With all the mods I thought it was time to add some accent colors with dress up bolts from K5 Optima Store - Engine Bay Dress Up Bolts. Simple mod to pull the 10mm black bolts and replace with these. Here are a few pics but I got em all over, look close!

 

Next up was some more performance parts under the hood. I picked up a polished Injen intake from here: K5 Optima Store - Kia Optima/ Hyundai Sonata Injen Intake Systems, a brushed metal charge pipe and synapse blow off value from here: 2011+ T-GDi Charge Pipe - Nameless Performance and set up for the evening removing major factory components and replacing them. The charge pipe was an easy swap, the accompanying blow off value was easy to integrate into the factory solenoid as well, but the Injen intake, what a pain in the rear!!!! There are lots of other threads about reaching a couple clamps way down low to remove the darn thing and then putting the new one in and tightening clamps again. That was probably half my job right there. But engine compartment looks great, everything works, no spare parts left over and got that turbo sucking sound when I step on the gas now. Have a look!

Nameless Charge Pipe in brushed aluminum.

Synapse BOV hooked to factory solenoid and recirculation hose on

Injen intake of course

 

After all that work, I was kind of disappointed in the Synapse BOV sound. It was working but didn't seem right and didn't match up with what I expected from some of the other brands. So after a great amount of research here on the forums, I came across MDJammin and his thread http://www.optimaforums.com/forum/6-optima-engine-technical-discussion/32946-synopse-bov-proper-signal-setup-changed-so-loud-now.html which really turned things around for me. I also dialoged a lot with Synapse as well and basically I learned that the BOV I had was more of a performance part and needed to be hooked up differently to maximize its potential. So here is what I did... the BOV fires more frequently and much louder.

I bypassed the factory solenoid and used vacuum from my throttle body spacer. Im using 6mm (1/4") hosing in this picture coming off a brass 1/8" NPT fitting.

I split my vacuum line into two 6mm lines with a brass T fitting and take one line to port A on the BOV and another to port B. Both runs are identical length. I swapped out the smaller BOV input fittings with 1/8" NPT brass fittings as well.

The recirculation hose and adapter were removed (don't need it in our cars) so I am venting to atmosphere now. Also removed my pre-load spring within the bov.

Another picture from a different angle.

 

I had decided to get some items on my car color matched. I know a local guy who paints from his personal shop in his extra time. He gave me a great deal as long as it was on his schedule. That's cool by me. Look how these things turned out!!! and yes that is an SX bumper cover.

 

So today I decided to snap a few new pictures of my engine compartment and my color matched splash guards, now that they are on. Engine compartment is complete from my point of view with the exception of a FSTB. She's a little dirty, but good enough to grab a few photos. If you have questions, just ask. Enjoy!

 

Next mod was a quick and fairly easy one. I removed my plastic side vents and replaced them with the 2014 model vents which have a silver swoosh with the word Turbo on it. They pop out from the side closest to the door first. There are two very tightly fit clips closest to the door that you can use a screw driver to pry out, or I have a hook that I used to pry out. Once those two clips are popped out, the entire thing just comes out. New ones just snap right in.

 

For my next trick its really a multi - part mod. I went out an got an SX bumper and had it color matched to my car as you probably saw in previous posts. So with that "extra" bumper sitting around I went ahead and hooked up some Camily rear LED bumper lights. The K5 Optima Store sells them in addition to several other places. Get the Camily ones though. K5 Optima Store - Kia Optima Rear LED Bumper Lights I also took the time to mount a Rear Bumper Lip Diffuser I had purchased from overseas. I got it color matched as well. The Lx/EX models need some help with bumper lips and the issue is all the after market stuff uses the small indentation the SX bumper covers have to hold or bolt on. So that part of my reason for swapping out my LX/EX bumper for a SX version. Here's some pictures of what I did.

the Camily Rear LED lights drop right in, replacing the factory reflectors

On the underside I drilled a larger hole for the 3 wires. Notice the light strip is secured on their side by factory screws

rear LED lights done, now to figure out the rear bumper lip diffuser

There is some 3M tape that attaches it along with some small screws as you can see in the picture

finished shots

 

You don't waste any time do you?!

Looks good man!

 

Indiana Beach :lol:

"Proving once again, there's more than corn in Indiana!"

That bird is a damned liar.

 

You don't waste any time do you?!

Looks good man!

Thanks guys. I'm obsessed! And I hate you all as I keep getting more ideas after I see your work!

As you saw above I have a new bumper, a rear lip diffuser and the LED reflector lights all hooked up to that new bumper. So next I removed the one on my car. Here's a link: http://www.optimaforums.com/forum/22-optima-diy/1911-removing-rear-bumper-cover-tail-lights.html I had to remove all the crap from the trunk first and boy was there a lot back there! LOL After that I removed the rear bumper which is actually fair easy and quick. Here's the shot's of the removal.

All the junk and panels from the trunk removed. Lot more stuff than you figure!

Both bumpers in the grass. The plastic diffuser was a b*tch to put on the new bumper cover. I didn't have enough hands and had to get another person to assist.

 

Everything is coming along nicely! And fast.....lol

 

Well thanks to folks like you and others, I have good advise to work from. And a long list of mods to do!
Well here are some fished pictures of the SX bumper on my EX-T with the brake LED lights, rear lip diffuser, black bumper protector with silver K5 lettering, and color matched red splash guards. Took some time but looks great!

 

I was thinking of getting that same diffuser in SWP. Looks great man!

 

Car is becoming nicer and nicer Sir :thumbsup: Nice rear diffuser too

Thanks guys. I love that rear lip diffuser. Easy to put on as well. I have some DRL's and horns coming up next!

 

Car is becoming nicer and nicer Sir :thumbsup: Nice rear diffuser too

 

Thanks David. I am getting close and will nominate my car soon. Just a few last things and I am indeed getting excited! I have a couple more mods to post but I'll do that another day. And my rubber for my wheels was dropped off by UPS today. Ahhhh the smell of fresh tire in the garage!

 

Well you definitely will have my vote! :thumbsup:

 

And since I mentioned it above, I cut my bumper today to make room for some DRL's I was also installing. Took a bit. I did the angle cut so I preserved part of the OE sides of my bumper. To get the cut correct, this is what I did... I measured two finger widths down from top and drew that as angle into the middle of the first (from the outside) large vertical bend mark and cut down from there. I first used a dremmel to dig into the metal and basically draw my lines, giving my rip saw a guide of sorts. I didn't have any metal cutting blades (swore I did) so I used hybrid blades, the ones that are made for wood but also cut thin metal. I managed to go through two blades and it took longer but it did work.
Note to self, don't assume you have the part, double check first.

 

And since I mentioned it above, I cut my bumper today to make room for some DRL's I was also installing. Took a bit. I did the angle cut so I preserved part of the OE sides of my bumper. To get the cut correct, this is what I did... I measured two finger widths down from top and drew that as angle into the middle of the first (from the outside) large vertical bend mark and cut down from there. I first used a dremmel to dig into the metal and basically draw my lines, giving my rip saw a guide of sorts. I didn't have any metal cutting blades (swore I did) so I used hybrid blades, the ones that are made for wood but also cut thin metal. I managed to go through two blades and it took longer but it did work.
Note to self, don't assume you have the part, double check first.
View attachment 128394

I like how you did the angle cuts. Looks good. I go back and forth on the drls because of the cutting. But it would give me a reason to buy the tools. lol

 

Dude again nice progression.

 

JasonS your Optima looks awesome you've done a great job.

 

Thanks everyone. I have a few more mods to post here. I was able to get a great deal done this past weekend. So this past weekend I took off my front bumper again because I had some DRL's to install, horns (above), color matched fog surrounds, hids, and wanted to wire my angle eyes as drl's as well. Well here are pics from my drl install. As you can see they are 3-wire drl's and the fog surrounds are color matched. Plenty of DIY on the forums on removing the bumper cover and installing drl's I don't need to link em. Enjoy!

Removing the OE fog surround. Handy note: you need to loosen up the lower plastic grill to remove or insert new surrounds.

Color matched fog surrounds.

Install onto the bumper cover one piece at a time. Install the surround, then the drl, then the fog lap. Trust me, you want to do it in these three steps.

Here it is all together. And wiring the two together.

Here is how it looks when turned on and from the front.

 

A few of you have wanted some more pictures of my headlights. They are amazing! So here they are, by popular demand...

 

A few of you have wanted some more pictures of my headlights. They are amazing! So here they are, by popular demand...

View attachment 129202 View attachment 129210 View attachment 129218

Where did you get these headlights?

 

Love check your showroom brotha! so much pics and updates, keep it up :thumbsup:

 

So last weekend with my front bumper off the car I decided to switch out my low beams for HIDs. I bought some Tempest Sportiva 35W 6000K hids based on feedback from others and I must say I am pretty impressed with kit thus far. Its a relay kit, came with good wiring, some wiring shrouds and plenty of length and solid connectors. The color appears to be spot on and the brightness, omg, these are bright. There was two issues though. Sometimes the lights struggled to ignite and once ignited, there was the famous hid flicker and a decently loud humming coming from the relay.

I fixed the ignition issue buy installing a larger fuse than what came with the kit. I just went from 20a to 25a and made a large difference.

The flickering and relay hum was fixed after some good research here and elsewhere on the web. The issue is in how modern cars handle headlight electricity. They pulse the current to the lights which is why the relay hums and the lights flicker. Once I understood this I found the solution in capacitors that can be bought locally at Radio Shack. For $5 I got myself a 4300uF capacitor which I wired across the positive and negative of the relay input from the car headlight harness and flicker and relay hum disappeared. Good to know. I was about to spend a lot more on cancelers and it turns out I wouldn't have needed that part, so yeah for me! So here are some hid build pictures. enjoy!

How the relay is wired

ballast mounting and wiring on the passenger side

The 4300uF capacitor I added across the positive and negative of the car headlight relay input to knock down relay hum and headlight flicker.

I added identical capacitors right before each ballast to ensure a stable and even supply of power.

 

Dude your car is look phucking phat and I'm jelly as a mofo!!!!

 

Next trick up for this pony is the Korean Center Console. I loved how classy the cup holder was and it sold me. If there is one thing I don't like about our Optimas, the cup holder area is just plain ugly, and that's being nice. The Korean version is more refined and has a classy sliding cover to top it all off. You can pick one up at several places if you are willing to wait about 4 to 5 weeks, or from David @ K5 Optima Store - K5 Optima Korean Spec Center Console Keep in mind you will also need this: Center Console Box Tray Utility Box Fit Hyundai 2011 2013 Optima K5 | eBay as the American center console box tray does not fit.

Here are some directions to removing your center console which is quite easy I must say. I didn't need to remove my shift knob, I just left it in the neutral position and was able to remove everything with zero issues. http://www.optimaforums.com/forum/64-diy-appearance-body-modifications/24705-center-console-sliding-door-over-cup-holders.html

Now my cup holder lights are separate and I got from some Korean website a while back (sorry don't remember). I painted the edges of them black to minimize any light bleed and drilled holes in the bottom of the center console cup holder to feed the wires. There are many places to ground a wire so the black lead was easy. For positive 12 volts when the headlights are on, I tapped a blue wire from the harness which supplies power to the two power outlets. its easy to find and confirm with a multi meter.

This mod made a huge difference to me in how it looks and with cup holder lighting is subtle and looks amazing as well. I can still fit my phone and bottles/cups of water in the holders just fine too despite the smaller size.

Korean CC on the bottom and our "American" version on top.

Removing the center console. Notice in the neutral position, you do not need to remove the shift knob.

Wiring up the cup holder led plates.

Assembled, ready to be installed in the car

This is how it looks in the car. You also see my K5 mats I own.

This is how it looks with lights out (I had dim light from the house shining in).

 

I love it Jason. Not only the mods, but your attention to detail when posting them up. Great work and I seriously cannot wait to see your finished build. :thumbsup: (Well then again, is it ever finished?) :lol:

 

So over the weekend I decided to paint my calipers. Went down to the local auto store and picked up some red caliper paint. Boy does this paint have some fumes! Good thing I had a fan in my garage! I ended up with three coats per caliper and I have plenty of paint left over so I saved it in case of a chip or something. These were hand painted while on the car jacked up with the jack it comes with. I will say it took a while. I pretty much did one tire a night. The first coat dries quickly so you can immediately come back with the second coat. I waited about a half hour after to put on the third. I did go out any purchase better brushed though as the one it comes with sucks! And I did use a wire brush to clean off the calipers before I painted em; there was a decent amount of dust. Here are some pictures.... about $20 bucks and a couple hours for 4 nights! They look amazing on the car now.

 

I need to paint mine, hopefully I do as a good a job as you did. What did you use? Did you tape anything off?

 

Thanks guys. This isn't hard but it is time consuming. The brush the kit comes with is junk, just toss it. You can buy some better brushes at Walmart in their craft section. The paint goes on thick and the first coat will dry pretty quickly, fyi. I did use some masking tape to tape off the back of the brake pads, the bolts of the calipers, the bleeder valve and there are some thin metal plates that I taped off as well. Mostly I was just careful and took my time with the brush. I loved the paint as it seems to be auto-leveling and it turned out of so well after 3 coats. Make sure you clean the calipers first though, mine had a decent amount of brake dust I had to brush off. Good luck, take your time, and perhaps plan to do a wheel or two a night like I did!