped the front of the instrument panel to see how it would look.
First Look on the car.
First thoughts were that it was different and I wanted to see it on more surfaces.
Couple days Later I tackled the front trim pieces above the glove box and to the left of the steering wheel.
With those pieces done with I was definitely liking the wrap more.
Ended up with some random weather and did not want to pop the doors until it a nice day and not off and on rain. I could have done them a couple of the days but with the delay in the shifter this is where I paused.
Fast forward to Yesterday and the shift **** arrived. The boot arrived on time like it was supposed to but I did not want to install the boot until I had the shifter.
First up was to swap the shift boot from the q60 to the g bracket. I ended up cutting holes for all of the pins to secure the boot but the rear would have been really tight and I do not know if it would have held or ripped. I ended up gluing the back portion to the bracket.
Next was to start wrapping all the individual pieces
Once everything was wrapped, put it all back together. Installed the boot bracket again with the new boot and moved it through all the positions and everything was great not too much resistance on the leather but enough.
Console and shift **** installed again.
Door trims are last up and once I get a break in the weather, going to tackle those. As for now I am trying to pause anymore interior mods (new screen & wheel) and finally pull the trigger and get this sports bumper swap done with.
So been busy trying to get everything taken care of.
Got the door trims all done and reinstalled back on the car. It is definitely a different feel inside.
Getting the trim off is the most absurd process. Next I decided It was time to get the bumper taken care of. First off needed to test fit the bumper to make sure it actually fit. It has been sitting in storage for over a year waiting.
Kind of a nice moment that it was finally on and that it fit. Now that it fit it was time to pull the trigger on getting it done. Ordered all the trim pieces from Z1 and new mounting hardware for the bumper.
Next up was the lip, ended up going OEM and picking it up at my local dealer. Kinda funny when calling the parts department to confirm it was the correct part I wanted the guy got a little enthusiasm saying barely anyone orders this they all order the regular bumper. Ended up with the pre painted oem lip for $300 and a nice little drive to and from that was greatly needed during these times. Could not find a urethane lip for aftermarket solutions. Seems they were all bought out and only fiberglass was left and was not trying my hand at that. Price of the urethane with paint would probably be very close to that. Called body shops and no one wanted to take the job since it was not an insurance job. Put out a call for help and was steered in the right direction. Car went in this morning to complete the swap. He wont spray chrome plastic which is the only downside so my shot at the outer edge of the grille being paint matched with the inner slats gloss black went out the door for now. My current grille is just plastidipped so I ended up purchasing one of the gloss black ones and going to have the painter spray some more clear on it. Old grille I will probably attempt the said grille myself. I bought k23 rattle can paint to paint my front emblem body color. Think it would be a nice touch to get rid of the chrome but to keep the contrast on the front grille instead of it just being blacked out.
Dropped the car off for paint on Monday. Grille, and new hardware were coming on Tuesday. Went to the painter to drop them off when they were delivered. I ended up taking the fog light trim since I wanted to wrap them gloss black thinking it would have be a nice touch. They are such an awkward shape so if anyone has any tips please share. I ended up not being able to get them to where I wanted at all with too much bunching up. By the time I gave up it was too late for me to paint as the clear would not really set in time for him to reinstall. Dropped them off at the painters today and got a sneak peak of the bumper and lip installed.
Its looking great, cant believe it took me this long to get it done but I am extremely happy with how things are turning out. Car is going to get everything buttoned up and then goes for a detail and ppf tomorrow. Hoping to pick it up tomorrow afternoon.
So emblem finally cured...I will not be posting a close up of it as it came our horrible. What I think really screwed me was when I plastidipped it before trying to get some out of the interior of the fuji was a main and I missed a lot. Ill order another one in the future and pray it. For now it looks fine from far away. I love the body color match though, think it ties the front end really together. It is a subtle difference but one I enjoy a lot.
Next up on the list will probably be getting the headlights taken care of.
Last edited by cmckenzie15; 05-11-2020 at 04:40 PM.
11-16-2019, 05:10 PM
