A thing i expected heartily when i revealed that i had a job at Nismo, is helping friends who drive cars from one of Japans most world-renowned brands, Nissan. and ofc, friends get quality stuff from Nismo, i get them the parts and thus help the branch. its a win-win situation!

Kicking that off with none other than MACKAY, who you may have seen has recently treated himself with a pristine condition, low mileage BNR34 V-Spec II (if not, GO PEEP HIS RP NOW!). Its all around PERFECTION this car, except from the fact that at some point it lost its rear V-Spec II badge. and well thats where i came in. He video-called me a few days ago to work something out, And just like that we had a plan!

Aside from the BNR-shenanigans, the mans is also building a BMW S54B32 for one of his E36's, and could use some actual experience of what a stock S54 engine felt like. So i came up with a suggestion that i take his BNR34 personally to Omori Factory, while leaving my E46 M3 at his garage. I can get the badging installed by official Nismo mechanic hands (among some other things), while he can keep my E46 for the day and y'know, see what the thing feels like. and ofc, i can see what a BNR34 in all its glory feels like! It was set. we'd meet at a Ramen-Sushi joint nearby both of us the next day.

NEXT DAY, 9 A.M.

I was expecting that i'd be the first one there, since MACKAY likes his sleep XD. But would you believe if i said we arrived at the same moment more or less? i turned my Right indicator on to turn into this alley that has the Restaurant, and coming from the opposite direction, Left indicator on, was the pearl white R34!

Upon parking up parallel to each other, we had a bit of gossip, a lot of Admiring each others vehicles, and (not) a lot of photos taken!

I think we can agree about how well the TE37's fit the car. aside from the tasteful Nismo body parts. Its kinda like Shez's DC5 that you saw on an earlier post. i.e. Everything flows so good! at around 50k kilometres only, it was pretty much a literal museum piece too. Ngl, just looking at it for a while has me wanting one quite bad

And ofc, my comparatively humble E46 parked behind

Right then, enough drooling (both over the cars and bc of hunger). was time to get going and get some breakfast!

We then proceeded to ABSOLUTELY FILL OURSELVES with some Makizushi and Miso Ramen, aside from two cups of coffee. It really was as delicious as the reviews about this restaurant said. overall, a great start to the day!

After getting our stomachs fullfilled and caffeine-requirements sorted, we headed off to MACKAYs garage. and me being the reckless mf that i (sometimes) am, i decided it would be a great idea to dump the clutch in 2nd gear. On a narrow-ish street. At about 9:30 a.m...

Could've ended much worse but gladly i didnt take it too far lmao. But well, another 20 or so minutes of pushing ourselves through narrow japanese streets later,

WELCOME TO MACKTOPIA!

he parked the daily-BNR outside, along with his Purple E36 (the one getting the S54) and instructed me to pull my car straight into his spot of the garage. After which i got to get a glance at his current stash of cars (missing the 370z but his wife drives that so)

On the lift, over my E46's roof is his ER34 GT-T. His drift car. With a full custom fabbed cage, widened rear, nismo bodykit, all-tweaked suspension, and lastly, a dying RB25DET XD. But that didnt matter since he may have smth up his sleeve to power this thing soon!

Then there was this Calypso Red 325i E36. Imported from Russia for a cheaper price than buying from Japan, Manual swapped, and now awaiting drift-spec goodies. He stated the car was for one of his friends who'd pick it up soon after it gets the drift components. Hmmmmmmm i wonder who

And lastly, the prime-piece. Sitting in all its majesty in front of all the other cars, the Racecar BNR34. Packing about a WHOPPING 1300 HP, now making (i think) a track car transition from a Wangan blaster with the all Carbon body panels, deleted headlights and what not.

Was a great experience looking at these cars but there was no denying, time being around 10 a.m., i WAS getting a bit late to work. Had informed my Senior the day before that i might be late due to the cause of bringing a customers car. But still, i had to get going pretty quick.

Took all the photos you just saw, traded car keys with MACKAY, recieved the payment for the new badge, and parted ways for the day.

I myself was beyond hyped for being able to experience a BNR34 first-hand. and dont worry lol MACKAY had briefed on how the clutch felt, the do's and dont's etc.

without further ado, i took a deep breath, and the key was turned. My ears were greeted with the delightful sound of a mostly untouched RB26DETT. while tuned ones may have a rather loud, sometimes even choppy aggressive idle, this car had just a sweet, smooth sound. From what i know only the muffler was changed and the rest was untouched on the exhaust, but nevertheless, it sounded great!

and just like that, off i went to work. Omori Factory.

Driving through usual Tokyo traffic, well, it felt like any other normal car apart from the sound. Which wasnt even particularly loud either. It wasnt unconfortable, shifting through the gears at cruising speeds felt very normal. It has HKS Hipermax coils that arent tuned aggressively. Again, pretty comfortable! Well this IS mack's current daily, and it very well ticks the "daily" category in my opinion. But of course it doesnt have all the creature-comforts an actual modern day, or even some older day daily candidate cars would have, but we dont need those do we XD. It was a bit low on Gas tho, so i took it onto myself to give 'er a top-up. Just regular pump fuel is what it runs on, and a full tank of that is what it got!

Only my Senior was aware that i was bringing a customer car in by myself. Which is why when i pulled up to the shop about 30mins later, Hoshino and Eiichi, my two most acquainted mechanics at Nismo were rather bamboozled. They both stared at the car in a sort of confused manner as i pulled it in and gradually came to a stop. i got out, laughed a bit and explained that this was a friends car and they went "OHHHHHHHHHHHH hai"

I then proceeded to give them the rundown on what the car needs. Ofc the V-spec II badge, some spray-cleaning of the lights, and an underbody checkup for any loose parts, tierods that need replacing etc. Hoshino then put the car on an empty lift to finish the underbody checkup first. And while he was it, i told him about something that MACKAY wanted to know. Which is just how "original" the car was. i.e. all OEM bits or not, no history of damage and so on. well apart from the coils and changed exhaust parts.

I left Hoshino-Kun at it to do all the stuff on the car while i kept my eye on the rest of the service bay. Came back about an hour later to see that he had already finished and parked the car to another side. Asked him about the car, and the man gave me an approval that it is as original as can get apart from the tuning parts. None of the suspension components needed replacing too. Well what else can one expect from a 50k kilometre well-cared car lmao. Tho In the end people say "its not a matter of how many kilometres, its a matter of how harsh the kilometres were". and in this cars case, the previous owner before MACKAY seemed to have not given it a lot of the 'harsh' environment. So yeah, Nismo approved pristine car! the taillights didnt need any work on them, just some spray cleaning on the headlights, and ofc the missing badge was fitted. Hosh' (yes thats what i like to call him nowadays) said it'd take a few hours for the glue to stiffen up a bit so i left the car there for the rest of the day.

LOVELY EVENING

Right then, with work finished for the day and the V-spec II badge dried enough, it was time to pull the car out of the garage. Went off to a nearby Parking area to send some photos of the (rather small change) end result to MACKAY

Told him that i'd get going home now, but then the craving got to me. I was yet to actually feel this car through some bends and this is a one-time chance, so i called Mack up. And straight asked him "BRO CAN I TAKE YOUR CAR THROUGH A BACKROAD ON THE WAY HOME PLS THANKS"
He said "UHHHHHHHHHH YEAH SURE. Just dont rev it over 6k or you are in trouble young man". i had that same thought in my head lmao. But yes, smth is better than nothing and underr 6000 RPM should be enough to feel how the car moves through bends. Hell i was set to not even use full throttle (and i didnt)

With the sun now setting, and giving off the reddish hue a clear-day sunset often gives, i turned off the main-roads that were now filling up with people returning from work, and onto a nearby backroad i knew about. Its not the most bendy-bendy, nor is it just straight and boring. And with the increasing amount of highway space and whatnot, it was rather unused as it was almost always a long-cut. But hey, that doesnt turn the aspiring petrolhead off does it XD

This being an almost hairpin turn, third gear at 75kph wouldnt suffice. So, brake, Drop to 2nd, CHUCK 'ER IN. and WEW i could already tell what the fuss behind this particular chassis has always been about. it doesnt feel exactly nimble, not even as nimble as my E46 does. but it felt sort of "at-home" to me. And dont get me wrong on that, it may not be as nimble as my E46, but it felt just as fast, actually maybe even faster with the power going through all the wheels! in no time, i was lost from judging how the car handled the course, to actually feeling the car. turn after turn went by, and i continued to smile like a kid with each of them.

Going back to my phrase there, "at-home", what i meant is just how planted and firm it feels through the turns. Now i cant tell if its the HKS Coils doing that, or even a combination of said coilovers and the Toyo R888 tires. but regardless. and keep in mind, im experiencing all this under 6000 RPM and at 75% throttle tops! thats also another thing about those sequential twin turbos. power all throughout the rev range!

With the course now coming to an end, i quickly got myself back to judging how the car felt. and well, WHAT AN ABSOLUTE JOY IT WAS! i sort of gave the steering wheel two happy taps like Jeremy Clarkson often does and flashed yet another smile. aaaaand conclusion? Well it showed me how wrong some people are when they look at one aspect of a car. how? well see like i said, it didnt feel very nimble. the BNR33 IS dubbed a boat and in terms of weight the BNR34 isnt far off. but still, did that contribute to a bad driving experience? HELL NO IT DIDNT!

With the road now straightening back off before merging into the crowded city lanes, i slowed down gradually and cruised my way back to Mackays place.

Think its safe to say, I WANT ONE. QUITE BAD NOW. (might start saving up for one??!)

And here we are. Safe and sound at home. in just the same condition i took it, but now with cleaner headlights, a new badge, and Omori-certified authenticity.

First thing MACKAY asked as i pulled it in, "how'd you like it boye?" i just said that in short it was BRILLIANT. We had a laugh about it too. Parked in one side of the shop and Mac then proceeded to examine the lights and the new badge.

It was a usual pretty long day at work and i got pretty tired. So i then told Mac that i'd get going. Shook hands, Bro-hugged, Reversed the M3 out of the garage, and off i went home.

Speaking of the M3, Mac said he had his fair share of fun with it, but i'd rather not spoil anything rn XD. Keep your eyes on his thread for the coverage!

NOW, LETS JUMP BACK TO PROGRESS ON MY CARS...

Starting off with the "beater" Audi A5, from which i already removed a lot of the "beater" characteristic. first things first, OH Y'ALL MUST LIKE SOME BLASPHEMY AYE?

Yes, those are authentic Nismo LMGT1's. R18 size. On an Audi. Yes. Ja. Yap. Hai.

Came across a good deal from Japonic a week or two back, these wheels were on his (now wrecked, F) R33 GTST, and he was selling them for 1800 V$ with tires! too good of a deal to pass so i copped em and had them shipped over. wasnt really a fan of the old SSR's on the car. CAN SAY, THIS LOOKS SUBSTANTIALLY BETTER imo!

Will agree they do look just a tad small, but yes these are, for now, temporary. Unless they grow on me too good. Sometime down the line i may switch to R19 BBS's of some sort but we'll see!

As for that contraption you see below the bumper there, yeah remember how i said i had a new exhaust on the garage for it? this is it!

What you're looking it is an AWE Tuning track edition exhaust, slightly modified now with the central Muffler now cut off. So, apart from the still restrictive downpipe, the exhaust now only has one reasonator on each side. AND NO GODDAMN LEAKS!

The sound quality showed a DAY AND NIGHT difference! i havent gotten to filming a clip of the exhaust myself, but heres one from ol' reliable YouTube *LINK*

That car from the YT video is more beefed up, and thats the slightly different Touring Edition exhaust, but its actually the way my car is going more or less so you can get an idea of how it sounds!

And lastly, we have some new (..used) seats! You may have seen on BigSmoke's thread that we took the old Recaro replicas off and cleaned the interior out. Well i proceeded to give the Recaros a good cleanup, before flipping them at a nearby UpGarage. what i got in exchange, also from the same UpGarage, were a set of Reclinable Bride Brix 1's in black and white!

i could've for sure gone with full bucket fixed brides/recaros/sparcos etc. but this is meant to be my most streetable car. So yeah reclinables seemed the way to go!

...ONTO THE M3

Yes i have said ONTO THE M3! MANY MODS LOTS OF PROGRESS! yeah no, not yet XD. the current mod i have given it is a new steering wheel. Replacing the old, rather weighted stock wheel with a traditional ATC Volanti KEY!S RACING wheel!

seats should be coming up next for this car. Waiting for those to arrive!

And before i conclude, The Supra.

ALREADY TIME FOR A MAKEOVER! Well, ik what you're thinking, that was rather short-lived. But ngl the livery wasnt bad or anything, it was just missing "flavor" so to put. I looked at pics of my old (now wrecked, F x2) S14, in all its glorious Mine's phase, and it kept telling me that my Supra now was lacking quality. SOOO yeah. im taking the exterior apart more or less. Expect it to return in a whole new look!

That'll be it for now. As always, thank you for stopping by~!

The past weeks have rather surprisingly seen quite a lot of progress on my cars. All of them have one change or two done, and now here i am to update y'all with it!

TO START OFF, THE AUDI A5

On my last update i left it off with a new exhaust and wheels, and a missing rear diffuser. Well now my new OEM style, twin exit rear diffuser had arrived and i put it on there using the same bolts that holstered the old, single exit one.

except if you look closer, the hood is opened. You may ask why the hood is open for a diffuser install. and well thats where it gets interesting. The diffuser isnt the ONLY part new part that this car has recently gotten. We're now looking at a new APR Carbonio intake kit, as well as, finally, a CHIEF component in tuning these sorts of cars, an APR Stage 2 ECU Chip kit. Which essentially utilises the bolt-ons to their maximum, aside from actually removing the engines production-bottlenecks. following a retune, with the boltons and that chip im already looking at somewhere over 280hp. How much did it actually make? more on that a bit later!

Following the 1 and a half hour long installation of the ECU chip, and a 20min installation of the new intake and diffuser, i gave the car a full Oil change (Mobil1 5W40 synthetic) and Coolant change which was also overdue. And then off i was to get it retuned!

Right then. Arrived, loaded up, strapped down, time for below-4500rpm base runs!

After the base runs were noted and the tuners computer had all the required info, it was time for the actual retune. Was expecting it to be quite a tricky one for the tuner, Daijiro-san. A japanese man who you'd think mostly tunes japanese cars. But apparently he's tuned a handful of Mk6 and Mk7 VW Golfs as well around here. and some BMW's too! The A5 containing basically the same powerplant as the Golfs, he knew his way around it

I was a bit on-the-edge when he was retuning the car, hoping i hadn't messed up anywhere on the ECU chip installation, even though i had triple-checked the installation manuals during the process. In the end, turned it i didnt mess up, fortunately

As Daijiro-san did continued doing his magic, the cars sound and presence was starting to change dramatically! It now had a deeper, more aggressive sound coming out of that 2.0T, as well as an essential in these cars, POPS AND BANGS! its basically a symphony at deceleration. Oh and not to mention the occasional small flames!

Alright then, after almost an hour of tinkering around, the final result was a pretty healthy

305hp, 347 lb-ft!

Almost 25hp more than i had expected, and ofc that LOVELY torque number! ngl, very pleased with the results! but apparently thats not even all yet. Dai-san said the tune is currently a bit bottlenecked, by the Stock intercooler. He's tuned it to accomodate an aftermarket FMIC, which would further boost the power to an estimated 320hp! W E W

With that all done, Dai-san warned me to not get on it too hard too many times unless i want to blow the stock intercooler up in the middle of the road, but well one or two redlines wouldnt harm (FMIC should be coming for this car next). I then thanked him for his services another time, paid him what was due, and set off for WestKyo.

Upon getting on the freeway, it was basically my DUTY to check out how the car felt upon full throttle now. AND BOY OH BOY IS IT GOOD
minus the drivetrain loss, we got about 285ish HP going through all 4 wheels of a mid-1400 kg Audi. It was very zippy and produced all the right noises! the stock turbo is a rather small quick spooling one too so it wasnt all high end power. Upon decel, pops and bangs! upon shifting, subtle DSG coughs! (or DSG farts as the internet calls it). its an all around lovely daily driver now, safe to say!

...NOW ONTO MIKA, MY E46 M3!

this ol' girl has had a bit of an unfortunate incident a few weeks ago, as you may have seen on BigSmokes thread. (if not, WHAT EVEN ARE U DOING HERE RN SMH). If you recall, a Sake-influenced teen on a Prius stormed towards us on the wrong side of the road. while Smoke and AJ could barely maneuver away, i was lucky, yet not-lucky. I DID maneuver away. But just not early enough.

As both Smoke and AJ turned away, the Prius drivers slowed-down brain finally noticed he was on the wrong side. He moved sharply to the right, and so did i. And heres where my small portion of good luck came in, the Prius' rear left door brushed my front bumper as we both turned opposite. He didnt stop, in fact he floored it and disappeared before we could get a hold of him, while i drove straight up a footpath which wasnt crowded at that hour. it being slightly higher than my car is, the front splitter got ripped off. And the pressure from the adhesive caused the whole front bumper to tilt upwards a bit. wheres my luck in here you ask? well this could've ended much, MUCH worse if the Prius driver didnt notice me. (could've even resulted in my M3 getting totalled. YIKES)

After getting my breath back from the incident that just went down, i looked at the car properly to realize its not THAT bad damage either. in fact its only just the whole front bumper assembly that needs to be replaced (or even just repainted) and im set. I was initially on the verge of ETERNAL DEPRESSION, but after looking clearly, its all good thankfully. i took the splitter off, put it in the back seats, and drove back home.

A few days later, i decided since the car needs a new bumper now, i might as well use this for a FULL overhaul of the car which is quite over-due now. What i mean is, finally turning it to a track toy that i initially bought the car for. starting with the front bumper i slowly began to take the car apart.

FAST FORWARD TO PRESENT DAY,

This is how she sits at the moment!

A bit of weird sight but yes, its now stting on R16 STEELIES that came with a certain other car (you'll see what in a bit OuO). Where'd the RG2's go? well they're currently off for a tire change. for the purpose its being built, the current Potenza's on the RG2's wouldnt have sufficed. Maybe i'll use Toyo R888's? Maybe ADVAN AD08's? we'll see!

aside from that the stock seats are also out of the car, to ofc make room for smth more track oriented.

if you browse your eyes through this photo, you'll notice the exhaust is missing. Well im on the process of fabbing up my own custom exhaust setup for this car too! Stock one was a bit too quiet apart from the obvious bottlenecks. And then theres smth you cant see that deems the car completely undrivable as of now, the Fuel tank is currently off the car too. Why is that? well im also gonna fab up some easy-to-make rear subframe reinforcement pieces. To counter the common faulty rear subframe issues that plague the whole E46 lineup.

The car will also need coilovers and maybe a new optional big brake kit. Gonna have to brainstorm a bit about what route to go for those but yeah, for now, this is how she sits! gradually getting converted to a track racer!

HMMMMM WHERE'D THE STEELIES COME FROM?

Remember on my last update a few weeks ago, where i showed a certain Calypso Red BMW E36 325i that MACKAY was building for one of his friends?

WELL GUESS WHAT, THAT "FRIEND" IS ME!

Say hello to my new personal Drift car! the chassis often nicknamed the German S13 in the Euro drift scene, now in Japan! like i already said, its an E36 325i, Calypso Red. Exterior mods being M3 mirrors and an M3 wing.

Under the hood its powered by a 2.5 liter i6 M50B25 engine. Originally auto, now converted to a ZF 5speed manual, bone-stock otherwise with just shy of 190hp.

interior wise everything is still pretty much stock and in average condtion apart from an M3 steering wheel.

You may ask, if the engine is stock and so is the interior, what did MACKAY even do to the car? well his work lies in the suspension! the car currently sits on 17" Volk TE37's that i traded with AJ like a month or two ago. came with some 225 kumho's all around. they were collecting dust for all this time and i finally found good use for them!
As for said MACKAYS work, the car has fully redone by-hand knuckles and tie rods up front. To give more than enough angle to toss the thing around Ebisu nishi for instance. It also got a welded 3.91 rear differential. im basically looking at a coilover install, engine boltons and im set to slide it about with huge smiles on my face. Hell i could probably take it to an event RIGHT NOW and have some pure grass roots fun, but its just the body roll from the stock springs would be a bit on the bad side xD

The price i paid? a very modest V$4500 for this grass roots drift package! Ngl thanks for hooking me up Mac!

....AAAAAAND ANOTHER ONE

As you may have seen on AJ's thread (if not, again, WHAT R U DOIN HERE FAM), a few weeks ago the guy got given a MAD deal of not one, but TWO EU-spec Nissan 200SX's by Bosnian resident, and our friend Ben (Phonexius) for only like 4500$. One was the legit build, which came with a CA18DET (albeit off the car but ready to go in), and the other one which was used a parts donor for said legit build. Since AJ wouldnt rly need the parts donor, i decided i'd claim it!

Here we are then! 1990 Nissan 200SX rolling shell. LHD, pretty busted paint (swirls everywhere), mostly missing front, mostly missing interior, cut rear quarters, mostly missing rear end.

Looking at it i can already tell this will be a ROLLERCOASTER of a build just because of how blank it is rn. condition wise, beforehand when the car arrived it was dirty, like VERY dirty. Dirtier than AJ's one was. but well i took my time to give it a full wash before presenting it to y'all. not like it made a big difference cuz it still looks like a POS xD it has some small patches of rust by where the rear subframe is. but apart from that its pretty much rust free. the small patches are fully repairable. the car is still pretty much one color apart from the mismatched fender there, which also has two missing bolts, hence the bent fitment.

It came on stock zenki 4lug teardrops that are in pretty shitty condition as well. and stock suspension with stock brakes. both of which are probably also busted rn.

Inside, like i said, a LOT is missing. The front and rear seats, stock carpeting, multimedia unit, doorcars are all gone. apart from that, it still has the roof liner, the side panels of the rear seats, and the trunk carpeting.

Instead of the front passenger seat there, it has a stock sharknose front bumper thats all cracked and mangled xD

And ofc lastly we have the empty engine bay. A LOT of thinking has gone into what i want sitting in here, hurling the car around whatever its moving though. But finally i think i have made up my mind. You'll see it all in good time!

AND NOW LASTLY, WE HAVE MY CROWN JEWEL. THE JZA70.

As i have told the previous iteration which lasted like a week grew out of me pretty quickly. the whole thing just didnt flow right. Hence i decided i would switch it up PRONTO in an attempt to make the looks match the grunt.

Did i pass at that? did i fail? you let me know!

Here we are bois!

Just like the 200SX's engine choice, this cars looks occupied a LOT of my mind lately. i got carried away at work quite a few times just thinking what sort of look i want on it, what sort of livery would fit it best, what bodykit is the way to go, and so on. In the end, THIS is what it came down to. Replacing the old white wrap with a simple, yet aggressive Grey, and ofc the heap of body mods it now has.

Starting off with the rear end, where ive decided to be a bit of a madman, i cut the dual tip off of the straight pipe exhaust, and cut a hole on the rear bumper to route the exhaust through it instead. it took a lot of work and it was quite complicated but in the end i managed to barely work it out! then i cut another hole in the middle for a functional tow hook just in case, and lastly, to top it off, a fully functional metal diffuser. been working on designing this diffuser for quite a long while now and it finally came to fruition! the rear end now looks like a full on racecar, while the rest of the body still has hints of street-car on it. Now ik the rear stock bumper doesnt exactly line up well with the bodykit otherwise, but its a sacrifice i willed to make for the functional diffuser xD

Oh and ofc the old Regulus wing is off the car already, and it currently rocks a custom GT-wing that took a lot of sourcing to find.

and now to the rest of the body, which also rocks parts that took a lot of sourcing, it has an old-style BOMEX front bumper, and Kaminari sideskirts now. i also got some stock Spec-G tiny overfenders to compliment the wheel fitment a bit more. (speaking of the wheels, the tyres are now switched to Toyo R888's. the old tyre setup was sold at an UpGarage!). And we have a new stock-style Carbon fiber hood with race hoodpins on it, sourced from the UpGarage where i sold my old tires.

And the last new mod for new is actually one for the interior. A MOMO Trek steering wheel. which reminds me that the car needs gauges and other interior equipment like ASAP too. Gotta mount up the PowerFC controller as well damn. but yeah, all in good time hopefully

After the installation of the gauges, i can finally take the car to a dyno for a power number (which is also long overdue at this point smh)I might also end up adding some small part manufacturer stickers here and then on the body. We'll see!

I think that wraps up todays update. As always, thank you very much for stopping by! enjoy this photobomb of the Supra's current iteration!

From the title you can probably already guess what im starting this weeks update off with. Past Wednesday after work i wasnt feeling as tired as normal. Maybe its because of that strong cup of coffee that Eiichi-kun (one of my well-acquainted Nismo mechanics) had offered me at 7p.m. but whatever the reason, i decided to make do of the energy. Called up Daijiro-san again for a chilly evening Dyno appointment. Unfortunately his shop was rather packed that day so the only way would have to be going over at about 10:30 p.m., and he'd stay a bit over time for me. Welp, since its an overdue matter, i decided to take the chance nonetheless.

Fired and warmed the Supra up once again for the week. To go fetch some concrete evidence of just how much thrust she's putting out.

After a 20 minute lovely drive with whirlwinds of turbo sounds and cool near-midnight wind in my head, i arrived at Dai-san's place.
Was a bit worried the car wouldnt clear the ramp to the dyno and i'd have to take the bumper off and shit, but it turns out it cleared it, by just a hair.

Right then, locked and loaded, computer connected to the PowerFC ECU for monitoring, hood popped.

LES GO

In a matter of seconds as Dai-san began to get on the throttle, the rather LOUD yet beautiful sounds of the 1JZ VVTi and the Greddy T78 turbo filled the whole shop, and maybe some of the outside neighborhood too. And its not just, this car likes to shoot quite some flames on decel and those create QUITE SOME SOUND!

AND NOW, THE NUMBERS. cue drumroll.......

621HP, 607 lb-ft !

dunno bout you, but for me thats already MORE THAN ENOUGH! the goal with the build being somewhere around 550hp, im very VERY happy with this power figure (and keep in mind its still on stock pistons!) Marc has done a splendid job on the ECU tune. Gotta treat the mans with some food xD

Most of the 621Hp, or loss-calculated 530WHP through the rear wheels, kick in at above like 4000RPM, with the Rev limit being set at 7300. The spool up time is a bit long as you'd expect with a build like this, but when the turbo does spool up, the KICK IS INSANE!

....ONTO THE EARLY DEPARTURE OF THE AUDI

On my last update i mentioned this car now awaits an Aftermarket FMIC. Well i finally got delivery of a kit and secured it on in 30mins. The kit in question is an Airtec full FMIC bolt-on kit, which replaces the stock one with a traditional higher flowing aluminium FMIC.

And now it comes to explaining that header. If you're not already familiar with it, AJ (RocketBunnyS13) recently sold his daily driver, a 2018 Honda Civic FC1, and there was nothing yet to fill that gap on his collection of cars. And another fact was, he's more of an Audi-loving and knowing guy than i am. And on my side, while the A5 was a GREAT car for daily usage, i kinda had the craving for something spicier, more raw again. Cuz in the end, the daily driver is the car i'll interact with the most throughout the days. So over dinner one day, we came to middle grounds and i offered AJ to buy my car. At first he resisted, but in the end when i explained my sudden craving, he agreed to take the car happily, being the Audi-head that he is. We agreed upon a price of V$ 12,000 due to all the restoration work and mods that has gone into the car. The only thing i retained ownership of was the whole set of the Nismo LMGT1's, which i'd like to utilise on the 200SX in the future. later on i put the car back on the SSR Type-C's and just like that yet another of my cars goes to AJ!

Goodbye then, you've been a great car to drive for the past month and a half.

I'M ALREADY CHASER

(dead asf meme but ok)

Ever just come across a deal thats way too good to pass, regardless of what happens after you make the purchase? yeah, this is one of those cases.

Say hello to the new show-car build, a member of a chassis that i ABSOLUTELY ADORE!
A 1998 Toyota Chaser JZX100 Tourer S!

Starting off with the technical stuff, this is a Tourer S, i.e. automatic, 1JZ-GE powered. Bone-effin-stock. and this one doesnt have the optional aero kit as well. but apart from the engine and transmission, and said aero kit, AFAIK everything on this car is the same as you'd get on the much more sought-after Tourer V models (1JZ-GTE M/T ones)

i already have a handful of builds going on, so why did i buy this car you may ask. Well, like i already said, i got a MAD deal for it in this condition and i simply COULD NOT turn it down. here's the original ad-

YES, THAT IS AN ACTUAL VERIFIED ONLY 37,XXX KILOMETRES. (or 22,XXX miles), for a price of JUST V$2690!

How on earth is it going for that price then? well simple answer, it was owned by an old man since brand new and apparently he didnt have anyone to pass the car forward to, nor did he have use of selling it at about double the price. So here it was, in absolute pristine condition, going for a STEAL of a price, and here i was, lucky enough to scoop it!

The interior is as i said, PRISTINE. Basically everything works and theres sign of basic wear and tear only bc of the cars age.

Exterior wise the paint was in average condition. theres not many swirls here and there and a wash and polish should bring it up back to brand new condition! (that is if i dont wrap/respray it. We'll see xD)

Plans for the car? Well im for sure gonna do a full Tourer V drivetrain swap. 1JZ-GTE, R154, all of it. And then maybe i'll try to achieve a good stance along with overall good looks, for a simple street cruiser that i can take to meets every now and then. Oh and if the E36 is down, i can take it drifting too! But yes, i absolutely LOVE the Toyota X-chassis in general and probably would've gotten one in the future even if this deal didnt exist xD
And also now that the A5 is sold, i can daily drive it for a few days to a week. After that, maybe i'll cover it up and park it for a while to concentrate on other builds? Maybe i'll set the 200SX aside to focus on this one first? idk, we shall see!

Anyways, guess that concludes todays update. As always, thank you for dropping by!

(coming soon)

.....♫ I GUESS YOU WONDER WHERE I'VE BEEN ♫

Been a while again. a week more than 2 months actually. Well safe to say, life has been busier than ever! A. we got work routine tightening up, B. shenanigans with friendos, and C. ofc car progress. Last 2 months have indeed been quite stressful (but yet very fun) to say the least! But hey, here i am as i finally managed to crank an update out. Lets jump in shall we

SUPRA!

(Circa late-march, 2019)

Exterior wise, it was and still is the same! Aside from the fact that i finally put the number plate back on the trunk

The main changes for this car were small and subtle, yet VERY important to keep it healthy. Interior equipperinos!

Not much to see. We got a Defi gauge set including Boost, Oil pressure and Temperature. just the essentials! I wasnt looking to clog my whole dash with gauges that i wouldnt need with the power level im at they did require a bit of work to fit snug to the dash but, i got it done no problem!
Ive also hooked up the PowerFC controller module. Essentially the wiring goes through that small storage cubby, and the unit itself mounts onto an AC vent. And lastly, this ones probably more for aesthetics but, a Defi BF external Tachometer. Mounted it right behind the wheel where my view point would see the the actual physical rev counter. (dw its not interfering with any of the steering, i made sure of that)

Well that concludes the Supras new stuff. it ran and still runs as healthy as can be! did some "decent" speeds on a Shuto run back in early april, which u may have read about in Franklin's thread. (if not, u're MISSING OUT GO READ IT)

right, moving on

Mika, the E46 M3!

BOY OH BOY DID WE HAVE A VAST CHANGE IN PLANS FOR THIS CAR! back when i finished its "tune-up" a few weeks ago, i drove it over to my favorite Ramen joint in this side of Tokyo for some breakfast. Without further ado, lads and ladettes, MAY I PRESENT

!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah well, i did a BIG OOF and went MAXIMUM STYLE for this thing. Tbh i just enjoyed street driving this car all throughout my ownership of it. Last time u saw this car was when i began to disassemble it. The main tasks at hand were welding rear subframe reinforcement pieces on, and making a sort of custom exhaust setup by myself! both of which i did accomplish, as if you look closer on the exhaust, its got some universal square-tips on there. The full system is mostly a straight pipe but with a decent reasonator on there, so its not raspy. The result surely was VERY SATISFYING! The sound has much more character now and not to mention, free-er flowing for EPIC POWAR (well not a lot of POWAR but ok)

PARTS CHECK!

After the little oopsie we had with a drunk Prius driver a few months ago, i decided to make the move for a CSL front end along with the stock carbon lower lips

It currently sits on a set of 326Power Chakuriki coilovers. seen a few people around the community running these and to say the least, it seems pretty style-oriented (good performer nonetheless though). So yeah, i decided to give them a shot for the first time. Managed to find a full set from a local SuperAutobacs for 1800 V$! even though its basically slammed, the ride isnt THAT harsh. theres some scraping here and there depending on pavement tho for that subtle camber to complete the look, it now has IRP Camber-caster plates up front and IRP adjustable rear control arms too!

Wheels as you can see are R18" Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R wheels, out of AJ (RocketBunnyS13)'s S15 Spec R! Traded my old Advan RG2's for this setup. We plastidipped them to this shade of white at the kami-sama HQ too! Its wrapped around a set of average Toyo Proxes tires with a mild stretch

As for the rear end, you may have already noticed the full clear taillights! Those just took a bit of R&D and some labour in the garage to get the lenses clear. Aaaand down by the exhaust, to match the front lower lips, we have a CSL style carbon rear diffuser

Ive also gone ahead and debadged the hood, and then added some functional race hood pins

Inside, ive switched the comfy, But equally bulky stock seats out for a pair of black Recaro pole positions. They hold u down nice and tight and also look good!

And lastly, if im not missing anything else, the color change is only a wrap done by the VStanced garage guys! same people who wrapped my A70 too. The color is a sort of middle ground between OEM E46 silver grey metallic, and titanium silver metallic. not as deep as the former, not as light as the latter. And ofc if i get tired of it, the Phoenix Yellow metallic will be right under!

NEW ACQUISITION

(circa mid-March, 2019)

Soooo, this is a car ive only posted a teaser of before my sudden disappearance there. But ive ofc been driving it around every now and then and some photos have piled up!

Say hello to my new (to me) 1997 Mazda RX7 Type RS!

Right so, 1997 FD3S. Blaze Red color, 122376 kilometres on the clock, Type RS trim level, "276" Horsepower sequential twin-turbocharged 13B-REW under the hood, and pretty much stock aside from the minor aesthetics. well maintained 1-owner car too!

Said minor aesthetics are a set of Spirit R wheels (genuine ones, dunno where the prev owner sourced a set of those from ngl), and a 1998 kouki model rear wing

Ive always held these cars from 90's Mazda very near and dear to my heart. The high revving, smooth-as-cream rotary, the refined handling, the looks, EVERYTHING! It all added up to what is no short of a JDM tuner-car era ICON. in fact ive wanted one quite badly ever since i was a kid. ive literally been collecting more and more knowledge about the 13B-REW ever since i moved to Japan, and rotaries in general to one day be able to experience one myself. And now, i finally deemed myself worthy, and the bread has been GOTTEN

The inside is quite frankly as good as the outside. All stock, only basic expected wear-and-tear. Nothing to be worried about

Price i paid? the equivalent of V$ 14,500! Pretty fair deal for this model year and trim level to say the least!

oh but theres more

Yeah chiefs the Spirit R wheels werent exactly cutting it for me. They aren't very common and are in good shape so ive stored then in one corner of the garage. Switched em out for 18" Advan TC3 in chrome silver!

super SUPER pumped to finally own an FD3S tp be very honest! even with stock suspension all around it has not disappointed so far AT ALL! (coilovers next mod for this car) everytime i rev it up to redline i get a sweet reminder of what makes these cars special. may get a bitter reminder about why people call rotaries unreliable too tho haha OOF
Anyway, lets not foreshadow saddening things like that. ONLY GOOD HOPES AND GOOD TIMES

Right, that concludes getting you up to date with whats going on with my cars (other cars have gotten some progress too, leaving that for next update!) Now, moving on to

AMERICAAAA, F*CK YEA

As you may have already seen on other threads (Lagano, Soju, Phonexius, BigSmoke, RBS13, Macaron), i took two weeks off of Nismo for a little chill vacation to Oklahoma, US of A with the bois!

And what better (and more shocking) way to start the trip off than what Phonexius and Lagano sneakily did

Right so you probably already know what happened. i was allowed to take Ben's R33 GTR for a spin, (which btw was a BLAST to drive) and by the time i arrived back to the parking lot i set off from, with Lagano riding passenger, Ben had arrived on this Silver BMW E92 335i. Let me sorta explain the story in more detail here

prior to setting off for USA, i had a chat with Ben (Phonexius) about what car im gonna use there. And at the time i planned to lease a BMW 335i. Good power from the TT i6, manual option available, more than enough comfort, good interior features, etc. etc. not to mention i just wanted to taste one of these for a long, long while. AAAANYWAYS, he only said alright i'll keep my eyes out to find a good lease deal for you. MY ASS DIDNT EXPECT GETTNG THE WHOLE CAR AS A GIFT FOR MY BIRTHDAY, AT ALL

back to what happened on the spot. so this cars remote key fob was one of those flip-up type ones. where u push a button and the metal bit of the key flips out. when i met Ben at the parking lot with all the others, he handed me the fob and said aight enjoy the car, and "use the manual key". i asked why, but pressed the key-flip button simultaneously, and tied on to it, stuffed inside the fob, a very small piece of paper which said 'happy birthday'. I was like, "yo, nah"
Ben only smiled and said, Happy birthday man! i noticed at the same time the other guys were all beginning to smile and laugh too
i rushed and opened the door, and tied to the steering wheel was a small red happy birthday balloon.
and im like, "YO, NAAAAAAAAAH NO WAYYYY" at this point all of us are wheezing, and im puzzled asf. Lagano stepped in afterwards and said "its paid for, all cleared for export too. This is your birthday present my dude!" at that point im sorta jumping around looking at the car from all different angles with my hands to my head. And well, that was that! Been driving the car around Oklahoma streets ever since, and so far, i love every bit of it.

Lets move on to the details about the car itself shall we,

2007 BMW 335i E92, Manual, Titanium Silver metallic color, 127000 kilometres on the clock. for mods, it only has a stage 1 retune on it. Added about 30hp, taking the power level up to a healthy 330hp, torque up to 319lb-ft. other than that, all stock, quite clean~

just like the FD3S back in japan, this car too has an interior condition matching the exterior. average wear and tire, alright for a 2007 car really. has an M3 shift knob and, i THINK an M3 steering wheel too

I plan to cherish this car as much as i plan to cherish my newly purchase FD3S. One was a dream car, another has an emotional attachment tied to it. Life is epic nowadays ngl :')

....An unexpected surprise, and an attempt to give back

Following this whole incident about being gifted a 335i, i was quite overwhelmed tbh. i was BEYOND PUMPED, but at the same time, i had this urge to share the happiness where it could be shared. Then my mind veered off to Marc (Macaron_moon). I'm unsure if he stated this in his RP he's been going through some family issues for a while now. which probably is part of the reason why he's here in 'merica with us.
Few days ago at one evening i went off to AJ's bedroom on our hotel suite to discuss the matter. After some talking he fully agreed and also reminded how we didnt rly give him anything significant for his birthday a few months ago. Well a bumper and a hood, but thats it rly. So we hatched a bit of a plan

We've both noticed he has a weird interest in some american cars. May i route your attention back to the background of the first pic of my 335i

And now may i present-

CALL US MADLADS OR NOT, BUT WE DID IT WITHIN A DAY

We took turns testing everything out secretly for the next 2 days before the car was ofc, delivered to Marcs hands at a restaurant meetup!
AJ (RocketBunnyS13) will be covering that part of the story!

TECHNICAL DETAILS TIEM
its a 2013 Ford Mustang 5.0 GT S197A. has just about 50,000 miles or about 80k kilomtres. the only thing it has for mods was this set of Bronze R19" Volk Rays TE37 Sagas!

Interior is in very decent shape for this car! then again, for a 2013 model, i guess thats a given rly.

Overall, the Modular 5.0 V8 is a powerhouse of an engine. and all 3 of us agree this is the best looking modern mustang gen so far. the white color is clean too. THIS WAS PERFECTION! i'll leave AJ to describe the delivery story, and Marc to describe his own reaction xDDDDD

the price for the whole package was listed at 20,000 $. But upon showing interest and telling the prev owner our motives, he was kind enough to drop it down to 18,000$ and no less. Me and AJ split the fee by 9000$ each, and the deal was sealed!

We all love you Marc. stay strong through lifes dramas. Keep this is a token of appreciation and care!

Aaaaaaanyways, that concludes todays long ass update. apologies if its a bit all over the place (got tired as i was typing it through). And as always, thank you for stopping by!