J-PaP's Cars - Past and Present. 56k Warning

[J-PaP]

This will be an ongoing process. It isn't exactly the longest autobiogrphy (I've only had 4 cars) but there should be lots to write about.

Chapter 1 - CLICK HERE
Chapter 2 - CLICK HERE
Chapter 3 - IN PROGRESS

Chapter 1 - The Magna?

2002 Mitsubishi Magna Executive

Engine (stock) - 110kw at the wheels. 155kw at the engine.
Engine (peak) - 165.1kw at the wheels. 233kw at the engine (assumption).

Purchased this car in 2002 brand new. They were almost identical to the US Mitsubishi Diamante. While they looked the same as the Japanese Diamante they were 4wd and ran a different engine making them quite a different car after getting past the looks.

Why a Magna? My first choice of car was a Nissan 300zx but legal reasons and insurance prohibited that. Second choice was an Alfa Romeo 156 but that was too expensive at the time. So I began looking for a car that would be cheap to insure, plenty of power and potential and was not a Holden Commodore or Ford Falcon as I was sick of everyone else having those cars and the typical drivers that own them. So the Magna quickly became the obvious choice.

It was fairly unique from the start as Black Magna Executives in Manual were only available through custom order. I'd added the option of power windows and leather interior (which I found tasteful at the time). I had to wait about 3 months for it to arrive and this is how it looked once I got it home. (Bear with the immense amount of rice that follows)

Mods
Custom charocal/blue re trimmed seats, steering wheel and gear boot.

Was pretty quick to change the car with some wheels an exhaust.

Mods
Wheels - 17" Lenso C5
Exhaust - Turbosmart 3" cannon

In 2003 I found the wheels to be too small and soon changed them again. I also undertook some suspension work. During the summer break I took the time to install some audio and detail some parts of the interior.

Mods
Wheels - 19" Ace Manta
Headunit - Alpine 9851 + Ipod adapter + Junction box
Amp - Alpine V12 F357 4 channel
Sub - Alpine Type S 12"
Speakers - Focal 165V splits & Alpine
Screen - 7" motorised fold out screen
Center console and dial colour coding
Numerous blue neons.
Playstation 2
Whiteline Flat Out suspension kit which included:
-Front and rear larger sway bars
-Koni Yellow adjustable shock absorbers
-King springs superlow front/rear
-Camber bolt
-Anti-Lift kit

In 2004 I began work on a bodykit. Initially I fitted what was known as a VRX bodykit. In that time I also designed a custom front bumper that was built and fitted. Also in 2004/2005 I entered the car into Autosalon which it was featured at the Melbourne Grand Prix as well as the Melbourne Semi-Final in 2004 which I received a trophy for runner up in Automotive lighting.

Mods
VRX sideskirts
VRX rear skirt
Custom Front bar that was later slightly modified and sold to the public as a JVM Front bar
Verada front grill
Verada tail lights modified to house indicator/reverse light within one lens
Verada Head lights
Lancer clear indicators

In 2005 Melbourne Autosalon the car was also rated the highest powered FWD at the show. Before the show I had started working on the engine. This got the power up to 165.1kw at the wheels.

Mods
2.5" cat back exhaust
Performance cat
Pacemaker Headers
RPW Intake manifold
RPW Stage 1 Cams
RPW Adjustable Cam gears
High flowed throttle body
Unichip piggyback computer
Upgraded Fuel Pump
Custom CAI and Pod filter
50HP Nitrous Oxide shot

In the end of 2005 I wanted to work over the interior. My inspiration? The Mercedes Benz CL63 AMG interior. This involved completely stripping the interior and starting over by removing all the blue trimmings.

Mods
Re trimmed and shaped seats
Re trimmed door trims, gear boot and steering wheel
Resprayed center console, power window surrounds, dial surrounds
Modified center console to fit 7" screen flush
Vinyl dyed doors, dash and plastic trimmings
Black plush carpet
Momo gear knob
Chrome Alloy dash rings
Verada door handles and surrounds
Hotbits adjustable coil overs

The car was all but complete at that time. I kept it till 2008 where I sold it. In those 6 years I had only completed 59000km.

My next car? A Nissan 350z which is Chapter 2.

Thanks for Reading!


Chapter 2 and 3 to come.

 

[Omnis]

I was going to yell at you until I saw that you removed that awful blue. Thank you very much for doing that.

Nitrous shot and tuning on that car though...

 

[Appie]

looking forward to read more of it

 

[Enigma]

Interesting stuff, looking forward to the next installment

Although I dont agree with some of your mods (modding is a personal,cultural, age related thing anyway) I respect the attention to detail and quality of workmanship displayed 👍

 

[J-PaP]

That is absolutely correct guys. Modifications are very much a personal thing and I can see how many people would question what I did with the car. I'm sure some people would even question the choice of car.

There are 3 modifications I would have had second thoughts about.

1. Original blue/charcoal interior. When I was 17/18 I thought it looked great. But I quickly grew out of it. There was one funny thing though. Mitsubishi was well aware of my vehicle as I had close tie ins with one of the dealerships at the time. The very next year at the Melbourne Motorshow they had a lancer with a similarly themed interior and a magna with the same wheels as mine. I have some pictures from that year somewhere. I'll try dig them up as proof.

2. Bodykit - I had way too many hassles with this. In the end I probably would have preferred the clean colour coded look with standard bumpers. It was too hard to return to stock though so I left it. Though I never felt the bodykit was bad enough where it had to go. On the upside the front bar was quite popular while I was selling it so obviously others liked it.

3. NOS - The car had hit a point where if i wanted big power gains, big money was needed. Nearly all work was done by myself apart from basically ecu tuning and adjusting the timing of the cam gears. But I sought advice regarding the next big step. Turboing was out of the question as it was firstly too much and second nothing available allowed for a smooth power delivery.

Supercharging was out as well as I refused to purchase from the one company that made the product needed. That was in the end a blessing in disguise anyway. Everyone else who purchased their product was riddled with problems.

I could have continued by cracking the motor open further but that was becoming experimental at best and too costly at the time. Nos was the easy option out. Problem is I never got to really test it out. I had a mysterios problem appear where the car would suddenly kill spark at random while driving. It would happen sometimes while cruisng on the freeway (and the car would not re-start till i removed the key) and sometimes when taking off. That lead to very harsh shuddering while driving and was just unsafe. Traced the problem down to the ECU/Unichip. Both were tested and replaced but the problem persisted. In the end I removed the NOS and the unichip and the problem went away so I left the car as is after that.

 

[astrosdude91]

When will we get to read about the Elise?

 

[Paulie]

I like the Magna, would have been awesome as an AWD version with a manual conversion though.

 

[J-PaP]

Paulie - Actually a few guys looked into manual conversions for the AWD versions. Wasn't possible even though the car shared components with the Lancer Evolution.

Chapter 2 - In betweeners

While having the 350z (explained later) and the Magna I had some in between cars. First of these was:

2004 Hyundai Getz 3 door

I bought this car as there was about 6-8 months the Magna was off the road and I needed something to get to uni and back. Wasn't exactly the most memorable part of my life so I didn't keep any pictures of it it seems. Looked like this though.

1989 Suzuki RGV250

While having the 350z and getting to know my brother in law (who is an avid motorbike fan) he got me interested into bikes. I picked up my learners permit and picked up the bike soon after. It was great fun to ride. I only kept it a year though as I could only really use it in specific weather which meant it didn't get much use. Plus drivers in Australia need to learn how to drive and until that happens it is unsafe to drive a car let alone a bike.

2003 Nissan 350z Track

This car had caught my attention for two main reasons. First, because the 300zx was one of those hero cars for me as a kid and this was the next model. Second, my sister's neighbor owned one and I was lucky enough to get to take it for a spin once (pity it was an auto). After the drive though I was all but convinced I had to buy one one day. I loved the simple shape of the car and how responsive the steering felt.

The one I purchased happened to be the first one I looked at which was in mid 2008 and only a week after I sold the Magna. Was second hand but only had 60000km on it at the time.

Whenever I used to take my Magna out due to so many modifications I constantly was concerned about being pulled over by the police. So I had decided to tone down my efforts on this car. Was still quick though to add the following mods within 1-2 months after buying it:

Mods
Alpine W502-e 7" Touch Screen Headunit
Volk SF Challenge 19x8.5 + 19x9.5
custom front number plate bracket

I'd also purchased an exhaust which the brand escapes me now. But it was damaged upon arrival and after getting a refund I never bothered to get another.

I probably would have done more with the car over time and likely kept the car longer but there was a car that has been my "realistic dream car" ever since it came out in 2002". As a result I stopped working on the 350z and started thinking towards my next car. This brings us to Chapter 3 - 2004 Lotus Elise 111r

 

[Paulie]

That's a shame on the manual AWD conversion being impossible. Your 350Z was nice, admittedly I was never a huge fan of the 350Z (I like it, just not a lot ), but I quite like both the preceeding 300ZX and the succeeding 370Z.

 

[J-PaP]

Chapter 3 - Current Car

2004 Lotus Elise 111R

I have been wanting a Lotus Elise since it was first released (The S2). It's been a car I have always told friends and family I will get one day and I knew it is likely my realistic dream car. Sure there are other dream cars for me like a McLaren F1 (Childhood dream car) but this was a car I knew one day I will be able to get. The day came sooner than I thought. Thanks to market changes and a bit of luck I was able to get my dream car sooner than I thought.

Typically I think most people would probably pick the Exige over the Elise. For me though I wanted the performance of the Exige with the looks of the Elise. The Exige to me looks more like a toy. The Elise has an exotic look to it though. Either way the difference was all in the rear.

I probably could have saved myself some money and just got a earlier rover engined one but I had some criteria of what i wanted from the Elise. First I wanted one with a Toyota engine. That left me with many more opportunities to modify the engine and generally was a much newer and reliable engine. Second I wanted a car with leather interior. This meant the car had to have the touring pack option. This was not necessary though. Finally I wanted the earlier version interior. The one without the airbags and less shoddy plastic on the dash. I preferred the simpler look of the earlier interiors. Finally my colour options were something bright. So Aspen white, Krypton, Ardent Red, Chrome Orange, and Yellow were my choices. Aspen white, Krypton and Chrome orange were not offered till 2006 though and that involved the later dash and a heftier price tag. So this left me with an 04/05 Elise 111R as the ideal choice.

I had been watching the main channels Lotus' are sold since about early 2009. In that time only two Elise 111R's had appeared on the market. An Ardent red one which was an impeccable example. The seller removed it 2 days after listing it not being able to part with it. A second was a Yellow one which the seller was asking a bit much for and seemed unwilling to drop the price.

Early 2010 I decided to get serious in my search and arranged to inspect the Yellow one which was still for sale. It was a 2004 model and bar the side skirts needing a respray the car was impeccable. The car still had its original tyres on it that were dated as being built in late 2003. The car had never been tracked, was standard and only had 21000km on the odometer. After negotiating the price over a few days I managed to get it at an acceptable price and arranged to drive it home. This required a flight to another state and then a 10 hour drive back home the same day in some of the worst weather I'd driven in. The drive wasn't too eventful bar 1 part of the road being slightly flooded (only about 5cm deep) and thanks to a light car and fairly old tyres I did have a few moments of aquaplaning that required me to slow my pace down back home.

Apologies for these first standard car pics. The weather pretty much has yet to be great this year to get some proper pictures.

Soon to come, First mods!

 

[Kakumaki]

Congratulations! Great choice!

 

[homeforsummer]

Interesting reading 👍 You definitely picked the right colour for the 350Z, looks great in that blue (though like Paulie I prefer the 370Z, but obviously that wasn't exactly an option back when you bought the 350 ).

And obviously, I approve of the Elise. Interested to see what mods you do to it. The Elise is probably my realistic dream car too, and perhaps in a few years time I'll be in a position to own one. My ideal version currently is the Elise S, either the 1.8 version or the facelifted 1.6, both of which are pretty much all the performance car you need on crappy UK roads. I actually prefer the styling of the Elise S1 though, much as the current models are more agressive, I think the original Elise was the nicer shape. If I couldn't scrape the money together for a newer S, the S1 I'd most likely want to find is the Type 49 since I love the Gold Leaf colour scheme:

 

[J-PaP]

Thanks for the comments.

HFS: In Australia I don't think the 370z was even announced or was announced just after I purchased the 350z. Bad timing on my part for resale value but no matter. There was an abundance of Silver, Black and Orange ones but I thought the blue looked x10 better so didn't even consider other colours. Helped with the resale value too as a result being a rarer colour. I didn't really like the 370 when it first came out. It looked to me like what Honda did with the Euro Accord. Took a nice looking car with simple shapes and for the sake of updating it added an extra shape here and there which made the car too busy. The car has grown on me a little but personally isn't the kind of car I would buy anymore.

I really recommend a Lotus to anyone. So long as you don't mind having a car that is rather inconvenient (I tend to like inconvenience) they are an absolute joy and if you can afford one one day do it! You are from the UK right? They are so much easier to find there than here in Australia and a little bit cheaper.

 

[J-PaP]

Mod 1 & 2

So after I picked the car up i needed some new rear tyres. However the unexpected expense of needing a new right rear wheel (which had a crack at the base of one of the spokes (unrepairable)). That set my mods back a little bit but i did still manage the first of my modifications.

By chance someone was selling the exhaust I was looking for so managed to get it a fair bit cheaper than I would if I had to import one from overseas new. The exhaust I chose was the Von Hep. This exhaust is one of the quieter ones available but best of all it is possibly the lightest at 4.2kg. I also installed a rear panel eliminator made locally by SSC as I prefer the look. I'm not sure how much weight I really did save in the end but it was likely 15kg or more.

I don't have a good picture of it so apologies but here is a picture of it on my car.

and here is a better picture of the exhaust on another car.

 

[J-PaP]

Some updates on what I have done and what I plan to do to the car.

So far:

Von Hep Exhaust
SSC Rear Panel Delete (painted black)
Diffuser replaced with one without exhaust cutout and powdercoated black
Alpine 117E Headunit
JL C5 525cx Rear speakers
Modified rear battery bracket since the standard one is hopeless
Plastic slats removed on engine cover, Radiator Exit and Front intake and replaced with black mesh
Black fuel cap surround

Still to come:

Mesh side intake solution
paint valve cover
Wheels
Respray sideskirts? Unsure of the name of the part.
Front splitter
Paint/vinyl wrap gearshift surround
Something with the Sills as they are easy to scratch up
Hurricane intake
ECU Flash
play with cams/sc (maybe. Long time down the track though)

Some pictures:

 

[NLxAROSA]

Great selection so far. 👍

 

[spauldj3800]

Like the 350z, a mate has one, a tad modifed though. Goes really well...

And I've always had a soft spot for Lotus's. How does the exhaust sound? Some sound dreadful?

 

[J-PaP]

Put my plates on the car and got my Team Dynamics 1.4G earlier in the week.

 

[Appie]

Great stuff John 👍

 

[J-PaP]

It has been a while. I just got a new job so spent my week off in between doing some work.

Started off by doing this:

Cleaned the whole inside of the car as it was absolute filth and with the seats and console still in there, trying to remove all the dirt was near impossible.

After I got the dash out I found this (a second alarm + gps tracking device). The gps service doesn't work in my state so it was literally just an alarm inside the cabin. Since it didn't do anything the original alarm does I removed it.

While everything was out I went ahead and installed this:

It is an Alpine pdx-f4 amp. I also picked up some Focal 100cvx speakers for the front. These fit in there by about 1-2mm as there is solid aluminium directly behind it.

Then figured I might as well install this too. Replaced most of the plastic interior with carbon fibre.

It is all back together now but I do need to double check the seats are tight and modify the drivers side sill slightly as it is rubbing on the paint.

 

[homeforsummer]

Looking good. Only bit I'm not keen on is the large curve of carbon around the windscreen, makes the interior look quite "busy".

Didn't see your last update with the new wheels either, they suit it perfectly 👍

 

[J-PaP]

Undecided on the dash top myself but for the reason it is glossy. I have a brand new dash top anyway in plastic (old one had warped) in case I wish to remove the cf one.

 

[J-PaP]

So I decided to revert back to a standard dash top instead of the CF one. Just didn't look right the more I looked at it.

Been meaning to upload these. Basically had half the car resprayed to remove all stone chips, redid the mesh on the front of the car and changed the side intakes.

Then had the car detailed.

I also just picked up another ecu with a more aggressive map to suit higher octane fuel with a better cam change point. Though I'm planning to run the car with stock ecu vs new ecu on the dyno one after the other to see where the maps differ and make sure the car isn't run lean at all. It is a map from Lotus though so it should be ok.

 

[J-PaP]

Excuse the crappy picture but didn't pull the proper camera out. Just finished off the interior so it is essentially all CF now.

 

[NLxAROSA]

Great job! 👍

 

[Cano]

Holy hell that's a lot of carbon fiber.

 

[AMCNUT]

That's a beautiful string of cars. And that Mitsubishi looked sharp! 👍 If I were you I'd have kept it - that's one of the most tasteful mod jobs I've seen. Any plans for taking the Lotus on the track?

 

[J-PaP]

That's a beautiful string of cars. And that Mitsubishi looked sharp! 👍 If I were you I'd have kept it - that's one of the most tasteful mod jobs I've seen. Any plans for taking the Lotus on the track?

Thanks. The Magna was really my major project. In the end I couldn't have done more to it. I always planned to get a new car though a number of years down the track and it was that time. There was a lot of pressure from the police as well in Australia cracking down on modified cars which meant every time I took it out it was a risk.

The Lotus Elise is what I'd always been planning to lead towards in the end so am happy to have let go of the Magna given what it led to in the end.

No plans to track the lotus. The fact that insurance doesn't cover me if anything happens on the track means I can't afford that risk.