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Jumping in the deep end.. my VIP BUILD

147K views 270 replies 49 participants last post by  george123 
#1 ·
(Howdy.. still have no clue how the forum is set up.. its not what im used to.. so Im putting my "BUILD THREAD" here.. mods, please feel free to move and let me know where I should have posted it so I get a better sense. :) )

Anyways, after scouring google images, the forum and so on.. doing some photoshop work etc.. I find that in my opinion, this car of ours is VERY PICKY about its mods.

Seemingly inperceptible shifts can cause a HUGE difference in the end result look of these cars.
Not to make anyone feel bad, but the LAST thing i want is to have the look of the cars w larger than 22s.. or the look or these cars at ANY level of fitment that are still on factory suspension..

Im going for the VIP look, and commong from a big import background, Im ready to pul it off very well Id say. Ill be going for a similar stance:



Again, some of my work on the other car, not to go off topic, but still..:
















It seems that the drop and the wheel choice make a bigger difference on this car than any other Ive dealt with in the import world.. it was maddening to chose my wheels , and i finally did today.

This is my first post in this thread and it will be updated as my "build" progresses.. but assure you, a dreamer I am not. ( see my cardomain page on my 350z builds here:http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3929104/2005-nissan-350z-enthusiast-coupe-2d/page-1) so yes, some of these are simply stock images for now.. ill post my own when they become reality inthe next month.

I saw youtube video of "Andys VIP 300" and it got me in gear.




I have a 2006 Cool Vanilla 300 Touring V6 that I am having delivered to me on friday, already closed the deal. I got it for a daily driver, and foudn it clean w 60k miles for 12 grand.

It has a few things on it already that i will likely repair or replace.. one being drop springs and what appaesr to be worn OEM shocks.. as well as blacked out LED tailights.
It also already has an exhaust system on it.. fine for now.



Sorry i dont have more/better pics.

Today i placed my order for these wheels as well.. Im very excited about them.. they are like nothing else Ive seen on 300s so far.









They are MRR HR3s just newly released in staggered fit in 22.. I had them re drilled and the back pad lightly shaved to assure a nice tuck when dropped. They are silver w a machined finish face for a nice shine that stays away from chrome.

Running 255/30/22 in front and 295/25/22 in back.

The car will be airbagged on UAS suspension, and Ill certainly need to get a new set of sway bars and struts as well.. and im sure that will highlight any camber issues, bushings, or rod ends that need replacing as well at that time.





I was able to source a used 2006 year Alpie IVA flip out screen and an i simple ipod system to incorporate.




I need to find out what stero is has from stock before i click "buy" on anything speaker wise, but will be running a 5 channel Alpine amplifier, Boston or similar speakers all around, as well as a single 12w3 in the back in a ZEnclosures box.




I have a friend who is willing to swap my taillights for his OEM red halogens, to which I may cook apart and do a halo mod internally for running lights.

Ill certainly replace everything w CREE LED bulbs as I had in my other car the 350z.. very bright ..and not cheap lol.



I also plan on ditching the aftermarket chrome headlights and go back to OEM so I can do a similar mod w AAC halos up front.


Here's some of my handiwork on the 350z headlights.. lots of work and mods.. great end results.







I always get one of these Kuda products in my cars,, very cool addition:






I really liked these two billet products, i think theyll match up good w the VIP trays..






Ill be replacing all the exterior chrome accents w 3M dinoc vinyl in bright brushed aluminum to sync w the wheels, and this includes the headlight bodies. ( will be painted similar) and will likely do an AAC oracle halo kit in 6k. Grip grille im a matching satin silver... should be cool..I may just wrap it in the same vinyl.. depends on what it looks like when i get it..






I already have possession of full 5k and 6k hid retrofit lighting w flicker capacitors for headlights and fogs, as well as full 5k led lighting 194s and festoon bulbs for the interior as well as a billet catch can ( w a removable top so i can build a proper baffle.. . otherwise these do NOTHING btw) and a polished intake. I assume this will kill power yet sound nice.. thats fine w me.



If anyone wants to know what i did to build a real vapor baffle in mine, PM me, ill tell you what to buy.



I havent decidee to what extent i want to VIP the interior yet tho... I know I will certainly run a VIP table for both rear doors as well as for the front passenger.. and I may go all out w the Kiku knot, neck pads, and rear curtains as well.












I think that a lighter grade tint in ceramic will pull that off better than blackout tint, but I did order up a set of light smoke vent shades for the windows as well as several authentic Junction Produce emblems.



I have a left over set of Strut emblems from another car as well, so i will likely place them as front fender badges and one on the rear of the trunk.



Im not sure if Ill do a black roof or if Ill do the VIP style trunk and roof wings.. Ill wait to see how it sits before I decide.. anyways.. thers my novel.. pics and results to be posted SOON!!!! thanks for reading.
 
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#55 ·
To each there own, but why put all this money into making it look "VIP" or luxury or whatever and then add a cheap stick on fake carbon fiber dash kit that only covers mediocre at best? Wouldn't it better fit the true function of the car to have it hydrodipped in carbon fiber?

Just my .02
 
#57 · (Edited)
well, then it wouldnt be real carbon fiber. It would be a cf colored pattern w no reflection or depth. VIP doesnt usually use CF at all anyways, usually light or dark woods.
Hydrodipping is for cell phone covers imho. Plus, I think one car w multiple thousands in CF is enuff lol.... my other modded car ( my baby) is full of it, and its real, and not hydrodipped.
Besides, youre the only person whos mentioned it looking cheap.. for a stick on cf kit, it fits really well to be honest. :)
















I think one car w that is enuff. Besides, youre the only person whos mentioned it looking cheap.. for a stick on cf kit, it fits really well to be honest. :)
ABout the whole "Spending all this money" part.. the money ive "spent" on this 300 is pennies compared to a fully modified car like the Z.. the 300 is a fun car, w simple fun mods.
 
#58 · (Edited)
so anyhoo.. onto my recent progress.
Here was a shot at one of the meets..



Since then,

Got a sharkfin antenna off a new Cadillac painted and installed



Clear fr corners w 194 CREE Amber projector bulbs




Installed some 55w HID fog lights.









the fr lip i bought fit like crap, so ill sell it locally or just end up tossing it.. more than likely, ill mount it up lightly to test for local scrape spots in my neighborhood.. id rather learn on a throw away than a final product.







i had a single center lic plate bulb, a weird side firing 194.. and in 6k white, it looked cheap dim and blue, cree or not.

So i built a fascia out of angle aluminum, painted it, and ran 2 12" white LED side firing strips inside it... the end result is FAR FAR cleaner and classier lighting.







We installed my woofer boxes thru the trunk floor sheet metal when we were trying to install the lip.. i ran a few bolts up from below and nylocked them in place w fenderwashers from underneath the carpeting.. this left me w "studs" that stay in place when the boxes are removed.
I then used wingnuts and more fender washers inside the boxes along w oxy butyl glue ( black sticky stuff they seal headlights with) under the washers.. made for a great seal and no rattles or real movement.

If i HAVE to yank them, i only have to remove the woofers to access the hardware, but at least i dont have to get under the car or have a helper now.
we did have to trim the taillight stud and wingnut to clear the psngr box tho..













And then after all was said n done.. i had the same issue w the license plate.. one crappy 194 in the center.. so i wired in a pair of vleds.com 6" 5K white strip lights under the deck lid.. no wires show.. and the lighting is super clean at night.




For VIP giggles.. i threw on a crystal ingition ring, i bought one for my girls GS300, so i put on in mine too.





I mounted my amp in the sapre tire well btw.. made a quick amp rack out of mdf and some carpeting and a few sections of 2x4 to shim it flat and square.....and just got my capacitor in yesterday, ( i never trust stock electrivcal systems.. plus dimming lights are suuper donk) so ill start installing it up this weekend, ALpine screens and speakers etc.








Im contemplating an airbag set up ( id have to move my amp of course), some side skirts, and of course a new front lip.

I think this car next laying frame sitting right next to my built 350z at our local meets for azexiled.com would be the ultimate.. i cant wait. ( My Z goes to the tuner today btw.. after almost 2 years! Q16 race gas and a giant precision turbo)... lets pray for big numbers.
 
#60 · (Edited)
sure, theyre not much to look at, i used 3m tape to adhere it.. and i always use alcohol to wipe things down well before hand.

its a 4 dollar piece of alum from Lowes, grey primer, and some OEM spray paint and clear coat

I used some black vinyl wrap to hold down the wires. Kind of messy, but are invisible. Used a jigsaw to cut angles on ea side.
Stands out at night and looks VERY classy versus riced out like some of these can look.



I did something similar on my Z.








 
#61 ·
btw i run Mopar springs on stock shocks.. so thats a 2 in drop all around..

does anyone have experience w Airbags?


I know they drop frame, and i know they lift well.. but can you drive at the level my cars at now ( middle to low) pretty easily? Anyone? just thought id throw that in there...
 
#63 · (Edited)
thanks, u need to clean the bejesus out of the glass and all the rubber in that area w alcohol.. need to use a heat gun pretty heavily on it.. it really wasnt the cleanest install ive ever done sadly.. but it works.
Its hard to tell how much of the gap its supposed to cover up, but its certainly not adhering to a perfectly flat surface.. most cars where the eing sticks to just glass, it should be fine, but ours goes up over the rubber too.. makes it tricky.
 
#65 ·
Bags are the only way to go in my opinion. Not only do they look great but they ride and handle great also. I have accuair so my car auto levels and has preset heights. My normal ride height is about 2 inches under stock and it's amazing. Very similar to my old BCracing coilovers.
 
#66 ·
awesome thank you.. ive decided to do it...anyone have experience w lotek brand shocks? i figured id replace shocks and sways n some poly bushings while im at it..curious if anyone had any input.
 
#67 ·
Well done man. Looks great. :fing02:

And I know it's been said, but I love the wheels. When I saw the post of them in the garage after they arrived, I actually wasn't sure if I'd like them. But they look sweet mounted.

Wanted to mention to you that I noticed you ran into the same issue I did when mounting the same enclosure. I ended up using some JB Weld to mount a small metal plate to the back of the enclosure so that I had an eyehole sticking out on top. Then drilled a hole in the side wall and fed a bolt through the back, pointing inwards to the trunk. Then I just put a bunch of industrial velcro on the bottom and used a barrel nut and washer to secure the top to the bolt sticking out. And it's in there rock solid.

If I need to remove it, I simply remove the barrel nut and the whole thing comes right out in seconds. Just an option I thought I'd throw out there to you if you wanted to avoid removing the sub everytime you wanted to remove the enclosure.

Keep up the good work! :fing02:

Here are a couple of pics of what I did to show what I'm talking about...






 
#68 ·
looks pretty cool, thanks for the tips man, this i think will do fer now.



got off my @ss yesterday and did what I have been putting off for a LONG time.. installed my stereo in this thing finally. The amp rack was already built, but had to do the deck, speakers, and all the wiriing etc.. i hate doing this kind of work.. grr.. took me 8 hours w no breaks, but the install is perfectly clean, soldered joints, loom, clean zip ties and proper routing for induced noise rejection. A good install should be done once and last longer than he car does.
I got creative on the dash kit and got it to sit flush mount perfectly, and when it motors out i was able to have it sit flush w the dash w maybe 1-2mm of space. perfect.


The cool part was that i could just stick the amp in the spare tire well... right at the battery.



Not that its a huge amp, but the wires from the amp to the 2 farad capacitor under the amp rack are less than 6 inches long.. lol... and from the cap to the battery its not more than a 2 feet of wire, all 4 gauge..
so needless to say, there is NO VOLTAGE DROP at all lol. The power this thing delivers is incredible for the price... i really thought i was compromising w the level of gear i chose.. but im satisfied plus 100 lol.

I went w SPR Alpine 6x9s and a pair of 8 ohm JL12W1s....thinking theyd at least do the trick for now.. certainly nothing to compare to my 350z.. all Alpine Imprint, Boston Acoustic, tons of power etc etc...

uh..

Holy Balls soup... this car sounds incredible. I have a set of Boston 3.5s on the way for the dash, will run them on a set of XTC 12 db HP crossovers at about 300hz... and will likely run an attenuator ( volume knob) to kick them down a notch when running of the same channels as my front 6x9s.

Likely will wire up a 2nd set of 6x9s to mount under the rear deck opposite of the stock location.. that way they are % and out of the way, but a simple relay circuit will allow them to play only when the trunk is open using the trunk light as a trigger..... ie, car show and parking lot whoring.

Bottom line is that I know electronics and car stereos very well.. so this stuff is easy for me, and i rarely buy new...

I bought the Alpine IVA on ebay " needing light repair" for 80 bucks lol.. flat rate repair is 95 bones.. so its fully refurbed now for 175 tci....bought the pair of subs nearly new from ebay also, 99 bux shipped for the pair.. even the 150 dollar POS wiring adapter this car needs was found nearly new on ebay for 20 bucks shipped from an install shop in CA...boxes, speakers and amp /cap are all new, but in total, i have about 2600 dollars worth of gear and install, totally custom... for about 800 bucks. ;)





Has the TRC box to allow DVDs and settings adjust at any time as well. (Came w the used deck)





not too shabby.

 
#69 ·
updates for yesterday.. more goodies came in. .

POlished billet aluminum knobs and shifter set.. plate and knob.

Also got the trunk liner in and installed and the trunk is now finished. :)




















 
#71 ·
Keep up the good work :fing02:
 
#72 ·
Nice....does the trunk bottom still shut over the amp? I need a place for mine. Great idea!


Sent from my iPhone using AutoGuide.com App
 
#73 ·
yes the lid closes buit its very close fit.

Doesnt matter tho.. looks like Ill be pulling it out and re installing it under the psngr seat fairly soon..

as long as something prohibitive doesnt jump up, I think Im going to bite the bullet and star buying parts for a very basic air bags system.
3/8 valves or at most 1/2 valves w slow downs installed... 3 gal air tank and a simple 2 compressor set up. No auto leveling or remote controls etc lol. Im grown.. its either low-ish for driving.. slammed parked, or up to avoid stuff or get a jack under it.

i wavered as i wanted adjustable dampening.. but do i really? Probably not. I think if it becomes necessary, ill do it later, but for now, im going to buy parts and start installing things i can do myself w out the car on lifts, like the tanks, pumps, relays, basic wiring etc. I think Ill be picking up some replacement shocks while Im at it, so i can start working on getting the bags on to the fr shocks in my spare time. Thers no reason to pay a grand to have an install done when youre capable to do most of it yourself.
 
#75 ·
i wavered as i wanted adjustable dampening.. but do i really? Probably not. I think if it becomes necessary, ill do it later, but for now, im going to buy parts and start installing things i can do myself w out the car on lifts, like the tanks, pumps, relays, basic wiring etc. I think Ill be picking up some replacement shocks while Im at it, so i can start working on getting the bags on to the fr shocks in my spare time. Thers no reason to pay a grand to have an install done when youre capable to do most of it yourself.
There's a few options available for adjustable dampening to go along with the bags, although I'm not too sure if the Koni Yellow's are still available (check with Zack at UAS). Regardless, you could always pick up a set of BC coilovers to utilize the struts. In the meantime, as you've already mentioned, going with new struts (even Koni Oranges) will get you by. Having said that, riding around on non adjustable struts was a nightmare for me. I had the Koni Yellows on my last two LX's, and having adjustable dampening will totally change your opinion on the overall quality/ride comfort of your air setup.
 
#74 · (Edited)
oh, and i just ordered up the seamless vent shades someone earlier had suggested as well. I think its high time for that. Hopefully they will be an upgrade .
 
#76 ·
Thanks for that input
.I don't any new nightmares lol.
I'll just buy some BC coils new for now then. :)
 
#77 ·
If you're not into hitting switches and bouncing your car I highly recommend the accuair elevel. I have the rocker switch which just has 3 presets that you choose for height adjustment and also pancake. I have a setting for really low, ride height and all up for driveways. It's just one rocker switch that you hit for the height you want. It also stays at your chosen height reguardless of weight you may add or take away from your car like gas, passengers, audio etc. With a switch box you have to use gauges or guess to get your car to the height you want and make it level. Just something to think about.
 
#80 ·
For sure... its just going to happen in baby steps tho.. no credit card action here..only pay as I go lol.

So if Adj dampers seem to be a must..that involves a large added cost up front.
I'll have to hit up those first ... I'll likely do an electronic valve simple set up after that... like u say...getting out to look, reading gauges etc..
When I'm.tired of that.. I'll add a pressure sensing system like what you guys have recommended.
Looks like there's a lot of options for that out there....and while doing it all at once would be nice..its simply cost prohibitive..and working on it is part of the fun anyways. :)
 
#81 ·
going to install a SS grill (that was sent to me by mistake and was told i could jsut keep vs sending back) as well as the matching fog light vent mesh sometime this weekend.

I talked to Jo Milano at 300fx and ordered an OEM Mopar front wings elblem and in he same gray scale center logoas i have currently.

The grill was not what i had in mind, but i think it will look fine.. after all, Im going for a similar look to the Anceltion/Shine black car in popular image searches.. i hve the same lip being fixed to install soon too.


kind of a crummy picture as my bench is piled high w crap from other projects right now lol..



end result will be nearly the same gear as this car:

 
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