The Finnish Flash (Not)

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Thu May 29, 2008 2:47 pm

Sweet, more money is always a good thing

tommigun · Post by **tommigun** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 2:35 pm

Sure is. Too bad I'm such a cheapskate.

Right now I have a huge dilemma. I've been drooling over these Konig-rims for a long time:

The only problem is that it's going to cost me a fortune to get them here ($350 is the estimate). I'm also worried that if some jerk drops a box and I get the a bent rim it's going to be pretty hard for me to try to get a refund or the rim replaced. I'm also planning on running the wheels around the year and I don't know how happy rims with that kind of finish will be with all of the road salt that's used here. So I've been looking at some local options and found an okay deal for these rims:

They are some OZ Wheels rip-offs, they say "Made In Germany for OZ" but the brand is MSW. The rims are way way way heavier than the Konigs, 26lbs a rim in a box with 4 bolts versus the 17lbs per Konig rim. But the thing is they cost the same as the Konigs without all the hassle with shipping. So I really don't know which ones to get. And yes I know my car ain't fast to begin with but getting heavier wheels kind of eliminates the point of getting performance mods in the first place. I wish there was only like three different looking rims to choose from in the world. Any suggestions anyone?

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 3:15 pm

This may be a silly question, but have you checked out Tirerack?

http://www.tirerack.com/index.jsp

IIRC, they do international shipping as well.

tommigun · Post by **tommigun** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:42 am

Yeah, they only have a couple of rims I like and those cost way more than the Konigs. And I didn't see anywhere if they ship internatinally, but I'm sure the price will still be around $300-$400 for shipping. Air freight is damn expensive on those bigger and heavier parts.

tommigun · Post by **tommigun** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 7:39 am

Okay, I think it's about time for a verbal update.

First, I ended up buying those heavier wheels. I figured that I'll get rid of the spare tire to keep the weight gain to a minimum. And yeah, I could have gotten the lighter wheels and gotten rid of the spare tire for a better power-to-weight ratio but hey, I'm stupid (and don't argue, it was proven last weekend).

I also ordered an e-bay underdrive pulley form the same place I think BRR got his from. I also had some trouble getting the timing belt tensioner for the timing belt change since I decided to go with the Litens tensioner instead of the Gates one. After about a week of waiting for confirmation I was contacted by dodgeparts.com that they don't accept International credit cards. Same thing happened with Partsdinosaur, so I ended up ordering one from the local dealer for double the price. Now all I need are the accessory belts and a three-jaw puller and I'm good to go.

Oh, and I checked tire rack for some tires and decided I'll give the General Altimax HPs a try. They seemed to have ok reviews and they were about the only all-season tires I could get localy. Too bad it will take a couple of weeks for the tires to arrive. I hate driving with illegal tires.

tommigun · Post by **tommigun** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:25 pm

Yesterday a cutie came out of nowhere and brought me some boxes, fresh out of my address in Florida:

The boxes were so ugly I had to tear them down immidiately. And here's what I got:

Oh yeah! The E-bay UDP and some belts to go with it. Tomorrow I'm gonna drive up to my sisters garage and spend some quality time with my car changing the timing belt, installing the UDP and perhaps if I have enough time a little extra something. I also have a free Thursday in case I run into trouble. I'm really pumped up, can't wait until I can wonder in to the unknown territory known as the heart and soul of my car. So wish me luck!

Oh, and if anyone's wondering, the rims I ordered arrived dented (for once my girlfriend did something useful spotting one of the dents). Now I have to wait a couple of weeks and see how big of a refund the shipping company is going to give me... I hope I get a full refund although one of the rims seemed to be okay. I would hate to end up with one rim and get like three fourths of the cash.

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 3:52 pm

Sweet! Digging into your car for the first time doing some real hands-on work is the most frustrating and rewarding thing you will do to it

tommigun · Post by **tommigun** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:33 am

Yeah you got that right. I nearly ripped all my hair off because changing the crankshaft front oil seal gave so much trouble.

I'll post some pictures and such later on. And I got an answer from the shipping company that shipped my rims. They claim that since the boxes were pretty much intact from the outside that the damage wasn't caused by them. Guess I'll just have to open my wallet and get the rims fixed.

tommigun · Post by **tommigun** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 3:20 pm

Okay, here are the pics as promised.

First up are some pics of the various rides at my sisters loft:

Next up some shots of me working on the car:

Damn that alternator is in a tight fit compartment.

My accessory belt:

Our bewerages:

My spark plugs were quite beat:

The finished product:

My tires arrived today so I had to take some quick shots of them also:

I also took a pic of one of the dented rims and it's box and sent them to the seller:

He seemed like a good guy and said that some shipping company is going to pay for the damage. He also said he still has a few sets so I'm hoping he takes the bad one's back and sends me some good ones so I can finally get rid of the steelies. But anyways, here's one final pic. Had these removed today:

Hope to soon have some nice pics of my ride with some decent rims on it.

tommigun · Post by **tommigun** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:14 am

Yay! Finally my progress can go on. It's pretty amazing, that this nationwide shipping company has just one person, who deals with damage claims. As it so happens, he was on vacation for a month and that delayed the decision. Well, they still say the damage isn't their fault, but at least the seller finally agreed to send me two new rims.

The seller now has to contact a consumer board, that will review the case and push the shipping company to do what is right. But I don't really care what happens anymore. As long as the new rims aren't damaged. Stay tuned... both of you.

tommigun · Post by **tommigun** » Sun Jun 28, 2009 8:57 am

Long time no update.

My car was out of business for about 6 months since I had a blown strut and didn't have the money to get the car fixed. Luckily I was able to buy some struts from here and now my car's back to business:

Not the best picture since it was raining and my cellphone doesn't have the best camera, but atleast it's a pic of with them rims on.

Passt · Post by **Passt** » Sun Jun 28, 2009 12:54 pm

Haha that picture was awesome.

tommigun · Post by **tommigun** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 4:27 pm

Passt wrote:Haha that picture was awesome.

Which one?

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 4:32 pm

Yay, an update!

Glad to see you got the wheel issue taken care of. They look really good on there too

Of course you know what this means....

Drop time!

tommigun · Post by **tommigun** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:14 pm

Danteneon wrote:Yay, an update!

Glad to see you got the wheel issue taken care of. They look really good on there too

Thanks. I just need to get the center hub caps and I'm done for the moment. I just think the rims look a bit dull after looking at them on the car for a while.

Danteneon wrote:Of course you know what this means.... Drop time!

Yeah, I guess I'll have to get coilovers later on since the drop that H&R gives me is rather mild. 215/40 tires might also help with that huge wheel cap too.

MoxHair · Post by **MoxHair** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:59 pm

title of the thread had me all excited thinking it was a hockey discussion.

tommigun · Post by **tommigun** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 12:33 pm

MoxHair wrote:title of the thread had me all excited thinking it was a hockey discussion.

Hahaa. I've been wondering how many here actually knew who the finnish flash is. Guess not too many.

tommigun · Post by **tommigun** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 2:51 pm

All the way to the top from page three, just to update the fact that my car now has a slightly better sound system.

I finally got enough saved and bought some dampening mat, the necessary cables and fuses for an amplifier install, a small amp and a 2-way component system. The install took me quite some time with plenty of rainy days and only a little bit of time before sunset each day but eventually I got everything hooked up. The system sounds really good, just finished testing the set with some Chemical Brothers. I think I still need to add a 10 or 12 inch sub later on just to get a little more punch to the bass. Also, I need to get me some molding and carpeting stuff to integrate the tweeters to the a-pillar covers.

Chris04sxt · Post by **Chris04sxt** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 5:37 pm

MoxHair wrote:title of the thread had me all excited thinking it was a hockey discussion.

That's what just caught my attention. Hockey season can't get here quick enough.

AR04SRT · Post by **AR04SRT** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 7:27 pm

its aight!

tommigun · Post by **tommigun** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 6:45 am

Chris04sxt wrote:
MoxHair wrote:title of the thread had me all excited thinking it was a hockey discussion.
That's what just caught my attention. Hockey season can't get here quick enough.

I'm actually not a big fan of hockey anymore. I used to like hockey back in the days of the good old legends like Yzerman, Bourque and the likes, times when there were burly Canadians and before the NHL was flooded with those pretty-boy finesse players from Europe...

But anyways, temperatures here have been below zero for a couple of months and since I don't have a garage to work on my car there really isn't any real progress to report. I've started working on some minor interior mods, but more about them later. Since my last update didn't have any pics (lazy me) here are the pics for that post:

Behold, all the audio stuff that went in to my car!

Yeah... way to bring a project log back to page one.

LilSparkPlug · Post by **LilSparkPlug** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 12:24 pm

I don't think I've ever seen your log, I love BUX neons.

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 12:27 pm

And he's back! I enjoy your bi-annual updates sir

tommigun · Post by **tommigun** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:00 pm

LilSparkPlug wrote:I don't think I've ever seen your log, I love BUX neons.

How can that be with all the great mods and frequent updates?

I love the SRT4, it's a shame it never made it here. I also love what you've done with yours, refining it even more.

Danteneon wrote:And he's back! I enjoy your bi-annual updates sir

Well, I had a kind of rough patch a while back, I kind of lost access to the garage I used to work on my car at and my girlfriend finally ditched me. But no worries, I'll try to be more active with my car and the updates this year.

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:02 pm

Sorry to hear about the girlfriend, but if it allows you to work on the car more then it's a good thing

srtjesse · Post by **srtjesse** » Sun Jan 24, 2010 5:18 pm

dude i want your steering wheel air bag so bad

tommigun · Post by **tommigun** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 3:20 pm

Danteneon wrote:Sorry to hear about the girlfriend, but if it allows you to work on the car more then it's a good thing

Sure is. Though it might complicate my finances a bit, the freedom I got is muy bueno. Love your signature by the way, "Commas save lives..."

srtjesse wrote: dude i want your steering wheel air bag so bad

If I ever get the money to buy a three spoke steering wheel and a suitable air bag for it my current one is yours.

Also, a small update. Last weekend it was a nice -3 degrees outside so what better way to spend my day off then to rip apart my interior. Now I might have more of my cars interior in my apartment than in my car. Well, okay, not quite. Then yesterday, I made swiss cheese out of my a pillar and today it looks like this:

Since I have like zero fabrication experience what happens next will be interesting. Not to mention that I have to replicate it to the other pillar too... Also, my car started giving me hard time today and I think I have to invest in a new TPS which kind of sucks. Luckily it's pay day this friday.

LilSparkPlug · Post by **LilSparkPlug** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 5:00 pm

tommigun wrote:
LilSparkPlug wrote:I don't think I've ever seen your log, I love BUX neons.
How can that be with all the great mods and frequent updates?
I love the SRT4, it's a shame it never made it here. I also love what you've done with yours, refining it even more.

Thank you!

Most girlfriends are overrated!! More time for you, your family and the car...and more money in YOUR pocket now

tommigun · Post by **tommigun** » Thu May 20, 2010 4:58 am

What better way to celebrate a $2/h raise than to post some pics that have been long overdue.

Here's what my pillars looked like a while ago. The upholstery isn't perfect, but still good:

Here's how I thought I'd mount the suckers in a brief lazy ass moment:

Then I came to my senses and realized that installing them like that on the surface would have beaten the whole purpose of why I started the project at the first place.

All it needs now is a little bit of wire soldering and figuring out why my amp isn't working and then putting everything back together. I've got pics of the finished a-pillars, but they're in my cell phone so I'll probably post them along with pics when they're in the car (a few months from now which seems to be the trend in my updates

).

tommigun · Post by **tommigun** » Thu May 27, 2010 4:08 pm

Yay, project tweeters to a-pillars is done.