New Rims!!

Dropped into C-Red last week and saw these lying around :)

RAYS SEBRING ITC-X

They've been my favourite wheels for ages - since seeing them on 200SXY next to my car at CABIN, on loan from Jash... and now here they were - finally off 200SXY and ready to snap up :)

A quick test fit to compare... and you can see that while the GT-7s were nice... side by side with the 19" Rays Sebring ITC-X there is just no comparison - these things are mad!

ITC-X UP FRONT vs GT-7 ON REAR

So I sold my GT-7s, and tee'd up Sat morning before the C-Red carpark sale to "quickly" swap them over (dam locknuts were too long so all had to be custom cut by Josh and Mark - thanks!!)

So VERY now sports big-ass 18 x 8.5 fronts and 18 x 10s up back!!... wrapped in Goodyear Eagle LS2000 235s front and 265s stretched on the rear and tucking under the guards perfectly :)

Makes the car look a whole lot fatter :P Absolutely love em!

Merry Christmas everyone! Drive safely :)

Roof on - Roof off

Dropped in to show the lads down at Autowholesale what had become of the mild Varietta they sold me six months ago :) They were kind enough to give her a wash and take some pics... and having a look at them - I realised didnt have any pics up so far of what it looks like with the roof on... I dont mind it with the roof on - but topless is definitely the best!

Some more new pics:

Woot! Picked her up today! 200hp on stock boost :)

OMFG... so bizarre the difference between 70hp a week ago and 200hp driving her home! :)

Here's the comparison dyno chart - old NA lower curve hp and torque, compared to the new curves! :P



So yeah - all good news - new clutch is yummy, engine soooo good, disco potato - holy cow even on stock boost, exhaust a real nice note... its all just spinning me out - cant believe its the same car!

Really happy with 201.3 on stock boost... 3 times more power than before lol... and torque up from 80 to 190 :) Will run it on stock boost for a bit to see how she does, before fitting up the new Greddy E-01 EBC I bought and dialling in a bit more boost that the disco potato is begging for :)

How shiny is everything!!? Big thanks to Josh and Mark and Jash for everything - I'm over the moon with how its turned out! The drive home was a blast - couldnt wipe the smile off my face the whole way :)

Couple of pics:

Shiny exhaust draws a crowd :P

Popped in on C-Red saturdee mornin to show the kids the car... and as you can see from the pic below - as soon as it was up on the hoist and the shiny new stainless exhaust was on display, cars started rolling in from everywhere for a look!! :P



Almost done now - engine dropped in, FMIC and exhaust on, just loom and few bits and pieces left early next week :)

All show and no go!?

Haha yeah the VERY's been waiting patiently for her conversion for a while now - but I got good news a couple of weeks back that C-Red had my SR20DET in the workshop!!

We all knew she was all show and no go - but we weren't quite prepared for just how "NO GO" she was!...

The guys did a pre-conversion dyno run yesterday... So take a guess - how many rwhp for an s15 SR20DE is your money on... have a guess before you click on the thumbnail of the dyno screen >>>

BAHAHA - how lame :P

Once the parts started coming off - looked like some big problems were happenning with the stock exhaust... cat crapped itself and muffler well... not muffling!

But anyway - thats all in the past - ITS HAPPENING!! The old engine is out, and my new engine is getting prepped and built :)

Good compression figures were nice to see on the new SR20DET, and the new Garrett Disco potato is bolted up, all the shiny manifold and Greddy plenum and other bits are on, the RG clutch / pressure plate bolted up, Nismo mounts fitted, and the full stainless exhaust, hi-flow cat, intercooler and K & N pod waiting on the sidelines :)

Big thanks to Josh, Mark, Roy and Jash... cant wait to see the post-conversion dyno comparison to the poor old SR20DE chart! :P

A few workshop pics - old engine out and new engine getting ready...

Best Bodykit (Street Class) - PAS Western Salon!

Well that award came from nowhere :)

PAS Western Salon was on the weekend - with SilviaWA again putting together a great club display.

And yeah - winning the trophy for "Best Bodykit - Street Class" was a spin out! But a nice surprise - given me a spur on to more mods... engine not far away!

Heres a couple of pics (thanks to Decipher!)

Pics from Autosalon!

Autosalon was a blast! First car show Id been to - so was great to check out all the cars. The VERY was on C-Red's stand, and the guys from SilviaWA had an awesome club display too... loads of nice modified SR20DETs to check out and help plan the upcoming engien conversion and mods :)

But yeah - it was so nice to pick up the VERY this week with the cosmetics pretty much done!

C-Red dropped it on some spare D2 coilovers they had which really finished the look off, and with the wheels on, DVD installed, trims fitted and dash painted - she scrubs up alright i think!

Here's some pics of the car at the show:

Kit etc should be done just in time!

Long time no update but been madly just trying to get bits and pieces for it in time.

Its the last week before Cabin, and there have been some major delays at the paintshop with no painters for a few weeks!

I've kept busy though... bought a set of 18" Rays Volk GT-7s... special order fitment from Rays specifically for S15.

Sourced a few other bits to go on the car this week... Clarion in-dash DVD, sweet custom black taillights, Topstage carbon fibre stereo surround, Hipposleek cf-look interior trims and a stub antenna.

The kit we ended up going with was a sweet Wise Sports Besiege Type R front bar - the only one outside of Japan currently! :) Then its an M-sports rear bar, and for skirts the M-sports couldnt be sourced in time so we rushed on some Origin Labs skirts temporarily (they are a poor fitment quality and required heaps of modification including the doors to be shifted slightly)... M-Sports skirts will come later in the year to finish it off properly)

Cant wait to pick it up and get it into Autosalon on C-Red's display!! - pick the overly excited car show virgin!

Here are some pics of it coming together:

Plans...

So the initial broad plans for the coming months are for:

- genuine bodykit... either Msports or Wise Besiege or a mix of both
- SR20DET conversion and all the normal FMIC and zuast etc
- Rims
- DVD headunit
- Suspension

But talking with C-Red, aim is to try and have something done to show at Cabin Autosalon on July 28-30 - not far away! However with no SR20DETs in stock, the only option in that short a timeframe is to try and get the kit done.

Also might have found some nive Volk Racing GT-7 rims for cheap :)

Impulse buying!

Now I was getting interested - they looked sweet kitted up, and had the known performance modification potential of the Silvia platform! :)

But - how long would it be before I'd be driving one??? Figured I'd have to wait and sell the Fairlady, then import one myself from Japan probably just to make it affordable... mid 2007 in all likelihood *sigh

Then it all happened in a quickfire hour visit back to Autowholesale, where we talked turkey coz Anthony and Albert were keen to get them seen on the streets and we struck an offer that I couldnt resist! But dam - still relied on selling the Fairlady - could take AGES with classics :(

Then had a light-bulb moment and remembered an old conversation Id had with Jash from C-Red about my Fairlady - when he mentioned he'd always wanted one, and asked me to keep my eyes out for a bargain... so I phoned him up there and then at the caryard on the off chance he'd be interested... and the bargain was struck! The Varietta was mine! ... and the Fairlady is now Jash's :)


So I got her home on Friday just gone!!! :)

<<< A pic of her out front, with the Sparco Racing rims Autowholesale had put on... now it is time to get planning the mods with C-Red :)

Possible project car?

So yeah - mid May 06 I noticed the Varietta for the first time, but in stock form it didnt really jump out at me - but it did tickle an interest at least.

So I jumped on the intermanet and googled away... finding out they were rare with only 1500 odd taken off the s15 production line by Autech and chopped up. They were also rare in Oz, only very newly compliable - and for both reasons it started to interest me as the unique project car choice i may have found at last!

But - yeah - that stock look - what potential was there? More googling allayed any fears I had with some nice indications of what may be possible:

Stumbling across the Varietta...

So yeah - somehow found myself today with an S15 Varietta in my driveway!

I've been been through a few cars in recent years trying to find a 'keeper' for a unique project.

My first couple of imports were reasonably unique, but people had 'done it all before' with them in Australia.

Started with a Mitsubishi RVR HyperGear, then swapped it for a Series 2 Stagea that I was going to go crazy on before several people already got in first with highly modded and kitted examples.


So then I grabbed a van for the family and picked up a sweet 1967 1/2 Datsun Fairlady Roadster, that was my pride and joy for a few months and had every intention of hanging on to, but fell in love with open top driving but couldnt take more than one of my kids at a time for a spin with me which was frustrating.

It was a great little classic - but just wasnt going to fit the bill as a project car.

So starting thinking about a new project - something new - like a V35 ... but figured on around a mid-2007 timeframe.

Popped in to see Anthony at Autowholesale in May, and noticed a hardtop convertible I'd never heard of before... something called a "Varietta".

Here is what it looked like in the caryard: