Thanks for the info on the bracket, I will def be taking them off and doing some extra welding to strengthen them, when I'm don't with my ES I will post pics

 

it's a rear STRUT brace, btw, the sway bar is under the car

Other than that, nice looking ride. I definitely like the grille also, may do that on my car. As to the rims, they look OK but IMO the bright blue inserts on the black wheels don't really fit with the theme of the car. A bit too boy-racerish for my taste. But if you like them, that's what matters. I also prefer darker color wheels to have a polished or chrome lip unless on a rally/sport/drift themed car but that's just me.

Shocking to see that bracket break like that. I wonder if that's the right place to be bolting the strut brace to?

 

Quick question on the door panels, as it's hard to tell from the pics...was there any factory sound deadening material on the back sides of the interior door panels, and/or on the outside metal panels of the door?

Thanks!

 

Man, this is definetly inspiration, with that fitment right there did you have to roll your rear fenders? What size wheels/offsets? Did you need a camber kit?

 

jcat - Huh? I did mean Rear Sway Bar. That is the bracket that bolts from the rear sway bar to the under body frame of the car. The rear struts are accessed behind the rear seats directly under the seat belt assembly. The wheels also do not have inserts. The wheels are a 2 stage powder-coat. First black then the spokes and other parts are machined off and then hit with a metallic blue coat... which is why my wheels look purple in the sun and what led to my confusion the first time I saw them outside . Unfortunately, this also makes paint matching impossible. I think they accomplish the same as a polished or chrome lip would as they draw your attention to the wheel after unknowingly passing it off as just one solid color.

unk - There is foam on the backside of the interior door panels used more as spacers than anything. However, there is sound deadening material on the bottom and top of the outer metal paneling of the door. IMO unless you're running a very heavy sound system the sound deadening wont help much here. The main rattles will come from the rear deck curtain (if you have one), middle bolted on piece of the trunk, cavities by the rear brake lights, and small things like the rear view mirror/ rear trunk bypass.

ip- Thank you! I was hoping that my build would encourage others to mod their ES and be a place where information would be more easily accessible.
I went with a very aggressive fitment with the wheels. +23 all around with a 9 in width and a bit of a stretch on the tires. Front fenders are rolled with a slight pull and the rears are shaved. The main problem with the front wheels is not fender clearance but rather the fender tab + bumper bolt. Had to hammer the fender tab up and mold the plastic bumper tab up to match. Then had to hammer the metal outwards and cut out a triangle of the plastic block (no idea what this is called) that the bumper clips into. Yes, I did need a camber kit. The only one for our car would be camber bolts. Im running ~3 degrees of camber all around.
Found a picture to show what I terribly described.

 

ah, gotcha. was a little difficult to determine where your original bracket pictures were with no reference to the surrounding area. I assumed you were inside the trunk and installing a rear strut tower brace.