'04 IS300 - Project (Not Really) Nice Daily

[interfooler]

Ugh. Seeing that and hearing that are making me think dirty thoughts about the one I was looking at a while ago :thumbup:



I'm going to have to check it out if you bring that to the show

[WRXtranceformed]

You're making me nostalgic for mine

Go get one!

Had one, red light runner killed it:

[fiveoh2go]

You're making me nostalgic for mine

Go get one!

Had one, red light runner killed it:

So what's holdin' ya back from buying another?! DO ETTTT!

[WRXtranceformed]

So what's holdin' ya back from buying another?! DO ETTTT!

510 horsepower, a lack of need and healthy existing car notes :lol:

[Goodspeed]

Ugh. Seeing that and hearing that are making me think dirty thoughts about the one I was looking at a while ago :thumbup:



I'm going to have to check it out if you bring that to the show

The car and I will be there!

I'll be very curious to see what you get in the way of the front tires rubbing on bumps and such.

So revisiting this...I've since had a few episodes of rubbing. Mostly in the rear, but I bombed around an uphill left-hander the other day and had rubbing in the front as well. I guess I'll have to look into fender rolling...does anyone have any recommendations for places that can do it in NoVA? Google sez P-Tuning, D&V and Mr. Spoiler are all options, but if anyone has any solid recommendations for someone who will do the job properly I'm all ears.

[Ken]

Ugh. Seeing that and hearing that are making me think dirty thoughts about the one I was looking at a while ago :thumbup:



I'm going to have to check it out if you bring that to the show

The car and I will be there!

I'll be very curious to see what you get in the way of the front tires rubbing on bumps and such.

So revisiting this...I've since had a few episodes of rubbing. Mostly in the rear, but I bombed around an uphill left-hander the other day and had rubbing in the front as well. I guess I'll have to look into fender rolling...does anyone have any recommendations for places that can do it in NoVA? Google sez P-Tuning, D&V and Mr. Spoiler are all options, but if anyone has any solid recommendations for someone who will do the job properly I'm all ears.

*Cue conversation around who has the fender roller and/or its parts*

[Senor_Taylor]

*Cue conversation around who has the fender roller and/or its parts*

I know its secret location. :twisted:

[V1GiLaNtE]

*Cue conversation around who has the fender roller and/or its parts*

I know its secret location. :twisted:

It ain't that secret.

[Goodspeed]

Turned 1000 miles today since purchase, so I felt it was as good a time as any to finally take some decent pics after the parts install. It helped that I gave a thorough detail on Sunday - wash, clay, polish, wax, the whole nine. This included the use of my Dr. Colorchip kit, which worked pretty great - better than my use on the Miata, and I'll probably do another round shortly. However for anyone considering the kit, heed this warning (this was my experience on the Miata as well, though I only remembered when I was thinking that I had totally ruined my hood, at least until I felt like polishing again which is never):

Basically, the kit gives you a bottle of paint, and a bottle of "Sealact" blending solution that seals the paint in the chip, and removes any excess. The instructions say to place a blob of paint next to a big chip or group of smaller ones, and smear it across with your thumb. This looks like absolute shit of course, and after a dozen or so chips your hood is covered in smeared, drying paint. But not to worry! After "a few minutes, up to 1 hour", you are meant to dampen a small portion of the included towel with the blending solution, and with "light pressure - let the solution do the work", you wipe away the excess paint. Well......no. After no more than 4-5 minutes, I had to desperately scrub away with a soaked towel (numerous times) to clear the smudges. This ferocity then took the paint out of some of the bigger chips, so I just used a very fine applicator brush to touch them up directly and gave up on the Sealact after a while. I didn't want to imagine trying to do this near the 1-hour mark, but I'd still recommend it as it works great for little groups of chips (easy to knock them out with one thumb-smear) and you can focus on the bigger ones individually.

Anyways, pics:

[V1GiLaNtE]

Needs a stubby antenna. Otherwise, great pics! Exhaust looks like it tucks up nicely.

[Goodspeed]

Needs a stubby antenna. Otherwise, great pics! Exhaust looks like it tucks up nicely.

Thanks! I thought about getting a stubby antenna, I might....I got rid of the 4 foot mast on the Miata with one but the reception was pretty bad afterwards. And visually I am extremely happy with the exhaust - it's nice not having to see this anymore:

[V1GiLaNtE]

Agreed. I love cars with an OEM+ look to them.

[SlimKlim]

Car looks awesome!

Basically, the kit gives you a bottle of paint, and a bottle of "Sealact" blending solution that seals the paint in the chip, and removes any excess. The instructions say to place a blob of paint next to a big chip or group of smaller ones, and smear it across with your thumb. This looks like absolute shit of course, and after a dozen or so chips your hood is covered in smeared, drying paint. But not to worry! After "a few minutes, up to 1 hour", you are meant to dampen a small portion of the included towel with the blending solution, and with "light pressure - let the solution do the work", you wipe away the excess paint. Well......no. After no more than 4-5 minutes, I had to desperately scrub away with a soaked towel (numerous times) to clear the smudges. This ferocity then took the paint out of some of the bigger chips, so I just used a very fine applicator brush to touch them up directly and gave up on the Sealact after a while. I didn't want to imagine trying to do this near the 1-hour mark, but I'd still recommend it as it works great for little groups of chips (easy to knock them out with one thumb-smear) and you can focus on the bigger ones individually.

Paint. Pens.

http://www.automotivetouchup.com/paintpen.asp

In my semi-professional opinion this is the only at-home touch up product worth screwing around with. To be fair, I haven't tried one of those Dr. Color Chip kits but it seems like more fuss than it's worth.

With these paint pens you shake the shit out of them, get a bit of paint flowing into the tip, then just dab it into the chip. If it's a deep chip do a couple "coats" before hitting it with the clear, and a lot of times you can get it built back up to the level of the paint and it's extremely hard to spot without any more fussing.

If you are anal enough to try and get a perfectly smooth result with a touch-up (seems like a somewhat doomed mission IMO) you can build the clearcoat up past the original paint, let it dry for a few hours and then hit it with some rubbing compound before it cures too much, or if you're brave you could wetsand then polish.

However, for small, run of the mill rock chips, just dabbing some color and clear in using a pen is all you need to get a decent result.

I wish i could find a single stage touch up pen, that's the one thing I don't like about the commercially available pens. Back in the day I'd mix myself up some color, go ahead and throw my clear, reducer and hardener right in with the paint, put it in a pen and rock out. Much easier to just fill the chip in in one go than go back over soft basecoat with a clearcoat pen.

[fiveoh2go]

Paint. Pens.

http://www.automotivetouchup.com/paintpen.asp

Thanks for the link! :thumbup:

[Goodspeed]

Paint. Pens.

I'll have to give those some more consideration - I kinda wrote pens off after a few bad experiences with the cheapo Duplicolor ones you get at parts stores. Nothing, nothing, nothing, woahmygodwaytoomuch. Neat :thumbup:

[xvxax]

Who did the tint? And what brand film?

[Goodspeed]

Who did the tint? And what brand film?

I forget the brand, but these guys did it. Couple of good ol' boys here in Chantilly, they did my XJ too. No issues with the film or workmanship, I'm happy.

[Goodspeed]

Holy crap it had been forever since I had done any car work whatsoever, but a few odds and ends were taken care of recently so...update?



Firstly, I didn't mention it in my last update but I had the rear fender lips rolled at Mr. Spoiler in Manassas. Really cool guy, he let me hang around and watch and did a superb job. He masked and painted the lips a flat black so the job "disappeared" too. No rubbing whatsoever, success!

This weekend I replaced the rear swaybar endlinks with new Moog units. When the suspension was installed at Paul's place I didn't think to get new ones, and the original pieces were almost toast. I also found that the mounting bolts at the bar itself where loose, causing them to clank around somewhat. I'm glad I caught that when I did, but with the nuts in place there are like 1.5 threads left, I guess I'll just keep an eye on 'em.

Earl change was performed as well, and I couldn't get the damn filter off. The shop that did the TB/WP etc. work just after purchase in February did the last change with a new filter. I've been able to get to and remove the filters on my previous vehicles by hand no problem, but sweet jaysus is it in a terrible spot on the 2JZ. Everything is in the way - coolant line, oil and trans dipsticks, it's tucked under the intake manifold and even the hood prop is in the way when you're standing at the fender. I guess an oil filter wrench is in my future...

I also decided that the novelty of a giant, shiny, headlight-reflecting muffler had worn off, so I took off the Manzo catback and coated it. I used the VHT Flame Proof line of prep spray, primer, ceramic flat black and low gloss clear. I did however leave the tip polished. I hope it holds up as it looks great - the process was degrease & clean, rough up with red scotchbrite pad and then 320 grit sandpaper, clean again, then 3 coats of primer, 3 coats of black coating and then 2 coats of clear. I let the pieces air dry overnight and then cured them per instructions by running the car - idle for 10 mins, cool for 20, idle for 20, cool for 20, then drive for 30.

In progress:



Before:



After (potato cam shots from here on out...my deepest apologies)





Still being a supremely excellent DD. I honestly don't know why I'd ever part with it. I love you car!



<3

[WRXtranceformed]

Nice update, it really is a great little car. I loved mine and miss it

[Goodspeed]

Well, my prank of a "what car should I buy" thread has taken on a new meaning:



I was driving on the beltway last night, cruising all the way to the right when a Hyundai driver decided they wanted to occupy the exact amount of space I was safely keeping from the car in front of me (traffic was heavy of course).  As I began to coast down to retain the gap, cars up ahead began panic braking and the ripple rearwards had me well and truly on the brakes (not into ABS, but hold onto your ass level of pressure), and the lady driving a 2011 Civic behind me didn't slow at all.  ~65mph into ~30mph.  

She admitted to both me and the trooper on scene that she was looking at her phone at the time of the crash.  She was hit with the airbag, I'm so far OK - back was definitely feeling tweaked last night - we'll see what the next 48hrs. holds.



The car is going to Safford Collision in Tyson's today or tomorrow, I'm not holding my breath.  I'm planned to be present with their estimator while he does his thing, and they've been cleared by my insurance to disassemble whatever's necessary to perform a thorough inspection.  If by some chance the car is slated to survive, and it checks out and aligns right, I'll continue with my original plan of driving it until it needs to be scrapped.  

It's always felt like I was the mold around which this car was designed, just a perfect daily for me - and with brand new tires and brakes to boot.  Sigh.