jpmck03's Ride

[jpmck03]

In honor of my 200th post, I've decided to be a little egotistical (not really) and show off my ride!

I'm not really sure where to start... so, here goes nothing...

The Dark Ages

I enlisted the army mid-2007 and finally got done with training in March of '08. Out of the kindness of their hearts, my parents sold me our family's used 1998 Ford ZX2 for $1 for use up in Fort Drum, NY. Top of the line 10 years ago, it got me from point A to B with little trouble. The only thing she lacked was functional air conditioning.

Ah, the good ol' days. (Stock photo. ZX2 is long dead, I'm sure.)

I was set to deploy to Iraq that October, so of course, ideas of what I'd do with the money I was bound to save while I was over there danced in my head. I weighed my options and figured out what I wanted to spend, and after some research I came across this new car that I'd never seen: the Toyota Yaris.

I went to the local dealership to check one out. Looked at the only Yaris on the lot and when I asked to take it for a test drive, the salesman gave me some bad news: another salesman in the building just sold it! So no test drive for me! Had to wait until mid-tour leave to get behind the wheel. But, when I did, I knew that I wanted one!

So, I did more research, found YarisWorld and was a hardcore lurker. Found out so much about the car from real people that owned it. YW was a far greater asset than say Edmunds, etc. I e-mailed my salesman right before I was scheduled to be back, told him what I wanted and they delivered.

The Enlightenment

I picked up my new 2010 3-door meteorite metallic Yaris in the end of October 2009! A brand new car, what a feeling!

My favorite picture of the car from back then wasn't taken by me, or the dealership, but by internet giant Google. The day of pick-up the Google Maps car drove by in the morning. I picked up the car that night.

My world famous Yaris!

And here's my first pic of "the go kart."

"Our" Adventures

For the first half a year, my Yaris was completely stock. We braved some fun hills traveling to the in-laws.

Yaris: part tank, part mountain goat.

And we dealt with lake effect snow in Fort Drum, the Yaris plowing through it like a champ. (Oh, and we laughed as we passed all the rugged SUVs stranded on the side of the highway!)

Reverse lights make good spotlights when shoveling out snow drifts in the dark!

Yeah, there was a lot of snow!

Screw this crap! I'm freezing my lug nuts off!

Over the summer, I ordered some fog lights from Micro Image and some shrouds and the fog light-equipped light switch from the dealership. Also got the nice Netz badge from MI, and some vent visors from the dealership. Had my first "photo shoot" after picking up my fog light supplies from the dealership.

In June, less than a year after buying the Yaris, I decided to brave it and do my first "major" mod and installed my fog lights. (Original Thread)

Wow, that was scary.


Great success!

October came around again and unfortunately it was time for another deployment, this time to Afghanistan. Before I left though, I bought some new summer shoes for the little beast. (Original thread)

This deployment was a quick one, as I opted to not reenlist, and came back rather shortly. Upon my return, I decided to treat myself to some creature comforts as I'd soon be moving, and starting school with 20 mile commute from home to campus.

The first: a Scion headunit with integrated iPod control from eBay. Wow, that thing rocks pretty hard.

Not pictured, the iPod hidden in the glove box!

The second: some Clazzio seat covers from TRD Sparks. I'm still stunned by the quality of these bad boys. Fit like a glove and look stock!

This summer has been pretty laid back, and the car's been hiding out in the garage for a large portion of the time. Primarily because I've been hanging out and not doing to much. Painted the calipers to clean up a lot of the ugly rust and metal look. (Original post) Cleaned her up after that and did a mini shoot in the driveway.

Shiny!

And last but not, least, last week I did my second "major" DIY mod: Garm's MI SSK! (Original thread)

Another YW-assisted success!

New Mods as of 9/24/2011

Today I did the "standing rear wiper" mod, in all of 20 minutes! Very easy to do, and little to no problems. Only thing of interest is that I lost one of the little white plastic clips that holds the plastic panel to the door. Got it out by opening and closing the door a few times, listening to it rattle around and fishing it out of the door with my pinky!

The car being dirty was a plus, as it was real easy to line up the wiper when I was putting everything back together!

Great mod for keeping the back window a little cleaner.


Now, to clean that back window...

Mini Mod as of 11/4/2011

Picked up a set of used smoked side markers, and installed them. Tab broke on one of them, but I just stuck the thing on with some 3M molding tape. Personally, I think they look pretty neat. Seem to match the meteorite metallic paint well, and also seem to have the meteorite metallic magic too: they "change color" based on the lighting.

Now they look lighter.


Now they look darker...

Ha, something also of note: since I commute to school, I usually park far from campus, where the parking is free and I don't run the risk of getting my car dinged up in the commuter lots on campus.

Every once in a whole though, if I'm running late I park in an on-campus pay lot. The same lot that is used by...

My doppelgänger!

I'll have to admit that I think my Yaris looks a bit more "sexy" than it's twin. Must be all of those subtle mods.

[ezhacker1]

did the car come with that gauge cluster?

[jpmck03]

Originally Posted by ezhacker1

did the car come with that gauge cluster?

Yes, it did.

[cali yaris]

That's a fun thread to read. I'm afraid to make one for my car.

[jpmck03]

Originally Posted by cali yaris

That's a fun thread to read. I'm afraid to make one for my car.

Thanks! You'd have carpal tunnel by the time you wrote down everything, I'm sure. That and when you were done, you might crash the YW server with that much info.

[pj. olsson]

nice yaris, i like the silver!

greez from germany

[nemobile]

I didn't do any major upgrade on my Nemobile, but this post encourages me! I should post mine soon. :P

Great storybook, jpmck03!

[jpmck03]

Originally Posted by pj. olsson

nice yaris, i like the silver!

greez from germany

Thanks, it's definitely a cool color that somehow changes with the lighting.

Your red T-Sport is pretty sharp looking too!

Originally Posted by nemobile

I didn't do any major upgrade on my Nemobile, but this post encourages me! I should post mine soon. :P

Great storybook, jpmck03!

Thanks!

Do it! I never thought I'd be into car mods at first, but little mods like debadging the back lead to bigger mods like installing fogs or the SSK. It's a fun little hobby, and luckily it's a Yaris, so most everything is relatively inexpensive!

[403RS]

What is the model of the Scion HU? Looks sharp!

[jpmck03]

Originally Posted by 403RS

What is the model of the Scion HU? Looks sharp!

It's a T1808. I believe that it was the base model head unit for Scion about 2 years ago maybe (?). I like it because it retains that "stock" look and feel. (That and I hate aftermarket stereos that have those dumb-ass looking tiny chiclet buttons and controls.)

160W, so it packs a punch even with the stock speakers.

Bought the HU on eBay for about a hundred bucks.

I bought a iPod cable for the back of the HU and ran it into the glove box so the iPod is out of the way and so I wouldn't have to hide it every time I got out of the car. (I got the cable from this eBay seller for about $9.)

I also made sure to swap out the two pins for the AUX connection so I maintained the AUX jack function. (More info in this thread.)

Overall, personally, I'd highly recommend it.

[3cyltrbo]

great thread and thanks for serving!

what are the next mods?

Will

[jpmck03]

Originally Posted by 3cyltrbo

great thread and thanks for serving!

what are the next mods?

Will

Thanks!

Now that I'm out the army and going to school, there's a little less money for mods, so nothing more big this year. I'm trying to snag one of the VA work studies at school for some extra cash, so if that works out I'd have some spare cash for the "mods fund."

I might try to do the standing rear wiper mod (DIY here) before the winter starts. It's one of my favorite kinds of mods: free!

I asked for some ideas on mods at the beginning of this year (original thread), so once I've put some cash aside, maybe something off the list there.

[henrylee]

Originally Posted by jpmck03

Such a clean ride. Thumbs up for the DIY inside this thread.

[jpmck03]

Originally Posted by henrylee

Such a clean ride. Thumbs up for the DIY inside this thread.

Thanks! I'm going for a "doesn't stick out like a sore thumb, but looks a lot nicer than a stock Yaris" look and I think I'm doing pretty good so far.

Your little red sedan is looking like it's off to a good start, too!

[Klink10]

Very nice. Good luck in school.

[jpmck03]

Originally Posted by Klink10

Very nice. Good luck in school.

Thanks. Started classes a few weeks ago and things are going pretty swell so far. It's nice to have a reason to drive the car around after a rather long summer vacation.

[jpmck03]

Today I did the "standing rear wiper" mod, in all of 20 minutes! Very easy to do, and little to no problems. Only thing of interest is that I lost one of the little white plastic clips that holds the plastic panel to the door. Got it out by opening and closing the door a few times, listening to it rattle around and fishing it out of the door with my pinky!

The car being dirty was a plus, as it was real easy to line up the wiper when I was putting everything back together!

Great mod for keeping the back window a little cleaner.


Now, to clean that back window...

[bad]

what winter tires do you recommend?