The Camry

Most of you that know me know how I am about my car, but I can imagine most of you don't know the story behind it. Since my car plays a pretty strong role in my life, I figured I'd write about it to give you guys some insight on her backstory. Yes, she has a backstory.

Humble Beginnings
JUL2007


Car Background:

My parents bought the car brand-new when the Camry's new Third-Generation body style was first introduced back in 1991; it was the first new car they had ever bought. Like many others, their purchase was inspired by the car's Lexus-inspired styling, and long-term reliability, something that I wouldn't grow to realize (or appreciate, for that matter) until August of 2007.

In 2002, however, my parents found themselves in need of a newer car, my parents sold the Camry to my grandparents. But in 2005, the car found its way back into our garage, after my aunt bought my grandparents a new Honda Civic coupe; the car essentially went straight to me, for free from my grandfather. At the time, I was in the middle of an I-want-an-AE86-Corolla stage, and, to be honest, I thought the Camry was the ugliest thing in the world, so she unfortunately found herself unappreciated for a while.

All of that, however, would change in the August of 2007, with my aunt's constant description of the Camry as benchmark of a car, with it's luxury-inspired styling, and very classy appearance, not to mention its reliability. After a much-needed automatic transmission replacement earlier that summer, I spotted a YouTube video of someone who had switched out the Camry's stock airbox with a cone filter, a simple upgrade that brought out the sound of the engine. In the coming weeks, I would eventually stumble upon ToyotaNation.com, which housed a community of Camry owners and tuners, all of whose collective efforts with their Camry's would seal my obsession with my own Camry. The rest is history.

Since August of 2007, I've worked to turn my Camry into something more than every other Camry on the street. While the Camry name has consistently found itself at the top of the list for Best-Selling Car in America since 1992, those of you who have seen my car know it's nothing like all the others out there. Her styling is beautiful, her mods are subtle, and her look and sound are unmistakable.

The Mods
In summer of 2007, it all started with the intake.

First it was just the filter, then I switched out the entire OEM intake piping altogether. Nowadays it's a semi-Cold Air Intake (CAI), which basically means its a Short Ram Intake (SRI), with piping that relays to the outside, allowing more opportunity to bring cool air into the engine, which translates to a little more horsepower (HP).


Intake Setup Total Cost: ~$90

Towards the end of summer I got a hold of some 17" KMC Redline rims, with a HotWheels theme. At $250 for the set, I couldn't pass this one up.


But as always, tires are expensive. We went to Costco and had them mount BF Goodrich G-Force Sport tires, advertised as the highest-rated dry-season tires.
Wheels Total Cost: ~$670

Shortly after, I got a hold of a TRD Rear Sway Bar (RSB), and a Freedom Design Strut Tower Bar (STB). The TRD sway bay is actually made for the first-generation Toyota Solara, but it fits perfectly on Gen3 and Gen4 Camry's. I'll get into that later.
The sway bar wrapped in plastic. This part goes under the car in the rear. Its purpose is to keep the car from leaning excessively whole cornering heavily.

And the front strut tower bar installed. Strut tower bars are made to minimize chassis flex under heavy cornering by promoting greater chassis rigidity, as well as to keep the car more stable under extreme conditions.

Basic Suspension Parts Total Cost: $210

After the RSB and STB, I had to take a break from modding the car, since I had started my first year in college at UC Davis. It wasn't until July of 2008 that I finally went ahead and got a hold of all the parts I needed to upgrade my car's primary suspension components: the struts (also known as "shocks") and springs. After spending lots of time on ToyotaNation trying to figure out what would be the best spring/strut condition, I decided to go for Tokico HP struts for their great handling and close-but-not-too-close-to-stock ride quality, and Intrax performance lowering springs.


With help from my dad, my brother Xavier, and my friend Jon, we completed the entire upgrade in 7 hours, using only basic hand tools. That's right, guys, no power tools whatsoever. As you can see from the clock, we didn't finish until well after 2am.
So now the car lookedl like this:

Obviously lower than stock, but still sitting pretty high. While Intrax springs are advertised to drop a Camry 1.6" all around, the Intrax's I bought were actually made for the 4th Generation Camry (the one after mine) with a V6 engine. Since my car is a Gen3, and only has an I4, it's lighter than a Gen4, resulting in rather disappointing ride height, but exceptional performance nonetheless.
Struts and Springs Total Cost: $360 (thank God for eBay discount coupons)

As another summer began to wind down, I decided to work on some more visual mods to help promote the uniquity of my Camry (more unique than the word "uniquity", which I made up, and is not actually a word. Synonym for "uniqueness").
Lucky me, a guy from ToyotaNation whi lives in Sacramento was selling his DEPO Black headlights, and his Black DX/SE rear center panel. Lucky me :)
The stock headlights for my generation of Camrys had a bad tendency to fade and fog up over time, and switching in new headlights would help with night-time visibility.
Before and after:



I got a hold of some DEPO clear signal lights as well

I decided to add my own little touch to help them better match the look of the headlights.



Let's not forget the Black DX/SE Rear Center Panel (RCP), and TheImaginaryZebra sticker.

Subtle Visual Mods Total Cost: $200

Before I knew it, another summer was gone and school was back on. Luckily, I'd be able to take my car with me this time, since apartments allow you to park your car at the complex. In September of 2008, even though I told myself I'd never put on a muffler because I didn't want to attract too much attention from police, I eventually cracked, and went down to Golden Auto in Daly City for a sweet deal on a Magnaflow dual tip muffler and an exhaust piping upgrade. 2" stock to 2.25" diameter piping from after the catalytic converter all the way to the new muffler.






For a while I was really annoyed by the sound, especially the cabin resonance, but I eventually got used to it. I may switch it out for something a bit quieter in the future, we'll see.
Exhaust System Upgrade Total Cost: $140

It wasn't until February 2009 that I got to put all of my mods to the test in a controlled environment ;). That controlled environment came in the form of my first AutoCross event with Davis Motorsports Club. Nothing like getting better times than guys driving real sports cars in a 4-door family sedan xD


Might I add that it's even more fun to do in the heavy rain:

Cost of AutoCross Event: $50 for the first three times, and $35 there after for one year

As time went on and I found myself becoming increasingly annoyed with the overbearing presence of the large fender gap in my front wheel wells. Relatively invisible from a distance,

but once you get closer, well...

...yeah... DMC President Alex's common joke for me was: "So... when are we going off-roading in your car?"

So I decided to take matters into my own hands and asked around for some help from my fellow members of DMC. Three weeks after posting for help, I found myself at Tim's house. He has an air compressor for power tools, and a circle grinder/cutter, exactly what we needed to get the job done. A suspension assembly extraction and disassembly that took my dad and I at least an hour and a half to do with hand tools took Tim a matter of minutes. We took out the assembly, compressed the spring, dismounted it from the strut, and proceeded to the cutting process. We took one full ring off.

and now she's even sexier than before.

Spring Cutting Cost: $40

Here's my current build:



Total Modifications Cost: $1710 (My dad payed for the tires though)

So now, maybe you have a better idea of why I like my car so much :)

-nesqu!k