Would you look at that, first time I get to see your pictures work computer did not let me see anything..
Really nice look with the black and white. Flows so nice that it takes away from the wheels.
Some charcoal would flow nicely with it and I feel like painting the spoiler would as well.

 

Pearl white can be unforgiving as it ages. I don't think your car originated with that front chin.

And OT, but dig the crazy wheels on that silver sedan in the background.

 

I did have the spoiler painted gloss black. It was originally carbon fiber.

Yeah the previous owner bought it and put it on.

 

I got a new panavise mount to replace my proclipusa mount. The proclipusa mount kept getting kneed the rare times I had passengers in the car, even if I told them specifically to watch for it. It was causing it to be less stable. When I installed my dashcam and had to mess with the panel, it failed to the point I was ready to replace it. It was also annoying how it was so low and easy for people to knee.

The panavise will be much harder for people to knee. The vents on the G are more rare than many car vents and I don't want to block them or totally prevent the ability to move them left/right.

The panavise mount screws into the top right screw behind the radio controls and feels very well built.

The panavise phone holder SUCKS. I returned it because despite the same company making the mount, the company failed to ensure that the tone control isn't unusable as a result of the phone mount. Another unacceptable issue is that when you pull the phone out of the holder, the holder comes off the mount with the phone. TOTALLY USELESS!

So I bought this Arkon mount. The downside is it doesn't come with screws or nuts to secure it to an AMPS plate. I used the ones from the panavise phone holder :>.




This one is great because you can adjust the angle/elevation/position in so many ways. You can adjust it at he part where the phone holder is AND the part where the mount is. I positioned it in the pictures above in a way where it's angled towards my face, is out of the way of the tone control, out of the way of the shifter, and as far away from the passenger as possible. It seems well built so hopefully it will last. I'm sick of having to go through different phone mounts/holders because they fail or have serious issues.

 

Today I got the SOHO catback with the ThaiTanium resonated Y pipe installed.

When I have the time I will provide a video and measurement of sound. I also have measurements of the Stillen catback with FI RHFC and a hallbuilt single exit with stock cats. I measured these with the same standards/methods that Commiefornia uses.

I'm still in the process of a retune as I need to buy some clamps for my intake. There's apparently an issue with the car not being consistent in it's demands. The tuner says I'm running rich after the car is trying it's best to remove fuel, at times. At other times it's not happening. He said I may have an air leak and asked me about my intakes. I showed him and he noticed no clamps. It was my understanding that the Z1 couplers could be used without clamps lol.

So I'm going to buy clamps for the couplers at the TBs, the couplers later down the pipes and the couplers for the PCV system that go into the pipes and pick up on tuning process from there.

Anyway, here are the pics of the exhaust work:







Now, onto the issues. The shop pointed this out to me. They showed me how the left exhaust pipe was too close to the sway bar and said it would rattle. They said there were no adjustments they could make to fix it. I contacted SOHO and they told me to email them pictures. I'm awaiting a response from them. Here are images:






After I decided to head home with this issue, they were commenting on how they don't like how far the tips stick out. I told them I DO like it and I had asked SOHO beforehand about this and they told me they stick out "slightly past the bumper". I explained my reasoning was fear of burning the bumper (and wrap once car is wrapped). So here's an image of just the tips.



In addition to awaiting a response from SOHO, I was thinking of upgrading the sway bars to ones of smaller diameter to get around this. There ARE rattles, but they are minimal and at certain RPMs. But still, it bothers me.

 

Alright, here's a cold start and rev with the new exhaust setup. I will provide more videos after retune.

https://i.imgur.com/6d3hjSd.mp4

 

I ended up putting shims under the bushing for the hanger where the tips/mufflers are. I put grip tape on them and cut them down to size and figured the weight with the friction of the grip tape would hold them in. A few days later I noticed the left side one was sitting on my garage floor. I haven't checked yet but I think the right side one is still there as I don't hear a rattle and haven't seen it anywhere.

My tune should be finished up now. I got a re-tune from HighMileRacing this time. His eco map is supposed to get you around 29-31 mpg. My old one got me around 19-20. I assume that first number was a highway quote, which is what my latter number was. Plus, you can do these types of flames:

https://i.imgur.com/aU6RAUL.mp4

I also put clamps on all my couplers for my intake and stabilized my AFRs.

 

On 4/16 I installed an upgrade to the Bose system.

The JL CP208LG-W3v3 and JL RD500/1.















I've since added velcro to keep the enclosure secure.

 

I got the Z1 Rear Camber Arms and Offset Eccentric Bolt Elimination kit installed today.



And new rear tires due to fast wear, as well as balance/align.

 

Well, you fixed the toe on the right rear, but that is still quite a bit of negative camber. Those Z1 arms look nice. I had Voodoo on mine which looked nice and worked well too.

 

Yeah I don't think they actually did what I told them to do. I had a lot of disappointment with that Firestone location. The front desk employee came out and claimed that they were not able to adjust the camber arms at all. And I obviously took issue with that because obviously they are adjustable. So I brought the guy out who did the work he was trying to explain how whenever he changes the camber that the toe gets messed up. Of course I already knew that but he was telling me that it's not the case that he could not adjust the camber arms. I don't know what their problem was but I don't think they did a very good job.

 

-2.6° is somewhat severe for a DD. Not insane, just... a lot. But more than that, it's a noticeable difference from -3.0°. I bet you can see with your eyes that your right side is at more of an angle than the left. Either way, at that angle, you're going to wear through your inner edge well before 10k miles.

Unless there's a local reputation that brought you to a Firestone shop, I suspect most box stores like that just do alignments for OEM setups. You might want to network around for a good speed shop, the kind that regularly caters to lowered cars.

Your trunk looks pretty cool.

 

Yeah I looked at it for that reason and compared and I can see the difference. It's annoying.

I scheduled the alignment at a local firestone, where 2 car enthusiasts work. I met one of them at a car show in town and they let me know the previous car owner saw me around town and was wanting to talk (and had some parts). I bought the car from the dealer and didn't know the previous owner before that. These two people worked on the alignment when this guy used to own the car, at this same shop.. but since then they have changed their hardware and now they can't get my car up because of the incline. One of those guys reccommended me to a specific person in another Firestone location in a different city. I called, and came by.. and mentioned the reccomendation.

The person I asked for didn't do the work. Someone else did.

Aside from other various issues I had at this other location, the front desk employee wasn't even talking to me about the results he had in his hand. He was trying to charge me and I asked how well they were able to get it in spec (since I heard him discussing alignment results earlier with another customer). No response. After paying he claimed the "copier isn't working" so he can't give me the sheet and I can take a picture of it. He told me that they were "unable to adjust the camber arms at all". I said "well, it has camber arms.. and they are adjustable... so......". He brought the guy out, and he was explaining how when he changes camber it changes the toe. I confirmed with him it wasn't the case he was unable to change camber at all. I think he's lying becaues he got brought to the front. I don't think they changed the camber.. I think they just tried to fix the toe and it modified the camber. May have to call a corporate number and see what I can get done.. or call that store back but I doubt they will do much for me.

But I could also keep trying to find somewhere to get the toe bolts installed so I can get it fully corrected.

 

^ Well that sounds like the SAME BS I was told by the stupid chain stores I tried (NTB, Firestone etc)
- our printer is broken
- your car can't be aligned
- you modified it so it will never be in spec
- blah blah blah

I got under the car and checked, and I could tell they didn't even touch the camber arms.

Do yourself a favor and find a performance shop with an in ground alignment rack and a tech with more than 1 brain cell. After I did that my car has never tracked better. They got the alignment in spec and they didn't even need the toe bolts.

 

Yeah I figured that was the case so I'm going to try to get corp to get them to fix this issue or I'm going to request a refund and if they don't do that, I'll charge it back.