Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Yep, dis.

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

LOL from the peanut gallery of guys with cars that never move :)

I actually think my next performance mod will be a set of the new Hotchkis swaybars that were just released.

http://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.corv...f88bc654ac.jpg

http://www.hotchkis.net/product/2014...otchkis-22117/

A nice, but minor, upgrade without the inflated price of the other choices.

*The Z06 & Z06 w/Z07 package use the Z51 w/MRC swaybar set*

Beyond the swaybars, I still have the cosmetic mods and the polyurethane shifter bushings to get done before the spring cruise. Easy-peasy...might start making progress on the list this coming weekend since I'll have some free time.

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Good choice, couple hp out of exhaust is probably something I wouldnt bother with either. I had Hotchkis sways on the B7 Audi, they definitely made an improvement.

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Thanks. I really am trying to avoid any type of weird resonance from tubular headers, especially since they can sound really goofy when the engine kicks down to 4-cylinder mode. I need to stick to my original plan and leave the stock primary cats in place so I can actually enjoy the 5/100 powertrain warranty.

Regarding the Hotchkis, glad to hear they worked well for you. From my research, they're a pretty legit brand. Designed, tested, and made in the USA so quality should be pretty decent. I'm glad to see they're hollow in design like stock to help keep weight down.

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Woah now, don't group me with him, my car functions perfectly and has for a long time now! Going on several years of the car running i think.

You are thinking of the murlo of past :)

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

No idea what you are talking about, the Infiniti drives just fine :rock2:

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Great, then I expect both of you on the spring cruise with wheels!

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Productive weekend! Yesterday I did the OEM optional Carbon Flash badge set to replace the factory chrome ones, and today I did the Zip-Corvette polyurethane shifter bushings to replace the squishy OEM rubber ones. I like the feel and throw of the stock shifter, but the rubber slop had to go. Not bad little pieces for only $15!

http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/...226151009b.jpg

http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/...1226151009.jpg

http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/...226151009a.jpg

http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/...1226151517.jpg

http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/...151517_HDR.jpg

http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/...1227150856.jpg

http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/...1227150930.jpg

http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/...227150930a.jpg

It's nice to have most the chrome gone off the car! It's been driving me nuts since new...white w/chrome looks tacky.

The shifter bushings are your typical stiff red Energy polyurethane. The install wasn't too bad, most the time was just removing all the stock panels and wiring harnesses to gain access to the shifter assembly. I of course skipped a step the first time around so after completely finishing the job I had to redo the entire thing :D I did a bunch of little extras while in there again though so it should be perfect for a long time to come now. Shifts now feel crisp and precise. Stock shifter feel was pretty good, probably 2nd to only the S2000, but there's always room for improvement when OEM rubber bushings are involved.

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Nice, i agree with the chrome on white so gross.

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Grill pics?

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Haha, I meant installed!
New badges look good, I agree with the white/chrome comments.

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Coming soon :)

I just ordered the clear front bumper marker lens today, and once they arrive it'll all be going to the bodyshop to have the front bumper repainted and these things installed while it's off. I took some serious rock chip damage on the last Shreveport cruise so I want to get all that fixed, and figure there's no point in me taking it off/apart when it'll have to get redone for paint anyway.

http://cdn2.bigcommerce.com/server13...0.1280.jpg?c=2
http://www.gscreations.com/c7-stingr...umper-markers/

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Quick follow-up feedback:
I was able to go for a nice drive yesterday afternoon since it had warmed up a bit and the roads dried out. The shifter feels much better than it did when stock! Gear changes are precise and crisp just as they should be. Considering the minimal investment with this mod, I am thrilled. I am giving partial credit to the new bushings, partial to the shifter alignment procedure, and partial to RussM05's factory shifter tune-up suggestions. I think they all played a role in making this the best possible stock shifter setup. Next up is some synthetic Redline D4 ATF fluid for the transmission; I'll report back once I get that in.

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Yeah I was surprised those trans use ATF fluid. - My C5s did and my C6 does.

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Looking great! I'm jealous that you can drive this year round. I'm paying close attention to this thread, I like how you approach modifications. I see a v8 in my future.

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Great technical info on the transmission straight from TREMEC: http://www.tremec.com/anexos/File/TR...070%282%29.pdf
TREMEC calls for Dexron III ATF, while Chevy calls for GM Manual Transmission Fluid. Since Dexron III is no longer current GM ATF spec, my guess is their MTF is just relabeled Dexron III ATF. I'm bypassing all the nonsense and just going with Redline since it's served me so well over the past decade+.
Thank you, and I hope so!

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

(Insert 80's rock band name) limited edition package.

Pics of the new grill installed? haha

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

^^^

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Nothing fancy, but the front bumper lens arrived over the weekend:
http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/...0102162105.jpg

http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/...102162105a.jpg

You can also see the little LED bulbs I ordered for the rear license plate lights. Those, and the trunk cargo area are the only non-LED bulbs in the car so I wanted to get them swapped out:
http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/...103161806a.jpg

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Looks good! Where did you order the leds?

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Thanks! I am happy with how they look, I know its always tough to tell what a light bulb looks like in a picture.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o00_s00

There are much cheaper available, but these ones tend to get good reviews with minimal DOA unlike the ones sold in bulk packs.

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Domestic rice = corn?

More LED hotness, this time the trunk cargo bulbs :)

Before:
http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/...0106161704.jpg

After:
http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/...0106161709.jpg
http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/...106161709a.jpg

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

LED's are so nice. so much more crisp.

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

trunk LEDs FTW, see all of those hookers laying back there

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

I read this whole build thread the other day. I like how you approach mods and your attention to detail. Keep up the good work!

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Thank you, I appreciate the words!

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

I did some LED's in my Lexus, but the driving bulbs in the headlights keep going out. Also one in the drivers side foot well. Also it feels like they get really hot and can almost smell the heat in the interior. I'm wondering if I ought to get rid of them and go back to normal bulbs. I guess it makes sense that if the LED bulbs have a much lower resistance, that a lot more current is going through there and things maybe are getting a lot hotter. Is it a bad idea in general to put LED's in spots where regular bulbs were meant to go.

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

I don't know about Japanese or American cars, but literally thousands of people have changed all of their interior bulbs to LEDs on all of the BMW sites. I haven't seen any complaints about them, or hearing people complain about them running hot or burning out sockets.

I swapped my bulbs to LEDs in the BMW, and the difference is amazing.

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

It's pretty common for the C7 guys to swap the trunk and license plate bulbs to LED. I've seen a few guys complain about them running hot, burning out, and/or flickering, but it mainly seems to be the guys buying the generic multi-packs vs. the more expensive bulbs. From my limited research, the $5+/each bulbs are the ones that tend to be of higher quality, while the "20 for $10" type deals typically are not, with the mentioned issues and DOA.

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

JDM! I need to order a few new bulbs for the DD, been procrastinating.

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

For a few extra bucks, you probably can't go wrong with a Philips product. I'll get these if the ones I ordered/installed burn out.

http://www.amazon.com/Philips-Bright...illips+led+t10

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

You prick. Now I went and ordered up license plate and vanity bulbs to go with my new low beam bulbs. Diode Dynamics actually has a real nice easy to use site and tiered package deals if you're looking to convert your entire car.

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Cool site, very easy to use with lots of options.

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

I've been contemplating switching to a lot of LED's for my Tahoe as well starting with the license plate lights. I also thought about doing the headlights and tail lights on the GSX, but I'm a little nervous after B's review.

I just got done doing all LED can lights in the garage and it is AWESOME! They are my new favorite, I always hated CFL's.

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Just buy quality LED bulbs and you shouldn't have anything to worry about. That $5/each mark really seems to be the magic number.

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

^^And knowing Brandon, he probably bought the cheapest ones available haha

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

QFT - I just bought some bulk pack of LED's off amazon.

I will have to try some other ones I think. But hard to know what the good brands are and what the bad brands are. But something like Philips yeah probably a safe bet if they put their name on it. But if there was like one site that was a known really good LED place, that'd be nice. Like the FP of LED's or something. That Diode Dynamics place you named, are they a known good LED place or just another random site that sells random LED's?

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

I was thinking this the whole time. LOL

Re: Meet GheyRay: Lower, Wider, Lighter!
 

Same assumption I made :)