Replaced the stock wheels and tires today with the Torq Thrust M from American Racing. Decided to go with a staggered setup so the rears are wider than the fronts.
Here is a shot of the stock setup compared to the new ones:
At the bottom is the stock 16″ wheel running Kumho Ecsta AST 245/50. Top left is the new 17×9 front running Nitto NT555 275/40 and upper right is the new 17×10.5 rear running Nitto NT555 315/35
Here is a shot after mounting them up
This past weekend I ended up swapping my entire exhaust post headers. I have been running for the past 2.5 months with an ORY and I believed I could get past the rasp. I was wrong.
Have more parts for the upcoming cam swap. Just a few more pieces to go and I’ll be ready.
I also did some maintenance by seafoaming the car. Filled up the tank and dropped a can of seafoam in it to give the injectors a cleaning. Then dropped half a can in the crankcase and drove around for about 150 miles to get it breaking down some of the sludge built up from the last 133K miles. Put the other half can into the brake booster vacuum line to get some coverage in the cylinders and let it sit for a while. In the meantime I soaked down the throttle body and intake manifold with some seafoam deep creep to get it in all the hard to reach spots. Changed the oil and fuel filter and took it for a “spirited” drive. It looked like a smoke screen from a spy car as I hammered it down the highway.
FedEx dropped off my new airbox lid today and I quickly got it installed along with spraying the MAF with copious amounts of cleaner. I doubt it has ever been cleaned in it’s life considering some of the things I found within the air system between the airbox and MAF screen. Also popped in a fresh filter for good measure. Drove it around for a little bit and it already seems more responsive with a bit more pep.
Also topped off the gas tank and dropped in a bottle of seafoam to give the injectors a good cleaning. I’ll later be adding some seafoam to the crankcase as well to give the internals a good cleaning to breakup and get rid of 133K miles of buildup and sludge. Want to get it in as good shape as I can for the cam install in a couple months.
On another note, yesterday being friday the 13th bad news never fails to happen. It was nothing major thankfully. I had to have a new tire put on a couple weeks ago because the radials inside had decided to separate from the rest of the tire and caused it to start pulling hard to the right and giving a terrible vibration. So over the last week the new tire has gone flat more than once. So after bringing it back to the shop and letting them investigate, the problem is that the chrome is just destroyed on the interior of the rim with large pieces just missing and others peeling. This is causing it to not seal properly and is perpetually leaking. Whatever fool owned the car before me made a habit of pumping the tire full of fix a flat. As much of the inner rim was ground down as could be and they put on a heavy layer of sealant before remounting the tire. Hopefully it will hold a little better but the only thing to do is replace the wheel. I would hate to spend hundreds on an OEM replacement when I was wanting to get new wheels within the next year anyway. I’ll have to try and keep it aired up and hope that it will last a bit longer or else I might have to figure out a way to push up the new wheel purchase.