My Black Onyx Is250 - Easiest "build"ever

[MR2QIK]

Hey everyone,

Did an intro thread on here but thought it'd be a good time to make one now in the IS section since I actually made progress. Met a few of you already (Danny, Chris etc) & mentioned I'd oneday do a little something with my black 08 IS250 Prestige with Enhancement Pack. Purchased new & left absolutely untouched since about a month ago.

The "builds" on my other cars have always been pretty stressful (strokers, rotors, big turbos, fancy IC setups etc), expensive & pretty difficult. Learned over the years about how far to take things & really didn't want to do much to the IS250. Thankfully, they're an excellent platform & come up pretty nice with well placed/thought out mods.

Sold one of my cars (CL9) to a friend who didn't quite have enough to cover my asking price, so since he ran a window tinting business, I had him tint my RX7, Dad's IS350 & my IS250 to cover my losses.

First "mod". 15% window tint.

Had some wheels (Trafficstar style) laying around doing nothing (from a previous car), but wasn't quite convinced whether or not to put them on the IS250 as they weren't staggered. 19x8.5 +35 all round (225/35's). Thought it'd be perfect up front, but fail in the rear since there's some pretty aggressive rears going on the 2nd Gens. There was serious gutter rash & some fading on the polished lips of the wheels so that didn't help. Not really into spacers either. Took a close look & realised 1 of the tyres was not reuseable so thought I could "fatten" then up with the widest rubber recommended for a 8.5 wide rim, so fitted some nice new 255/35 Falken FK452's. Machined the lips while I was at it to get rid of the rashing.

The appearance of "dish" was a concern for me as the wheels were black with a polished lip. So did some online searching whilst on the trains & discovered the whole "Plastidip"revolution.......lol Not so easy to find this stuff in Sydney, but eventually tracked it down along with a can or two of the ""glossifier". Results below:

Test fitment:

Now onto suspension. Didn't think springs would drop it enough, so thought I'd need to fork out for coilovers. Then I spoke to Chris & he seemed happy with his choice to go to Tein S Tech from coilovers & mentioned the ride was still good. I have a pregnant wife, so comfort is really important. Luckily, stumbled across some barely used Tein S Tech's for sale on gumtree for a bargain price (cheaper than ebay). The owner went for coilovers, so couldn't be bothered seperating the springs from the shocks so he gave those too. Easiest drop since no adjustment of springs compressors were needed. Shocks turned out to be in better condition than mine :) Took about 3hrs to fit yesterday afternoon & went along without too much drama. Accidentally broke the wire for the ABS/VSC, but was able to fix that properly. Also blew one fuse when removing the rear trim. Pretty easy afternoon though.

Grabbed a rear ducktail wing, prepainted from ebay & secured it with the provided 3M tape too. Highly recommend it. Paint & fitment were excellent.

Excuse the picture quality. I quickly snapped those up an hour ago while grabbing lunch. I already purchased a GFX front lip, which I dropped off this morning to have prepped & painted. Will be fitting that this Thursday & hopefully have time to do a proper photoshoot this coming weekend.

Apart from the front lip, only other plans I have is to get a nice intake & delete the resonator. Bit ricey I know, but V6's sound so nice with a bit of roar.

Cheers,

Jay

[ilv1004s]

Jay the modding bug has finally hit you too lol

let yourself go brother

[d_porkypine]

hahahaahah good work Jay!!

car is looking good

[MR2QIK]

Thanks boys! Appreciate the motivation to finally do something.

Finally had the GFX lip painted & installed. Not as easy as expected, but the result speaks for itself. I'm now content with the exterior. Quick pics from this afternoon.

My intake is currently in transit, so should go on in the next fortnight along with a resonator delete.

[Jay2]

Nice mod bro.

I like the installed front lip. Subtle and classy.

Thanks for sharing.

[MR2QIK]

Cheers Jay2. Had the resonator deleted today. Didn't take long at all (bout 20min). Took a few pics on the way home:

Automotive photography is a bit of a hobby of mine. Don't get to practise it too often.

[Ezo]

Looks tidy. Great to see what a few simply but well thought out exterior mods can accomplish.

[MR2QIK]

Cheers!

Well I've completed everything I had planned for the IS250. Fitted & installed a ram air intake. Sounds okay. Not loud/boyracer like. Whilst outright power would've improved, it's more responsive. Did take a few days for the ecu to relearn itself though & it's now running noticeably better than ever before. Did end up trimming the drivers side cover & factory duct, but it all came out nice & neat.

Also had the car serviced & a wheel alignment done now that the suspension has settled.

For anyone interested in knowing, with Tein S Techs, I ended up with 1.7deg negative camber rear & 1.9deg negative front (standard shocks).

Final celebratory picture whoring: