next on the list was giving the gas tank a really good cleaning. there was an insane amount of particulate in that bitch. i couldn't tell just how bad it was where there was gas in it. once it was empty and dry, it looked like a damn beach in there. one good vacuum and a can of brake clean later it was nearly good as new.


got the car back together and took it for a drive. it did great on the little 20 minute drive until on the way back about a block away from the shop i heard something metal fall off the car. there was a bunch of traffic, so i didn't stop. when i got to the shop, i jacked the car up to figure out what it was, and one of the subframe retainer/brackets had fallen off. my friend was nice enough to stop and pick it up off the roadway for me, but not before it had been run over by a car or two.


a few whacks with the hammer and it was good as new


went to put it back on, but couldn't get it to bolt up for the life of me. the subframe bushings were just way too fuckin tall to get it threaded on. after doing some research, apparently z32 energy suspension bushings are different than s14 energy suspension bushings, even though every other manufacturer in the world seems to use the same bushing for z32/c33/s13/r32/etc, which apparently means the bushing is taller. rather than fuck around and whack them to be shorter with a sawzall, i ordered some new delrin bushings from Dayton One to give a shot. threw in some new z33 axles while i was at it. (these GSP axles from rock auto come with the goood boots too)


i did full riser in the rear with one shim in the front for a little more traction and boy did it change my suspension geometry. the car couldn't even go all the way down because the tire was binding so hard on the qp. luckily i had a 3mm spacer on, which when removed, along with about a degree of negative camber, was just enough to clear without major rubbing.


i got tired of my faded blue seats, so i sprayed them with some interior paint. the left here is already painted, right is not.


after a few coats, the right got much darker. the left one is far more worn and fabric is somewhat polished, which is why it looks dirty/patchy. they look like shit here tbh, but in the car they look a lot better!


paid a visit to some friends in socal and did some filming at final bout and picked up some new parts along the way. riding through downtown la at midnight during quarantine in john's supra was super rad haha


moved into a new house this month and brought the car home. the garage was in need of some serious love. black walls on one side, unfinished and unpainted on the other


using leftover paint, my room mate and i coated it in white and decorated it a bit with random shit we've collected over the years. looks much better and is way nicer to work in now.


tree out front matches


gone for a few short drives here and there the past couple weeks and the car has been working pretty much flawlessly, aside from 3rd gear in the new trans grinding :-/ but no oil leaks anywhere makes me happy! there is a lot more in store for this thing once this pandemic is quashed



time to retire these old stock headlights


got some raybrig housings


and some super bright LED h4 conversion bulbs


overall height is pretty compact and even works with the rubber boot. hopefully it doesn't fuck with the heat sink too much...


way better and matches the color of the running lights almost identically



finally got around to wiring up these ganador tails i've had sitting around. bought some sweet deutsch plugs (because for whatever reason the kouki tails were hardwired) and proceeded to stab myself in the thumb 9000 times pinning them.


also went through the fun process of wiring up the stereo finally...


figuring out wtf the guy who wired the car did took far too long and there's some weird stuff going on so i guess i didn't quite figure it out???


i was gonna wait till final bout, but since this would the weekend and no idea if there will even be another one, i guess it's time to break out the new aero




rus also painted bryan's car, who was gonna drive ssnw with us. came out pretty raddddd

so i attempted to drive another event at the end of november, but didn't even make it to the track this time :ddog: the car made the 1.5hr drive home from the shop with no issues other than some drivetrain noise and slight harmonic vibration. about 45 min into the drive to the track, the harmonic vibration began to increase. felt like a wheel was going to fuckin fly off. checked the lugs and bearings and did a quick bolt check (as good as i could on the side of an offramp). said fuck it and hopped back on the freeway and the trans wouldn't shift to 4th smoothly and only made it another 15 minutes before the vibration became unbearable. found a hotel and a friend with a trailer to rescue me in the morning. the next day when i moved the car, the ground was COVERED in oil and the drivetrain was SCREAMING when the clutch was engaged. i parked the car at the shop and didn't touch till this week.


fun things - new things - yay!

got some new bits painted to provide motivation



andddd back to dumb mechanical bullshit

driveshaft way crooked lol


carrier bearing was shot and the input shaft on the trans was super wobbly. i definitely should have just thrown my 1pc in there to start with


up front, oil everywhere yayyyyy


after dropping the pan, i found the rtv on the pan was the only thing making a seal, but the bolts were tight, so apparently the bolts were just too long and bottomed out. i cleaned it up and put an oem gasket on. also, gotta tighten up that damn oil feed fitting...

seeing the light at the end of the tunnel though. only a half dozen items on the final bout prep list this time around. maybe i'll actually make it hahaha

me too. cant wait for k swap. looking sexy. I am always a fan of 5 spoke goodness.

gonna be awesome to see this thing on the flo!

cant wait for k swap goodies!!!!!

i thought i got the car working right before our event because i couldn't get to recreate the same issue on the street, but of course 2nd run at the track it did the same shit again. i brought a known working maf and distributor to the track and nothing changed. checked everything i could think of, but still couldn't figure it out event with the help of two ka-t wizards. there are a few more things i can try but god damn is it frustrating.



bought a pair of nr disc 18" sp1's and put the faces on the lips/barrels i had with sl disc faces and then bought some new lips + barrels from vr so now i have a full set of 18's in x9 +11 (nr) and x9.5 +18 (sl). just need to figure out how to recreate sbc so i can match the front faces...



if i didn't have a bunch of cool things waiting to go on this thing i probably would have given up by now :keke:




and phase 1 of the tf-works k-swap kit is out so.....

Quote from: Zach on October 29, 2019, 05:49:07 PM
you're dreamy kevin

no, you're dreamy!

I like dis car. cant wait to see it take shape!

It may be a bit before i can get to that coast again, but id be happy with either. I like bbq/meet because its less prep stress and more hang time during the actual event (and cheaper). but skid things are rad too. either way, if im free, i'd fly out.