rentaspace's ST246 N-Edition Caldina Options

[rentaspace]

Well as everyone should know by now, on May 12/3 I sold my Celica and I purchased a 2002 ST246 N-Edition Caldina in Japan.
Anyway, the car got to the compliance workshop last Tuesday and is in the final phases of the import process.
A few shots of the car at the docks in Japan:




At the moment the car is waiting for our Government to make the Compliance Plate (A bit of metal that indicates the car is legally imported). Which may take 1-3 weeks... While that waits I am getting a few things fixed up so she should be sweet for delivery and roadworthy!


Album with all the photos:
Pics

This post has been edited by rentaspace: Jul 24, 2017 - 3:14 PM

[Box]

Automatic station wagon? Have you become a soccer mom?

[rentaspace]

Automatic station wagon? Have you become a soccer mom?

ST246 only comes in auto.

For now I just want it on the road as a reliable daily, so no plans for conversion yet. I've just started my own business so don't have time for too much mucking around

[Box]

It's all in good nature. I understand wanting the reliable daily part, for some reason a 36 year old muscle car fights you tooth and nail at times.

Could've gotten a Matrix XRS or whatever they call it over there, slightly detuned 2ZZ-GE and 6-speed from the 7GC GT-S but in a wagon. Of course my solution would be to get an old hearse, but hey that's just me.

[rentaspace]

It's all in good nature. I understand wanting the reliable daily part, for some reason a 36 year old muscle car fights you tooth and nail at times.

Could've gotten a Matrix XRS or whatever they call it over there, slightly detuned 2ZZ-GE and 6-speed from the 7GC GT-S but in a wagon. Of course my solution would be to get an old hearse, but hey that's just me.

I don't think we have a comparable car over here.
Only real Toyota wagons are Camry, Corolla and than people movers

Anyway, so many people are going to think my cars a Prius wagon lol.

[Box]

You should've gotten the Prius, it'd let everyone know just how techy you are.

[4-eyed-freek]

That FD in the background though....

[Box]

Shhh.... He didn't notice the bright red sports car among white station wagons, best to leave it that way.

[rentaspace]

There were heaps of nice cars in that workshop from Mark X to Z06 Corvette to Lamborghini to an old SS Camaro. Not to mention the 15 or so R33 and R34 GTRs. There was also a Rollys Royce Limo outside.

[Box]

Should've gotten the Camaro.

[rentaspace]

Yeah... $10k caldina or $60k Camaro... lol

[Box]

The Camaro would've done so much for your business though, and it's an investment. Of course if you do much driving the fuel bill would've offset any business but that's beside the point.

[cheela]

I wouldn't mind a caldina over here in the US.

my gf just picked up an 05 matrix awd. but it only comes with the 1zz and auto.

[Box]

If I found one in this exact colour and package I could almost live with the fact it's a wagon:

[cheela]

^ 03-04 model. that's a really common color. almost all the ones I see are that color. lol.

I do like mine, it's a rarer shadow mica color loaded with options including heated leather seats. gonna be a fun winter car.

[Box]

XRS with TRD package though in said colour might be a little harder though.

[rentaspace]

The Camaro would've done so much for your business though, and it's an investment. Of course if you do much driving the fuel bill would've offset any business but that's beside the point.

Yeah ahha I do roughly 600kms/week xD

[JFXtreme007]

Love it! also that 3sgte power!

[Box]

Now you have to change your signature.

[rentaspace]

Will change the Sig once I actually have the car lol...
At the moment all work that the shop is doing has been done, and it is simply waiting for the Government to get their finger out of their rear end and send through the compliance plate to be riveted onto the firewall. Once that is done I can drive it.

[Box]

I like how thins are done here, I just throw money at them for a tag and it's all good.

[rentaspace]

I've had to throw money at them and wait lol

[Box]

As is if giant spiders weren't bad enough. Australia gets less and less appealing.

[njccmd2002]

that's a nice car, too bad we did not get them here, only japan. that is a sleeper wagon. auto is ok... I just got an automatic myself

[rentaspace]

Australia might have its down sides, but I still wouldn't want to live in many other places lol...
Already organizing another Holiday Road trip for November, so that will be the first big test for the Caldina.

[PegGTS]

Canada isn't too bad. It's like the US but slightly better

[Box]

If by better you mean more taxes and crappier healthcare, then sure.

[njccmd2002]

If by better you mean more taxes and crappier healthcare, then sure.

don't forget the free phones, free internet, and monthly allowances

[rentaspace]

Starts off with a Jap import, ends up in USA VS Canada lol

[Box]

More importantly your signature says you sold the Celica on December 5th of this year.

[rentaspace]

More importantly your signature says you sold the Celica on December 5th of this year.

I prefer the date the correct way

[Box]

More like the un-American commie way.

[rentaspace]

More like the un-American commie way.

[njccmd2002]

if you want the correct date, it should be upside down.

puɐlɐəz ʍəu 'ɐılɐɹʇsnɐ

[rentaspace]

if you want the correct date, it should be upside down.

puɐlɐəz ʍəu 'ɐılɐɹʇsnɐ

ϛƖ/ㄥ0/ƐƖ

[njccmd2002]

Lol

[rentaspace]

So compliance workshop attempted to call me yesterday, They followed up with an email.
They're expecting the compliance plate to come in this week sometime. So close.

[rentaspace]

Earlier this week I got the car, but on the drive home as I passed my dad we heard a loud grinding noise coming from the rear (Constant metal/metal sound).
Upon calling the compliance workshop to find out if anything they have done could of caused it, they said that I'd have to take it back to them. This wasn't possible as they're over 1.5hrs away and any brake issue is a serious safety concern.

Instead, I took the car to a local mechanic. They put the car up on the hoist and sure enough the wheels were almost impossible to spin. He took the rotor off and the problem was found:

The backing plate, along with the hand brake shoes were all bent out of whack and were touching the rear of the rotor. Along with this, the hand brake was loose and the disk had been badly machined (I had payed the compliance shop for all 4 to be machined as I needed new pads to pass).
About 30mins of pushing and mucking around and the car was back on the road with no issues and Ultratune didn't charge me a thing for their time. Pretty bad that the compliance workshop (who assured me that there was no noise when they test drove it) didn't notice it. This would be my only complaint with the compliance workshop though, the rest of their work was fine, just seems the mechanic that did my car cut corners.
Anyway, went out to the V8 Supercars at Sydney Motorsport Park over the weekend due to the expected rain to do a park-and-view and utilize the wagon.

Overall I am pretty damn happy with the car, the extra power is lovely and the coild are not too hard.
I do have a few problems that I need to sort including the AC system not working at all (Including heater and demisters), Cigarette lighter not working and a bit of surface rust here and there to treat. Along with that the car needs a good clay bar and interior clean out. (Japanese owner was a smoker).

This post has been edited by rentaspace: Jul 24, 2017 - 3:16 PM

[Box]

Smoking is bad for you anyway, just work on the A/C.

This post has been edited by Box: Aug 26, 2015 - 1:20 AM

[rentaspace]

Smoking is bad for you anyway, just work on the A/C.

Yeah the AC is messed lol. Just gotta get gas to do the first test though.

[rentaspace]

Put the Mother of all Canon Exhausts on the car lol.
Blitz Spec-R, sits about 5cm off the ground lol. Got a Cat-Delete Dump Pipe to install as well. 



This post has been edited by rentaspace: Jul 24, 2017 - 3:17 PM

[Box]

I think the factory rims redone in black or anthracite would look better. Then again I've never been a fan of the style of rims you posted anyway.

Also what's with all of the white wagons?

[rentaspace]

I think the factory rims redone in black or anthracite would look better. Then again I've never been a fan of the style of rims you posted anyway.

Also what's with all of the white wagons?

I wouldn't call the Kia Rio a Wagon lol but my family likes white cars haha

And I was considering doing the stock rims in Pearlescent Gunmetal, but the rear doesn't sit nice and I don't wanna put spacers on haha.

[rentaspace]

Got my AC Working yesterday thanks to a member of Ozcaldina
Had to use two systems and make a hybrid of the two to get it all going
And today I got a new Headunit


This post has been edited by rentaspace: Jul 24, 2017 - 3:18 PM

[RoadRage]

Did you keep the JDM CD it came with atleast

[rentaspace]

Did you keep the JDM CD it came with atleast

Yep, gonna keep it in the garage in the off chance that I may need it lol.

[rentaspace]

So it has been a while since a proper update. I've had quite a bit going on in my personal life lately which has included moving out for the first time and dealing with all the associated stresses that entails lol. I have only just gotten my internet connection up and working so I can now post an in depth update.
But, I haven't forgotten about the Caldina.
Anyway, here is a picture of the Blitz Exhaust on a small incline lol:


Now this next one details my whole experience with getting my Super Circuit Dump Pipe on.
About a week a go, a mate and I decided to tackle the dump pipe and figured that we'd have it done in about 2 hours tops. Boy were we wrong.....
Everything started off smoothly, got the Intercooler off and found the leakage around my Rocker cover is slightly worse than expected and oil is sitting on top of the plugs, so gotta replace the rocker cover gasket ASAP.
Replaced the plugs and the old ones were white (as expected from a lean running motor).
Next was the heat-shield, and the world of pain started... The bolts were so tight that no amount of WD40, Inox or any other rust penetration was budging them. We almost rounded one attempted heat, cold, sprays, breaker bars and nothing no dice.
After 6 hours of trying to remove the shield we retreated and put the car back together. (I don't have a drill at this point). The only one bolt that budged was the lower bolt, which we though was going to be the hardest... lol
After that days struggles we started discussing what we could do. A few days later and his Volvo was off the road after a control arm snapped and the front windscreen cracked from nowhere (not a good week).


Since he was stuck at his house for the day I said why don't we get the maintenance done on my car and I headed over. At his house we had a a lot better tools and space available (The garage shown above is a common area for the two townhouses and it fits 3 cars snugly, or two with room to work. Behind is his actual garage which fits another two cars). As we were setting up I said, you know what lets try this dump pipe again, I'm sure the extra tools will get them off. After trying more sprays and stuff the bolt still wouldn't budge so we got the drill out and went through both of the bolts. One was actually fused to the Heat-shield. We breathed a premature sigh of relief.
Next was the bolts around the Manifold itself, they all came off by hand with a small spray of Inox (surprisingly).
After these came off, we came across the next challenge. Stuck just as much as the Heat shield bolts but with about 1/2 the room to work with. These are the bolts on the left side, there are another two on the right side which are under the turbo itself and even harder to reach. We used more Innox, more WD40 and more hot cold and we couldn't get them off. We tried to get the from above and below and still no luck. At this point we were a 4 hours in and determined to get the pipe on. My mate wasn't letting me leave until it came off, so we focused attention onto the bottom bolts holding the bottom of the stock dump to the rest of the exhaust system, and surprise, surprise they wouldn't budge. Luckily, the dump pipe I purchased also came with the bolts needed already attached so We whipped out the angle grinder and cut the bastards off:


AT this point we retired for some food, we had begun at around 10am and it was now 4pm in the arvo. We had to get the bolts off. My mates dad got home from work (Army) and he started assisting us. He got his largest breaker bar out and got under the car, he had his whole body-weight on the bar, doing literal pull ups and pulling the motor down and all but one bolt broke. The final bolt resulted in a further hour of sprays, mallets, breaker bars and finally it broke. It was the loudest bolt break I have ever heard. After they were all off, we still couldnt move the dump pipe. We removed the oil return line and finally the pipe came out.


Putting it all back together was easy, none of the messed up bolts needed to be put back, so they all got binned.


This post has been edited by rentaspace: Jul 24, 2017 - 3:24 PM

[rentaspace]

Again, it has been a while! But I now have a larger update!
I have replaced the Standard 17" GT4 Wheels (Which I am sure we are all familiar with being on JFX, Josh's and my old Celica).
This happened a few weeks ago, but I didn't have access to a decent camera to take some snaps of the car
I recently bought myself a Canon 6D, SO now I do not have that issue

So some info, I decided to replace the wheels as the tyres that came on the car from Japan were starting to camber-wear. I decided that instead of wasting money on the daggy looking sanded back caldina alloys that I would look around for a new set of wheels. After getting numerous conflicting opinions on what would and wouldn't work and measuring many sets of specs, I decided to trust my gut and with some reassurance from Alex on OzCaldina I purchased a set of wheels from Autotechnik Tuning.
The wheels I bought are Rays Gram Lights 57DR (17x9 +38).
In order to fit them I required the inner rear guard to be cut and the front splash lining cut with the front slightly rolled.


After getting that done, it was time to find some tyres that would fit. I decided on using 235 width as this would allow a slight stretch to minimize any guard issues if they were to come up. After that was decided, I checked local tyre shops to find some deals. Bridgestone had a deal which was buy 3 get one free. So I went for a set of Bridgestone Potenza Adrenalin RE003 which set me back $520 total including disposal of the old tyres. Once I got back home, it was time to install the wheels as everything was ready. Well, wasn't as smooth as I thought. The wheel nuts were put back on so tight that neither I or my dad could crack them and we did this to our wheel brace:


Ended up having to go up to the local tyre shop which used their heavy duty air impact gun and got them loose. While I was there I asked if they could throw the wheels on for me, which they did.
Also a shout out to Tyre Plus Menai as they did everything for me without charge!
Anyway, on to fitment,




This post has been edited by rentaspace: Jul 24, 2017 - 3:28 PM

[rentaspace]

So I have finally got around to installing the heat shields that have been painted a few weeks ago:




I have also bought and installed an Ultra Racing two-point rear tower bar (It actually sits under the floor, behind the rear seats, which is nice).


This post has been edited by rentaspace: Jul 24, 2017 - 3:29 PM

[rentaspace]

Well, Nothing much done on the cali... yet.
But, recently I landed myself a new job which requires a daily 74km round trip, so I got myself a new daily simply for to and from work and runabouts.
A 1996 EP91 Starlet. 125k kms on the clock, 3 speed auto (GG). It's slow but good on fuel
This leaves me with the cali free, so watch this space cause the build is just beginning!

This post has been edited by rentaspace: Jul 24, 2017 - 3:30 PM

[rentaspace]

Well the starlet was short lived, already sold her haha. Was just too underpowered and was usuing just as much petrol as my Caldina for whatever reason.
Sold it for more than I paid so ended up with $90 profit after taxes and the service I did on it xD



Caldina progress is coming within the month. Stay tuned.

[Box]

Was going to ask, another daily to replace your dailly?

[rentaspace]

Was going to ask, another daily to replace your dailly?

You'll see why soon

[rentaspace]

And the reason why I needed a daily is here
I sent the car to the tuners for an e85 conversion, it came back a few days ago an I've been playing with it since
It has a slight misfire at the moment and it's causing some stalling issues when stopped in Drive or Reverse, so I'll be heading back this week to get that sorted but otherwise the car is amazing.

Here is a video of the Dyno run with the Low-Boost power:
https://www.facebook.com/JustEngineManageme...?__mref=message

The high boost actually makes less power as the TMIC is heat-soaking and causing the power to drop off.

[4-eyed-freek]

230hp is pretty good for wheel hp! E85 is the way to go if you plan on pushing the car as much as possible

[Box]

I wish we had more than a few E85 stations in Alabama, guess it could be worse though at least we have 93 AKI statewide.

[rentaspace]

We don't have too many here in Australia either lol, I can only fill up at one Fuel chain (United petroleum) and only at stations that have an e85 pump haha.
Luckily I work across the road from one as the nearest to my home is 40kms away xD

There is enough though to drive from Sydney to Melbourne or Brisbane, so theoretically you could go from Brisbane - Melbourne with the help of a jerry can or two for peace of mind

[Box]

Yeah the nearest one for me is over 50 miles away in a direction I never go, oh well.

This post has been edited by Box: Mar 28, 2016 - 6:04 PM

[rentaspace]

So finally sat down and read the dyno sheet properly,
Low boost (14psi):
Power: 171.9kw @ 110km/h
Torque: 684nm @ 66km/h

High boost (19psi):
Power: 166.7kw @ 116km/h
Torque: 777nm @ 66km/h


You can see on the sheet that up until about 88km/h (5400rpm) the High Boost is well above the Low Boost, but it drops off right at 90km/h (5430rpm) and from there levels out (heat soaking intercooler, injectors at max duty cycle etc).

[rentaspace]

Just a photo dump of a recent trip my Fiance and I took to the Hunter valley, in other news I am now going to sell my Camry daily as work is offering me the Cube to drive home











Over all was a good trip, used just under 1/2 tank to get from Gymea to Cessnock. The cold weather and being parked outside took its toll, couldn't get the car started without spraying start ya bastard into the intake haha.

[Box]

Doesn't your car know it doesn't have a carburetor?

[rentaspace]

Doesn't your car know it doesn't have a carburetor?

Apparently not lol

[rentaspace]

Cars now back at the tuners, NRMA got it started again. He doesn't believe it to be fueling as start ya bastard wouldn't get it going. He disconnected one of the sensors at the rear (not sure which one as I don't have the car with me now), tested it as I cranked and said there was no pulsing. He then re-plugged it back in and car fired up. GG. Hopefully it is just something simple like a loose wire or bad plug.

In other news a mate gave me a FMIC to install, nothing fancy and around the same suze as the stock TMIC but should solve the heat-soak problem. Will have to rotate my compressor housing to neatly install it. But will deal with that later on once car is running properly.

This post has been edited by rentaspace: Jul 22, 2016 - 10:21 PM

[Box]

My guess would be the cam sensor, hopefully it's just dirty contacts or the plug. Being he was able to unplug and plug it back in and it worked one would think it'd be something simple.

[rentaspace]

My guess would be the cam sensor, hopefully it's just dirty contacts or the plug. Being he was able to unplug and plug it back in and it worked one would think it'd be something simple.

Yep, thats the hope. Tuners are also checking out why it is taking 3-4 cranks to start also. Hopefully it will all be sorted so I can move onto the next phase

[Box]

The cam sensor would account for hard start as well. Indeed, need to get to the fun of ripping off the front of your car and mounting an intercooler and routing pipes.

[rentaspace]

Update from Tuner:
There is definitely an electrical fault. Apparently they have spent a few hours over the last week trying to find it though. :L

[Box]

I blame giant spiders.

[rentaspace]

I blame giant spiders.

Future note: Giant spider silk cannot be used for wiring ECU to car.

[Bitter]

A dingo ate your baby.

[rentaspace]

A dingo ate your baby.

And then a giant spider ate my dingo.





Update: Car was diagnosed with an electrical fault causing Voltage drop to both the starter motor and ECU during crank. ECU PSU has been rewired, new relay and fuse also installed. A new battery cable was run to the starter also. The BOV was also incorrectly installed so that was fixed up and the battery and starter motor have been diagnosed as damaged.
Car hesitated to start this morning on initial crank, but then started second crank. I am putting this down to damaged starter and battery for now until I get both replaced.
Boost is coming on better now and holding better

[Box]

Yay working again and better!

[rentaspace]

October/November Update:
Have just been keeping the car on the road for the past few months, since the electrical fault has been fixed the car has been amazing.
I got myself some JDM plates when they released, and surprise, surprise from the RMS, they didn't even fit correctly. I had to drill some holes lower as RMS decided let's use ADM mounting locations... I then got myself some metallic orange dress bolts and mounted the plates using them.
While I waited for the dress bolts to arrive, I got myself some black plastidip and dipped the fog light surrounds, hood scoop and the main grille surround and painted the SuperTone Horns the same colour as my calipers.
I love look it has given the car:



A week later I stumbled across a Facebook user from Russia that manufactures parts exclusively for the ST215 and ST246 Caldina. At first I was skeptical and very hesitant, but a few friends let me know they had positive experiences with him and I decided to bite the bullet on some C-ONE Spoiler Pads. The goal is to install them and see how they look and hopefully they get me by until I can afford to import a Ducks Garden Spoiler.
A month later, the C-ONE Pads arrived, with a nice little surprise:




I test fit them at my Fiances parents house, and I am still a little bit hesitant on what they will look like when installed.






The plan is to get them color-coded to the car, and then dip them black. If the black looks bad, I will peel it off and leave it white.
Finally, 3 days after the C-ONE spoiler pads arrived, The Russian manufacturer posted an item for sale that I have been searching for, the entire ownership of the Caldina. This was the first sale I am aware of in the last 1.5 years of a Genuine TRD front bumper.
This is the stock Bumper on my Caldina:


And this is the TRD bumper which is currently awaiting dispatch from Russia:






The TRD bumper is a lot more aggressive, and has a very nice front splitter. My eventual goal is to attach canards to the bumper.

[Box]

Stick family, on your wagon. Somehow I missed it the first time around.

[rentaspace]

Stick family, on your wagon. Somehow I missed it the first time around.

xD It has been there since almost day 1 lol.
Keeps the popo away though

[Box]

I checked through the thread to see where I missed it and it's the bottom of the previous page, so lies! Also you mean the wagon alone doesn't keep the police away? I will say for a wagon it looks pretty cool though, especially once you get the TRD bumper on it.

[rentaspace]

I checked through the thread to see where I missed it and it's the bottom of the previous page, so lies! Also you mean the wagon alone doesn't keep the police away? I will say for a wagon it looks pretty cool though, especially once you get the TRD bumper on it.

As soon as police see the exhaust we get Rekt.

[Box]

Do they really single people out over there for having a muffler at the end of exhaust? Just nothing else to do I see.

[rentaspace]

Do they really single people out over there for having a muffler at the end of exhaust? Just nothing else to do I see.

Depends on the cop really, the ones I have come accords have been chill and actually taken interest in the car.
Others are just dicks for the hell of it.

Generally as long as you have a good attitude and are not a dick you should be alright 90% of the time.

[Bitter]

I got pulled over in town for doing 35 in a 35

'do you know what the speed limit is on that road?'
yes, 35
'and how fast were you going?'
35
'well it sounded like you were going a lot faster'
no sir
'you live here?' (I was in front of my house! he followed me and didn't light up till I had my signal on to pull in my drive way)
yes sir, bought last year
'ok have a nice evening'



what the hell!? Because I live there suddenly I'm not speeding? I think he was surprised that I wasn't some teen and that I would likely have fought the speeding ticket since 'sound' isn't a viable reason to issue a speeding ticket.

[rentaspace]

I got pulled over in town for doing 35 in a 35

'do you know what the speed limit is on that road?'
yes, 35
'and how fast were you going?'
35
'well it sounded like you were going a lot faster'
no sir
'you live here?' (I was in front of my house! he followed me and didn't light up till I had my signal on to pull in my drive way)
yes sir, bought last year
'ok have a nice evening'



what the hell!? Because I live there suddenly I'm not speeding? I think he was surprised that I wasn't some teen and that I would likely have fought the speeding ticket since 'sound' isn't a viable reason to issue a speeding ticket.

Here cop doesn't even need a speed reading to book you for speeding, if he simply suspects you were (regardless of if you were or not), then you will be fined.

[Box]

I guess the police around here are a lot cooler since neither me nor my brother have ever had a problem and that's with him owning the Genesis Coupe and me the Celica, Miata, and Firebird. Then again we look older than what we are and, at least I, never speed or do anything stupid on the street. Which after doing the single exit exhaust on the Formula the only thing that hints at it having a V8 outside of hearing it is the Formula sticker on the rear and the Formula/Trans Am tail lights. Outside of that as far as the rest of the world is concerned they probably think it's a base V6 car since the Formula shares the base Firebird exterior and it's the hardtop on top of everything else. I guess it's as low key as I can get with a Firebird.

[rentaspace]

Another update, but this time a life update.
Found out a few weeks back that my Fiance is pregnant with twins, which means her little kia rio was not enough to cut it. So we had to update to this as her daily:


2013 103TDI Pacific VW Tiguan, so far it has been great and we have driven it to Canberra and back averaging 4.6L/100kms

This post has been edited by rentaspace: Dec 17, 2016 - 5:32 AM

[Box]

Congrats!

On the kids, not the VW.

Just thought I should clarify.

Wait a minute, this means you'll have to add to your stick family. YOU'RE BECOMING ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE. Seriously congrats though.

This post has been edited by Box: Dec 16, 2016 - 1:35 PM

[rentaspace]

Congrats!

On the kids, not the VW.

Just thought I should clarify.

Wait a minute, this means you'll have to add to your stick family. YOU'RE BECOMING ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE. Seriously congrats though.

xD Thank you haha, not sure if Caldina will get stickers or Tiguan will (Nek Minut both)

[rentaspace]

Well weeks and weeks later, the bumper finally showed up:


Unfortunately it turned out it had been painted Pearl white and not the stock white colour, but that was not all the problem:





So the bumper was sent off to my friends shop for repairs, the Russian owner had for some reason used some bodgy black sealant type crap to try and repair the bumper previously which made the repair a bit harder than it needed to be. But, it was finally completed:






And for now, that is where the bumper is at. Now it just needs a final clean up, proper primer and ready to be colour matched to the car.
Meanwhile, the Caldina had been damaged yet again (Now the 3rd and 4th time it has been damaged), requiring more work and money:




The mirror looks like it may buff out, but the rear bumper has been cut straight through to Plastic... So will require repair and paint...
This means that I have to now get the Front Bumper, Rear Bumper, Spoiler Spats and Rear Tailgate re-painted... :L

[Box]

How did that happen?

[rentaspace]

How did that happen?

Only thing I can think of for the rear bumper is reversed into at a weird angle, or someone has dropped something really heavy on it.
As for the mirror. I have no idea, shopping trolley are not high enough to cause the damage that was done :L
And the damage on the TRD bumper was in shipping

[rentaspace]

So the other night I went to a Wagonlyfe meet up at Rydalmere Bunnings. I found this photo later on:

[rentaspace]

New badge for the new bumper, whenever it gets done lol:

[Box]

The Caldina is looking good, will look even better once the new bumper is on.

I think wagons are my guilty pleasure, I tell people I don't like them but deep down I think I do. At any rate I'd get a wagon way before I got a sedan, SUV, van, crossover, etc...

[rentaspace]

The Caldina is looking good, will look even better once the new bumper is on.

I think wagons are my guilty pleasure, I tell people I don't like them but deep down I think I do. At any rate I'd get a wagon way before I got a sedan, SUV, van, crossover, etc...

Having owned almost all car shape types (Coupe, Hatch, Sedan, SUV and Wagon), I have to say I like wagons the most. Easy to maneuver and park like a hatch back, but more space than a sedan. Next would have to be the SUV, not as much room as the wagon, but still more than a comparable sized hatch or sedan and the Tiguan is just like driving a slightly larger hatch lol.

This post has been edited by rentaspace: Apr 21, 2017 - 1:56 AM

[rentaspace]

Yesterday I finally got a chance to remove my stock bumper and install the TRD bumper. It looks way better than the stock one and also isn't cracked like the stock one is.
Stock:


The car looks sort of sad without a front bumper lol:


The bumper just after unwrapping from the "Genuine Kia Parts" bubble wrap.


First mount but no mounting screws installed:



Screws installed and number plates installed:


And finally, the final product:

[Box]

Amazing how well that genuine KIA part fits.

[Bitter]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Car-Motorcy...0608.0.0.pWxH6r needs some fog lights.

[rentaspace]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Car-Motorcy...0608.0.0.pWxH6r needs some fog lights.

Already have the stock ones ready to go just no time to install them.

[rentaspace]

So got time to tint the Foglights today. Not the best but first time I have tinted anything before.


And I finally found the mounting kit for the replacement TRD badge for the front bumper, I thought the screws were lost during the move but luckily I found them!

[cheela]

meh... that's how my fogs and headlight tints turned out too. its hard because of the rounded edge but it gets covered up anyways so who cares. lol looks good!

[Box]

When I tinted my tail lights I used a vinyl film and it was fairly easy to use, just took some time getting it stretched and wrapped around given the size and curve of the lights. You can trim the edges some with a razor blade if you want, I trimmed the edges and went back over with the heat gun and it turned out fairly decent. Main thing is making it to where water won't get in behind the film and cause lifting.

[rentaspace]

When I tinted my tail lights I used a vinyl film and it was fairly easy to use, just took some time getting it stretched and wrapped around given the size and curve of the lights. You can trim the edges some with a razor blade if you want, I trimmed the edges and went back over with the heat gun and it turned out fairly decent. Main thing is making it to where water won't get in behind the film and cause lifting.

This was also a vinyl film, but it was a cheapo ebay one. Only cost $1 and had enough to do both lights, the only bits that look eh will be covered by the trim so it is alright haha.

If it does lift down the track I might get some proper tint and re do them