Matt's LS430 UL.

Jeremy's LS430 looked pretty good last time we reported it here. Well it was time to take it up a notch. The plan was to fit more aggressive wheels, less camber, more lip & less rubbing issues. So under the knife it went. The factory body was sliced and the goal was to keep as close to the factory body lines as possible. The Fenders and quarter panels were extended and metal formed and welded.

Since the final set of wheels were inconclusive we added spacers and removed camber to get the fitment to where we would like it to be. 

Since the quarter panels and fenders were widened and needed to be painted, went ahead and decided to de-badge the car, fix the rock chips on the front end and address minor dings and imperfections where it needed it. Below are pics of everything primed.

With business taking the main stage for Jeremy the car had to take a back seat for awhile. After a couple of months Jeremy wanted the car to get finished but didn't have the time to invest into it. He decided to let the car go just to see it finished. It had to stay in the family though, someone with a mindset that can take the car to the next level. This is where Mathew Meadows came into the picture. Matt has always been in the car scene as the guy behind the scene, he has always been building cars and working so the exposure he gets is limited. With multiple detailed builds under his belt he seemed to be the perfect person the car deserved. 

The first step was to get some paint work done. 

Once the paint was addressed the wheels had to be addressed. The Wed's were sent out to get re-barreled  Below are the end results of how the wheels sit after getting it re-barreled. 

With the paint and wheels addressed, Matt wanted something else to set him apart to make it more his own. This is when a lip kit emerged that would do exactly that:

Ancelton Front Half Lip which are discontinued and hard to find
Shine Admiration Sideskirts
OEM Japan Rear Lip which is also hard to acquire.

After the kit was ordered Matt went about addressing a couple of issues the car needed. New caster arm bushing's or in Matt's case 2 sets of caster arm bushings. Inner, outer tie rods, ball joints, steering rack bushings and a slew of other maintenance items were also done to keep the car driving the way it was intended. 

Once the kit got painted and put on our very own Eldridge Cortes did a quick shoot on the car. 

A shout out to out painter Shorty, Jeremy @ The Body Shop and D2 Racing for all their help! 

                                                                                                                              - AJ Abraham

Vape & Scrape Event Recap

My friend Aaron has been into vaping for some time now and was a regular at a local vape shop in Winston-Salem.  He got with the owners of the shop and proposed the idea of doing a car meet at the shopping center where the shop was located.  The store owners were totally down, so they went around to all the neighboring businesses to ask for permission to have a car meet in the parking lot, so after everybody gave them the OK, we were on our way to our 1st ever Vape & Scrape Meet.  I had no real idea on how the turn out would be since we were trying to keep it relatively small, but when the day came, we pretty much packed the whole entire shopping center and then some.  It was awesome seeing all the cars that came out!  Along with the usual faces like Wilkesboro crew, Trendzsetter crew, and my Team RPM guys, we had people from South Carolina, Charlotte, Raleigh and other neighboring cities coming through.  There were a lot of nicely built stance cars at the meet.  We got haggled by the cops later on because it got too crowded, they were giving tickets to anybody parked in the handicap spots or parked slanted.  Aside from that, the meet went relatively smooth with good weather, lots of vaping, and most importantly, a good group of people to hang out with.  Can't wait to do it again next year.  For more pictures, check out our facebook album:  VAPE & SCRAPE 2014 PHOTO ALBUM

Short Video of AJ's Car

First Time using the slider in this video. I didn't really think it was good enough to post on the blog, but it's a cool video to see AJ's car in video format.

Vape & Scrape 2014 Video

So, this is my second time making a video using the slider. I am still editing using the windows movie maker because I need a better computer to use the better programs out there. Windows movie maker is okay, it's an easy program to use, but the music keeps going out of sync so it was a big pita to get the transitions in sync with the music. I messed up a lot. I still need to work on getting the slider completely stable before sliding because a lot of my clips ended up with some wobbling and I couldn't use it. Hopefully I can maybe make a motorized system so that the slides are steady. Anyways, enjoy the video, let me know what you think. Share it and hopefully the next one will be much better.

LS460 VIP Build.

This was a long time coming! I actually got this LS460 for Amila about 2 years ago, Alex at Carolina Quality Pre-Owned in Garner NC got us a great deal and personally made the long drive back to NC, much love homie. Smokey Granite exterior, Grey interior and black burlwood trim kit, low miles and fresh!!! Did a led and hid upgrade, tint and my much loved PIAA wiper blades from the get go. Fast forward to about July 2013 when the mod bug bit and the idea of lowering the LS460 was tossed around. Well since we've been on an air kick that's what I suggested. Weighing the pros and cons Amila opted to go with air. Didn't waste anytime ordering this and D2 didn't wast anytime getting this in! Again I coupled the D2 with Ridetech and opted for the level sensors on this as well. With all the parts necessary to go air in hand we looked around for wheel options. Almost all the wheels Amila liked were discontinued, his choices were the SuperStar Beil's and the VipModulars VX110. As soon as he mentioned Beil's I remembered seeing a set for sale. After a couple of measurements and research, figured the wheels would fit, so contacted the seller and in 3 days it was in my possession ready to go on.

Beginning of September we started on the car. Couple of things I wanted to make sure of was 1) The car can be daily driven 2) Keep the air components hidden and leave a fully usable trunk. So with these goals in mind I started on the trunk setup first. The tank, dual Viair 444C, valve body and ECU was strategically placed in the wheel well and is completely serviceable. To help in the installation of the suspensions I went ahead and removed the back seats and deck lid. The shock towers is unfortunately under the trunk lid. With the trunk setup all done and the back seats out we proceeded with the bags and level sensors. As usual Matt did a great job in doing the install. All the lines were safely routed through the frame rail and away from all moving and possible lifting points etc. Wherever the lines came in contact with metal edges they were protected and everything was fastened down and secure. The level sensors were mounted and calibrated evenly on all corners and it was good to go. Put the stock wheels back on and rolled out! Ride felt good, a little stiffer on stock ride height but the pressure seemed a little too high for my taste. Adjusting for pressure can take a couple of tries sometimes, especially when different wheels are involved. On stock wheels we had to raise the car up via coilovers and this reduced the pressure in the front and the backs. 

On to the wheel fitment. For the wheels we really didn't want to go with a stretch tire but with the offset of the wheels etc this could not be avoided in the back. Even after shaving the rear lip, fitting a non stretched tire was not possible without body work, So with a slight stretch on the tires in the rear we were able to have this car tucking. Adjusted the height again for the new wheels and evened out the pressure and dampening for a smoother ride. Very happy with how this turned out.

Like to give a big shout out to Alex for his help getting the car. If anyone is looking for a good trustworthy dealer to help you get a car or help you find one I would highly recommend him, just Google Carolina Quality Pre-Owned in Garner NC to contact him.

-AJ Abraham

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