Not so N/A S13 anymore...

@r3k1355 - Currently running an S15 6 Speed Gearbox, originally fitted it when the car was DE so that it had gears closer together and I could make more use of gearing. Fitting a 5 speed should make 2nd/3rd a bit longer so hopefully will give me a bit longer range and some extra speed...
 
Massive Congratulations on the tyre sponsor and top 16, you have scored well and your driving is top notch mate!

Was great fun doing the team battle with you and Hayden, just shame they were my first couple laps ever on that track, if not I could have got a bit closer, all good fun though!

Hope you like the 5 speed but I would be inclined to keep the 6 speed and change diff ratio but I know we spoke about that earlier and your doing it anyway ha ha.

See you at round 3!
 
Massive Congratulations on the tyre sponsor and top 16, you have scored well and your driving is top notch mate!

Was great fun doing the team battle with you and Hayden, just shame they were my first couple laps ever on that track, if not I could have got a bit closer, all good fun though!

Hope you like the 5 speed but I would be inclined to keep the 6 speed and change diff ratio but I know we spoke about that earlier and your doing it anyway ha ha.

See you at round 3!

Thanks man! Watching your runs at Norfolk were good too! Think you just need a little more faith in your car to push that wider line!

Team stuff was fun!!

Ye I'm gonna do the 5 speed swap after Castle Combe Demo's next weekend I think and make a few other small changes to the car and then go to ProDrift Teesside Practice Day on 12th June to test them out etc
 
Been lacking on here recently - apologies! Big post incoming...

After Driftcup Round 2, I didn't really do much to the car, went to the Teesside Practice day and thats about it. Then a few weeks later there was another practice day at Teesside... but I was working nights the night before so I finished work at 7am morning of, went home and slept until 11am, then loaded up and set off upto Teesside not long after 11.30am.

Within 2 laps I had tapped the tyres around the first hairpin leaving some tyre marks on my rear quarter
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Came in to talk drifty stuff with Dave and Hayden in the pits
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Went back out and did lots of driving with them aswell - selection of photos showing it - I think this is the best twinning i've ever done! I felt super confident following them!
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Had a few more runs with Nathan Rudd(V8 KE70) and Chris Wright(BDC 350z Twin Turbo) and unfortunately when Chris was chasing me, He took the wrong line around the second hairpin, and when I ran a bit wide and came off throttle, his rear wheel plowed into my door... this smashed my window and also caved my door and sill in... when I ran wide aswell it took my rear bumper off so that needed repairing AGAIN and also chipped the front bumper it seems
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Anyway, tried to get the door as straight as it could be(Shout to Brad from Driftnuts for coming straight over and giving me a hand getting it as straight as possible ASAP!) and went back out for the last hour which was good to let off some steam!
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Onboard footage from the day:

The heavens opened on the way home so had to stop at the petrol station and ask for a black bin bag and some tape and did a make shift window!
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This situation was far from ideal as JDM Combe Drift Demo's were looming and we were setting off down to Castle Combe Circuit on the Friday Morning(The drift day was on Monday).

Lucky for me I wasn't at work the following day(Tuesday) so managed to get a spare door I had off to the bodyshop for paint, along with the rear bumper which I cable tied back together and got the bodyshop to filler over as a temp job until I get time to put some fibreglass back into it!
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Whilst the rear bumper was off I gave the exhaust tip a quick polish since it was still caked in mud from Driftcup Round 2...
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Got the freshly painted door and rear bumper back the next morning(less than 24 hours later!! Huge shoutout to Within Fields Garage in Brighouse) and got them fitted that afternoon with a helping hand from Amy in the rain.
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The old door has served it's purpose...now it's laid to rest...
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then Thursday morning took the car down to Driftnuts to revinyl the door and rear bumper - Shoutout for them fitting me in at such short notice! Stressful week but finally I could see the light at the end of the tunnel!
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Got the car back and then Friday morning loaded up and headed straight down to Castle Combe Circuit(4 n half hour drive). We decided to bring Scarlett with us, and also my mum who could look after Scarlett whilst we were out on track which was nice!
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JDM Combe Drift Demo's - I am so grateful that I got an invite to come along and do the demo's! I've been wanting to experience the track for such a long time, and I'm glad I took the opportunity to do it! What a day! The car was flawless and I didn't even have to unload the jack or tool kit from the boot of the Tiguan all weekend! The event was massive, huge crowds and they all loved the drift cars, always people walking around asking questions about the cars, and we even had 2 hours spare in the afternoon to have a stroll round and take in the show which was nice!
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Castle Combe Circuit is something else, the slowest corners are top end of 3rd... and I was hitting the limiter in 4th entering into Quarry(Big S corner) which was a new experience! If I get the opportunity I will definately return, as it is such a fun track and I would love to improve my confidence driving on it!

I took my GoPro with me, but like a bellend I left my SD cards at home, so it was pointless...

There is way too many pics to share so I will choose my favourite and share them, but if you ever get the chance to drift Castle Combe, I would highly recommend it!!
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I lost my sideskirt on the 2nd session but luckily got it back in 1 piece so need to re-attach that and then give the car a once over and do some fluid changes, and I also have a 5 speed SR Box that I am going to be fitting soon!
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Big shout to Amy for travelling the length of England with me going to these stupid events doing silly things with cars and also helping me fix them in the background! We've just had our 4 year Anniversary and she's been with me 100% from day one! Looking forward to many more years of doing stupid things together!
 
This is such a good read! Hats off to you for repairing things so quickly too.
My OH is heading to Teesside for DC in his e36 v8 Convertible, hopefully see this thing in the flesh!

PS - What colour is that blue? Hoping to paint my friend's horse box this colour haha
 
This is such a good read! Hats off to you for repairing things so quickly too.
My OH is heading to Teesside for DC in his e36 v8 Convertible, hopefully see this thing in the flesh!

PS - What colour is that blue? Hoping to paint my friend's horse box this colour haha

Ha thanks, ye I try my best to get stuff repaired straight away, that way its done and dusted

ah cool! Ye be sure to come and say Hi! is he doing unseeded or seeded?

Colour is Vauxhall Astra VXR Arden Blue :)
 
Ha thanks, ye I try my best to get stuff repaired straight away, that way its done and dusted

ah cool! Ye be sure to come and say Hi! is he doing unseeded or seeded?

Colour is Vauxhall Astra VXR Arden Blue :)


Haha no way is that Arden blue! How does it not look so chavvy?!
He's in the seeded class, we'll be sure to come say hi! :o
 
Another small update...

5 Speed swap is done! No more 6 speed


Fairly straight forward swap which was made a bit difficult by a few things but none the less, did it all in a day so was happy with that.

GKTech shifter springs and solid shifter bush were installed into the box before fitting(I went for the medium springs) and the difference these have made is unreal! The shifter in the 5 speed is so much sharper and direct compared to the 6 speed! For the price these make a huge difference - 10/10 would recommend!
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I also ordered this fancy Roller Bearing Input Shaft Bearing that sits in the back of the crank - fitted this, as my SR is an S15 lump, the input shaft bearing is normally housed within the flywheel due to being dual mass - so didn't have one in the crank so fitted this - real fancy and only a bit more than the standard copper job.
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Second hand Driftworks Ligthweight flywheel went in with my 5 paddle clutch from CG Motorsport
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Upon fitting the gearbox, Adam lifted the bellhousing end and I got the shifter end. Adam lifted and instantly said "It's just cracked and broken". We put it down and had a look and found that a bottom corner of the box had broken off looking like it had been previously repaired really badly though - doh!
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It was 1 of the 14mm bottom bolt mounts so I'm not too concerned, the rest of the bolts are in so they will hold the box on just fine.
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6 Speed setup is for sale if anybody is interested - would work well with an DE!

6 Speed box with shifter - can include the following at extra cost: 1 Piece Prop to fit S13 and non-abs diff, machined flywheel and used clutch, S15 Gear knob, Starter motor - PM for more info
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Got some new knee pads for when im working on the car outside instead of putting mats down all the time(my knees are shot from working on cars on the concrete drive for the past 6 years) - Ignore the socks
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Came in handy when I was adjusting my handbrake yesterday
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Nice and tight ;)
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Whilst adjusting handbrake, I checked my tyre wear situation - the Kenda KR20 wear so evenly and last AGES whilst maintaining good grip levels!! This current pair have done a full day of wet/dry drifting at Driftcup Norfolk Arena, half a day of dry drifting at Teesside National(3rd gear stuff) and 2 30 minute sessions of drifting at Castle Combe(top of 4th stuff) and they are still road legal! Amazing!
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I also changed my air filter as this same one has been on since I fitted this engine last year and I've no idea how long it was on in the previous vehicle!
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Then did an oil and filter change, and whilst checking the oil levels, I noticed this next to the turbo downpipe...
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Seems one of the gearbox bolts had worked its way loose, luckily it was the top one so I was able to get to it from the engine bay with the ratchet so got that tightened up
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All set now, I'm drifting tomorrow at the Prodrift Teesside Practice day which should be good! My first time doing one of their days so I'm looking forward to getting some helpful tips and pointers and maybe even have somebody sat in the car with me observing me! Hoping to improve my driving alot! Oh and I won't forget to take my SD cards with me this time for GoPro footage!
 
You checked if the 5-speed and 6-speed bellhousings were interchangeable before fitting the broken one to the car right?
 
You checked if the 5-speed and 6-speed bellhousings were interchangeable before fitting the broken one to the car right?

The 6 speed bellhousings are deeper, thus why on a 6 speed you have alot thicker flywheel - hope this answers your question :)
 
Prodrift Teesside practice days are ace!!

We set off at 6.45am and arrived at Teesside just before 9am. Hope you like my ear ;)
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Got unloaded and we had our first casualty of the day! Amy is very rough when cutting cable ties it seems!
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It was extremely wet allllll day and this was the only pic I got - enjoy lol
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Driving in the constant rain was actually pretty good fun! Was not able to drive west track at all due to the rain making it pretty much a lake!

Track is open from 9 - 12.30 for lunch and then open again from 1.30 until 5 - and its well worth the extra £60! Constant seat time and really helpful advice!

National was good fun! Entering in 3rd gear with the 5 speed meant it wasnt full on the limiter like it was previously with the 6 speed box so it gave me a bit more leway. There was a few times throughout the day when I would enter and immediately have to go full lock and the car would just slide and then as it hit the cambered part of the track would grip up and I would just pull out of it nice and smoothly and continue round and it felt really good!

Onboard below - take a look - any pointers welcome - apologies for the length though!! Got carried away a bit

We then headed off to D8RC straight from Teesside(20 min drive) and left the car and trailer there for Chris to do a few small things on the car
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Overall I thought the move to a 5 speed box was a good choice so far, even though it was wet, I can tell that when it is dry it will definately be faster with the 5 speed and I'll be sat closer to the peak power band on my SR compared to higher revs with the 6 speed

Will have the car back early next week, then just give it a good nut and bolt check and then we are off to STL(StreetTrackLife) Event at Driftland the first week in July which should be good fun!!
 
Good nut and bolt check - How nieve was I....


Got the car back, I had dropped it off with Chris at D8RC - I asked him to make me a pair of bash bars, one for the front just to protect the intercooler and reduce any front end impacts
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Check out how good my front bumper fits now! Barely any panel gap :D
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And also integrate a jacking point into the rear bash bar aswell as making sure it propped the rear bumper up at the back
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I wanted to fit my Zillalife gearknob onto my 5 speed(M10x1.25), but the threads were bigger as I bought it for my 6 speed(M12x1.25). Spoke to my cousin Danny who works at a machine shop and he drilled it out and re-tapped it so that it sat further down the gearstick and also a tapered thread M10x1.25
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Mega happy with it now especially as it sits nicely with the surround!
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Also some new sticky tyres arrived via Air Freight from Kenda direct to my house - some fresh KR20A, this is the Semi-slick variant of the KR20, and I'm also going from a 225/45/17 in the rear to a 235/40/17 which should be a nice little grip increase - They sent these ahead just so I can test them out and get used to them before the bigger batch arrive later next month which I'm excited for!
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The next events will explain why I didn't get chance to fit these up yesterday... Here goes...


After leaving Danny's shop, I turned around the corner and just as I was accelerating in 1st gear, there was a rather large grate on the floor which I thought nothing off, and as I went over it I just heard a massive bang! Looked in my mirror and found my exhaust and rear bumper in the middle of the road in many pieces...

Exhaust had completely detached itself from the car and was destroyed, along with the rear bumper in 2 pieces...

After spending an hour running round doing other shit, I rang Jo @ Arrowtech Automotive, explained the situation and asked for a quote for a new exhaust, and he said that he could fit me in that afternoon - got the trailer and loaded up and off we went
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Bearing in mind I rang Jo at like 11am, I was at his place for 2pm and the fixing ensued!

Spot the missing piece
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Arrived at Arrowtech and the ramp was all ready for me to unload the car and drive it straight on - top service!
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Unloaded the old exhaust and assessed the damage, the rear bumper was broken(AGAIN!!!) and the backbox was destroyed along with the front section, but it seems the middle section wasn't that bad.
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We opted to re-use the middle section and just build new exhaust from the downpipe to the centre section, and then centre section back with a new backbox.

Found a big dint in the fuel tank that must have been caused when the exhaust swiftly exited the vehicle - extremely lucky that it didn't puncture it!
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Anyway...I repaired the bumper, I'm fed up of using fibreglass now so cable ties it is - luckily it was all still there so went back together with ease!
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New and old backbox
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All done and dusted, new exhaust and fixed bumper back on - loaded and ready to head home 4 hours later - Perfect service, great price and good company! Couldn't ask for anything more
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If you are near Pontefract, Arrowtech Automotive are the place to go!
 
Finally got a garage base, just need to submit planning permission and then it can get built finally!
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More STL Prep...

Went down to AB Auto Work's and it seems there was a bit of a jap day on the go...
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This finally meant that I could fit the new Kenda KR20A! 215/45/17 upfront

Old KR20
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New KR20A
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Old 225/45 KR20 vs New 235/40 KR20A. Super excited to try these out at Driftland, never ran anything more than a street tyre before so will be interesting!
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Whilst I was there I got the 13's MOT renewed aswell - passed for another year :D
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Got home and parked it on its soon to be new-home
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Got on with fitting my freshly painted rocker cover, fairly straight forward and i'm pretty happy with the end result
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Also decided to sand down the letter so that they would stand out, I managed to get one side done but then ran out of sand paper so will get the other side done at some point when I get a minute!
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Last week I sent off some manky spare S14 knuckles I had to Retro Speed Shop(Paz and Iain) and asked them to work their magic... then on Thursday I got some pictures sent to me...zero ackerman RSS Knuckles. Spicy!
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Decided that after work Friday we would have a trip down to pick them up - then I was working all weekend, and Sunday eve we went to "Church Hangs" which was street driven drift cars getting together just to have a nosey and get together, it was full of cool cars and quite alot will be STL on Thursday which is exciting! Will got this quick snap of mine...
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Yesterday morning comes round and I crack on fitting my new knuckles... (Apologies for Instagram Story photos...)
First off removed the old LCA & knuckles
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then fitted the new LCA & Knuckles
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Then brakes
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then wheels, and discovered it rubbed in places it never has before :O
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Out came the hammer
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The gave Atec-Align a quick call in Huddersfield and they fitted me in super fast, I took the car down earlier today after waking up after nights and got it on the ramp and all pointing in the right direction - after following some advise from Paz, he recommended I run 3mm toe out per side, so converted that to minutes and degrees and its roughly 0 degrees 24 minutes
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Can't thank Chongy for fitting me in ready for STL! (PS I may have raised the front 10mm to help with rubbing issues...)
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Got back home and fiddled with the lock stops and this is the end result, extremely happy wih these knuckles, and I'm really excited to test them out on Thursday along with the new Kenda KR20A tyres
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There is more lock to gain from these knuckles but as you can see, my limiting factor at the moment is my tension rods, but I'm really happy with the amount so far and can't complain!
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The car is now loaded on the trailer along with fresh Kenda rubber ready for tomorrow when we set off upto Driftland, we are staying overnight in a hotel Weds night, and then it turns out I forgot to book a hotel for Thurs night...so we are coming home straight after which i'm not looking forward to...
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Whats going on with the brakes?
S14 hubs, 5 stud but they don't look like 4-pots as you'd expect?

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