kuWuPtOctober 10, 2011
#416356Long Overdue Intro Thread
-Name : AJ Abraham-Where you are from: Born and raised in Dubai but been in Morrisville, NC for the past 8 years.
-What vehicle you drive: 2001 Lexus GS300
-What got you into this style: I've always been a fan of big body cars and loved the style, coming from Dubai helped a bit I guess. In 2007 I got into a Civic build and although I achieved my goals as far as power was concerned it didn't feel complete. Being a bigger guy :) and I use that term loosely, a civic was not the best fit car for me. So even during the build I've been wanting a GS300 because 1) upgradability options were readily available 2) I fit in it :).
-Why you are here: I've been a member on here for awhile but apart from trolling off and on getting inspiration I don't believe I've posted on here much. I have to say this forum and club lexus has helped me out immensely. If I can help in any way I'd like the chance to pay back to the community, so feel free to message me if I can be of help.
In Dec 2008 I bought an 01 GS, black on black. Suspension had a little wobble to it when it hits a bump, but apart from that it drives and rides like a champ. Replaced the suspensions with some Tein CS. Ordered some Rotora slotted rotors and some Hawk pads, and got the rotors cryotreated. The cryotreating helps prevent rotors from warping and increases lifespan of the pads too. Got some Rotora stainless steel brake lines too. For wheels I picked up a used set of 18x8.5 and 18x9.5 WEDS Farmas. I do a lot of driving so I felt this setup would work great for me not too low, not aggressive and was running factory camber.
With that out of the way I wanted to concentrate on maintenance issues. Replaced ball joints, tie rods, waterpump, timing belt, serpentine belt, pulleys, hydraulic tensioner etc. The car had 98000miles on it when I got it so I just wanted to get all the regular maintenance items and parts that are known to go bad done and out of the way so I dont have to worry about it. Ordered some HID's, white for the low beams, yellow for the fog lights and I just put some PIAA ION yellow in the high beams along with some PIAA yellow wedge bulbs in the high beam housing to keep a yellow DRL.
Liked the ride so far, completed all the maintenance on the car and wanted to address the sound system. Went with an Eclipse AVN 6610, apart from being a good head unit I mainly bought it because it matches perfectly with my interior the grey on the dash and bezel of the head unit matched perfectly. Even the buttons on the head unit was green. Installed it with the JDM double din kit and it looked like it belonged. Made some pods for some 6.5" speakers and put in Polk Momo components all the way around. Dynamated the trunk lid and doors for a better sound deadening and sprayed the inside of the doors with under coating to help with sound deadening. Wanted to keep trunk space and so just added a 10" Kicker Comp Sub as an IB setup. Powering all the speakers were two Rockford amps.
I started experiencing vibrations and started changing stuff out to get rid of vibrations. Changed out all bushings to Daizen, helped but wasnt gone. Replaced transmission mount, tried road force balancing wheels a couple of times and by the end of this there was still a vibration and honestly got tired of dealing with it. That led me to get new wheels. In 2010, I really wanted to get different wheels, I wanted to go lower but didnt want camber. Talked to FIGS Engineering and tested out a couple of arms for him and finally was happy with a set that would work for what I wanted. With the camber issue addressed wanted to address the stance of the car itself. I was able to do some testing with the D2 airride and ridetech controllers and I finally got all the kinks worked out and I LOVE IT!!! With just the D2 airride, although a great set up, the control-ability is definitely lacking. Ridetech definitely fixes that. So right now have some D2 coilovers that were customized and matted with the ridetech setup. Figs' lower control arms to custom spec along with his toe links helped keep my drive-ability to what is expected out of a Lexus. My wheels came in around the time I got done sorting everything out with the suspensions. They are the Weds Maverick 107D, 19x9 and 19x10 with +1 offset all the way around I'm running -1.8 degrees of camber all the way around except for the passenger side rear which is -2.4. Changed out all the yellow bulbs to white HID's and LED's and changed all interior lights to LED's.
romeo291 took these pics
I did put a TTE style front lip on since the pics were taken and time permitting have a bunch of things that I still want to put on/do. Its a Lexus so always in the pursuit. A big thanks to all you guys who think outside the box that encourages others to do so too.
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-Name : AJ Abraham -Where you are from: Born and raised in Dubai but been in Morrisville, NC for the past 8 years. -What vehicle you drive: 2001 Lexus GS300 -What got you into this style: I've always been a fan of big body cars and loved the style, coming from Dubai helped a bit I guess. In 2007 I got into a Civic build and although I achieved my goals as far as power was concerned it didn't feel complete. Being a bigger guy :) and I use that term loosely, a civic was not the best fit car for me. So even during the build I've been wanting a GS300 because 1) upgradability options were readily available 2) I fit in it :). -Why you are here: I've been a member on here for awhile but apart from trolling off and on getting inspiration I don't believe I've posted on here much. I have to say this forum and club lexus has helped me out immensely. If I can help in any way I'd like the chance to pay back to the community, so feel free to message me if I can be of help. In Dec 2008 I bought an 01 GS, black on black. Suspension had a little wobble to it when it hits a bump, but apart from that it drives and rides like a champ. Replaced the suspensions with some Tein CS. Ordered some Rotora slotted rotors and some Hawk pads, and got the rotors cryotreated. The cryotreating helps prevent rotors from warping and increases lifespan of the pads too. Got some Rotora stainless steel brake lines too. For wheels I picked up a used set of 18x8.5 and 18x9.5 WEDS Farmas. I do a lot of driving so I felt this setup would work great for me not too low, not aggressive and was running factory camber. With that out of the way I wanted to concentrate on maintenance issues. Replaced ball joints, tie rods, waterpump, timing belt, serpentine belt, pulleys, hydraulic tensioner etc. The car had 98000miles on it when I got it so I just wanted to get all the regular maintenance items and parts that are known to go bad done and out of the way so I dont have to worry about it. Ordered some HID's, white for the low beams, yellow for the fog lights and I just put some PIAA ION yellow in the high beams along with some PIAA yellow wedge bulbs in the high beam housing to keep a yellow DRL. Liked the ride so far, completed all the maintenance on the car and wanted to address the sound system. Went with an Eclipse AVN 6610, apart from being a good head unit I mainly bought it because it matches perfectly with my interior the grey on the dash and bezel of the head unit matched perfectly. Even the buttons on the head unit was green. Installed it with the JDM double din kit and it looked like it belonged. Made some pods for some 6.5" speakers and put in Polk Momo components all the way around. Dynamated the trunk lid and doors for a better sound deadening and sprayed the inside of the doors with under coating to help with sound deadening. Wanted to keep trunk space and so just added a 10" Kicker Comp Sub as an IB setup. Powering all the speakers were two Rockford amps. I started experiencing vibrations and started changing stuff out to get rid of vibrations. Changed out all bushings to Daizen, helped but wasnt gone. Replaced transmission mount, tried road force balancing wheels a couple of times and by the end of this there was still a vibration and honestly got tired of dealing with it. That led me to get new wheels. In 2010, I really wanted to get different wheels, I wanted to go lower but didnt want camber. Talked to FIGS Engineering and tested out a couple of arms for him and finally was happy with a set that would work for what I wanted. With the camber issue addressed wanted to address the stance of the car itself. I was able to do some testing with the D2 airride and ridetech controllers and I finally got all the kinks worked out and I LOVE IT!!! With just the D2 airride, although a great set up, the control-ability is definitely lacking. Ridetech definitely fixes that. So right now have some D2 coilovers that were customized and matted with the ridetech setup. Figs' lower control arms to custom spec along with his toe links helped keep my drive-ability to what is expected out of a Lexus. My wheels came in around the time I got done sorting everything out with the suspensions. They are the Weds Maverick 107D, 19x9 and 19x10 with +1 offset all the way around I'm running -1.8 degrees of camber all the way around except for the passenger side rear which is -2.4. Changed out all the yellow bulbs to white HID's and LED's and changed all interior lights to LED's. romeo291 took these pics I did put a TTE style front lip on since the pics were taken and time permitting have a bunch of things that I still want to put on/do. Its a Lexus so always in the pursuit. A big thanks to all you guys who think outside the box that encourages others to do so too. [IMG]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5016/5484587694_50a96a102c_b.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5137/5491025256_cb66f9c716_b.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5256/5491022708_fff7ca6e33_b.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5091/5484562248_2595c64540_b.jpg[/IMG]
