My new mods

[cleong]

Your wife knows what she's talking about

[TickleTimeTim]

Originally Posted by cleong

Your wife knows what she's talking about

hahahahaha.
it's true, everyone down here in Little Rock (the hood) rocks steelies almost as bad as spinner hubs.

your car is looking good though. considering same mods, but will prob only install the ssk myself and buy my friend a beer or two for the rest of the work.

[CtrlAltDefeat]

Pros:
I love how it looks with the new springs... It went from economy class to hot hatch look instantly. I can see over the top of it without craning my neck now! The wheel gap is great even with the stock 15s the wheel fills the well. Also the handling is improved, as the car has a lower center of gravity and a stiffer suspension. In the turns the car often feels as if it's on rails, and can be pushed harder through the corner with more confidence.

Cons:
Speed bumps are not your friends! If you do not slowly creep down the other side of a speed bump you will smack the bump hard with your chassis. To tell the truth if you have to deal with speed bumps everyday, I'd recommend springs with less of a drop... (maybe the NF210s) Having to creep over every speed bump seems pretty irritating right now but I'm sure I'll get used to it after a while. One of the big problems with speed bumps is the air deflector (? is that what is is?) mounted in front of the rear wheels. With 2 passengers in the car (one in front and one in back), they scrape on every speed bump, regardless of how slow you go over them.



It looks like there's only one bolt holding them on so I plan on removing them ASAP to prevent further scraping and to prevent them from getting broke off...
Another possible con is that with the car so low now, loose gravel and sand that is kicked up hits the bottom of the car more often probably destroying the paint behind the wheels, possibly allowing rust to set in earlier

Overall:
Despite the problems mentioned, I am thoroughly enjoying my springs. Like someone mentioned before, the SSK, underdrive pulley and springs have radically changed my LB for the better. The springs made it handle and look better, the pulley has increased the hp,and made the engine rev more freely,and the SSK has made my shifts quicker and tighter feeling. I feel this is a great set of first mods for the first time DIYer who wants to install the mods themselves. The hardest part was getting the nut to break loose from the top of the strut tower in order remove it from the car, and having to remove about 8 bolts to remove the shelf and windshield wiper motor just to get to them was a PITA... If you're a handy person with the right tools (or knows someone who is/does) these should be no problem for you... hope to get some video soon and post it here.

[CtrlAltDefeat]

gah... photobucket's bandwidth cap strikes again... I see all my pics are "upgrade to pro" messages... yuck... any ways... WOOT! just ordered a Ultra Racing rear sway bar from Micro Image! Can't wait to get it, and get it installed... wonder whats next in my mod madness...

[CtrlAltDefeat]

Well I finally got to take a video for the after... kinda got carried away however...

Before 0-85mph (bone stock)
After 0-110mph (whoops!)

[CtrlAltDefeat]

Well... it's been 15 days since I ordered my rear sway bar, and got my "order shipping notice" from MicroImage and still no sign of it... The order shipping notice didn't have a tracking number, so I have no idea what the status of my order is... I've emailed and PMed Garm and finaly got a response the day before yesterday saying he'd check when he got into the office, but I've still gotten no info yet. When I bought my springs from them, they got here in about a week. Any one else have this experience?

[CtrlAltDefeat]

well it's been almost a month and I still haven't received my sway bar from MicroImage. Garm said it was on back order for another week, 2 weeks ago I hope it get's here soon....

[CtrlAltDefeat]

ahh good news... Garm just let me know that my sway bar will go out tomorrow... will take pics when it arrives and when I install it

[AznGouki]

Wow your car is coming along huh. Great mods you have there. I hope to get mine underway soon as its starting to warm up. I also couldn't get that pin on the ssk so I left it off. It's so snug and goes so deep in that it definitely feels fine. Almost 10k km later and it still holds up. I still have the pin and will probably take another stab at it when I take the battery out for more room.
Got rims on your list or you leaving that for last?

[CtrlAltDefeat]

rims are on the list, but bang for the buck makes them more of a cosmetic thing, which makes them kinda low priority for me. I want 15s or 16s that are as light or lighter then the stock stealies (which are only 15lbs each) Black Konig Feathers are around $100 and $130 for the 15s and 16s respectively. so that's like $400 to $520 just for the rims, before the tires... think I gotta get a better job before that...

[toad]

i bought the exact springs you have(and a matching tanabe front strut tower). your experience is one of the reasons i have been looking for a professional shop to do the work! i'm not as handy as i thought i was(it took me all afternoon just to change the oil myself(i couldn't get that damn filter off!). i too ended up taking the skin off one hand just doing that! also, i don't have all the tools necessary for install(what's that special wrench you say i'll need for the top strut bolt?). i'll be running the 'ghetto' look too once i get the drop accomplished - can't afford wheels/tires right now(especially since the wife keeps saying 'there's still lots of tread on the ones you already have!'). your car looks great and you've picked some very good mods to do first! once i get the springs and strut bar on maybe we can do an indy-meet(i'm out by the airport)? i know there's a couple others on the forum in the general area too!

[CtrlAltDefeat]

Originally Posted by toad

i bought the exact springs you have(and a matching tanabe front strut tower). your experience is one of the reasons i have been looking for a professional shop to do the work! i'm not as handy as i thought i was(it took me all afternoon just to change the oil myself(i couldn't get that damn filter off!). i too ended up taking the skin off one hand just doing that! also, i don't have all the tools necessary for install(what's that special wrench you say i'll need for the top strut bolt?). i'll be running the 'ghetto' look too once i get the drop accomplished - can't afford wheels/tires right now(especially since the wife keeps saying 'there's still lots of tread on the ones you already have!'). your car looks great and you've picked some very good mods to do first! once i get the springs and strut bar on maybe we can do an indy-meet(i'm out by the airport)? i know there's a couple others on the forum in the general area too!

Hey it's good to meet a fellow hoosier yaris fan! I learned my lesson when it comes to working on the front shocks/springs you have to take off the tray with the windshield wipers above the engine to get to the nuts. it's still a total bitch to get them loose (might be easier on an older car... ) takes a lot of liquid wrench lube to get going... It sounds like you're not too far from me, If you need help doing it, I might be able to help you out (I think I still have all the tools). So much more satisfying and cheaper to do it yourself. beyond that, an indy meet would be awesome...