Changing the Ignition Ring Light

People do many different things to their car based on how they use it. Some people strip their car and spend thousands of dollars making their car lighter. While others do the opposite, they dress up their car with leather, suede, lights, subwoofers, and DVD players.

In the past, the Subaru Imprezas were illuminated in a sea of green gauges and controls. When the 2004 Subaru WRX STIs came to the market it had come with red gauges, but green was left everywhere else. This trend carried on to the 2007 STIs. Unfortunately, the years from 2004 to 2007 were caught in a transformation stage. By the year 2008, the STIs were fully illuminated with red gauges, dials and buttons. They even had red footwell lights equipped to illuminate when the doors opened. Needless to say, this brought a greater sense of harmony for the interior.

Many of the 2004-2007 owners have already converted their interior to illuminate full red, and boy does it look awesome.

This mod is just one small step for you to complete that red look. When you open the driver door, the ignition ring illuminates for the ease of the driver. This mod looks incredible during the night, and I suggest that you try this out if you have nothing better to do!

As I have mentioned in the video, you can easily find these kind of light bulbs online from most web lighting stores. You can even find them at local electronic stores. However, after doing lots of price matching, I came to the conclusion that eBay was by far the cheapest. Look for deals, and check the shipping price! Popular online lighting stores charge you $2 for the light bulb, but depending where you live, their shipping fee is as high as $10! I bought TWO light bulbs for $1 and free shipping. Incase one is defective, it is always nice to have a back up.

Well, I hope this video was helpful for my fellow Zealots. I have plans to convert the full interior myself to illuminate red. If you guys are interested, please be sure to subscribe to the Youtube Channel, and join MZ's Facebook page for updates.

Happy modding!

One dollar mod, worth a million bucks?

As winter approaches, everything from Machine Zealots will be slowing down a bit. Expect the worst, but if you want premium content, I'll still try to deliver as much as I can. Frankly, I don't think I can live without modifying, or making videos anymore.

I had originally wanted to produce and upload an episode of Machine Zealots every week. However, I soon realized that if I had done it that way, it wasn't enough time to produce polished and consistent content. Therefore, I am aiming for a biweekly ritual: Shoot, edit, produce, and deliver.

Most of the time, I am waiting for packages to come in the mail for me to get started. Then it's all about arranging people to help out, participating in the videos, and the planning!

The next DIY mod. Costed me $1.00 including shipping.

I will be working on the next two videos sometime this week and possibly the next. Everything is circumstantial though, if this $1 mod isn't defective that is. I've been looking at the statistics, and it seems like Machine Zealots is averaging around three subscribers per episode uploaded. I just wanted to take this time out to say thank you for your support. Your subscriptions, comments, and continual support is priceless to MZ.

Rays Engineering Lug Nuts

On the previous post, I wrote about how these Rays Engineering lug nuts compared to the imitations. Today, I'm here to tell you that these are actually a lot lighter than most lug nuts that come stock with your car.

Obviously, you would think the weight savings on something as small as lug nuts really doesn't make that much of a difference, but when you are shedding unsprung weight, every little bit makes a difference. At least that's my justification for buying these "expensive" lug nuts. These are usually sold for anywhere around $200 to $250. I was lucky enough and got hooked up with a huge discount, and ended up paying only $165 for these.

For my Subaru STI, I was actually a bit suprised to see that the stock lug nuts were extremely light!

50 mm Rays lug nut: 30 grams (1.06 oz)

19 mm Stock STI lug nut: 25 grams (0.88 oz)

Rays lock Nut: 28 grams (0.99 oz)

Stock STI lock nut: 47 grams (1.66 oz)

Total set of Rays lug and lock nuts: 588 grams (20.1 oz)

Total set of Stock STI lug and lock nuts: 592 grams (20.1 oz)

Yes, so eventually, I ended up with almost identical weights. However, because I like the look of the extended lug nuts, I think it is still a worth while mod. Puyang's purchase for his Honda Prelude was much better. The Prelude's stock lug nuts weigh 50 grams (1.76 oz) each!

I always try to make sure that every mod I buy is lighter than stock, if possible. After the amount of money you spend on your car, you want to make sure you end up with something faster and lighter.

The Real Deal

About a month ago, I bought a set of Rays Extended Lug Nuts which turned out to be fakes. I was quite upset that there are actually counterfeit companies trying to ruin the names of high end aftermarket companies. The good thing is, I had documented the fake Rays Lug Nuts in as much detail as possible so I had something to compare when I got my real ones.

The authentic packaging looks identical to the fake ones. Hard to tell from here, but have no fear.

The authentic lugs have identical sheens to them. Whereas the fake ones have a different sheen between the lugs and the locks.

The laser etching is in the center, as opposed to the fake ones which are all over the place.

The color goes all the way inside the lug nuts. The fake ones fade out.

The key is nice and shiny inside, the fake ones don't have this mirror shine.

Each one of these lug nuts look incredible compared to the fake ones. Keep your eyes peeled ladies and gentlemen.

Initially, these lug nuts feel slightly heavier than the fake ones. This might be because the fake lug nuts were made out of pop can aluminum, who knows? Eitherway, I weighed these authentic lug nuts, so if you guys are wondering if your lug nuts are fake, you can compare the weight.

The authentic lug nuts are 30 g each. (1.06 oz)

The authentic Rays locks are 28 g each. (0.99 oz)

All 20 lugs and locks weighed 588 grams (20.74 oz), giving them an average of 29.4 grams each. (1.04 oz)

To be honest, because of the fake lug nut fiasco, I was sort of paranoid about these being fake as well. However, I followed Rays Engineering's suggestion and looked through their authorized dealer list, and bought it from one of those shops. The lugs costed me $167 before taxes, and for the prices I've seen online, I think I got a killer deal. I would avoid eBay if possible, it's very hard to tell if they sell real or fake ones. Use this Rays Engineering authorized dealer list to buy real products!

I'll be making a video on these lug nuts in a week, so stay tuned.

MZ Apparel Design: Fall Line Up

We are quickly approaching another grueling winter this year. For some of you, this won't really make a difference, especially my dear readers living in places near the equator. However, other than just modding, or joining events, I could always blog and design. =D

I've been saying in the past that I would be designing new stuff for MZ's apparel store, and I finally found some inspiration to do so.

Front and back printing on Subaru's World Rally Blue.

Now before you say anything, I will admit straight up that this design is heavily inspired by the U.S.A.F. logo. In each of my designs, I always try to add a depth to the design itself. Since Subaru came from a rich background of making airplanes, I thought it was quite fitting that my new designs be Air Force inspired.

Also, who can deny that turbo chargers sound like Jet Fighters taking off?

The new designs are available in black or white, and also with or without "Machine Zealots" and "F.I. Pilot" (Forced Induction Pilot). Remember, you can always build your own clothing in MZ's online clothing store. =D

Thanks for the support and love you guys!

Summer Time BBQ

I've been going to Subaru mini meets every week for the past five weeks or so. It has been a good experience, most of the people I've met are very knowledgeable, and extremely friendly. Apparently I got my Subaru just in time for an Annual Subaru Summer meet and BBQ. This year it was held at Rocket Rally Racing, and although I was told that this BBQ was smaller than the previous one, I still had a great time.

At Rocket Rally Racing

On the morning of August 8th, 2011, around 10:00 AM, many of us met up at a convenient plaza right off the highway. At around 10:30 AM, all of us fired up our engines and headed out to Rocket Rally. The drive there was simply beautiful. The scenery was painted with mountains, trees, tight mountain turns and highway straights. At some points we were driving along cliff sides that oversaw large bodies of water, simply breathtaking. I would have included more driving shots in the video to show you guys the scenery, but sadly that would be more than 45 minutes of footage.

Once we got there, we took a tour of their facilities, and it was quite impressive. Many of the Rocket Rally staff were also there to talk to us about their projects, cars, and other things.

I want to drive this car... but I don't think I can handle it!

Pat Richard's Subaru Rally Car!

I wish... I wish...

After the tour, and our light introductions, we all gathered around the grill and cooked our lunches. In the afternoon, we gathered around for a raffle and prize drawings. Sadly to say, I didn't get anything =(. Oh well, there is always next year! Overall, I think everyone had a great time, and the weather held up nicely for us too. Can't wait for next summer!

If you guys want more pictures taken that day, you can find them on the Machine Zealots Facebook page.

Cheers!