taman86

so i am torn between what i wanna do first. as of right now i have enough cash for:

1. header, cat back or axle back
2. k&n CAI, axle back
3. or suspension, specifically the hotchkis sway bars and trd springs. i dont wanna go to low and make it too stiff.

i am also going to do the throttle body upgrade to the corolla TB.

i am all for both sides and love to be set back in my seat but i also like to look good also and feel the car. only problem is i am riding on stock 15" steelies. since i drive my wife's scion a lot and will be for some time, i need it to be more enthusiastic for me and so..............chickish in a nice way to put it.

jct

you can do better with a custom cat back from your choice of muffler shop

hmc2261CT

I bought the Dc Sports axle back and it is a deeper tone, I personally love it, and also I cut out the huge resonator about half way down the car, The big one right after the Cat and replaced it with straight pipe. It makes the car have a little more ***** in the exhaust section (sound at least). Im not sure what It does for you performance wise, but I have not noticed any difference, but it sounds good and it may be what your looking for
Hope this helps!

taman86

thanks guys for the reply

hmc2261CT

In my personal opinion I would go with the suspension. Since the Xa only has 108 hp, I personally do not think it is worth investing into engine mods or big exhaust mods (I mean, i only did a small amount to my exhaust and it sounds great, I did not see much HP gain), I personally would rather get a nice stance and go for looks not high performance, but like I said thats just me.
For suspension, I would go with the Eibach pro kit (there is a pro kit which you can also get with the front and rear sway bars). I love the drop , if you are not looking for a huge drop, the Eibachs are a good choice, and yes the ride is stiffer but im also running a 215/40/r 17.
Dont get me wrong I looked into TRD springs, but the spring rates (if I remember correctly) were actually stiffer for about the same drop as the Eibach. Plus Im partial to German parts (even thought I own the Xa) they are always very well made, and usually they come with warranty.
Just out of curiosity, how much were you willing to spend/what springs in particular were you looking at getting?

hmc2261CT

Here is the pro kit with the sway bars
http://performance-suspension.eibach...lus__step_1_2_
Just food for thought.

taman86

Thanx for the link. I was looking into the trd's cuz they advertised a 1 inch drop and the spring rates advertised were close to stock. It already rides stiff so didn't want to go much stiffer. And currently it has stock steelies and will until this fall. So I decided to go with the corolla TB and K&N cai for now. After july ill look into getting an exhaust. I am not after top performance but more for a lil more go. Ide say after everything ide prolly be around 2 g's. I am looking into a weapon r intake and gude cams. As for wheels i want set of TRD's, my wife likes the 5 spokes or if there are other TRD's that will fit ide like to see if anyone has some links for me.

hmc2261CT

Nice, Im sure it will look and sound good!

taman86

So I found a set of oem (apparantly) enkei wheels which came on the xa rs1.0. They are 17x7 with a 30 offset and 6 spoke style. I am really diggin those and found a website called oe wheels that have an advertised price of 250 + shipping. I think those with a 1 or 1.5 inch drop would look nice. I think once that is done later this year I will look into taking care of the imperfections in the body and get a kenstyle ground effects kit. I also thought about going jdm and putting some ist touches on it. But after thinking about it, I am turning away from the gude cams cuz I have read that the vvt-i requires very close tolerances in the specs and I most certainly don't want to take away the driveability part of it and mess it up. I want this car to stay with us for many more years since my wife has had it for 6 yrs already and 109,000 and now I drive it a lot so I am trying to style it up more so I can tolerate it. So all bolt ons it is :D

hmc2261CT

Yes I agree with you, I have a 17x7 wheel and i have a 1.5 inch drop, and it looks good. Your wheels will deff look better than mine since I have a 45 offset.
And I hear ya about the cam, personally Im not really one to mess with an engine, I feel as tho once you start messing with precision parts in them, you can run into problems.
So I feel ya on not wanting to comprimise the engine.
And I also feel the same about styling the car up for looks. I have not put a body kit on it, but I have done interior with racing seats, and I am working on painting the silver trim pieces to white, and for the exterior, I made eyelids (which look awesome) and I have done suspension.
I think what you are planning on doing sounds cool and will look good .
What color is your car, I have some extra vinyl and could potentially make you up some eyelids if you want, its pretty easy to make.
Or I could make you a copy of my stencil (but only if you want)

hmc2261CT

here is a picture of the eyelids

ScionTCSS

Go with suspension. It will give the car a way better feel and better driving experience. It will be a lot more fun to drive.

taman86

Its the dark grey metallic. Don't know the specific name. I like the eye lids cuz it gives the car an angry look.

taman86

Suspension parts are gonna have to wait a while. My family is driving the scion to missouri cuz their car needs major maintenance but can't afford it and the scion is in top shape. Me and the wife are driving our 2012 gmc terrain to missouri.

hmc2261CT

I agree, If you want me to send you the stencil I made, pm your address and I can get it out to you, when I get back from Madrid (june 15th)

taman86

What did you make it from? I seen a guy with website that makes his own appearance parts also, can't remember his name off the top of my head. He also has kits for tinting the lights and such for fairly decent prices. Looks really close to your lids though.

hmc2261CT

I actually got lucky and went to a local shop were they make signs and decals and I just bought 2 sq feet of the adhesive vinyl, its was dirt cheep, it was only $2 so thats what I got. However im not sure if they have different color vinyl, i would think they would but im not sure.
You may want to check a place like that if you have anything like around you.

taman86

to go along with my previous post, it was bluebats stuff i came across. it was one his photobucket account and after doing some searching again tonight i found what i was talking about.

hmc, does your exhaust have a noticeable drone at highway cruising or is it tolerable. i am all for hearing the car and what its doing, i hardly listen to the radio.

taman86

Just installed my k&n cai woot. Noticeable difference in engine sound especially at higher rpms. A slight difference in throttle response and pulls slightly better up top. According to dyno sheet with kit on a stock 04 like mine it gained 4.5 hp and on average with cai a gain from 4 to 6 so cost is 27 dollars / hp

taman86

Just bought a set of lightly used trd struts . The cai deffinately gives the engine a gurthy sound, its hard to stay out of throttle to hear it.