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List your favorite mods and why.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Kaptainkid1, Dec 31, 2019.

  1. Kaptainkid1

    Kaptainkid1 Active Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    III
    So I got into the Prius game last year and has fell in love with this ecofriendly work horse.

    After buying this beast at 159k and just put over 15k in the last year she is purring like new.

    I haul heavy stuff for camping and for work and I noticed my rear end sagged on heavy loads. So I bought helper spring lifts for $12 at Autozone. This kept the rear from sagging and it's strange how a car of 4 people can make the rear sag. Also sagging is bad for the spring life and handling is comprised. So this mod is safety mod too.
    1. drill holes in to rubber bumper lifts to allow zip ties to hold rubber lifts.
    2. Jack up car and slide rubber lifts in springs.
    3. Make sure the zip ties do not rub against the brake line since the clearance is very close.
    4. Double check clearance after tire is back on and car down on the ground under load.
    $15 mod 1 hour of labor. Skill Level need out of 5 is 1. Very easy. 20191230_142739.jpg 20191230_143518.jpg 20191230_145811.jpg 20191230_150927.jpg 20191230_151538.jpg 20191230_151258.jpg 20191230_151719.jpg Screenshot_20191230-160659_Dolphin.jpg

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    #1 Kaptainkid1, Dec 31, 2019
    Last edited: Dec 31, 2019
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  2. VFerdman

    VFerdman Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 5, 2017
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    Location:
    Western Massachusetts
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    I installed front seat heaters per my wife's request. We had Volvos before this 2007 Prius and Volvos were very good with keeping us warm in the winter. Both from the heater and from the seat butt warmers. Prius is kind of stingy with heat and had no butt warmers. I bought an inexpensive kit from Amazon and spent half a day installing it in both front seats. Happy wife - happy life! I kinf od like them too and use them way more than I used them in the Volvos (better heat in Volvos).

    Second mod was HID projector retrofit. My car came with halogen headlights and they were meh. I tried premium halogen bulbs (for $50/pair) and they worked well, but burned out in less than a year. Way too expensive. So I retrofitted an HID projector kit to the halogen reflectors and it has been very good. So far about 15 months on them and the light is good, not blinding to oncoming traffic (they are properly adjusted and have a cut-off shutter on low beam).

    Other than those two mods I have really left it alone and have been really enjoying this car. We drive it a lot. About 20K-25K miles per year. I bought it in 2017 with 175K miles and now it just turned over 221K. Original hybrid battery.
     
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  3. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Location:
    Pacific Northwest, USA
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    When you car is loaded up and you're on a bumpy road doesn't the rear end start bouncing around and losing traction because the springs bottom out more often on bumps? Seems like uphill on a hard turn at speed on rough gravel road it'd be fishtailing like crazy with this set up?
     
  4. Kaptainkid1

    Kaptainkid1 Active Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    III
    It drives safer since the car height is corrected under load because of the lift helpers, it feels fine and stiffer. No fish tail no unexpected changes.
    What I noticed with heavy loads before the spring helpers is the body would roll and car would bottom out. No more heavy load problems.

    SM-J737T1 ?
     
  5. Kaptainkid1

    Kaptainkid1 Active Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
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    III
    Here is another cheap mod which made a huge difference for safety and freed up power consumption by pulling the old incandescent lights for 20 watt total LED bright white. Driving at night is almost blinding for on coming drivers. No reason to swap out for Toyota HID lights.
    $20 1 1/2 hour labor and skill level out 5 is 3.
    You really need to pull the bumper cover off.
    To access the bolt to pull the headlight housing.


    IMG_20181230_145946_751.jpg 20181207_105238.jpg Screenshot_20191231-132143_eBay.jpg 20191231_132258.jpg

    SM-J737T1 ?
     
    #5 Kaptainkid1, Dec 31, 2019
    Last edited: Dec 31, 2019
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  6. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    How in the world do headlights that are almost blinding to oncoming drivers create more safety? I do most of my long multi-state drives at night and there's a special place in hell for people behind me or coming towards me who don't realize how much damage they cause to other people's eyes with overly bright headlights, which increases risk of an accident...

    If someone is sliding out of control and hurdling towards you from the opposite direction at life ending speeds and they have to do some very precise last second driving to save both your lives, do you really want that person to not be able to clearly see what they're trying to do because you thought it cool to drive around blinding people wherever you go?

    And don't tell me that as long as the headlights are properly adjusted everything is find... Car's don't drive on flat surfaces and their headlights can shine in almost every direction depending depending on what the incline of the surface is.
     
  7. Kaptainkid1

    Kaptainkid1 Active Member

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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    III
    When I change the H4 bulbs on my Prius and I mentioned that it was so bright it was blinding oncoming traffic I was speaking in hypeboley. This how the President Trump speaks, have you been living under a rock for the last 3 years. This how American english is now. No facts just lies.

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  8. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    In that case I'll just hit the hide button so I never see you on here again... Caring about other people is what matters in this world! People who think it's about how many people you make suffer because of your own conceit are gonna kill us all if we don't force them back under the cold lifeless rock they crawled out from under.
     
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  9. Kaptainkid1

    Kaptainkid1 Active Member

    Joined:
    Mar 13, 2019
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    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    III
    I can't understand why you're so defensive.
    You're either a Trump supporter or you just don't get my humor. Either case it wasn't meant to offend you. So if people with bright LED headlight is hurting your night time vision. I get it.
    That's not always the case for all LED lights, but I feel my LED light mod set up is good and safe for the driver and any other drivers on the road. It's not a wide beam and pointed down correctly according DOT specs.
    I'm familiar with LED lights and led mods here is my other work.
    These are illegal mods for the street but works great for off roading.


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    #9 Kaptainkid1, Dec 31, 2019
    Last edited: Jan 1, 2020
  10. Kaptainkid1

    Kaptainkid1 Active Member

    Joined:
    Mar 13, 2019
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    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Another favorite mod is the oil catch can and its benefits: I finally got a baseline of 44 mpg on my 2009 Prius after 6 months of ownership, she has 175k now with original Hybrid battery. I tested the battery with Torque app and confirmed the battery 28 packs were in good to above avg condition. I drove the in stop and go traffic of Los Angeles with a roof rack for over 6 months and really couldn't get above 34 mpg at best. I was seeing average tank around 30mpg for 10x fill ups. Even though I changed my PVC valve, engine Oil, Tranny Oil(OEM ONLY), New tires, Spark plugs, checked starter 12v battery in trunk, everything checked out ok. So one of the changes which made some difference was installing a Oil Catch can from the engine PVC valve to the throttle body. I noticed oil droplets at the bottom of the throttle body, so a cheap mod and $30 dollars for part and free installation, she was running a little cleaner. I noticed after taking a 200 mile trip to San Diego the oil catch can made a huge difference to my highway MPG. I was getting 40mpg now with the AC on. Just after 3000 miles the oil catch can was 1/6 QT full of oil. I've read the oil catch can works best when the engine is on and above 3500 rpm, which means people who do a lot of highway driving and above 55 mph will see the most benefit from this mod. It's seem the engine produces more oil vapors at high RPM's and is sucked down into the throttle body.
    *** (Honestly, if I'm cutting the oil burning and keeping the environment a little cleaner and preventing the Catalytic from fouling and its all worth it.)

    That got me to thinking the few droplets made an impact to my poor gas mileage, because my other long road trips I was seeing 35-37mpg with AC on at best. So I noticed my city driving I was still getting around 30-33mpg with the AC running all the time. So I decided to run a baseline test with a full gas tank and drove my tank empty today after 370 miles and two weeks of driving without the AC in LA traffic was insane. 90 degree days and stop and go madness and hypermiling when ever possible. I was able to achieve 44 mpg wow. I was excited at best now I know my Prius can get the average miles other Prius we're getting. So I now know it's all about the AC, Hypermiling and keeping up with maintenance.
    Special note: All MPG number we're done manually, I noticed Prius Dash showed me different MPG average number. It read 40.1 even though I put in 8.4 gallons of gas got 370 miles. So it's best to keep track manually when coming up with my baseline.

    This $30 mod 1 hour of labor and skill level is 2 out of 5 not difficult. Will need some tools.

    Here is my oil catch can set up:
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    Screenshot_20190818-153435_eBay.jpg

    Here is the oil in catch can after 2000 miles of driving:
    20190818_143846.jpg

    Here is the oil droplets in the throttle body before oil catch can:
    20190327_165510.jpg

    Here is a picture of throttle body after running the oil catch can 2000 miles:
    20190808_192406.jpg


    SM-J737T1 ?