Scion tC Forums banner

trixC progress thread

28K views 216 replies 16 participants last post by  RoboTuner 
#1 ·
So here I am, starting my slowly progressive (not for long) thread on my 08 Flint Mica tC. I bought it in January of '12 and I'm the second owner, but with a clean title/service record and under 39k miles I couldn't complain. Although I had a hiccup with the dealer I bought it from due to CEL, I got it taken care of and vowed never to take it back there again (Auction Direct) . The problem was a bad gas cap seal and was covered by another Scion dealer for free. :D

I'll have some photos in a bit, but for now I think I'm gonna start off with the basic "what's it got?!".

-American Racing Estrella 17s
-Some low-profile summer tires that came on it.
-Blue LED dome lights
-White LED parking lights

 
See less See more
1
#3 ·
Oh you will, after I get my car tomorrow I'll try to upload some more pics to my thread. And I'm gonna try to get some parts do to my foot lighting soon with the mod I wrote about earlier.
 
#4 ·
So I went ahead and uploaded the rest of the first group of pics from when I got my car in the beginning of the year...

Ignore the AU sticker, I didn't have them remove it yet.

Look at all that shiny goodness... :D

I wish I had the 1E0 eyelids for this one...

I thought about flared wheel wells after I took this.

Again, ignore the AU sticker, you'll see later...

I kinda like how it looks a little "bubbly".

Moar chrome...




All of these were taken around May...
 
#6 ·
cdmuile: I try to. The chrome on the rims has been starting to peel lately, so I'm still trying to decide whether I should get them replated with chrome, or save for some new rims (ughhh) and use them for winter wheels as I don't have the stockies... :(
 
#7 ·
So after finally finding my SD card from an old phone in which I took pictures of some major damage to my poor girl I ran into a huge setback, everything on it had been statically damaged. I remembered having it in my jean pocket while skateboarding one day and halfway through the day thinking "hmmm, I hope this won't ruin the data, I should be fine"...well it's safe to say that it sure wasn't going to be fine because now all of my pictures that were on it (and backed up to my laptop which has since not been able to boot sue to a bad sector, go figure) are all gone. :censored: So I called my insurance holders and left a message about getting copies of the damage they authorized work on before I got my car back.

So until I get those copies (or I find a way to use my HDD), I'll continue on with the pictures. The show must go on. :D

Notice the rear quarter panel behind the door and the back of the wheel well, those were completely bashed in (I'll hopefullyhave pictures to show the actual damage once I hear from my insurance). The area behind the door was "rammed" (the only way I can describe the damage when it happened) by a person who had been reported breaking into cars at a beach here in Western NY, and my thought was they didn't see anything valuable inside so they'd just ram the side with their 4x4) The damage to the back wheel well was from my idiot aunt who was backing out of my cousin's driveway and somehow managed to back into my car and leaving red paint (from her car). I still to this day cannot figure out how she managed to hit my baby when it was parked 2 driveways down the street (urban housing). Also the passenger side was pulled out and just needs a paint job and clear coat to be mint again, but I'm just going to wait for some new body parts...Body kit baby! :naughty:

The area behind the door (all the way to the left) had a medium dog sized dent pushed in about 1.25" and about 2.5' around. Also the back wheel well had a 4-5" line pushed into it with red paint from my aunt. :censored: Not any more :D

A little closer just behind the door, would you have known that the fold in between the door and the quarter panel had been welded if I hadn't just told you? While the shop was trying to re-mold the edge it had a few tiny tears in the metal in a few places, the 8.0M camera on my phone doesn't really take the best picture, but it works pretty well I'd say)

A nice close up on my American Racing Estrella wheels (the chrome is starting to peel, so If anyone has a way to stop/fix this let me know), I'd like them in an 18" but I haven't found them in a 5x100 and the lifetime warranty is shot because they've been exposed to winter elements (so says the warranty).

Another wheel picture...

This door had a square mallet shaped dent from the people who were breaking into cars and rammed the area behind my driver door. Looks so much nicer without a random square shape. :D



Some people seriously need to grow up and get a real life (not a low life either) and stop :censored: with other people's lives (property, whatever). I had a $1K deductible before anything else would be covered, good thing I waited to get it all done at once. A $2400 job paid for mostly by the collateral of my aunt's insurance (after I called and complained that the estimator was screwing my on the check by undershooting the damages (pre-existing to top it) by $200+. So my $350 check nearly tripled to $930ish (and they said they would only pay up to half of the overall damage, you do the math)

Enjoy!
 
#13 ·
#9 ·
Thanks Candle, I'll post the results in a bit on the card. Though I had an old flash drive in my pocket that did the same thing. XP sucks for data intensive things, but my Win7 laptop has a bad sector so that won't be usable for a while.

I'd LOVE new rims, but I need new tires (the 205s on the 17 throw my speedo off) and I want performance so badddddd. But I guess I'll have to wait until after auto tech school in January for the FI? :naughty: I also have some other things that need attention first...grrrrrr
 
#10 ·
Candle: That program can't read the SD card's boot sector. I'm figuring that the static damaged the flash memory chip as it gets burning hot after 5 minutes of use. Though WinXP sucks for most everything now, but I don't have Win7 ready yet (new HDD and transfer cable) I hate electricity sometimes...lol How's the switch mod coming along? I haven't been able to get any LEDs for the interior yet, I want gauge swaps too...eventually.
 
#12 ·
Yeah, I'm not big on chrome either. The only reason I thought it looked good on the car is because when I goto the city (Rochester) in the summer and look at the glass buildings as I drive by, it's like ooooh shiny (derp), and it makes business guys get whiplash when they're standing at the crosswalk and a bright silver light bounces off the glass on them. I thought about painting them, but I'd feel the need to powder coat them and the cost to have it done would be around $350-550 for all four (with my discount). I've actually seen these rims painted both ways (all black and black with silver pinstriped edge) and they look ghetto. I'll make ya a deal, find me these in 18x8 (or wider) and you got yourself a deal on painting them.

Now about those pictures, I went to pick up my car on Wed. and forgot to ask for the pictures with the damage, so I've called and left a voicemail with both my insurance and the body shop (Scion) for a copy of them. In the infamous words of Homer Simpson "Now we play the waiting game", or as it usually ends up "the chasing game".
 
#14 ·
bugal: Buy me some SS-P w/ pillowball mounts and I will :p But seriously, springs aren't happening to this car, coilovers FTW. I thought about the TRD set just so I could have coils and the TRD emblem on my car, but then I realized they don't have damping control (which is why you get coils, right?)
 
#15 ·
I totally want this Remote start/security system. It will help out with my push button start project using an arduino. When I get this and the arduino it will be "bye bye" for the ignition and hello hotness. The security even has a built-in turbo timer for down the road, and a steal of a price.
 
#17 ·
The security/remote start kit I linked earlier (post #15) is the starter kit, which even has a built-in turbo timer (great future investment). The arduino is going to be used to determine what each "Start" button press will do, such as 1st press turns on ACC power, 2nd press is IGN, and press/hold anytime will start the car, and another press (if running) will power down (if held for more than 3 seconds and e-brake is engaged). I might even add more I/O relays for other cool things, how about for the interior lighting? I think I'm going to ask my uncle for the remote start/security kit above for my b-day next July.

If only it was worth starting a donation/fund to mess with the electronics. But then again the parts I would need to controlling things would need to be fully featured...meh I'll get them started soon enough.
 
#18 ·
I've thought about getting a remote start. But with stick it complicates things a little (Not like I leave my car in gear EVER anyways). It would be nice for the winter though. I'd love one of those remotes that actively tells me what the status of my car is for sure. It still bothers me that the tC doesn't beep or honk when you lock it (Actually I'm going to PM you an idea I have about this).
Not to mention I feel like wiring it myself would be a huge undertaking--and I'm even pretty knowledgable about the wiring in this car/wiring in general. But I don't like other people doing work on my car...especially electrical.
Plus I'm all weird when it comes to having a key fob that can lock your car (that's ATTACHED TO THE KEY) and a SECOND key fob for the remote start. Like would adding a remote start mean my normal key buttons wouldn't work? I dunno. Confusion abounds.
 
#19 ·
Hahahahah, I got you Jack. If you get the correct kind of kit, you won't have any problems. If you're worried about the car starting if you accidentally left it in gear I have a mod circuit that can prevent that, I originally created it for an alphanumeric display that would tell me what gear I was in while the car was running (I sometimes forget while driving, being my slightly slow self sometimes), that I would incorporate into my remote start if I ever got it. And with the ignition bypass I'm planning you won't need your key unless you need to get into the car or something along those lines.
 
#21 ·
Calm down Jack. Stop ruining your keyboard with drool. :p Yea, I was planning an alphanumeric LED that would be somewhere on the dash that would read where my gearshifter was positioned to light up the diodes corresponding to the number (or R) of the gear I was in. And on that thought about the pod, how about an A-pillar triple pod with (Vac/Boost, AFR, and the indicator)? I know you're probably trying not to drool, but now you might need to change your pants :naughty: I'll make you a deal, you tell me what you'd like to spend for a custom gear indicator, and I'll give you P/N for the things to make it, order them, then hopefully by the time you get them I'll have a wiring diagram for you (including pictures)?
 
#23 ·
Actually...yea, I was planning a custom frame to fit around the shifter cage with spaces for the (micro/SMD) switches (momentary). Then depending what switches were closed would determine which sections on the display lit up. I also thought about running the display using it's rated "reversed" voltage so if a wire from the switches ever shorted (not that they would) it wouldn't spark or blow a fuse, and it would use less current over V+.
 
#25 ·
Nah...just have to be smart with them. 6 SPDT limit switches (micro, SMD) so when the shifter isn't in a gear (an OPEN circuit, it supplies the signal to "N") and when in a gear it supplies a signal to the needed terminals (1,2,3, etc).

Is the shifter cage for Dr. Iso's short shifter a different size/shape than stock?
 
#27 ·
Oh okay, just curious so when I design the mounts for the "limits" (switches), it will be somewhat universal. So far I have gotten the wiring for the limits to work together, now I'm just designing a PCB for the display. Yea it might sound complicated, but it won't be for the installer. I'm going to have to use some diodes on the display due to having the same LEDs being used more than once, the diodes will be a "flow control" so that when another gear is displayed, the other LEDs won't light up for the wrong gear. Gotta love 15 segment displays...lol
 
#28 ·
So far I've calculated the cost of the parts for the components to make the electrical section of the Gear Indicator, which is currently ~$30 +shipping. The cost to make the brackets is about $10-15. I would say $50-60 (depending where you get your parts) for the whole setup isn't too bad seeing as all the parts needed will have to be made to order. Once I get some cash to test out this project I will give you guys a more accurate description/pricing for the kit. The LED supplier I'm using gives me a choice of 3 different colors (Blue/Green/Red) for the display.

Lets see how many people are interested in this project for a Gear Indicator. The more who want one, the more likely that I will get this project started and available for the rest of you.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top