I'm with you there dude! The camber under compression really helps the quarters. All I cared about was leveling out the angles of the arms... LOL

With the aero somewhat sorted out, the drop knuckles installed, and a fresh string alignment - it was time to take this thing out for a rip! I hadn't drifted in quite a long time, I believe a year or so had elapsed, so I was a bit anxious. There was a venue somewhat local to me in VA called Spirit JP that was blowing up and had a cool meihan-style layout and decided this would be the move!

https://i.imgur.com/az8a13J.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/iblCRPe.jpg

Took a few laps for me to get used to driving again and by the afternoon sessions I was feeling pretty good!

https://i.imgur.com/4nCcp5c.jpg

The entry was really fun! the sensation of "floating" the car off throttle and dropping from third to second was thrilling

https://i.imgur.com/nQ4YM5Y.jpg

I hadn't quite realized it, but I hadn't set the ride height exactly to how it was before. the car was MUCH lower now, but I couldn't raise it from the coilovers, the only way to get the car up is to remove a few degrees of camber! The 17" wheels look so big with the kit

https://i.imgur.com/6hspBDB.jpg

In the middle of the afternoon Spirit JP held a drift games where you had to park your car as close to a set of boxes mid drift. I ended up taking second place!



Here's a clip of the entry, and a clip of the night sessions where it was pitch black!



https://i.imgur.com/PkGWspF.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/EXIHAIm.jpg

The height of the car combined with the aero made for some weird damage! I ended up shaving down my side skirts by about 30mm and completely flattening one of my canards!

https://i.imgur.com/UChPbyy.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/2YBnPMd.jpg

Wow, lots to catch up on.

I wanted to shift the primary purpose of the hatch to improving my driving. For me, this means swapping out non-expendable parts for easily replaceable parts that I wouldn?t mind getting damaged (as much). When you start pushing your driving, you start to make mistakes so I want those mistakes to be as painless (and inexpensive) as possible! I had no interest in repairing fiberglass after every event, but I still want the car to look OK. I?ll be running the following:

A three-piece wheel up front (any impact to the wheel will cost $150 in lip replacement and a few hours of work)
Vert doors with the nub cut off (heavier, but don?t care if they get hit)
My old hood from when I wrecked the car at Summit Point
Pignose bumper w/ aftermarket bash bar
Chuki skirts
A cut rear aftermarket bumper and bash bar
Stock taillights (can?t smash kouki tails!)
This year, I also want to experiment with how I set the car up. I?ve been driving with 12-14 degrees of front camber for almost 3 years now. The look is killer, and I am enamored with the presence front camber adds to a car. The issue is, the entry at Spirit can be dodgy at times when you rely on front grip to feint aggressively towards the wall, and using 1/3 of my tire for that grip makes me a bit anxious. I dropped from 14 degrees to 7 degrees!

I bid farewell to the arms I extended 35mm ? they have served their purpose and can now retire in peace! Running a stock S13 FLCA now:

https://i.imgur.com/LCUQ4d9.jpg

Next, I wanted to use an aftermarket rear bash bar to absorb impact better ? but wanted an OEM-style bumper. I had some junky aftermarket bumper laying around, and I decided to cut it along the body line. You can see where I marked below:

https://i.imgur.com/EOoKUTG.jpg

Goal was to have an easily removable, factory looking bumper.

Next, I wanted semi-cool cheap taillights (nothing can replace kouki tails), so I found some crusty stock taillights that someone had plasti dipped black. Gross. So I started sanding:
https://i.imgur.com/ehbz5HI.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/C42d8SO.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/h7FS2WG.jpg

Then I started sanding on the others, and prepared for paint:

https://i.imgur.com/S90W6ov.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/i1UIxy4.jpg

Oh yeah, did a two-piece lip modification, gotta love bridge joints!

https://i.imgur.com/2QzUIZd.jpg

Overall, I?m content with the new style. The car lacks the same cool demeanor it had before, but I?m down to start experimenting with both functional drift setups and aesthetic changes. After a few test-drives, the car does feel quite stout and I thoroughly enjoyed the increased peace-of-mind of having less front camber! I also enjoyed practicing my painting on the rear bumper and learned more about technique:

https://i.imgur.com/BfYw0xX.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/kZKBahm.jpg

Having matching camber front and rear on a drift car is something?. different. I could get used to this!

https://i.imgur.com/eU0PqzW.jpg

Here?s a shot of the taillights, they turned out kinda cool. Seven coats of red translucent paint on the amber portion, four on the reverse lights, and two coats of red on the whole taillight. Topped it off with four coats of clear on everything, then wet-sanded and buffed after!

https://i.imgur.com/p2FMtKi.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/LayM4gf.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/nWchMBz.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/l0ykMt7.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/HI29JI8.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/I0Atldl.jpg

Got a lot more to update, just need to take the media off my camera!