Just for the hell of it, here is my first Illustrator pic of my car.
I purchased this car brand new on the 29th of July, 2006. It replaced my gas-guzzling but very dependable '87 Chevy Astro van. I really wanted the 5 speed manual, but the two that were closest to me in WA state was one in Montana ($1,000 to ship) or one in Alaska ($2,000 to ship) so I settled for the 4 speed automatic. At 34 city and 39 highway mpg, I am not complaining! My car is stock from the factory for now. Until the warranty is up I'm not doing any mods that will void the factory warranty. Of course, I can use TRD parts. Bolt-on parts won't void the warranty either. Some future plans are some 17 or 18" wheels, cold air intake when it becomes available, strut tower bar, JDM styled rear lights, better exhaust, TRD lowering kit, and some vinyl graphics on the side. This is going to be more of a commuter than a hot rod. Well, I will add some more better quality pics soon!
UPDATE 8/14/06: I added some super white headlights that are rated at 90/100 over the weekend. Quite a bit brighter and they don't have the "yellow" look that the stock lights have. Also I finished my break-in period, so hopefully soon I can add that cruise control. Gonna have to wait to add the 17" wheels until I get some credit card debt paid off.. :( I also got some new pictures I will try to get up soon!
UPDATE 8/29/06: My mudguards showed up a couple of days ago. Bought the genuine toyota ones off of ebay. I have a faulty washer nozzle that is getting replaced tomorrow so I'm going to have the dealer go ahead and install the mudguards. I got a 3rd job that will easily cover my insurance and car payments, so hopefully I can start putting some money aside for some wheels!
UPDATE 9/22/06: I ordered some of the sport pedal covers and a VVT-i genuine toyota logo. I also found a site that has the TRD cold air intake for $299, and another site that has the cruise control for $239. Just need more $$$.
UPDATE 10/04/06: The sport pedals have been installed and later today I will be getting the VVT-i emblem put on as well. My girlfriend scrapped up the front right hubcap pretty bad while parking, so that is now even more of a reason to go with some new rims, lol. I did find some black 17's that weigh only 15lbs each with tires for $800 on ebay, thinking of getting them. Since the HP of this car isn't anything to impress anyone, weight is a deffinate factor. I am also going to remove the factory floor mats and just use the rubber ones I bought at Wal-Mart, should save a couple of pounds.
UPDATE 10/17/06: So far I haven't installed the mudguards, will probably be getting around to that this weekend. I did order the TRD exhaust and hopefully will be able to get it installed sometime next week, pending cost of installation. If it seems simple enough I might try it myself. Hopefully I can get some more pics up soon!
UPDATE 11/7/06: I haven't been the best on keeping up with my pics, I know. But trust me, it will be way worth it in about a week. I purchased and installed my TRD exhaust. Gave the car a nice throaty sound, added 2+hp, and the tip looks really good. Yesterday I got from the same guy some black Drag 17" wheels and nitto neo gen tires, so those should be here next week. I promise to have updated pictures when I put the wheels on.
UPDATE 11/17/06: I just got a new pic up with the wheels on. I only put two on one side and snapped the picture. Couldn't wait till spring to see what they would look like on the car. I am definitely impressed! They look real aggressive and compliment the cars styling nicely.
UPDATE 11/19/06: I successfully installed my tanabe strut tower bar yesterday. I took a picture with my crappy camera phone. I'll try to replace this photo with a better one soon.
UPDATE: 11/21/06: My girlfriend was out Christmas shopping and some asswipe who wasn't paying attention ran a red light and she hit him pretty bad. The whole front end was smashed in and the airbag deployed. The collision was at 30mph. They are deciding to fix the car (bummer because I didn't want a wrecked car back, and I really wanted that 5-speed). Donations are gladly accepted! :-D
I found the hood I wanted! It only costs a measly $810.
UPDATE 3/14/07: Haven't had many updates because the car has been in the shop due to the accident. I recently got the car back for a week (only to have to take it back for paint touch-up and to put back the horn wire) and put the new wheels on, then put back on the TRD exhaust & rear mudguards. I have been in contact with ChinoCharles from YarisWorld.com and found out about the NST lightened pulley. It weighs 75% less than stock (12.7g vs. 50g) and cost less than $130.
UPDATE 3/19/07: My NST pulley arrived in the mail today. I'm going to try and get it installed this weekend, but not sure if it's gonna happen. I should be getting the cruise control kit I ordered as well on the 22nd. Well thats all for now.
UPDATE 3/25/07: The NST pulley was installed on Saturday. I couldn't believe how light the NST was compared to stock. The new one is about 70% lighter. I really noticed the difference in the midrange and when I stepped into it. Worth the $120. I took some pics of the install on my cell phone.
UPDATE 3/28/07: I got some chrome look front blinker bulbs today. Really cleaned up the look of the car by getting rid of the orange bulbs.
UPDATE 4/27/07: The tie bars I ordered off of ebay arrived today. They are from Megan Racing and are for the middle and rear of the car. We'll see if I notice any difference with the stock springs & struts.
UPDATE 5/29/07: The Megan Racing tie bars really helped my handling on the freeway. I was able to take a sharp corner at 110mph and it gripped awesome! No body flex. Here is a pic from today of the car. I just washed it. Also, you can't see (unless you compared the same shot with another yaris) the chrome blinkers. Not the orange side markers.
UPDATE 6/02/07: I took my Yaris to Renegade Raceway's 1/4 mile track for test & tune night. There wasn't a lot of people there, so I got about 8 runs in. I took out the front passenger and rear seats, spare tire & tools, and just about anything I could quickly get out. I had about 3/4 tank of gas. If I had been thinking I would not have put so much gas in when I got back from the Scion cruise up Mt. St. Helens. I had a lot of fun. Lost every race, but some of the cars I was up against were 13 sec. cars. A stock yaris auto can do the quarter mile in 17.8 sec @ 76.8mph. My best time was 17.356 sec @ 78.46mph. I know I would have done better with an intake, but with my only "performance" mods being the TRD muffler and NST pulley, I say that's not a bad time. I did manage to launch better than all my opponents, always came out of the start line ahead. A co-worker was in the stands and watched me do 3 runs, even managed to get a few videos. I know I was probably one of the slowest cars there, but I had a lot of fun and launched really well. And most importantly, it wasn't on the street.
This is what my slip said from my best run:
R/T: .157
60': 2.551
330: 7.256
1/8: 11.123
MPH: 63.84
1000: 14.490
1/4: 17.356
MPH: 78.46
UPDATE 7/11/07: In preparation for the vacation to California next week, additional power is needed for the radar detector, phone chargers, PSP, 2.5" LCD monitor & the 40gb portable media player (for all those MP3s), and laptop. I already had a 300w power inverter that plugged into the 12v outlet, but with the other 12v items and that the need of AC power for the laptop and media player. I had a more powerful 700w power inverter that you hook up directly to the battery. The power cables that came with the inverter were too short and had clamps at the end. I wanted a more secure setup so first up was a trip to wal-mart for battery cables for the inverter. I settled on some 6ga 49in battery cables for a riding lawn mower.
These turned out to be the perfect length for this project while giving me few inches to get the power inverter where it fit best. I attached one end just behind the battery terminals. There is a set of bolts there so it worked well, much better than the clamps.
I need to dremel a bit off of the positive plastic cover and it will snap down perfect. I used red marker on one of the wires to make sure I didn't cross anything. After poking around on the engine bay side of the firewall I saw a rubber stopper and removed it finding the perfect sized hole roughly a half inch in size on the passenger side, perfectly placed where the inverter was going to be in the void behind the glovebox, next to where the cabin air filter is located. I had to sneak a drill to get through the carpeting, but even with the glovebox removed you can't see it.
After running the cables through I realized that this would be a excellent time to wire up that 12v aux. jack. I wanted something that wouldn't shut off when the car was off so this would be a good way. I had a couple eyelet connectors that were big enough for the screw type ends on the power inverter and for the correct gauge of wire I was using. I had been looking to install the extra 12v power outlet next to the existing one, but didn't want to tear into the car. I found a great spot that is out of view from driver and passenger, and would also prove useful for holding anything that might need a charge, the right side cubby in the middle. There was easy access to the back of the cubby with the glovebox removed so I drilled about a 1in hole near the top and installed the outlet and ran the wires over to the inverter. I also installed an in-line fuse.
And this is what it looks like at eye level finished:
I had already performed a test fit of the inverter, so I snaked it back up and connected the wires to the inverter and battery.
The placement of the inverter is temporary. Later on I will permanently mount it and relocate the plug-ins and switch to just below the new 12v outlet vertically. Should look real nice and clean when it is done. This will work in its current configuration for my vacation then afterwards I can take care of the rest. I also put on my YarisWorld & TRD High Response muffler decals.
UPDATE 7/28/07: Installed my AEM cold air intake today finally. It sounds sweet. I removed the front left foglight cover for now for more airlfow. I am going to cut the fog cover so it can flow cool air to the inake.
UPDATE 8/1/07: Some ass threw a firework into my car last night. No one saw who did it and the majority of my interior is ruined. There was a fire, and spark & smoke damage everywhere. Thanks to the accident and now this I'm going to get rid of this car and get the new '08 hatch sport edition, while keeping my aftermarket parts. The new '08 will have a mild body kit, sport seats, tire pressure monitoring, and a tach! Anyways, here is the pictures:
The last pic is my burnt headlight socket. THIS is why you should not buy cheap ass bulbs off of ebay.
UPDATE 10/29/07: Insurance decided to try and fix the car, which the damages so far is in the $8,000 range! And it's STILL not fixed right. The dealership botched just about everything they installed causing damage to parts that were otherwise fine, and didn't install crap properly. Here are some of the pics from the finest Bud Clary Toyota & Scion of Yakima employees:
On a plus side I did get my NST WP & ALT-lite pulleys, and a replica C-ONE carbon fiber rear wing (bought it for $60 from another Yarisworld.com member). I think next I'm going to have to lower the car. Here's some pics of the install and a photo shoot later.
UPDATE 1/17/08: Finally received my Nitto upper rear strut bar! Its pretty beefy.
UPDATE 1/23/08: My Sprint Performance lowering springs arrived today. It will drop the car 1.75", but I'm waiting until March to do the install. Winter sucks.
UPDATE 2/25/08: I couldn't wait until March as the weather took a turn for the better, so on the springs went on Saturday. I'm going to be getting a nice tax refund so I went ahead and bought some osram silverstar headlights, fatcat motorsports bumpstops and a TRD rear sway bar. Had those all installed Saturday too. BIG difference in handling! Thing rides like a go kart now, and the drop makes the car look soooo much better (1.75"). I have yet to get my summer wheels back on. Need to clean them up first.
UPDATE 3/18/08: I entered my first show on Sunday March 16th in Burien, WA. It was a Scion/Toyota event and I was competing against two other liftback Yaris and won "Best Yaris"!
They even asked me if I wanted to be inside (only the nicest were allowed inside as there was only room for four cars.) Although I took over 80 pictures, here are just a few of my car.
Also I am getting another brace. It is from GT Spec and it is a lower strut brace and should help enhance handling more.
UPDATE 5/18/08: Another day, another car show! This one was a bit more daunting for me, as it was primarily older American cars, but I felt people needed to see a Yaris fixed up a bit, and that it can look good and still get smokin' gas mileage. All went really well. Over 200 people checked my car out, and I talked to at least 50 people, some of them had amazing cars too, like a 2007 Corvette, '67 Camaro with a 327, a couple rat rods and much more. One of the most noted comments? "Wow, it's got a lot of room inside! In fact, compared to MOST of the old cars there my car did have more room inside. There was a total of about 10 import cars there, mostly German. I came in 3rd place for the foreign category behind a beautiful '62 Beetle and a '59 Triumph. Not bad! Two shows, two trophy's! Anyway, here are some of the pics.
UPDATE 6/02/08: Attended (for the 2nd time) the 2nd annual Mt. St. Helens cruise organized by scionlife and yarisworld. This year I wasn't the lone yaris, five total showed up including Project Drift Yaris! I purchased the DC Sports header finally, but didn't get it installed in time for the trip. Will also be installing the GT Spec rear link bar when the header goes on. Anyways, here are some of the pics. So far this was the largest gathering of Yaris in the Pacific Northwest!
