The S13

I've got a UK spec S13 which im REALLY getting into. I've had it since December '08, although not much has happened to it, as I was layed off at around that time too which sucked. Been unemployed since but start a new job in September of this year so this car will start getting some decent attention.

It's a 92' Facelift RS13 in Kuro black. The only car i've ever had other than a mini haha. Been into the jap/drift scene for ages now and i'm getting TOTALLY hooked.

It was a pretty much standard but well looked after car when I bought it:

CA18
120k miles (20k since full rebuild and new T25).
Blitz turbo timer
Momo wheel and pedals
Had a Bailey dumpvalve which isnt there anymore
S14 front and rear seats
Mongoose elbow-back decat
Std VLSD

Since I bought it, on the doll money :(, i've fitted:

Walbro 255 l p/h fuel pump
HKS shroom filter
Apex Performance subframe locking collars
Lazy eye mod

It's been SO much fun so far to skid, even in standard form, really need to get to some DWYB days when I can afford to it'll be a riot.

Here's some pics:









So yeah, it's nothing much at all yet. I've been completely skint so i've not been able to do much. I've just been whoring forums even more than before, getting info about bits and getting inspiration for the route I want to take the S13.

The car is my daily, althogh the job i'm starting in september is offshore. So the s13 wont technically be my daily but yeah. I've got alot of plans for it, pretty much drift AS MUCH as I can with my time off, while in between turning the car into a complete weapon.

I've managed to do a bit of saving and about mid July i'll be getting some HSD monotube coilovers. I couldnt resist, Driftworks have had a group buy on these badboys recently with a huge saving of £200 off the list price. Couldnt turn the oppurtunity down so my deposits down on them while I get the rest of the cash together :




For about 6 months now, i've been trawling the net for inspiration. 90% of it coming from the US scene, I just love the grass roots scene and the way those guys are styling their cars. ALOT of my inspiration is coming from zilvia.net etc, Violent Running Tribe also. However recently VRT isnt useable as a forum anymore which kind of sucks, they have an invite only/application thing going on now, bit of a shame as those guys have some sick cars which I cant keep track of now.

I've not planned to do much at all externally. But so far my tastes are with simple, clean, standard body. Mostly because its simple and cheap, while I concentrate on making a better spec car/become a better driver.

One thing I do like is small-ish but as low as possibe offset wheels. Something which ive found is quite rare/disliked in some ways on s-bodys are wide steel wheels. It's more common on the US scene but still not the norm, and basically doesnt exist on the UK scene from what i've come across.

If done right and some effort put in, I think wide, low offset steelies look the shit on s13's. They suit that rat-rod look more than anything, but i'm thinking of attempting to retain a clean look with some gloss white 16" steels, as wide as I can get on metal fenders from a pull/flare/roll/stretch etc.

I was thinking about it alot and really liked the idea, so I spent a while searching for what sort of style wheel I was after. I came across Diamond Racing wheels and looked into them further, finding a coulpe of cars on the american and canadian scenes which were running this style of wheel:





This is the car that inspired me the most:



I can imagine to alot of people, this looks wank, but I think it looks the shit. So its probably what i'm going to do to start with. Perhaps lower offset on the rears, these are 15x10j et-22 front and rear with 205/45's stretched over. The fronts look a little silly on this one I reckon, and you need to slam the shit out of s13's to make them look decent on 15's. You can get these wheels made to order, so I reckon i'd go for 16x10j - 18 rear + 16x8.5j -12 on the front. I've had the tape measure out and thats the region id go for, needs a closer look. They're cheap and easy to replace. I'll go for something else later down the line i'm sure, the style of this car will probably change quite alot in the future.


Anyway, really k.o'd after writing this stuff, didnt realise blogging was so time consuming!!

More of a basic intro really, might have been a bit long winded but hey its a start!!

Cheers

Gonna start with this.

My first car was a mini (retro type), when I was 17. I slowly started doing things to it on a cheap budget and have come along way since. For the past 3 or 4 years, since my engine failed in my first mini, I've got hold of another mini to replace it (had to scrap the old one).

This pretty long project which has been on-going through my uni years has snowballed into something alot more substantial than what I first planned. I got hold of a "metro turbo" engine, which was going to replace the tired old engine, however this turbo engine hasn't been in the car and used in anger yet, as I decided to take it apart and make a proper job of it, which has taken ages.


These days the engine is pretty much ready to go. The car has come a pretty long way now, but isn't going to be a "finished/complete car" for a while yet.

Here's a breif run through of the thing i'm talking about.

It's a 1990 mini mayfair which I bought as a rolling shell. Clubman front end, carbon arches, had 7x13 Ultralights but these are gone now. Most of the bits on the inside and out speak for themselves :
















Ok my favourite bit, the engine. ALL of the bits on this car have been put together/built by me, I wanted to learn as much as I could so i've given everything a go and so far its turned out great:



Lowered compression ratio of 8.5:1 for more boosticles:



Straight cut close ratio gearbox that I built, has a 3.2 final drive:



For the moment this is that standard metro "T3" unit:



All ready to go in:



These are 7x13 wellers, which I got sandblasted and powdercoated satin black. Green rim tape. Unsure of offsets but there higher offsets than the ultralights, still look awesome though:



Pretty much how it stands at the moment, got to mount the intercooler properly and fit it under the removable fibreglass front end:




Here's the spec:

Standard T3 turbo, to be rebuilt
Standard turbo carb, to be rebuilt with noice bits
Avonbar Billet acuator, 12psi i think, dunno how I find out
15+ psi

1293 Metro Turbo block
10cc dish Omega Cast pistons
Standard crank and rods
Centre main strap
Heavy duty main, rod and camshaft bearings

Powerflow high capacity oil pump
Avonbar phase 2 cam kit
Piper Vernier Duplex kit
MED Ultralight steel flywheel

Minispares Molybdenum 4-pin differential
Minispares Clubman SCCR gearset
TRAN-X 1:1 SC drop gears

Fully modded Benross head

MED ultralight backplate

Grey Diagphram
AP Race/Rally plate
EDIS and MJLJ setup
2wd Cosworth intercooler, modded plenum and pipes
Some sort of dump valve
In car bleed valve
Clubman f/g 1 piece front
Curley carbon miglia arches
7x13 ultralights
2 Cobra imola s buckets with TRS harnesses
All sound deadening gone tubby bye bye's
SPAXtics shocks and some hi-lo's

Loads of other bits to come yet but as I say its not finished yet. The engine runs but is currently out of the car and the engine is split, I had a problem when I put my foot on the clutch that the revs dropped from idle and almost stalled the engine. This was because of a under-tolerance crank endfloat value from when I first built it. Sorted now, just needs to go back together and it can be run in. Cant wait!!

Expected power will be about 170bhp with similar torque to begin with, at around 1bar/15psi boost. After a bit of development and a different turbo i'm hoping to see 200bhp.

More weight saving after this, aiming for 550kg. Then paint etc to make it look pretty.

Will update more as things progress from now on...

Cheers!

So I've started a blog..

So yeah, I've started a blog. Not sure why, quite bored and thought it'd be fun :) Something to look back on I guess!

I've not really got a set idea what i'll be blogging so its going to be a bit of anything and everything to do with me to be honest. Mostly about my car(s), project progress, mate's and their car's, inspirational stuff, music and some other cool shit probably.