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_Zaclemore's Build Thread

25840 Views 452 Replies 18 Participants Last post by  Theneil300, 
_zaclemore
10
Timeline so far:
2019: Got the car. Low, intake, exhaust, wheels, eventually did 264 cams and a cam gear.
2020: Turbo IS300 GReddy EMU. stock piston ringlands started to crack
2021: Turbo IS300 ECUMasters EMU Black. rebuilt with 9:1 pistons, TT headgasket, H beams, new bearings, stock main bolts
IS300 Vibrant Catch Can Setup

2022:
New Motor Installed
Driveshaft came and installed!
Tach Swap
First drive
New Wheel Project
Second Drive
First Drive Worth Actually Noting
The first drive of real worth because my brakes didn't lock up on me this time
Radiator Upgrade
Clutch Stopper
Finished Wheels + Q45 Throttle Body
FReddy Intake
Wheel Pics
Diff Bushings
Subframe Collars/Broadway Mirror/GS RUCA
Trunk Deck Part 1
Fixing Stuff
GReddy Kangaroo Bag + Pics
Injector Upgrade
Subframe Bushings + Rack Bushings
Tial MVR Install
Driveshaft Received
Sequoia Alternator Mod
Extended Rear Lug Studs
Ganador Replicas Acquired
Driveshaft (again)
Ganador Replica Photos
DODO runners + turbo manifold
New(ish) Head Acquired
Altezza Cluster Install

2023:
Putting the Altezza Cluster on the backburner
Totally awesome HID install
Cylinder Head Parts arrive
Cam removal + Head build start
Valve Cover Polishing
Radium Fun Time
(re)Built Head returns
PCV Breather Tuck
Cusco Rear Strut Bar Install
Cusco Front Upper Control Arm
Parts back from welder
Final polishing
Power steering tidy up
Ruined surprise
Awful discovery
What the bay should look like
Driver side wire tuck begins
ABS delete
Assembled rotating assembly
Seats installed

Mod List (All current parts/mods):
Engine/Engine Bay:
87mm 9:1 Manley Pistons
Eagle H-Beam rods
ACL bearings
Stock main caps
New OEM main cap bolts
Brian Crower BC264 cams
Brian Crower BC0300S
Titan Motorsport v2 cam gear
Real Street belt tensioner
OEM Toyota timing belt
ARP head studs
Tomei 1.2mm head gasket
ATI damper, smaller size
Vibrant catch can
Shaved polished GTE valve covers
Shaved and painted GTE plug cover
Looped power steering cooler
Suspicious Garage power steering line
Some Thailand turbo manifold
Comp Turbo CTR 3693S 360
CXRacing downpipe
TiAL MVR
Custom exhaust
GReddy RS muffler
Treadsone TR1035
GM IAT sensor
GReddy Airinx filter
ECUMaster EMU Black
Battery relocation
FIGS Engineering hood struts
90% wire tuck
Sequoia alternator

Fuel Delivery:
Single AEM 340
1000cc Bosch EV6 injectors
Radium DMR fuel pressure regulator
-8AN feed line
-6AN return line
Modded stock fuel hat to accept return line
Radium fuel rail
GM FlexFuel sensor

Drivetrain:
AR5 from 2006 Pontiac Solstice
R154 conversion parts, bearing retainer, etc
CUBE Speed JZX110 Verossa shifter
Stock R154 pressure plate
DriftMotion 19lb flywheel
ARP flywheel bolts
ARP pressure plate bolts
Stage 3.5 Kevlar DriftMotion clutch disc
OEM Clutch Master Cylinder
Xcessive Manufacturing clutch pedal
Xcessive Manufacturing 3" CV driveshaft
Stock auto LSD
SuperPro differential bushings
SuperPro subframe supplement bushings

Suspension/Brakes:
Silver's coilovers 14k/12k
Eibach sway bars front/back
Cusco Front/Rear Tower Bar
Cusco Front Upper Control Arm
Roll center adjuster
LS400 Brakes
R1Concepts brake rotors
R1Concepts ceramic pads
StopTech brake lines
ABS deleted with bent hardlines
Motul RBF600
SuperPro Steering Rack Bushings
Weds Kranze Borphes 18x9 +35/18x10 +38 (rebuilt)
Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 F:225/40/18 R:255/35/18

Interior:
Nardi Clasico
Works Bell hub
GReddy shift knob
Cusco drift knob
Juran Racing slider seat brackets
Reupholstered Recaro LS seats
White LED conversion
JDM center console+ebrake
Clarion M508 head unit
Scoshe trim
Soundstream Reserve RSM4.1200D amplifier
Infinity 6.5 up front, 6x9 out back
Sound deadened headliner, rear seats + trunk
Vibration dampened door cards
Altezza cluster swap

Exterior:
Painted taillights/ Altezza light delete
Tinted side markers
GReddy Kangaroo Bag
Aero Twenty Three mirrors
WIndow tint

Most recent pic (rearranged for thumbnail):
Hood Motor vehicle Car Vehicle Automotive air manifold


For starters, here's how it looked a day before it came apart(2021 setup), gross:
Vehicle Motor vehicle Hood Car Automotive air manifold


I forgot to take pictures of the wire tuck that I did for the ABS relocation and DRL relay thing I stuck under the fender. I'll update in the morning or so.
Motor vehicle Hood Automotive tire Automotive design Car


Car Hood Motor vehicle Vehicle Automotive design


Car Hood Automotive tire Motor vehicle Vehicle


Outerwear Automotive tire Tire Hood Motor vehicle




Anyway, the main point of the thread--I polished some stuff.
Hood Automotive tire Gas Automotive lighting Machine


Before:
Household hardware Gas Watch Automotive tire Jewellery


After:
Household hardware Nickel Automotive wheel system Gas Auto part


Drinkware Serveware Couch Automotive tire Dishware


So for a first timer it's not so bad, I'm going to go over it again because I missed some spots and it's not that hard to touch up. Smoothed out the casting marks and went right over the Comp Turbo logo. There's also a few tighter spots that I can't hit until I get some cone felt tip polishing bits. Figured it would be interesting, IDK if it really requires its own thread. I also got a GReddy Airinx filter so the color palette is much more in sync.[/U]
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261 - 280 of 453 Posts
_zaclemore
4
After upping my battery wire, starter wire, and alternator wire, my alternator decides to commit seppuku. Fine. Time for a classic mod, the 2003-2007 Toyota Sequoia alternator retrofit.

Put the lower bolt on and scored where the block would hit it.
Electric blue Fashion accessory Personal protective equipment Carmine Wool


Used a little manual labor.
Hood Yellow Motor vehicle Vehicle Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies


- One trip to the junkyard and parts store later -

Got my money back and a WORKING alternator for $44. Got the rest of the money back to spend it on this from PowerHouse Racing. The $39 adapter wire, overnighted of course. Make sure you cut the stock IS300 connector and actually have the pins touching.
Gesture Wood Thumb Automotive lighting Gas


Here's a comparison on 3 alternators. My car (before), my buddy's car, then my car with the upgrade. Just a little bit better than a stock one, but mine didn't charge so anything is welcome.
Watch Analog watch Gauge Measuring instrument Font


I tested my alternators with a multimeter and an impact gun. I put the impact on the pulley bolt, then had the multimeter red wire on the main pole, then the black wire on the alternator chassis. My stock one put out .70v, the reman Sequoia one put out .67v, then the junkyard one put out 1.07v. The guy at the parts store said it was perfect. Whether that is true or not, I don't know, but it is over stock and it charges my battery just fine lol.

As a side note remans don't allow you to pull off the pulley, literally any other OEM will allow it.
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_zaclemore
3
Figured while the car was down in the days-long battle with the alternators, I should replace my lug studs. Why you may ask? Well mine were pretty beat. When I installed them the first time I cut the tips a little so they'd fit better. While this made install easy, it has chewed up lug nuts like you wouldn't believe. I don't want my nice aluminum lug nuts getting destroyed over a shoddy install, so I did it again.
Wood Gas Engineering Gear Nut


Here you can tell between thread 7 and 8 or so it's all bent out of shape. This is because ARP makes the studs too long for an easy install. I guess they figure you'd pull the hub and do the wheel bearings and all, but this is reality so zero people do that. I pulled the brake shoe off and used the old studs as braces and my breaker bar as a lever to force them through the hub. This is known to ruin threads, as you can see. Luckily for me, I borrowed my grandfather's tap and die set. I retapped all my lug nuts, they are open ended, so I started on the good end. I then used my impact and the m12x1.5 die to correct the bent threads on the studs. Worked like a charm, they are the smoothest threads that have been on my car in years. I figure the extra length and fully threaded lug nuts will account for any loss. Also the wheels are low disk.
Automotive tire Rim Motor vehicle Engineering Gas


Here they are after, all with very nice threading. Like in the previous text wall, there is no easy way to do this, you just gotta make do with what you have.
Wheel Vehicle brake Locking hubs Automotive tire Motor vehicle


Of course no after pictures because I never took before shots with the crap steel lugs, nor did I take after shots because they look the same as the pictures I posted when I first got the wheels. Time to do the other side ;).
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01 SolarYellow
Where did you get the alternator adapter harness?
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_zaclemore
01 SolarYellow said:
Where did you get the alternator adapter harness?
Click to expand...
PowerHouse Racing. My car is going to have all their weird off-pieces. I plan on getting their throttle cable and I already have their cam gear bolt.
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Hodgdon Extreme
_zaclemore said:
I guess they figure you'd pull the hub and do the wheel bearings and all, but this is reality so zero people do that.
Click to expand...
Except me, I guess...

Actually I pulled my hubs apart, measured exactly how long the wheel studs needed to be to fit thru my wheels, Katech titanium lugnuts, and leave 3-4 threads exposed. Then I cut the studs to length in the lathe, neatly chamfered them; then had a local plating shop re-cadmium plate them...

Only a 2-week side project!

Also, Lisle sells a nice roller bearing tool for installing wheel studs. Not expensive, and prevents any possibility of damaging your studs or nuts.
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T
I install wheel studs with an open lug not and an impact…..
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_zaclemore
Hodgdon Extreme said:
Except me, I guess...

Actually I pulled my hubs apart, measured exactly how long the wheel studs needed to be to fit thru my wheels, Katech titanium lugnuts, and leave 3-4 threads exposed. Then I cut the studs to length in the lathe, neatly chamfered them; then had a local plating shop re-cadmium plate them...

Only a 2-week side project!

Also, Lisle sells a nice roller bearing tool for installing wheel studs. Not expensive, and prevents any possibility of damaging your studs or nuts.
Click to expand...
I attempted to do the same but 10 times in a row I forgot to put a nut on the threads to make it easier to take off. Of course this time, I thought I had it figured out, but clearly not the case. Usually the plating comes off anyway, I should use anti-seize or get caps for the lugs. It's funny, the lugs are just long enough to be annoying, if they were maybe 2mm shorter no one would be talking about this.

Theneil300 said:
I install wheel studs with an open lug not and an impact…..
Click to expand...
I did the same, just with more steps. I wanted to correct my threads before railing on it with an impact.
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_zaclemore
Of course I can't go too long without having some strange thing happening. My head has always been noisy and I'm about tired of it. Recently it's gotten louder and this bothers me. I stuck an extension against my block and listened, the block sounds great, super smooth, no ticking. I put it against the head and you can tell it's much more active. With more moving parts it only makes sense that it's louder, that along with cams that were never shimmed properly is just asking for trouble. Junkyard had zero GE VVTi motors at all, so I picked up some extra buckets and shims from a 1MZ V6. Luckily Toyota used the same valve design for that, the 3S-GE and JZ family motors. Luckily for me, the 1MZ uses shimmed buckets, so I can now try and shim mine. I hope I can use a few of them, if not, I'll just order the proper sizes. Maybe.
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T
Japanese motorcycle shops will have them in stock, check each valve and write the clearance down on a piece of paper with the 24 oriented so you can just measure once, pull the cams and do it in one pass
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T
.008” intake, .012 exhaust
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_zaclemore
Theneil300 said:
.008” intake, .012 exhaust
Click to expand...
.008" intake and .010" exhaust for Brian Crower cams ;)
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_zaclemore
The Aero Twenty Three LHD Ganador replicas came in the mail today. Of course I didn't take good photos, but I got one at least. For a handmade FRP mirror, I'd say they're pretty good. You can see on this one that where the base meets the mirror itself, it's a little off. Once they're painted and on the car it won't really matter. Or maybe it will, but I won't care lol.
Automotive design Wood Fender Automotive exterior Triangle


Also dropped them off for paint today, I should see them back pretty soon.
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_zaclemore
3
Finally got the Xcessive driveshaft back. Good thing I ordered it in August, if I ordered it now, it'd get here next year. Of all the things I negative I could say, I'll save it because it was so worth it.
Gas Automotive lighting Fashion accessory Wood Metal


This one uses a CV flange, like a Solstice/Sky would use. Most of the time the OEM knows best, so this is 100% the way to go when doing an AR5 swap. The car is so smooth now. Unbelievably smooth. Going the speed limit on the highway is now stress-free. No vibrations whatsoever. Even popping it into neutral to slow down just feels so smooth, it's strange since I've been used to the little vibrations since I started driving it in February-March.
Automotive tire Automotive lighting Automotive exhaust Motor vehicle Fender


Car's too low, but there's a small chance I'll raise it before I put a kit on it. This needed to be replaced anyway.
Automotive tire Sleeve Hood Bicycle part Fender


Got the mirrors painted up + tint, so new pics will come soon. Other than that, DODO runners should ship out in a week or two.
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_zaclemore
5
Just took it on the highway to a local cars & coffee. Turns out, turbo IS300's are dime a dozen this month. Funny thing is, the other guy grandma's his too and we all have Treadstone intercoolers. I'll just have to set myself apart and keep it old school with the styling. I'm dead set on Vertex V1. Hopefully by the summer.

Anyway, fake Ganadors:
Wheel Car Tire Land vehicle Vehicle
Tire Car Wheel Vehicle Automotive tire
Wheel Tire Vehicle Automotive tire Hood
Vehicle Hood Car Motor vehicle Automotive design
Automotive parking light Plant Vehicle Hood Car


Visibility is limited and at night they're useless, but who cares. The power function is a joke, but you can still manually adjust them. RIP good condition stock mirror wiring.
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Kris OK
_zaclemore said:
Visibility is limited and at night they're useless, but who cares. The power function is a joke, but you can still manually adjust them. RIP good condition stock mirror wiring.
Click to expand...
Car looks great man. I can’t believe how low it is. It would drag so bad here. The Sham-adors turned out great too. Are the real ones any better? I’m too cheap to spend that kinda money but if you really like em, it may be worth it to look good and be functional. I like my JDM power folders with USDM glazing too much to switch. That, and I am a cheap bastard.
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_zaclemore
Kris OK said:
Car looks great man. I can’t believe how low it is. It would drag so bad here. The Sham-adors turned out great too. Are the real ones any better? I’m too cheap to spend that kinda money but if you really like em, it may be worth it to look good and be functional. I like my JDM power folders with USDM glazing too much to switch. That, and I am a cheap bastard.
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I can't go over most speed bumps lol. The Fuganadors should be better because the people that made them flipped the base from RHD to LHD. I could have got a cast manifold and reworked my exhaust for the money I spent on these. OG Ganadors only cost like $300 max back in the day, $650(mirror) + $200(paint) kinda bites. It's all about the style points though. The power folding mirrors are cool but I've always wanted Ganadors (or as close as I could get without spending $1400).
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TobiasSing
_zaclemore said:
Anyway, fake Ganadors:

Visibility is limited and at night they're useless, but who cares. The power function is a joke, but you can still manually adjust them. RIP good condition stock mirror wiring.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I did that fad back with my first car. But even on that, it got old. Turns out, I like being able to see when I change lanes lol. Even on that car, I went back to stock. Then on the IS, I went with even more functional mirrors. And besides, "style points" are in the eye of the beholder. I personally don't even think small mirrors look good. But I must say that your set up looks better than most. Though putting a body kit on it might change that. Regardless, it looks great overall and I'm glad it's driving around! Hopefully nothing catches the bottom of that intercooler lol.

_zaclemore said:
Turns out, turbo IS300's are dime a dozen this month.
Click to expand...
With the number of people asking on here about how to turbo, it seems everyone and their grandmother is doing it. Though, I'm surprised that many people have been able to follow through with it like you have.
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_zaclemore
TobiasSing said:
Yeah, I did that fad back with my first car. But even on that, it got old. Turns out, I like being able to see when I change lanes lol. Even on that car, I went back to stock. Then on the IS, I went with even more functional mirrors. And besides, "style points" are in the eye of the beholder. I personally don't even think small mirrors look good. But I must say that your set up looks better than most. Though putting a body kit on it might change that. Regardless, it looks great overall and I'm glad it's driving around! Hopefully nothing catches the bottom of that intercooler lol.
Click to expand...
I can see the lanes, they just look very small. Just think of the aerodynamics!111. I also agree they look a little goofy on the IS300, but stock body the whole car looks goofy. I really think that the Vertex V1 will look great, I'll try and save up for a legit kit so it's not wonky. I need to get the rock chips on the hood sorted too. The intercooler is safe, beside that one mishap. Thanks for the kind words.

TobiasSing said:
With the number of people asking on here about how to turbo, it seems everyone and their grandmother is doing it. Though, I'm surprised that many people have been able to follow through with it like you have.
Click to expand...
We'll see how long they last.
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TobiasSing
It always took me a while to get used to having a new rear view from the mirrors, but you should get used to it pretty fast (unless you drive other cars lol). At least you got a legit setup where the views are useable! The vertex kit will look good and should fit the radiator better(y) Love seeing these successful builds!
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T
Love the car, way too low to be functional and takes away from the appeal to me but whatever , turbo 2.jays forever
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