Hello All

[SOM3randomDUDE]

Hello all,

I would like to thank everyone for their help fixing my Aveo up. I have been viewing this forum from afar and now I finally decided to make an account, also I'm a member on the FB group.
My first car was an 89 E30 BMW (325is), I never did any work on it other than fluid swaps and such to keep it running. The cluster did not work, it was 250,000+ miles, aftermarket HU, and a bunch of other issues. one off my brakelines broke so I haven't driven it in over 2 years (just can't get rid of it)
My wife has an 03 Mazda6 it is on its 3rd engine (less than 20,000 miles) it runs and also has a lot of issues. I have a wife and a growing family (a 9 month old so far), so my mods cannot be super expensive or little luxury things as of right now as my job (rent-a-cop) does not bring the big bucks (going back to school next spring). As of right now we reside in the Hamilton/Cincinnati area of Ohio.

My current car is an 09 Hatch LT (I love it!) it has 123,800 miles, I have owned it for about a year now. With help from this forum I replaced my rear axel bushings with the VW compatible set, I have painted my bowties orange, replaced my t-stat and downstream 02 sensor.
This forum has given me the confidence to do more work on my car (other than fluid swaps and other maintenance) but being a newbie to car mods I have a lot of questions, some may be stupid common sense I just haven't picked up yet. I have been reading this forum every day since m car needed my bushings replaced trying to find little mods I can do here and there, I have the pipes cut for my modded 09 hatch CAI that petrified.rabbit made up, just waiting for a non-rainy spring day to get in there and take out the resignator and install that baby, When the time comes that one of my shocks is worn I plan to get the KYB set with H&R sports. I also want like upgrade to a dual note hown, or even a bigger meaner horn someday too. If possible the G3 cluster swap is soo much nicer than the Aveo's so if compatible a swap will happen (if a G3 ever hits the graveyards around here, I've only seen 2 on the streets). I think my pillar tweeters are going out so I plan to swap speakers and HU (someday) like I said no luxury upgrades just yet. Although I have some paint job things in the making to personalize the car a bit more.

As I said before I enjoy seeing all the awesome mod ideas and DIY write ups you all have written sparking the lightbulb for my own mods and helping me through some of the harder jobs.

[camopaint0707]

welcome to the forum

[xintersecty]

Yeah, welcome. Need to post pics. Glad you fixed your rear bushing. Congrats on doing your self! I pulled my rear axle beam out and that's not easy.

[SOM3randomDUDE]

Oh yea, that rear axle was the first thing I had ever done other than oil change, radiator flush, and trans fluid flush on some of my families cars. It was very frustrating, I did not remove the axle I had to sawzall almost all the way through on the passenger side just to get the bushing out, then cut the metal housings enough to get a chisel in there. then I used a threaded rod and some fittings things from some bearing removal set my father in law had.. probably took me about 16 hours.
But hey at least I know it was done right with better quality parts, and I got one of the harder things out of the way.

[SOM3randomDUDE]

fresh painted bowties


back reinstalled


front reinstalled


old vs. new bushings