Got My Car Back Today!

[Armz]

Very happy day for me indeed. Today i got my car back from the bodyshop. What was quoted at 2 weeks took exactly 4 weeks. Words can not describe how much i missed the feeling of lift during that time.

But now i have it back here are some pics i took while at the bodyshop before i drove it out and it got all wet cos of the rubbish weather.

Maybe this weekend i might get a chance to clean and polish it to my spec. Also note, only a TTE Badge on the front grill.

Making use of the parts list i created on the boards i bought the facelift bumper, rear diffusers, side skirts and all the other bits needed to fit from eBay and toyota dealers. Got the rear accident damage repaired, lots of dents and dings repaired and a complete respray. All for 1000 cash. I'm really happy with the end result. Just need my TTE silencer now as the Exhaust setup just doesn't look right with the facelift bumper. Bodyshop manager has convinced me that i need 18's on the car to do it justice, so sometime next week i'll pay him a visit and see what styles he has in mind.

So things still to do on the exterior, TTE Exhaust, 18 alloys and maybe the front splitter, still can't make up my mind about that.

Any comments are welcome.

Cheers

Armz.

[MarcTS]

Hey mate. Its looking really good now, I'm not surprised you're made up with it. The new body bits completely change the look of it, and it's a big improvement.

Bodyshop manager has convinced me that i need 18's on the car to do it justice, so sometime next week i'll pay him a visit and see what styles he has in mind.

So things still to do on the exterior, TTE Exhaust, 18 alloys and maybe the front splitter, still can't make up my mind about that.

HAHAHAHA It'll look like a Blue 3dr version of mine soon ;)

p.s. good choise on the badges :D

[Armz]

Hey mate. Its looking really good now, I'm not surprised you're made up with it. The new body bits completely change the look of it, and it's a big improvement.

Bodyshop manager has convinced me that i need 18's on the car to do it justice, so sometime next week i'll pay him a visit and see what styles he has in mind.

So things still to do on the exterior, TTE Exhaust, 18 alloys and maybe the front splitter, still can't make up my mind about that.

HAHAHAHA It'll look like a Blue 3dr version of mine soon ;)

p.s. good choise on the badges :D

Lol, thanks mate! When i turned up to pick it up, i was looking for it everywhere like a madman. I couldn't see it as they'd kept it round the back. When i saw it from far away i didn't recognise it as my car, i started walking towards it to check it out and noticed my number plate on it. haha. My mouth was on the floor. It has completely changed the looks of the car, the pics actually don't do it justice. In the flesh the rear bumper is massive compared to the pre-facelift one. Makes the rear look very chunky. I'm more happy with the rear bumper and side skirts than the front grill to tell you the truth. The grill was very subtle, but the other bits are a huge improvement.

The exhaust however barely even sits flush with the bumper, its almost hidden. I wonder why on other facelift's the exhaust does poke out a bit, but not on mine. Maybe an extension or something? I hope the TTE silencer sits nicely with my bumper. I want it atleast 2inches out.

cheers

Armz.

[UKDM323]

Looks really cool, is it lowered as well? wish i saved up & wait longer for them side skirts now,lol but im process of getting them half side skirts..i want that grille but i bought some Eibachs too so that has to wait :( i say 17s yet again 16s dont look small at all on our cars ;)

[Armz]

Looks really cool, is it lowered as well? wish i saved up & wait longer for them side skirts now,lol but im process of getting them half side skirts..i want that grille but i bought some Eibachs too so that has to wait :( i say 17s yet again 16s dont look small at all on our cars ;)

Thanks, it's been a long journey, i bought the skirts in august, the bumper in september, they've just been sitting in the corner with the other bits for ages till i finally got it booked, done and back. But it was worth it.

It's lowered on Eibach (TTE) springs, thats the only mods on the outside other than the facelift bumper, facelift rear bumper spoilers, sideskirts and TTE grill.

I will hopefully be able to take some better pics this weekend from better angles, it really does look very chunky and rough looking, already i've had many cars give way to me and even pull over when driving towards them on narrow roads since 1pm today so it's much more agressive looking than it was before. Been driving the mercs the past few weeks and keep getting cut up by drivers all the time. No-one gives way either.

The standard wheels do look odd from certain angles though, not wide enough mainly, as the sideskirts and rear bumper spoilers widen the car quite a bit. So will be putting 5 t-sport alloy wheels on eBay soon.

Cheers

Armz.

[MarcTS]

I think 16s look awful on the car - far too much rubber on show.

Btw armz, do you have blue valves on the tyres? I had my face pressed up against my screen to see what they were lol

[Armz]

I think 16s look awful on the car - far too much rubber on show.

Btw armz, do you have blue valves on the tyres? I had my face pressed up against my screen to see what they were lol

LOL! indeed i do!, Rockford Lockable Tyre Caps! They just spin and spin until you use the key to unlock it. Haha, stops people letting my tyres down for fun.

It's a shame it doesn;t match the blue of my car, ohwell, nevermind, atleast it matches my cusco brace and blue alloy tax disc holder (you probably missed that, lol)

cheers

Armz.

[UKDM323]

Im going to catch up with u after new yr!lol just gathering the stuff at this moment & then booking it in, try take a side view then get a better view of what a 3dr TS look like with -30mm springs on standard wheels, think mine gonna have standard wheels for little while longer! u got the other facelift parts so u might awell get the facelift front bumper & the headlights so i can have that grille, my colour as well

[MarcTS]

HAHAHAH yeah you got the tax holder past me. I was hunting around for a black one the other day as the toyota plastic one is half dead in my car. There used to be some nice ones on eBay but it's about 3 different ones repeated 200 times currently.

[MarcTS]

Im going to catch up with u after new yr!lol just gathering the stuff at this moment & then booking it in, try take a side view then get a better view of what a 3dr TS look like with -30mm springs on standard wheels, think mine gonna have standard wheels for little while longer! u got the other facelift parts so u might awell get the facelift front bumper & the headlights so i can have that grille, my colour as well

The problem regarding getting a facelift bumper is the money he's just spent on the grille (and they aren't cheap) would be wasted as the facelift bumper is an all-in-one unit.

[Armz]

Im going to catch up with u after new yr!lol just gathering the stuff at this moment & then booking it in, try take a side view then get a better view of what a 3dr TS look like with -30mm springs on standard wheels, think mine gonna have standard wheels for little while longer! u got the other facelift parts so u might awell get the facelift front bumper & the headlights so i can have that grille, my colour as well

thing is i don't really like the peardrop shape of the facelift lights, i've got rather attatched to the ones i have, although i am looking to get HID's like Ed-Shek, fairly soon and fit them myself. I think they dropped in price from 249.99 to 239.99 and with the discount code they come to about 193.99 for the ultimate kit. I might try and get that as a xmas present. lol

HAHAHAH yeah you got the tax holder past me. I was hunting around for a black one the other day as the toyota plastic one is half dead in my car. There used to be some nice ones on ebay but it's about 3 different ones repeated 200 times currently.

The tyre caps were one of the first mods i did to the car when i bought it over a year ago. Back then there were all types of caps, and all colours. I think i paid 4:99 for mine from eBay, and came with the unlocking key on a cool keyring.

The alloy tax disc holder is also semi-lockable, although uses a very small allen key to undo 6 bolts to take the back off and change the discs. I've lost 3 of the little bolts down the back of the dash when changing my disc back in march. lol. They are tiny.

Cheers

Armz.

[UKDM323]

LOL errr i was only joking about that btw cos i like that grille & think it suit my car & same colour too!!! but probably going for the c-one grille anyway ;)

The problem regarding getting a facelift bumper is the money he's just spent on the grille (and they aren't cheap) would be wasted as the facelift bumper is an all-in-one unit.

[Armz]

Foudn the caps. They weren't made by rockford, sorry, got the name wrong. It's RichBrook.

They come in all colours, black too.

Lockable dust caps.

just incase the link is messed up Item number: 190179758763 on eBay

Not cheap though.

Cheers

Armz.

[Armz]

LOL errr i was only joking about that btw cos i like that grille & think it suit my car & same colour too!!! but probably going for the c-one grille anyway ;)

The problem regarding getting a facelift bumper is the money he's just spent on the grille (and they aren't cheap) would be wasted as the facelift bumper is an all-in-one unit.

Lol, is your car Carlo Blue aswell?

cheers

Armz.

[MarcTS]

Foudn the caps. They weren't made by rockford, sorry, got the name wrong. It's RichBrook.

They come in all colours, black too.

Lockable dust caps.

just incase the link is messed up Item number: 190179758763 on ebay

Not cheap though.

Cheers

Armz.

I see they do tax disc holders too. Any idea what the "twist-off" tax holders are like (item # 190080653849). I'm pretty lazy so I'm weighing up whether twisting is easier than removing 6 grommets, and it's a pretty 1-sided contests from where I'm sitting lol.

[Armz]

Foudn the caps. They weren't made by rockford, sorry, got the name wrong. It's RichBrook.

They come in all colours, black too.

Lockable dust caps.

just incase the link is messed up Item number: 190179758763 on ebay

Not cheap though.

Cheers

Armz.

I see they do tax disc holders too. Any idea what the "twist-off" tax holders are like (item # 190080653849). I'm pretty lazy so I'm weighing up whether twisting is easier than removing 6 grommets, and it's a pretty 1-sided contests from where I'm sitting lol.

that looks exactly like mine, but you see those allen type bolts are what i was on about. Mine twists to the side like that if i leave one bolt in place and use it as a pivot point. But if thats a simple undo one bolt and twist then it's perfect. Saves having to mess about with additonal bolts. Although i only need to fiddle with it once a year.

I would definetly recommend one, along with the lockable tyre caps. I always leave the key in the centre console so if i drop it at a service or something then they can do their tyre pressure checks. I think those two things smarten up the car nicely. Little touches here and there make a difference.

They all seem very pricey now though, i paid 5.99 for my tax disc holder back last year november time. 4.99 for the caps. They are over double that now.

Cheers

Armz.

[UKDM323]

It certainly is which makes a change from other colour cars i owned ! :) watch ths space gonna be my turn to upload soon as i done some work to it :)

LOL errr i was only joking about that btw cos i like that grille & think it suit my car & same colour too!!! but probably going for the c-one grille anyway ;)

The problem regarding getting a facelift bumper is the money he's just spent on the grille (and they aren't cheap) would be wasted as the facelift bumper is an all-in-one unit.

Lol, is your car Carlo Blue aswell?

cheers

Armz.

[Armz]

It certainly is which makes a change from other colour cars i owned ! :) watch ths space gonna be my turn to upload soon as i done some work to it :)

LOL errr i was only joking about that btw cos i like that grille & think it suit my car & same colour too!!! but probably going for the c-one grille anyway ;)

The problem regarding getting a facelift bumper is the money he's just spent on the grille (and they aren't cheap) would be wasted as the facelift bumper is an all-in-one unit.

Lol, is your car Carlo Blue aswell?

cheers

Armz.

Haha, nice!, i thought i was the only one with a carlo blue. I've always been jealous of the black ones as they have so much more potential, even the thunder grey ones, as matching alloys in the same colour look great. But i was happy knowing i was the only one with the blue one, Now you ruined my exclusivity, lol :P

Cheers

Armz.

[choading]

:)

[MarcTS]

Looks very nice mate!!

I'm another ph1 Carlos blue as well ^_^

Wow pretty common colour now eh Armz ;)

Oh and regarding tyre valves I'd much rather have flush fitting ones as they keep the line of the alloy much nocer, plus can't be let down either. But from memory these require the tyres to be removed to the original valves can be replaced.

[Armz]

Looks very nice mate!!

I'm another ph1 Carlos blue as well ^_^

Wow pretty common colour now eh Armz ;)

Oh and regarding tyre valves I'd much rather have flush fitting ones as they keep the line of the alloy much nocer, plus can't be let down either. But from memory these require the tyres to be removed to the original valves can be replaced.

Haha, i had no idea! Us blue owners are rather quiet about it!

I usually see pics of black, grey (ck-man), red (emsii) and occasional green one (Ed-Shek). All of which look great. But the black one with black alloys and black tinited rear windows has to be the best one. I forgot the owners name. He posts occasionally on here.

Here a pic of the car my sister took before she bought it in March 2005. On the forcourt in ToyotaWorld Bristol.

Not a very good picture for a before and after comparison but is all i can find for now. I should have taken some pics before i had all the work done.

BTW: the valve caps are just standard size, remove old cap screw new one on. Nothing else needed. you can do all for in less than 20seconds.

Cheers

Armz.

[MarcTS]

BTW: the valve caps are just standard size, remove old cap screw new one on. Nothing else needed. you can do all for in less than 20seconds.

Yeah I know the spinning valves are easy to put on, but I *really* want flush fitting ones, but its a hassle to fit them as I'd have to have all 4 tyres taken off, so I'll either wait till the tyres need changing (gonna be a while as they are only about 4 months old) or get off my posterior and ask the garage how much to fit the valves for me.

[borodaz]

good work armz :) lot of money gone into it hope your happy and keep it for a while :)

[Armz]

Thanks to borodaz and all the others that have left positive comments. Greatly appreciated.

I'm looking to keep the car for the next 5+ years that's why i spent so muc on it now, with much more to come, mainly interior wise. But i would say i am on stage 3 of 6. lol

Cheers

Armz.

[Ed_Shek]

Excellent job on car! Makes me want to do the same to my pre-facelift too but I know my wife wouldn't agree with me!