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Pics of my Luxury Toyota

Discussion in 'Lexus' started by Goldy, Oct 25, 2011.

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    Goldy Well-Known Member

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    Don't go around the country in your show car lol, definitely have to use a beater like mine
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    Press22 Mangoooooooooooo

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    Yeah I'll probably take the yellow car... Actually I don't know hahahah
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    Goldy Well-Known Member

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    You don't really have a beater though, I definitely would not take either of those 2 BMWs on the trip I took. One car is a show car, and the other is a race car. Maybe you could pick up something just for a trip!
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    Press22 Mangoooooooooooo

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    That yellow M3 is totally a beater
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    Goldy Well-Known Member

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    but it didn't have an engine or interior last I saw lol, not going anywhere in that condition
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    Goldy Well-Known Member

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    More random mods!

    I replaced the old ugly hazed dome light cover with a new clear style, looks so much nicer!

    [IMG]New vs Old Dome Light Lens by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    [IMG]New Dome Lens Installed by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    Still got the two 5000k LED boards soldered in there, super bright

    [IMG]New Dome Lens Lit Up by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    I got a new set of sidemarkers, they were supposed to be smoked, but they didn't look very smoked to me. So I easily broke them open and painted them flat primer black to match all of the other lights. Also redid the paint on the head lights, since it was looking scratched up (top 3 pieces are painted in the pic)

    [IMG]Head Lights and Side Markers Painted by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    Sidemarkers came out very nice looking

    [IMG]Completed Side Markers by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    Comparison to what I had before

    [IMG]New Side Marker Comparison by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    Installed (I had to color the LED bulb inside from aluminum to black)

    [IMG]New Side Markers No Tint by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    I didn't like that look, it didn't quite match the darkness of the fogs, and the lens ripples were too obvious. So I had to put a light tint over them after all (it was a dark tint on the old sidemarkers)

    Comparison again. Came out almost identical, though the new isn't as yellow looking and isn't chrome inside.

    [IMG]New Sidemarkers Tinted Comparison by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    Much better match this time!

    [IMG]New Side Markers Tinted by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    Yeah that was basically a waste of time, but I wanted to see if the smoked sidemarkers would be smoked enough, and then they worked, I had to improvise.




    I replaced the original chrome ball shift knob with this OEM Lexus knob out of an F-Sport, because it was perfect for my car.

    [IMG]New IS-F Sport Shifter by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    [IMG]New IS-F Sport Shifter by gold94corolla, on Flickr


    Re-mounted the sub to the back of the baffle board as to increase clearance, since I think the foam was hitting the metal

    [IMG]Re-mounted Sub by gold94corolla, on Flickr


    Then I put all of the interior back in, because I was tired of the road noise, heat coming up through the floor, and generally not having an interior lol.

    [IMG]Re-built Trunk by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    [IMG]IMG_6488 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    [IMG]IMG_6489 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    [IMG]IMG_6491 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    At some point before this post, I forgot to mention that I lowered the coilovers by a full two turns on all four corners, since it looked stupid without the lip kit and extra high due to lack of interior weight.
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    Goldy Well-Known Member

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    So I went on another vacation after my trip around the country. The pics I'll be posting at this point were taken in late June/early July. I got a bit ahead of myself earlier with the modification pics, but whatever.

    The new fog lights are installed in these pics, but not the new side markers or reverse camera (to give you an idea of time line)

    I was able to take my bike with me because it fit easily inside without any interior installed lol

    [IMG]Easy to Fit A Bike by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    Oh, the vacation was to Elk Neck State Park peninsula at the top of the Chesapeake Bay in North East, Maryland. So the pics again try and capture the scenery.

    [IMG]IMG_6157-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    [IMG]IMG_6160-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    [IMG]IMG_6161-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    [IMG]IMG_6162-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    [IMG]IMG_6163-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    [IMG]IMG_6167-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    [IMG]At North East Lighthouse by gold94corolla, on Flickr
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    Goldy Well-Known Member

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    Goldy Well-Known Member

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    Took some pics of the lights

    3000k HID fogs only (custom wired)

    [IMG]Fogs Only by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    Fogs + 5000k HID low beams

    [IMG]Low Beams & DRLs by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    Low beams + white LED signal lights (DRL in dim mode)

    [IMG]Low Beams & DRLs by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    White LED DRL (bright mode) + fogs

    [IMG]Fogs & DRLs by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    Rear lights

    [IMG]Rear Lights by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    [IMG]Rear Lights Angle by gold94corolla, on Flickr


    Sunset pics!

    [IMG]IS300 On The Bay by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    [IMG]IS300 Sunset 1 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    [IMG]IS300 Sunset 2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    [IMG]IS300 Sunset 3 by gold94corolla, on Flickr
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    Bdub215 3VZ; 2JZ

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    Well this thread died.....
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    Goldy Well-Known Member

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    Yeah no one gives a $***
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    Bdub215 3VZ; 2JZ

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    I do. I'm curious to see what you post. Considering I have NO other way to get ahold of you.......
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    Goldy Well-Known Member

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    Yeah I've just been super duper busy lol, hopefully post another update in a week
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    Bdub215 3VZ; 2JZ

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    A week?????
    [IMG]
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    Press22 Mangoooooooooooo

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    Get another door already
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    Irvin Well-Known Member

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    I didn't know you got the same Jack I have Gold lol
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    Press22 Mangoooooooooooo

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    I also have the same one. :cool:
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    Goldy Well-Known Member

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    But I totally posted about it right after I came to see you

    got it from Harbor Freight!
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    Irvin Well-Known Member

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    haha I jacked you car up with mine ;)
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    Goldy Well-Known Member

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    :orly: It was hella dark and I was hella tired and I hadn't gotten mine yet, so I didn't even notice
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    Irvin Well-Known Member

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    You didn't notice me jacking your car up with my jack?! lol
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    Goldy Well-Known Member

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    Oh, I noticed you jacking alright. I was just more focused on the jacking action than the actual tool used for jacking.
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    MacktasticSlick TRD whore with 36,000 posts, bitch

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    :pfftch:
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    Goldy Well-Known Member

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    Irvin Well-Known Member

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    Goldy Well-Known Member

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    Update time.

    I ordered two brand new painted fenders last night, as well as two complete doors that I will have to paint myself.


    More (old) pics.

    I'm planning to redo the interior, since the dashboard finish is deteriorating rapidly (infamous sticky dash problem). Gonna get a 2001 dashboard because it doesn't have this problem, then paint the trim gloss black with clear coat.

    I will also be doing a dash kit, so I ordered some samples from CARID.com.

    [IMG]Dash Kit Samples by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    [IMG]Dash Kit Samples by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    I originally wanted the blue and black carbon fiber finish (to go with the new blue-stitched shifter knob), but since it's real carbon fiber, you can only see the blue in one direction. And the all-blue carbon fiber is simply way too dark. Real carbon fiber is nice, but overdone. And the chrome came out as a flat mirror, not rounded like the others.

    But I really like the black/gray zebra wood finish (in the corner), it has the darkish look of carbon fiber, but it unique. Gonna go with that whenever I get to it lol.

    Next up was fender work. Since I was going to order new fenders, I wanted to roll them properly this time. So I got a fender roller on Ebay for $105.

    [IMG]Fender Roller by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    I used it well enough, but since the fenders were already wrecked, this didn't do anything to help that. New fenders will be good though, since the metal will be evenly modified all around.

    [IMG]Fender Roller by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    I was able to get all 4 fenders rolled/pulled even more though, which eliminated any kind of occasional rub I had. I also messed with the bumper/fender alignment to make it smoother looking, like the car was naturally wider from the factory.

    [IMG]Front Fenders Rolled by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    [IMG]Rear Fenders Rolled by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    Oh, and the front lip is back on, since I hated how it looked without anything.

    [IMG]Front Lip Installed by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    washed

    [IMG]Car Washed by gold94corolla, on Flickr


    I also bought this fender finisher, but I don't know if I'll need it on the new fenders. Bought it just in case I need to do minor adjustments. It was only $30 lol.

    [IMG]Eastwood Fender Finisher by gold94corolla, on Flickr


    Finally, I happened to find a random windshield repair kit in Walmart, so I bought it and had a go. Not bad for my first try. You can still see a little part of the outline, I don't think I used enough resin. But the chip was about the size of a nickel inbetween the two layers of glass. This looks 100 times better than before lol. After I took this pic, I finished the job by filling the hole in the middle.

    [IMG]Windshield Chip Repair In Progress by gold94corolla, on Flickr
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    Goldy Well-Known Member

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    In the effort of catching up, you get 2 updates in one day lol.

    My front DRL switch that I had since the Corolla fried on a pothole somehow, so I had to look for a replacement. Jeez it's impossible to find a simple rectangle switch.

    But I remembered these guys:

    http://www.otrattw.net/home.php

    Figured I'd give it a shot and see what happened.

    I first ordered 2 switches, one for the front lights, and one for the tail lights that I was working on finishing.

    Switches have a natural location right to the left of the steering wheel. The switches were slightly too big to fit, so I had to shave off the inner edge of the switch openings to make them fit, and I had to grind a slight amount off of the bottom of the switches.

    Out with with the old, in with the new:

    [IMG]Switch Installation Preparation by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    wow they look incredible

    [IMG]Installed Switches by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    Wiring was kind of a pain though, since the switches do not have wire harness, but instead, have individual pins. But I got some female wire crimp ends and went to town. Each of these switches has 5 wires... 2 grounds and 2 hots for the 2 individual blue LEDs, and one output.

    [IMG]Switch Wiring by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    Done and working! The switches match the OEM finish EXACTLY and look perfectly at home there!

    [IMG]Switches Installed by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    When I turn the key to start the car, the top section lights up blue

    [IMG]Switches Lit by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    And then when I flip the switch to the on position, the bottom indicator lights up to tell me that it's on.

    [IMG]Switches On by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    These switches have a nice "action" to them, they have a very solid click feeling when rocking them on or off.

    [IMG]Switches Off by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    [IMG]Switches Lit Up by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    [IMG]Switches On by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    Now that I had those 2 switches in, it was obvious that I had to find a third switch that would somehow control the brightness of the HID head lights (that's what the middle rotary switch does).

    The old switch has 3 positions (3 brightnesses: 38 watt, 53 watt, and 68 watt), but I didn't really need all 3 settings. So I decided to go with a 2 position on-off-on switch. The low setting is now 43 watts, and the high setting is still 68 watts.

    This switch has 10 pins though, since it's a double-pull, double-throw switch. The upper 2 pins control the upper LED, the lower 2 pins control the lower LED, the middle 2 pins are the 2 inputs, and the other 4 pins are the outputs. The resistor values you see there are what control the HID brightness. I also cleaned up the wiring a little bit by daisy-chaining some wires together, so that I only had one ground and one hot coming off the switch instead of 2.

    [IMG]Roo Burner Switch Wiring by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    Originally, the lower blue LED was supposed to turn on to indicate that the switch was "on" in high brightness mode (you can see the little red jumper wire up there) but the problem is that the actual voltage coming from and going to the ballasts was so tiny that it didn't power the LED. So it didn't work.

    I had to redo it all, using a large DPDT relay instead of the switch. So now, the HID brightness control runs through the relay instead, and the switch is powered by the low beams themselves with 12 volts, so that the lower LED works. The output of the switch goes to the relay to trigger it, so essentially, it's like one big switch. Each flip of the switch make the relay click. Of course, the switch ONLY works when the low beams are on.... what's the point of powering the lower indicator LED if the head lights aren't lit?

    I also cleaned up the wiring to the other switches by redoing the crimps so that they daisy chained the common grounds and hots.

    [IMG]Huge DPDT Relay Added by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    Yes that's a lot of mess, I do with these switches had harnesses, but it's not so bad. The relay just tucks behind there, and the dash easily fits back together.

    Now everything is complete and working perfectly! Looks and feels amazing.

    [IMG]Switches Complete by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    When the key is turned:

    [IMG]Switches Lit by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    Bottom of the middle switch lights up when the low beams are on AND the switch is flipped on, regardless of key position:

    [IMG]Roo Burner Switch Works! by gold94corolla, on Flickr

    (yes I got that switch because it has a kangaroo on it lol..... the idea behind "roo burners" is that, when flipped on, the lights are bright enough to incinerate any wildlife that jumps in front of me.... though that's just wishful thinking)
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    Irvin Well-Known Member

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    I love that switch!
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    Goldy Well-Known Member

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    I love you!
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    Irvin Well-Known Member

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    I Love you too Gold <3

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