Sorry I haven't been updating this, I've been a busy dude, short on time and monies. I have done a few things:
I did happen to pick up a brand new Magnaflow cat back for $200 from Amazon, and it sounds beautiful. A little buzzy (gotta check my clamps) but it sounds right. I love love love it. 11/10 highly recommended.
Also, hit pick n pull and scored a reel light from a GMC Yukon. Mounted it on the underside of the hood, so now I have an underhood light with a 20ft reel. Tore apart one of my many hard drives I have laying around and glued a magnet to the base of the light so it can stick wherever.
Installed a camber bolt on my problem wheel, didn't do s***. Probably did it wrong. Oh well. I'll just have an alignment shop fix it. I'm not getting another hernia from busting bolts at odd angles.
Also got new shoes today, Nankang NS20s in 205/45r16 fashion. These are "good" tires in the sense that they are comfy, grippy, and quiet all for the low price of $80 each mounted/balanced/installed. Not complaining about that. Not track tires, but for spirited driving and daily commuting, they're solid. Any Portland people should really hit the Lovely Tire & Wheel Co, awesome people, awesome prices, awesome service. I was in and out in 30 minutes.
The pleather shift knob finally got too gross for me, so I did a camouflage bandana custom dealio. Looks cool and isn't nasty yet.
Got a Millenia PCV valve and a new grommet, oil consumption has dropped drastically. I was down half a quart after about a month, where I was going through about a quart a week.
Oh story time/epic fail sharing. Pulled the intake to do the VTCS delete and rear motor mount. Having the other 3 mounts in was a ******* pain getting lined up. Also the plastic harness sheath thing that everyone bitches about? Wtf just remove the top nut, pull the harness out, and rotate the sheath/clip to get at the other nut. Then vice grip and wiggle the stud off. Took like 10 minutes and half a beer to figure that one out, but I digress. Removed the intake, removed the VTCS, plugged the hole on the outside for the actuator rod, and popped the thing back in. Then it idled and drove like absolute s***. Engine light going bonkers throwing all sorts of codes, couldn't figure the s*** out. Come to find out, the manifold gasket got nicked going back in and was causing a massive vacuum leak. Replaced the gasket (scraping off 14 year old gasket on a 90 degree day blows s***) and it has been smooth as silk since.
I think that's it? Mainly just tinkering and doing cool things every now and then. I need to tighten my shift linkage, it's sloppyish again. Also my clutch is getting icky, hardcore shudder in traffic if I don't baby it, and the throwout/pilot bearing is rattling. Not cool, man.
If I think of any other dumb s*** I did, I'll let you guys know.