I was reasonably content with the few events I did in 2015. The car felt nice, I was comfortable driving it and ultimately tearing it apart to make repairs. The following winter I had 2 main goals: address the tumultuous overheating and the aesthetics. While I was overseas I came across a mismatched origin stylish kit and thought it would be cool. It needed some tender loving affection but that didn’t bother me. The car wasn’t aggressively lowered at the time, but the skirts hung pretty damn close to the ground. When I pulled the hatch out of the shop for the first time, I instantly ran over one of the skirts! They had a fresh coat of paint on em and only needed some scuffing for a new finish. The clamor of crushed fiberglass will forever be entrenched in my head.
Aero “fitted” and skirt repaired along with some paint prep
Hanging out with Willis at the shop, lovely bumper fitment
I have forever been plagued with the issue of automotive ADD. I start working on one facet of the car, and my attention wanders to other things. Instead of completing paint prep and bodywork, I started looking into the overheating issue. As I mentioned in the previous segment, I had exhausted just about every avenue in my endeavor to alleviate the overheating. Although the headgasket tested negative for damage with a leakdown and liquid color gas test, I wanted to replace it. This was tremendously nerve-wracking. Before I had only removed minor components and changed seals, but for me, this was a significant overhaul. With the help of the FSM, the internet, a few beers, and Aaron’s help, we got it done!
So empty looking!
Got the head cleaned and machined:
I’m glad there was no extensive damage given the frequency of the overheating. There’s a lovely look at Marc’s brake lines! He was kind enough to let me use his fancy snap-on torque wrench that lets out an audible *beep* every time the torque setting is reached. It’s idiot proof and perfect for me.
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Double checked the timing, and kept everything straight thanks to my friend Krash’s guidance and it fired up on the first try! This was exhilarating and left a deep feeling of accomplishment. My jovial day soon turned sour, however. The car still got hot! I could not believe my own eyes after installing a fresh OEM headgasket, temperatures were still high. I ditched the pro-sport gauge for an autometer one, and temps still read the same.
Around this time, my pops and I were no longer able to use the small warehouse we kept everything in, so the build took a short hiatus. I completed the paint prep in a frenzy, and Aaron graciously let me store the hatch at his place. While I had some downtime, I came across a decently priced pair of wheels I had sought after for years; Work Equips. When I was a young[er] rapscallion and had just gotten into cars, I fell in love with them and Alfonso astutely pointed out what they were. I picked up a set, wholly ignorant about three piece wheels, yet eager to learn.
They came in 17x9+35 I believe. They had a massive inner barrel and a tiny lip, but I didn’t know any better. I split and resealed them in the same specs, and the fitment was comical! I didn’t care, I felt like a king with my new equips, happily analyzing the antique stamping on the back of the face and at the inspection stickers with plenty of history. With Aaron’s help, we finally got it painted and drove it back to Gilbert’s shop in the rain for a roof wrap!
Tai and Gilbert getting things done!
My first fully painted car! The daily isn’t even a uniform color.
Painted the aero as well:
The aero still fit quite poorly, but I didn’t mind at the time. Everything was done in time for the first Drift Valley of the year, and it was the first event where all the Wolfpack cars were matching.
Rollers are my absolute favorite!
I did my homework on three piece wheels, and asserted that I needed a smaller inner barrel to run a bigger lip. I tracked down some oem 17x5.5" inners so I could run a 3″ outer creating a 17J +9 wheel. While I waited for those to arrive, I picked up a pair of Weds Farmas locally in 17x9—8. I split them to polish the faces and run a 4″ outer lip, resulting in a 17x9—9.5-15.