So since MOST of my build was on the old SK site and Cardomain, i have siphoned off those and copied them here! Enjoy! (PS I do still have this in my garage…eventually itll get rebuilt even better!!)\
Some link sand photos might not work, i will update them as i can with the originals
Old Cardomain post:
Intro
I would like to start by saying this is my car, an 01 kia rio, and ive had it for 6 years now and i wouldn’t trade it for anything. this was my daily driver and i’ve only been modding it since Dec. 2008. The first stuff i did to the car is minor stuff like on Jan 2nd-5th 2008 i had it painted from the stock white to a burnt orange (04 mazda GW) color as you can see. As to my knowledge this is the only Kia Rio with this specific color and only one of a very select few(under 75) in orange. that was mostly because i love the color Burnt orange and the white started to look drabby and rusty. when i bought the car the hood had a HUGE dent in it from being backed into by a semi, so when they painted it they threw on a new hood too.
Like i said all this ive done to the car has been in the last, 22 months or so. i take GREAT pride in owning this Rio and hope to eventually have the fastest most respected kia rio in the world. it takes alot of balls to roll in a rio…literally not 1 day goes by when im not called stupid, honked at, or tried to be raced as a joke. this is my baby and if you dont respect what ive done to her then you obviously dont appreciate cars as much as i/others do or at all…
CURRENTLY I am working on saving money to overhaul the engine. I am storing it until i can get the cash to buy the parts and such. Soon i will post pictures of the teardown progress 
To date ive done: megan racing 4-2-1 headers; Custom 2.25" headerback exhaust w/Cherrybomb Muffler and Focuz motorsoprt Fart can; custom CAI w/OBX intake filter; 7point groundwire harness; NGK iridium spark plugs; drilled and slotted rotors; better brake pads; Custom (04 Mazda GW) paint job; APC Type A wing painted flat black; Black side door moldings; JVC Head unit; 2 Nitro amps; full 10 speaker stereo system(2 sony xplode subs in a custom box, 4-2way 6.5" door and rear speakers, 4-300W tweeters, and more to come!); LED undercar ground effects; Sunpro volt and AF ratio gauges and “A” piller pod…just to name most…
My awards and recognition’s!
StreekKiaz ROTM July 2011!
MOG ROTW March 7-14th 2010!
Most current full body shots!
On 12/29/09 a Trash truck was backing up our dead end road and didn’t catch my car in time and backed right into the side of it…Here is the result…and a $2475.85 bill to the insurance of the trash company.
FINALLY on 1/18/09 i got my car back and they fixed it up very good lol, ive already swapped the bezels in the lights but dont have those pic’s just yet.
Here (left) you can see they painted the stripe on and here (right) you can see it kinda matches, the best they could, the rest of the car.
Please vote…
on these 2 rims!! post your vote in a comment or message! im deciding between these 4 for my car, the color in the pic’s is the red on rio’s since mine is custom this is the closest to mine. mind you my car will be lowered 1.5 before these are put on too.
Rim 1 (left) and Rim 2 (right)
Thanks! i hope to get these by this fall!
Here i had to replace my gauge cluster because it spedo went out…i decided to get a new one with an RPM gauge on it…
Old one
New one installed
its a cluster off an 02 rio-manual and the ODO. read 47,422 when i got it. mine read 88,117 when i took it out just in-case you wanted to know exactly what i had on it and dont think im trying to “put less miles” on my car.
I do everything here (around 90-95%) and its pretty much just for my own personal gain in car experence and to try to beef up this whimpy little rio.
special thanks to Chris who i give alot of the credit to for helping me out.
Thanks to my grandpa for his support and his knowladge.
and thanks to my old shop teacher Mr Johnston for lettin me use the shop while i was in highschool.
Another note to veiwers most all the pic’s are takin with my moms camrea, which is amazing! so if you click on the pic’s they get huge. just an FYI
The Stereo System
Part 1: the stereo
(9/24/09) my car got broken into and they got the stereo half out before they gave up so im installing a steel cable in the back and locking it to my car. if they try that agian theyll have to destroy the stereo to get it out…
My current Stereo is the JVC KD-HDR50
it has a…
Day color mode (Headlights off)
Night color mode(Headlights on)
Menu color mode (gray/lightblue)
This is a run thu of what the demo looks like…these are just a cupple of the over 30,000 diffrent colors you can get by custom tuning the color!!
Heres a list of specks:
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General features:
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CD receiver with built-in MOSFET amplifier (20 watts RMS CEA-2006/50 peak x 4 channels)
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built-in HD Radio tuner
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plays CDs, CD-Rs, and CD-RWs (including discs loaded with MP3 and WMA files)
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Variable-Color Illumination (29 preset or up to 30,000 user set)
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detachable face
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remote control
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Audio features:
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iEQ 7-band equalizer
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iTunes Tagging — tag songs on HD Radio stations for future download from iTunes
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Expandability:
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compatible with optional JVC iPod adapter, Bluetooth adapter, satellite radio, CD changer
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inputs: front-panel USB and auxiliary inputs, optional rear aux input
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outputs: 4-channel preamp outputs (front, sub)
Part 2.1: The Speakers
My current set up is 2 Dual 5.25" SBX554 and a set of BOSS CH6500 6.5" 2-Way 400W Slim Car Speakers.
Here is the pic of the dual’s
Heres a pic of the New Boss in the passenger door
Features:
4-Way Speakers
Brushed metalized silver polypropylene cone
Treated long throw surrounds1/2" Mylar tweeters
Dual Piezo tweeters
150WATT each
12v DC blue illumination (illumiNITE Technology)
Part 2.2: Crossover’s
These are a pair of Memphis 2-way crossovers.
They have 1 input and 2 outputs.
one for tweeter and one for mid
There Memphis 15-PR1.
I decided no tto have them viewable atm so there just chillin behind the stereo…i might move them somewhere eventually.
Part 3: Sub’s
here is the first major build for the subs…currently im undergoing a second rebuild of the trunk to make it more professional and custom looking! ill have pic’s up when i get it a bit compleated.
i have 2 Chepo Sony 1200WATT Xplode’s hopefully this summer i can get some better ones.
only ones in the car at the moment but soon when i get the fiberglass boxes done there will be both.
Here is the progress of the Fiberglass box’s…i still have the bottem and another coat of fiberglass to do till i sand em down and piant them.
Im AGIAN redoing the sub enclosures to give them more compresion room for better bass. Here is the progress so far! i have to layer a layer of resin tonight or tomorrow then i start fiberglassing!
The amps will probally be going in that flat space in front of the subs
Part 4: Amp’s
here are my 2 Nitro 1000WATT Amps. these are the bomb. there a SUPURB mono amp, but lacks when bridged.id have to say that these beat the hell out of any other 1000watt amp ive heard around here except the insignia i gave my friend, he swapped coils in it so now its closer to 2000 so it dont really count.
Features:
1000 Watts
Super High Fidelity Sound
2 Ch Bridgeable Amplifier
Wire Bass Remote W/LED (see pic)
Built-in Full Crossover
Variable Low Pass Filter (LPF) 30Hz-250Hz
Variable High Pass Filter (HPF) 50Hz-1KHz
Variable Bass Boost (0-18dB)
Variable Gain Control
2-8 Ohm Load Capability
Mosfet Regulated Power Supply (PWM)
3-Way Protection With LED Indicator
Frequency Response 20Hz-30KHz
Less Than 0.03% THD
High/Low Impedance Input
45° Power & Speaker Connector
Gold Plated RCA, Power & Speaker Terminals
Dual Color Power/Protection Status LED
Blue Interior Illumination
Part 5: Tweeters
- Heres the first 2 sets of my tweeters, one on each front door and one on each “B” pillar…1 more set to go!
Drivers side
Passenger side
“B” pillar tweeters
drivers side
passengers side
Mod’s
Here is all the Mod’s (so far) that i have done to the Rio.
every one of these except the header and part of the brakes ive done 100% myself.
first off heres the most recent pics of the engine bay. i just cleaned it out before i finish the painting so it loos REALLY nicee
Part 1: Custom Intake.
this is my new intercooler kit i got for 80 bucks!(lov ebay it is your friend!) atm i am making it into a custom CAI for my car as you can see below
Just so you know this is just temporary till i get my new filter then im doing a little re-vamp
heres it being set up
heres down in the hole where the filter sits…that hole was a bitch to make…
heres the whole thing in these
Heres some pic’s with the new filter and a little bit more fitted above the MAF.
Part 2: Megan Racing 4-2-1 Header.
Heres my header (not so shiny anymore lol). when they say it only takes an hour to instal them, think agian. it took me and 2 friends 5 hours in the school shop to take the old one off and put the new one on.
Part 3: Header back exhaust
Here is my full header back 2.25" exhaust with a Cherry Bomb Muffler and a Focuz motorsport fart can on the back! yea it looks crappy but i think i spent about 15 bucks on the whole thing (got the pipe for free, the Cherrybomb for 5, and the extra clamps little bit more pipe and stuff for around 10)
Here is a quick vid of my new exhaust. now dont worry the white clouds are from it being cold not oil lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pisVzhHoWQ8
i also did all the welding myself so its not great but its good forbeing a flexcore welder…
Heres the old pipe…now that its out it looks sooo dinky! lol
Pic from under the front bumper…
Heres a spot where it didnt fit up at so i spent like 3 hours trying to get it to fit right but hey it works now!
Sits a little lower…and fits just perfect…
Yea this is upside down but its all the end components…Plus the Cherry Bomb!
Part 4: New Brakes and Rotors.
Me and my grandpa over about a 3hour time span(first time ive done this and hes an american car guy) replaced my horribly worn down rotor(pic’s below) and brake pads which had no pad left…anyways new drilled and slotted rotors and scorched pad r on and work AMAZING!
still working amazing too and hardly any brake fade!
Heres the rotors on the floor before the install
Heres the brake and the rotor on the passanger side ready for the wheel
the new brake pads and componants
Driver side without the rotors and pads on
diffrence between new and old
how bad my passenger rotor was…theres less than 1/16th inch left on the inside of the rotor…when i saw this it scared the shit out of me that i was THAT close.
brake rebuild kit
Just a pic outside my grandpas grage after the install
Some info on the brakes and rotors
Top Brakes specialize in high performance and high quality replacement brake parts. Top Brakes performance rotors, brake pads and stainless steel lines meet or exceed OEM specification. Our drilled and slotted brake rotors offers:
- stock size replacements which fit existing stock calipers and pads with no modification
- specifically to help remove water, dirt, and brake dust build-up between the brake pads and rotors
- efficient ventilation keeping the rotors approximately 200 degrees cooler
- specifically designed to run cooler and promote better braking in wet and dry conditions
- precisely drilled and balanced by CNC machine to ensure highest quality
- disperses heat for less brake fade, warping, and promotes longer brake life
- cross drilled holes are chamfered, so they are less likely to crack
- Zinc plating protects the rotors from rusting on the hubs, slots, and vents of the rotors.
All Posi-Quiet friction compounds have been specifically formulated to match original equipment. All pads feature a positive molding process which eliminates any impurities in the friction compound, ensuring consistent pedal feel and stopping performance:
- Highest quality, O.E. designed shims reduce pad vibration ensuring noise-free braking
- All Posi Quiet friction compounds are 100% asbestos free
- Positive Molding provides a more stable friction consistency, ensuring better braking performance
- Extraordinary wear and fade resistance means superior braking performance for all driving styles
- Posi-Quiet fiction formulas create less dust, thus keeping wheels cleaner
Part 5: Eibach Springs!
Bearings replaced! springs and struts are done! just waiting on a camera to take pics of the final product! lol
heres some pics of it lowered compaired to what it was in similar shots from before
Part 6: Performance chip…
this is more like a gas chip here but did give me a tad little tiny bit of hp…like maybe 1/2 to 1HP gain in the mid range. i did though get about a 3 MPG gain! which was kewl…over all for the 35 bucks i spent im suprised at the gain. eventually il get a pic up but its not too imporntant atm.
Part 7: Turbo! (future thing)
So on christmas i got a twin turbo set and they came off of a used 2.0L japanese engine.(thats all the specifics they gave) were thinking by tracing the production codes there off an older subi…One is a vf13 one is a vf14. Theres zero shaft play in one and the other needs a rebuild and they have about 50,000 miles on them. i know alot but i mean…its a turbo i got for 60 bucks you cant beat that. what my plan is (so far) is to just turbo, but this will be a long process of testing and tuning and wont be done for at least a year if not 2. im in the process of looking for a donor Rio to do all the testing and fitting on.
Interior
Part 1: Interior color shift
Im painting all the gray peices (doors, dash, and rear dash) in flat black…the fabric and black plastic peices (dash around gauges and stereo, side mirror adjusters and rear mirror) will be orange. Here is what ive done so far!
Here is all the dash basically compleate…theres a cupple little peices that have to be touched up but other than that its done.
And the back doors…hopefully i can get that white painted black this jan.
Here you can see the door panel finished (fabric will probally be redone) and how well the colors match
Here are some pics of the progress of painting the peices. i did all the dash thats black in the car. only a slight bit of overspray got on the windsheild lol. but its cleaned off now…
Heres the rear dash and doors
Part 2: Gauges
I installed a 2 gauge pod on the A-piller. it consists of my old Sunpro volt meter and a new fuel air ratio gauge.
The left pic here is a little blurry but you can see how they illuminate at night.
Now i have also switched out the bulbs in the cluster to bright blue LED’s
Part 3: Upholstry
Im starting a new project on my upholstery. have a basic draw up i did here and all the fabric to do it (and my door fabric finally) and it shoul dbe done in no time!! im also now looking into racing seats too but my back seats will stay like this…
my floors and celing will be black.
Part 4: Aux. power sources (2)
Im putting in Auxiliary power sources in my car. one by my bass knobs in the front and one in the back seat area.
Heres the 2 things i got.
cheap upgrade…i got these at walmart for like 5 bucks each.
Part 5: Pedals
Heres my pedals wiped clean from the winter crap off my shoes
Part 6: cobra Radar Detector
works so well…picked it up onsale at the sears closing sale lol
so this here was stolen on 9/24/09 and i havent replaced it yet…i might get a better one when i get the muhla but i have other bigger performance things to do first!
Part 7: Fire Extinguisher
might as well lol gotta be safe!
Exterior
Part 1: Window tint
Im doing this by myself with a precut window tint pacage for 26 bucks! i dont even have to say were i got it lol…ebay…its very decent for the price but man for 26 bucks im def. not complaning…
as of right now i got the 2 rear door windows done and the little ones right by them…it got cold then warm so i have to wait to finish the rear windsheild and front doors.
Part 2: decal’s
Finally got the new decals done!!
Megan Racing Decal’s
KFX performance small decal’s
CarDomain Decal’s
Shell advanced decal’s
NOTE*** i WILL be redoing these…this was an experement of what i could do on a plotter my perent has for scrapbooking so they didnt turn out so good BUT! i will have new ones within a few days ehre, hang tight lol
Eibach decal’s
KYB decal’s
pic’s will be here soon! just havent had a good camera…
NGK spark plug decal’s
i put these on the wing sides…its about the only place they fit. ive also updated these when i repainted my wing.there now black outlines.
Metro restyling Decal’s
these guys sell me vinyl for my self made decals and they are amazin!
Street Kiaz Decal’s
I ordered a pacage but havent recieved it yet but there will be a large rear windsheild decal and 2 smaller decals, one on each rear door.
(Pic’s soon)
And Heres what the Small Decals looked like before…
KFX performance windsheild decal
Here is my KFX performance windsheild decal!!
TopLine Customs Decal
TopLine Customs is me and Chris’s auto customs car club we do out of my garage and this is our Decal! check out our website Here
Flat Black vinyl strip
Here is a flat black vinyl strip down the molding on my doors to clean up the horrible paint job that macco did. Im currently replacing the vinyl with paint! heres the old pic’s followed by the new painted ones
Old strip…
and heres the current progress of the painted moldings! it was snowing (wierd for after a day that hit 60’s lol) so the snow kinda makes it look funky…
As you can see here the tape kinda let the primer leak through a tad…ill be touching this up when it stops snowing lol…
Heres a Special Decal work i did for my Best Friend Matt Stawniak who died of suicude in 2005…
Part 3: Canard’s
Here are my current Canard’s…not much but they def. accent my new colored lights! they also give a slight bit of added downforce on the highway which is a plus. after the accident (12/29/09) they re painted my front bumper and one of the canards wasent tightened down all the way and flew off at somepoint sooo the next set of these is gona be carbon fiber ones and tightened down lol…
Part 4: Wing
Here is my new APC Type A wing!
also on this day(4/14/09) i washed and waxed my car so shes extra beautiful in these pic’s
right out of the box
Placing it correctly…the first time!
Text break lol
Drilling the holes…didnt like the idea but it turned out wayy better than expected!
fitting a bolt and nut…
i think this is a Kick Ass Pic of me and my car…
Tightning down the bolts…
Partially Finished Product!
Also a great thanks to RioRcR for the info on how to make it sit right! your a great help man!
After the install i decided im gona match it with the color scheme of my car so first step…flat black…
second step…the orange on it…i did it a cupple days before it was raining, just didnt have the camera at that time. also this same orange is the orange im doing all my interior in and the engine bay orange.
And here for anyof you guys out there who have an APC Type A and a rio heres how to make it sit right…(thanks agian RioRcR!)
After much rock salt hitting the wing it started to chip apart on the sides and main wing span so i decided to sand it compleatly down and repaint the whole thing, and also add new NGK decals to match…
Part 6: Front Accents
Changed the grill color to Flat black and meshed the front bumper holes…hopefully ill get the grill meshed too eventually. also after i did this i painted the KIA in it body color orange.
And i decided that id mesh the grill in and put the “Rio” emblem from the trunk on it.
Lighting
this is the newest section i just added recently due to my exterior page getting a little long…enjoy!
Part 1: Undercar LED’s
here i put in 4 LED bars from a place in Lincoln NE with a control box. its my ground EFX kit!
heres the box, its got around 7 diffrent light combos including a steady on mode like you see in the pic’s and diffrent flashing patterns
Part 2: Interior lighting
First step: gauges
cleared the needles and installed blue LED bulbs!
Part 3: Clean/Color lights
I ordereda new passenger light to replace the broken one and so today (11/12/09) i got it, colored the bezels in the new passenger light and the old driver light, cleaned the old drivers light too. i did the bezels in the old passengers light too just to have a spare…you can never have to many spares!
New Light! ($33)
Here i sanded, 2 coats of primer, and 2 coats of Flat Black.
Putting them back together…
And heres the finished product
Part 3.5: Install HID headlights
And so i finally got a HID kit for my car (eneded up being 60 bucks!) and right now im unpacking and laying it out.
Heres the ballasts
The HID lights (color temp 10,000K) “cool blue”
and a few random pics
Heres the pic’s of the HID’s installed, the wiring to them, and pic’s of them on!
PIc’s of the relay and balasts
Light and lights on
Lights from drivers point of view
Part 4: Blacked out taillights
here me and my buddy chris did our tail lights and my car looks freakin evil!! Luckly my bud beat the system and there not illegal in bellevue so i can have em. he got pulled over and ticketed only to find out theres no laws agianst them here!
Future Things To Do on my Rio
2010 is the year of suspension for me…i have already done the springs and struts and have started on my Tower bar. the things left to do are lower control arm upgrade and anti sway bars to stiffen things up a bit. then rims and tires as well if money permits.
Just a look ahead as well at the end of 2010 (or whenever i happen to get the doner rio) i will start a second engine to mod outside of the car. i will compleatly strip it down, have it sand blasted if needed, paint it, get new forged pistons, Have the head P&P’ed as described just below this, B.B.T.B., cams, Head studs, get a manual tranny and a new ECU to go with (which im hopeing to have redone to raise revs and stuff) all new wire harness for the new tranny, rebuild the tranny if needed, then the last thing i have planned is to turbo charge the setup…If i do this right i will have well more than 220HP and the fastest rio out there…this has already takin much time to just begin to plan out and im sure will dominate a good year of my life sometime starting in the next 2 years but im going to do it…
i already have a turbo which im in the process of doing research on and peicing together a header and downpipe for it (it will speed up when i get my donor rio). After that we have to make a hoodscoop for the top mount intercooler whitch will go in the place where the stock intake box sat and will dump right into the MAF and BBTB. after this i will get a megasquirt to dial in the fuel timing (ill have bigger injectors by then too) and all that then tune till perfect.
after all this im looking at pushing aprox. 220-240ish HP at 6-9LB of boost or if i do a bigger front mount intercooler with the combined turbos i can push possibly up to 14lb’s boost and take the HP up to aprox. 260-280 but that all depends on how i tune and construct.
Engine Mods
Port and Polish
My buddy chris is going to school to be a mechanic and he said he can take the donor head i will get to school and there gona p&p it for me…along with this im going to have the cam’s that come with the head reground (see below) and get new APR head studs, port matched intake manifold, and BBTB (see below)
Colt Cam’s Street Grind
These have 330 lift 330 duration hopefully this next summer!! along with a P&P
Big Bore Throttle Body
i have the TB right now just waiting to ge tthe mulah to get it bored out to 56MM
Suspension Mods
Strut Bar im custom making mine and it will look just like the one below…
Rear Sway bar, hopefully i can get this this fall.
Exterior Mods
right now for exterior im redoing my decals to make them flow better with the car and not look so bad…
Interior Mods
Currently im getting custom upholstered seats and finishing up my custom painting…
PowerDrive
When i talk about working on my car in powerdrive and in the shop at school this is what the class actually is…in this class we build a complete electric car from scratch…we design, build, weld, drive, test, everything…and here are some pics of it and the races with some other cars that compete.
at the begining of the class the first question is what have you personally from scretch build something made it work and won something? none of us and most all of you people reading this say no. well now us in this class can all say yes.
our car is S42 in case you couldent figure that one out lol
Our team in the manditory pit stop