Morning all... I've been a member here for a good few years now and always tried to get involved, and read plenty of build threads so thought I might aswell start one myself... Heres some background on me... My name is Charlie, from Halifax, West Yorkshire. I work for a well known bank...I'm 26 and have always had a passion for cars, and in 2010 I went to my first drift event, JDM Allstars @ Trafford Centre in Manchester. It opened my eyes to just how awesome the sport is and how friendly everybody is etc...I was instantly hooked, but at this point I hadn't passed my driving test and was still studying so the next best thing was to buy myself a Logitech G27 and purchase LFS(Live for Speed) on my computer - I was practicing day in and out and got the jist of it fairly quickly and loved it. 2 years later(June 2012) I got a decent job and bought an E36 325i(Track only) and took it to Oulton Park for my first ever drift day and loved it, the buzz was immense! {} I then sold the E36 and a year later(June 2013) got a nice little Import - 1.8 Mx5 Mk1, I owned this for 4 months and did 6 drift days in, seat time heaven and I learnt so much from it, throwing it into corners flat out with no handbrake, it was scary but loved the feeling of getting it right! This is how it looked before its last drift day, and then I sold it {} (October 2013)Then I swapped the Mx5 for an S13 with a blown CA, luckily I got a good working CA with the swap, so I spent about 5 months rebuilding the good CA in my shed, with new bearings and rings etc and just made sure it was going to be reliable, Once i had dropped the CA in etc and got it all running, it was such an ace car, drove spot on, had loads of sideways grip and I couldn't fault it, I competed in Driftcup(2014) and finished 6th Overall, I also did LOADS of drift days, including Drift Matsuri and loads of Teesside drift days, I got loads of seat time from this car and it helped me improve so much!! {} Then came 2015 and the winter refresh set in, I had secured a bodywork sponsor(Owen Autobodies) for the following 2015 season, I rebuilt the head on the CA, port and polished and a few other little mods, Upgraded the turbo and got the car running absolutely spot on, it looked ace aswell, fitted a GT1 Kit, Rota Torques and got it painted properly - It was set to be a good year! Then on its 2nd outing, it developed a fault and would not rev above 2k, changed AFM, rewired AFM and checked lots of other things, had no idea what it was so decided to break the car for parts due to the cost of it breaking quite alot and having to constantly spend to keep it on track, I ended up breaking the car in June 2015, thats when I found out it was the ECU that caused all the problems so sort of relieved I found the issue. Looking back aswell, I hadn't realised the amount of money I had put into it! just willy nilly throwing money at it, upgrading parts that didnt even need to be upgraded, just because I got it cheap... {} I didnt bother with drifting for a few months until October 2015 when I got myself a E36 328 Touring off of here, good car, upgraded a few bits, like E46 lower arms etc, and drifted it twice, was a good car but I wasnt overly comfortable with it so sold it {} Then come Feb 2016, I had been put in contact with a guy with an S13 shell, After talking for a while and discussing, I eventually agreed to have the S13...it probably wasnt the best buy but it has worked out okish now, when I got the S13 it had sat on a trailer since Awesomefest 2011 as far as im aware...Here are some pics from when I bought it. {} {} {} {} My plan was to build it fairly cheap and make it reliable just so I can get plenty of seat time from it and have to push myself driving wise. I managed to pick up a fairly cheap SR20DE from an S14 and also managed to pickup an S15 6 Speed box and a 4.4 R180 Diff. {} I soon got the rust sorted and started cleaning it up, I took both front and rear subframes off, found out the front subframe was bent, so purchased a new one that had been modified to move the rack forward, and was also powdercoated gold. I followed suit and got the rear subframe powdercoated gold, and all the arms powdercoated red. {} Whilst it was off, I freshened up the diff and painted it silver. {} I also got the stock lower arms off, and took them to a good friend Owen @ Dirtydog Fab, he extended my lower arms +30mm and also braced them and fitted new lock stops. {} I also wanted to underseal the car, so on my drive, me, my housemate and my missus got the car up on its side, worked a treat, until it came to bringing it back down, was just a case of let go and hope nothing broke when it landed lol...as you can see my house mate is happy with this haha {} I thought i'd give the engine bay a quick blast before the SR went in... {} With help mainly from the missus, and a bit from my housemate, we got the SR in not long after {} I picked up a nice set of Genuine Work Wheels - all 16" which is what I wanted from the outlay {} I then ran out of time, so sent it off to a friend to help build the car whilst I was busy, made very quick progress and within a couple of weeks the car was on the road, One main thing that had to happen was getting a custom prop made, due to running an S15 6 Speed Box and a non-abs diff, standard S13 prop's didnt fit, unfortunately dont have a pic of the prop but next time its up on the ramp I will get one, Heres a pic of when the car was on its first outing: {} I needed the drivers seat to stay on an adjustable rail so that the Missus can also drive it and learn to drift in it, so I visited Joe's unit and whilst I was at work, he made the rail sit further forward so that she can reach the pedals... {} Not much has changed since I've had it on the road, the diff was leaking so I got the gasket replaced and just fixed up a few issues overall to make it run better, fitted a very nice Ears Motorsport Bucket seat and a Corbeau bucket seat along with a Momo Steering wheel and snap off boss {} {} My good mate Laidler helped me wire in a radio aswell, we got the cheapest headunit from eBay(£15) and the cheapest Pair of 6x9 Speakers from Halfrauds and got them fitted, it seems to sound ok, its not horrendous and will do for them long journeys, especially since my last S13 didnt have any stereo whatsoever {} {} Took the little one out for a spin in it a few weeks ago and she loved it, cant wait until shes old enough to actually take her on track drifting! {} So this is how the car currently sits, I'll be heading upto Teesside for NYE Drifting and got a few bits to do before then which should be easy enough {} Thanks for reading guys, I dont have many other plans other than tidy up the exterior and get it painted in the new year, then just get as much seat time as possible, I want to keep it N/A for now and just enjoy pushing myself more and more, Also Im sticking with the saying "If its not broken, don't fix it" with this one...Only got the necessities!
S13 Mods list: Suspension: R32 Rear Subframe Shotblased & Powdercoated Gold Solid Rear Subframe Bushes HSD MonoPro Coilovers Driftworks Hicas Delete Kit with Adjustable Toe Rods Driftworks Adjustable Camber Arms Front Subframe powdercoated gold with rack moved forward RetroSpeedShop HyperKnuckle V2 RetroSpeedShop Extended Front Lower Arms Strongflex Polybushes all round Front Braided Brake Hoses with ABS Delete Drivetrain: SR20DET Engine from S15 Spec R(VVT Model) 2871r Turbo Japspeed RS Manifold Tomei Poncams & Tomei Type A Valve Springs 750cc Injectors R35 MAF post turbo Siruda 1.2mm MLS Headgasket Fresh ACL Bearings Nistune Fitted and Mapped by MB Automotive - 353hp 3" Exhaust Lightened Flywheel CG Motorsport 5 Paddle Clutch 350z Gearbox Stock Propshaft modified to suit 350z Gearbox Kazz 2-way LSD 4.1 Ratio with Skyline 5 bolt output shafts Strongflex Uprated Gearbox & Engine Mounts Interior: Drivers - Ears Motorsport fixed back Bucket Seat - with 6 Point K-Sports Harness Passenger - Corbeau fixed back Bucket Seat - 4 Point Harness Genuine 330mm Nardi Classic - Leather with Satin Spokes with snap off boss Zillalife Deathtune Gearknob Exterior: Genuine Type X Front & Rear Bumper Byba Kits Type X Front splitter, sideskirts and rear spats Fibreglass boot hatch with perspex screen Dmax Boot Lip Dmax Roof Lip Wheels: Fronts - Rota Grid 17x9 et25 - 235/40/17 Kenda KR20A Rears - Rota Grid 18x9.5 et20 - 265/35/18 Kenda KR20A
Nice build man Glad you want to stay n/a Where did you get the prop done as I want to sort one out in the new year.....
Yo man! Cheers I got the prop done in Leeds(about 45 mins away from me) at a place called Dunning & Fairbank - Cost me £80 in total IIRC - I took them my S15 front half of the prop and S13 rear half that connected to the diff
Ye man, I dropped the parts off with measurements, picked up the new prop a week later all done ready to be fitted, a lot cheaper than I expected
Great I just sent an enquiry , see what they say... seems a bargain and another thing of my list.... Is your de standard? Got any planes to cam it or anything like that? Cheers
Ye indeed man, I was expecting like £200+ but was happy with the price! Ye man, standard apart from custom intake & 4-2-1 Exhaust Manifold into a 2.5" Exhaust, don't see the benefits from doing much to the DE as you can spend hundreds and only gain 20hp...with the 4.4 Diff and 6 Speed it is certainly nippy enough so hopefully spinning up the 16s shouldn't be a problem, especially since they aren't mega wide
The de definitely doesn't struggle to spin up 16s , it's fun doing it it too Can't wait to get mine back on track.
Aye, im hoping its going to be like my old mx5, just with a bit more power and handle a bit sharper...
thats exactly how mine felt man, and even on the 3.7 and 5 speed it had no trouble spinning up T1Rs @ 30PSI in the dry albeit on 15s. 16s should be no different, if you can I'd love to see on board footage of how it goes through the gears on the 4.4 and 6speed! With a 180sx rear bumper and some bigger tyres / more lows this will look sweet as too
Ye man I've got a go-pro so will try and get some footage at some point... I don't see the big deal with 180 rear bumpers haha, do you mean spats aswell?? Im running 205/45/16 upfront and they seem to look fine, but the rears are 195/45 and are super skinny sidewall I think, so need to change them, and with new coilovers in the new year it'll definitely get lowered
I'd say 205/50/16 all round and a tad lower and youl have a super driveable setup that looks good as well; and 180 rear bumpers just have the import sized plate recess which looks loads better, that with 13x6.5" plates front and rear and it'll look sweet as! Spats or no spats i think they look good either way
Last night, I went out for a meal with my work, and the missus joined us, when I picked her up from the train station, she surprised me with an order of HSD Coilovers from Driftworks, so hopefully they'll be arriving this week and I can get them fitted before NYE. I also need to do an engine oil change along with a gearbox oil change - I also need to figure out why the gear stick seems to stick in position when I push it either left(in line with 1st & 2nd) or right(in line with 5th,6th and reverse) - Its only just happened recently and sometimes makes gear changing a bit of a pig...hoping an oil change might resolve it?
Shifter return springs have probably broken. Jump underneath and undo the 2 big bolts up near the selector on the snout on the gearbox. The springs will be sitting inside the bolts Car looks like a nice & simple rig. Looking forward to seeing some footage of it in action
Ahhh ye, good shout, I remember changing them in my old S13 for Uprated GKTech Jobbies from Australia! Made a big difference, may have to invest in some more... Ye man, me too, really excited to drive it hard!
haha thats class I wish my missus was more accepting with jap cars! I suppose I need to find something drift ready in time for summer, cant have you and lewis having all the fun
