My Drop Star 2012 Prius III journey and build

I had a few cars that I worked on over the years.
1983 Volkswagen Rabbit
1984 Volkswagen Rabbit
1986 Audi GT coupe
1987 Volkswagen Cabriolet
1991 Volkswagen Jetta
1991 Volkswagen Cabriolet
2005 Prius
2012 Prius III

I always worked on them but realized I didn’t have any photos of any of my cars before the Cabriolet’s. So I thought I would post some photos of my build journey, more for myself, just as a reminder of how far I’ve come.

 

I bought a used 2005 seaside blue pearl Prius with the BC package. I fell in love with all the tech that came with it. I google searched “custom Prius” and found justdidit’s 2007 prius and inadvertently found PriusChat. I bought a set of Scion tC rims and started with that

 

After trolling PriusChat for a couple of years I found @HAWAIIANBUILT’s and Diamond Jim’s Prius builds. I decided then and there to trade in the ‘05 and bought a used 2012 Prius III on April of 2015.

 

I ordered some Tanabe NF210 lowering springs, lower chrome door guards, HKS premium suction kit, Tom’s Racing foam air filter and the Tanabe strut tower bar from eBay. Received my items about a month or so later and just happened to get a set of 19” TSW thruxton’s with some 225/35r19 Falken tires for cheap. Installed the wheels the day I got them in April of 2016. I know. It looks like a monster truck it’s so high. Lol

 

Installed all the items I received the next day in May 2016 with the “help” of my kids (including the tow hook I bought for the ‘05 Prius). Lol

 

Trying to decide if I’m gonna run my 17” Scion tC rims or my 19” TSW’s for the long drive to Bloomington, Minneapolis, Minnesota. July 25, 2016

 

Found this and put it on. July 26, 2016

 

Made it out to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Checked out the outlet mall in Albertville, Minnesota and found a stock Prius for a great before and after shot. Suffice it to say, but yes I opted to use the 19” rims. September 12, 2016

 

Ordered some more stuff from eBay. Got my pretzel, TRD pedals and my new wallet in the mail. September 27, 2016

 

Don’t really have anything better to do with my time. Lol June, 2017

 

Ordered a Father’s Day / birthday gift for myself. Too excited to install these! June 14, 2017

 

And so it begins...I had to roll my fenders to get the car lower. I searched YouTube for fender rolling and I found a great video on how to roll your fenders using a baseball bat. Worked out great and I saved myself $150 for a fender roller on eBay. Like how it looks. Gonna have to grind the inside of the rear quarter panel because I couldnt roll the fender out right without flaring the lip out. June 19, 2017

 

Installed the 3M lip all around the car. I like how it looks. Came out really good. Installed my SportRack roof rack bars and a new Powerfist roof basket. Getting ready to drive the 17 hours to Calgary, Alberta, Canada. July 1, 2017

 

I read a lot of posts about the front hood deflector. Figured I would bite the bullet and try it. Hopefully it keeps the stones away from the car. July 15, 2017

 

Made it to Chestermere, Alberta, Canada (around 15 mins outside of Calgary) and I ended up blowing out the front drivers side tire and the front passenger side tire down to the steel belts. . Tow truck driver was very professional and tried not to damage anything. Lucky I raised the car up an 1”. Going into the tow truck was easier to watch than offloading. Thought the front bumper was gonna get ripped off. $800 later (the guy at Fountain Tire hooked me up with 50% off the sticker price ) goodbye Falken tires and Hello Dunlop’s. Like these ones better. Quieter and more comfortable ride than the Falkens. Kind of a bad start to my summer holidays. Always get an alignment done after swapping out your struts, kids. Don’t be like me. If you look close enough, if you can see the black behind the front wheels on the side skirts. Yes, those are my Falken tires worn to dust. July 24, 2017

 

Not much to report. Haven’t been doing much to the car. Installed my 9” Rockville DVD player headrest monitors. Getting ready to drive back to Minneapolis, Minnesota. December 22, 2018

 

Thanks for the compliment, egn83b!