Jan 7th – And with just 3 hours sleep, I headed up to Lydden Hill very much unprepared for the whole day with little tyres & money! However had an AMAZING day, learnt a lot and the car performed near faultlessly apart from some small issues on the drive home!

Jan 8th – My girlfriend’s Dad’s 50th birthday! The big Five-Oh, so went headed to her Grandad’s place for a lush roast dinner with all the family. I snapped a photo of Sophie’s Dad whilst he was playing with his 7d

Jan 9th – Standard but tiring Monday at work, then headed to Ben’s & Adam’s in the evening to pick up a memory card I left with Ben from the drift day. I got to Ben’s before he did, so I went for a quick drive down to Southsea in the Almera and snapped a shot.

Jan 5th – pretty average day at work. We've got a new incentive scheme going on and one of the things is that we all get to go on holiday if the whole team pull together and complete a set number of targets. We've agreed on Canada, now its come down to where – Montreal or Toronto. As you can see, Fab drawing a "Forever Alone" character because it was only Billy wanted to go to Montreal. Bahah!

So, Jan 1st – Went for a walk with my girlfriend's folks. Got pretty wet, but had a good laugh.

Real happy with how its looking too – apart from the slightly too much "orange" on the front. On the hunt for some 180sx Kouki OEM bumper position lights!

I'll then take this opportunity to talk about something very different from the norm.

Chevrolet. That word to me brings thoughts of America, Taxi's and big V8's that sound like God crying. All of those things are what make a Chevy in my eyes, and its good.

However, I had the chance to write about a new Chevy that has come out – the Chevrolet Orlando. Quite a clever name, in my mind at least, since most times that I've been to America its been to the Orlando area. Really ties in quite well with the image that's in my mind at least.

Seeing photos and reading about this car changes it though, genuinely looks like a nice car and certainly a nice place to be behind the wheel. I always think what kind of car I would get if I were forced to buy a brand new car, in different circumstances – what would I buy if I needed a city car, what if I needed a 4×4, a sports car, or a seven seat car?

Its a difficult answer since (myself anyway) often overlook manufactures because of this image I have of their cars in my head. Looking at this new Chevrolet has opened my eyes a bit, and perhaps its worth not jumping to conclusions to quickly about certain car manufactures & such.

Take a look yourself – I'd certainly consider it if I were in a position in the future to buy a car of this sort.

Nice work Chevrolet, I think they're going in the right direction for the UK market, and with their cars in general. Its also nice to drive something that's very slightly unique as to not blend in with the crowd.

Perhaps I need to get back into my photography more often, not just motorsport/car related, but other stuff too

More photos over on the 272 Heroes forum & my write-up on the blog.

Unfortunately for Ryan the day ended with this s13 on the back of an RAC truck. They were good enough to get him home at least, and I think his plans are now to SR the car and get back out drifting once again in the new year.

And if you haven't already please support us with a fat Like over on Facebook

Today, at last, got a Nissan badge to attach to the front bumper. Bought this off eBay over a week ago and paid for "next day delivery". And all for a sodding Nissan badge.

I'm keeping my build thread updated fairly often over on 272 Heroes, but doing my best to update this place as much as possible with anything to do with my s13 as well  

For now I'll just leave this photo here, my s13 from the other night.

Peace. x

from 272heroes meet, last night in Portsmouth. bigger version here.

Pretty happy with how its looking & driving recently. Hoping to hit up another drift day soon, and hoping to get another pair of RPF's for drifting on.

In related news, you'll notice the badass looking road and the signature in the pic. The road is the A272, and the sig/logo is inspired by this. With the help of some of the local boys around here, we're setting up a blog/forum/club. Still "coming soon" for now, but we've got the forum online now and its picking up already.

Without further ado – www.272heroes.com – Not just Hampshire, not just Jap cars. Anything goes forum & a soon-to-be cool blog

Anyway, day started off not so great. I had some pretty big overcenter problems and more issues with the tyre hitting the fender & inner arch, at least I think that's what was going on. This meant that I had to taime down my entries quite a bit, couldn't go as balls out as I had wanted to with fear of munching my front tyres up completely. Also hitting into the corner at 50+mph, then not being able to steer out of it was putting me off quite a bit.

After lunch and being pretty pissed off with it, I got back out there and hit up some more entries. Instead of attempting anything too brutal & backwards, I went for fast 3rd-gear wands which seemed to work a bit better.

Ended up having some good fun and got a couple of speed-gun recorded speeds of around 78mph! Mark from msphotographic.co.uk got some great pics.

Pretty stoked with how good it looks on track, even with the turd rear wheels, and quite high ride-height. As of yesterday, I'm now rolling on a 215/40 profile tyre up front (was 215/45) which should give me slightly less ride-height, but also more space in the arch for the tyre & wheel. Hopefully this'll help with the issues I've been having.

And finally, to finish up, got some video's too. Outside one with thanks to my buddies Graham & Hudson

Turned out good. Need some tweaks to fitment & ride height again. Rubbing issues on the front a bit, due to wings that actually fit properly. And there's no reason why I can't drop it 1/2 inch out back, and maybe a few more mm on the front.

Now I've spent a fair bit of dollar & time on cosmetics, its time to hit up my next drift day. 1st of July, I'll be heading to the Driftworks-oraganised Extreme Entry day at Donnington Park. Cannot wait!

I still have a spot for Zenki/pre-facelift love though, after a weird fuelling issue over the past couple weeks, I sourced an unused but 2nd-hand genuine Walbro pump and fitted that, along with replacing almost all fuel lines on the car. Went out last night for the first time in a little while with the car and felt great driving it again.

Probably one of my favourite pics of my s13 to date, in fairness. I good send-off to the Zenki bumpers I think.

But even so, in my eyes, those bumpers & this look has been done time & time again. Not by any means the Kouki kit hasn't been done to death too, but its certainly a bit more rare and unique, at least over here in the UK.

For the geeks out there,

Front – 17×9 et22 + 20mm spacers (eff. et2). s14 LCA, rolled/bent fender. -3.5* camber
Rear – 17×10 et18 + 20mm spacer (eff. et-2). +30mm rear fender. -1.5* camber.

Really happy with how its sat now, and doesn't seem to affect the drivability of it so far. Just getting fed up of looking at that tired old front bumper. The Zenki/Pignose/Prefacelift days are soon over…

PS – bigger photos here.

Should be interesting…

This is beginning to change, evidently, and I finally got round to ordering & fitting a pair of USDM side markers in the front bumper. Couple of photos that I'm happy with

Looks so much better, I think! It had clear ones fitted previously, and I think the lines of the car were slightly lost before. Loads happier with it now!

Anyway, I won't go into writing about the entire day, you can just read that here via my build thread on Driftworks. So instead, here's some of his photos (albeit, slightly modified by me!)

Really pleased with them, and had a really awesome day there too. Car performed 99% flawlessly, just a couple of very minor things to get sorted and she'll be ready for another drift day, again up at Pod, later this month

Finally, for those of you who haven't seen the video's already, here's a couple in-car vids that I got with my 7d!

He also popped up some new shots of his Impreza. Gawd, I love his car.

RWD Impreza. Winning

Finally got a good shot of my s13 in the daylight, after more tweaking with fitment. Happy with the front fitment now, its less than 3mm from tyre to fender which is cool, however the rear needs a bit more work until I'm completely happy with it.

Shortly after arriving, this 4-door EF Civic arrived, sporting a roof-rack, 16" bronze Grids and a retro-standard interior. I fell in love with this pretty quickly! 

We headed off to the infamous multi-story car park where we always do, and I asked Graham, the owner of this tastefully modified R32 GTR to park up, seperated from the other cars so I could get some proper shots of it.

Quite a stunning piece of machinery if I'm honest. And it sounds absolutely incredible, I really love the sound of those straight-6 RB units, damn.

I took a few other shots yesterday too, take a browse of all of them on my Flickr link here.

Pretty happy with that. Like the little caption they've put with it too, awesome. Last year I found a couple of photos of my car on Speedhunters too. Must be doing something right, albeit I'm far from done with regards to cosmetic's…

Might have to build something similar to this one day. Silver, two-tone, Onevia, TE's. GAWD this is nice.

Anyway, I got a few good shots of the various metals there. The convoy up was interesting, albeit at 50mph through a contraflow system on the M1, but some dude I was following got a brilliant shot of my car rolling alongside a slammed Mk2 Golf

And over the past day or so, a couple more photos have been popping up over on the Stance Works Forums…

Felt the need to throw up a gang sign as my mate Hudson & Ben were bombing it past me

Happy with the fitment & stance on my car now. Might tweak a little bit more poke on the rears though, when I get time

However for now, this is how she's sitting. Need to paint the fender, I know

His car's looking better than ever, love it

Firstly got the new s14 5-stud hubs with bearings attached on the floor and had a look at how this was going to be done. As per loads of reading and advise, loosened the 4 bolts at the back which were pretty tight, and had them poking out the hub by about 5mm or so.

Followed by some hammer time, it begin to move. Hammered in an alternate motion as to push the bearings out nice and smoothly. Couple mins later, done. Really easy

Next up was to tackle my old hubs. Got the car safely in the air, hub nut off, disc off, caliper off, all arms off. Pretty easy stuff. Then 2 bolts holding on the rear LCA, followed by anti-roll bar link & finally the handbrake linkage. Removed the whole thing, then went hammertime on those 4 bolts just as before.

Again, couple mins later all done! Re-torqued the bolts, re-assembled and it was looking good! Pretty happy with the fitment out-right really, needs some work for proper flushness, but I'll get it aligned before I goto town on flush fitment.

Had some fish & chips with some mates, then set to work on the other side. And then soon into the job. SIGHHH…

Someone's gone and put the furthest front rear-LCA bolt in the wrong way round. Must have had the subframe removed at some point in the past and someone's put the arm on with subframe off car. Couldn't get the bolt out without removing the subframe, or cutting the bolt…

Instead of doing either, I went to work on doing it insitu. Bit more awkward, but managed to remove the ARB completely, lever the driveshaft out the way and cable tie it up! Then hammertime on the bolts as before. Thank god, finally it budged, and it all come out. Didn't get any pics of this, really couldn't be bothered by this point! But yeh, back on & all good!!

Wheel on the otherside, lowered it back down and drove it around the driveway! Didn't get any pics of the otherside, but here's some pics with skirts on, from my iPhone!

Quite stoked in general really. Looking better than I thought it would, and its not even that good fitment yet, nor is it even that low.

Going about 3/4 inch lower I think, and maybe 1/2 lower up front and that'll be just right. Still give me more ride height than before which will help out loads up at Santa Pod!

Got some other bits I need to fix up before I can properly drive it again. But should be all good for my next drift day up at Mallory Park on the 31st.

Adjusted rear tyre pressures down a bit and suddenly everything clicked into place Hit up the EDC track hard a good number of times and really enjoyed myself, along with learning a great deal more about high-speed transitions and elongating drifts using the wand!

Some dude there got some pics…

Albeit I dont know him or his name, and I might have played with them in Photoshop a little bit, but hey! 

What sucks though is that I forgot my damn camera mount adapter on the day, so no in-car vids at all. SUCKS. On the plus side, looking to hit up Mallory Park again later this month, rollin' on my new 17s with a new alignment setup thanks to my s14 LCA's up front.

Can't wait – and definitely more vids/pics next time too!

After much more brain power, finally decided on tyre specs and got tyres fitted to the front's. 215/45 on a 9j, so fair bit of sidewall to hopefully maintain good front-end grip!

Painted up the front knuckles and s14 LCA's ready to be fitted, and WD40'ed everything a few days before all ready to go for the big 5-stud swap over!

And so it began. Didn't really get many photos of half-way through pictures, but its fairly simple stuff really. Calliper & disc off, Unbolt LCA, Unbolt tension rod, unbolt & split tie-rod balljoint, unbolt coilover. Then re-fit in reverse order with s14 stuff, and that's pretty much it.

The only small thing I knew about which was weird was that the s14 knuckles have larger bolts holding the coilover on (the lower 2 bolts), s14 knuckles use 14mm OD bolts, and s13 use 12mm OD. You can resolve this in 2 ways, one way is to drill-out the coilover bracket to accept a 14mm bolt and use the s14 bolts, or use some kind of sleeve inserted into the knuckle to bring the OD diameter down to 12mm. I did this method, simply by cutting down a piece of tube, cutting a slit in it, and carefully pressing into the knuckle

On top of all this work, I also re-routed the wheel arch loom a fair bit and managed to tuck it up quite a bit higher in the arch. This caused some problems when re-fitting the fender itself since the loom was in the way, but some messing about resolved this, albeit the wings are slightly more flared out because of this, but doesn't look too bad.

Apart from needing a little more low and needing some spacers for better flushness, I'm pretty stoked with it. Makes the car look much more aggressive and up to date, a fresh look for 2011

Also updated my project build thread over on Driftworks. Take a read 

Anyway, went on a hunt last night to find s13's rocking with RPF's and come across a blog, 450sx.blogspot.com

This guy rules the day with his slammed Onevia, some kind of hectic engine (can't find details) and of course awesome fitted RPF1's. 

Really quite a huge fan already, love the subtle dish on them, the clean lines and the fact they're quite unique to be seen on a skid car (at least over here in the UK).

So, news when/if things happen. I'll be fitting my overfenders this weekend, along with my Japspeed baffled sump, so pics & writings of all that shortly.

Speaking of pimp rims, really dig the ol' famous Enkei RPF1's at the moment. Seriously dope wheels.

But seriously expensive wheels too, so Rota Grid's are still on the top of my list. Can't wait to get them now though, been doing lots of reading & research regarding fitments, offsets, tyre choices etc and I think I've got it pretty clear in my head now, what I want and how I'll achieve it.

There's certainly an element of "dark arts" involved getting bang on fitment, just not sure if it'll pay off yet or not. We'll see I guess

Firstly, I've moved into a new flat with my girlfriend. Moving and getting the flat all setup with services (water, heating, internet, etc) has been taking quite a lot of my spare time up! But we're getting there now, and having Internet isn't too far away now. Damn providers been messing me about some what! Other than that, couldn't be happier in the new place, its lush.

Secondly, Christmas & New Year happened. So Happy New Year and all that. If I do say-so myself, did quite a bit in 2010. My s13 has come a long way, I've done loads to it and learnt a lot about drifting, and had huge amounts of fun, among other things

Thirdly, got myself a "normal" car! SEAT Ibiza TDi. Nothing amazing, special or particularly fast, but it means I can get around on a day-to-day basis much easier, rather than jumping into the s13 all the time, and annoying the (new) neighbours by having a loud car.

Anyway, purpose of this post? s13 talk! Going to be doing some major changing to the appearance of it throughout the next couple months.

I'm pretty excited about all this, and although I really love the look, stance and baller-status my car has at the moment, times move on and some of the cosmetic changes I am making is to also improve its drivability and driftability.

So, 17" wheels are going to happen. Yes, finally getting some balls and doing what the big-boys do. Mainly doing this for 2 reasons, firstly because I can tuck the tyre/rim much more under the fenders with bigger rims whilst maintaining the low ride-height. Also running wider rims on the back to improve rear-end grip.

Overfenders on the back are also in progress. I modified my rear arches a fair bit when I got it sprayed silver, and now I don't like them. Nothing I can do about it other than to fit overfenders. No biggie I hope, and this is happening pretty soon. Having overfenders out back also means I can run wider wheels when I go 17s, and wider track width.

Finally, I'll be going for an Aero kit of some kind. Yep, finally stepping away from those stock UK pre-facelift bumpers and jumping on the bodykit bandwagon at last. Unsure of kit, but something subtle such as the Vertex kit will probably happen.

Something definatly along the lines of the Onevia below. This is Jookybanana's whip from Zilvia.net, huge fan

s13 is tucked in the garage out of the way of this though. No way in hell it would move in this weather