Supras Invade.... Irvine???

It's been a while hasn't it. So busy with little things that I haven't had much time to do this. So many things coming up and also due (taxes). Soon it will be over and i'll have a bit more time.

During the Spring, Supras and their owners from all over so cal converge in a quite Irvine park for an annual meet/bbq. I was fortunate enough to be invited to this annual event by Supra fanatic and good friend Brian U. He even let me borrow his ultra cool wide angle equipped Canon. Thanks dood.

We were there very early, so we had to wait for the others. Ironically we're both filipino and on time, whereas everyone else wasn't filipino and they were friggin' late. Has hell frozen over and we haven't heard about it, cause i didn't see any pigs flying.

Once everyone showed up, it was on. The supra crowd really knew how to put on a bbq. they're rocking steaks and kabobs the whole day. It was delicious!


Of course the parking lot was full of Supras mainly A70 and A80 variety and sprinkle of A60. There's no love for the A40.


This car takes top honors in my book. RA65 Celica ragtop, this thing was hella sexy. No other car came close to what this car had.

Check out the SSR Formula Mesh.

There was even an early Datsun 240z lurking in parking spot away from the Supras.


Definitely a great day met alot of people, even a team that participated in the 24 hours of lemons with an A70 Supra. I'm sure we'll be meeting them in battle for the Buttonwillow event. But I can confidently say that no one will defeat the Swedish meat ball.

For a few more photos click here

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Bad luck.

I broke my digital camera a few days ago. It still functions, but the screen is pretty much toast. Gotta find a cheap camera.



Adding more salt to the injury, an autometer tachometer i've had for years, the glass face broke when I dropped it. Does this mean I get 10,000 years of bad luck??

Redline TA Rd. 1

Time attack season has just begun, but yet i'm sitting on the sidelines. The first round of Redline starts off this past weekend at Buttonwillow. A place where the locals don't need shampoo. But the BBQ is one of the best i've tasted. I've got a splitting heading so let's keep this short.


We are greeted by the only AE86 pilots in the field. Orange county hooligan Steve C. and Andy (every fanboys dream) Y. and some random little girl who jumped into the pic.


Looks like Andy giving some guy the finger after passing in the straight. But he really wasn't.


Even MR2 maniac Super Pilun putting foot to ass in the AW11 MR2. He loves 13in wheels. I think he's been hanging around the lowrider crowd way too long.


The little girl we met earlier is also a great tire changer, but you'll need to ask Mr. Rodgers if you can borrow her. He'll probably cut you if you even dare ask.


There was even a couple of R35 Skylines testing their skills on the track instead of having coffee in a parking lot in Irvine.


Something not seen very often, Toyota Tercel.

Overall a great weekend, though the level cars wasn't too impressive. But I give props to all who participate and do their best. For the rest of the pics click here.

AE86 Tip #86-8 Safety is not the key

On thing i've always hated was the clutch safety switch. It's really for just tards who don't when they're in gear. I just find them plain annoying. If you actually work on your car it's plain annoying jumping in the car to press the clutch just to crank the engine over. If you actually own a ridiculous high performance clutch with really stiff pedal feel. You'll be saving your thrust bearings. Imagine starting you car in the morning and pressing the clutch. The pressure from the clutch goes to the thrust bearings on the poor little 4AG. What better way to accelerate the wear of the trust bearings. Bypassing this dirty little booger is very simple and requires very little materials and skill.

Materials:
2 female spade terminals
1 short piece of wire

Tools:
Wire cutters
Crimper


Just make it look like this and you're pretty much set.

Install the jumper as shown, and you're done.

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Do you know him?

Looks like he'll be putting down some rubber at Long Beach for the first round of Formula D, according to everythingdrift.com. He'll be under the Drift Speed banner piloting their S15. And if you were at the Red Bull you would have seen him bust some ridiculous initiations that even Dai didn't expect. Too bad he's not in his signature AE86, which pretty much made him and the Corolla a household name to the mainstream. Should be an interesting year.

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Shame

As I get freaking old, I have more appreciation and respect for rare automobiles. It's sad when I find fanboys tear up cars that, in time, will gain nostalgic status. Browsing through ebay I found this rare R33 LM edition Skyline GTR. What's sad is that the previous owners turned it into a silly showcar. They're now tired of it and want to sell, typical of a show car owner. Adding insult into injury, they've stripped much of the car into a rolling shell. Not much of a collector anymore unless you just want it for the name. I just find it sad that a car like this ends being the poster child for HIN and ebay. Rather than battling it on track against it's natural foes, putting foot to ass and taking names.

If you wanna place your bid for a bit of GTR history or at least what's left of it, please visit ebay.

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2nd shift

The nights are a bit more bearable that I can actually work on the car. Which is starting to become at night after the regular day job is over.
Anyways being that my exhaust is too loud I try and avoid firing it up until the weekend. Don't need public safety hounding me when i'm so close to completion. So I've been silently key stroking on setting up the EMS. With some tweaking I got the boost controller up and running. Now I need a test day to work on the wastegate duty cycle, so the EMS can control the boost.


To test and calibrate I used a drill to replicate the VSS signal. So the computer can show fast I go before I crash. Hmm maybe I shouldn't use this.

It's not too bad.

It's been a while since I've driven a lowered car on the street. And I tell you that I could careless if I ever drive another one again. I guess i'm spoiled since I trailer my car. Though this past weekend it all caught up to me. For some reason I was stuck driving an S14 for the day, well actually 30 min. since that's how long it takes me to get home. It was bouncy and uncomfortable. I hear all these noises. But entering and exiting them freeway off ramps was a blast.


And the brakes on the car were down right fabulous. Just needs a really sticky set of tires to really bring out essence of endless.

Godzilla taken down

It wasn't a Porsche nor a car from barely above water Chevrolet Z06 that took down the mighty GTR. But maybe we're hoping for an Initial D fantasy and the legendary AE86 did what was only done in anime. Well get that out of your head, a plain jane Mitsubishi Evolution battled the baddest Nissan ever made, like a modern day David and Goliath, and took home some bragging rights. From what I hear the driver, 20 year old, piloted the beast. The level of driving skill is unknown, but it goes to show that without skill even the most technologically advanced vehicle is just plain useless. But at least he done it in battle and not crashing into a pole trying to show off to the bitches and bro's. But let's get smart and keep it on track.

Completion

The exhaust has been completed. It's pretty much just a pipe straight to the back. It's turbo, so it won't be bad. Though i'm sure the neighbors won't be too happy about it.

Need more clearance

As I continue this saga of rebuilding the car. It's about time I reworked the lower down pipe. Once thing that didn't fly was my placement of the flex pipe. Being it's o.d. is about 4in. and it sat under the the driver floor, I 've had some serious clearance issues. 2.5in seems to be the limit of piping diameter before it protrudes from the frame rails. So after about 4 years it was about time to rework it a bit.

Here's the the original design.


This time around i moved the flex pipe where the catalytic converter was originally located. This will provide enough room for me to tuck the flex pipe closer to the car and to provide some need ground clearance.


Wrapped the pipe in some header wrap to keep heat from my feet. I found using some safety wire helps keep the wrap secure. Cheaper than buying the clamps from Summit.

I'll have to complete the rest of the piping next weekend.

Theft?

It seems that some one has stolen the tree in the front yard. Though it was not a large tree, it didn't even have that many leaves. I just used it as a parking marker and the local dogs use it for marking their spot.

AE86 Tip #86-7: Check ur stroke

Yet another simple use of the zip tie. Now that you got your suspension together and ready for some action, it would probably good to check the position of the stroke.

A very simple method of checking is to wrap a zip tie around the shock shaft. Install near the bottom of the the shock shaft at full extension. First we'll check when the car is not moving. This should give you an idea of where it's sitting at before you head out to the track. If it's too high, you lose compression travel and will kiss your camber plates. On the other end if too low, you lose rebound travel which could result in wheel lift and losing contact with the asphalt which isn't good when the whole goal of your suspension is to gain traction.

As shown with Moto-P's crude drawings from Club4ag

After a couple of hot laps pulling +1.0g corners at you favorite track, you may be wondering or maybe even suspecting that your suspension may be bottoming out. Using the above method take your car for another couple hot laps. Then park it and lift the car up. The zip tie will be pushed up, to it's highest point, as the suspension compresses. With this information you can decided weather you need softer/stiffer suspension or readjust the height etc.

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Rebuilding the strut housing.

Like the control arm, my strut housing had also gone south. So again it was time to make another housing. I had 2 available to me, but only problem was they were passenger sides and I needed a driver side.

Fortunately, Naoki was really working hard to findone for me and eventually found one he had laying around. It took him a couple of tries, but he eventually got it right. Though he was also the one who had 2 passenger side housings.

The modification will follow the same setup as previous, which is a 40mm cut on the housing. Which is the perfect cut for short struts, from TRD or using the front SW20 MR2 strut inserts. I'll be using TRD shocks this time around instead of the Koni shock. After about 9 years of rocking Koni's I think it's about time for a change.


The sleeve is measured 25mm/~1in from the top of the strut. This will located where i'll be welding the coil over sleeve perch.


Some cutting and welding and were done.

Thanks to;
Naoki @ driftday for finding the housing.
Taka @ driftpro for selling me some old TRD shocks.