Hey guys, I’ve been lurking on here for years now but never really posted anything since I was able to find most of the things I needed with the good old search button. However I think it’s about time I made a “build” tread on here.
My first car was a 89 Saleen Mustang (#95 out of 895) with a 351 windsor swap that me and my dad built together from the ground up. My dad brought the car stock and its been in the family since 91. He gave it to me because he got tired of dealing with it and since I helped him build it I knew all the modifications that were on it. A few months later he picked up a brand new 09 Shelby GT500 from the dealership.
In 2010 the catalytic converters clogged up on the Saleen so it had a lot of blowby and was burning way too much oil for me to drive everyday. Instead of overhauling the engine my dad decided it was better for me to get a new car that saves more gas since I’m a college student and I commute about 50 miles everyday.
In June 2011 I picked up a 2006 Acura RSX Type-S from a used car dealership. It wasn’t in the best condition, but the engine ran strong and the interior was in pretty good condition for 97k miles. However shortly after I got the car “drive worthy” I got into an accident. Long story short, I flipped the car 5 times, driver at fault took off, I only had liability insurance so I had to take a loss. You can read the whole story on my build thread on clubrsx if you’re interested.
Foxbody to DC5 to SXE10? - Club RSX Message Board
The rsx was my first fwd car, and I viewed the accident as a sign that I should stick to rwd cars. My parents used to have an absolutely red IS300 e-shift that they brought brand new in 2002, but my dad traded it in for a crystal white GS430 in 03. I was only 10 years old when we owned the IS300, but I remembered how nice of a car it was and my parents regretted trading it in so I decided to get another one.
After about 9 months of not having a car and asking rides from friends I finally picked up a 2004 black onyx IS300, 5 speed manual, fully loaded except for gps, full black leather interior, and most importantly only 68k miles.
Previous owner was a older guy in his late 30s and he was the 2nd owner since 2005. The car was always garage kept, and he parked under a carport at work. It was completely stock except for the discount tire wheels. Sadly he didn’t have the stock wheels, he said the factory chrome wheels started peeling and he sold them.
Interior was pretty dirty, but from the pictures he sent me it was mint underneath all the filth.
Other than the dust, LOOK! no melted dash
The day after I brought it, I spent the entire day cleaning, and detailing the entire car myself.
Around October 2012 I finally sold the K20Z1 engine swap from my rsx so I had a little extra money to spend on the IS300.
I don’t have any pictures, but my first mod was a Figs Hood Prop. Shortly after, I order a set of Stance GR+ coilovers from Nick at THMotorsports. After that I placed an order for Altezza window visors, and a Altezza shorty antenna from Nigel at Nigel-JDMParts.
In November 2012 I was going to class at the University of Houston and when I parked I saw this. Must have been a huge ass rock flung up by a 18 wheeler, darn you Houston construction :frustrate
I decided to put on my replica greddy front lip to cover up the damage for now. Here are a couple of pics from the 2012 ClubRSX Texas All State meet.
Finally found a buyer for my old wheels so I got my front lip painted and put on my new wheels. Sorry for the crappy iPhone pictures.
Also sometime before getting my lip painted I polished my stock exhaust. It took me 3 hours using steel wool, sandpaper, and a whole lot of elbow grease. Finished it off with mother’s aluminum and mag polish.
A photoshop I made for kicks and giggles
In 2013 I turned 21, but I’m not much of a drinker so I spent my birthday lowering my car some more.
Before, look at that wheel gap :suspiciou
After, much better
During summer 2013 I went to a Fast and Furious Drive in meet to watch Fast & Furious 6 (RIP Paul Walker)
A couple of professional shots thanks to the guys at Automodia
I was satisfied with my car at this point, and decided to apply for Wekfest Texas 2013 just for kicks. They actually accepted my car, I was surprised.
Since I was showing, I took my car to Excessive Detailing here in Houston to get a light polish to get it ready for the show.
A few shots I found from some professional photographers that attended the show
A couple of videos my car made it in
My car shows up at 1:30
A shot of my interior at 1:56 and a outside shot at 4:07
Couple of random shots I took with my sister's 08 Starfire Pearl IS250 in the background
How my car currently sits
Quicklinks
JL Audio 12W7AE Infinite Baffle
Vinylwerkz Meet
Local car meet (Ricebox)
Photoshoot by Daniel A.
SRT kit arrival
Dashboard repair
Complete turbo kit
Wrapping dashboard
Wekfest Texas 2014 acceptance
Wrapping dashboard continued
Dashboard finished
Local car meet (Coffee & Rice)
Tokensolutions engine management arrival
Wekfest Texas 2014
Heat wrapping turbo parts
Turbo installation
Anime Matsuri's "Ricebowl" car show
Air assist delete/curb rash repair
More pictures from "Ricebowl"
Turbo Timer/Datalogging
Painting extra dashboard
Reinstalled 2nd dash/Gas cap replacement
VIS Racing "Vertex" kit arrival and prep
Painting the body kit
Front bumper and side skirts installed
Houston Cars & Coffee
Rear lip arrival, prep, paint and install
Rear bumper damage and repair
Stancenation Texas 2015 roll in
Stancenation Texas 2015 1st place best Lexus IS
Skid plate for Vertex front bumper
Sold the Vertex kit
Pictures from Stancenation Texas 2015
IS300 meet hosted by Badman Forever
Wekfest Texas 2015 Premeet
Modellista Qualitat side skirts and test fit
My 2nd TRD replica rear lip and test fit
THMotorsports Stage II Competition Clutch package
Hot Import Nights Houston 2015 and Clutch installation
Clutch break in, problems, solutions and review
Laile Beatrush underpanel, remounted the rear lip and LED taillights
Added Sti V-Lip, new wheels and new driver's side fender
Stancenation Texas 2016
Installed Greddy Revolution RS catback
More pictures from Stancenation Texas 2016
Currently my car is boosted with Swift Racing Technologies' turbo kit and its managed by a Greddy E-Manage Ultimate. Self installed and self tuned, I'm not sure of the numbers since I street tuned it but it should be putting down anywhere from 250rwhp-300rwhp. It's not the fastest thing in the world, but with this amount of power it makes the car very fun to drive. Future plan is to drop in a Aristo GTE, do a AR5 transmission swap and turn up the boost to get around 450rwhp.
Anyways I hope I didn’t bore you guys, it’s still a work in progress but hopefully it kept you guys entertained
My first car was a 89 Saleen Mustang (#95 out of 895) with a 351 windsor swap that me and my dad built together from the ground up. My dad brought the car stock and its been in the family since 91. He gave it to me because he got tired of dealing with it and since I helped him build it I knew all the modifications that were on it. A few months later he picked up a brand new 09 Shelby GT500 from the dealership.
In 2010 the catalytic converters clogged up on the Saleen so it had a lot of blowby and was burning way too much oil for me to drive everyday. Instead of overhauling the engine my dad decided it was better for me to get a new car that saves more gas since I’m a college student and I commute about 50 miles everyday.
In June 2011 I picked up a 2006 Acura RSX Type-S from a used car dealership. It wasn’t in the best condition, but the engine ran strong and the interior was in pretty good condition for 97k miles. However shortly after I got the car “drive worthy” I got into an accident. Long story short, I flipped the car 5 times, driver at fault took off, I only had liability insurance so I had to take a loss. You can read the whole story on my build thread on clubrsx if you’re interested.
Foxbody to DC5 to SXE10? - Club RSX Message Board
The rsx was my first fwd car, and I viewed the accident as a sign that I should stick to rwd cars. My parents used to have an absolutely red IS300 e-shift that they brought brand new in 2002, but my dad traded it in for a crystal white GS430 in 03. I was only 10 years old when we owned the IS300, but I remembered how nice of a car it was and my parents regretted trading it in so I decided to get another one.
After about 9 months of not having a car and asking rides from friends I finally picked up a 2004 black onyx IS300, 5 speed manual, fully loaded except for gps, full black leather interior, and most importantly only 68k miles.
Previous owner was a older guy in his late 30s and he was the 2nd owner since 2005. The car was always garage kept, and he parked under a carport at work. It was completely stock except for the discount tire wheels. Sadly he didn’t have the stock wheels, he said the factory chrome wheels started peeling and he sold them.
Interior was pretty dirty, but from the pictures he sent me it was mint underneath all the filth.
Other than the dust, LOOK! no melted dash
The day after I brought it, I spent the entire day cleaning, and detailing the entire car myself.
Around October 2012 I finally sold the K20Z1 engine swap from my rsx so I had a little extra money to spend on the IS300.
I don’t have any pictures, but my first mod was a Figs Hood Prop. Shortly after, I order a set of Stance GR+ coilovers from Nick at THMotorsports. After that I placed an order for Altezza window visors, and a Altezza shorty antenna from Nigel at Nigel-JDMParts.
In November 2012 I was going to class at the University of Houston and when I parked I saw this. Must have been a huge ass rock flung up by a 18 wheeler, darn you Houston construction :frustrate
I decided to put on my replica greddy front lip to cover up the damage for now. Here are a couple of pics from the 2012 ClubRSX Texas All State meet.
Finally found a buyer for my old wheels so I got my front lip painted and put on my new wheels. Sorry for the crappy iPhone pictures.
Also sometime before getting my lip painted I polished my stock exhaust. It took me 3 hours using steel wool, sandpaper, and a whole lot of elbow grease. Finished it off with mother’s aluminum and mag polish.
A photoshop I made for kicks and giggles
In 2013 I turned 21, but I’m not much of a drinker so I spent my birthday lowering my car some more.
Before, look at that wheel gap :suspiciou
After, much better
During summer 2013 I went to a Fast and Furious Drive in meet to watch Fast & Furious 6 (RIP Paul Walker)
A couple of professional shots thanks to the guys at Automodia
I was satisfied with my car at this point, and decided to apply for Wekfest Texas 2013 just for kicks. They actually accepted my car, I was surprised.
Since I was showing, I took my car to Excessive Detailing here in Houston to get a light polish to get it ready for the show.
A few shots I found from some professional photographers that attended the show
A couple of videos my car made it in
My car shows up at 1:30
A shot of my interior at 1:56 and a outside shot at 4:07
Couple of random shots I took with my sister's 08 Starfire Pearl IS250 in the background
How my car currently sits
Quicklinks
JL Audio 12W7AE Infinite Baffle
Vinylwerkz Meet
Local car meet (Ricebox)
Photoshoot by Daniel A.
SRT kit arrival
Dashboard repair
Complete turbo kit
Wrapping dashboard
Wekfest Texas 2014 acceptance
Wrapping dashboard continued
Dashboard finished
Local car meet (Coffee & Rice)
Tokensolutions engine management arrival
Wekfest Texas 2014
Heat wrapping turbo parts
Turbo installation
Anime Matsuri's "Ricebowl" car show
Air assist delete/curb rash repair
More pictures from "Ricebowl"
Turbo Timer/Datalogging
Painting extra dashboard
Reinstalled 2nd dash/Gas cap replacement
VIS Racing "Vertex" kit arrival and prep
Painting the body kit
Front bumper and side skirts installed
Houston Cars & Coffee
Rear lip arrival, prep, paint and install
Rear bumper damage and repair
Stancenation Texas 2015 roll in
Stancenation Texas 2015 1st place best Lexus IS
Skid plate for Vertex front bumper
Sold the Vertex kit
Pictures from Stancenation Texas 2015
IS300 meet hosted by Badman Forever
Wekfest Texas 2015 Premeet
Modellista Qualitat side skirts and test fit
My 2nd TRD replica rear lip and test fit
THMotorsports Stage II Competition Clutch package
Hot Import Nights Houston 2015 and Clutch installation
Clutch break in, problems, solutions and review
Laile Beatrush underpanel, remounted the rear lip and LED taillights
Added Sti V-Lip, new wheels and new driver's side fender
Stancenation Texas 2016
Installed Greddy Revolution RS catback
More pictures from Stancenation Texas 2016
Currently my car is boosted with Swift Racing Technologies' turbo kit and its managed by a Greddy E-Manage Ultimate. Self installed and self tuned, I'm not sure of the numbers since I street tuned it but it should be putting down anywhere from 250rwhp-300rwhp. It's not the fastest thing in the world, but with this amount of power it makes the car very fun to drive. Future plan is to drop in a Aristo GTE, do a AR5 transmission swap and turn up the boost to get around 450rwhp.
Anyways I hope I didn’t bore you guys, it’s still a work in progress but hopefully it kept you guys entertained