Matt's 03 Galant ES build thread

**Rodriguez** · 12-30-2010, 12:15 AM

Ok so Ive been on here for about a year now and Ive had my G since August 2010. Im doing this build thread mostly to get input and help and to keep track of my car. So feel free to add your input.

Its an 03 Galant ES 2.4L, Its a cali spec. I inherited it from my mom who for 8 years beat the shit out of it. So not too much has been spent on parts. Mostly been fixing the bodywork and the interior. All Ive been able to do in terms of mods are, 18x7.5 enkei ls5 wheels in black, wrapped in falken ziex 225s (all purchased from Youngfab59). Also a few touches like painting the grills black as well as the drums and calipers black. I deep cleaned the interior and painted some of the trim pieces black. I also smoked the oem tails, but Im getting for JDMs cause Ive been pulled over twice already, not worth the hassle. In addition I put 8000k HIDs and added a blue LED license plate light. I also cleared my corners using nothing but a dinner fork from my kitchen lol

Plans for when I return from Army Infantry training in October 2011

Engine
Megan Racing Header and Cat Back
Cold air intake (still cant decide whats a good one, any suggestions?)

Suspension
Coilover kit (cant decide on this either, would like some tiens. Im prepared to spend the money but 1200 is my limit)
Strut bar (not sure where to get this yet)

Wheels
Slotted and Drilled rotors (R1 Concepts)

Exterior
Full Respray
New rear bumper (Slight dent from my mom hitting a pole)
CF Hood
New mirrors (not sure if Im doing the 97 accord mod yet or going with black oem0
2500K Yellow HID fogs on a relay

Now for some pics

This is the oldest picture i have of the car a few weeks before I took possession.

This was the day I bought my rims and installed them myself. My only problem was that the lugs on my steelies were put on with a damn impact wrench and were over tightened so i manged to get all the lugs off except one which I broke the stud off tryin to get ouf. I later replaced the stud.

This was my clearing corners "tool"

And this is how she sits now after a good wash and wax.

Let me know what you guys think. any tips or advice is greatly appreciated.

**mrg7243** · 12-30-2010, 12:36 AM

looks like a good start so far. But purple tails?? or is that just the picture?? Though a few suggestions for your build would be to go with 3000k fogs instead of the 2500k, the 3k have a better light output. And for the exhaust the cat-back is great, but you are going to have fitment issues with the header, since your car is a cali spec car, the headers are made for fed spec cars. This means your downpipe sections is a different length from the fed-spec.

**Rodriguez** · 12-30-2010, 01:00 AM

Lol Yeah its just the picture they are red but im getting jdms soon. And yeah so far as i can tell there is another cat connected to the bottom of the header. I thought the Megan headers would eliminate that cat or whatever it is completely, so it would just be like a fed spec.

**tamim13** · 12-30-2010, 01:07 AM

Will you be able to pass inspection/emissions then? Or is it not required to be renewed every year/2 years?

Nice clean car. The strut bar, I got my DC one from eBay. There are quite a few threads on here about the various strut bars. I'm not really feeling the blue LED license plate light, but to each his own.

**Rodriguez** · 12-30-2010, 01:16 AM

Originally Posted by tamim13

Will you be able to pass inspection/emissions then? Or is it not required to be renewed every year/2 years?

Nice clean car. The strut bar, I got my DC one from eBay. There are quite a few threads on here about the various strut bars. I'm not really feeling the blue LED license plate light, but to each his own.

Thanks man, and as far as emissions are concerned we have no inspections in Florida and its not needed to pass any tests :) About the strut bar, I heard you could get it of an eclipse but im not sure which one, Ill search it up more.

**00 galant es tdip** · 12-30-2010, 02:07 AM

where did u get your purple tails

**mrjaydeeone** · 12-30-2010, 07:24 AM

looks good. keep up the good work. How about some more day pics?

**XxGiRLaNT06xX** · 12-30-2010, 08:10 AM

Originally Posted by mrjaydeeone

looks good. keep up the good work. How about some more day pics?

x2! looking good

**tamim13** · 12-30-2010, 08:39 AM

Yeah the v6 00-05 eclipse strut bar fits in the Galant without modification. Only thing is, the bolt to the firewall will not bolt on, as there is no place to bolt on, but it is not necessary. It's cheap enough to buy new from the dealer or even cheaper if you get it from a junk yard.

**M-Rod** · 12-30-2010, 09:25 AM

another Matt Rodriguez?!? Crazy! Wheels look good and clean.

**Rodriguez** · 12-30-2010, 11:26 AM

Originally Posted by 00 galant es tdip

where did u get your purple tails

LOL there not purple, its the picture. They are the OEM tails but I smoked them and then put a clear coat over them. Im getting risd of them though cause the jdms will get me in less trouble.

**Rodriguez** · 12-30-2010, 11:29 AM

Originally Posted by M-Rod

another Matt Rodriguez?!? Crazy! Wheels look good and clean.

What? your a Matt Rodriguez too LMAO. Its such an uncommon name down here.

**Corey2kG** · 12-30-2010, 11:47 AM

Very clean n shiny lol

**Rodriguez** · 01-02-2011, 01:59 PM

OK, so while im still here and before I do anything big like I talked about before, Id like to take care of a few little things like the audio system. First off im not looking for a street pounding, trunk rattling system just something that sounds nice. I have a decent little amp, nothing special, I think its a Power Acoustic. My first question is where have you guys found to be a good place to run the amp power cable from the battery into the car? So far as I can tell there are no plugged holes in the firewall and ive tried through the left fender but I cant seem to get it to the door. Any ideas?

**Galantman03** · 01-02-2011, 06:29 PM

if you take the front fender off, you'll see a boot where the harness goes through... i VERY carefully knifed it all the way through and just put the power wire in and ran the power wire underneath the carpet, under the left door sills under the rear seat and into the trunk... its really not that hard.

**Corey2kG** · 01-02-2011, 07:29 PM

Ok with the hood up look in the corner by the battery you'll see a space behind the strut tower I drilled a hole there n ran ther wire there.

**Rodriguez** · 01-02-2011, 08:52 PM

Originally Posted by galantman03

if you take the front fender off, you'll see a boot where the harness goes through... i VERY carefully knifed it all the way through and just put the power wire in and ran the power wire underneath the carpet, under the left door sills under the rear seat and into the trunk... its really not that hard.

Thats what I was thinking of doing earlier, but do you have to remove the front bumper in order to remove the fender, I mean I see where most of the bolts are but Im thinking there may be more.

**Rodriguez** · 01-17-2011, 09:48 PM

UPDATE!

Ok, so got a lot done this weekend.

Started with the stereo. Finally managed to run the amp power cable, thanks for the advice. I took a clothes hanger and attached the cable to it and ran it up thru the fender to the door. Its kind of exposed until it goes under the door sill but no biggie and it shouldn't get cut. Then I when out and picked up a head unit from pioneer, the dh-1200 i think it was. Wired up my little 400 watt amp to a single 12' sub and that was it. Concealed all the cables and crap cause im super OCD about that shit.

I also wired up some pilot fog lights that were on sale for 10 bucks. I thought it would be cool to mount them behind the grill. I'll post pics up soon. Lemme know what you guys think when I do.