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The engine compartment and interior were not the only touches of red on my car:
Prompted by some local Chicago area owners (Luder94 and S2000GT) the time came for me to paint my calipers.
I thought about color for a little while, but I just can't imagine using anything other than red calipers on my car. I wanted to add the S2000 Logo and was directed to http://www.decalgirl.com for the S2000 decals and paint.
I ordered White logos for my car, and red and gunmetal decals for S2000GT to choose between as he was still deciding on what color paint to use.
Luder94 bailed out on us so S2000GT and I were left to our own painting devices. We jacked up both cars and removed all the wheels. We cleaned the calipers off with a wire brush and some brake cleaner. We masked off the calipers with masking tape. I had ordered the red G2 paint from decal girl with the decals so I started mixing it up. The kit comes with a small paint can and a small bottle of reaction fluid. You pour the reaction fluid into the paint can and stir. Then let it stand for about 10-15 minutes and stir it agin. I was now ready to paint.
I started on the rear caliper. The thought being that if I messed up, I would not notice it as much on the rears. I used a 1" brush from Home Depot to put a light coat of paint on the entire caliper. When I finished I moved around the car until I had put a base coat on each caliper. The fronts are MUCH easier to paint. Despite them being bigger, they have fewer "nooks and crannies" to get into. I went around the car in sequence 3 times. The first coat looked pretty bad, but by the third it was much better. As the paint was getting a little thicker the coats were still a little tacky to the touch as I went around. This caused progressivly more bristles to be pulled out of the brush. I had probably 10 bristles to deal with on the entire car through all coats. That's not too bad, but if I were to do this again, I would buy one decent 1" brush instead of a set of 1" 2" and 3" cheapy brushes. Also some smaller brushes wouldn't hurt any, but I think it came out pretty well with just the 1"
I let the third coat setup for a little while (mabey 10 minutes more) then went around one more time for a fourth coat. I was then going to try to embed the decals into the paint so they would hold. This did not work very well at all. I ended up removing the decal and touching up the paint. We decided it made sense to wait until the paint was dry.
Once the paint was dry to the touch we removed the backing paper from the decals, and moistened the calipers and decals with soapy water. I carefully placed the logos where I wanted them and smoothed them down onto the calipers. Removing the "top" layer from the logo decal turned out to be an issue with every caliper. The logo parts did not want to separate from the paper. It took some very fancy work with an exacto knife, but the decals are all in place. S2000GT decided to paint his cailpers Gunmetal, so he did not use the Gunmetal decals. I ended up using the gunmetal decals and I am very happy with the look.
won a Magnaflow exhaust system off of eBay about a month ago. When I got it, it was a little dirty, but servicable. I was reluctant to install it because it just seemed like it would be a bit too much for the direction I am taking the car. The round canisters with the big tips angled out just seemed like it would look TOO aggressive.
S2000GT talked me into at least trying it, and I am glad he did. The canisters cleaned up pretty well, and I will be working more on getting the tips cleaned up. Once it's behind the bumper it's not nearly as "in your face" as I thought it would be. The sound is boomy without being "farty." There is no raspy-ness to it at all. It makes a nice sound down low or reving without being in gear, but is easily overtaken by the intake sound with the CAI. There is a small ammount of resonance at cruising RPM, but only if I am on the throttle (even 20% or so.) If I ease up on the throttle a little while cruising it sounds almost stock.
I will see how it is on long trips after the Midwest's Fresh Water Tour in two weeks.
While at the Formula D show on Satuday August 6th it became painfully apparent to my just how high my car was sitting. There is nothing like being parked between two other Silverstones who are both lowered and being at stock ride hight.
The following Monday I ordered up some springs. I got them on Thursday and (with help from several local owners) installed them on Saturday. One week after the show.
The car was FILTHY the day of install, it rained in the morning, and i was driving in it.
Stock Ride Height:
After install and before the springs had a chance to settle:
(Ok, so this was with the springs on and the car still on jack stands. )
Here they are after a chance to settle a little:
Even the front looks more aggressive lower to the ground.
I have a LOT of negative camber now. I am going to wait another week or so before I get it aligned (because I don't drive it very much to help settle the springs.)
Tinted Windows were a must. Even though I am normally top down:
I have posted a couple of these pictures before, but wanted to get them all in one place.
35% tint on the front windows and 20% on the rear window.
Yes ANY tint on the front windows is illegal in Illinois, but since I almost never drive with the top up, I am not worried about it.
I wanted the tint to help protect the interior while parked outside, and to enhance the looks of the car when parked. Also, thanks to S2000GT, I got a smokin' deal on the tint job.
I had been looking at spoler's and wings for quite a while and had seen some pictures in an old thread about the TSS wing. I really liked it, and wanted to get it. Unfortunatly the only company that sells it is TSS and they are in Germany. I work for a multi-national company and we had a visitor in our office from Germany and I asked him to help me order the wing. Even with a native German speaker on my side, it too four phone calls and 5-6 e-mails to get the order straignt. Despite the reports to the contrary the wing is actually a very well made piece. The fit and finish were very good (well, for an unfinished piece.) The body shop had no trouble smoothing it down, painting it, and installing it for me.
Now, I had the wing in my living room for about three months waiting for an excuse to take it to the body shop and have it installed. spoonus finally gave me that excuse. He decided to sell his complete INGS +1 body kit. Since the INGS+1 is by far my favorite kit, I jumped all over the deal. I had the kit painted and installed by my body shop.
Of course while it was in the shop I had to have them make a couple of body mods. I had the door-locks shaved as well as the rear badge, trunk lock and antennea. I also had them paint the headlight inner housings Silverstone. The word of the day at the body shop was SMOOOOOTH.
Now, I KNOW I couldn't run the stock wheels with this kit. My rear tires were almost gone. I was going to wait a little while longer then get Enkei RPM2 in Black Chrome, but I saw a post with Prodrive GC-07C wheels in British Black on Silverstone and kniw I had to have those. I ordered them up immediatly and they came in two days before I was to get the car back from the body shop. Shod with Falken Azenis, I was set.
I dropped the car at the body shop on Wednesday the 14th and picked it up on the 23rd. I went home and put the wheels on, and here are ALL the resulting pictures. Enjoy:
I replaced the horns with '04 horns which sound MUCH better and are much louder.
One horn is located just in front of the passenger side strut tower under the hood. This is an EASY horn to remove and replace.
The second horn is mounted next to the A/C condensor, just in front of the radiator. There are three basic ways to reach this horn.
1. (And I am telling you this IS the easiest way!!!) Is to remove the front bumper. If you don't know how to remove the front bumper, check out http://www.ricks2k.com and find the instructions for clearing headlights and replacing the diffusers. It details how to remove the bumper. It can be done without jacking up the car.
2. If the car is on jack stands, removing the splash guards under the car will allow access. This is the second easiest way to access the horn.
3. Remove the air shroud in FRONT of the radiator. This is easier said than done. There are three clips that hold down a cover over the A/C condensor for service access. There are four clips across the top of the panel that tie into the radiator support. You unscrew the screw, then pull the clip out. Keep in mind that the screws are PLASTIC, not metal. They are VERY, VERY, VERY easy to strip out, and are a pain to remove. Honestly, that was as far as I could get with it. I couldn't get the thing off, and ended up reverting to option #2 above.
No pictures, but I did just add a non-adjustable Comptech front sway bar.
The install was VERY straight forward. The bar uses the OEM endlinks, so I just left them in place and disconnected them from the bar. I also removed the oem bushings with the sway bar.
Reinstallation was a LITTLE tough because the bushing bracket didn't QUITE line up. However, a second set of hands and a pair of pliers helped considerably.
The bar came as part of a set. Front and rear which are 30% stiffer than stock and urethane bushings. I only installed the front per a suggestion of the track junkies.
So far I have only taken it for a short spin, but I immediately noticed a significant difference. It feels like I got better turn in, better road holding in the front, and even reduced bump steer. I will need to learn how to drive the car all over again.
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