Now,going for the exterior....hehe metamorphosis!

[Argie]

Yeah,i think when i saw the 17's i made a rush desition on getting them without thinking.
Now i am little unhappy that my 17's with huge tires (215/50/17) rub like crazy when i take a turn or put an extra passenger.
Unless there is a chance i could sell them with the tires i will get the Rota Boost,flat black /red lip on 16" size.

 

[wildcard26]

Well I am running 215/40/17, +45 offset on the rims. They are also lighter that the ENKEI RSV 17" I had on. I think if you go 17" with these cars it's better to put on light weight. That rubbing would have drove me nuts, had that when I had on the Motegi MR7 17"...couldn't take passengers to keep my sanity.

 

[AzteCypher]

I run 205/40/17 and no rubbing, at least until I lowered the coilovers to tuck fender.

 

[Argie]

I run 205/40/17 and no rubbing, at least until I lowered the coilovers to tuck fender.

Yeah,i think with 17"s that 205/40/17 is the way to go.
I will paint my rims flat black with red lip and change to that tire setting,at least for the rear ones for now.
That size gets pretty expensive.

 

[tonygulin]

i think that color is perfect for my green "prote"

I spent great part of sunday painting.
I finally took the heath shield and painte The same color as the valve cover,screws were painted in red.I used engine enamel to paint part of the throtle body.
I painted red just to give a more colorful look,i figure that if it look bad it wasn't going to look as bad as it was all greasy and dirty,so i did it.
Re-installed the short air intake and tried the Celica GT-s MAF i bought a week ago.
It works fine and car does not stall when a/c is on,i may have to adjust the idle a little.
Here are the pics....

 

[Argie]

I actually bought the spray can thinking it will be the same color of the cap,hoping to get kinda really charcoal gray.
Look at the resulting color..,not bad but wasn't the color i was expecting to be.
If i put the can cap next to the valve cover you will see that they are way different colors.

 

[tonygulin]

^^ok,i think that the color you want is the "gun metal" is like charcoal gray, with gloss.

 

[Argie]

The can is "cast iron" and as far as i know,the cap of the can indicates the color .
I will take a close pic of the cap next to the valve cover,it amazes me the difference.
Oh well,i like the color anyways.

 

[Argie]

Well...,after much debate in my head about changing the color of the rims to flat black or leave it as it is i grew some balls and today i finished my second rim in flat black.
It's a lot of work thou.
First rim came out ok,but i used a 100 grit sand paper that is too rough and the finish product is just ok.
On my second rim i took my time to sand it with 350 grit sand paper,the surface look smoother and paint it better.
I also had this crazy idea of using caliper paint and do the letters NINJA and NJ07 in red,they look awesome to me and gave it a nice look.
Paint i use: Duplicolor Engine Enamel primer (2 coats),and Duplicolor wheel paint flat black(3 coats).
I painted the center caps with Fusion satin black (for plastic),all left to do is paint Katana in red on the center of the center cap.
I received the red stripe stickers today,i spent $7 on ebay and they are really good,looks shiny around the rim and rarely will ripped off the wheel,really good product.
enjoy!

 

[tonygulin]

i like it (thumb)

 

[bullshark524]

wheels look great

 

[wildcard26]

That looks great man. I like how they look, awesome job.

 

[Argie]

thanks Tony!

 

[Argie]

wheels look great

Thanks bullshark524!

 

[Argie]

That looks great man. I like how they look, awesome job.

hey my friend,thanks for stoping by.
It's a lot of work,and to save time what i do is i try to sand a little in between classes at work,so when i get home all left to do is clean it with soapy water,then acetone,clean it again and paint it.
I actually passed by the autopart store yesterday and they did not have the wheel paint,so i grabbed a can of BBQ grill paint in flat/satin black,i'll see how it looks.
It resist up to 100 degrees so i'll give it a try.
take care

 

[wildcard26]

Yeah the sanding in between will improve the finish. I want to see how that paint comes out...I like the Satin Finish concept. Will the paint be able to with stand like the stones hitting it and all though? I'll be looking out for your views.

 

[Argie]

Yeah the sanding in between will improve the finish. I want to see how that paint comes out...I like the Satin Finish concept. Will the paint be able to with stand like the stones hitting it and all though? I'll be looking out for your views.

I imagine it will.
I wet sanded the first rim and got rid of the rough spots,now it has a very smooth surface and good thing about wet sanding is that the paint didn't come off.
I will try to touch up with the BBQ grill paint.

 

[speedracr79]

Damm dude that looks good, I wasent a big fan of your rims (not my cup of tea) but with the flat black they look sexy as s*** i really like the finished product makes them 100% better, and nice touch with the red accent lettering. Cant wait to see them all done and on your ride your car is coming together real nice.

 

[ScratchNSniff]

Looking good...

 

[Argie]

Damm dude that looks good, I wasent a big fan of your rims (not my cup of tea) but with the flat black they look sexy as s*** i really like the finished product makes them 100% better, and nice touch with the red accent lettering. Cant wait to see them all done and on your ride your car is coming together real nice.

Thansk speed for such inspiring words!