Ben's two tone s13

[BenRice]

Just had a read through some of the forum, figured I'd post up what lives in the garage. A couple of us old farts run a blog: nomnomturtlebrains | zombieturtles – out of the sea and behind the wheel (http://www.nomnomturtlebrains.wordpress.com) if anyone wants to have a squiz.

I'm in New Zealand, so some small differences to the cars here and there. I’ve been involed in drifting for about 9 years now and am crewing for a mate in our national drift championship. He’s originally from California but now lives in NZ obviously.

The “zombie car” (as its been nicknamed) was a factory CA18DE auto Japanese import. Previous owner converted it to RB25DET and manual from an R33 front cut from Japan.

Some good basic modifications were also done by him: 3" exhaust, Tein coilovers, 6-puck clutch, Apexi filter, aftermarket intercooler, R33 brakes and 5 stud conversion, R32 GTR radiator, S15 seats, brick headlights and he had the conversion certified for road use.

I bought it looking bone-stock on 16” R32 Skyline GTS-T wheels. I previously built a 1993 C34 Laurel powered by an S14 SR20DET which I lost a lot of money on so figured I’d do it the other way around and buy this S13 with all the hard stuff done.

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Since purchasing it 5 years ago it’s had only minor changes, mainly suspension and cosmetic but been used a lot and maintained religiously. I’ve added a Vertex bodykit along with Dmax roof wing and BN-knockoff vented fibreglass bonnet, factory monsoon shields (rare), swapped the old Teins for new BC Gold (recently going to 12kg/mm front springs and 8kg/mm rear springs), R32 GTS4 rear swaybar, had the knuckles modified for more lock, gusseted lower arms with adjustable lock stops, adjustable camber, castor, toe added, Racetech fixed back bucket seat on Super Low Bride rail, Nardi wood grain, Autometer water and oil temp and oil pressure and a bolt in half cage.

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Mechanically it’s had an oil cooler plumbed up, 3x electric fans and ducting added, Walbro 255l/hr internal fuel pump, cut-and-shut plenum to reduce the intercooler piping, and recently a Power FC. It made 216kw at the wheels on 9psi with a nice safe air/fuel across the board. Standard injectors and ceramic turbo remain in place.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8226/8413966148_9124e026ae_c.jpg

Ovz8Uxv1e7A

It started off rolling on 17x9 Advan SA3Rs, stripped and centres repainted gold with the lips polished. I collected another four of these so now have eight 17x9 +38 as spares for the track. Then some VS-XX popped up for sale (17x9 +22, 17x9.5 +26) that I bought and had refurbished. Fronts have 25mm spacers so they are sitting at -2, while the rears have been a work in progress. As I’ve been searching for more grip as I’ve progressed I’ve been pulling rear camber out, but because it tucks almost the whole sidewall I’ve had to reduce the space to clear the guards. Currently it sits at 13mm of space, so an effective offset of +13. I may have to pull the guards a little to allow me to get the camber to -0.5deg without having to reduce the spacing anymore. The Advan’s run anything from a 215 to a 235 so need to have a variation of space so I fitted extra-long studs to allow a variety of spacing.

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Getting the car to events can be expensive, hiring/buying a transporter trailer and running a daily with enough grunt to tow it. To reduce the weight to allow a lower-powered/more economical daily I went for an a-frame set up that hitches up to the tow hooks. The S13’s taillights have trailer wiring spliced into them and run through the car to the front where a trailer plug sits ready to be unwound and plugged into the back of the daily (1998 C35 Nissan Laurel RB20DE). In NZ it’s not illegal to a-frame unroadworthy cars, for now anyway, so it’s worked out well. The locked diff makes the tow car predictably push a little in the rear, but it tracks really well.

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Lately I’ve started tidying it up, with the bonnet the first panel to be repainted. I’ve redone the ducting in the front and tidied the butchered front bumper support. Next are the cam covers which will be done in black wrinkle paint, then try to source a small boot spoiler to hand off the rear (possibly Origin).

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8237/8413965488_5268bd29ac_c.jpg

It’s next outing is middle of next month and I’m running new tyres on the rear for the first time. They aren’t anything flash (215/45/17 Austyres) but at $90 each I can’t complain. The last day saw pairs only lasting an average of 7 laps of a 30sec 3rd-2nd-3rd three corner section.

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So thats where its up to, been a good solid car so far and hope it continues to do so. No huge plans in the near future, just keep doing around an event a month and having fun with it.

Let me know what you think.

[BenRice]

Some vids of us:

https://vimeo.com/24762753

https://vimeo.com/45809565

Taupo Track 3 - 2/2/2013 - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aUIfFVh5Uc)

[R3VO 3VOM]

I like those skyline wheels. And that interior! Looks so clean with those s15 seats.

[Vatche]

i love two tones and vsxx. and people who take care of their cars.

its a win, in my book. :D

oh and your steering wheel reminds me of mine :D

[BenRice]

Thanks guys. Its not that tidy, its got rust around the sunroof and and A pillars. I crashed it over a year ago, ~70kmh into armco with the passenger side rear quarter bearing the brunt. The quarter has been repaired and one top coat added until it gets a full repaint in two tone still of course.

The kit has taken a bashing, but i'm toying with the idea of going BN on stock metal. Not 100% convinced, will probably hold out for Dmax.

[BenRice]

Chris @ Freshly Whipped (Freshly Whipped - (http://www.freshlywhipped.co.nz)) has taken some cool shots of it over the years:

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[Boorito]

Your car is fantastic, I love it.

[2tonecoupegrl]

Interesting aluminum panels around the fmic and neat silvia!

[BenRice]

Yeah the aluminium panels were needed to keep it cool. With the RB engine there isnt much space behind the radiator to put fans on or to allow a vacuum to draw air through. There is one slim 12" on the RHS but two 12" on the front. The ducting fits into the Vertex front bumper and around the headlights perfectly and ensures any air going around the intercooler gets channelled into the radiator. It used to run at around 82-83deg celsius on the open road without the ducting and the fans on, getting over 100deg after 3 laps of hard running at the track. Now it sits at 75-76deg on the open road and i can hammer it hard at the track for 8-10 laps without it getting over 100deg. Havent tried going longer than 10 laps as the tyres dont last past that :P

[Big Zee]

Another two tone!!
Love it! it looks really good, and well maintained!

how is it not road worthy though ? looks solid to me :D

[BenRice]

Thanks man, yours looks pretty sweet too.

We have 6 monthly roadworthy tests and pretty strict laws on modifications. This would fail on having a welded diff, being lower than the certified heights by about 2", the bolt-in roll cage isnt certified and the tyre stretch isnt legal either (215/40 on 9" and 215/45 on 9.5).

The tester's dont normally pick up the locked diff or the tyre stretch but the ride height and roll cage are an issue every time.

Ive got the viscous R200 LSD that the car came with so will shim it up, pull out the half cage, swap some legal wheels on and raise it after the tidy up process is complete and get it back legal. Then undo all that until next time it needs a check!

[BenRice]

After the track day on the weekend the old girl is looking a bit worse for wear. Thankfully it’s mainly superficial.

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First of all, the day started at 5am and cold (3deg C) in my hometown. Fog greeted me halfway into the 2hr trip, but the early morning rise paid off and meant I was first in the line and had first choice of the pits.

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The track was looking picturesque in the morning sun and fog

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I put a pair of the new 215/45 Austyre's on for the first session. I found out after briefing I'd been bumped to the top class too. First session I struck it lucky and had fresh track, hammering out 5-6 laps before feeling the tyres get a lot harder.

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Stupidly my confidence had grown and was throwing it earlier and faster each lap in, not accounting for the slipperier tyres. On lap 8 I entered early and fast, putting my foot down hard, only to find no forward drive and heading straight for the outer tyre wall at ~100kmh. I feathered the throttle to get what drive I could, gaining enough to narrowly avoid contact. I got so close I could hear the exhaust get louder, echoing off the tyre wall. Thankfully the cool down flag was out and it was in to the pits.

I knew I had been hammering it pretty hard, but was surprised to find only 1mm left on the tyres! New tyres down to 1mm in 1 session was unheard of, for me and the car.

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Anyway, next pair of new tyres fitted and I started by chasing Joel Patterson and his tidy grey AE86 hatch. It was great to find someone who entered the same speed as me into the hairpin, and being a turbo 4AGE it didn't put out too much smoke so I could see where I was going. I mucked up my turns at leading, but got progressively closer to him each chase run, so took a lot away from it.

Next session another driver clipped a tyre on the last corner, dragging it onto the track, just where my right hand corner goes. Having no option at ~90kmh I ploughed into it. It smashed the right hand corner off the bumper, smashed the mounts off the corner light and bent the ducting pretty bad. But nothing that some hammers and cable ties couldn't fix. Thankfully the oil cooler and intercooler piping were undamaged.

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A mate and myself unbolted the ducting and hammered it as best we could and reassembled. We cable tied up the bumper as best we could and went out again.

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Sadly, I struck a session with a lot of spins and didn't get many clean runs. The next saw that damn tyre out again on the final corner. The marshal's took half the session to move it, by then I was ropeable.

The final session saw my tie rod inner pull itself out of the rack. It must have been unwinding over the past few events, finally ripping the last few threads. I frantically repaired it in time to load up and tow home. So a day with only two really good sessions, and two frustrating ones, and one with only one corner.

I'm hoping the next day in July holds a better organised day and more track time. The front bumper needs some surgery, but it will add to its character.

Test fitting one of my mates BN side skirts to see how much I need to pump the rear metal to make the rear wheels not look sunk. I've also been offered a FK Type 2 front bar and side skirts for stupid cheap. Just waiting on the width of it to come through (to see if my current track isn't too sunk). If it’s too wide I’ll stick with Vertex and get a fresh copy.

[Supra_Lover]

Y u no update!?!?

[BenRice]

Because nothing much has happened. Will update after this weekend's drift day once pics turned up.

Since the last day I've stitched the front bumper back together, fixed the corner light, got a wheel alignment, had a pair of new tyres fitted and a couple rotated. Nothing picture worthy really.

Am using Hydrogen in the tyres to see if it will help keep the pressures from increasing so quickly.

And my FK Type 2 front and sides should turn up next week with any luck.

[Supra_Lover]

Sounds great,thx!!

[BenRice]

So the drift day saw torrential rain, cold wind and temperatures of around 8deg celsius. After the first session was done i went to go start it to find it dead. Suspected a blown fuse as we had no cover for the cars, let alone ourselves. Packed up at lunchtime as it was pointless. Got it home to find i left the fans on. Rookie mistake but wasnt feeling it anyway. Save the fuel for another day.

Good news was I had a pressie waiting for me when i got home. Some quick trim ming with the grinder and boom.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3772/9276007898_c36d2a9a35_c.jpg

With the front another 10mm lower it will look tight.

Side skirts are a little lower than the Vertex but not as much as i had hoped. Ahwell, its cheap and i can re sell and make good money if i decide to pursue BN.

[BenRice]

To give you an idea of how wet it was:

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m507/driftouteast/IMG_8606_zps17b17f8c.jpg

And the side skirt doesnt normally sit like that, bottom ziptie on the rear had come off it.

[BenRice]

zmfyOx08EPM

[bc.]

:O that R32 @ 2:10, just pumping water out of the back!

[BenRice]

Hes a 17yo that can drive pretty well but is a massive tool. Competes in our national Pro-am series and ignores a lot of rules and generally pisses the organisers off.

The cream Cefiro with the weird tints is RB30E (ie single cam, non turbo) run by my mate Neal, has cost all of NZD$3k to throw together. Can do this track in the dry too, check the blog for some vids of it entering with epic 4th gear manjis in the dry.

The gunmetal s13 with orange gram lights is my mate Tom's, running 285rwkw SR, Tomei ARMS turbo, PFC and a lot of genuine parts.

[BenRice]

Another from the day and another from Chris.

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Got some work done on the weekend. Dropped my LSD off to get shimmed and my mechanic (and local Pro series driver, Dave Steedman) turned it around within the day. Then I swapped the bucket seat and rails for my S15 drivers seat and started removing the cage. Also tidied up the spare wheel well as it had a lot of surface rust, so spent some quality time with the wire wheel and electric drill.

So next weekend the plan is to swap the welded diff for the shimmed diff, raise the suspension and finish removing the half cage. Then on a following weekend i'll drive her down to Dave and get a new front pipe fabbed up (current one has been smashed down to 2") along with the flexi that's been sitting there patiently to be fitted and get a few other holes filled due to scraping/impacts.

After all that's done it'll hopefully fly through its test, so fingers crossed.

[eshr32]

I remember seeing this car on rimtuck, nice to see the build here!

[BenRice]

Thanks man.

Not many pics but figured i'd update where I'm at.

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Well she's all street legal! Amazing really, only had to raise it 15mm at the back and 20mm at the front and replace a few bulbs. Have a intermitent connection on one of the rear bulbs but otherwise it's pretty good! Celebrated by linking up a couple of corners on my way home (drive them every day in the daily, always wanted to hit them in the S13).

Drove it down to our national gourmet burger franchise Burgerfuel, (who sponsor my mates girlfriend with her time attack Evo) then to work yesterday and then to the gym. Apart from the iminent sound of disaster coming from the halfshafts it's so easy to drive.

Back up to my mates shed this weekend to lower it back down, fab up the new front pipe (will grab pics) and do a gearbox oil change while it's on the hoist. FK bumper and sides are with a mate getting sprayed too. Also on the lookout for bonnet pins as i want to take it for decent trips now and i don't trust the latch that's just bogged into the fibreglass bonnet. Also looking into doing a blue window tint (Suntek 50%) on this and the daily Laurel. Hoping for something like this:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h243/b00gieman22/rightside2-1.jpg

The Laurel will be the next to receive some love. Have sideskirts and rear lip from a M34 Stagea at a mates that we measured and will fit. Also have a set of cheap 18x8 and 9 VIP style wheels that just need the last of the spray paint removed and a good polish. Also hunting out some cheap chinese adjustable rear camber arms to reduce the -4deg it runs due to the super low 5zigen lowering springs and s14 shocks in the rear with standard camber arms. Finally, plan is to bring in a FRP front lip and roof wing in from Japan in the next container from Ewan for it and get them colour matched and fitted along with the sideskirts and rear lip. Hope to have that all done by the end of summer here.

On a more practical side, i'm investigating how hard it will be to fit a 12V air compressor and air tank in the boot of the Laurel, with the idea to run an impact gun off it for wheel changes and be able to pump up tyre pressures at the track. Will tighten and break the nuts by hand, just using the impact gun to speed up the winding with the long wheel studs. Looks like i'll need a beefy compressor, something that can flow at least 5cfm for the gun so the ARB twin cylinder heavy duty setup seems to be the best option. The Laurel has the fuel tank in between the strut towers, leaving a 1.2m x .3m x .25m cavity above it in the boot, perfect for an air tank. The reason for going for compressed air instead of a 18v cordless impact gun is that i have a compressor at home so can reuse the impact gun and hose on that.

Will update with pics of the front pipe and proper ride height after this weekend.

[BenRice]

So weekend was productive.

As S13 owners will know, running a 3" exhaust out of harm's way is a bit tricky, especially the front pipe. Still, we thought we'd have a go at it and see how high we could get it without it hitting the floor or the road. We also had a flexi to fit which has an overall diameter of around 3 and a half inch. The ideal scenario was to sit it above the chassis rails, letting them take any impacts.

So on the hoist she went (sorry, all photos taken with a potato operated by Michael J. Fox)

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We unbolted the front pipe and immediately struck issues.

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Luckily i had a chinese dump pipe i had been meaning to fit but hadnt until i had a flexi fitted. With one going on today there was no better time than now!

Next we got the rear section sitting where we wanted, cut off the back half of the front pipe and bolt that up to the rear half and decided where to put the flexi. It's placement was a bit further back than is ideal but due to space constraints under the dump pipe (would have meant a sharp bend after it to avoid hanging low) and after the bend (lowest point of front pipe) it was the next best spot for it.

Cue the sledge hammer. We managed to smash about 15mm of clearance out of the floor, enough to give the exhaust 5-8mm clearance on all spots, and end up with this view when lining up the chassis rails:

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That's the front pipe bending up towards the dump pipe on the left. So, great success!

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A spot of paint and she was sorted

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I changed the gearbox oil while she was on the hoist too, and dropped the ride height back down to where it was pre-road worthy test. I forgot to plug the O2 sensor in on the way home but thankfully it didnt melt the plug.

I took the a-frame up to my mates as well and we dummied up how we were going to mount a removable subframe to the top of the a-frame to carry the front bumper on it. We decided to leave it until my FK kit was done as it sits lower than the Vertex and we wanted to make sure it could take both front bumpers.

Just need to put the extra 5mm spacers on the rear to get it back to how i want, but i am undecided on whether to leave them off and pull some more camber out of it (it currently sits at -2.3deg) or put the spacers back on and leave it.

[BenRice]

Drove car to work last week.

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Still driving it now as got sent wrong replacement shock absorbers for the Laurel last week. Get a few looks and have a few people taking pictures of it at traffic lights which is a first and a bit of an egorub.

Laurel's new wheels should be ready today: Work Eurolines in 18x8 (+38) and 18x9 (+45) so will be breaking out some spare spacers. They came in poor condition and someone had spray canned the centres. No metal polishers or chemical strippers in the town i live so had to go with sandblast and powder coat in a silver finish. Not ideal, but for NZ$300 for the wheels i wasnt going to worry too much. At NZ$60 a wheel for blasting and coating, then another NZ$460 for 225/40s and 235/40s it's still NZ$1000 in wheels for the daily. The adjustable camber arms in the rear should help eliminate some of the camber wear too.

And if anyone can help with buying and sending some SunTek High Performance 50% Blue window tint it would be much appreciated. Local distributors dont stock it. Can PayPal through the money and some extra for your time.

[TheFresHesT]

I love coups very nice pics and clean car

[BenRice]

Thanks man. Picked up the Eurolines a couple of hours ago and will trial fit them on the Laurel tonight. They look good, pity they don't have centre caps. My tyre fitter did a great job of not marking the freshly coated wheels.

Am hoping to win an auction on a Navan S14 wing tonight for the S13. Already in silver too. And pick up my FK Type 2 front and sides from my painter this weekend as well. Will update with pics as it all unfolds.

Am going to a test day on Sunday as crew for a mate but will drive the S13 along for shits and giggles seeing as though its road legal. The word around the traps is that the C's Garage cars will be attending for a shakedown (featured on Speedhunters last week).

[BenRice]

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7367/9705352497_aa568a2e3b_c.jpg

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Could put 25mm spacers on but would need guard work and i CBF'd, so will just throw some 5mm slip ons at it all round and call it done. And spray the hub caps silver. Proper shocks should turn up for it tomorrow thanks to my mate.

And this makes me elated:

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Removable frame so I can fit the bumper to the a-frame when in transit. Just waiting for my FK bumper to be finished to finalise the mount height.

[Oakville]

Really nice man! Digging the two tone.

Dumb question but I don't know anyone in NZ...How does it work in a country without required insurance? Like, you can drive anything without it? What happens in the event of a collision with someone who isnt insured?

[BenRice]

Thanks man.

If a driver without insurance hits someone with insurance then the insurance company will pursue the individual for the cost of repairs, taking them to court (or small claims court) if need be.

[gbaby2089]

When will the FK go on?

[BenRice]

Whenever my painter gets it done. He's a mate and doing it as a cashie. He's notoriously slow but his work is some of the best in the country as he's won a number of awards.

I'm hoping he will have it done when i go past his place on my way to the test day this Sunday. "Hoping" being the operative word.

Realistically it may be next month :(

[BenRice]

Just sourced a secondhand FK rear bumper, locally too! Pick it up next Monday.

So stoked, was expecting to have to buy new but one has come up for sale from one of the local Pro-am drivers. This kit is going to be fitted for track work and the Vertex for road use - the sides are still fine and the rear can be fixed easy enough, just need a new front.

Am thinking i may have a go at getting some more width out of my rear fenders to ensure the wheels dont look sunk with the wider, lower kit. I am worried about compression dents though so will start research methods. I thought about cutting the inner wheel well, pumping, then filling the gap with new steel. That would allow the outer skin to move easier without the inner putting tension on it.

The front should be ok, but i will keep a lookout for S14 LCA's. I'd only need an extra 10mm to make it look right, so the extra 20mm the s14 LCA's give over the S13 LCA's means i could reduce the front space down from 25mm to 15mm and reduce my scrub radius. I'll just have to check if i am currently fouling on swaybars or castor arms.

[BenRice]

Bought some S14 LCA's on the weekend. They came with hubs and knuckles too, so they will go into storage for my cousins S14 PFL for when he is ready (ie has money) for modded knuckles. Getting the ball joints swapped over as soon as i can pull the S13 LCA's out of the car.

I split the knuckle from the S14 LCA last night. I put the knuckles lower strut mounts in the vice, removed the castled nut then figured i'd put the butane torch onto the knuckle area around the ball joint. This worked brilliantly, all it took was one strong blow with the mini sledgehammer on the tip of the ball joint. I know i ran the risk of mushrooming it, but the heating obviously worked a treat and i didnt care about ruining the thread on the S14 ball joints, plus i didnt have to hammer LCA and run the risk of denting it. I've replaced the ball joints in the S13 LCA before so hoping they come off the knuckle by hitting the LCA as it will be the other way around with these as its the ball joints i want to preserve on them, not the LCA's.

I also did more research and apparently its only 7.5mm added per side by the S14 LCA's over the S13 ones. With the strut top rotation i am going to do (to pull the top forward to improve contact patch on lock) i will be sacrificing strut top camber, so combined with the slightly longer LCA's my guard-tyre clearance is going to reduce. I havent hammered the lip flat yet and have ~5mm clearance at the moment so will see what happens when it's back together as i may be able to get away without reducing the space.

Drove it 530km (~330miles) on the weekend. Managed to do 310km to 3/4 of a tank so around 10l/100km touring which i'm happy with, especially considering most of the tuning was done on full throttle and it sits at 3,000 at 110kmh.

And if you've still suffered through reading my Red Bull fueled drivel here's a pic of it filling up on my way home:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/1275879_4743720531089_766890023_o.jpg

Graded a few bridge transitions with the cross memeber / swaybar and think i hit the gearbox or gearbox mount at one point plus the usual fibreglass impacts but no exhaust impacts. Pretty darn happy.

Next post should be a mock up of the FK rear and S14 wing.

[Nategreat923]

I love this car so hard.

[BenRice]

Thanks man, yours is awesome. Always wanted to do the CA swap into a small Toyota or MX5.

The colour scheeme reminds me of one of the 4A-GZE 86's we had here, run by a guy called Tim Harris. It ran a hybrid 4age and SC14:

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p100/DOHC-Etude/100_1014.jpg

Can't seem to find any exterior photos when it was beige/tan and black. He has the blog SLPERY | SLPERY When Dry – (http://www.slpery.wordpress.com). Worth a look if you're interested in all things AE, he's owned heaps of them and always makes them look amazing.

[BenRice]

So did a test fit of the FK rear last night. Navan S14 wing still hasnt turned up. Couriers in this country are shite.

Because the FK is designed to work with widebody and stock metal, it needed a bit of trimming. The sides that wrap around the rear quarters and into the rear wheel arch had a step in them. Note the "had". After cutting this out it would fit pretty well, but needed tension on it to hold it in.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/735840_4761606738233_174602920_o.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/1263852_4761605618205_1650708267_o.jpg

It needed a bit of finishing to fit snug, flapper sander disc for a grinder is sooooooo good for this. Will need to massage my wheel arch to pinch it in a little more but i'm very happy with its design. At the wheel arch it hangs only 25-30mm off the ground. Gotta love running 17's for low!

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/1277362_4761606058216_483653696_o.jpg


Obviously being designed for widebody the sides hung around 2" out from the wheel arch on each side. So with some warm weather coming up i thought lets put it to use

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/1271766_4761606578229_1346940738_o.jpg

I may need to cut a notch out of the fibreglass on the underside to hold. If i do i'll get it reglassed when it gets repainted as i don't want weak points in it.

And another couple of pics from the gas station stop last weekend. I need a new Vertex front stat.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/1265114_4761605818210_72888455_o.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/1293084_4761606338223_641046393_o.jpg

[soundboy]

Spot on fitment

Sent from my GT-P3110 using Tapatalk 4

[BenRice]

Thanks man, appreciate it.

Navan wing turned up finally but it was a bit of a let down. The seller hadnt even packaged it and stuck stickers straight onto the (crappy) paint. This pissed me off from the get-go. Next was some person had finger painted "Boss" and "fuck" into the top of the wing with thinners. Real winner there.

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20130921_092701_zps93c6c5b7.jpg

But I soldiered on. After painstakingly peeling the stickers off and getting rid of the residue with aerosol CRC degreaser (amazing stuff) i got to work on making it fit. It needed around 2-3mm taken out of the outside half of the base. Cue the sander flapper grinder attachment. 30mins with this and it was as good as it was going to get.

Two bolts were left in the wing and i wanted to use these to mount it. It will need another couple to secure the front of the bases but I'm thinking of just use a self taper screw and a lot of sikaflex as there isnt much left on the underside to bolt to.

I played around with positions. A mate (another Ben with another S13 Silvia) had just mounted his but pushed it as far back as his mounts allowed. While it looked good for him running Origin overs and BN kit i was hesitant to do do the same on Vertex/FK and stock metal as it wouldnt look as wide.

I trialed both positions: as far back as possible and in a normal position, as well as trialing both the Vertex and the FK rear bumper. These were the results:

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20130921_111021_zps365c1f11.jpg

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20130921_111034_zps8af60adf.jpg

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20130921_111205_zps738fdeaa.jpg

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20130921_110548_zpsfeb83b1a.jpg

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20130921_110711_zps14e23bff.jpg

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20130921_110700_zpse8daa15c.jpg

I settled on the forward position. The rear position just looked to "Fast and Furious" style with the Vertex. It kind of went with the FK, but would need overs to make it really work and I'm not an overs kind of person: i like running tyres to the bitter end and don't want to worry about belts blowing my guards to pieces. So I marked out where the holes needed to go, drilled, then clearanced the framing on the back with a holesaw to allow the nuts to spin on.

Finally, got word yesterday arvo that my FK front and sides are done. I'm off to Aussie this weekend for a week to visit my father and have to drive a couple of hours to get to the airport to fly out of the country, so on my way back home i'll swing past my painters place and pick them up.

My painter is mad busy (obviously) so will pick up my paint at the same time and get the FK rear and boot+wing all done locally. The boot has a few scrapes as well so a good time to fix it up. Once that's painted the whole car will only need the front guards, doors, roof and rear quarters repainted. I'm holding off doing this until i do the necessary guardwork to the front and rear with the coming reduction in camber, plus some rust needs to be removed around the sunroof and windscreen.

To keep me going this week i'm going to grind the lock stops off my S14 LCA's in anticipation of transfering my adjustable lockstops over from the S13 LCA's, and will pull the S13 LCA's out of the and get my mate to swap the ball joints while I'm out of the country.

[Ruff]

Hi Ben, I stumbled upon this thread at lunchtime and was pleased to see the old girl getting still going strong. I hope you don't mind me posting a couple of old pics here.

http://i.imgur.com/Zg2In4y.jpg
This is the first iteration of Ben's car in early 2004, not long after it was finished. This chassis had a close encounter with a lighting column during a storm and the parts had to be swapped into the current shell.

http://i.imgur.com/8rFpAtm.jpg
And here it is with the rest of the family in 2005 (C33, WGNC34 & S13s).

Keep up the good work!

[BenRice]

Hey Joe! Thanks for the pics, stumbled over some others on car domain a while ago too.

You wouldnt believe it but the old girl is still on the same turbo, engine, gearbox and clutch. All untouched and unopened. On the dyno the tuner said the engine sounded really strong through the headphones too.

Probably jinxed it now :P

[Ruff]

Ah yes I did put a few photos on car domain, had almost forgotten.

I remember that engine being a real gem, never missed a beat despite being called on to work hard from time to time. The oil used to come out slightly golden and clear each time I changed it, usually around 4,500mi. Glad you've had such a good run.

[BenRice]

Currently finishing off installing S14 LCA’s. Ball joints are swapped over, just need to tighten ball joint bolts and give it an eyecrometer toe adjustment and it can get dropped down. Have just ground off the lock stops for now, but will get the adjustable stops transferred over from the S13 LCA’s and gusseting added soon.

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131008_223435_zps73130f9c.jpg

Test fitted the painted FK front and a side. Looks so cool, and the extra track on the front from the S14 LCA’s (now effectively 9’s @ -10) will mean the outer lip of the wheels will still be wider than the outer edge of the kit. The side skirts will need a little bit of stretching so I’m going to mount them as solidly as possible and hit them with a heat gun.

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131012_162806_zps7ec231ba.jpg

And the subframe for transporting the bumper on top of the a-frame when towing is finished. It was all TIG’d up by a mate Mike Dalton (Zerofighter guy) and is nice and strong. It uses a section of A31 Cefiro bumper iron and can be removed from the a-frame by undoing only 4 bolts. I’m tempted to get it and the halfcage powdercoated matte gold but that can be something for later on.

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131012_162757_zps36451054.jpg

This pic doesn’t show the side stays welded on yet but that’s all done now, and once the car is back on the ground again I’ll mount it all up and snap off some pics. The stays have plates added on the end that the ends of the bumper sit on. The plates and underside of the bumper will get a couple of holes drilled through so I can secure the bumper during transit. Another couple of tie’s on the bumper iron section and she’s good to go.

Next I think I’ll investigate how hard it will be to fit a removable 4-wheel tyre rack on top of the a-frame. Logic says no as it’d put too much downward pressure on the hitch bolts, and would need to be braced rather heavily as the wheels would sit 600mm above the a-frame. But solutions seem to present themselves after a few beers and a bit of staring so will see what happens.

[BenRice]

Finished off fitting the S14 LCAs, adjusted toe, hammered lip flat on guards, solid mounted the oil cooler and put the FK front and sides. Just need to drill holes and mount the kit properly now.

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131015_223556_zpsbea436bf.jpg

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131015_223540_zpsd07d86fc.jpg

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131015_223518_zps1f4e5e9f.jpg

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131015_223453_zps9f3a7c5b.jpg

[BenRice]

Couple of wider angle shots of the new front and sides all mounted. Really like the look of the kit, makes the car look a lot wider.

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131016_181014_zpsf1c1bb10.jpg

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131016_181120-1_zpsc4956619.jpg


And some shots of the a-frame and it’s new bumper-subframe all mounted up. A mate turned up with some of his homebrew last night as i was taking these so understandably got distracted from drilling the mounting holes on the stays.

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131016_181623_zps263e7e40.jpg

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131016_182243_zpsc0d59b0e.jpg

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131016_182351_zps3f9fd79b.jpg

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131016_182403_zpse44bcdff.jpg

And got a call to say the rear bumper and wing are already done! Amazingly fast work, done in less than 24hrs. Am picking up tomorrow morning so fingers crossed the quality is passable.

So tomorrow arvo it should all be able to go together, complete FK kit painted plus Navan S14 boot wing. Then put up on axle stands so I can pull the rack out. Will try and re-seat the LHS seal and see if it will fix the leak.

[BenRice]

So the old girl got a bit of a spruce up on Sunday. New rear bumper, a new boot wing and a thorough clean inside and out were the order of the day.

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131020_110034_zpseabf0b99.jpg

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131020_110058_zpsfb165725.jpg

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131020_110125_zps60b1e54d.jpg

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131020_110255_zps28a42579.jpg

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131020_110325-1_zpscacaa529.jpg


But if I’m completely honest I’m not 100% convinced this looks good. The front looks how I wanted it too, apart from my shoddy guard work of course, but the rear just isn’t right.

For it to work I’m thinking the roof spoiler is too “abrupt” and the rear edge needs to taper back towards the front rather than go straight down. So it’s either remove and alter the existing one or buy a new one.

The rear guards will get a bit of treatment in the next few weeks, but thankfully by some much more experienced hands than mine. This will happening once it’s had a wheel alignment to setup the front toe correctly and reduce the rear camber down to -1deg. I’ll reduce the space to allow this to happen and then get the guards flared to accommodate 9.5′s with 215/45 @ +6 or at the least the current +11. Maybe these changes will help tie it in.

Either way, when it only had the roof wing, FK front and sides and Vertex rear it looked pretty cool, and it’s easy enough to go back to this.

[sleepyS14se]

how come the hood alignment looks high on the drivers side?

i love this two tone it has a timeless look that i am really diggin'!

[BenRice]

Because china knockoff parts are crap.

The bonnet is quite warped. After this i removed the passenger side rubber stop at the front and build the drivers side on up. It kinda worked but still fits like infected camel cock.

Thanks for the kind comments!

[sleepyS14se]

i notice almost all s13 silvia noses look like the hood never lines up


man your car looks like a boss. lol

[BenRice]

Yeah the guards have been removed and installed a few times, and rolled and hammered so that won't be helping. And the RB plenum touches a little too.

I think if i slot the holes on the hinges i could get it a little straighter.

Trying to organise hiring our favourite track for my 30th birthday. Its not until Feb next year but bookings are disappearing fast.

[BenRice]

So drove it to the first round of our national drift series. The idea with getting it all legal for the road was so i could do this. It then occurred that the organisers wanted to run a hard park and a bunch of mates decided to enter for shits and giggles and we got 2nd place and $500 worth of booze as a prize.

http://dsd32.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/20131121-140538.jpg

https://fbcdn-photos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/s720x720/1472094_10151772055848364_889558384_n.jpg

http://dsd32.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/20131117-215425.jpg

My mate James' 180sx won lowest car. It's running 18x9 and 18x10.5 Equips. The rears are Joel Hedges' old Equips and have an offset of -44.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/1397870_561253457284961_1318308366_o.jpg

A mate flared the rear guards for me the night before, meaning i could now pump my rears out to an effective offset of +11 on the -1deg camber

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1400543_479848592128596_975152809_o.jpg

Then Adam and Joel and the S-Club guys ran a Meremere day so a bunch of us went along as it had been a dry spell for track days

In the days leading up i fitted my new harnesses

https://fbcdn-photos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/s720x720/999618_10200213080969859_944936796_n.jpg

And got my halfcage powder coated to match the Advans

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131202_124520_zps44366ddc.jpg

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131202_215831_zps1ab2b819.jpg

I fitted the FK back on and towed up to my mates for the night

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131207_075330_zpsbd02455d.jpg

Chris Smith @ Freshly Whipped (http://www.freshlywhipped.co.nz) snapped some cool shots again

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/1417514_698868623470691_1639420988_o.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/1412346_699206060103614_301648864_o.jpg

After the day i took some shots of the rig as she is transported

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131207_195222_zps8073624e.jpg

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131207_195241_zpsb7d63179.jpg

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20131207_195304_zps2578f301.jpg

Theres a vid on Facebook of one of my runs where i came as close as humanly possibly to the wall without touching.

The strut top rotation and the reduction in rear camber really helped put grip into it.

I need to get a mate to make up a custom fixed seat rail to mount the new SR3 i bought as it sits way too high. Then the windows are getting the blue film i had brought in from China applied. Finally the rocker covers and front of engine covers are going to be redone to get rid of the green, but i'm undecided on silver, black or gold.

[BenRice]

So I'll get this up to date. I think it was late last year when i left off.

Well a few mates of mine had been asking to come for rides, so i booked a skidpan day. As usual, most piked and left me negotiating newbs for the day. I ended up finding a couple of guys to do a bit of tandem but was still a waste of a day. A few pics:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/1535475_10202150262851450_1058425022_n.jpg
https://scontent-b-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t31.0-8/1966325_616968555049596_1313330237_o.jpg

And since then i've just done two days but a few improvements.

The first day was a day at Taupo Motorsport Park, but run by the managers of the track. As a result they allowed me to take passengers out but no tandem stuff with passengers in the car. Pretty good of them considering my car only has a bolt-in halfcage, expired harnesses and the passenger seat is a reclinable Recaro.

My mate Mike offered to tow me down in his LS1 powered Holden Commodore ute (i think it's called the Maloo over there), made the hills much easier. He also fabbed up some rad 3.5" twin pipes for me to replace the twin 2.5":

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/20140206_141456_zpsmeat8jcd.jpg
http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/Mobile%20Uploads/received_m_mid_1391663355807_9127c12c07cec97928_0_ zpsvvnlk5ft.jpeg

Fills the hole nicely!
http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/Mobile%20Uploads/20140218_213648_zpsgficvugh.jpg

The day at Taupo was run over the entire track, using the new section (Track 2) in the morning, running normal direction, then reverse. Reverse is what our competition series runs and I was keen to see how this setup would go as quite a few of our ProAm drivers have issues with the 4-corner section.

Well i did it without any real issues, hammering out 7-8 laps in a row with no spins and baking a pair of new tyres in that time so felt pretty good. In the arvo they run full track normal direction and a dicky handbrake sent me shooting off and i munched my nice, mint front bumper:

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/Mobile%20Uploads/20140220_142814_zpsacdev1jh.jpg

That made me angry, so it was out to kill that pair proper and a mate got a bit of footage from behind, coming out of the dipper and up the hill

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v685/ep82gt/ben_zpsf19053f3.jpg

Then we hitched up and towed home

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/Mobile%20Uploads/20140220_165430_zpsydgsoeqd.jpg

The rack had started leaking, and i was also keen to get it moved forward. So out came the crossmember. Only trouble was, no engine crane. Cue kiwi ingenuity:

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/Mobile%20Uploads/20140323_134602_zpsosrnsglk.jpg

I dropped the crossmember off to Adam @ C's Garage to move the mounts forward, then ordered new poly bushes. Once all done i squished it all back together with a replacement steering rack:

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae86/ryseee/Mobile%20Uploads/20140517_160013_zpsnwbvttur.jpg

Next it was onto the rear and trying to reduce the camber wear i was getting on compression. I went for PSM subframe risers and sourced GKtech traction arms, but first i picked up a pair of wheels as they were too cheap:

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3892/14146750350_e9404db3cf_c.jpg
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2925/14332621874_63dd733de9_c.jpg

17x9 @ 0 RT5 Chrome (essentially Foose knockoffs but look like chunky VSKF's). Rear camber is -0.5deg so was going to be touch and go, more on that later.

Then out came the subframe and up to Mikes to burn the bushes out

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5545/14310222026_2922d6cd2b_c.jpg
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2933/14310209186_69a234b93f_c.jpg

And done
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2939/14333365105_f88e32bf99_c.jpg

New handbrake shoes were fed into her and then off to get aligned. I also sourced a fresh FK front and got it painted, then the final thing was to add a v-band instead of the rangi (read: pikey) slip on + D-shackle for the new twin pipes:

http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab69/bjrice/Mobile%20Uploads/20140614_174203.jpg

My mate James then suggested a low-key drift day that was coming up, only thing was it was at our national dragstrip: Meremere. The facility can be hired and the second half of the strip and return road used. However, concrete barriers have been added lately so it's been a bit of a missile-haven sadly. We thought we might as well as the tyre bill wouldnt be huge as we could use all our half worns, and it would be a good chance to get a few of us driving together again.

So the Saturday just been i was up at 5am and on the road for a 3hr tow across the island. A couple of mates helped me sort the brakes (needed bleeding) and i adjusted up the handbrake.

I threw the RT5's on and it was a right laugh. Huge amount of rubbing but left them on and ran them till the tyres died.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t1.0-9/10464071_722347364511813_1217542049757609214_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t31.0-8/p960x960/10460834_723044881108728_3109498464498629060_o.jpg

I also sold the S14 wing as it didnt look right with big kit, steel guards and only 17's. Have an Origin boot lip coming from Japan to replace it.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3851/14301642818_18d453c66d_b.jpg

More pics are on the Ambition Works FB page.

I also took Shaun (Ambition Works) for a run and he video'ed it and put some of the incar in this vid:

rotMZ6-vJEw

Apologies for the amount of shit heaps in there and lack of 3rd gear, those barriers be unforgiving.

So am now itching for more proper track stuff, but before then I'll be fitting an RB20DET actuator to safely get a couple more psi boost out of her (only at 8-9psi at the moment) and a bit more mid range torque to help with the competition section at Taupo. The backlash in the diff is also a little loose so will need adjusting too.

Then i have a couple of fresh Vertex front and rear bumpers to get painted in preparation for getting her road legal again and drive around for the summer as usual.

Let me know your thoughts guys.

[BenRice]

Well 5 years and I'm back. Been pretty active on Driftworks but thought I'd peep what the US is up to (forums in NZ/Aus are dead)

As of ~3 years ago the car ticked off it's 38th event. Still on the same engine, clutch and gearbox that was in the car when i bought it. Don't believe the internet when they say RB's aren't reliable

I guess major things since the last post were that I fitted a PSM hydraulic handbrake. Now, i know the whole thing these days is "stock works fine" but 5 years ago I was battling overheating brake shoes and adjusting it constantly. For a price of Project Mu brake shoes i could buy a PSM HHB kit.

Did something a bit different and hid it

https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/1420176393031-jpg.302547/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/1420416211653-jpg.302548/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/1zyu4gk-jpg.109856/

Drifted it some more, added an Origin bootlip and bought Joel Hedges @ C's Garage old Eastbear mirrors

https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img_20150329_160256-jpg.302550/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/frontonme-jpg.302560/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/schplock-jpg.302564/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/schpsmoke-jpg.302566/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/firstcorner-jpg.302569/

then changed up the kit a bit and got rid of the FK and went BN for the track

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1596/23878083544_e97a93958e_z.jpg
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1699/24423909761_45d2050df3_z.jpg
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/fb_img_1454360026202-jpg.302590/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/fb_img_1454360051631-jpg.302591/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/20160130_092703-jpg.302592/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/20160131_115029-jpg.302593/

That was the car's last full event ~3.5 years ago. I then started as an instructor at beginner events. But before my son was born i wanted to get the car tidied up and resprayed, it certainly deserved it

https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img_20160601_194154-jpg.302578/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/20160702_162034-jpg.302580/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/20160702_162056-jpg.302581/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/20160702_162124-jpg.302583/

Then, faced with no events and a year of home life I made the move to up the power finally. I contacted Luke @ MMP back in 2017 about a recored RB25 turbo, but ended up going for a rebuilt HKS GT-RS with 0.64 RB exhaust housing (less fab work). It's sized & specced the same as a GTX2871R, with billet compressor wheel and dual ball bearing cartridge. Since then MMP's supplying Animal Style, Pink Style & a host of other grassroots team which is kind of cool tbh.

https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img_20160909_210913-jpg.302585/

Add in a Z32 MAF, 6x Spec R S15 injectors (direct fit to factory RB25 rail and plugs) and it was retuned on 1 bar, making 263kw at the wheels, holding 1 bar from 3200 to 7400. Somehow the clutch is still holding up

(Will throw up rest of the update tomorrow)

[tuzzio]

Stock body + kitted two tone. Such a win in my book. Car is awesome, and looks good after the respray.

[brndck]

good lord this thread is WIN

[BenRice]

Stock body + kitted two tone. Such a win in my book. Car is awesome, and looks good after the respray.

good lord this thread is WIN

Cheers guys! Working on bringing it up to date now...

[S14rebuild]

2 thubs up, 2 tone is sweet

[BenRice]

Dyno of the retune:

https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/whatsapp-jpeg.302761/

Green is the original tune done 7 years earlier on stock injectors/turbo/8-9psi
Red is the tune done with no VCT a couple months earlier (power feed to the VCT died)
Blue is with VCT on


Then faced with even more free time i set to the interior. The trunk got custom panels as factory are impossible to find.

https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/20160402_134646-jpg.302573/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/20160402_180820-jpg.302574/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/20160402_180840-jpg.302575/
https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3725/32593481693_300ac8357c_b.jpg

Then the stereo & HVAC was relocated to the glovebox (and eventually arm rest), the AVCR recessed, USB charging ports added, the gauges remounted, the DIN slot fitted with 1/4 turn fasteners to access the HHB.

https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/2zz6fk9-jpg.157359/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/20170717_212216-jpg.259847/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/20170717_212312-jpg.259849/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/20170717_212501-jpg.259852/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/20170717_212556-jpg.259853/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/whatsapp-image-2018-09-24-at-9-43-47-am-jpeg.284819/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/whatsapp-image-2018-09-24-at-9-43-18-am-1-jpeg.284818/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/whatsapp-image-2018-09-24-at-9-46-42-am-jpeg.284820/


Made a 50mm ammo can into a battery box for the boot, 6 round mortar box powered sub box, LED strip lighting for foot wells and trunk and S15 carpet & rear seats fitted to match the front seats

https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/battery-box-jpg.285834/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/whatsapp-image-2018-10-11-at-10-05-19-am-jpeg.285830/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/whatsapp-image-2018-10-11-at-10-05-19-am-2-jpeg.285832/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img_1503-jpg.302763/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img_1511-jpg.302765/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img_1525-jpg.302764/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img_2172-jpg.302770/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img_2177-jpg.302771/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img_1577-jpg.302766/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img_1588-jpg.288165/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img_1589-jpg.288166/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img-1591-jpg.288758/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img-1595-jpg.288761/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img-1612-jpg.288763/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img-1610-jpg.288764/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img_2174-jpg.302768/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img_2176-jpg.302769/

[BenRice]

With the event organiser of the beginner events giving me free reign i decided to put the car back into road-spec and show people you can still drive a car to the track, drift it, and drive home.

https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/54230677_350645928892796_6493816768585269248_o-jpg.294557/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/54236716_351031802187542_758714339434692608_o-jpg.294558/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/55788332_2274503526204945_8191328130481258496_o-jpg.294559/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/54521389_350657822224940_2827913622825467904_o-jpg.294560/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/54278400_350656648891724_1218145204381417472_n-jpg.294562/


Earlier this year I added a set of 17x9 Enkei RP01's my wheel collection with a view to start using the car in local autocross events for a bit of a change. I nabbed some ex-front, half worn AR1 semis in 235/40 off a mate who competes for them

https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/59526373_594952474336691_2739992532720025600_n-jpg.296283/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/58758383_442563229645980_43753639298203648_n-jpg.296279/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/57336241_366517637541678_7399744904546484224_n-jpg.296284/


Then gave the rest of the collection a bit of refresh. The gunmetal Advan set were done a few years ago, with mates helping realise my dream of turning them into imitation V2's. So first up were the gold Advan set, then the VSXX

https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/64548664_2405004109752877_6189331873953480704_n-jpg.298272/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/efxx5268-jpg.302772/

[BenRice]

Recently i've replaced the intercooler piping for alloy and made each side 1 piece, rationalised a lot of wiring from the engine bay, found an imitation Battle Mode grill and replaced the horrible vented BN copy hood with an Origin Type 2

https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/49454731_338943330025650_7086974768892608512_n-jpg.289811/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img_1872-jpg.293500/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img_1898-jpg.293502/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/49181217_2326022397410467_6456519384255954944_n-jpg.289803/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/49210784_317138202231322_4720955346556813312_n-jpg.289805/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/49647122_322577021800927_4910579926496706560_n-jpg.289804/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/49693300_666909470378061_8147972037650939904_n-jpg.289802/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img_1841-jpg.302767/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img_3183-jpg.302775/


I've also started taking my now 3 yo son out to local coffee & car events and he's as bad as I am now lol

https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/62603119_368166714053250_6248206710121431040_n-jpg.298277/

So it's now a nice weekend car that can drive to the track, swap a few things around, go out and kill a pair of tyres with ease, swap a few things back and drive home in comfort, all the while bumping tunes. Or clean up and go to a car show

https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/img_2900-jpg.302774/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/66005193_403859870238068_3589617577325756416_o-jpg.299609/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/66258381_403859913571397_99350187058659328_o-jpg.299611/
https://sr20.driftworks.com/forum/attachments/66183444_403864763570912_7702144601145999360_o-jpg.299612/

[shobotan]

Great job on the boot panels,looks much better than factory and can probably take a bit more of a beating. I've had to repair mine numerous times over the years.

[BenRice]

2 thubs up, 2 tone is sweet

Great job on the boot panels,looks much better than factory and can probably take a bit more of a beating. I've had to repair mine numerous times over the years.

Cheers guys

Panels are made out of bathroom / shower paneling. Essentially two thin sheets of alloy with a 3mm sheet of plastic in between

[BenRice]

If anyone has anything they want me to go into detail more on feel free to throw questions at me

As an instructor i spend a lot of time helping people set car's up and explain what I've done to get around common issues, so it's nothing new