far beyond driven.....

Optima Battery Sucks

2010-02-02T17:28:00.001-08:00

So about two years ago I purchased an Optima Yellow Top battery to replace an old Costco battery that was originally on the vehicle when I bought it about 4 1/2 years ago. When you hear the name Optima you think... Expensive battery... Excellent performance... Reliable... Those are good reasons to purchase them. That's why I got one about 2 years ago. Just a few months ago my car has been starting issues. I already got the starter rebuilt last year. So all fingers point to the battery. I purchased a battery charger last year because the Optima Yellow top was drained when I came back from vacation. So I hooked up the charger and let it charge for a substantial about of time. I started the Supra, and everything sounded good. Three days later the problem came back again. The car was a bit sluggish starting up. I checked the voltage and it was low again.

Today I decided to be done with it. I've researched and went for the Interstate Mega-Tron Plus battery. It has 100 more cold cranking amps and 1000 cranking amps than the Optima. You can't beat the 85 month year warranty! So if this battery decides to go out in two years, I'll be covered! I just hope it lasts compared to the Optima.

Sometimes you don't get what you pay for.

Cars Start But Battery is Weak

2009-06-19T15:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I drove to my parent's house to figure out what was wrong with my car. If you can recall when I left the house last week I disconnected the negative to make sure that the battery wouldn't be drained. When I got back to the house and tried to connect the negative terminal, the car still wouldn't start. So I decided that I would take the battery to Kragen and see if they can recharge it... I handed over the battery to the employee and he told me that they cannot charge Optima batteries. The Optima batteries will overload the quick charger. He recommended that I purchase a slow charge battery charger. Although it will take longer than normal it will charge the battery. So I purchased the charger since it was fairly inexpensive.

Before I hooked up the battery and I wanted to see if i can fire up the car. So I jump started the Supra with the Echo. It fired up with no problem. I let the car warm for a while since it was sitting for a while. After a few minutes I turned off the car to see if I can start it up again... But it didn't start. So I'm assuming the battery is really low.

I hooked up the battery charger... It'll take about a day to charge half the battery. So hopefully it will work next time I start it up.

Car Won't Start?

2009-06-15T19:16:00.000-07:00

Last week I went to Washington for vacation and the Supra was also on vacation. When I was about to head home from my vacation the Supra wouldn't start... I think the battery might have discharged while I was away. My Optima Yellow Top battery is about a year and half old and I can't figure out why it's already dead. It was late in the evening and didn't have time to diagnose the issue, so I had to take the Corolla up with me to Mira Mesa. I hope a jump start will fix it.

Purchased an Airbag Adapter for TRD Steering wheel

2009-05-24T14:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I purchased an airbag adapter for my TRD steering wheel. The steering wheel is originally for an MR2 Spyder and Celica (7th Gen). To have the steering wheel work with my car I would need this air bag adapter. This adapter has been discontiuned for a while but I was able to find it at L-Tuned Parts.

Valve Covers sent to Chromer

2009-05-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

On Monday I was able to send off my valve covers to Cal Tron Plating in Santa Fe Springs. Luckily the shipping wasn't as bad as I thought. I made sure to pack it really well with bubble wrap and foam peanuts.

The following day I was able to get a hold of Carl, the owner of the company. He received the valve covers and questioned me about the polished finish. He mentioned that his guy could've have down a better job at a lower cost. At that time I didn't know how much it would have cost. However, the black nickel plating doesn't show imperfections compared to chrome plating. I just hope it doesn't look too bad.

According to Carl they should have everything down in a few days.

The First Step of Chroming Parts

2009-05-11T17:02:00.001-07:00

I've doing some research and the first step to chroming a part is to have it polished. When you take something to chrome shop they usually prep it up making sure its clean to dip in the acid then dip it in the chrome. Polishing is the hardest part of the whole process. Chroming is easiest. To save some money I decided to get it polished here before sending it out. After making several calls I decided to go with Romero's Custom Chrome in El Cajon. I picked up the valve covers and they looked great. You should've seen the the valve covers before. They were really dirty and were begging to be cleaned.

Now I will need to ship the valve covers to Cal-Tron Plating to get black chromed!

I Finally WON a TRD Steering Wheel

2009-05-10T05:33:00.000-07:00

After months of scouring Yahoo Auctions Japan I've finally WON a TRD Steering Wheel. I can't wait to get it.

Yahoo Japan TRD Steering Wheel?

2009-05-10T04:52:00.000-07:00

It's 4:53 in the morning on a Sunday. It's a bit early in the morning but I have a good reason. I'm keeping and eye on this TRD steering wheel from Japan. I've been eyeing this steering wheel for some time now. The auction ends in about 30 minutes and I'm hoping that I will win it. In Japan its 5 minutes to 9 in the evening. I just hope the person who bidded on this item before me isn't going to snatch it in the last minute. I've been disappointed a couple times already trying to bid on TRD steering wheel. We'll see if I win this bad boy! Wish me luck!

Supra Following?

2009-05-08T22:25:00.000-07:00

On occasion I would get a comment regarding my car from different people. I get a couple of saying that the Supra is there dream car. Last night was a rare occurrence. I was driving around Mira Mesa and at a stop light a BMW rolls next to me and just comments me on my car. He liked my car and asked if it were turbo and how much I paid for it. They were really cool.

Then I was at the Jack N Box drive thru the guy working there also commented my car. He also asked how much I picked it up for and if it were turbo... I think those are the most common questions. It's funny that I had two people commented about the car one after another...

Although my car isn't the fastest Supra out there its just cool knowing that I own a Supra :)

Hot days are upon us.

2009-05-06T21:18:00.000-07:00

My air conditioning works great now! Thank goodness it wasn't as bad. They had to replace the expansion valve and refill the freon. Today was hot and the air condition came in really handy!

A/C Service Time

2009-05-01T09:15:00.001-07:00

I just dropped off the Supra to get the air conditioning checked out at Miramar H&A. I've been running with no air conditioning since August or September of last year. There were some days that I wished that I had air conditioning. My friend who is a Toyota mechanic told me that my freon is completely empty. So since summer is almost upon us I think it would be a good time to service it. I just hope it's something minor.

New Greddy Pulley Set

2009-04-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

I bought a used set of Greddy Pulley's from a Supraforum's member last month and was disappointed by the shape it was in. It had a couple nicks that bugged me. Since I'm somewhat picky about a few things I decided to sale it on ebay Usually that's the risk when purchasing used parts from people. I ordered a new set of Greddy pulleys from Pann. Now I don't have to worry about any nicks or cosmetic things.

Bumper Repainted Complete

2009-04-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

I stopped by last Friday to check the progress of my front bumper at SDCS. They had removed my bumper off the car. Everything was already painted and was drying up in the booth. Jacie, owner of SDCS told me that everything should be good to go on Monday. He also recommended a guy to fix the dent on the passenger fender. I've had that dent for the longest time. It was there when I bought the car over four years ago.

I decided to get that dent fixed as well. I originally was scheduled to pick the car up on Monday but the guy who was suppose to fix my dent informed me that a special tool is required. He didn't have that tool at the time and will have everything done on Tuesday. I didn't mind as long as I'm satisfied. On Tuesday I pick up the car and everything looks great. They did a few touch ups to the bumper and I was good. SDCS did an incredible job. It looks way better than the previous job they did last year. And as for the dent. It's completely gone!

I'm one satisfied customer!

Repainting Front Bumper Again

2009-04-20T12:12:00.000-07:00

About a year and four months ago I got my repainted my front bumper and passenger fender at SDCS. At that time I messed up fender backing out of a parking garage and hit the pillar in the convention center parking lot. I got the fender replaced and repainted it. At the same time I decided to get my bumper repainted as well. It had the license plate holes and a few little dents. Everything looked great when I picked it up... About 5 months later I noticed that the paint on the bumper was bubbling. Weeks later the bubble burst leaving an ugly gash. I think it was due to the exposure UV light from the sun.

Last week I showed Jacie, the owner of SDCS the bubble area. He said he will take care of it. Since the paint is covered by warranty I wouldn't have to pay anything... Today I'll be dropping the car off at SDCS in National City. I really hope everything looks better than before.

JDM Steering Wheel Resold.

2009-04-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

After a few failed attempts trying to sell my JDM Supra Steering Wheel on Supraforums, socalsupras, and even on craigslist. I had one guy who was totally sold on it. And when I informed him that the steering wheel had no airbag or cruise control he backed out. He didn't respond back to my email or my phone call after that. LAME. My last resort was posting it up on eBay. I was able to make some of my money back on the wheel but wasn't able to gain any profit. I was really hoping to sell it for more than I got it since it's a JDM steering wheel. I suppose the item wasn't as hot as I originally thought.

Clutch Master Cylinder and Cylinder Slave Replaced

2009-04-18T13:35:00.000-07:00

With the amount of mileage my car has its only necessary to replace a lot of things. I was informed when I got my starter rebuilt that my cylinder slave was leaking. I purchased all the parts before hand from my roommate and had Mike (Toyota Tech) replace them. I also installed a stainless steel clutch line to replace the old rubber line. It took about 2 or so hours to get everything installed. Everything feels really good now. I'm good for another 100k. Hopefully that won't be anytime soon.

Good bye NA Front Brakes

2009-04-09T11:00:00.000-07:00

I finally sold my NA front brakes to Robert from 935 Motorsports. He wanted to mount them onto his SC300. Originally i thought the SC300 brakes were the same as the NA Supra but in actuality the NA Supra brakes are slight larger... I wouldn't say it's a big difference but he got a good deal on them :) Now I can finally free up room in the garage. Now I have to sell those rear brakes.

ati super damper arrived!

2009-03-06T22:00:00.000-08:00

The ati super damper that ordered from summit racing arrived! It's a nice little upgrade for my motor swap. Since I'm planning some decent horsepower this crank pulley damper will add that extra level of safety. I'm slowly making progress on my project. I just hope to finish up sometime this year.

Ticket Signed Off

2009-02-27T16:58:00.000-08:00

I was able to get my fix-a-ticket signed off without taking off my tint and the license plate. ;) So I go to the court house to take care of this issue and low and behold after waiting in a long line that the ticket has been inputted in the system. The lady told I would need to wait for a letter to come in the mail... So pretty much I wasted my time. I wanted to get this taken care of right away so I won't have to worry about it. But I guess I have to wait.

Tint Illegal?

2009-02-27T12:05:00.000-08:00

I was running errands in Kearny Mesa the other day following the rules of the road. I noticed a police car pass by me at the incoming lane while I waited for my light to turn green... I didn't really thing nothing of it. I didn't break any laws or anything... All of a sudden I noticed a police car in my rear view mirror. I wasn't sure if it was the same car that passed by or just another random one. So I made my left turn and all of a sudden he his lights go on. In my mind I was thinking I didn't do anything wrong. I wasn't speeding or doing anything crazy. The police offer walks up to me and tells me that he noticed my tint on my windows. I told him that my windows were rolled down but for some reason he saw it? He asked me to roll it up and tells me that its illegal to have them. He then asks for my license, registration and proof of insurance. His partner was complimenting me about the car and asking all these questions...

The police offer complimented me on my Recaro Red Seats. He wanted to know how much I got them for. Then he goes about asking whether my rear spoiler is factory. And who does my work on my car. The funny thing is that he was asking if I tricked out my car by adding headers and other performance mods. I had a suspicion that he was trying to integrate me to the point where he might have to pop open my hood. I told him my car is stock and I didn't mod anything. And he then tells this one story about his girlfriend in high school had a supra... BLAH BLAH BLAH.

After that weird conversation was all done they handed me a ticket for the tint and not having my front license plate. Bummer!

Car Leaking Oil!

2009-02-24T19:27:00.000-08:00

I found out my car has been leaking oil these past few days... After first I thought it would've been an incorrect oil change. In the weekend I went back and redid my oil change. I added a brand new drain plug washer and put the oil back in. I found that today the oil leak isn't coming from the oil drain plug. It looks like it's coming from the transmission... Possibly the rear main seal? I hope that's not the case. I wouldn't want to remove the entire tranny to get it fixed! That would S*CK big time. Removing the transmission when doing that clutch job was a pain. I'm going to have it looked at tomorrow and hopefully it can be resolved without removing the transmission.

Car Cover Search

2009-02-19T17:28:00.000-08:00

I usually visit my parent's during the weekends. My car is parked outside most of the time while my mom's Miata and dad's Van are parked in the garage. Lately it's been cold and rainy. So I've been contemplating getting a good car cover that protects the Supra from moisture and rain! A lot of the supraforums members have stated that California Car Cover has the best warranty and the best covers. So I have to decide which of the three covers to select.

Superweave
Providing the premium in outdoor, all-weather storage protection. The versatile Superweave material features unsurpassed moisture, dust and pollutant protection. The encapsulation technology goes INSIDE the fabric, around the fibers, resulting in a silky smooth finish that glides over fine paint finishes. Superweave is also dust-proof so it will keep your vehicle clean whether it is stored indoors or out. It still remains exceptionally breathable, allowing moisture and heat to escape. When rain hits the cover it simply runs right off and any moisture left on the cover will usually dry in about 10 minutes.

Noah
Kimberly Clark's NOAH material stops virtually all dust, dirt and pollution. Highly water resistant and dust resistant (even more than Stormweave!), the NOAH fabric performs excellently whether it is for indoor or very lengthy outdoor use. This space age material provides superior protection in all weather conditions. Made with "breathable film" technology, NOAH gives the vehicle the ultimate barrier of protection, but still allows for moisture and condensation to evaporate away from your vehicle's finish.

Stormweave
Stormweave's dense construction cushions against parking lot dings and is resistant to tears and punctures. Stormweave is highly water resistant and blocks 99% of ultraviolet rays from the sun and has a 180 UPF (Ultraviolet Protection Factor); while other cheap imitation fabrics may have a UPF rating of only 40. This is important because UV rays are what damage both the interior and exterior of your vehicle; block the UV rays…protect the vehicle! Stormweave can help protect your vehicle's interior and finish from sun, rain, snow, dew, industrial pollutants, tree sap and animal droppings

JDM Steering and C's Shifter

2009-02-18T19:07:00.000-08:00

I've been searching on Yahoo Japan Auctions to find good deals on some Supra parts. I found a couple of cool items I could get cheaper in Japan than on Supraforums. A year and half ago I purchased my TRD tachometer for $150 shipped, which is an amazing price. The items I'm currently monitoring are a JDM Toyota Supra steering wheel and a C's 6-Speed short shifter. I intend to resale these items and possibly make some money to use on my swap.

Let's hope I win!

boo condensation!

2009-02-15T12:11:00.000-08:00

I went into the garage and noticed something in my front driver headlight... After the trend of cold and rainy weather condensation formed inside my headlight. I was really disappointed and bummed. I thought the headlights were sealed really well when I had my retrofit done. I txted a couple of friends and it seemed like a lot of work. I rather have someone do it for me instead of doing it myself. Since I don't have any experience in resealing headlights I'm bound to break something.

I finally txted the guy who did my retrofit. His response was to have me send it back so he can reseal them at no extra charge. The only expense is having them shipped to his location. I still have an extra set of Supra headlights I can run while they're out getting resealed. Now I have to find the time to send them.

I just hate seeing it that condensation!

finally finished with clutch

2009-02-13T17:00:00.000-08:00

I went back to Brad's house to finish the remaining things on the clutch job. He first put back the plastic undertray beneath the car. Then he checked both the motor oil level and the gear oil. The motor oil level was spot on. He also double checked to see if the filter was tighten. Brad wanted to top off the transmission gear oil. I had some gear left over from last light so I took a clear hose and poured the gear oil in.

I mentioned to Brad that the clutch pedal felt a light on my way home last night. He recommended that I had my clutch bled. We both went to the local Wal-mart to pick up some brake fluid.

Brad did an awesome job with the install. Everything felt great and I'm good for another 150k miles. He was very professional and knew what to do. Hopefully by then I'll have my refreshed GTE motor swapped in.

clutch finally replaced

2009-02-12T21:40:00.000-08:00

I finally got my clutch replaced by Brad, a mechanic that previously worked at a local performance shop in Mira Mesa. It was a long day before the both of us. He worked on several Supra clutch jobs, so he pretty much knew what to do.

I had everything set aside for the job.

Aisin OEM Clutch

Throw-out Bearing

Release Bearing

Rear Main Oil Seal

There were a few things that I needed to get done. I still had to pick up some gear oil and had to get flwheel resurfaced. It took about 2 to 3 hours to have the clutch removed. He first removed my undertray, then removed my exhaust out of the way to unbolt the drive-shaft, and then remove the transmission.

After the transmission was out we dropped the the flywheel off to get resurfaced at local Poway Machine shop. The machine shop did an awesome job. Luckily, Poway Toyota was nearby so i picked up 3 bottles of gear oil and an gasket for the transmission plug

When we got back Brad focused his attention to the rear main oil seal. He inspected my current rear main seal and told me it was still good. I already had purchased a new rear main oil seal, so I decided while the transmission is out to replace the oil seal. Removing the rear main oil required me to change my oil in the process... I remembered that I was due for an oil change. The timing was perfect.

I went out again to pick up 6 quarts of motor oil and a filter. When I got back from the store Brad had already drained the oil from the car and removed the part that holds the rear main seal. He then used a hammer to remove the seal from its enclosure.

The process of putting everything back together was a long. It took the rest of the afternoon and evening to get everything done. Putting back the transmission was tricky. Since we didn't have a lift Brad and his friend Kyle had to lift the transmission up. I was responsible of position the jack below the transmission and making sure its at an appropriate height so they can bolt it on.

... We finished at around 11pm. Brad told me to come back tomorrow to finish a few things but majority of the work was done. He was really tired and wanted to rest up. So we took the car for the test drive and everything went well. When I drove my car back home I noticed that the pedal felt light than before. It felt a little different from the stock clutch but still engaged at the same level.

So i realized that a clutch job on a Supra definitely takes a days worth of work. If we only had a lift the job would be easier. But we had to make due with what we had.

wet day in san diego

2009-02-10T13:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a good day to stay inside. Rain continued to pour but that didn't stop me from getting my new JL Audio C2-650x speakers installed. Originally I was going to have autofashion install them but i wanted to get quotes from other places. I didn't what the going rate to install rear speakers was.

I first called San Diego Car Stereo on Convoy. They quoted me $60+ to install. The guy recommended that I come in to get a more accurate quote. I also called two other places. However, the price to install was more than I wanted to spend. I decided to make the trip down to San Diego Car Stereo to get an accurate quote. The rain was pouring down like crazy when i left the house.

When I arrived at San Diego Car Audio one of the employees checked out the rear speaker setup. The Supra rear speakers are located on the rear panel and not in the back. To reach the speakers they would have to remove the panels, which would take some time. According to the guy it would probably take an hour or two to complete and would be $80. That price was comparable to autofashion. I decided just to find another place that would do it.

I remember seeing another car audio place on Clairmont Mesa blvd. I drove to that area and there it was Car Audio Heaven. The guy was really friendly. He came and looked at my car and said that they can do it for $65. He asked me how I was going to pay for it, cash or credit. I told him that I was going to pay with credit. The credit card system was down at the time and that they can only accept cash at the moment. So he offered to do it for $60 cash. I was all for that.

They were able to complete the install while I waited. I was surprised they got the work done in about an hour. One of the employees told me that the Porche they are currently working on is getting everything done up. The owner is putting major money on it! When you own a car like a Porche you need to go all out. I wish I can go all out on my Supra. I'm more of a budget conscious person.

The speakers sounded good but not great. I talked to a couple of my friend's about my situation and they recommended that I get an amp. An amp would provide enough to increase the the power to the speakers while making things sound clear.

So my next upgrade to my audio system will be an amp! Time to figure out which one to get now.

New JL Audio Speakers C2-650x

2009-02-04T23:00:00.000-08:00

I had the urge to purchase something for my car. So I had to think about what needs to be replaced. The car is about 12 years old and things need to be changed to something better. One thing that needs to be upgrade is my rear speakers. I was told that my rear driver speaker was blown when I had my Panasonic headunit installed a year and half ago.

So yesterday I was surfing the web to find out prices for JL Audio C2-650x speakers. These speakers are a new model of coaxiel for 2009. I finally settled and purchased them on ebay for a way better price than everybody else. I can't wait to get them :)

JL Audio C2-650X Info
JL Audio's Evolution C2 speakers bring precision sound to your vehicle. They'll reproduce subtle elements of your music like delicate woodwinds or soprano vocals, then turn on a dime to deliver the deep thrum of the bass or thunder of the drums.

The C2-650X 6-3/4" speakers feature rugged polypropylene cones that can handle high power without distortion, so you get full-bodied low tones you can really feel. The 3/4" silk dome tweeters serve up smooth-sounding high frequencies that won't tax your ears, adding a satisfying dose of realism to your soundstage. Built-in crossovers make sure your tunes play smoothly across the whole musical spectrum.

Details:

2-way 6-3/4" speakers (pair)

injection-molded mica-filled polypropylene woofer with butyl rubber surround

3/4" silk dome tweeter

built-in crossover network

4-ohm impedance

power range: 15-60 watts RMS (100 watts peak power)

frequency response: 59-22,000 Hz

sensitivity: 91 dB

depth: 2-9/16"

My Ex-Supra Seats in a Lexus SC

2009-02-04T22:34:00.001-08:00

Last night I was able to meet up with Anthony, the new owner of my 97 Supra Seats. I got a glimpse of the seats. The Supra seats were a plug-in play application. They make the SC interior sportier. I had a chance to sit inside and they definitely feel low. Anthony told me its comparable to his Supra MKIII seats. All in all he was happy with the overall outcome. I'm glad my seats are in good hands!

BEFORE

AFTER

so long stock supra seats...

2009-01-30T09:32:00.001-08:00

My stock supra seats have been collecting dust ever since i upgraded to Recaro SRD seats last year. i took the supra seats with me when i moved to mira mesa and they have been sitting in the loft area of the house since. i didn't intend to sell them till now. i was just recently laid off and decided it was time for them to go. i wondered how much i can get for them?

My friend suggested that $400 would be a good price. If he had the money right now he would get them. His budget is really tight because of a recent layoff. He recommend that I post them on ClubLexus. A lot of the SC owners are looking to upgrade there power tan seats to supra seats for weight savings and color.

I started a thread on the SC 300 section of ClubLexus. There were a couple people that were interested. One person from Washington state and another people from the San Francisco area. The Washington person wanted me to get a quote on packaging and shipping. It seemed like a lot of working getting a box, packaging and weighing it. The other guy from San Francisco said he would be willing to drive down. However, he wanted me to lower the price. I was pretty firm on my price.

I also posted the seats on Craigslist. Craigslist is amazing when looking for stuff new or used. I've sold and purchased things on there and the community seems legit. It's way better than going on eBay. I received 3 or 4 responses to the seats but finally found a personal locally who was serious. I responded to all his inquires immediately through email. Anthony (local buyer) asked me to hold the seats for him till the first week of February. He came by a few days ago to check out the seats and liked what he saw. He texted me this morning and decided to pick them up.

It was unbelievable that he was stuffed both seats into his SC. The driver seat was placed in the back seat and he stuffed the passenger seat in his truck... Simply Amazing. You can't do that with my supra.

so long stock supra seats...

coming soon! recaro SRD seats!

2008-06-10T14:17:00.001-07:00

take a look at these recaro seats. im going to be getting for my car and having them installed this saturday... can't wait!

new things...

2008-05-19T23:17:00.001-07:00

well i haven't updated my blog in a long a$$ time and was about time. things have been going well with my motor swap. the motor is currently being worked on. the head is currently off the motor and is in the cleaning process. i still need to pick up several parts... i need to pick up a new 6-speed harness (i sold my used one on supraforums), clutch and accessories, front mount intercooler, downpipe, turbo manifold, turbo, electronics. still a long list but i should be getting a turbo and manifold soon.

rinkya.

2007-11-20T11:54:00.000-08:00

i read this article from project car magazine about car parts. there was this part of that article that talked about auctions in japan. it discussed how you can bid on auctions from japan and have them ship to you. so i went on yahoo auctions japan and found a few items. i can't believe how cheap the prices for some parts are. trd steerings can be had for half the price for a new one, which is an awesome deal. anyways, i found a TRD tachometer for sale for half the price. there was another person bidding on the item as well. so i immediately overbidded him and won the item. since this is my first experience purchasing an item from a japanese auction using rinkya i can judge the performance. i read some reviews after the auction about the service and read that the service is great however its a bit overpriced. hopefully, i can get my item and judge for myself. i cant wait to get that TRD tach!

anodize cooling plate

2007-10-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

yesterday i went to stop by southern plate company to bring my cooling plate i bought from ebay to get anodize. you might ask what andoize means. heres a brief definition

"Anodizing will protect the aluminum parts by making the surface much harder than natural aluminum. Aluminum oxide is grown out of the surface during anodizing and then becomes aluminum hydrate that is extremely hard. The porous nature of the anodized layer allows the product to be dyed any color that is required."

for example you look at your new ipod nano and ipod mini. those finishes are anodized.

so i decided to get that part painted black. i hope it turns out well. i didn't want to polish it or powdercoat it. i didn't want anything too flashy. once i get a digital camera ill post up more pics :)

Sidetracked...

2007-10-10T20:25:00.000-07:00

I got sidetracked yet again by a group buy on supraforums. I've always wanted to pick up some TRD chrome style bezels. However, I've been hesitating to get them since they were made out of plastic and cheap. Why pay $100 for something cheap and plastic. But when a deal for a aluminum version came a long i decided to jump it. These are made with aluminum and look great! I was told that these will be available only for a limited time. My car will have a refresh look with them on.

thank you craigslist

2007-10-01T03:41:00.000-07:00

i picked up an HKS Super SQV Blowoff valve courtesy of Craigslist on Saturday. I responded to one of the posts on there and emailed the guy back and forth. He told me that the bov he has for sale is the redesigned one. so on saturday evening i decided to pick it up with Edwill. We both rolled up to the SDSU area and picked up. the bov was originally for a WRX but can be used on any vehicle. the only thing that needs to be removed is the flanged. the bov looked great. i can't wait to finally rock the new style HKS BOV! thank you craigslist.

New Griffin Radiator! Well not exacty new...

2007-09-24T23:58:00.000-07:00

most of us supra people are familiar with radiator brands such as Koyo or Fluidyne. but i decided to go with griffen. griffin isn't really a big name in the supra world but is familiar name to others. i picked up a used griffin radiator from a user on 2jztrader.com. the deal was to trade in my old 6-speed radiator for his plus $200. after thinking about it. i actually had a 6-speed radiator that i got for free from a user on supraforums. so i decided to go with the deal. when comparing both the stock and griffin radiator the new radator is way bigger and looks way cool. this is a step up from the existing stock radiator. i can't wait to put it on.

polarg pure yellow H3 bulbs

2007-09-07T11:54:00.000-07:00

after doing intensive searches and research i decided to purchase a set of polarg pure yellow bulbs for my fog lights from eautoworks. i read somewhere they are the most yellow bulbs i can find compared to the crappy PIAA Ions. They look really good. I will post pics. But if your planning on getting yellow bulbs, definitely pick up Polarg Pure Yellows.

discount tire co

2007-08-06T22:58:00.000-07:00

after having the whole weekend to think about replacing my tires i decided to take the plunge and purchase new tires this morning. it was between the kuhmo SPT or the falken FK-452. korea vs japan... after looking at reviews and falken FK-452 being a newer tire, i decided to go with the falken. i didn't really want to buy tires but i didn't have a choice. the tires were pretty bad and i had to fill them up almost every day. mike, the manger of the discount tire of palm avenue told me theyll arrive tomorrow afternoon... thats one less problem to worry about but one more problem to figure out how to pay. 6 months no interest FTW!

wheels...

2007-08-06T00:26:00.000-07:00

for those who may not know david, he is the guy from france who's been living in san diego for about 4 years. i met him last year at my very first supra meet @ costco mission valley. anyways, he's planning on heading back to france and is forced to sell his supra. he's been receiving a few offers for his supra but nothing yet. anyways, yesterday david and i had an interesting time. we decided to finally deal his wheels. before we swapped out wheels, i took some video of his car. i wanted to make sure i shot some footage we can edit up later. so after the photoshoot, we worked on swapping out the wheels and tires. it took us a while with the tools we had. we had to make a trips to home depot and walmart for a couple of sockets. one of the rachets didn't survive. although it took us a few hours with the tools we had we were able to complete the switch. he is rolling in my stock wheels and im rolling on his 5-zigen wheels. i had to pay a few hundred bucks on top of the trade. but other than that i'm pretty satisfied.

losing tire pressure

2007-08-01T00:36:00.000-07:00

for some reason i noticed im losing a great deal of pressure in my front tire. it seems like i've been adding air in a daily basis which is worrying me. i don't feel safe driving in tires that can't hold pressure. i will have them looked at ASAP! it looks like i might have to buy new tires. damn i hate buying new tires.

the dreading wheel bearings.

2007-07-29T00:27:00.000-07:00

after driving with a strange noise for four months coming from the driver section of my car i finally figured that my rear wheel bearing was bad. i had two opportunities to remove them but we didn't have enough time to complete them. brad, one of the technicians at the shop diagnosed the problem. we made sure it wasn't the brakes causing the noise. we removed the calipers and the rotors and spun the hub. the noise was definitely coming from the wheel bearing. so i gathered all the parts from kearny mesa toyota. after the two failed attempts i tried to find another person to help me out. i asked tire world of chula vista for a quote and they told me it would be $275 for the labor. i wasn't about to spend $275. so i asked a good friend of mine, Patrick. Patrick is the administrator of the Viper Truck Club of America forums. he was willing to assist me with the wheel bearing. so he planned out a day. he has never worked on a supra so this is new for him. so when i arrived to his house i rolled into his lift. we lifted the car and started the work. we ran into several issues here and there. the biggest issue was actually removing the wheel bearing out of the hub itself. we had to go to a local shop to assist us with the removal and installation of the the bearing. although it took us the entire day it was a learning experience. i think $275 at tire world is definitely a good deal. in return i promised patrick i would assist him with the painting of his house next week. :)

motor work

2007-07-21T10:07:00.000-07:00

yesterday, david, jon (anthercite), and i decided to work on my jdm motor. we we removed the turbos, manifold and the throttle body. we started work at around 9:30 or so and finished in 2 hours. it was a great learning experience. now that i have the the intake manifold out its time to polish and clean.

back to stock springs on the front

2007-06-16T01:46:00.000-07:00

well today we worked on my car again.... last week i had alex swap out my front springs to stock. for some reason when we switched them out it didnt do anything. i was a bit puzzled and was thinkin that my shocks could be bad. with all that stress from the aftermarket springs probably did a number on the shocks. so i decided to post on supraforums for a set of aftermarket shocks. so i got a couple responses and the one i found appealing were the Bilsteins. i dealed with the guy and he was able to send it two day air.

today b-rad helped me out today. we removed the front shock and spring. he showed me a pretty cool trick which didn't require the use of a spring compressor. we put the shock and spring in a tire while i was standing on the spring. this allows the spring not to move. i was a bit hesistant at first but it worked out in the end. once we finished both sides we dropped the car and the car was definitely raised back to stock... you can see the wheel gap. so now i know we installed the lowering springs incorrectly. good thing im going back to stock so i wont have to worry about scrapping all the time.

** mental note: the bigger fatter springs up in front and the thin ones in the back.

who cares... im going coilovers in the end!!

trip to north hollywood part 2 of 2

2007-06-11T08:16:00.000-07:00

on our way wake back down to san diego dustin informed me that we had to go pick up his car in national city where he was getting his clutch installed. he asked me if i would drive his evo back home. i didnt mind at all. this was my chance to drive an evo with performance parts. jon from rev'd up kustomz was waiting for us when we got there. we unloaded the motor from the van. we then drove up back to dustin's house where i had a nice salmon dinner with mushrooms and Corona beer... i chilled out for a little bit and watched the chapelle show. as i was driving home i was just thinking how i'm gettin really close to the swap. what a long day but was well worth it.

trip to north hollywood part 1 of 2

2007-06-10T01:46:00.000-07:00

today we went to pick up the motor.... here's a little recap of how the day went.

7:39am - Andrew, Jon (MR2) friend calls me up checking to see if im ready to go. he tells me that jon can't make since he has to drop his parents to the airport or something. so it'll be just be me and him. so i told him that its fine and will get ready in a few minutes.

8:00am - Andrew calls me up and tells me that his dad won't let him take the trunk. he asked his dad last minute that he will be borrowing the truck and got denied. so i now im stuck trying to find out a back up plan. i went down my list of people and trying to figure out how to get to north holly wood. i called david, sent a txt to revd-up jon, and several car guys. i was really in a bind trying to find somebody. but i got really lucky when i called up dustin the evo guy...

if you can recall on my previous dustin was the guy who let me borrow his battery. anyways, he was planning on going to an evo meet @ hooters in escondido today but his car was in the shop getting the clutch installed. he told me that would glady drive. i was so stoked that he would take me. i apologized and made sure i wasn't interrupting any plans. it was a last minute thing but was really cool about it. he didn't really care how far it was down.... which i found really cool of him to do.

9:00AM - I left the house to go to Dustin's place in Escondido.

9:45AM - I get to Dustin's place and were getting ready to head out. he got his satellite radio and his valentine one radar detector for the trip. our first stop was to unload some stuff at his work.

10:20AM - We headed to North Hollywood. The trip there wasn't that bad. We hit some traffic and everything but talked it up. i got to know dustin better. we pretty much talked the entire time which was cool. i was also presently surprised by his valentine one detector. we came across certain times when it came on and was quite accurate. on route to north hollywood i had to call up yuki and tell him that we're on our way up. and asked him just in case to stay open if we're a little late

12:30PM - We arrived just in time. i walked to yuki's office and handed him the money. dustin then parked his van in front of the gate. we placed the pallet on dustin's van. yuki hooked the motor on the cherry picker and carefully lifted the motor into dustin's van and placed it on the pallet. then dustin tied the motor and close the van doors. i thanked yuki for holding the motor and we were on our way back to san diego.

12:45PM - Now it was lunch time and we were trying to figure out what to eat. we decided just to drive down to irvine spectrum and grab a bite over there.

1:20PM - We arrive at Irvine Spectrum. i told dustin that lunch is on me. he didn't know what he wanted. so we looked at the directory and tried to figure out something. originally i choose California Pizza Kitchen... But as we walked i asked him if wanted PF Changs. He told me never ate there before, so i decided to eat there instead. when we entered PF Changs we were greeted by this smokin blond chick. as we sat down i was scoping out the scenery and there a bunch of hotties. so we ate lunch and headed back to san diego.

to be continued....

tomorrow is the big day

2007-06-08T20:30:00.000-07:00

i got all the funds ready to go and ready to get the motor tomorrow. **excited**

count down to twin turbo motor

2007-06-06T23:51:00.000-07:00

the count down has begun... saturday will be the day i will be picking up the twin turbo motor. i called up and reminded yuki that i will picking up the motor. so we're all set for saturday! i can't wait!

one last race...

2007-06-05T22:15:00.000-07:00

today david convinced me to go to fusion... after heavy negotiating i gave in. i decided to check it out. when we got there the parking lot was packed. i chilled there for a little bit checked out the scene and went to eat my fish tacos at rubios, since it was taco tuesdays. right after rubios i went straight home. on my way home i was crusing down the 805... minding my own business and integra pulls right next to me. i thought nothing of it. but he was right next for a few minutes looking to pick a race with me. after a few minutes of thinking... i decided to just do it. who cares? might as well try my luck before i swap my motor. so i downshifted to third, everything was a blur after that. his car just pulled in front of me. he must've gotten like a motor swap because i was mashing my pedal. but his car looked like a cheap model integra. after that one pull i decided just to chill... no more race. i didn't wanna make myself look bad. i just hope he didn't think i was twin turbo or else he might be telling all his honda buddies that he beat a twin turbo supra on the freeway... thatll definitely boost his confidence level a few notches.

the yellow top...

2007-05-31T21:30:00.000-07:00

so i picked up the yellow top battery yesterday from pann. when i got home i opened it up and put it in my car. and it looked like the same issue i had with Jon's battery. the terminals wouldnt reach. i would have to turn the battery around and flop the connectors. i didn't want to mess around with the connectors so i called one of the guy's from the shop and let him know my situation. he told me that he would look at it the following day, which is today.

so i went to the shop today to get it looked at. brad was occupied with another vehicle so keith helped me out. he did his thang and made it work out. so now im rockin a brand new optima yellow top battery! bring on the car audio stuff!

borrowing battery

2007-05-30T22:30:00.000-07:00

i had to call into work and tell them my car situation. i sent my friend joaquin a txt and let him know whats up. so pretty much my day was shot in terms of working... no 8 hour work day for me, which means no money.... oh well.

so today i called pann auto and placed an order for a yellow top battery. thanh told me they were able to get it that day... but found out that there driver wasn't in today. so they weren't able to get it for me today. so i had to figure out how to get to work the next day and to pick up the battery.... i went down my phone list and called people. Jon, an MR2 owner said he had one. i went to his pad and picked it up. when i got home to put the battery on, the terminals were weirdly placed. i couldnt reach the terminals with my connectors. i was thinkin that the battery were made specially for boats. so i wasn't able to use that battery.

i called a few more people and had no luck... so i tried one last person. David with the red evo 9, who i met at a s2000 meet. he was at dustin's (silver evo) house working on his car. he told me that dustin has a battery i can borrow. but i need to drive up to escondido. so i decided to make the trip there. i took the echo and made the 40 min trip.

i got home and installed the battery and it works...

battery is dead...

2007-05-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

another issue has come up on my road to going twin turbo. last night i decided to go out and get gas for my car so i wouldn't have to worry about it before i go to work in the morning. little did i know that my car wouldn't start. the little beeping sound was faint sounding and the warning lights were dim. i knew there was an issue right away. so i opened the hood and made sure all the fuses alright. so i txted my friend and told him my battery was pretty much shot. my dad suggested that we jump start the car, which didn't work. so when jarv arrived from sherilyn's place he helped us pushed my car into the drive way. i didn't want to leave my car parked on the side walk.

today i have to look for a battery. i talked to several of my friend's online and they told me just to go with the optima yellow top battery. i looked at the optima website and noticed that it was good for car audio and other gadgets. seems like im going optima. good thing this issue came up before i went turbo. i didn't want to worry about the battery dying down the road.

the email...

2007-05-25T13:41:00.000-07:00

yesterday when i got home from the shop i got an interesting email from Yuki (the guy selling me the 2jzgte motor). anyways it says

>>"Hi JOEL

>>DO YOU REALY NEED ENGINE?

>>I HAVE A CUSTOMER WHO HAS INTERESTING TO GET WITH 5SP

>>PLS. UNDERSTAND I COULD NOT HOLD ENGINE FOR U WHITHOUT DEPOSIT

>>NOT MUCH TIME"

that email immediately caught my attention. i replied to his email and told him that yes I'm interested in the motor. i was slacking off and didn't send him the deposit for the motor. so i took my check book wrote down the amount and fill out the envelope and ran to the mail box (like that will speed things faster). i emailed him again and told him that the check is in the mail. i called him a few times but he didn't pick up.

so today i called him this morning and told him my situation. he said the guy who was interested in it wanted to drop it in a Toyota Cressida. But i told him that i will pick up the motor on the 9th of June (saturday). he was cool about it. the motor seems like its locked in for now.

tired of the springs...

2007-05-24T22:29:00.001-07:00

it's been over a year now since i got my lowering springs installed. at first i was glad to see that the front was gone. but for some reason my car looks really slammed in the front and not as lowered on the rear. they are suppose to the drop the car 1.25 but it looks a bit uneven. i tried to get the car aligned and everything and it wasn't perfect. i scrap a lot if i dont slow down on the bumps and my tires seem to wear out more often. so im plannin on going back to my stock spring set up. i'll probably sell my springs on supraforums and use that money for my swap....

stereo install

2007-05-21T22:44:00.001-07:00

i finally got my replacement stereo unit installed today... snoop, the audio guy at the shop helped with the install. he made the install look easy. he disassembled the dash with ease. i would say it took him about an hour or so to put everything. at first we might've thought that we had the wrong wiring harness for the head unit. so i had to go to kragen. so i phoned snoop and informed him that that the harness in kragen was the same as the one i purchased from s2k jeff. he gave it a shot again and told me i wouldn't need to purchase one and told me to just buy him and the guys some food from burger king.

so when i got back from burger king they were listening to my stereo. pretty cool. so i checked everything out and everything looked okay. however, when i was fiddling with some stuff around and i noticed that my dome lights weren't working. after some quick diagnostics we found out that one of the fuses blew. snoop found a replacement and sure enough it worked.

i drove my car home with my ipod hooked up. which i might add was pretty cool. now i don't have to listen to shitty radio any more. after watchin' heros i found out another issue. i tried to play a cd but when i pressed the open button the head unit wouldn't move. for some reason it seemed stuck in one position. i also had some issues trying to detach the head unit. so i txted snoop my issues and told me that he forgot to unscrew something. hopefully tomorrow everything will be perfect.

other than that everything is fine! now im tempted to buy some nice speakers and a sub!! noooooooo

road trip to OC, North Hollywood, stanton: part 2

2007-05-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

onward to north hollywood to see the 2jzgte motor. prior to our trip to OC i had called several places to inquire about a 2jzgte jdm supra motor. first i called JR Auto Parts. I called them the day before and they told me to call up the next day since all there sales reps were gone for the day. so i called the following day and inquired. they informed me that they sold the motor already. so back to the drawing board.... i did a google search and looked for jdm engines california. i found a few places but most of there 2jzgte motors were coming from Aristos...

for those who don't really know what aristos are... they are a japanese equivalent to our own GS300. in japan they had a model that had the 2jzgte in them. however they varied in a couple ways... water pump was hydralic, oil pans were front facing towards the pulleys, and other things. anyways, i got lucky and found a place. i asked him to send me pictures of the motor. when i received the pics it looked like a supra motor! i was really excited and called the guy. i told him i would be driving there to check out the motor myself.

back to the trip...

we were leaving santa ana to go see the motor at north hollywood and it was david's turn to drive. i did the driving to the first location. but we were really hungry but we were running short of time since the place closes at 5. so we decided to forego lunch and go straight to hollywood. it was going to take us a good hour and half... but i had a feeling we were going to hit traffic. sure enough we did. on our way up there i had to call up Yuki and notified him that we were going to be a little late. he said he was going stay probably till 5:30.

so with the extra time we able to make it by 5:30. the location looked a bit isolated and ghetto looking. we parked the rental and went to the store. we walked into the office. nobody was manning the front office. but i noticed there was another room full of motors. so i looked in there and found somebody working on the 2jzgte motor. i asked him if he was yuki and sure enough that was him. i introduced myself and my friends. we walked over and looked at the motor. david was inspecting it making sure it was indeed a supra motor. and it was. i snapped a few pictures and asked a few questions. he told me the motor has been sitting there for quite a while. however, it was a complete motor. it might needs some work... change out the alternator, water pump, and the maintainence. i was able to talk to him about the price and everything. in the end we were able to work something out. hopefully in 2 to 4 weeks ill have a 2jzgte motor.

afterwards we went to the nearest fast food restaurant to get our grub on. you couldn't believe how excited i was. i feel like i'm getting really close to being twin turbo.

next stop stanton for autobacs...

road trip to OC, North Hollywood, stanton: part 1

2007-05-19T10:19:00.001-07:00

today was the road trip i was planning the beginning of the week.

as a recap from my previous post about my cd changer. i've been looking on ebay for a suitable short term replacement. i already had an alpine head unit in mine after seeing them in person at best buy. they looked really clean. justin my bro has an alpine head unit and it works great. my main focus was the ipod compatability. theyre the pioneers of that technology. i was planning on purchasing an Alpine CDA9883 deck. i've looked through ebay and found a place in Santa Ana that had the one i was looking for at the right price. so i called up the place to see if they would allow local pick ups and told it me it wouldn't be a problem.

back to the road trip...

david, jon (MR2 guy), and i decided to go up there yesterday. we rented a ford focus from enterprise. when we arrived, we drove around the building a couple times to find the store. when we walked in the store reminded me of a small computer store. we looked around for a little bit and waited for somebody to assist me. i talked to the guy and asked if he had the Alpine headunit and mentioned that i saw it on ebay. he told me that he sold the last head unit today.

i was disappointed. i drove there from san diego to purchase it and now i couldn't get it. if i didn't get anything it would be a waste of a trip and gas. so i talked to him about other alternatives. there a couple of older alpine head units that were available. he asked me if i were stuck with alpine. i told him not really. i just wanted something with user friendly ipod compatability. he responded that the panasonics were the way to go if i wanted to go with the ipod. good thing i brought my ipod and asked if he were able to test it out on the test unit. after he showed me a comparison between the alpine and the panasonic. i realized that the panasonic provided the best ipod usability. it was a tad bit more than the alpine i wanted but i guess it will be worth it in the end.

so i ended up purchasing the Panasonic CQ-C7205U with ipod cable and toyota pocket.

next stop north hollywood...

s2000 projectors with HIDS

2007-05-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

i finally installed my HIDs in my newly retrofitted headlights.... they look soooo good. im very impressed. they look way better than my plug-n-play philips kit. the lights light up the road really well. i must say this is one of the best upgrades ive done in a long time. i had my buddy david check to see if my lights do the cool flicker. when we went to the freeway i was a few car lengths behind him... and when we parked in the denny's parking lot he told me it does flicker.... i was so excited hahah. anyways, ill post some pics as soon as i get them.

broken cd changer!!

2007-05-02T15:31:00.000-07:00

i think my CD changer finally died on me... it doesn't load any of CD any more. it just cycles through all the CDs. now i have to listen to crappy radio until i find something. ill probably just find something affordable at the moment then upgrade later on next year with a double din. right now i can't buy anything super expensive since i'm focusing on my swap again.

2jzgte project back on track

2007-04-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

it seems like i've been really lagging on this project. since my friend david finally went NA to TT i feel like i need to get on it. he let me drive and his car and i was jealous. you gain a lot of power. so i looked at my check list again and figured out what i needed. i noticed that i didn't need to much to complete the swap... i just filed my taxes and should be getting some money back which can go to my motor. the motor would be one of the last big parts i need to get, the rest are small little things. look for more updates.

driving with tt brakes

2007-01-13T17:53:00.000-08:00

so its been a couple days already since the tt brake brake swap. and i must say it feels way response compared to the stock brakes. but the really cool thing is that the annoying sound coming from my rear passenger side is gone! thank goddness. i can finally drive fast without the annoying noise and stop. in my opinion this was definitely a great upgrade for me. the next thing i need to get is an alignment.

hid kit sold...

2007-01-11T17:58:00.000-08:00

i just sold my philips plug-n-play hid kit recently to a fellow supraforums member. i decided that it was time for me to upgrade my lights with a fancy S2000 projector HID retrofit. don't get me wrong the philips kit was nice for a year. it lit the road quite well but not as good as i wanted. i remember one time i was going down palomar mountain from a mountain cruise... and i couldnt see that well with the philips kit. the beam of light didn't extend as far as i wanted. so i had to be extra careful. so last sunday, my friend david and i removed my headlights and replaced them with his old ones for now. so right now i gotta purchase a set of S2000 projectors and send them off to customlightz.com to do the retrofit. this will probably be my last upgrade before the big 2jzgte motor swap.

tt brakes finally on!

2007-01-10T16:14:00.000-08:00

after weeks of prepping and painting my calipers i finally had a chance to get the brakes swapped. the cool thing is that i was the one doing most of the work... keith ta directed and told me what to do. we put the supra on the lift and started on it. there were a couple of visitors checking the shop out and watched me work. they also lent a hand on some tasks. however, we ran into a little snag when putting on the brake lines... I kinda stripped the bolt that connects to the brake lines. keith told me not to stress about it. it will be fix next time we do another brake thing. keith bled the brakes with my Motul 5.1 brake fluid, while i pumped the brake pedal inside the car. my leg got a pretty good work out.... it's pretty awesome working on my own car and learning a few things. i think i can be able to swap out rotors and pads next time for my brother's cars ;-) we took pictures of the upgrade, so ill post them as soon as i get them.

Rev'd Up Kustomz Meet Today

2007-01-06T09:23:00.000-08:00

Today is the big open house for Keith Ta's new shop, Rev'd Up Kustomz. I'm rolling up with my friend, Frank (97 Supra TT - Jade Green) and maybe Marcus. I'm meeting up with Brian Cuison and some of his buddies. I posted up on Club Lexus and Supraforums... And people have shown interest in going to the meet. Hopefully we'll have about 25+ people go. Not bad huh? Hopefully, I can get pics taken and have them posted. Stay Tuned.

painted calipers

2007-01-04T00:45:00.000-08:00

on tuesday i was able to do the final prep work for the calipers.... i degreased the calipers, soaped , and dried up the calipers one last time before painting. on wednesday i stopped by rev'd up kustomz and had keith start the paint work. i didnt get a chance to paint them myself since i had work and all. he started with a thick coat of primer and moved onto the paint. for some reason the caliper paint spay head wouldn't spray. after switching heads of another spray can it worked. i wasn't able to go back to the shop to check on it but keith told me that it looks very shiny and clean. i can't wait to see them.

another note. i received 5 of 6 bottles of Motul 5.1 brake fluid. pretty much everything is all accounted for... Brakes, calipers, pads, stainless steel brake lines, and brake fluid. hopefully we'll have everything installed and ready to go on friday.

happy new year 2007...

2007-01-02T23:24:00.000-08:00

hello 2007. goodbye 2006. 2006 was a good year... the year wasn't full of mods though. i mainly purchasing parts for my twin turbo swap. but i feel that 2007 is going to be a better year. first off i'm in the process of doing a tt brake swap. safety first :) next on my list will be some new wheels, sparco or momo pedals, a short shifter, and a TSX/S2000 HID projector retro. first i gotta pay off a couple of bills before i purchase any of the above. but the big upgrade of all will be the swap!! so look out for that.

the prep work begins.

2006-12-30T11:59:00.000-08:00

i stopped by the autozone the other day and picked up some supplies to repaint the calipers. purchased some aircraft paint stripper, brakekleen, clear coat, black caliper paint, and sand paper. so after work i headed to my friend's shop (Rev'd Up Kustomz) to work on my brakes. we started with the brakes first. sprayed it with paint stripper and waiting a bit. at the first try the paint stripper didn't seem like it was working. but we tried again and waited a bit longer, and watered it down... and bamm! it works. using a wire brush, a rag, and some brake cleaner we were on our way. however, our wire brush was a bit worn out. so we had to stop.

the next day i was applying more brake cleaner and started sanding down the calipers. the original black color was almost gone and you can see the silver. while i sand the rear calipers down i applied paint stripper to the red front calipers. the red calipers were painted badly... but i was stoked to see the paint strip off. It was pretty awesome spraying them down and seeing the come off like it was nothing.

im still in the processs of preping them up... so ill keep you guys updated on the progress.

twin turbo brakes!

2006-12-27T00:07:00.000-08:00

these past few days i've been collecting parts for my twin turbo brake swap... i've posted on both supraforums and club lexus. and i must admit i'm getting a bit lucky. well you might be surprised in terms of the money spent but still i'm getting a great deal. first off i was able to find a set of rears brakes at club lexus. luckily the guy lives in southern california. i called him up and asked a couple of questions. he bought the brakes from another member on the forums but ended up not using them, since he is selling his ride. so i decided to meet up on the weekend at laguna hills with my friend david.... so the rear brakes have been taken care of... next the front brakes...

i got a couple of responses to the front brakes. one guy i found up in washington state had a new and used set. he sent me picks and we spoke on phone. i was really interested at the time. but his price was a bit steep. so i continued my search.... PMed a couple of people and still nothing. finally i got a reply on supraforums from a member. i sent him a reply back and talked to him through AIM. he was a definitely cool dude. He had a set of front brakes that he was going to use on his MR2 but didn't end up using them. They were just sitting in his garage and decided to go another direction. so we talked about it and told me to through and offer. so i through out and a number of 230 shipped and he agreed. so the front brakes have been taken care of...

i placed an order from goodridge stainless steel brake lines and some Motul 5.1 Brake fluid...

brake power decreasing...

2006-12-20T23:53:00.000-08:00

for the past few weeks since the new rear rotors and new pads have been placed. in addition to all the new rotors and pads i had my brakes bled. you would think that everything should be fine and dandy... but its not... my brakes seem like they are acting up again. there is still a noise coming from the rear passenger side and i have to stomp on the brake pedal to stop the car. the guy who bled my brakes informed me that my rear passenger caliper is going out. so i had a second opinion and took the supra to keith from Rev'd Up Kustomz to take a look at it... he sprayed it with some anti-squeek spray. in the beginning it worked a while but the noise came back. he told me to drive it for a week and hear if the noise comes back.

so i've been driving the car and i have to say enough is enough. i've decided to just invest my money on used twin turbo brake calipers, pads, rotors and new stainless steel brake lines. this is going to cost me some bucks but i know i can save money if i can find the right people :)

Appointment @ Elite Image

2006-12-13T14:22:00.001-08:00

Originally i had an appointment to have my friend take a look on Saturday but decided to reschedule it today... So I emailed work that I'll be a tad bit late... So i get to the shop my friend take a look at it. Well actually he took it to a shop that specializes in auto repair. So I waited for a couple hours. But it seems like it took a while just to diagnosis the issue. They had to drive it around. Put it on a lift to listen to the noise. 3 hours past then 4 hours.... And i had to notify work that I couldn't make it. My day was pretty much shot from waiting. So my friend got my car back and told me issues not related to the noise. First, he told me that my differential is making noise ( not a good thing) , second my wheel is bent which might be rubbing on something, third my new rotors had to be resurfaced... I told my friend it might just be a wheel bearing. So we took it in the back of the shop and ran some more tests. I decided just to take the plunge and replace the wheel bearing. He placed the order and told me to come back tomorrow to get installed...

argh!

2006-12-03T09:27:00.000-08:00

i'm a bit bummed right now. for a while know i've been having this squeeking noise coming from the rear of my car. at first the noise wasn't so bad. it was bearable. but ever since i swapped those new wheels it seems like it has gotten louder. so last month i had my friend listen to the sound. and he told me that my rear rotors were warped and rubbing against my brake pads. so i decided to purchase a set of new slotted rotors ($180) and set of brake pads ($40). I ordered the rotors which took about 2 weeks to get to me. by this time the sound is unbearable.... it'll drive you mad if you drive next to me during slow traffic with your windows down. fast forward to yesterday i got everything installed at my friends shop which cost me another $65. when the car was all done i drove it around and the freakin noise was still there. i was so bummed and disappointed... and the guy told me that my rotors were still in good shape and didn't need to switch them out.

i was quite puzzled. what was causing this loud and annoying noise. i had my friend, the owner of the shop listen to it. and he told me it could be either a loose bushing in the differential or my wheel hub bearings. i doubt its the differential but the wheel hub bearing seems more like a logical thing. the sound is definitely coming from the wheel. so, when i got home i did a search on supraforums and searched for wheel hub bearings.... and low and behold some people have been experiencing that seem loud noise.

i'm going to have a second opinion to be sure that it's the wheel hub bearing. i dont want to be spending more money on things i currently don't need. oh well. we live and learn and not assume things. i should've just had a professional take a look at it.

new wheels!

2006-09-09T14:41:00.000-07:00

yeppie have new wheels... actually its not really new but it will work for now. a friend of mine who had a set of Supra TT 17" wheels on his MK3 wanted to see how my 16's look on his ride. So we swapped both our wheels. In the end we just decided to just keep it that way. So now i'm rollin 17" wheels. It feels a bit higher than my other wheels. But now i don't have to feel super paranoid going over bumps.

ALso, i can get my brakes upgraded as well! I can't really fit TT brakes on my 16's but with these 17's i can!

NA vs NA

2006-05-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

Raced a buddy of mine last night. My 97 NA with TRD Exhaust vs his 95 NA with Intake. Haha He got me a couple of times but i got him back. I guess we're even.

vogtland lowering springs

2006-04-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

decided to take a risk and purchase some vogtland springs from titan motorsports... im getting tired of looking at my wheel gap.

South San Diego Supra Meet

2006-04-10T12:41:00.000-07:00

Well i finally did it. I finally set up a supra meet. I was able to get 8 MKIVs. It was a blast crusing to silver strand and to PQ area. Everybody had a great time. So I'll definitely continue to do this if i get the support from other supraforums members.

turbooooooo

2006-03-17T10:46:00.000-08:00

so i have a smog test i need to schedule sometime soon when i register my supra this year. and after thinking about it, it might a great time to purchase parts for my engine swap. :)

booo piaa

2006-03-16T07:48:00.000-08:00

so i got the piaa led wedge bulbs. two word... they suck. man such a disappointment. they don't light as bright. my damn stock bulbs are brighter! anybody wanting to buy piaa wedge bulbs?!

wrong bulbs!

2006-03-15T00:45:00.000-08:00

the guy sent me the wrong bulbs... i contacted the guy today and he told me to keep the bulbs he sent me and is going to sent out the correct ones! thats what i call good customer service :)

update finally

2006-03-13T16:29:00.000-08:00

its been a while since i've posted something on here. here are few things going on...

- its been a year since i purchased the supra... its hard to believe that ive had that car for that long.

- i had to pay for another year of car insurance. i had to modify some stuff on my policy. since money has been quite tight i had to decrease some of my policy. i definitely added the rental car just in case.

- i received my registration for this year. i need to mail that in may. and i found out that i need to get my smog test :( booo oh well, i didn't really do a lot of mods on my car excluding the exhaust and the open air intake. so i'm putting back my stock airbox for the visual part.

- i bought a nice chrome trd oil filer cap.

- i purchased some clear sidemarkers on ebay. but the amber lights make it look kinda tacky looking.

- i also purchased some LED wedge bulbs in white, which are suppose to come in a day or so.

I'll take some new pictures soon.

trd fuel cap sold...

2006-02-21T21:32:00.000-08:00

i found somebody who wanted to buy the trd fuel cap, a fellow supraforums member. consider it sold!

trd fuel cap cover.

2006-02-17T00:01:00.000-08:00

anybody looking to buy one. i have one for sale!

steering wheel update part 1...

2006-02-16T13:20:00.000-08:00

well i just found out that I might have a little bit longer for the steering wheel. the guy told me that he will be needing it next week for his vehicle inspection. I guess in New York they check vehicles for safety, which includes all airbags. But we have agreed that he will sell the steering to me afterwards. I'm still waiting for him to provide me with high res images. But from what he says the steering wheel has 20k miles on it and is in excellent shape.

more updates to come.

new steering wheel coming soon!

2006-02-13T21:30:00.000-08:00

i might be getting a new steering for a great value!! lets hope the deal works out. ill keep you all posted!

trd accessories...

2006-02-09T23:07:00.000-08:00

today i placed an order for a trd fuel cap and a trd radiator cap from elmhurst toyota in chicago... i decided that i need to get some accessories for my car. i haven't gotten it any gifts lately except for gas and a nice detailing. upgrades are hard to come by when your budget is limited.

i'll have pics when i get them installed!

Mileage...

2006-02-04T09:30:00.000-08:00

i can't believe i hit 100k already... time goes by so fast.

balding tire...

2006-01-23T23:55:00.000-08:00

so i got home from work today and found out that driverside rear tire is balding :( Damn it, i dislike having to a freakin' tire. I'm heading to Discount Tire Co. first thing tomorrow morning to get a matching rear tire. Currently, I'm running two different brand name tired on the rears. Can anyone say "ghetto"? haha My last rear tire i replaced was back in august of last year... But that was a different story. Damn tire exploded in the freeway. This time I'm taking extra precautions and getting it replaced. I would hate to be standed in the freeway or caught running a spare tire. My car is too cool for that!

I wish i had the money to buy rims and tires right now. But no money for me.

just in! new hid bulbs!

2006-01-17T00:07:00.000-08:00

i got my HID replacement bulbs in today! i was quite excited when i saw them on my desk at work. i thought they wouldn't arrive since its a holiday. i guess it was delivered saturday.

when i got home from work i started the install. it was pretty much a breeze. i'm quite familiar on how things work now. i did my thing and it took me about 10 minutes.

everything looks great now. both lights are matching. i'm glad that this HID kit i purchased comes with a nice 5 year warranty!

pictures on the way!

porter cable 7336...

2006-01-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

just purchased a new toy! with the money my bro jose gave me for christmas and a little extra i decided to shell out the dough and invest in a porter cable 7336 from lowes.

i've read reviews that this is one of the best polishing machines out there for the price its worth. all i need to do is purchase some a backing plate, some pads, and polishing chemicals. i'm quite excited to see what i can do with this thing. i'll keep ya'll updated when i decide to detail the supra!

HID Results...

2005-12-27T15:24:00.000-08:00

so i finish installing both HIDs and notice something.

do you see anything different?

stupid porsche guy...

2005-12-27T11:30:00.000-08:00

i was driving on Mira Mesa Blvd right after getting one of my HIDs installed and noticed this porche boxter in my rear. i thought nothing of it, just a normal driver with a fancy car. he changes lanes and decides to pass me. big deal. at the stop light we were side by side and still i didn't think nothing. i accelerated a bit just to pass this guy, and supposedly he thought that i was challenging him so he speeds up and passes me. i was like "okay?" and i didn't even redline my car.

at the next stop light and with the road clear i decided to go for the redline from a medium roll. so his car speed rockets across the road. he had me for half a mile and then i caught up to him and passed his ass the rest of the way. i was going about 100+. stupid porsche. and at the stop light i was looking at the guy. and he didn't really acknowledge me. but what i did notice is that he had his son in the passengerside. he was lookin at me all conspeciously and gave him the thumbs up. if i were that guy in the boxster i would've never raced. its just plain dangerous with a young passsenger like that. oh well.

i went home and did a little research on what the specs are, and this is what i found... im not sure what year it was but i found something close:

Engines & Power
	Base	S
Standard Engine	2.7L 217 hp H6	3.2L 250 hp H6
Horsepower	217 @ 6500 RPM	250 @ 6250 RPM
Torque (lb-ft)	192 @ 4500 RPM	225 @ 4500 RPM

HID Installation Part I

2005-12-25T00:30:00.000-08:00

I got an instant message today from Chris aka Supra_Dupra_17 from the Supraforums. He informed me that he was in San Diego for work and had a couple hours to help me out. Originally, we planning on installing the HIDs on Monday after Christmas. So i jumped on the opportunity to see what we can do. It was halftime (Chargers vs. Chiefs) and decided to head up to Mira Mesa.This was actually the first time i met an actual supraforums member in person. i introduced myself and shoke his hand. he was pretty cool dude. so i parked the car next to his car (Black 94 Wingless Supra). i open my trunk to show him my tools and he noticed that i was missing a specific 10mm head. so we went to the nearest kragen to pick up the head.

when we got back we planned out what were going to do. he unbolted the both headlight bolts. i disconnected the battery and removed the wiring harnesses. chris and i had a hard time removing the headlights. after a few minutes of wiggling and pulling the light, they were out. i cleaned the area where i was going to mount the ballast (HID box thingys) and stuck the velcro. he plugged in the ground to the side of the car and plugged the other wire to the battery. the install looked quite easy. if i did it myself i wouldn't have known the secret to removing headlights. we were able to finish the passenger side only. he had work @ 3pm and it was 2:30 when we finished. so we put back the driver side light. so i drove home with my headlights on so i can burn in the passenger HID. i didn't know it was going to take this long to install a half an HID bulb.

to be continued on monday...

Installation Anyone?

2005-12-22T21:26:00.000-08:00

So i got these HIDs last monday and haven't put them on yet. I tried calling up a couple of friends but they cant help till next week. I've read the instructions, and it seems simple but i just want to reassure myself that I'm doing the right thing.

And just for fun i called up 2 different shops in San Diego to see how much i'd cost to install them. One shop quoted me $100 and another $250... It would probably take like an hour to install. Sheesh what a rip off...

ill keep ya'll updated when i have them up.

Lighting up the Holidays with HIDs

2005-12-14T13:38:00.000-08:00

I'm giving my car a nice set of Philips HIDs for Christmas. After my somewhat disappointing experience with the brightness of aftermarket halogen bulbs, I've opted to go with an HID set up for my low beams. I've been quite impressed by the light output from such bulbs that I decided to join a group buy on supraforums. Realworld Motorsports I'm expecting them to arrive Monday. Below are pics of how they might look like.

finally i get my refund

2005-12-10T11:05:00.000-08:00

i finally got my damn refund from luminicsbulbs. they are nice people but damn did it take a long time... i bugged them with emails and instant messages and it finally got done.

here's a tip... if youre an impatient person like myself and buy something online, make sure you intend to keep it. if you don't want it, just sell it on ebay! you'll get your money faster and don't have to wait for the company to credit your money to your account. although you might lose a couple bucks from stupid paypal and ebay fees at least you get your money.

who reads my blog?

2005-12-05T12:10:00.000-08:00

i'm just curious... who reads my blog in regular basis? do you read it daily, weekly, monthly? leave a comment and let me know .

simply gross...

2005-12-05T11:49:00.000-08:00

i've seen car crashes and other weird stuff on the side of the road while driving, but today was quite gross. while i was stuck in traffic on my way to work i noticed a bmw parked on the side of the road. the door was open and everything. from a far it looked like the lady of the car was dumping her cup of coffee on the side of the road. as the traffic moved along i noticed it wasn't coffee.... guess what it was? she was throwing up chunks. she couldve just gotten out of the car and run to the bushes, but she decided to let everybody see it. when you gotta go you gotta go eh? now it just replays in my head and can't get it out! HELP!

wash and wax.

2005-12-03T22:18:00.000-08:00

i finally found time to wash and wax my car. it's been over two weeks since i washed my car and months since i waxed my car... as i was drying down my car i noticed all these stupid rock chips on my front hood and bumper. i hate those damn lose gravel rocks on the roads, and there is no way to avoid it. my hood is full of small scratches and swirl marks :( black colored cars suck! it looks cool and everything but really hard to maintain. and if you work close to the beach its even worse! those damn birds like to crap everywhere. its just my luck that they like black cars. a perfect target to drop there wrath of poop. i'll probably end up buying a TRD hood or a Do-luck hood in the future. but for now, i need to deal with it.

LTB Motorsports Review

2005-12-01T20:21:00.000-08:00

Well i finally received part 2 of my order today from LTB Motorsports. One thing that stood out the most was there customer support. Great customer support is a big plus in my book. They answered my questions promptly through phone and email. I didn't have to hold for too long to get a represenative. LTB Motorsports has competitive prices. Overall, it took about a week to receive the order.

There are several areas they can improve in:

They didn't update me often about the status of my order. I only got a receipt of my order and that was it. I didn't receive a shipping confirmation or tracking number. I had to call them up and email them to check the status.

Another thing they can improve is the method of how they ship their products. Instead of sending the whole item instead of two seperate orders. It's quite a hastle expecting two seperate packages instead of just one. I think they have a vendor in several cities that supplies them with parts.

All in all it was a positive experience. I would definitely shop there again for small things. I give this retailer

Luminicsbulbs.com / LTB Motorsports

2005-11-30T14:04:00.000-08:00

sometimes its good and bad to buy online. it's good when you're satisfied with your purchase and you don't have to send it back. it's also good that you can find the best deals on different products. its bad in a sense when you have to hastle to return the item and wait for your refund. i don't really like returning stuff to online retailers. i think its too much of a hastle to wait for your refund. i hate knowing that i send the product to a retailer i've never done business before. who knows if they are going to keep the product and keep the money as well.

In my previous entry, i bought a pair of bulbs from Luminicsbulbs.com and wasn't satisfied with my purchase. i notified luminics about returning my product. they seemed surprise that i was satisfied with my product. according to there website they are the #1 aftermarket bulb. i told him i was going HID and decided not to use the bulbs. so he told me to send the bulbs back with the receipt and they'll process the refund.

on monday i went to the post office to send the bulbs back. i got tired of waiting for people to buy them on supraforums. so today i called them up and they said i will able to get a refund tomorrow or on friday. so hopefully i can get that refund. i'm testing them to see if there customer service is up to par. and if it all goes well i'll refer them to other people.

yesterday, i received a package from the LTB Motorsports. i actually ordered a pair of Piaa Super Silicon Wiper blades. my current wiper blades are wearing out, especially the passenger one. the passenger one has some of the wiper blade wire coming out.

anyways, when i opened the FEDex package i found out that they only shipped only one blade... I was quite disappointed yet again. i called them up this morning and asked about my order. the guy said they ship seperately... it doesn't make sense to send stuff like that seperately. 2 wiper blades? give me a break! doesn't that cost more money to the retailer. he told me it'll be delivered either today or tomorrow. so i gotta look out for that as well.

ebay auction update...

2005-11-22T14:11:00.000-08:00

i lost the auction... it went up to $260! i hope i can find another one on ebay or on supraforums.