90's Kid Dream Build

[TunerR1]

I've had mine three months and had the tint done all the way around so far. That was $1050. I understand the money part. I'm getting the ecu chipped and tuner / tune this check. I can't wait for the exhaust myself. Looks good man!

Exhaust really makes it fun, you’d want to drive it more. I've been contemplating tint also; may go with 50 percent all around as I'm not a big fan of dark tints. My night vision isn't as great as it use to be lol.

On a side note! -
ZL1addons just released a nice set of Pinch weld lift pads that you install to prevent bending and damaging the OEM lift points so I just ordered those today! I do all my own work so I know how easy it is to damage the pinch welds.

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[Justpassedu]

Exhaust really makes it fun, you’d want to drive it more. I've been contemplating tint also; may go with 50 percent all around as I'm not a big fan of dark tints. My night vision isn't as great as it use to be lol.

On a side note! -
ZL1addons just released a nice set of Pinch weld lift pads that you install to prevent bending and damaging the OEM lift points so I just ordered those today! I do all my own work so I know how easy it is to damage the pinch welds.

Love the build man. Looks great. The Apexi exhaust looks great. I been debating it on my De5 but I the very few videos I have heard , I cannot tell much of a sound difference from stock and definitely want something that gets a bit louder in the higher driving modes. Can you give me your thoughts on it vs stock ? Please and Ty

 

[TunerR1]

Love the build man. Looks great. The Apexi exhaust looks great. I been debating it on my De5 but I the very few videos I have heard , I cannot tell much of a sound difference from stock and definitely want something that gets a bit louder in the higher driving modes. Can you give me your thoughts on it vs stock ? Please and Ty

The Apexi is a beautiful blend between comfort and that nice rumble. When you open it up; it gets really loud but slow cruising its nice and quiet. Definitely much louder than stock but not overly aggressive. I have a TSP catted downpipe so it contributes to keeping the exhaust quieter. I know if you ran a catless setup; you'd definitely be a lot louder.

The younger me would've cut off the muffler and be done lol; but I truely appreciate the time Apexi put into developing a nice exhaust that absolutely has no drone. Long road trips are excellent; my wife complains about my Tacoma exhaust more than the R exhaust and I went through great lengths to make sure the Tacoma doesn't drone, I created a custom helmholtz resonator that I can adjust the length to cancel out certain sound waves. The end is cap off so when sound hits it; it bounces back and cancels out any drone (highly effective as it cancels out about 80 percent of drone without affecting flow)

If you can excuse my shitty amateur welds lol. So yes I'd find that if you'd enjoy the Apexi a lot, its loud when you need it to be and quiet when you're creeping next to a cop lol.

 

[Justpassedu]

The Apexi is a beautiful blend between comfort and that nice rumble. When you open it up; it gets really loud but slow cruising its nice and quiet. Definitely much louder than stock but not overly aggressive. I have a TSP catted downpipe so it contributes to keeping the exhaust quieter. I know if you ran a catless setup; you'd definitely be a lot louder.

The younger me would've cut off the muffler and be done lol; but I truely appreciate the time Apexi put into developing a nice exhaust that absolutely has no drone. Long road trips are excellent; my wife complains about my Tacoma exhaust more than the R exhaust and I went through great lengths to make sure the Tacoma doesn't drone, I created a custom helmholtz resonator that I can adjust the length to cancel out certain sound waves. The end is cap off so when sound hits it; it bounces back and cancels out any drone (highly effective as it cancels out about 80 percent of drone without affecting flow)

If you can excuse my shitty amateur welds lol. So yes I'd find that if you'd enjoy the Apexi a lot, its loud when you need it to be and quiet when you're creeping next to a cop lol.

That’s exactly what I somewhat wanted to hear . It’s hard to tell in the few videos I have watched what it really sounds like . I would have like some noise at idle but if it opens up when you get on it that’s a plus . Nice Tacoma also , I just got rid of my 4runner.

 

[TunerR1]

Installed the zl1 addon lift point blocks, I can admit they work wonderfully; now no more having to feel around to find the jack point. You mount these close to the original jack pad. They stated you should try to mount them farther away so you can use it as a jack point and use the OEM points for Jack stands; makes sense but you really don’t have much room to move them farther and keeping them somewhat close to the OEM points made sense for strength wise.

It’s great for us DIY guys without a lift. Prevents damaging the soft pinch welds.

I also gathered up all my Twostepperformance points and bought the Cusco strut bar since I’ve wanted one from the start.

more to come.

 

[jarretpcurry]

Those look neat. I’ve been using these Jack Stand Adapters for a while now. I might have to grab a set of those blocks to accompany them.

https://forsvaraengineering.com/shop-1/ols/products/pinch_weld_standard_jack_stand_adapters

 

[Brittania]

I love what you doing man! Looks incredible! Do you have any tips for painting the valve cover? How to prep, etc?

 

[TunerR1]

I love what you doing man! Looks incredible! Do you have any tips for painting the valve cover? How to prep, etc?

Sorry it's been a while since I've been on here; Its winter in Wisconsin so the car has been put away and I've just been collecting more goodies for spring.

Scuff the plastic with a fine scuff pad for maximum adhesive, then buy a can of paint prep spray, clean the surface of the valve cover very well, paint and mask all the areas you don't want paint to go into, like the vacuum hose ports.

Spray 1 coat of Plastic adhesion promoter spray onto the entire valve cover, Spray 1 coat of primer (careful of choosing the primer here, a lighter color gray primer would net a brighter color and a darker primer will net a darker base color, vice versa)

Spray 2-3 coats of base paint until your valve cover is fully covered, wait 10-15 minutes between coats; you can use cheap stuff if you like, something that tolerates high heat is recommended.

Your clear coat is the most important, I use a can of 2K Clear, the cans that you must activate the activator, shake it then spray. This stuff leaves behind a more tougher finish and tend to last longer through extreme temperatures and abuse. I spray about 2-3 coats of clear, waiting 10-15minutes between coats.

Leave it 24-48 hours before re-installing to allow dry time. I also recommend getting a new valve cover gasket. Don't risk re-using the old one. I did that and regret having to remove and re-install again.

 

[TunerR1]

More goodies, thinking about polishing the passenger motor mount, seems like a lot of work but maybe once it’s warmer out I’d remove and give it a try.

 

[Brittania]

Sorry it's been a while since I've been on here; Its winter in Wisconsin so the car has been put away and I've just been collecting more goodies for spring.

Scuff the plastic with a fine scuff pad for maximum adhesive, then buy a can of paint prep spray, clean the surface of the valve cover very well, paint and mask all the areas you don't want paint to go into, like the vacuum hose ports.

Spray 1 coat of Plastic adhesion promoter spray onto the entire valve cover, Spray 1 coat of primer (careful of choosing the primer here, a lighter color gray primer would net a brighter color and a darker primer will net a darker base color, vice versa)

Spray 2-3 coats of base paint until your valve cover is fully covered, wait 10-15 minutes between coats; you can use cheap stuff if you like, something that tolerates high heat is recommended.

Your clear coat is the most important, I use a can of 2K Clear, the cans that you must activate the activator, shake it then spray. This stuff leaves behind a more tougher finish and tend to last longer through extreme temperatures and abuse. I spray about 2-3 coats of clear, waiting 10-15minutes between coats.

Leave it 24-48 hours before re-installing to allow dry time. I also recommend getting a new valve cover gasket. Don't risk re-using the old one. I did that and regret having to remove and re-install again.

Is this the clear you used?

 

[Evox787]

Few things I forgot to add; I got the ECM jailbroken within the first month I owned the car and its running on the 93 Hondata tune; I'm prepping the car to hopefully make the trip to PA to have Derek Robinson tune the car next spring.

Acuity shifter bushings were a great plus to add; really tightens up the shifting, YOU DO NOT have to remove the charge pipe to change them, Put the car in 2nd gear to change the big bushing; then put it in first gear to change the small bushing. The big one takes minutes to do; the small one requires a bit of a trick. I tied a string to the shifter cable, pulled it forward; install the bushing and retaining ring. Took me 30 minutes at most (due to removing the airbox)

Mugen Visors are nice; I must warn though they do add a bit of wind noise; not enough to bother me but you will notice it on the highway

More to come!

I finish dressing up the hoses on the intake side just to clean up the look today 9/23/23.

I’ve put off installing lowering springs since it’s such a pain in the ass; but I ended up finishing it up today. Spoon springs installed; it was easier than the Fk8 but still wasn’t entirely easy lol. 10/01/23

10-08-23
Alignment is done; with the spoon springs; ride is so much nicer, the drop is perfect and not overly aggressive.

I sleeved the brake booster vacuum lines too! Looks good; will do the other lines when I go do fuel upgrades.

Just saw this and really motivated me to get the shifter bushings because I didn’t want to take apart the whole car just to install those. Looks good probably go the same route with my valve cover but was watching pointbypatrol youtube video and damn is so much to take apart just to remove the valve cover that the stock cover look really nice ?.

 

[TunerR1]

Is this the clear you used?

Yes this is the clear I used, its a tad expensive but it last the longest and holds great. You really have to give it time to dry before installing. About 24hours before handling I would recommend, if it still feels soft, leave it for a few days. You can even put it in the oven and pre-heat it to about 100F, turn off oven and let it sit in there for about 10-15 minutes at a time to speed up drying time. (Don't leave oven on, just pre-heat and turn off, put valve cover inside, close the door and check on it every 10-15 minutes)

 

[TunerR1]

Just saw this and really motivated me to get the shifter bushings because I didn’t want to take apart the whole car just to install those. Looks good probably go the same route with my valve cover but was watching pointbypatrol youtube video and damn is so much to take apart just to remove the valve cover that the stock cover look really nice ?.

Remove the entire harness that runs down to the turbo on the passenger side of the valve cover there, Makes life a lot easier. Once you do it; you'd realize hey its not that bad. The FL5 has tons of room to move around to undo wires compare to the FK8.

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