The R32 Chronicles

i appreciate the kind words. Its not the cleanest at all. But its coming together. Been flat out working on it this week. Seeing as you said such nice things. Have a bang up to date photo taken today.

 

So it was time to drop the goodness into the car. Fortunately i then had to self isolate for covid back when that was a thing. So that gave me a free week. So it was time to hustle this car together.

Got the engine out the kitchen and that was not easy feat in itself.



I didn’t get a photo of it on the way in. But i got the clutch on it. Got it on the crane and got it in the bay on my own. Absolutely fucking sucked one man deep. And i had left the box in the car so i had to get the box engaged on the clutch on my own. After a long long time of swearing i got it in and in the car. My car finally had a dy in it.

The next day was time to start some of the fab work. I recently bought a tig to have at home. So next step was to start to figured out the wastegate pipework on the manifold.


got it cut. Figured and welded up.

Then i cut the old cast ali 90 off the old turbo. Mocked up the turbo on the car. Marked it up and welded it on quickly.

And this meant i was able to use my old boost pipe on the hot side which was a huge bonus.


The next day it was downpipe time. I thought because my intercooler pipe fitted easily despite the manifold change i thought the downpipe would be easy. However i was wrong and it was an absolute pig. However eventually despite only having some basic tools. Which made it massively harder and required a lot of marking out and hard work cutting with a grinder. I got there in the end.



So unfortunately i didnt take anymore photos till i had the car bay back together. However i had to modify the intake a little and i made it work. Then got the inlet bolted up. And found with a change of silicone joiner i managed to utilise the original cold side intercooler pipe even with the new e throttle body. Which was excellent news. Also switched the fittings in the rocker covers to the press in swivel type to be able to clear the dmax bonnet. I will make a custom catch can when i get the car back from mapping.


I then spoke to jack my tuner and we decided to make a whole custom new loom for the engine setup so thats being done as we speak.

I also got the dash fitted up to the car. Which looks great.


I also got invited to attend dorifest in Scotland in august to that will be the first proper event in the car. In at the deep end.


The car got loaded up by a good friend of mine Adam who i used to share my unit with and that was the first time in a long time I’d seen it not on my driveway.


This was so the car could head off to jacks for tuning and a fresh loom. But first it had a little stop off.



I got married and wanted the car there for a couple of shots. I had hoped to have it running by then but unfortunately i ran out of time and money to get it there in time. However it was there regardless and looked so sick against a stately home backdrop.


The next day the car was dropped at the tuners. And currently as we speak its having a loom made and should hopefully be a running driving car in the next update.

thank you once again for taking the time to read my drivel. And you are once again up to date.

 

aye thank you man. Really appreciate the kind words and i love that people still read this.

I really must update when i get a chance. The car is now fully tuned and has been tested at a drift day. Currently in the process of getting it ready for a weekend of drifting at dorifest in 3 weeks time.

however. For now here is a little teaser of it on track.

 

Ahhh yes we do. Give me a few days and I’ll get one up.

 

So on the last update the car had just been at my wedding and was heading off to Jack at J’s garage.

Jack build me a brand new custom loom that had all the additional sensors i wanted integrated as well more importantly not being a 25 year old brittle wanky mess.


He got the car running and tuned for me. It made 504bhp at 1.6 bar. With a very punchy power band from low down.

I also received a very custom display on the IC7.


Anyway me and my new mate barry had to get some miles on the car and get it tested prior to dragging it all the way to scotland for dorifest.

However prior to that i was having a voltage issue so decided to upgrade the alternator to a bosch 160amp unit off a skoda of all things.



I went for a cruise to a local cars and coffee with one of my best mates in his chevy


Not the usual combo of cars haha.

I daily drove the car to work for a week or so. Turning heads left right and centre.



The next step was to take it to Norfolk arena on a Friday evening and test it ahead of Dorifest.

The car performed pretty well considering I’d never drifted it on track properly.



By the end of the night i drove it on the trailer having only needed to trim the front bumper because it was catching on full lock, and needing to adjust an oil pressure warning parameter. Which I considered an incredible shock and success.



The next step was to take a good friends boy to Prom which was interesting and he was by far in the coolest car. Amazing what antilag will do to turn heads.


A couple of weeks after that it was time to get the banner fitted, load up and head to Scotland.


I borrowed myself a sweet rig too.


I met up with Adam my good friend i used to shared the unit with, picked up Ed who has been a key part of this build as anyone who has read this thread throughout will know, we filled with diesel for the first of about 86 times, pointed the jewish racing gold ranger for Scotland and headed off.



We had a pretty successful trip up there. Just long and boring. But 9 hours later we arrived. Met up with Rob Brown with the gorgeous black ps and Jake Crouch with his sick s15. We got the cars unloaded and started figuring out our pits.


Got our pit setup and cracked open a beer and started relaxing ready for the weekend ahead.


The first morning we woke up to rain. Not perfect. However all the forecasts said we would have rain until the track opened on day one and that would be it. And sure enough that’s exactly what we had.

The first few laps were very very tentative, turns out 500bhp, rain, and budgets at 50psi is not conducive to grip.


So i went out for a few sessions and skated about. Got a feel for the layout and then it started to dry up.


So me and Barry got our big boy pants on and got ready to go out in the dry and it was a whole different ball game. Even with the shite tyre’s I’d bought for the trip it was fast. However the budgets i had really didn't have a lot in the way of grip or side bite. So it was a little more skatey than id of liked but I absolutely made it work.

Spent the first day not really doing much in the way of twining but mainly just getting used to the car and the track and getting comfortable drifting again after a very very long time out the seat.




On day one the only thing we had all day was the rear arms all came loose for some unbeknown reason. We by eyed it back together and cracked on. So the car definitely needs an alignment before the next time out because i dont think that was helping the lack of grip.

Also more importantly to me, after all the work we put into the car, i managed to get Ed to take it out on track for a drive, now he was obviously very apprehensive of taking a car that wasn’t his with the value it has, on track in front of a lot of people arguably at one of the biggest events in uk drifting this year.


It was sick to see him drive it and I can’t wait to get him out in it again at perhaps a tamer track day.

We ordered pizza to the track that night and sat around at a sick event. Surrounded by like minded people and well styled cars. It was everything i wanted the event to be. It was a great feeling to be involved in such a sick event.


The next day however we all woke up with a rocket up our arses and when the track opened on the sunday morning everyone had absolutely stepped up a level. The driving was the most fun i had ever had in a car.

The car was absolutely flying.



Also at the time i was unaware, but there was a photographer from speedhunters and incredibly he got some amazing shots of me and the boys together which was a real moment for me. I have read speedhunters since i was a kid so to have my car on the site was amazing.




And just as importantly this shot, which sums the event up. Good times, with good people and good cars.


Then sadly it was all over. It was time to load up.


Then off for a fancy steak dinner.


Then it was time to fuel up and head home


We then headed home from what was the best event I’ve ever attended, which made 6 years of work, and far too many £££££ all make sense. The car was everything i wanted. And bar the rear arms coming loose was faultless all weekend.

Before the next event i need to build a better catch can system because the car did fill the catch can i have pretty quickly, Also needs a proper alignment and next time i need some proper tyres just to make the car drive nicer and a lot more predictably.

Since I’ve been back my wife has also given birth to my first child, my daughter Ella. So for the moment the car is tucked up for winter and i am not sure when I’ll have time or money to do anything with it for a bit. However despite a few moments of madness considering selling it. It wont be going anywhere. I’m not finished with it yet.

So there you are. All caught up. Thank you yet again for reading. And I’ll leave you with this gorgeous shot someone got at the event.

 

So I’ve not done much with the car so not much to update.

On another note i find it sad to see this forum so inactive. It is one of the main things that built my interest in the sport. I really find it a shame to see it do very little. It used to be the hub of the sport in the uk. Now it barely does anything. I assume this to be due to the influx of social media. But still.

 

I still have the old girl.


If i am honest the year has ran away with me. Becoming a Dad has been great. However it means the car hasn’t turned a wheel since dorifest. Whilst not ideal, it is what it is. however with that said, I haven’t totally forgotten about it. I’ve been developing the breather system a little more in the small bits of free time i’ve had. I also have everything here now to convert the full fuel system to AN lines and fitting. As well as nearly everything here to make a new exhaust. So the car is still steadily being worked on. Maybe next year it’ll even drift again.