My 99 Solara: Project 'Make it Run'

[TLMNICK]

Congrats on getting the car up and running. Its looking good so far....I love your hub caps...lol

I like the rims you put on your Celica...I used to have those same ones (Silver though) on my maxima.

If you have any questions about installing your alarm, let me know....I'm an installer.

[gnegroni]

I'm going to try and register it today.

Finally got a picture side by side, it looks so much bigger than my Celica, it's strange.

Broken links? I can't see the pictures

[5sfe]

no spolier.. the car looks horrible with out it and rims like NOW

[xxswat718xx]

Wow, Steph, it's awesome to see you got this thing up and running. And the amount of work you put into it's insane. What're your plans for it next?

[aleki2424]

sweet! great progress.

[steffknee]

I'm actually looking for some stock alloy for cheap, I don't like steel wheels/hubcaps much and most of mine are bent.

I thought about getting a spoiler but I'm not entirely sure how it attaches and what/where I have to drill holes. I found a picture on ebay of the underside of one but all I can really tell is there are 2 bolts where holes need to be drilled on the back of the lid and two on the top side, but there are also slide in clips on the ends that I'm not sure how they attach to the trunk lid.

The exhaust leak at the flex section is fixed, rear sway bar bushings are new, and a rear wheel bearing had to be replaced. Now I just need to do the front struts and mounts and it'll be just fine.

I'll use it while my Celica is under construction in the garage and then use it in the winter so as not to destroy the painted wheels on the Celica. Then in two years I'll have to get winter tires for my Celica's stock wheels because the Solara will go to my sister to drive.

[SleeperSolara]

Nice job there.
Congrats.

[gnegroni]

Nice job there.
Congrats.

[Jakecallun20]

Awesome job, Stephanie! I wish I had the money to do something like this (or the connections) I can't wait to see the finished product.

Just to add my .02....Since you modded your celica and such, maybe you should consider modding the solara slightly, since you have to get new struts anyways why not pick up a lowering set. Toss some stock gen 1 wheels on there for looks and strength, add a nice stereo system and I'm pretty sure injen makes an intake system for that car too (or just a K&N drop in to help it breathe better) , to give it a nicer sound. Maybe some tint, tails, just some ideas, because the Solara has alot more potential than I originally thought when I bought mine.

[steffknee]

My sister doesn't want it lowered, she doesn't really like how low my Celica is and she originally wanted an SUV (to compensate for her height of course haha).

I'm actually working on picking up a set of the OEM 16" wheels. I tend to like alloys better than steel wheels, plus I feel like alloys are less likely to get bent and my sister is less likely to loose a hubcap.

I was thinking about putting in a K&N drop in filter since it's cleanable and won't need to be replaced.

I already installed a new Kenwood CD deck with a port in the front for my sister to connect her i-pod to. I'm not one to go crazy with sound systems, I still have stock speakers in my Celica and I'm ok with that. I'm also going to put in an alarm and remote start soon.

I don't want to put too too much into this car and get really attached to it like I did my Celica. It's hard to put a lot of work into a car and not get way too possessive over it.

[steffknee]

So quick update and a question...

We got a 2000 SLE V6 in trade at work that happened to be the same color as my Solara... soooo I swapped a few things

-I took the front bumper since mine was a little crunched
-the trunk lid w/ spoiler and switched rear decklids also
-passenger side mirror was cracked so I switched them
-switched all the steelies for the 16" alloys, they need tires but I can work with that


I disabled the DRL's based on what I found on this forum, disconnected the gray connector on the passenger side corner of the engine bay.

I've been thinking about getting HID's for it, since I'm so used to them in my Celica I feel like I can't see anything with the silverstars in the Solara.
Question is, would I need to get a dual filament HID bulb? I'm assuming I do and if I just put the single filament HID bulbs in I just won't have high beams at all. This wouldn't really be a problem for me, but if my sister were to ever register the car to herself in NJ she's going to have a hard time getting it inspected. Is the single-dual filament difference in the ballast and bulbs or just the bulbs? I think I know the answers but I just want some opinions.

[1st Gen Sol]

You pretty much answered all of the questions you asked yourself. I don't have H.I.D.'s installed but I know that you can get a dual filament bulb so you have both high beam and low beams.

If you run with the H.I.D.'s with no highbeams, your sister will run into a problem if she decided to get the car inspected in Jersey unless she has a connect with somebody or willing to pay a lil more, there are some shops that will pass it but for double the price. Another option is to yank a set from the newer Sienna's, Avalon's or any other Toyota that has them as a factory option and run them on the Solara, then you won't have to worry when it comes time for inspection. Look for a set of warranty work H.I.D.'s where a customer needs one replaced but decides to replace both and save the good one.......then you can eventually make up a set for next to nothing.

Make sure that those pieces that you swapped from the trade in Solara onto your Solara don't have VIN tags on them where it can comeback to you when they go and check the car out before selling it, unless they know about it already. I know the trunk has the VIN tag of the original car along the edge of the trunk and I'm pretty sure the front bumper has it as well. The other pieces you swapped will not have any tags......I just wanna brief you on that info so it doesn't comeback to haunt you later on.

Sweet upgrades none the less, gotta luv trade-ins........

[jbracefan1977]

looking good!!! looking forward to more updates

[steffknee]

Thanks for the info

Make sure that those pieces that you swapped from the trade in Solara onto your Solara don't have VIN tags on them where it can comeback to you when they go and check the car out before selling it, unless they know about it already. I know the trunk has the VIN tag of the original car along the edge of the trunk and I'm pretty sure the front bumper has it as well. The other pieces you swapped will not have any tags......I just wanna brief you on that info so it doesn't comeback to haunt you later on.

Sweet upgrades none the less, gotta luv trade-ins........

I did try to use a heat gun and switch the vin tags but I destroyed one of them, so I just took the tag off the trade in car and left the one that's on mine now since I don't really care. I did ask the owner if I could take things from it, he just asked me to wait until after it was I&R'd to see if it was even worth selling. It was a 2000 SLE V6 auto with 180k miles, dog fur everywhere, rust around the windshield, leaky everything, bad struts and mounts all the way around... so needless to say I got what I needed.

[Mr_Chunkz]

when you look into hi/lo hid theres 3 diff ways to get it done...


This is a standard, single filament low beam only h4 bulb.


This is that bulb with a halogen high beam strapped to it. This will still give you a high beam but its not true xenon, since is halogen. This bulb runs off of 1 ballast per bulb


This is a teloscopic bulb. It takes the standard low beam and uses that metal reflector shield to bounce the light higher for high beam. This bulb runs off of 1 ballast per bulb.


This is a true bi-xenon bulb with two hid bulbs per base. With the way the reflector is positioned, the lows dont bounce up and the highs do. This is like having two HID bulbs per headlight, essentially. This bulb runs two ballasts, one per HID capsule. I had this setup for a long time before switching to projector and it is easily worth the extra 30-40 dollars difference between this and any of the other HID/High Beam bulbs.


All pics used from
http://www.s2ionline.com