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BigSmoke

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Posts: 844

Location: Indonesia
Occupation: Following Those Damn Trains
Age:
V$: Broke
#153759   2019-02-16 14:17          
Weight Loss Program









Finally, I'm back to Tsukuba with spring closing in.
Also the S15 has arrived to my crib as well! :D
I'll tell you what I'm going to do with it in this update.
And oh, the Siver Queen had a micro bit of change as well.
All of which can be seen in this update so let's jump inside! :D












[11 Feb 2019]
Paycheck time! V$750 has come to my wallet, but there's something else coming that day. As I've told you in the previous update, Ii've got a new car, which is a Silvia S15 Spec-S AT, and I had it delivered on a truck and it'll arrive at my crib this day. So I waited inside my crib for the delivery truck. Speaking of which, the prpularity of S-Chassises here is quite inevitable, being one of the go-to machine for pretty much any purpose with any kind of mods. Pro Drifting? Check. Grassroots Drifting? Check. Time Attack? Check. Club Racing? Check. Rallying? Check. Daily? Check. Kyusha? Check. Drag Racing? Check. Lowered? Check. Stance Nation Meeting? Check. It's basically a blank canvas waiting for anyone to paint it anything, and it'll be open to any kind of owners, from those who recently learn how to drive to master drivers with all salt and experience on their hands, and from uhhh......people with 'eccentric' tastes to craftsman who can summon a fine arts quality of tunes.

What's rather interesting is the type of the S-Chassis being picked. A bit of disclaimer, S12 is rare so I could understand why there are none of them here, but I do like them. It has spawned a Group B variant after all (240RS), and that thing is rock solid and as stable as a jumbo airliner, so it can be driven as smooth as a flamboyant man flirting with a bunch of young women or as aggressive as everyone attending Slayer and Motorhead concerts. Let's get back to the topic. Most people I've seen around here picked up S13 Hatches, be it 180, 200 or 240SX. Understandable, as they look gorgeous and sold around the world, compared to the Notchback which looks....uhhh.....common in standard form, and mostly can only be found at Japan (or perhaps didn't sold as well as the hatch at the rest of the world). I'm not saying it's ugly, my point is most cars at it's era were boxy, and so does the S13 Notch. Nevertheless, both has a lot of visual and performance mods, so they can cope with all your needs. I can only recall one S13 notchback being driven here (Muza(Niatross) & Marc(Macaron_moon)'s shared S13), so hands up if you currently own one.

The S14 is actually great as well and also sold around the world, but due to Nissan somehow making ot bloatier, it's more expensive since bigger dimension means higher tax, at least here in Japan. This leads to extremely declining sales and slightly lack of fans of this model. Hell, even Nissan had to prolong the S13 hatch production and sold them alongside the S14 to regain profit! But if we throw away those facts out from the window, the S14 is a great thing as well, and actually not losing most of the sparks and brilliance set by the S13 despite it's size and weight.So this does make me wonder why there aren't more S14 in this commnity. The one I know well is AJ(RocketBunnyS13)'s S14 which at the moment is out of action. Another one is Sleepy(sleepin mOnkey)'s S14 which he built alongside his S13 hatch at the moment. Hands up if you currently have an S14 you think I should check out.

Now, learing from the S14 tax fiasco, Nissan designed the S15 to be slim like the S13 was and made it more gorgeous and aerodynamic. The result is arguably one of the most gorgeous, timeless-looking car that can stand with modern car design standards. No matter what you've done on it, it'll always have that iconic looks and it can attract people to like it as well, either thinking it as fast or cute depending on your mods. With the arrival of my S15, this means currently there are four active S15 users: AJ, 11K (11000rpm), Crazy Eighty Eight(iirc) and myself. Let me know if I missed some.

I'm going to interrupt this as the delivery truck finally arrived. I drove the S15 off the truck and thanked the trucker for bringing it safely. Yep, time for the full reveal of what I'm going to do with it.

So what I'm going to do with it? I've seen lots of S-Chassises here used for drifting, stace and daily purposes. But not me, I want to go different. You see, I live near the Tsukuba Circuit, well-known for time attack activities there. So it should be obvious that I'm going to turn my S15 into a time attack machine. Admittably, mine wouldn't be the first TA S-Chassis here (Mackay built one ages ago form an S13), but I should remind you that the current Tsukuba record holder is a heavily tuned S15 driven by Toshihiko Suzuki, better known as Under Suzuki(yes, HKS smashed said record with an 86 but it used slicks on the run, deviating from the official time attack rules of Tsukuba). Of course I don't have the budget to do aero R&D and billet parts as he did, so I have to use anything aerodynamic and powerful that I can find in the vast virtual land of internet.

I want the S15 to be registered in equivalent to WTAC Open Class, so it can stretch it's muscles without worrying about limited budget or road legality. This is why I'm not going to make it street legal as well. I can guarantee, it'll be a bigger, longer, harder journey than the Evo did to me.


[12 Feb 2019]
Despite what I'm saying, I still want to drive the S15 on the road at least once, so I decided to go to my favourite auto shop downtown without having plates on it. I know the route to go there unspotted, so this should be a rather easy job. I have a feeling I can find something interesting after spending months in Tokyo. I have no plans to buy anything for the Silvia at this point, but perhaps there could be something for my Evo. Earlier at the morning, I noticed the Silver Queen might need new tyres after spending lots of distance and being cooked in Tsukuba and various touge routes.

Driving impressions? It drives quite well, the SR engine is unexpectedly running smooth in this configuration, mainly thanks to the torque-converter model AT transmission. The downside of this is the engine felt rather lazy and sluggish. Oh well, it's for cruising after all as opposed to performance driving. Handling-wise it feels great, responsively answering driver feedback on the run. No wonder S-Chassises are fan favourites. The seat is a bit dusty, but cloth is pretty much intact. It's a bit hard to sit on, probably because all of the years of usage.

I arrived at the shop and parked the S15 at the back of the building to hide the Silvia from the masses.

I did ended up bought some stuff for the Silver Queen. The first one is a set of R16 Bridgestone Potenza Adrenalin RE003s, which is the successor of the RE002 I currently use on the Evo. They're also quite expensive actually, being sold at V$207 each, making the total cost at V$828. But sinc ethis is basically an upgrade, I don't really mind. The other thing I bought is a pack of RalliArt stickers for V$5. Seeing Rifky(Shez)'s Integra DC5 and 11K's BMW E36 made me think it would be a good idea to give the Silver Queen a sticker on each front doors. I think I've said back then the Evo woud stay clean from stickers to keep that daily look........I think I should take those words back now.

Back on the garage, I parked the Silvia not fully backwards inside the garage. This was done for two reasons.

The first one is of course to give space for working on the Evo. First off, giving it stickers. Does it look nice to you? I'll let you guys to be the judge.
(Damn, stickering in SLRR is quite a pain in the back)

And next up, changing the tyres.

Changing tyres done, onto the S15 next. It's time to put it on a diet, since it's going to be a competition car. But first, I'm going to do those that can be performed alone, which are removing setas, carpets, panels, audio parts, air vents, and some of the dashboard panels.

Unexpectedly this took almost half a day.

"Oof that was close!"
"Ack!" *hand bleeds*
"Come on get off the door!"
"Pull! Pull!" *headbutts floor*

After hours of torturing myself with fully scuffed hands, some small wounds and sweaty body, the car has been reduced to bare-looking interiors.


Seriously, there are only a few remains inside. I actually tried to lay my body inside the car since it was quite spacious after all the weight reduction. Safe to say, uhh......it's not really a good thing to sleep in :))

After all the work has been done, I had to reverse the car to the garage by pushing it. Tell me, do they look gorgeous side by side? :thumbsup:

After treating my hands, I called Kenichi, Rantaro and Ryuji to see if they can help with the rest of the operation.

"Kenichi-san, it's me Edo"
"Oh hey Edo! Was wondering where have you been these days"
"Sorry man I forgot to call you. I was at Tokyo the entire month"
"Oh I see, what did you do there?"
"A lot of things man, I'll tell ya when you come to my crib"
"Uh, not now tho, Ii'm bu-"
"Of course not now man, but are you free at Friday?"
"Oh yah, good idea"
"I also have a new car, so I need your help to sort it out"
"Ooooh I also have a new bike-"
"Wait really? Damn, bring it here at Friday!"
"Of course man, I think you're gonna like it"
"Alright see ya at Friday man"
"See ya"


"Rantaro my man, I'm already back home!"
"Yoooo if it's not Edo-kun! How's your trip man?"
"Everything went well, thanks man. Eh how about I tell you about it at my crib?"
"Oh sure, but not now. Let's do that on weekend"
"How about Friday? I also invited a friend"
"Cool enough, will do. But why another friend?"
"Oh yah, I bought a new car. Need your and his help to sort it out"
"Ah I see, I'll help you, don't worry"
"Alright thanks man"
"You're welcome, see ya at Friday"
"See ya"


"Hello Ryuji-san, it's me Edo"
"Oh hello Edo-san, what's the matter?"
"Uh, I have a new car, and I think it'll be wise to ask for your help to sort it"
"Oh sure sure, I might be able to help"
"Can you come to my crib at Friday? I'll give you my address after the call"
"I think I'm free on Friday, so sure man"
"Oh, tell me more about your trip to Aussie as well!"
"Sure sure"
"Alright, thank you very much"
"You're welcome mate"


With all calls sorted, I returned to my room to continue working.

Also, I remembered after all the engine upgrades the brakes felt squeaky, not really enough to be used on hard circuit usage. So I looked for a new one with bigger discs that can fit 16 inch wheels. Turns out there was only some results, some of them are Wilwood Superlite brakes. I opted for 6 pot calipers for front, and 4 pot for rear, with both wearing heavy duty 298mm discs. They also offered the option to paint the caliper red, but I stick to black for that unassuming, stealth look. All of this goes for V$2156. Can't wait for the Silver Queen to try throwing me out via the windshield.........


[15 Feb 2019]
The time to reunite (some of) the crew has come. But first, time to get the Silvia off the garage. Because pushing it off the garage took some time, I decided to enter the car, sit down on the car's floor and give it a smidge of gas while hoping I don't hit anything in the process. This turned out somehow successful, but it's quite scary to do. Perhaps not again.

Afterwards I opened the bonnet of the S15. Would you look at that, a relatively fresh SR20, rarely abused to the redline, might need some oil. But I won't give it any. Why? I'll tell you something.

Unlike WTAC which has strict engine swap rule (can only be from same manufacturer with same number of cylinder,e.g. you can swap VQ35 with VR38 but not SR20 with RB26), in Japanese time attack series you can rather freely do engine swaps to your car. I mean, there's a team(NewType Racing) who swapped their RX7's 13B engine for a 2JZ. So the plan is, I'm going to throw an RB26 inside (yes, with twin turbos so not an RB25) the S15. How cool is that? ;)

Shortly after Kenichi arrived with his shiny new bike.

"Hey man good to see you again!" Kenichi greeted me as we have a high five.
"Heeeeey! Is that a Honda Grom?"
"Yup! See, I know you'd like it!"
"It's practically impossible to dislike this thing you know"
"Exactly! Wait please hold up the bike for me, I'm going to pick the stand"
"Alright"

He then put the stand on his bike.

"Wait if this is your bike, where's your CB? Did you sell it?"
"Nah, I gave it to my cousin. Just recently finished high school"
"Aaaah I see. Wise move man, teaching him about freedom on the road and making him cool"
"Yap we're on the same wavelength it turns out"
"You know what? Honestly I want to ride one of these, but I'm not sure if it can stand my body weight"
"I think it will though, I mean I could go to Ooarai and back on this. You want to try?"
"No, not for now. No helmets and suits yet. I don't think I can ride these on t-shirts"


During our banter, Rantaro arrived to my crib in his Mer-sorry, Mark II. I think there are a lot of fans of his build here!

"Oi Edo-kun, where should I park?"
"Uh, just park it at the yard across my crib, it's empty"
"Okay, will do"

So he did just that. On second thoughts, it might be a good idea if I and some more guys buy said yard and the house on it.


"Long time no see my man! How's your day in Okinawa?" I greeted Rantaro
"It was superb! Lots of sea breeze and top cuisines! And oh, did you believe they mod and race vans there and their surroundings?"
"Oh I've ever heard of that! Do they race vans other than Dodges?"
"I saw Chevys, but they're quite rare to be seen"
"Let's do that sometimes!"
"Sure man, I heard there are more of these at Ebisu. Oh yah, is this your friend?" said Rantaro has he half-points his hand at Kenichi
"Oh yes, he's my fellow worker Kenichi. He's a motorbike fan, he brought a Honda Grom here"
"Oh, a Grom! I rented one at Okinawa. Quite a fun ride!"
"See, I told you! Nice too meet you by the way" Kenichi confirms my and his theory
"Nice to meet you too man"


We continued our banter with some snacks and sodas from my refrigerator. 15 minutes later, Ryuji arrived in his Jagermeister orange E46.

"Oh hey Ryuji! Man the E46 still looking fresh! How's your days in Australia?" I greeted him
"Aussie's awesome man! Big engines everywhere! It's quite hot, though"
"You're quite lucky to be able to rent a Holden man, aside from fuel thirst how does it feel?"
"It's comfy enough to make Ryoko sleep inside haha. But it's also quite tail-happy to brng sideways?"
"And you're not getting arrested for bringing it sideways? Absolute lucky guy!"
"Well indeed I was lucky. I saw similar Holden being arrested for speeding at one time"
"And oh, remember my friend I told you who has an E46? He's going to make it a track racer?"
"Oh really? That's awesome! Send my regards to him man"


After a bit of lengthy banter between us, finally we set to work on uninstalling the engine, cooling system and the AC system. It took us almost one whole day to do it. After it was done, the Silvia has been reduced even further to a mere rolling shell.

After the work was done, we pushed the car back to the garage and went inside my crib to talk about holiday, upgrades on the Evo, how did I get the S15 and my plans with it. We also checked out the classes in Japanese time attack racing and venues we possibly could enter in. So after some discussions, I decided to attend Tsukuba's very own Time Aattack championship, RevSpeed's annual Time Attack event and all Attack Maximum Challenge events held at Tsukuba and Ebisu West. As for the class (thanks to these articles serving as guides), I would enter the Second class, which is opened for privateers and amateurs with limited aero works.

If you wonder what the other classes are, there are Ladies, Radial, NA and Turbo classes. Ladies class are similar to Second class but obviously limited to women drivers. Radial class are similar to WTAC Clubsport class where they have to use street tires. NA and Turbo class are the main Time Attack shows where pro teams and builders play with skyscraping budget and mad level aeros, with restriction being whether they're aspirated or not as the name suggests.


And oh, of course I'm also open for sale at the moment!
Here are the list of stuff I'd like to sell here:











The time attack project has begin!
Meanwhile, here's how my wallet survives:








That's all my updates for now, thank you for stopping by and see you soon!

This post was edited by BigSmoke (2019-02-25 14:29, ago)
Still following the damn train since 1992

Visit my RP HERE!