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Project Kics R40 Neo Chrome Lugnuts

Eric — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 06:43:20 +0000

Much like the 3 different cat-backs I’ve been through, this is the third set of lugnuts I’ve gotten. I guess third time’s the charm, right?

I first got some standard Work aluminum ones, then wanted extended versions so I bought a set of Ray’s extended. Later I found the Ray’s to be too plain and grew out of the red color. Sticking with the titanium theme, I decided to pick up these Project Kics Neo Chrome lugnuts. Call me picky or fastidious when it comes to parts… but that’s just part of the fun.

These lugnuts have a pretty convincing resume: Lug body produced by Cold-Forged SCM-435 material, Attached rotating taper-seat made with A7075-T6 aluminum and ultra-hard alumite finish, etc. When I read the words forged and all those cool metal names, I pretty much had to have them at that point. Pitfall is they’re a super expensive, especially for lugnuts, so I’m trying not to think about that.

They do look nice though.

Installed at 75ft-lbs, nice and subtle in my opinion.

Apex’i N1 ExTi Exhaust and Carbon Kevlar Diffuser

Eric — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:35:24 +0000

This is actually my third time changing out the cat-back. The first one I put on was a GT-Spec, but I eventually found it too bulbous looking. Then I wanted something louder, so I had the straight pipe made at a local shop… that was fun and all but I wasn’t thoroughly happy with the quality of work on it. Finally, I went with a N1 ExTi and have an exhaust I’m very pleased with. I always wanted something Tianium, and the level of craftsmanship on this thing is amazing.

Comes with a cool adjustable tip.

Colorful, uniform welds:

I also put on a Carbon Kevlar version of the diffuser I previously had. I loved the style of the diffuser, but the old one was in FRP. This was something I had been eagerly waiting on for a while, and really ties together the other carbon kevlar parts I have.

Both the new exhaust and diffuser installed:

ARC Titanium Shift Knob and Suede Boots

Eric — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 01:47:20 +0000

The stock shift knob and boots started to grow old on me, and I wanted something with a bit more “racey” feel to it, but still subtle. To match my steering wheel, I went to RedlineGoods and ordered a pair of shift and e-brake suede boots. Black on Black, I could’ve done red stitching but I wanted it to be more simple. To top it all off, I picked up an ARC Titanium shift knob in the Brushed look, thread size M10x1.25.

Here are the boots:

A look at the shifter trim panel being removed to install these things:

The shift knob:

Everything on… I’m not completely satisfied with how the shift boot is because everytime I go to shift, I grab a handful of the boot as well. Tightening down a ziptie around the neck of the boot didn’t help much either, all the nonuniform folds that were produced looked a bit off. So, I decided to utilize a counter intuitive approach, and ditch the new suede shift boot all together.

Around the same time, I had taken my bumper back off and dropped it off to the paint shop again. I decided it needed to be repainted again… while it was redundant work and a week of downtime, the end product was much better. Before, there were small dimples and holes that weren’t fully filled and sanded across the bumper, and other things. Thankfully all of the prior imperfections were remedied.

Once I put the bumper back on, I went back to get it cut and buffed. Here the bumper is getting wetsanded with 1200 grit:

Then came the buffing with some compound:

For the first time in a while, the car is back on the ground instead of on jackstands.