It’s alive, aliiiiive! Mwuahahah!
I can't believe I'm finally writing on this page again...
Work commencing on the R33 to get some stuff done!
Things bought:
* New wheels! Volk Racing GT-P, 17x8 +35, 17x9 +32
* New tyres! Kumho KU-36 235/45/17
* Interior goodies! Leather gearstick/handbrake boots, and a Nismo leather wrapped gearknob!
Things to buy:
* Front turbo/dump pipe so I can go 3" from turbo back
* Suspension alignment kit - Front castor and camber arms, HICAS lock bar, rear camber/toe arms.
* Coilovers.
* New brake pads
* Racing seat - will investigate fixed back/recliner options!
Shall put new pics up once I get the new (old) wheels on the R33!
Chilling Out
I've done precisely nothing with the R33 since I got it, apart from replacing the dodgy snow tyres with some new Federal rubber, and changed the oil that was in it to some Lubrimaxx 10W-50 fully synthetic.
Apart from the above, I've recently (in January anyway) driven from Queensland to Tasmania, after deciding to relocate to be closer to family. 1800KM of driving through the middle of Australia was fun, and the R33 soaked it up without any issues. Air con is a wonderful luxury in a car.
Contemplating doing a few things to it once a couple of things happen next month, those things being the K-Rudd stimulus package and my bond reimbursement from my housemates in QLD. So I'll have like $1400 to do stuff with, so I'm thinking about just doing the following for now:
- 3" Turbo-back Front/Dump pipe
- Replace Front and Rear windscreen seals - mine have gone all weird, not leaking, but weird.
- New pod filter foam element - like $70 for a piece of FOAM! Gotta love it.
That should be all I need to do for the time being.
Shall see what else happens, hopefully score a job in the near future so I can do some extra stuff to the car, pay parents back money they are lending me while I'm out of work, etc. Sucks.
No more S13.. Hello R33
Well, I have sold the Silvia, and picked up my new car on Friday, a nice example of a 1996 Series 2 R33 GTS25T.
It's white, drives nicely, and has the Nismo front lip/sideskirts, cat back exhaust (need to get a front/dump pipe on it), pod filter, and some factory optioned Tein suspension or something like that.
Good fun to drive, and a nice little platform for me to get how I want it for a street car. A set of wheels, and it'll be great.
Things That Go Clunk In The Part Two
Traction rods at the rear = nuts done up finger tight... gg wheel alignment people. Why can't I ever find a 24mm spanner when I need one!!!
So, tightened those up, checked out the coilovers, spring perch rings were loose slightly on the drivers, so reset them and tightened everything up on the rear coilovers on both sides. In related news... Racing Logic coilovers seem to want to adjust themselves quite often. Something to keep an eye on, especially when I lower the car a bit more in the coming couple of weeks.
After tightening up the traction rods and coilovers, all is a bit quieter in the rear end now, still makes clunking noises but I figure I've got to change oil in the diff as it's now had it's run in period. That may make it quieter. Failing that, it looks like it could be the pinion or crown wheel on the diff.. Woooo.
Fun times ahead, waiting on my 17x9 +20s to arrive for the rear, and then I need to look at the body of the Silvia.
Things That Go Bump In The Right (And Left)
The Silvia has been doing some wierd things lately.
At the August 31st drift day, I finally found out where on earth my coolant disappears to. Turns out I had a split water feed line to the turbo, but it didn't leak when driving, it would actually only leak when the car was stopped after driving for a while. Because I don't have a standard radiator cap (got some random higher pressure one on there) the pressure would build up in the system after stopping, and it would go out its weakest spot, which happened to be the turbo feed line. That got fixed while I was down in Sydney for Drift Australia, helping my mate Ryan Cummings out doing pit crew duties down at Oran Park. Whole other story that one, but all I can say is, you don't need third gear to drift. It helps though.
I now have a stupid power steering leak, which I know exactly what it is. Line from the power steering to the rack runs right next to the turbo heat shield, and the hose has gone through a lot of hot/cold cycles, and has gone rock hard, and split at the top and bottom. Will replace that this weekend, and get some heat shield stuff on it so I also don't boil the power steering fluid. It gets hot enough from drifting, don't think it needs to get any hotter from a turbo right next to it.
The rear end of the Silvia is making a lot of clunking noises, and I don't think it's fully diff related. True, a 2 way will make some clunk noises from time to time, but I think I've also done one or both CV joints in the driveshafts coming out of the diff... Gotta get some hoist time at the workshop, check those over, and also check to make certain nothing is loose. Something funny about going around a roundabout, and it just going clunk clunk clunk clunk BANG BANG clunk. Scare the fuck out of people, they think it's going to fall apart.
Front bar is still unpainted and is bright red. Got to fix that soon. Additionally, when I paint the front bar, I think I'll be repainting the rear bar, as the damn thing has gotten a nice black tone through the paint now from running rich. Tried cleaning it off yesterday... That mark is now in the paint.
Selling off my wider front fenders, as I am not going to go widebody kit on it when my new wheels arrive (next week hopefully!!!). I think I'll just be going some bolt on flares, because they are suitably retro-80s styling, and I love the look.
Bolt on fenders for the win....
Safety in Motorsport
After last weekend and seeing of my mates get into a pretty serious hit on the track, but came out of it OK due to having a harness and a cage in the car, I've decided I'm not going to do any battles against people until I get a harness in the car first, and a cage can come later by the end of the year.
So yeah, now on the lookout for a 4 or 5 point harness, which means stripping the rear seats out. Oh well, more room to put tyres!
So, by the end of next month, hopefully I will have done the following:
- 4 or 5 Point Harness
- Strip Rear Seats and Mod-Plate
See how it all goes.
Drifting on the 31st of August, private day, I've got enough tyres but not enough rims. Sigh. More rims needed as well!
One Nite Stand
On 02-08-08, I took part in Stadium Drift: One Nite Stand. Once again I chose to do the Drift School class, as well as doing Level 2 class. Main reason I did the Drift School class is because of the fact it'd get me more track time.
Had an absolute ball, and pretty much all day I was sliding around the track with ease, yet strangely come the level 2 comp time, I ran into that bastard known as Pressure, and managed to choke pretty much all my comp runs and mess it all up. I won't get caught out by it again, as pretty much, I just need to treat it all as fun and ignore the fact there's a competition going on and I reckon I would be alright.
The car was sliding around rather effortlessly, in fact it seemed to pick up a lot of car speed around the middle which ended up in me going deep into the last corner, I should be starting my transition about a meter beforehand and I'd end up tucking in closer to the apex, however it's all fun. Car setup is pretty much right for my driving style, just have to even up the toe in on the rear on each side as I seemed to get a little bit more tyre wear on one side, due to the toe in on the rear being slowly uneven.
Theres pictures in the gallery under One Nite Stand.
Drift School – July 13
Well, it was meant to be hosted on July 5th, however the day got rained out and so it got pushed back a week and a day, when it was sunny and fun.
It turned out to be a good shakedown of the car after all the work had been completed, and it took me a few laps to get back into the swing of sliding the car around corners.
There are a few pictures in the gallery under Drift School, not many though, as most photographers didn't take shots of the school, and focused more on the Level 2 and Pro Class guys.
Car slid nicely after all the work, however another suspension alignment was needed, and in actual fact the later suspension alignment prior to One Nite Stand (See more recent posting) was a lot better for my driving style and the car.