[nate89]

Hey guys. I just purchased my spyder a couple weeks ago! Its my first car (that I bought), my first manual transmission, and my first convertable and so far I am loving every minute of it. I haven't even had time to give it a proper detailing yet. Got a great deal off of the original owner. It's a 2000 with 30k on a freshly rebuilt engine (by Toyota).

Pics when I first went to look at it:

(You can see my old corolla in the background)

Leather seat covers and roll bar

Pic of the butt and shorty antenna (from a S2000)

I'm a big Toyota fanboy and car tuner so it didn't take long for me to rip into this car lol. First thing I did was fix the passenger seat since the recliner bolts where loose. Next was killing the precats (luckely there were in perfect condition). I left the diapers and heatshield off and cleaned up the header with some vht ceramic paint.

(More pics to come)

 

[Ken Branch]

Leaving the diaper off creates a parachute effect, the rear bumper acts like a parachute. A lot of other members have posted about this. It's better to leave it on, or replace it with a beatrush underpanel.

 

[plebian]

yup, and it also helps protect the soft aluminum transmission case from road debris. I found out the hard way.

 

[nate89]

Here's a couple more pics from the day I bought the car. Pretty filthy I know, but that was soon fixed

So I've been pretty busy lately. My first modification was a new HU and subwoofer. You can also see my Blox neo chrome weighted shift knob..

Since school was ending, I packed up the essentials and headed home lol

Second was a custom (built by me) Magnaflow exhaust! This gave the car a real throaty sound that's aggressive when your on the throttle, but is quiet when cruising. I painted the cat-back and header with VHT aluminum paint.

Next was a set of Tein S-Techs. While I had the wheels off I went ahead and painted the calipers gold.

Before:

After:

And of course I installed the JDM front badge (the rest of the car was de-badged)

 

[bluespyderman]

Here's a couple more pics from the day I bought the car. Pretty filthy I know, but that was soon fixed

So I've been pretty busy lately. My first modification was a new HU and subwoofer. You can also see my Blox neo chrome weighted shift knob..

Since school was ending, I packed up the essentials and headed home lol

Second was a custom (built by me) Magnaflow exhaust! This gave the car a real throaty sound that's aggressive when your on the throttle, but is quiet when cruising. I painted the cat-back and header with VHT aluminum paint.

Next was a set of Tein S-Techs. While I had the wheels off I went ahead and painted the calipers gold.

Before:

After:

And of course I installed the JDM front badge (the rest of the car was de-badged)

Nice car, best of luck with it. I think you should have gotten the front JDM badge in either black or red. I am not sure the blue will look good against the black car.

 

[xbiker]

Why do people quote and repost pictures?

Anywho...a replaced motor at 30K? If pre-cats were the cause, you may still be sporting a bad (or soon to be bad) main cat.

 

[nate89]

Why do people quote and repost pictures?

Anywho...a replaced motor at 30K? If pre-cats were the cause, you may still be sporting a bad (or soon to be bad) main cat.

I'm not sure as to why it was rebuilt, but I'll keep an eye on the main cat just to be safe.


Here's some other stuff I've been working on:

I did a full LED tail light conversion. I kept everything stock looking lighting-wise, just now everything is LED

I know it's not very pretty without the lens, but there are 300 LEDs in the tail light alone. I also replaced the 3rd brake light, front side marker, license plate, and interior dome light with LEDs. And it took me three days, so I believe I and now an expert on the definition of tedious lol

Here are some night shots (I'll post a video if there is interest)

Here's what's been done this past weekend:

Rear braces:

Engine lid damper (custom):

(The brackets will be powder coated black)

Rear Diffuser:

I also painted the side vents black but don't have pictures yet. Currently I'm working on cleaning the engine bay (possibly a slight wire tuck), and a custom sequential shift light.

 

[scotched]

Interesting mods.

Do you have any better pictures of your LED tails? For what it's worth I think you did a decent job on them - spacing and angling them is no easy task either.

Did you use red or white leds?

 

[REV 2 11]

x2 for better LED light pics.
can you do some night shots?

your car is progressing nicely...

 

[Strokr3SGE]

Any info on the seat covers?? I was curious if anyone made those snug fit ones for the Spyder

Car looks awesome and those tails are a great idea

 

[nate89]

Here's a video of the lights in action:

There are 100 red 15,000MCD LEDs for the brake/parking lights (50 in each section).
There are 50 amber 10,000MCD LEDs for the turn signal lights (25 in each section).
There are 50 white 15,000MCD LEDs for the reverse lights (25 in each section).
I rewired the parking lights so that both sections are on kind of like the MKII MR2s. I think it looks a lot cooler this way. Each LED is wired to its own resistor (pain. in. the. butt.)

Total cost was approximately $40 for everything (bread board, led, resistors, wire, etc) Not too bad!

The LED's in the 3rd brake light are 197 type 5-sided red LEDs, the reverse are 197 5-sided white, and the front side markers are 197 5-sided amber LEDs.

Remember the color of the LED HAS to match the color of the lens!

 

[Itsi]

Hot damn that bright haha

 

[LordTakuban]

That's a good job on the LEDs. Tedius, but the result looks like it was well worth it.

I'm interested in seeing more of the rear diffuser it looks like you're building. I agree that a black nose badge might have been better, but the blue shouldn't be too bad either. I see you also got the car with an autopower rollbar already installed. I'm not a fan of the exhaust exiting on the right side, but that's just my preference. Good luck with the car. It seems like you're doing pretty good with it.

 

[lushman]

My car (Black) came with a blue nose badge like that. I've thought about swapping it for a black, but I've kind've grown to like it.

 

[mitch]

awesome work my friend!!

 

[nate89]

Got a couple more mods done, but mostly been prepping for "the big one"!

 

[Pomonified]

Got a couple more mods done, but mostly been prepping for "the big one"!

What's the big one? 2zz swap??

 

[celicajonz]

are there any LED's avail for the 3rd brake light?


awesome job btw.

 

[nate89]

are there any LED's avail for the 3rd brake light?


awesome job btw.

Yeah. I bought 5-sided RED LEDs (you need three) size 197. Work great. There is a noticeable difference in response time with LEDs. It's like the lights come on 1/2 seconds faster than the bulbs did.

What's the big one? 2zz swap??

see below


So here is some stuff I've been acquiring over the past few weeks.

Parts list includes:
TD04-13T Turbo ('08 WRX) ($150)
1G DSM BOV (polished) ($20)
Air/Water intercooler ($160)
VW Passat water pump ($20)
Custom turbo manifold (flanges from Weir-tech) ($100)
2AZ injectors from a TC or Camry (370cc) ($40)
Greddy Emanage blue ($200)
and a bunch of other small stuff (oil/water lines, gauges, etc)...

Total so far...$690

Gonna run 6-7psi (maybe 8 is I feel real crazy lol)
Hoping for 200-230hp but I'll take whatever I get with a safe tune.


Also, the lighting on the spyder sucks so I upgraded

Before

After:

 

[scotched]

Nate you sure like DIY don't you?

Care to elaborate on the retrofit? What kind of $$ did you drop on it? Thanks.