Hi everyone, i've been a member of Sax-P now for quite sometime, and never got round to actually starting a progress thread. I have taken pleantly of pictures of my car over the period that i've owned it so i'll try and put them in order and talk you through what i've done.
Ok my first car... was a (now dont laugh to hard) was a fiesta 1.1 quartz, obviously in a "quartz blue" colour and was a "special" addition because it had a sunroof whhoooooo hoooooo!!
was in fact a good little first car, but unfortunately i stuck my nose out too far on a roundabout and a petrol tanker collected me on its rear bumper, heres the damage...
The driver of the petrol tanker stopped and took my details and it went through insurance and i lost my NCD, even though there was almost no damage to the tanker at all (just a slightly bent rear tail light) my car was damaged enough that it wasn't worth the repair bill, so i sold it on ebay for £65... (bargain)
The Saxo
I started looking for a new car and had already been saving for a new one at the time, ( i know i wanted to get rid of my old fiesta for a newer car, but i didn't really want to destroy it )
I looked into saxo's, as i'd always quite liked the looks of them but found the VTS would be far to expensive on insurance with zero NCD. The VTR it was then, looked at a few a finally set my heart on a Black Y reg (2001) VTR with 18,000 on the clock totally standard.
Really fell in love with the ol' VTR and was impressed with its "performance" (well i did move from a 55BHP fiesta to a 100BHP Saxo) and the handling.
As time went by i noticed more and more VTRs the same as mine around where i live, so decided on modding the car a little, to help show some individually.
The first was a dimma grill, again now every tom, dick and harry have one, but at the time it made my Saxo feel special again
So first mod, so good not too tacky etc... but my second one "wtf" was i thinking
Black lexass lights, its amazing what you'll buy on ebay when your first starting out modifying a car, lets just say they didn't last long...
Lesson Learnt
My New rear lights were, standard Mk1 rear clusters sprayed black with a coat of clear lacquer. I really liked these lights, and still have them on now (even tho i have to change them back to standards for the MOT)
Alloys
Next change was alloys, i dont mind the original VTR wheels but i felt the car need a bit of a change...
I looked for a set of 16" alloys as i wanted the wheels to be bigger than the standards but still fit into the arches with no problems.
I bought these TSW reflex alloys, with 195 40 16 tyres so i knew they would fit, even when i finally got round to lowering the car. Sorry for the poor picture quality in these pics... damn camera phone.
Also at the time of ordering the alloys, i also treated myself to a set of Morette headlights. I'd always liked the style of them and never saw them on that many saxos.
I didn't just stick them straight on the car, but instead waited for my mate Tim, to spray them up for me.
A week later i was ready to stick them on too.
It felt great at first have the morettes on, however one night coming home from work, saw a black saxo coming up behind me with morettes headlights on too... And it was a VTS (i felt sooooooooooo inferior lol)
More Mods...
Ok so now im getting to the point where i know alot of you are gonna say "what have you done" yep i got myself a body kit. I really wanted to get a full dimma kit and do things proper... but the dimma body parts where not affordable at the time. (i know your really thinking things are going downhill now...)
To i decided to get a Saxo Demon Kit from Essex racing. First off Great company to deal with, fast postage and the kit was very well packed.
Took the kit round to Tims to get it sprayed up, went back a week later to drop my car off for him to fit it for me, and also inspect the bumpers he'd done for me... man i just wish i could spray like him they looked sweet as fook.
Anyway left him the keys friday night, and went home waiting for a phone call to say he's fitted it and its ready to go... Phone rang, but wait its only 11am surly not even me ol' pal Timmy could fit it all by then?
Sure enough, no he couldn't. Turned out the bumpers when lined up with the cars bodywork where not flush, far bloody from it on the rear bumper. So tim offered to smooth the rear bumper into the rear arches and do the best he could.
Just goes to show dont get a cheaper body kit and think it will fit perfect...
Tim fitted the front bumper and this how it looked once i got it Home...
Next weekend i dropped it of to Tim again to try and sort the rear bumper out. Well time went by a few days later and Tims saying its all on and ready for me to pick it up... I can't wait to see it (like a kid at christmas)
I also got the Mesh at the front changed to black to help tone it down and bit as silver was a "little in ya face" and the sidestrips sprayed too.
Sax-P
I was really happy with my car, that the main thing for anyone modding their car. But it was now (march 2008, even tho i first registered in October 2007), i really started getting more involved on saxperience.com (designing signatures, doing photoshops etc)
I noticed people were not going for the whole body kit thing anymore, but a more smart subtle saxo...
I'd spent to much money on my car to just pull everything off and do what was popular, plus that was the reason i was trying to make my car standout and be special to me. So i stuck with it, but took notice of what other people were doing... T-cutting badges, 106 Gti interiors etc, damn i had to get me one of these
and start changing those damn VTR seats. hahaha
Right so my first Sax-P mods were, T-cutting my rear badges and de-wipering the rear screen. I also Designed a custom door badge and Chris-IOW sort them out for me (these look great so if you need a badge i've sure he can sort you out, and if you need help with a design drop me a PM)
I also looked into getting some custom car mats with my design on them...
GTi Interior
Great news! Finally got myself a 106 GTi interior on ebay, I couldn't wait to fit it in and start enjoying the "comfort"
That picture is actually from the ebay listing, but the next few are after i installed the seats (thanks to Pred for your help and great guide for fitting these) I sourced a new gear knob and door cards from a 106 quicksilver, The black and silver gear knob just suited the interior perfect, and the quicksilver doorcards looked spot on and also just had the "normal door handles" on the type with the electric mirrors built in (if you know what i mean)
Interior in, looks so smart from a distance or if your sitting in it. (love this picture as it makes the car look like its been lowered on my drive when backed in.)
I sold the original GTi door cards to SaxoMark here on Sax-P (pleasure to deal with you mate) and set about installing the quicksilver door cards to the car with the much loved half leather seats.
Cheers to Stevet for your help on fitting the 106 door cards to a saxo, was so much easier once i'd read your guide.
From this...
To This...
Lowering
I've had the car sometime now and done quite a bit to it, but it was still sitting on stilts... was time to lower it. I bought a full Gmax kit from an *online shop*, and some must of mucked up the order as i received
TWO 55mm lowering kits...
Sold the second one on ebay, which helped pay for it to get lowered at the garage.
Before and after
Its ment to be dropped 55mm, but looks more like 40/45mm, not a bad thing as i can still get in the drive and over speedbumps without too much hassle.
Latest touches
At the moment i've just finished off my interior by spray the center console, lower console and air vents etc a gloss metalic black, look great in my opinion with the GTi interior.
Also painted the calipers yellow, and fitted one of stendogs ariels. Now all i want to do it get the wheels sprayed anthracite and the exhaust sorted too.
Thanks stendog - ariel looks great and i can still use the radio ( on the rare occasion i do, CDs/ MP3s FTW!)
Love how low my car looks when backed on the drive
Well thats it atm, sorry about the dissertation. Comments and opinions and advise are all welcome. I know its not everyones cup of tea...
NeV
NeVSaX/NeV_M3's BMW e46 M3 *New pictures*
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