Harley's RS13

Ahoy,

Thought I'd make a small write up on my s13 as I'm extremely bored at work. Nothing special by any means but this is my first drift car and I've always wanted to own an s13. I have literally no idea what i'm doing and I have next to fuck all tools/equipment.

My plan was and is to build the car up to a decent drift spec with road use, although I'm not interested in competing, just after having a laugh with some decent people.

So onto the car, it's a 1990 200sx CA18DET with 93000 miles on the clock with minimal modifications. I saw her up on Gumtree August last year for just over 3k looking very standard and well maintained from what I could see. Minimal rust (we will get back to that) and minor modifications with 10 months MOT so I thought it was well priced. The only drawback was the car being located in Scotland and I am on the south coast so literally the other side of the country.

But i thought fuck it, put down a deposit and 2 days later I was on a plane to Edinburgh excited as fuck. Viewed the car, test drove around town and I couldn't stop smiling. Paid the chap, got insured and taxed and started my 440 mile drive home. HOWEVER, once I joined the motorway I realized there was a fuck load of vibration over 50mph. Looked in my mirror to see the rear left wheel doing a big wobble. Pulled over and jacked up, sure enough I had one wobbly boi. Wheel was bent to fuck so it was a loooooong drive home at 50mph max. But it got me home so I got over it pretty quick.


Day after I got it after a quick wash.

Despite it being a UK 200sx I was over the moon to have this during my first year of driving.


Next I went about replacing the wobbly wheel but unfortunately I was so skint at the time (still am) I could only afford a pair of new japan racing wheels.


I do plan on getting decent genuine dishy wheels one day, I'm just financially fucked at the moment.

Trax at silverstone was on the radar and track time at Silverstone was cheap so I thought I'd give it a go in the s13. Had never done track time before and I didn't really know the car well so I was a bit nervous especially it being wet. After a lap i was relaxed and enjoyed driving the car harder and I was surprised at how fast the car was. It's supposedly 220 at the wheels but yet to check ecu chip haha. One thing I took away from the track time was how much I got chucked around the standard seats and how much the car rolled. It came on shitty ebay coilovers so I knew I needed to fork out for HSD's soon. I had also noticed a misfire on full boost which I'll mention later.

So after being chucked about I started looking at seats and decided red low max's would go well with it being white so I sourced a cheap pair and sold most of my interior. I doubt they're genuine but they're better than standard so I'm not fussed for now. Also bought a genuine takata harness and OMP harness along with a new set of bride rails. £180 for rails was painful but couldn't find any DW low rails at the time





I was happy I kept my front interior as I was planning on driving the car to each drift event. Minimal comfort really helps!

After taking the rear interior out I was getting tired of looking at rusty white shit in the back which ruined the clean look at the front so I decided to do a quick rust prevention paint. Never painted a thing in my life (which is pretty pathetic) but I gave it a go with minimal effort. Came out looking better, and I'm glad I kept the sound proofing in. Every little helps haha




Next on the list was sorting the diff. One wheel peels with an open diff is not the one, so me and my mate did the ol' switch a roo. He had my open diff and welded it for his s13. I bought his nismo 2 way and shafts as I was using mine as a daily at the time. The diff is loud as fuck though so I soon got a daily haha. No photos of this as I didn't really think to take any.

Next on the list was the clutch as mine had started slipping on boost in 4th gear. Decided on a stage 2 competition clutch. First time changing a clutch and needless to say, it was a cunt. Laying on the ground for 9 hours in 1° temps was also not the one. My mate (again!) gave me guidance and help but by the end of the day I was ready for death. Worst job ever haha, but I'm just a pussy.


Old clutch was down to the bolts


After that the car was having a misfire issue still on full boost so I bought some new spark plugs and gapped them to 0.75mm and this seemed to solve it. Now boosts nice and I've developed love for my little CA. Sounds and revs so nice and boost comes on early. Considering how cheap CA's are and how expensive SR's are I think I'll be sticking with the faithfull little heroes until I lose my shit and go though 5 of them :') I was looking at getting the slag lower as the fitment was shite however the ebay shitters had seized so HSD's were on their way shortly.


Got a bit sick of the shit load of zilla life stickers I had inside and out so removed a load.



MOT was coming up and I knew rust was going to be an issue. I've seen some horrendous examples on the interwebs and I knew mine wasn't too bad, but still needed welding. Managed to find a decent garage locally which have a drift team so they were very friendly. They did a good job welding the car but unfortunately more rust was being found and it ended up costing twice as much as quoted. Shit happens. The car is now fully under sealed and should be good for a few years of abuse. Rust below wahhhh






Now I had the car back I was determined to get some HSD's on. I got some dualtech's from Driftworks and fitted them as soon as the weekend came. Managed to get the car as low as the rears would allow as their still the rays on spacers! Not as low as I'd like but the exhaust needs to be tucked and I need to get another paid of jr's for the rear. I did have a little issue with the inner rim rubbing on the springs at the front so I bought some 3mm spacers, again from Driftworks!






Now the car had decent coilovers I was as ready as I could afford for Japfest and I was lucky enough to get a ticket for the Rockingham outer paddock practice day. I was super nervous as I knew all the big boys go to rocki and this would be my first time in a little stock-ish s13. The car had to get me to japfest from Hampshire and then to rockingham, do a full day of "drifting" in the boiling heat and get me home! Was a lot to ask and it didn't let me down. My driving was fucking shit however and I looked well out of place at rocki. But I met some quality people and everyone was super friendly. I had such a good time, one of the best weekends I've had. Hopefully next time my driving will be better though. A few photos from that weekend, so much fun!!


Rockingham took it's toll on the loom as expected from going lower. I stopped a little early on the day as I didn't want to push my luck. After looking at the loom I'm glad I stopped haha. Took the wing off at the weekend and tucked the loom above the arch just in time. All I need to do next is wack the shit out of the areas where the tyre is rubbing in the arch!


Next is some skirts. My mate had a pair of kouki style skirts kicking around so I started repairing and painting them. Then changed my mind and want to go 2 tone with the bottom half of the car midnight black (panda weeb I know). That's next on the list along with subframe bushes and exhaust tuck.


Again, I have no idea what I'm doing and in reality I haven't done an awful lot in terms of performance so I can't really call this a build yet. I just though I'd make a start! Cheers for reading

 

Thanks man, saw yours a while ago and thought it looked a bit different these days haha

 

Thanks man, appreciate it!

 

There’s a few little things I missed but I’m sure they’ll be loads more to do soon hahaha

 

Cheers mate

 

---Update---

So I managed to get some money together for a few bits!


Finally got a full set of wheels. Nothing special but it's nice to have the car looking more complete




I originally went to buy some tyres for the new pair of wheels off a guy not too far from me, turned out he had a mint ps13. Was a really nice guy and showed me all the bits he had for sale and inevitably I bought things! He did me a good deal on some driftworks rear camber arms/traction rods/toe rods which were virtually brand new. I have yet to fit these though.


I've never been a fan of the back of my car and I put it down to the uk bumper. Just not a fan of that wide number plate! So I decided to look for a different rear bumper. I was going to go aggressive with origin labo but after debating I realized it wouldn't suit the rest of the car if I'm trying to go for a clean oem look with kouki skirts. I decided to get a genuine 180sx rear bumper and paid a small fortune to get one! I wanted genuine though, trying to stay away from fiberglass for as long as I can.



Shortly after buying these, tickets for the next rockingham outer paddock practice drift day were out and I had to go!! Last time was fun but I was disappointed with my driving so I was keen to get back asap. My subframe locking collars had done their work and I thought it'd be a good idea to get the poly bushes in before rocki so I had a little help from my uncle who's torn apart a few s13's. Took around 5 hours of actual work between us on a nice chill sunny day, I bet it would have been a different story on my own though!




The car felt so much better after fitting the bushes and I was pretty much ready for rockingham. Before I knew it the morning had come and after my 4:30 alarm decided NOT to go off I was already half an hour late leaving which was annoying as fuck! Not to mention the car weaving on the motorway due to non existing alignment (ran out of time!). Luckily though me and my friend made it with loads of time before briefing so I chilled and started getting stoked to get on the new layout. Loads of concrete and a overlapping corner was intimidating at first but after my first run I was so pumped. For some reason my first run was 5 times better than anything I had done on my first drift day last month. I coudln't figure it out as I had done no skids since, maybe it was the streettacklife sticker I had on the dash saying "nobody cares, drive harder" haha





Managed to get some rubber in my headliner from my front tyres rubbing the arches so I switched to the 205/40's




Seat time was insane, I think there were 35 cars there? There was hardly any queuing at all. I slowly progressed through the day after quite a few spins and a small understeer crashu. Towards the end of the day I managed to link the track quite a few times which I was so happy with. I had shitty lines and I broke drift a little but compared to me first day I could feel the progress. Not too sure if any media got some shots of me but if I see them i'll post them up! I did some filming but my gopro decided not to record sound so you'll have to miss out on the CA farts I had some good advice and help from my friend who came up in his r33 4 door so massive thanks to him.




Quick video (with no sound) from the day starting from the beginning to the end. I know my hands are flappy.....I'm working on it! And yes I did cut out most of my spins

 

Appreciate it man, thank you

 

cheers!

Thanks man, still loads that needs doing!

I highly doubt they're genuine but the quality is okay. Stitching isn't bad and they're actually really comfortable, i spent over 10 hours in it with no aches. They're XL so not a super snug fit, I'm 32" waist and I have some wiggle room. I wanted them to be easy to get in and out of as it was my daily

 

thanks bud, hopefully it stays simple haha

 

Thanks man, a lot of shit moments but got there in the end haha. Me and my mate fell in love with the ps! I’ll come and say hi next time