the Tibby Blog

**WhiteStripes** · 09-29-2008, 10:05 PM

Soooooo, figured I'd start one of these myself.

The car I had before this was a 1999 Trans Am WS6. Unfortunately I totaled it. So that left me on the market for a new car. I immediately thought I wanted something luxury, so I started looking at V8 A6's and used 5 series Bimmers. Low and behold Uncle Sam decided he wanted us to start paying over 4 bucks a gallon of gasoline, so I changed my mind, especially noting that like my previous gas guzzling V8, these luxo boats took premium.

I quickly started looking at Civics and Corollas, and test drove them here and there. I decided that I had to own a car with at least one testicle, so I changed my course yet again. I happened to find a nice 2001 Prelude Type SH, but after a brief test drive and a I'll come back with the money tomorrow, the guy sold it out from under me that same day. I was pretty upset, but I remembered another car that I had always liked. The Hyundai Tiburon.

I always thought it was a true diamond in the rough. The car seemed to sit on top of Hyundai's lineup as one of the most reliable cars they made, as well as the most attractive. I remembered my junior year in high school a fellow showed up with a turbo charged i4 Tib that had a pretty nice little set-up, and I remembered it was pretty quick too. So I decided to start looking for my Tib.

I knew I wanted to get a V6 since I wasn't planning on turboing the car anytime soon, due to college kid budget dilemmas, and that I'd like to try and get a manual version in the Orange Crush color. However, luck would have it that I find too good of a deal on an automatic car in Moonlit Blue. The internet ad for it said it was a 2006 with 22k miles for 13 grand. I promptly went down to the dealership where it was at, and found the car right out front. As I approached it, my heart sank as I saw the window sticker said $18,900.00. I had printed out the add, so I compared VIN's and sure enough it was the same car. About this time I was approached by a salesperson and asked if I wanted to test drive it. I said sure and he ran and got the keys.

Now inside the car I was admiring all the little things of a newer car that none of my previous cars had. Digital climate control, an in dash 6 disc changer, a moon roof, and even the trip-tronic automatic transmission. Starting it up, it had a nice low hum to the exhaust that was rather reminiscent of a Porsche, though not quite as crisp or loud. I took it out for a spirited little jaunt and really liked what I had experienced. Obviously it was no where near as fast or powerful as the Trans Am, but it did have some torque, unlike the ball less Civics I had previously driven. It did however stop better, and handle better than the Trans Am. It just seemed more nimble. This can most likely be attributed to the 600lbs less this car weighed than the Poncho, but still, I liked it.

Upon arriving back at the dealership, I told the salesperson (Dwight) that I liked it, but unless we could do something about the price then there was no deal. He assured me that it was listed at a reasonable price and I told him that they had it listed at a different price that I felt was much, much more reasonable. His response: "Oh?" I pulled out the ad and he overlooked it saying it must be wrong, but let's go inside and check.

After waiting in my chair for what seemed ages, he returned and told me we had a deal. I was stoked. Not only was I getting a newer car than most I had seen for sale at dealerships and private party, but I was getting it with less miles for thousands cheaper. I decided that this was the car for me and signed my paperwork.

**WhiteStripes** · 09-29-2008, 10:08 PM

As I was driving it home the next day after finalizing some paperwork, I began to think of all the mods I wanted to do to it.

It had the wheels from the 07-08 models, which I happened to like, so I knew that wasn't going to be my first mod, but new wheels would eventually come down the line. I knew I'd do basic bolt on mods, but I hadn't decided on which brands and what types yet. What I was mainly concerned with was exterior mods for the time being, and getting the stereo from my old car put in. While I did have the premium Infinity sound system, it just couldn't hold a candle to my fully Alpine Type R system.

The Tibby world is one that seems to be pretty heavily dominated with body kits, usually done right at least, but there are still some pretty wild ones. I knew I didn't want to go that route however I wanted my car to look unique.

When I arrived home I immediately hit the web looking for whatever parts I thought I could affix to the car to make a perfect amalgamation of automotive goodness.

This was my blank canvas, just a few days after I bought it.

I had decided that the first round of mods I would do to the car would be new KDM badges, and a short antenna, as well as shaving off the Tiburon badges. Also a billet grille was in the works.

Here we see the Tuscani centercap for the wheel.

And this is the emblem that will replace the H on the trunk and hood.

Next we have the emblem on the car, with the Tiburon and GT badges removed.

And finally the top billet grill mounted. It was too dark for pics by the time I got the bottom one on. But pictures down the line will show you how that looks.

I was pretty satisfied with the look of the car thus far, but obviously it needed a little more.

**WhiteStripes** · 09-29-2008, 10:08 PM

As I was browsing the net one day I came across a little gem that not only did I think was a very sharp mod for the Tib, but also was a pretty uncommon modification as far as the "Tiburon Scene" is concerned. It was a carbon fiber front splitter made by a company called APR. The only problem with the thing was it was going to be about 400 dollars shipped. It is my guess that this is the reason it's not a common mod. For the second time with this car luck seemed to be on my side. I had mentioned that I was looking at the splitter on one of the local sections of a forum, and a member responded that he had one sitting on his floor never used with all the hardware. So we settled on an awesome price and a quick trip to the bank and then Tempe netted me what has to be one of my favorite mods to date. And here she is.

A thread going around on one of the Tiburon forums was pretty much advertising a set of HID lights that could be found on eBay for an amazing price at a great quality, so I hit them up and within 2 days they arrived. After about 30 minutes 4300k HIDs could officially be added to my rapidly growing list of mods.

4th of July was approaching, and I still hadn't done something about the stereo yet. Had the Infinity system been of lower quality I probably would have ripped it out within a week of owning the car, but like I said it was pretty decent so I didn't mind yet. On top of that I needed to order more parts for the install, but that would have to wait for my next check. Payday hit and I got the last of the install parts so it was time to tear out the factory system. We went to work on the car and within 2 days of working in a super cramoed garage we had the car buttoned back up and everything working like a champ.

**WhiteStripes** · 09-29-2008, 10:08 PM

As it stood I was really happy with the way the pieces were falling together. I got some extra cash for a side job I did, so I ordered the KDM aluminum pedals. They came within a few days, and unlike the install of the MBA pedals on my Trans Am, these fit on with no problems what so ever. At the same time I ordered the pedals I decided it was time for my first performance modification. A short ram intake from Injen. They seemed to have the "best" SRI for the Tib, so I pulled the trigger and pressed buy.

Within a few days, the pedals came as was usual with this vendor, which is amazing since they are located in, and do 90% of their business out of Korea.
They are kind of dirty, but you get the idea.

After a week and a half though the intake hadn't shown which was a concern, because the intake was one of the things that shipped directly form a warehouse here in the U.S. Upon contacting the vendor they said it had gotten lost in the mail and they could send me a new one, or give me a refund. I opted to get the new one, so I was back to waiting. Well long story short, I ended up going back and forth with them for about another month and a half before deciding that I would get a different product from them. It seems as if they were having a problem with Injen, and a lot of customers were having problems.

While all the intake ruckus was going down, I had seen a few Tibs with the spoiler removed, and absolutely fell in love with the look. I went out and got the stuff to temporarily remove mine so I could do a trial period and make sure I really wanted it gone. Well sure as shit, I was not going to put it back on there. Here's the result.

So I settled with the KDM vendor and changed my order to a fiberglass roof spoiler since I think it'll go nicely having removed the spoiler. It came in the mail today, and has yet to go on the car, as I am currently pricing body shops to fill the spoiler holes and paint the hatch and roof spoiler.

**mandingomeatsteak** · 09-29-2008, 11:02 PM

Place holder

**WhiteStripes** · 09-29-2008, 11:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mandingomeatsteak

Place holder

Lol thanks ass. Too bad I can't use it.

**Vissionary** · 09-30-2008, 12:01 AM

Lookin sharp brah, although it appears you're missing a pedal

**WhiteStripes** · 09-30-2008, 12:08 AM

Lol sure am. Wanted to get the 6 speed SE, but got too good a deal on this car to pass up.

**420Racer** · 09-30-2008, 01:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vissionary

it appears you're missing a pedal

i was thinking the same thing. looks good tho.

09-29-2008, 10:05 PM	#1 (permalink)
WhiteStripes SOT Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: PHX, AZ Posts: 1,781 gXboxLive Leaderboard: 30^th	the Tibby Blog Soooooo, figured I'd start one of these myself. The car I had before this was a 1999 Trans Am WS6. Unfortunately I totaled it. So that left me on the market for a new car. I immediately thought I wanted something luxury, so I started looking at V8 A6's and used 5 series Bimmers. Low and behold Uncle Sam decided he wanted us to start paying over 4 bucks a gallon of gasoline, so I changed my mind, especially noting that like my previous gas guzzling V8, these luxo boats took premium. I quickly started looking at Civics and Corollas, and test drove them here and there. I decided that I had to own a car with at least one testicle, so I changed my course yet again. I happened to find a nice 2001 Prelude Type SH, but after a brief test drive and a I'll come back with the money tomorrow, the guy sold it out from under me that same day. I was pretty upset, but I remembered another car that I had always liked. The Hyundai Tiburon. I always thought it was a true diamond in the rough. The car seemed to sit on top of Hyundai's lineup as one of the most reliable cars they made, as well as the most attractive. I remembered my junior year in high school a fellow showed up with a turbo charged i4 Tib that had a pretty nice little set-up, and I remembered it was pretty quick too. So I decided to start looking for my Tib. I knew I wanted to get a V6 since I wasn't planning on turboing the car anytime soon, due to college kid budget dilemmas, and that I'd like to try and get a manual version in the Orange Crush color. However, luck would have it that I find too good of a deal on an automatic car in Moonlit Blue. The internet ad for it said it was a 2006 with 22k miles for 13 grand. I promptly went down to the dealership where it was at, and found the car right out front. As I approached it, my heart sank as I saw the window sticker said $18,900.00. I had printed out the add, so I compared VIN's and sure enough it was the same car. About this time I was approached by a salesperson and asked if I wanted to test drive it. I said sure and he ran and got the keys. Now inside the car I was admiring all the little things of a newer car that none of my previous cars had. Digital climate control, an in dash 6 disc changer, a moon roof, and even the trip-tronic automatic transmission. Starting it up, it had a nice low hum to the exhaust that was rather reminiscent of a Porsche, though not quite as crisp or loud. I took it out for a spirited little jaunt and really liked what I had experienced. Obviously it was no where near as fast or powerful as the Trans Am, but it did have some torque, unlike the ball less Civics I had previously driven. It did however stop better, and handle better than the Trans Am. It just seemed more nimble. This can most likely be attributed to the 600lbs less this car weighed than the Poncho, but still, I liked it. Upon arriving back at the dealership, I told the salesperson (Dwight) that I liked it, but unless we could do something about the price then there was no deal. He assured me that it was listed at a reasonable price and I told him that they had it listed at a different price that I felt was much, much more reasonable. His response: "Oh?" I pulled out the ad and he overlooked it saying it must be wrong, but let's go inside and check. After waiting in my chair for what seemed ages, he returned and told me we had a deal. I was stoked. Not only was I getting a newer car than most I had seen for sale at dealerships and private party, but I was getting it with less miles for thousands cheaper. I decided that this was the car for me and signed my paperwork. __________________ SOT- Yeah, that just happened.

09-29-2008, 10:08 PM	#2 (permalink)
WhiteStripes SOT Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: PHX, AZ Posts: 1,781 gXboxLive Leaderboard: 30^th	As I was driving it home the next day after finalizing some paperwork, I began to think of all the mods I wanted to do to it. It had the wheels from the 07-08 models, which I happened to like, so I knew that wasn't going to be my first mod, but new wheels would eventually come down the line. I knew I'd do basic bolt on mods, but I hadn't decided on which brands and what types yet. What I was mainly concerned with was exterior mods for the time being, and getting the stereo from my old car put in. While I did have the premium Infinity sound system, it just couldn't hold a candle to my fully Alpine Type R system. The Tibby world is one that seems to be pretty heavily dominated with body kits, usually done right at least, but there are still some pretty wild ones. I knew I didn't want to go that route however I wanted my car to look unique. When I arrived home I immediately hit the web looking for whatever parts I thought I could affix to the car to make a perfect amalgamation of automotive goodness. This was my blank canvas, just a few days after I bought it. I had decided that the first round of mods I would do to the car would be new KDM badges, and a short antenna, as well as shaving off the Tiburon badges. Also a billet grille was in the works. Here we see the Tuscani centercap for the wheel. And this is the emblem that will replace the H on the trunk and hood. Next we have the emblem on the car, with the Tiburon and GT badges removed. And finally the top billet grill mounted. It was too dark for pics by the time I got the bottom one on. But pictures down the line will show you how that looks. I was pretty satisfied with the look of the car thus far, but obviously it needed a little more. __________________ SOT- Yeah, that just happened. Last edited by WhiteStripes; 09-29-2008 at 11:16 PM.

09-29-2008, 10:08 PM	#3 (permalink)
WhiteStripes SOT Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: PHX, AZ Posts: 1,781 gXboxLive Leaderboard: 30^th	As I was browsing the net one day I came across a little gem that not only did I think was a very sharp mod for the Tib, but also was a pretty uncommon modification as far as the "Tiburon Scene" is concerned. It was a carbon fiber front splitter made by a company called APR. The only problem with the thing was it was going to be about 400 dollars shipped. It is my guess that this is the reason it's not a common mod. For the second time with this car luck seemed to be on my side. I had mentioned that I was looking at the splitter on one of the local sections of a forum, and a member responded that he had one sitting on his floor never used with all the hardware. So we settled on an awesome price and a quick trip to the bank and then Tempe netted me what has to be one of my favorite mods to date. And here she is. A thread going around on one of the Tiburon forums was pretty much advertising a set of HID lights that could be found on eBay for an amazing price at a great quality, so I hit them up and within 2 days they arrived. After about 30 minutes 4300k HIDs could officially be added to my rapidly growing list of mods. 4th of July was approaching, and I still hadn't done something about the stereo yet. Had the Infinity system been of lower quality I probably would have ripped it out within a week of owning the car, but like I said it was pretty decent so I didn't mind yet. On top of that I needed to order more parts for the install, but that would have to wait for my next check. Payday hit and I got the last of the install parts so it was time to tear out the factory system. We went to work on the car and within 2 days of working in a super cramoed garage we had the car buttoned back up and everything working like a champ. __________________ SOT- Yeah, that just happened. Last edited by WhiteStripes; 09-29-2008 at 11:28 PM.

09-29-2008, 10:08 PM	#4 (permalink)
WhiteStripes SOT Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: PHX, AZ Posts: 1,781 gXboxLive Leaderboard: 30^th	As it stood I was really happy with the way the pieces were falling together. I got some extra cash for a side job I did, so I ordered the KDM aluminum pedals. They came within a few days, and unlike the install of the MBA pedals on my Trans Am, these fit on with no problems what so ever. At the same time I ordered the pedals I decided it was time for my first performance modification. A short ram intake from Injen. They seemed to have the "best" SRI for the Tib, so I pulled the trigger and pressed buy. Within a few days, the pedals came as was usual with this vendor, which is amazing since they are located in, and do 90% of their business out of Korea. They are kind of dirty, but you get the idea. After a week and a half though the intake hadn't shown which was a concern, because the intake was one of the things that shipped directly form a warehouse here in the U.S. Upon contacting the vendor they said it had gotten lost in the mail and they could send me a new one, or give me a refund. I opted to get the new one, so I was back to waiting. Well long story short, I ended up going back and forth with them for about another month and a half before deciding that I would get a different product from them. It seems as if they were having a problem with Injen, and a lot of customers were having problems. While all the intake ruckus was going down, I had seen a few Tibs with the spoiler removed, and absolutely fell in love with the look. I went out and got the stuff to temporarily remove mine so I could do a trial period and make sure I really wanted it gone. Well sure as shit, I was not going to put it back on there. Here's the result. So I settled with the KDM vendor and changed my order to a fiberglass roof spoiler since I think it'll go nicely having removed the spoiler. It came in the mail today, and has yet to go on the car, as I am currently pricing body shops to fill the spoiler holes and paint the hatch and roof spoiler. __________________ SOT- Yeah, that just happened. Last edited by WhiteStripes; 09-29-2008 at 11:50 PM.

09-29-2008, 11:02 PM	#5 (permalink)
mandingomeatsteak SOT Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: LA Posts: 907	Place holder __________________

09-30-2008, 12:01 AM	#7 (permalink)
Vissionary SOT Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: SoCal Posts: 45,130 gXboxLive Leaderboard: 43^rd	Lookin sharp brah, although it appears you're missing a pedal __________________ SOT - We'll pull your endocrine system out of your body and make a hat out of it.

09-30-2008, 12:08 AM	#8 (permalink)
WhiteStripes SOT Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: PHX, AZ Posts: 1,781 gXboxLive Leaderboard: 30^th	Lol sure am. Wanted to get the 6 speed SE, but got too good a deal on this car to pass up. __________________ SOT- Yeah, that just happened.

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