FoundedSine's AutoX Camry

[FoundedSine14]

I have this 2006 XV30 Camry SE with a 3.3L 1MZ-FE. It's paid off and it gets driven like 200 miles per year. We originally bought it to replace my spouse's 2014 Focus which had a Powershift transmission (god I hated that car). The Camry gets worse fuel economy but makes a bit more power. Plus it's a Toyota, no FoMoCo in my house.

Both my spouse and I work from home so we don't commute. Any time we drive anywhere we almost always take our 4Runner. So the Camry has been neglected for about three years now and I figured I might as well do something with it.

There's a healthy Autocross community around Salt Lake City (where I am) and I've participated before in my previous vehicles; 2007 MazdaSpeed6 (god I hated that car), 2007 Infiniti G35X (god I hated that car), and now this 2006 Camry.

My plans are simple: coilovers, sticky tires, oil cooler, maybe sway bars. I don't want to spend more than ~$2000 on this car so I'm going to do as many "budget" mods as I can.

These are literally the only photos I have of the car and I'm currently too lazy to go into the garage to get more.

Here's me at Autocross in 2018. I can't believe this was six years ago. Time flies!

 

[FoundedSine14]

Did some basic maintenance. New swaybar endlinks front and rear, new swaybar bushings and brackets front and rear.

Since it's been sitting, the car has been very creaky so I got some greaseable endlinks, bushings, and brackets. I couldn't find greaseable bushings/brackets for the rear, but they are easily accessible if I need to grease them later.

The endlinks, bushings, and brackets that I removed were honestly fine, but I like have greaseable parts.

Almost all of this install was incredibly simple EXCEPT for the front swaybar bushings/brackets. I had to disconnect both front endlinks then undo the swaybar brackets from underneath the car and behind the front subframe. Toyota obviously had the foresight to make this do-able, but not easy.

I definitely over-greased the bushings because I couldn't look at them while I was pumping grease into them but they're probably fine.

Here's my parts list:
https://a.co/d/dO893LY
https://a.co/d/5xZV95O
https://a.co/d/3Qoq2Fz

 

[FoundedSine14]

Picked up a set of IS350 wheels for about $300. 18x8 and 18x8.5. I didn't realize the IS350 had staggered wheels from the factory. Now I have to decide if I want the 8 or 8.5 up front? Since I won't be staggering my tires, I'll probably put the 8s up front to reduce rotational mass on the drivetrain.

I'll wrap them in some Kenda Vezda 245/40 tires which are like $550 for a set.

Eventually I'll throw some coilovers on and get an alignment but I'm not even sure if I'll get out to autocross this year so I'm not in a rush