@tinogg3 ill be making another diy when I find a leather gts seat. The celica and matrix seat brackets are nearly identical. You need the base from the matrix and the back frame from the celica. You'll see that the celica upper bracket is held on with 3 bolts, the matrix bracket is welded in the same spot. You need to cut above those bolt holes. You'll then have to enlarge 2 existing holes in the matrix seat bracket. Use the hardware from the celica seat to bolt the celica back to the mateix base. Feel free to message me for more details
@tinogg3 yes, I just happen to find this gt seat in decent condition, but those and rsx seats are all options I would experiment with if I can find one at a decent price
@lordkratos4747 definitely an early video, for me at least, maybe worth revisiting next time I need to pull the valve cover off. Appreciate you watching tho🤘🏼 any questions, feel free to ask
hey bro was wondering you have any idea on how to get some leg room extension on the front seats? Just got myself a Matrix xr 07 and its a bit of a tight fit for a guy thats 6'4 haha also sickkk seats bro make it look so much better
@jaredsmith1944 what's up man, welcome to the matrix family 🤘🏼looking at the stock setup, possibly some extended seat rails, but I haven't tried searching (I'm not 6'4 and don't have this challenge 😭) but if you went with aftermarket seats, you could get a low seat bracket and mount the seat as far back as you need. Corbeau makes bolt in seat brackets for our car and can be paired with almost any aftermarket seat
@@Ma70rk lmao bro he got more than that! Hes a Canon ambassador and he travels the world covering car culture. Hes the automotive journalist that every automotive journalist want to grow up and be like!
Looks sweet! I couldn't put it on my car because it looks too similar to the stock grill IMO, which I actually like better since it has some depth to it. However it's always good to have more TRD parts! I've been trying to keep my eyes out for a TRD cold air intake for my 03 XRS, even though I already have an Injen CAI. Not gonna lie, might have to find a TRD emblem the same size, glue it onto my stock grille, and follow your advice on putting the overlay on the emblem!
@PlayinWithMahWii appreciate it! Yeah I've always wanted one. I had a TRD cold air and I gave it away to one of the matrix guys in SoCal at toyotafest. 03 is the best year 👌🏽 They do come up once in a while though. The overlay is not bad, really up close you can tell it's not oem but probably best available these days
@SamOHalloran I know mines gotta be coming in lime the next 30k. I'm waiting on a junkyard c60 to try and install the toyota helical lsd 🤞🏼 thanks again for watching !🙏🏼
Aye! Dude that TRD grille has definitely seen better days haha. Much props to you for getting it restored and it looks super clean on your '04 XRS! Glad everything worked out and you got what you wanted, best feeling ever! Can't wait for more my dude! Thanks for the shoutout as well, I haven't uploaded in a minute so let's see what's coming soon to the channel.
@user83200 I think it's absolutely necessary, especially with the age our cars are coming up on. Dialing in the alignment literally transforms the cars handling exponentially. These rear axle beams usually are out of spec w/toe and camber. These bushings are almost future proof, aside from the actual beam getting tweaked. These combined with a stiff rear sway bar adds to how stable and predictable the car handles . 10/10 recommend
@ItsFonzy I think you could, but make sure your wood is stable, you could also lower the car, mark a line across the bushing and housing, then get the car back up on jackstands and jack the wheel up until the marks line up. Be safe and thanks for watching 🤘🏼
@Samoan_Diecast lmao it's all good 😂 I got a refund, it's on BCs now and alignment is dialed in. Car feels great and looks good now. But hell yea 🤘🏼 much appreciated bro 🙏🏼🙏🏼
@bamabonkers I've seen a set of Grey ones once before a few years back, couldn't pass these up, took 2 trips with the wheelbarrow to the car 😂. It definitely makes the car look more cared for. Check car-part.com , sometimes they have some treasure and most dismantlers ship
@jtboy888 it's sold as "for toyotas" but working with it, I don't see how it could not work with pretty much any bushing you can get the "C" clamp on. As long as there's room to fit that part, it should work
Bro, this is what 1350 got me at Maaco 😂 I didn't have dents to work out, heard a lot of good things about my local Maaco and so far it's been almost 3 years. I'm happy with it, there are some imperfections but for the price I don't have many complaints. The car is garaged tho so I believe that's helping quite a bit
dang, thats such a bummer.. sweet video though! hope you ended up going with some BCs, i threw BCs on my elantra GT and man, they made a huge difference. not even at the lowest they can go, and the tires rub all up on the fenders lmao
@slow.elantra427 yeah bro I went with the BCs I got it dialed in now, was a mission correcting alignment specs and getting the suspension geometry to work together. But now car looks good and handles really well. Appreciate you watching 🙏🏼🙏🏼
How is it holding up? Planning to do the same on my 2011 Corolla. Got the shims ready but I'm just debating if I wanna do it myself or pay someone $250 to do both sides.
@gavsinnovation8747 definitely DIY or die 😁 the actual work isn't hard, it's just making sure your calculations are correct, don't break the shim and have your axle beam bushings in order so your alignment specs don't shift
Some of the stuff is on consignment, so maybe out of their control someone selling high. But it is a treasure hunt. You gotta look at least once to see if they have anything in the area are looking for.
@@Ma70rk Yeah. I figure as much, but if its what you need or rare like you said, maybe worth getting. All the wheels are tempting there, but reality sits in that I have a set and should work with what I got until I need a new look.
They do! I figured maybe they'd want to get the stuff off and out the door as soon as possible, there wasn't any negotiating either. They didn't wanna sell me the white upgarage towel 🤣 I literally saw it back there behind the counter
@onaFaiV exactly, it's like urban outfitters, excepts it's "used and untested". All the prices listed include tax. They had some good deals but nothing where I was like "I gotta get this" except the towel, I literally saw them behind the counter but they were not trying to sell me anything lol
@@DatMandalorian @ma70rk while that is true the only benefit would be the part being here and now. I’m sure there’s a ton of people who wouldn’t mind waiting for the cheap part to arrive from their website.
Lol maybe, but I feel wider 17s are just right for the car. Stance and handling is now dialed in, check out some other videos and thanks for watching 🤘🏼
Why would you buy ANY car part and not check if it will do what you want it to do first? You already had lowering springs. Most lowering springs will lower your car between 2 to 3 inches. The GC's will lower your car the same as the lowering springs you already had. What were you expecting? My guess is you based what you thought you were going to get on springs that weren't OEM to the car. Only solution is to grind off the spring perch and remount the sleeves. Do your homework before you buy shit. I have GC's on my car and I think their OK for what they are. Not great but not terrible. Pretty much the same result as most of the Ebay crap. My suggestion? Buy the Ebay crap and return the GC's. The only good thing about GC is that they make their kits model specific but anyone with a rudimentary set of tools can make a set of Ebay sleeves work just as well as the pricier GC's. I've ordered a DNA sleeve kit and will be putting it on the front struts but I'm not going to use the crap rubber O rings that go bad after 6 months and will use either a metal or teflon sleeve spacer to make the sleeve more solid and not moving around on hard cornering.
@user-hl6gg2qq1u I like the build quality and valving of the bilsteins and wanted just a little more drop. After quite a few emails back and forth with ground control, included photos of my car and what I wanted to achieve, "Andrew" at ground control assured me that they could make it happen. Definitely wasn't the case. So I did the homework, just got all the wrong answers🤣 There's already limited options for the chassis. These bilstiens and the BC kit I'm running now had to be slightly modified to work, but didn't want to go as far as cutting spring perches. I know GC been around for quite a while, definitely a good option for someone not looking to drop more than fixed lowering springs. Otherwise, thanks for watching, check out some of the other videos to dial in alignment on these cars with solid rear axle beams 👌🏽 so far happy with my new setup and the car drives great and doesn't look too bad either
Thank you! Just did this on my 2009 Prius. Not as easy in real life, took hour and a half to figure out how to actually use tool. Pusher tool has a small lip that needs to seat on backside of axle. Helps to have 3 hands. First side took 4 hours to remove and replace with stock bushing other side took 2. Both my bushings were broken into 2 pieces, so a bit of play and clunking noise in rear axle.
@davidharvan4438 glad this video helped ! Maybe I should've explained more how to set up the tool, it definitely takes some trial and error to figure which pieces to use. It's crazy how much difference it makes when the alignment is dialed in. Smooth, responsive and tires wear well. Thanks for watching 🤘🏼
I swear the cotter pin to hold the clutch pedal is a PITA and as long as the hard lines aren't seized its not too bad. If you're not gonna use a vacuum pump / have a friend to pump the clutch for you it might be better to bench bleed the new master cylinder before installing
For all that keep living on their brochures, this video justifies everything. Even if the brochures say “180 HP”, it really isn’t until you put your car on the Dyno. Dyno sheets prove everything people claim they having going on with their cars lol. Great video Mark, I’m looking forward to a dyno run myself as well. Having an aftermarket intake strictly for induction sounds during VVTL is pretty much me. Aftermarket custom exhaust as well. Ima see if this 2003 Matrix XRS really hitting those brochure numbers lol
@thai2zz35 much appreciated bro 🙏🏼 this was one of my first videos and wished I filmed it a little different lol but I definitely wanna re visit to compare cold air intake. Eventually I want him to tune it with the link ecu goal is not more power, but flatter torque curve, more consistent power through the Rev range
Awesome vid bro, I have to do something like this with my matrix soon, or just replace the rear axle beam. Someone tried to lift the car with it, and its bent in the middle now, giving me like -10* of camber 🤦♂
@@Ma70rk Lmao I'm exaggerating, it's probably not that bad but it's definitely off. Especially on the drivers side, just looking at it you can tell it's off. I think I'm gonna end up replacing the whole axle beam whenever i get around to doing the bushings, but I could probably get away with some shims in the meantime. It got bent when I was doing my clutch, told my buddy to go lift up the rear end and instead of using the lift point under the trunk, he put the jack right in the middle of the axle beam. It's bent like a bow now, and is especially noticeable since the TRD sway bar stayed rigidly straight.
@PlayinWithMahWii yeah once you get the beam, definitely a good time to hit the bushings, might be easier with the beam out too. It's just a process with the shims, gotta get one alignment to find where you are, then shim to correct followed by another alignment to check and correct the front accordingly
@@Ma70rk Good shit man, seems like I just have to get an alignment that comes with a lifetime warranty, then I can just go back after dropping the beam to get it dialed in for free 👍🏻
Those headlights, and especially the projector retrofits, are sweet! Definitely have to do something with my 03 XRS. So jealous of you Cali guys man! The underside of your car in the rear swingarm video is so clean! All the paint has rusted and flaked off my swing arm already, I was surprised to see yours a solid black 🤣 Awesome content man, thanks for keeping the platform alive. In the process of replacing my parking brake cables right now, 1 was seized, one was snapped. Not too bad of a job, I didn't even take the exhaust down, just pulled down the heatshields.
Lmao the headlights change the game bro, def recommend the retrofit especially now it's way more affordable. California is awesome, we just pay in taxes, cost of living and gun laws 😂 gotta drive an 18yo toyota. But hell yeah bro, this platform is heavily slept on, but in a good way for now. Appreciate the support 🤘🏼
Im bout to do this on my 06 fwd base model matrix. I got it for 3.5k and I love the car. When i first got it I took it on the freeway and hauled ass and the way the car just revs and revs and keeps going i was like damn this lil thing has a little pep . I also had a 2001 toyota camry and it was a 2.2l and that was a nice zippy daily as well. Great cars
Nice bro! Yeah it's a car I didn't expect to love at all. I got mine because my first kid was coming, needed something bigger. I found this one for 1k, definitely been a journey but we'll worth it. Weak point on these cars is lack of rear adjustability, once it's dialed it's like a whole new car. I appreciate the support ! 🤘🏼
Awesome video! Very informative. Don’t know any other videos on RU-vid that give such a thorough explanation of rear shims on a solid rear axle. Glad the rear alignment is in spec now. Go rip it!
