antz
Active Member
With winter hibernation taking place, I've been busy doing a few jobs and fixing a few broken bits that it came from Japan with.
As mentioned previously, the turbo manifold was cracked so I whipped it off for repair but upon closer inspection it was pretty much junk. Every weld was cracked and speaking to the local custom exhaust shop he said he could repair it, but a new one would be cheaper and better.
So insert a new Megan Racing item. Not sure how it’ll hold up but at 1/3 of the price of a Tomei one and with the Driftworks being out of production, I figured I’d give it one a go and if it lasts a couple of years then I haven’t lost anything. The gaskets looked cheap though so I ordered some decent ones from Conceptua Tuning along with new manifold to turbo nuts. The numbers on the turbo highlighted to it being a ball bearing one but it doesn’t move or sound like one so it can’t be. It looks to be in good condition though so that’ll stay for now. Its all back together and runs the same so its mission successful.
My local exhaust shop welded a flexi into the downpipe to try and prevent the pull on the turbo manifold. Exhaust is still a bunch of cobbled together bits from god knows what (probably a mix of R32 and S13 bits) but it does the job for now even though it does look and fit shit.
Fitted a solid steering bush from JDMgarage using a guide on here. Wasn’t too bad to do. No seized bolts but man flu at the time was a major factor in how long it took me to change it.
The bare boot inside was annoying me and even after I resprayed it black then cut some carpet to cover the floor, I still wasn’t happy but I managed to source an original set of boot trims from YAJ via Jesse Streeter. It just neatens the boot up, makes it nicer to put things in and protects all the loom etc for only a small sacrifice of a couple of centimetres of boot space. The boot carpet is still home made though. I didn’t get that with the parts.
I decided the 17” Work S2R’s or the 17” Manaray VR5’s weren’t going to cut it and I had to step up to 18’s. After searching and searching, looking on the Driftworks store and being ready to click buy on some 18x9.5 D9R’s, I saw these Weds Kranze ERM’s on JDMDistro which were cheaper and they just appealed to me. They are 18x8 ET20 and 18x9 ET25. They have some curbing which looks to be the result of careless parking because the rears are spotlessly clean. I'll tidy up for now and think about getting sorted properly another year. I know they aren’t to everyone’s tastes and are a bit blingy but I think the larger saloons suit something a bit more blingy than something sporty. They arrived in the UK on Monday and should be with me in the next week or so.
Now I just need tyres. Was thinking of getting another set of Toyo R1R’s like the Manarays came with but Camskill said there is no UK stock of 225/40/18 R1R’s until March next year and the Yoko AD08R is a better tyre anyway. Ill grab a pair of those for the front and the rear was on Yoko S Drives but I might sling some Toyo T1R’s on which are cheap and cheerful but still grippy.
Once the tyres on I’ll adjust the ride height. I've ran it conservatively high so far and caught the front bumper in a couple of places (including my driveway) but I might just try and be a bit more careful, plan my route better, stay away from bad car parks and try to get it a little bit lower. At least my front bumper is quick release with cable ties so I can remove it easily enough.
I also have a fascination with Advan SA3R’s (note the pics of my Volvo 240 on SA3R’s below at my mates wedding earlier this year) and needing some skid rims, I picked up this pair of 17x9’s off eBay which will be refurbished in some horrendous colour and used as skid rims. Two alone isn’t enough so I’ll have to find some other 17’s as well but these are a start.
More will happen when I have wheels and money...
As mentioned previously, the turbo manifold was cracked so I whipped it off for repair but upon closer inspection it was pretty much junk. Every weld was cracked and speaking to the local custom exhaust shop he said he could repair it, but a new one would be cheaper and better.
So insert a new Megan Racing item. Not sure how it’ll hold up but at 1/3 of the price of a Tomei one and with the Driftworks being out of production, I figured I’d give it one a go and if it lasts a couple of years then I haven’t lost anything. The gaskets looked cheap though so I ordered some decent ones from Conceptua Tuning along with new manifold to turbo nuts. The numbers on the turbo highlighted to it being a ball bearing one but it doesn’t move or sound like one so it can’t be. It looks to be in good condition though so that’ll stay for now. Its all back together and runs the same so its mission successful.
My local exhaust shop welded a flexi into the downpipe to try and prevent the pull on the turbo manifold. Exhaust is still a bunch of cobbled together bits from god knows what (probably a mix of R32 and S13 bits) but it does the job for now even though it does look and fit shit.
Fitted a solid steering bush from JDMgarage using a guide on here. Wasn’t too bad to do. No seized bolts but man flu at the time was a major factor in how long it took me to change it.
The bare boot inside was annoying me and even after I resprayed it black then cut some carpet to cover the floor, I still wasn’t happy but I managed to source an original set of boot trims from YAJ via Jesse Streeter. It just neatens the boot up, makes it nicer to put things in and protects all the loom etc for only a small sacrifice of a couple of centimetres of boot space. The boot carpet is still home made though. I didn’t get that with the parts.
I decided the 17” Work S2R’s or the 17” Manaray VR5’s weren’t going to cut it and I had to step up to 18’s. After searching and searching, looking on the Driftworks store and being ready to click buy on some 18x9.5 D9R’s, I saw these Weds Kranze ERM’s on JDMDistro which were cheaper and they just appealed to me. They are 18x8 ET20 and 18x9 ET25. They have some curbing which looks to be the result of careless parking because the rears are spotlessly clean. I'll tidy up for now and think about getting sorted properly another year. I know they aren’t to everyone’s tastes and are a bit blingy but I think the larger saloons suit something a bit more blingy than something sporty. They arrived in the UK on Monday and should be with me in the next week or so.
Now I just need tyres. Was thinking of getting another set of Toyo R1R’s like the Manarays came with but Camskill said there is no UK stock of 225/40/18 R1R’s until March next year and the Yoko AD08R is a better tyre anyway. Ill grab a pair of those for the front and the rear was on Yoko S Drives but I might sling some Toyo T1R’s on which are cheap and cheerful but still grippy.
Once the tyres on I’ll adjust the ride height. I've ran it conservatively high so far and caught the front bumper in a couple of places (including my driveway) but I might just try and be a bit more careful, plan my route better, stay away from bad car parks and try to get it a little bit lower. At least my front bumper is quick release with cable ties so I can remove it easily enough.
I also have a fascination with Advan SA3R’s (note the pics of my Volvo 240 on SA3R’s below at my mates wedding earlier this year) and needing some skid rims, I picked up this pair of 17x9’s off eBay which will be refurbished in some horrendous colour and used as skid rims. Two alone isn’t enough so I’ll have to find some other 17’s as well but these are a start.
More will happen when I have wheels and money...
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