All in a day's work

2000 miles on our 2013 Prius 3 and I just can't leave it alone. Within the first week I've already installed the clear bra in the entire front of the car and along the side skirt and rear bumper, leather seats, TRD Prius Plus rear sway bar, and TRD Prius Plus 17" wheels. Now all of the other parts have come in this is what I did today. Front under brace support, strut tower brace, TRD Prius Plus springs, HID headlights, LED parking lights. She drives like a dream now, almost felt like a BMW 3 series, nice and firm not bouncy. A definite upgrade for anyone who wants to make a sleeper Prius with much more potential than anyone thinks it's possible. You guys really should see the people's faces when I out drive them.

Before and after picture. Say I am crazy, but I think the Prius looks better than the Ferrari.


I did the spring install in 3 hours all by myself. To pull down the rear to get the OEM rear spring out I used a motorcycle strap winch to pull it down. (There is no way in the world my wife would help me to work on cars in the garage so I have to figure out how to do everything on my own)


Here is the height difference with the TRD Plus springs.


The hardest part of the spring install job was to remove the strut bolts to the hub. For whatever reason Toyota really over engineered those bolts, way bigger and tighter than anything I've ever seen. None of the German cars I've ever worked on have bigger and tighter bolts than the one on the Prius. Took a lot of elbow grease and an extended monkey bar to break it loose. I had to whip out all of my tools to meet the different torque specs. make sure you get a proper torque wrench or two if you decide to do your own wrenching. I don't use anything but Snapon, had too many bad experiences with Craftsman tools. It's handy also to have a inch lb torque wrench, for lower torque ranges like the strut tower bolts. And a large torque wrench for tougher bolts.


Oh yeah, I didn't use a spring compressor at all. After years of screwing around with 600 lb spring on Porsche GT 3 supercup race cars, the Toyota springs were under very light load in comparison. I had the shock end wedged against something and then just broke the shock bolt loose with an impact, just use your hand to hold to top perch in place when it breaks loose, no big deal. Pretty weak if you asked me.

 

LOL! Trust me, the Toyota mod parts are very affordable compared to the jacked up prices of the European cars. When I saw the price of some of the parts I started to laugh. Prius owners are really lucky to be able to enjoy all the fun without breaking the bank.

FWIW, one Ferrari 3 piece wheel is $2500 each. 4 TRD Pruis Plus wheel all 4 was $1250.......

 

It's a mid rise scissor lift, of the $30k worth of tools I have that was the best investment I've ever made.

Trust me, you don't want to touch the Ferrari. The piece of shit Italian car breaks just sitting in the garage, and every time when something breaks it is over 4 digit worth of parts. The Italians should just stick with making suits, shoes and purses. Nothing else, because they have no business in making cars, as their cars are the biggest piece of junk in the world!

 

Bill, my friends call me Mr. P-car because of my knowledge and experience with the good old air-cooled 911s. I've written a lot of DIY tech articles that's published in many places. Hence the name Mr. P-car, as P = Porsche. Now, it works for the Prius too. P=Pruis. Here is the web site I started back in 1997. p-car.com main page Take a look at the DIY section then you will know what I mean. I have a pretty complete set of tools and can fabricate just about anything. One of my other hobby is TIG welding, specifically stainless steel. And a plasma cutter comes in handy for a lot of fab work too. I get a lot of Porsches that comes into my garage at my house (I have a lift) for engine out services. It got to a point where the back log was 6 month long, I guess because I only charge $80 / hour. I've since turned away all service and repair related work, no time. Too busy with my day job (pill pusher), and kids. So, if you want to call me p-car, that's ok too. Since that's the name of my web site. BTW, jerry seinfeld is one of my customer.

As for the brand of parts on the under brace I went with Cusco. Why? Because it's made in Japan by Japanese. Strut tower brace, I went with Tanabe. No reason, just because it was cheap. As for the offsets, I have no idea and I don't care to know. That's why I went with the TRD Prius Plus wheels, they spent the time figuring out what's the best for the Prius so... why bother.

Good luck with your upgrades.

I am not planning to do any external additions, I want the prius to stay as stock externally as possible. The true meaning of an ultimate sleeper.

With years of road course track experiences, I've been really taken people by surprise in the Prius. And I love it.

 

Side note. Wife called me from the Prius today (Hands free), thanking me for making these mod to the car. I asked why? She said the car feels much faster now, she said normally it takes forever for the car to hit 75, now it hits 80 very quickly. She asked, did any of the performance mods you did increase the power to the car? I told her "Yes". (I lied)

I told her to enjoy!

 

LOL! Yes!

 

215/45 17 which is the recommended size to maintain correct speedo reading. Our MPG ranges from 37-41, but remember my wife have a lead foot, she pretty much drives it like a Porsche.

 

Yes, the TRD springs were shorter, so I just used one hand to push the spring perch down and the other hand tighten the bolt with an impact gun. I stopped as soon as I felt resistance with the impact and tighten the bolt with a torque wrench to spec. after the shocks were installed in the car lowered on the ground.