Car upgrades and Temptations concert

A couple of things have been going on lately, so I'll update real quick.  I purchased some new motor mounts for my car a little while back from a Mazda performance company called Race Roots.  They're more of a solid mount than the OEM ones.  I installed those last week.  Wow were they violent at first! The whole car vibrated when the engine was under load.  They've settled a bit since then, and now they're quite a bit more livable than before.  So far I like them, and will probably keep them around.  I ordered a midpipe yesterday from Corksport, because I think my catalytic converter is starting go.  So I figured why the hell not just remove it?  I've been wanting one for a while anyway, so this is basically my excuse for getting it.  I want to eliminate any problems before they occur; I want to keep this car running for as long as it can!  I've heard good things about the Corksport Midpipe though.  They seem to have really good build quality and service from what I hear.  I'm excited for it.

So anyways, while I was away, Candy and I went to our June event!  We went to see The Temptations at Hoyt Sherman Place!  I've been a HUGE Temptations fan ever since I first saw the mini-series back when I was in 7th grade.  I used to memorize all of the routines, and do lip syncs for school and family events.  It was pretty awesome.  Eddie Kendricks was always my favorite.  His voice was just so smooth, and the way he sang Just My Imagination was just beautiful and sexy.  That's my all time favorite song.  So a little info about The Temptations..  Otis Williams is the sole remaining original Temptation.  Paul Williams, David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, and Melvin Franklin all passed away over the years.  Other have filled in, but that was the original group where all the magic happened.  I've been wanting to see them for a while, but never got to it.  Once I heard they were coming to Des Moines again I definitely wanted to see them.  So we bought tickets and it became our event of the month for June.  Our tickets were pretty sweet, right in the center in the 6th row.  I thought they did a great job at the show.  They sang all of the classics, and they did a great job doing it.  They mixed a couple of their newer recordings in the show too, and I was pretty impressed.  The group did really well, and did all of the dance routines to a T.  I was expecting it to be more of a classy and less exciting show, but they ROCKED the house!  I was seriously impressed with how these guys did; it was great.  Here's a video of their closing song.  They did I'm Losing You right after they sang My Girl for their last song.  I thought it was great, here you go:

New Stuff!

An update and it hasn't even been over a month yet!  I'd say that's amazing progress.  The past few weeks have been pretty full of fun and new things.  I've gotten a lot done to the car, Candy and I got our May event done, and a few other noteworthy things have happened along the way.

So first off, Candy and I went to Bella Salon and Day Spa for our event of the month for May.  We got some body treatments in the form of clay mud wraps and also some massages.  On a scale of 1-10 I'd give them an 8.  The massages and body treatments were good, but we had to wait a while in the lobby for them to get ready or something.  We were scheduled for 1:40 but didn't actually go back there until around 2, and I don't like waiting.  The massages and body treatment were great though, so neither of us had any complaints there.

So the past weeks I've gotten my car all done up and officially ready for the Summer.  My wheels that ordered back in February finally came in, and we were actually able to get the suspension put on also.  For the wheels I got Rays Gram Lights 57DR in 18X9.5 +38, and wrapped them in Hankook Ventus V12 Evo tires (245/40/18).  The suspension that I had ordered are Tein S-Tech Springs, and Koni Sport Shocks.  So I got the wheels mounted on last Thursday, and then on Friday my buddy Jimmy and I did the suspension.  I won't bore you with the details, so here are the pictures...

Before:

After:

I really need some center caps, so I'm probably going to get some pretty soon.  I think it looks pretty good so far though.  I'm not sure what else I'll be doing for the rest of the Summer to it...  There's a car show in August that I'll be going to, and I want to get the car ready for it as best as I can.  I have a few things I know that I'll be purchasing to clean it up, but I'm just not sure if I want to buy anything big before then or not...  So far I know I'll be cleaning up the engine bay with a few little things. Black Halo Racing makes an air box tray replacement that I'll be getting.  Since I have the AEM Cold Air Intake, the bottom part of my stock air box is still in there, and it doesn't look very pretty.  So this will make it look a lot cleaner.  I'll probably try and grab a carbon fiber radiator cooling plate just for kicks, and they're not crazy expensive or anything.  I'll probably get a few things for the interior also.  I need a new shift knob, because the stock one is a little faded.  There's also a carbon fiber gauge cluster that would look reeeeaaaally nice in my car.  I'd like to buy an exhaust too, but I'm not sure if that's in the cards for before the car show.  

I did an oil change yesterday, and switched over to some new oil.  It's Idemitsu 10W30.  It's a full synthetic oil made specifically for rotary engines, and should be a decent upgrade from the standard Castrol GTX I was using.  I wanted to switch to a heavier oil, especially since it's Summer now and it's going to get crazy hot.  So I figured I might as well go with something like this.  I also bought a Greddy magnetic oil drain plug to swap out my stock one.  I needed a new washer, so I figured that was a good enough excuse to just buy something nice like this.

http://instagr.am/p/Ln_k8aySNi/

That's all the updates for now.  I'm sure to update again, because Candy and I have our next event of the month coming in a couple of weeks, and I'm certain more will happen between now and then.

Peace out everybody.