UPDATE: 12/23/09. TONS of pictures.
UPDATE: 12/23/09. TONS of pictures.
***12/23/09 UPDATE
It's been more than a year since my last update in this thread. In the past year I had slowly modded my car exactly as planned. Most of the mods involved some level of DIY fabrication simply because I love to try new stuff and build things with my own hands. The S is my first car so I had learn tons throughout the build. I've took many pictures documenting my build, below are tons of pictures so bare with me.
When I first got the car it was completely stock as pictured previously.
Being a long time S2000 addict, I knew exactly how I wanted my car to end up from the very beginning. So the very first part I picked up was actually a pair of beat up OEM fenders. These would come in handy later on...
One of the main complain about the car is heat-soaking on hot days. Didn't felt the need to alter the stock intake airbox (which is very well designed in terms of engine performance by the way) I've decided to go with a intake snorkel to draw in cold air from the front grill.
However I was very unhappy with the choices of aftermarket snorkels available, so I decided to make my own. I've always wanted to try out working with composites, what a perfect opportunity. After countless hours of googling, I got the supplies ready and went at it.
Initial cardboard mock up
Foam shaping
Didn't want to cut my original radiator air guide, so I replicated one out of fiberglass.
After a few failed attempts, this was the end result:
Was very happy with it as it satisfied all my criteria. Couldn't have picked a more difficult shape as my first fiberglass project but it was a great learning experience.
Next up was a set of new sticky rubber. Once again planning ahead but maybe a little too far ahead as they were not the right sizes for my stock wheels. They sat in the garage for a long while.
Then I picked up some adjustable coilovers.
First major install on the car, never done this before. Exciting!
After lowering the car, the plastic air dam in front of front tires started scrapping on steep driveways and parking lot entrances.
So I took them off..
and made my own carbon fiber replicas, same shape as OEM but 1" shorter
No more scraping afterward.
Nothing went on with my car for a while, got bored so I started working on the fenders I picked up earlier.
Basically I wanted more aggressive wheels/tires front and rear. After seeing many people mess up their front fenders I decided very early on to do it right the first time, reshape OEM metal fenders for more tire clearance.
The wheels size/specs I wanted were very hard to find and usually require many months of wait time for special order. Figured I had lots of time to play with these fenders I started with nothing to check for fitment.
When I first picked them up
The wheel wall had already been chewed up from previous owner from fitting more aggressive wheels/tires. They had to be straighten first.
Initial shaping with dolly hammers. Have never done this before but after years of watching American Chopper fabbing custom gas tanks from raw sheet metal, I was just doing what I've seen on TV.
Not bad, already much wider than stock.
Other side, this side was a million times worse. :?
While my sister was out of the country, I used her car to make sure they line up.
After shaping:
My original plan was to make molds and make my own carbon fiber widened fenders...
Left mold was as far as I got... The plan was taking way too long, way to messy and wayy too ambitious. Due to school work, they sat for a few weeks.
Which wasn't too bad. By shear luck, I've finally located a new set of Volk CE28, 17x9 +35, exactly the size/specs I wanted without the wait time!
Look at the size compare to OEM front behind it!
Couldn't wait to see how they would look on the car
YUP! They're aggressive alright :lol:
Tracked down some hard-to-fine flat center caps
and some lug nuts