Welcome back! This week we are switching the tables. We have Paul and his car Midori. We will be touching on how he got started with cars, and what he's done to his car! Let's dig in.
What was your first interest in cars? I don't recall my first exact moment of interest, I was born into a car family. My dad worked for ford and my brothers were tinkering with cars during my childhood.
What was your first car? My first car was a 1993 Thunderbird.
How long have you owned your car? I have owned Midori for 18 years now.
Could you tell us a little bit about the modifications you have made to your car?
I have a lot of modifications done to Midori. The car is a 1998 Saturn SL2.
I will list the modifications through bullet points. I will start with all things that have been done to the exterior.
1998 Saturn SL2
-Exterior is painted Midori Green from a 96 Honda Civic Hatchback
-DC Integra Type R Front Lip
-Voltex style Rear Diffuser
-Canards
-Custom Side Skirts
-Rare Black Housing Deadlights
-Custom Painted Taillights
-Clear Bumper Lights
-Projector HID Fog Lights
-Full LED Exterior Light Conversion
-AVS Window Visors
-OEM Passenger Mirror Delete Plate
-Silver Driver Mirror from a Coupe
-1 of 1 Custom Sunroof
-1 of 1 Wings West Dry Carbon Fiber Wing
-35% Carbon Black Window Tint
-Pink Windshield banner
-Rotiform BLK
-Raceland Bags from a Subaru WRX, Custom modified to fit platform
-Airlift 3P System Management
-3/8th line
-444C Viair Compressor
-17x8 with 30 and 20 Offset
-205 40 17 Tires
Now, everything done with the interior.
-1 of 1 Gauge Cluster White and Black
-Custom Wood Gauge Pod
-AEM Wideband
-SunPro Temp Gauge
-Shorted Shifter with Chrome Knob
-Custom Short Throw Shift Tower
-Custom Steering Wheel Hub
-NRG Quick Release
-Sparkle Purple Grip Royal Wheel
-Acura Integra Seats
-Pioneer Head Unit
-Boss Audio 6 Inch Speakers
-Boss Audio 600w Amp
-Pioneer 10 Inch Sub in truck box
-Wire Tucked Engine Bay
-Partial Shave
-Power Steering and AC Removed
-Slim fan on OEM Shroud
-Custom High Flake Pink and Green Valve Cover
-Knife Edged Throttle Body
-Huge K&N Air Filter
-EGR Removed
-26LBS Injectors
-Custom Turbo Manifold
-JDM Sport T3T4 Turbo
-2.5 Inch Down Pipe
-2 Inch Exhaust
-2.25 Megan Racing Muffler Mounted opposite from OEM
-Lightweight Flywheel
-1g mp3 Shorted Radio Trans
-Tuned on e85
-Converted to Return Style Fuel System
-Dyno’d at 134 to the wheels, 30 over stock *Dyno numbers reflect before turbo installation*
Has your journey modifying been easy?
No, my journey modifying my car has not been easy. Midori has been fully customized and that has caused some difficulties along the way. A lot of people are not modifying Saturn’s and this means that finding aftermarket parts can be really hard. When I first did some of the modifications on my car no one had done them yet so, I was trial and erroring a lot of things.
What advice would you give to newer car enthusiast looking to get into car modification? Do it for yourself. When you are working on your car, there will always be people who will critique what you do. Remember to make yourself happy and not do it for others.
Where can you check out more on Midori?