jjjkr20's IS300 5spd

[jjjkr20]

Alright well I'm back yet again, I seem to say that a lot, but I'm smarter now wooo. So here we are now on to a 2002 IS300 5spd, only just passed 100k miles. So far I plasti dipped random parts like the emblems, door handles, and mirrors. I dipped the oem wheels but have since upgraded to some Work Wheels. XT7 18 x 8.5 +32 to be exact. On used 225 40 R18, pirelli p zero front, Bridgestone potenza rear. YES I do have an alignment this time! About to need another one soon after I buy some coilovers. Timing belt and water pump soon, parts are already bought, and clutch dampening delete soon too, parts also bought.

Visually The pearl white is amazing but I've always disliked tan interior and this car is no exception, 50/50 tan leather with tan cloth whyy? So I'm looking to get black leather interior way later down the road, and maybe try my hand at vinyl wrapping a little of my car, just to spice it up.

Now what's the car like? Its fun, but I feel like my clutch is on the edge of giving out any second even though many people have said it feels fine, I guess it's just the clutch dampening. The steering is heavy and sharp, but not as heavy as a BMW, and the ride is great, on stock suspension at least, lets see what the future holds.

Needs/wants:
Coilovers (wheels poke)
Tint
Timing belt/water pump
Clutch dampening delete
Headlight condensation fix
Control arm (Seized bolt, toe is at .7 degrees, was 1.4 before alignment)
Battery
Hood latch/prop
Valve cover gasket
Brake squeek
CUP HOLDER DIVIDER! (don't you just hate when your perfect drift around a highway merge ramp is ruined by your monster/rockstar/redbull spilling everywhere?)


Now some progress pics from when I first got it to now:

On the lot before anyone even saw it, both bumpers were cracked to all hell but I got them repainted.

Post purchase and paint job

So it had a grinding noise while turning left (I think) specifically, and it still has that noise even after shaving down some metal that was grinding on the inside of the brake disk, but this was doing the "repairs"

The headlight it came with were aftermarket, I think? But they had condensation so I bought used oem ones and restored those, still have condensation though.

Before

Post plasti dip and head light resto.

Also around this time I went to H2Oi, it was lit where can I dump all the photos?

Work Wheels, camera is broken now so no more photos for a while.

Also made some mud flaps... out of acrylic so they're shattered now, next ones are gonna be lexan/Plexiglas hopefully those will have more flex because I really like the clear look.

So that's about it right now, maybe I'll manage to keep this thread updated. I also made some new friends with pretty rad cars so you might see them around who know, but any questions feel free to ask!

 

[jjjkr20]

I'd like to preface this update by saying I am only 19 so my sense of taste may not have matured just yet, but lets get into it.

Since previous I added neochrome film to the headlight and fog light. I didn't want to be completely illegal so I only put it over the high beams. Otherwise my blue low beams would shine pink and only about 70% as bright. I also put it on the fog lights which gave a pretty cool effect.

Then I bought 3rd hand ebay coilovers off craigslist.

Which squeak and bounce, but aren't blown, and get my car veryy low. So low I had to put the stock wheels on for a little until I got my fenders rolled.

Once they were rolled I went as low as possible, which was a mistake don't ever do that to yourself.

Afterwards I wasn't getting enough attention in my life so I started to put vinyl on the car, at first in no pattern but later on I get a sense of what I want, I definitely look forward to redoing it though. Also being so low my tire rubbed all the paint off my fender and bent it out half an inch.

And lastly I turned half my dash pink/purple. It looks purple in person at least, on camera not so much.

So now to add to the to do list.
+Fix the fender, probably add camber at the next alignment
+Redo wrap

And what's been done and can be removed
-Coilovers
-Timing belt

Beyond that the car is doing solid. Coilovers do bottom out so I should raise them up sometime. Next is the clutch dampening device delete. Also I know I'm probably doing a dishonor to the car but I'll use the classic it's my car I can do what I want, but no really everything so far is pretty easily reversible if I want to. My main goal is getting as much attention from people without getting attention from authorities, one reason why it still has stock exhaust. Because technically nothing I've done yet is illegal, I hope, but as soon as I put exhaust on it will be illegal.

Anyways I'm all done for this post, feel free to tell me what you all think. Love it? Hate it? Let me know!