Celica Forums General Discussion Exterior carbon fiber hood & carbon fiber trunk (installed)

got my car back friday. got the vis invader carbon fiber hood and vis carbon fiber trunklid/hatch installed. hood install was covered by insurance. trunk install was estimated at 5 hours (oem) and was ball parked 'round $250. actual labor turned out to be $460 but of course i got lucky and was discounted to $375 for the install.

my second vis hood didn't fit as well as my first but it is acceptable. the trunk fit well (minor gaps along the edges) and shut nice and crisp. the hood and the trunk are significantly lighter (you can really tell by the feel).

concern was brought to my attention regarding the durability of the hatch. mostly 'bout the longevity of the pegs that stick out that mount to the shocks that over time will break or come out. i believe if taking extreme caution and you always open/shut the trunk slowly, smoothly, with minimal jarring effect that it will reduce potential damage by daily use by 75%.

eleven pics following, you all know the drill 'bout waiting to post 'til done.

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alright, it is done, you all can post away...

it's nice to see it wingless but i don't like how it looks without the wing. FYI: i'll be having the kaminari carbon fiber racing wing installed (probably) by st james custom auto-body (springfield ma). www.stjamesautobody.com [stjamesautobody.com]

DAMMMN, it looks tight!!!! i love it. one thing tho, i think you should get differnt rims, and new tail lights. but damn, the carbon fiber trunk looks tight, makes me want to keep my celi now

new rims and tails? no.

Sweet job dude you inspire me! Go for a Carbon Fiber trunk garnish.(I know..impossible to get) Ride is looking hella tight! Keep up the good work. Carbon Fiber on white looks so so sweet. I love white Celi's!!! (I'm biased)

It's gonna look sick with a Kaminari wing with a Carbon Fiber blade!!!
I'm gonna be getting some Carbon Fiber stuff pretty soon.

Looks good
How mutch weight did you loose by doing it?

Definitely lost a few pounds
That's what I call a Celica diet!

i didn't weigh the stock or carbon fiber components for comparison. i don't have actual numbers, just the difference is significant enough to feel a huge decrease in effort when you open the hood or trunklid.

The whole widebody thing you got going on with your fenders - are you going to do something to your bumpers aswell so it doesn't look so bad? 'Cause it just ruins the whole look of the car right now. Everything else is very nice.

Yep. I noticed that. Need some widebody bumpers but i'm sure ur on it. I wanna go to widebody in the future myself.

that shit does look sexy! but the tails are

damn that whole thing looks great. what did you use for the glass? Wish i had the $$ for both those. rims tails, everyhting look sspiffy together cant wait to see it with kam kit. goodjob bro

very nice

Very nice, Carbon Fiber man!

what's involved in the trunk install?

man your car would look so much better with out those ugly fender flares, i would take them out, dosent even match the kit. big ass gaps all over the front and rear bumper. i would take them off, besides that the trunk and hood looks good, keep up the good work bro. but wat ever flows your boat

hows the rear glass holding??

Flare the bumpers to match, & new rims to fill the flares. Other than that it looks sharp! I like wingless.

finally we get some good pictures of the trunk. send them to VIS to put up on their site. it all looks great. you should get the license plate backing from the e-celica store and the mirror covers.

looks sick but i would get c/f tails or even better black out your stock ones.

the trunk looks sicc

First off, for being one of the very few to have these parts together.

I would definately reccomend at least painting the trunk garnish black to blend in better, maybe even a flat black. Does Bat make a vinyl carbon fiber applique for the rear garnish?

Also, I would definately finish up on the custom widebody project you've undertaken. It current looks like you either A) got into an accident and smushed the bumpers up into the fenders, or B) that you have some body kit on the car that doesn't belong there. If you haven't already ordered the wing, I would personally hold off and finish up the project you're currently involoved in. When that's done, your ride will be off the hook... OFF the hook!!

**Don't mean to sound so critical, but these are things that cross my mind when I see your car. But overall VERY NICE JOB!!**

regarding the white garnish, i just had the trunk installed and that was the main hurdle. had to see what the original looks like before i go ahead and change it. i probably won't go with the carbon fiber garnish (i'll just have it painted black for like $50).

on tuesday i'm going to st james custom auto-body primarily for his input on the spoiler install (i saw the wingless & i don't like it). but also while i'm there i'll have them take a look at the flares (most of the work has already been done of just getting them on) and get their ideas/estimates of tweaking the molding (i already have ideas i just need to converse with a specialist).

i've been kind of lax 'bout the body lately 'cause i've been waiting for parts and also the winter. been thinking 'bout going with a bomex nose but that idea is in the back of my mind. thought 'bout kaminari but i'm still iffy 'bout that also. after all exterior components have been finished i'll reconsider the tails (if there are any better options for the scheme).

it's a real pain in the ass having to drop off my car for days at a time. i work 'til 3am usually and for drop-offs i gotta be up by 8am (usually i sleep at 6am). hopefully for the spoiler install i can drive there, they test mount it, and i drive home while they paint the endcaps. i drive back two days later after they've baked the endcaps for a while and they do the final install. at this time i really don't feel like going without my car for a week or two for final flare customization which would actually require my car on site.

don't worry y'all this is still a "work in progress." at the moment i am trying to wrap up "project carbon fiber" but after that i'll get back to body customization (the biggest fund sucker). parts delays, an accident, and the winter have retarded progress exterior-wise. i was supposed to finish the exterior by the end of 2004 and in 2005 begin modifying performance aspects. so far i estimate that i'm three-four months behind schedule. i could rush this but i don't want to dig a financial hole either. remember y'all this does take serious amounts of cash and my budget is large but not infinite.

tht trunk will only look good on a white celica maybe red to looks sweet...ive seen it on spectra blue it was ugly

looks nice love the look

you should paint the trunk white..

The car is tight in my eyes.. But you really need to lose those tails .. Besides that love the Cf truck and hood.

i would go bomex, if not TRIAL if you can, lose the tails, keep it wingless and go two tone and paint the top black man that would look hot especialy TRIAL.

remember y'all the car is NOT complete yet. gotta take things one step at a time. i just barely received the parts last week and i got them installed five days after (which is quite fast). next up is getting the wing done (within the next couple of weeks).

i have known 'bout the FENDER FLARE issues since day one. molding is not done overnight and is time consuming, not to mention the repainting of half the car. the bumpers are urethane so there will be no further molding onto those components. i have an idea in mind that i gotta run by the specialty customization shop while i'm having them check out the wing install. this "idea" of mine will smooth out the flow, i've just held off due to cost issues (labor & rental).

the RIMS are under appreciated in pics but in person are quite nasty (they are not thin spoked chrome but are black multi-spokes with chrome trim). as far as fender gap, i've already checked out wheel spacers but do not like the instability that they can pose. huge wide deep dish rims are way over budget also. so, the rims are permanent.

the TAILS are the only ones i find satisfactory to serve the general black/white scheme of the celica. i do not like redded out tails nor do i want tinted stock ones either (too dark). in the future i may consider a light tint to the existing altezzas.

CRITICISM is a good motivator to get shit done (stuff i've been slacking at) but remember y'all, rome wasn't built in a day. this is, at the moment, my daily driver (even in the winter) 'til i pick up another car. so down time is costly (rentals and celica withdrawals). also, coordinating my schedule for car appointments when i'm working just a nudge under SIXTY hours a week reduces my irregular sleep further having multiple days with only 2-3 hours of slumber. i've had my car seventeen months so far and has progressed fairly rapidly so far. but i do need time to spread installs, mods, revisions, and re-works over time in accordance with budget limitations.

looks awesome bro..lovin it

i'll probably paint both my hood & hatch if i ever get them on the only reason not to paint it is just to show everone that "hey, i got carbon fiber!" which isn't a good excuse in my own personal opinion. let the weight savings & added performance show it.

Hearing that the widebody look is a work in progress is good news. With so many people having such bad taste, I was afraid you were going to leave it like it is

Once it's done, it's going to be one SWEEEET ride!!!

It would be cool if you kept the ww kit. Would be nice to see a widebody ww celica.

Just an idea, and it might be a real bad one, but if you're worried that the fender flares will crack if they're molded to the urethane bumpers - then what about bonding some steel/aluminium plates on the back side of the bumpers to keep them from flexing? It's just a thought.

E degala,
Is the trunk leaking? and how much was it to have it installed? Is the Carbon Fiber trunk strong enough to support the forces of a wing? Im thinking about getting one myself.

I love the raw Carbon Fiber look, your car looks friggin sick! (besides flares)

i havent read any of the comments so if anything is off my bad.
now that you have put these Carbon Fiber parts you really have to start getting to go aftermarket completely. ur car looks like its missing some stuff and heres wut will make it look better.
1. Carbon Fiber trunk latch (or whatever that things called)
2. tint all the windows
3. have the top of ur car Carbon Fiber also, like that yellow celica thats somewhere on this site now.
4. carbon fiber roof spoiler might look good.
5. some sorts of clean graphics on ur car with carbon fiber layout.
6. TRD fuel door.
7. a different body kit will look better most probably. and it would be cool if you can get the bottom front bumper splitter in carbon fiber.
8. custom made tail lights, preferably made with LEDs and angel eyes. i was gonna do something like this but itll be a waste of money on my car.

but good job for doing all this and im sure you still working on it cz it doesnt look complete. ur rims are nice, but i would prefer it with just the chrome spokes instead of the additional black spokes which you cant see clearly.

NICE MAN, THE Carbon Fiber TRUNK LOOK SICK

aerowilson182--->no leaks yet. however, we'll have to see when heavy downpours start coming in spring. the trunk install should be 'round $460 but i paid $375. the only durability issues i believe are the pegs that stick out that connect to the shocks (with careful and minimal opening/closing shouldn't be an issue 'til the distant future) but i think the wing will be alright (just mounted with huge ass washers on both sides to spread the force more). and of course, the flares are still a WIP.

caleb--->the parts are staying unpainted. i'm contrasting white & black. the carbon fiber looks hot, goes with my theme, and as a bonus lightweight. currently i'm trying to wrap up the exterior (but this week i have to work six days) and then i'll proceed to performance parts (i am very tempted to buy the tpr intake and exhaust right now though).

stefanoc--->ideas and suggestions are nice, but i'm not made of money.

celicat23--->wingswest is staying as of yet. i'll reconsider the front bumper in the future regarding a more aggresive style but not this year. nice suggestion but i'm still not going to extend onto the bumpers (cracking of course). the front bumpers are easily fixed, just smooth them down to match the conture of the surround surfaces. the back flares are tricky but if the shop can do what i want, it'll be really nice. unfortunately i planned to see them tuesday (regarding the spoiler and evaluate molding options) but i have to work six days this week.

All I can say is I got 2 thumbs up for you and I'm really looking forward to seeing the progress on your car!

Looks awesome