STATUS UPDATE LEZGO

Following Yuan (BigSmoke)'s migration back to Tokyo (check his RP thread out, check out his Evo 3 build and his latest acquisition, an S15!), I've been pursuing a very hard decision. This actually came out as a bit of a surprise, but I've been negotiating the sale on my FC1 for quite a while now (since after the S14 crash). But now the time has come to end my ownership of FC1, and the time has also come for the FC1 to continue its life under a new owner.









There's not much to say about this car. It's been tastefully modified with nothing but the best of goodies, no shortcuts were taken here. Simple formula, simple results, that's just how it works. Bearing in mind all of the mods I installed, we agreed on V$18,000.







Farewell Civic, it was nice knowing you. I had fun, some real good times. And owning you is something I will never regret.

Now, moving on...

NEW ACQUISITION

Marc and I had a talk and I ended up buying his S13 to help him out. Funnily enough, this car never left the K-S team. It was first found by Muzahid (Niatross) who built it up into the the very fun drifty boi it is right now. And eventually it ended up in Marc's (Macaron_moon's) hands. And then I got a hold of it.



Car is pretty shipshape with a clean shell, no bog or anything. A genuine Works 9 Kit (which Marc mangled the front bumper, more on that later). Interior is stripped with some Blitz gauges, a hydro e-brake system, a Bride driver seat and a half-cage. Under the hood is an SR20DET with a GReddy TD06SH-25G turbo, a GReddy Oil Catch Can, some custom plumbing, custom exhaust manifold, and a blown 4th cylinder.



Last month I compensated him handsomely, with V$11,000, to pay for the car and to help him out with his CZ4A build and his new car purchase ( H U E ). Also last month, I had the front bumper sent to a body shop, I had it refibered, and then repainted to the car's shade of red. Looks new!

Can't wait to see how this car transforms because I myself don't know the plan for it yet. For now it'll probably stay that way. I gotta work on getting it running.

Moving on again, we have something UNEXPECTED

NEW ACQUISITION x2

At this point and in this particular situation (I'm pertaining to the S14 here), I have realized that it simply isn't worth the time and effort to restore and reshape the current shell to its original figure. Therefore I have decided to sell the S14. JUST KIDDING. OKAY I WAS JOKING. CHILL.



I scoured through the internet classifieds to find the perfect donor car. Something within the reasonably realistic budget, but packs a lot for what it's worth. Something kept with care, a vehicle I'll want to handle gently and with utmost safety. And alas, I came across this gorgeous vehicular unit.

I went to see it in person right away. It was right within my expectations, higher even, considering the ad only had one image. Everything was just what I was looking for in a project.





As the ad listing denotes, this my friends, is a 1997 Nissan Silvia Q's Aero SE.

1997 was the last year they offered the 4 lug on the S14. This car is pristine. With a mere 107,259 km traveled, it's in overall decent condition. One owner, who cared for it all its life. He didn't even modify it!





Trunk and interior are all intact along with their respective carpeting, even the stereo is factory, works great too! This car was perfect because it was a manual, much more than just a bonus.





Under the hood is a bone stock SR20DE 2.0L Naturally Aspirated Inline 4 Cylinder. It's even got the factory airbox! The only modified thing I've seen is a Koyo Aluminum Radiator in place of the factory plastic one. SR20DE manual. WHAT A TREAT! This is the PERFECT donor car for the S14 rebuild. I'll be slowly swapping over the good parts from the wrecked one to this car. Probably starting with the small goodies like the interior stuff (except the cage which has been welded in). A 5 lug swap is in the books for sure though. But for 498k yen (V$4,980), I can't possibly go wrong with this car. I'm SUPER eager to get the build process going.

And finally

What Is The Definition Of Stock? Cuz This Ain't It Chief

With the FC1 gone I've been dailying my AP1 S2000 these past few days. And all in good time, my parts have arrived!



I got myself Bilstein B14 PSS Coilovers for V$1,248.66 on FRSport



And I got a GP Sports EXAS EVO muffler for V$199 on UpGarage via Crooober.

After passing sha ken and obtaining my registration plates, I went straight to the mods. This was the car for a while, sitting on stockies with the coilovers installed at max low, and with the muffler on.







Then yesterday morning I went to the shop to test fit the Gram Lights 57Cs again.





Fronts are poking out a bit too much



But the rears are PERFECT with the current camber setting.



I mounted all 4 of them and then proceeded to Benny's to get my alignment done for the fronts. I had them dial in some more front camber to keep the poke flush on all 4 sides.

Then it was finished.









One night out, a few VTEC pulls here and there, I was in my element. A car that looks good, sounds AMAZING, and performs like a WINNER. All of these factors have cemented the fact that I bought the right car.

B L I S S

That's all for now, thanks for reading. Next time I'll update on my S15 (Project Ichigo). I hope to start progress on the S14 soon and eventually the S13.

Finances:

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V$83,285 + V$940 (Weekly Paycheck x1) + V$18,000 - V$1,248.66 - V$199 - V$4,980 = V$95,797.34