m3pare's Build Journal | 2012 WGM Prius Three

Contact HybridPit. Great guys and prices are very fair. They are down here in Southern California but can ship them no problem.

 

Just hit 95,000 miles last night. Got some new goodies for the car — Persona wheels, rear seat outer bolsters, rear cup holder insert, & inverter cover. Also have a black carpet I may install if it doesn’t sell. I’ll post more photos with everything installed soon after the car’s cleaned up.

 

Thanks guys!

Gave the car its first wash with the Persona wheels on yesterday evening and grabbed a quick shot today. More to follow soon.

 

Haha yep, pretty much blends in with the everyday Prius driver. That helps me not get hassled for the tint. I’m contemplating on getting the Modellista rep lip and blacking out a spare set of headlights since that’ll bring more attention to the car.

Sometimes I miss the old VIP look, but I definitely don’t miss the hassle of angling and scraping all of my Cusco braces underneath on driveways. I regularly have 3-5 people in the car so no more harsh lowered suspension for this one.

 

I am out of the Prius game. IMO, wheels and suspension make or break the car and here I am rolling on factory wheels/suspension. Doesn’t hurt to keep track of what’s been done when the time comes to sell.

 

Just hit 100,000 miles! Woohoo! Now it’s barely getting broken in haha. In celebration, performed the following services —

• Tire Rotation
• Engine Oil & Filter Change
• Transmission Fluid Change
• Engine Coolant Change
• Inverter Coolant Change
• New Spark Plugs (SC16HR11)
• New PCV Valve
• EGR Pipe, Valve & Cooler Cleaning
• Throttle Body & MAF Cleaning
• Intake Manifold Cleaning
• Ruien Oil Catch Can Install
• New Windshield Wipers

Though I’ve never experienced any cold start knocking, I didn’t expect the carbon build up to be that bad in the EGR pipe and valve. I’m glad that’s out of the way now, and I’ll probably inspect in another 50k miles. I’ve put almost 200 miles since and it seems my mpg has gone up by 3-4. Don’t notice any oil burning yet, but I’ve been doing 5-6k OCI since I bought the car.

Having put almost 56,000 miles during my ownership, I am still very happy with how great of a daily driver this car is. Easy and relatively inexpensive to maintain, comfortable, great on gas, and it keeps my weekend car exciting lol. I want to give Roger & Sean @ Hybrid Pit, @danlatu, and @NutzAboutBolts a big thank you for helping me source parts, all the OCC information, and the excellent DIY videos. Couldn’t have done it without you guys! Here’s to another 100,000!

I also ordered a set of StopTech slotted rotors and Hawk HP+ pads which should be arriving soon. I warped my stock rotors with some spirited mountain driving over a year ago and the steering wheel vibration under hard braking has progressively gotten worse. Hopefully the new setup will be sufficient for the occasional Angeles Crest Highway drive. I will lube the caliper slide pins and flush the brake fluid with Motul as well.

Future plans include...

• Headlight Restoration
• HV Battery Fan Cleaning
• Sound deaden trunk and hatch
• Inspect bushings & replace as needed
• Detail/Paint Correction & maybe ceramic coating?
• Find a set of Persona door panels or rewrap mine w/ Clazzio material
• OEM Leather Steering Wheel or JDM wheel
• Upgrade speakers & maybe add amp/sub
• Upgrade struts and shocks

Parts hoarding... shout out to Amazon Prime.



Typical oil in the manifold... intake ports really dirty.



Lots of carbon buildup in the EGR circuit.



Nice and clean... thanks to Carb cleaner, Brake cleaner, PBW cleaner, and some wire brushes.



New plugs and cleaned all of the intake ports.



OCC bracket from Danlatu, goodies from Home Depot, and quick mock-up of the can.



New PCV valve, TB cleaned, and IM ready to go back in. Reused the gaskets.



IM and Airbox back in. Refilled engine coolant and bled in maintenance mode. Refilled inverter coolant and properly bled.



Fin.

 

Thank you! Yes, feel free to PM me with any questions.

 

This is a trim Three which has rear back-up camera standard. Front camera would be sweet, but I don’t really need it... maybe if I had an expensive front body kit I wouldn’t want to scrape.