Hey dudes, and dudets,

I've been wanting to do one of these since I got the car back in 2014 I think it was?

I know back then there was very little info on these cars when it came to drifting so this should be helpful to all the new 1st gen owners that want to go drifting.

planning to refresh the car in march after an upcoming event at musselman honda circuit, so I figured this would be a good time to start this and attempt to do a quick recap of when I first bought it to now.

once I get going on this if anyone has any feedback to make this thread more helpful please let me know



the day I got what is now known as "ruby the red rocket"

to the most recent look when the kit is fitted

 

bored at work so lets get started...

got the car in highschool, was completely stock, minus the vatozone muffler that got me all the ladies

starting off my main goal was to lower the car. back in 2014 there was NOTHING to lower the rear unless you could find some old respeed stuff. but even then they couldnt go low enough for a bad *** teenager like me.
thru lots of searching and digging thru forums/ instagram i started talking to someone that goes by @hard.runner on instagram. he helped me get a custom rear coilover ordered from a company called AVO in the uk.

avo rear coilovers


okay so now that the rear is sorted I ​​​​​​ had to figure out the front... being a broke kid in highschool..... yup, you guessed it. those front springs got hacked away luckily with the help of a friend


this is how it was after the hack job, and rear coils installed


later i changed the front a bit, trying out a technique the old datsun guys used

the idea is to cut the perch welds and clamp a split shaft collar underneath making it adjustable. seem a little sketchy, but it works great. t3 even does this with their rear coilovers



split shaft collar with t3 coilover sleeves


the next day was my first event!

definitely spun after this lol

 

after the first event i realized some of the main things the car needed,
1. a better seat, because who wouldve guessed that a 30 year seat wouldnt have much support
2. a clutch that didnt slip everytime I kicked it from an EXTREMLY leaking rear main
3. a working e-brake because I opted for e-brake entries rather than fixing the oil leak and learning clutch kick entries(EW, gross... I know)


welp surprisingly comfy metal seat: check also got a deal on the wheel from my buddy, and a killer deal on a bolt in autopower cage(that little orange tube)


obnoxious wrench inline hydro brake: check

so now the car is kinda sorta maybe starting to function how I was wanting


kinda sorta killing it

peep the missing subway handle...... cause I was so sick nasty low I scrapped it off lol

 

got some aero for the car and some wheels

160$ craigslist find


sleepy sam sleeps soundly


at some point around those times one of my friends with a fc decided he wanted to goto the darkside... a v8.... EW, GROSS, I KNOWWWWW
regardless of his poor decisions it helped me a bunch
he sold me his running s4 na 13b for like 450$ I think??? imagine that these days.
did I mention it was RUNNING!


the 450$ 13b THAT RUNS


DID I MENTION IT RUNS!!! and I ended up selling the acc. for 160 I think. 300$ 13b? sounds good to me

 

Engine didnt go in till about 6 months later.
in the mean time i was just driving as much as i could, not much with the car changed just lots of seat time!
I cant get any of the old videos so if you wanted to see those youd have to go and stalk my insta :/

 

So since i have nothing else from around that time except random street pictures lets skip ahead about 6 months!

so it was just about exactly a year that i was driving at the track with the 12a.
February of 2016- February of 2017. Probably 7-8 events? Something like that.

in that time period i was just trying to save for all little bits and pieces for the swap and make sure i had everything sorted out, all while trying to kill the 12a

with no luck killing the engine, the poor 12a was pulled and sold for 120$ i think… again imagine that nowadays lol




Out she goes with help from my brother and moral support from josh



I opted to go the holley route, despite what everyone said due to cost, and availability of parts and rebuild kits



The engine bay wasnt perfect but it was loads better than before(like inch thick grime everywhere)

also added an fc oil cooler I had laying around

 

I should add that at this time the "mod list" is as follows
-stock 12a
-stripped nikki carb
-Racingbeat header
-Racingbeat powerpulse air cleaner(the white one... I think thats what its called)
-stock gsl lsd
-Avo rear coilovers 150LB spring (a bit to soft)
-T3 front coilover sleeves 350lb spring
-Kirkey seat w/ homemade bracket
-custom inline hydro e-brake
-Autopower roll cage (just the main hoop, im too tall for the roof bars)
-the worlds crustiest probably 40 yr old Simpson harnesses

everything stayed the same but then the 13b was swapped in

-s4 N/A 13B
-Racingbeat holley intake manifold
-Holley 650 doublepumper
-Racingbeat header to a cherry bomb.... yup that was my exhaust for about a year after the swap.... very loud
-AEM wideband gauge
-FC oil cooler

-also got the diff welded at some point after the 13b swap... thanks again Donnie!
the lsd was just getting to inconsistent

and dont listen to anyone that tells you the 12a doesn't have enough power. it has more than enough to kick these little cars sideways
mind you there is still no angle modifications. the car from factory has PLENTY of angle to get around track, and throw down from factory!
learn to drift the car with stock angle first... PLEEEEEEASE! you will be such a better driver knowing how to drive with shallower angle. and once you can link the track consistently, go get some angle



sorry again dont have much photos from back then


good friend doms 240, youll see more of his car later in this thread

 

did some more driving at some point had to have been around September 2017 think it was my first time out at musselman honda circuit





about a 200 mile round trip this thing did plus drifting with no issues!...... unless you count the electrical meltdown about 40 miles from home from the previous owners wiring :/ probably shouldve fixed that lol
anyways made it home completely running on battery safe and sound

 

got some new goodies for the car to make it a little more comfy

super expired sparco seat(thanks again for the killer deal corbin!) 160$, w/t3 side mount bracket. 9k racing shift **** thanks to josh for his donation. and a welded in door bar! the car is now safe for tandems!


also incase youre wondering the car used to run pretty hot (reason for no hood) due to that fact I had a short style ebay radiator, with no shrouds and 2 Chinese electric fans.
eventually I went with the tall style radiator and a ford taurus fan! Overheating issues BE GONE!

 

so about a month or so later I finally ordered up some T3 adjustable lower control arms.
these allowed me to extend the lower control arm outward, they also have no steering stops so now with the proper clearance and geometry while the wheels are turned, this allowed more angle. (idk someone else can explain how that works better)



total pita but definitely worth all the rusted bolts


Ruby got her first alignment after 3 years. LOL the wheels used to literally be like \ /. at 5 degrees negative camber


went to a meet, got some pics


oh my nut


oHHHHH my nuttttttttttt


ohhHHH mYYYYYYY FUHHHHHHHHH


and did some drifty tings

 

so this was around December 2017 I got bored, decided to strip all the sound deadening all the way up to the front carpet section and paint


much better! still dont know why i didnt paint the doors

 

so for a very long time I dreamed of the car being yellow. it was finally beginning to happen.
I like to try my hand at everything on the car if i have the capabilities. I didnt have my own garage or house to tape up entirely to make a paint booth, or the money to get the car professionally painted
main thing being I wanted to be a part of the process. so I decided I was going to wrap the car! ew, gross, I know lol.
I started watching a TON of youtube videos on it until I was finally ready and pulled the trigger on some 3M yellow wrap
the process started at the end of December of 2017

first off started with a quick wash using dish soap to get all the grease off and not leave any residue behind, then followed up with wiping all the edges down with acetone(probably not the right chemical but it worked)


stripping and cleaning the car


slowly but surely


starting to see the picture after almost giving up a few times


ALOMST DONE


TA-DAAAAAAAA

took about a month todo. going panel by panel on my days off was very pleased with the results. not perfect by any means but good enough for me

switched to a SA rear bumper aswell

then we went to go show off the new color

 

there was probably some driving between these post but i dont have the pictures:/

but ruby got some new shoes!

dont mind the **** sticker... or do lol

 

so the cars pretty much caught up exterior wise! now were in march 2018! or at least close too that time.
at some point I got some new(used) gforce harnesses for both seats, and installed the T3 panhard bar to eliminate the watts link



ssr mk2s with aero

all cleaned up

and here we go finally good tandems of me and dom and his 1jz 240sx

and me struggling to keep up with my 185s

 

i think everyones always a little intimidated by wiring, but thats what always made me interested in it.
so around my birthday may 2018 I decided if I want this motor to last I should probably get a rev limiter put on it.

I dont have much info on the install but I used 2 msd 6al boxes with a direct fire wasted spark system for leading

at the same time i started changing up the dash a bit( i am by no means a body guy, and yes thats about 5lbs of bondo lol. planning on making a fiberglass mold of it as a replacement.

so pretty much when I started doing the msd install I was tired of looking at the mess of wires from unused systems, to previous owners hack job repairs or installs. and decided after it was running to pull it back apart and "simplify" the factory harness.

decided it wasnt nice enough and spent the next few months learning how to rewire the entire car. go figure I chose to do this in the middle of AZ summer in 120* weather.... 100% do not recommend


took a little break from the wiring and made some rear spats with plans to smooth them out and make a final mold of.. still havent got around to it.. again hopefully during the refresh

 

finished up the wiring and headed to tuscon for showdown 1 at musselman honda circuit
had a little mishap the first night due to poor routing of the new power cable to the starter. (lesson 1: always use a grommet) small fire by my feet from the wire going thru the firewall. luckily while I was in shock a good friend ran up and extinguished the fire. ( lesson 2: always have a fire extinguisher)
ran up to a local autozone picked up some 0 gauge wire and safely rerouted it, and we were back on track!
started the day with the full kit but lost the bumper at the same time the fire happened, and idk when I lost the skirts


running reverse layout


tandems with kyle in the #pos86 youll see alot more of his car later on

 

Hello fellow arizonian nice job, I like what you’re doing....

 

Thankyou! Almost caught up on it!

 

now that the cars solid we take it to our first out of state event with the crew
90's forever slide sesh
January 19, 2019

very solid event except for a random fuel issue that I solved by beating the fuel bowls on the holley (incase the floats were sticking) followed by a quick cleaning
lots and lots of driving

me and josh about 100 miles away from apple valley speedway (grange)

gettin love in the pits


more kyle

kyle performing the classic gutter run in his 86

 

fast forwarding a couple months brings us to import face off
very solid event, no issues except for my sideskirt disappearing





just a good ol mandatory gas station pic

pos garage tandems. Jeff in the pink 1jz IS300

stackedddd

 

finally got around to painting the dash and cleaning up the center console after the fire at showdown
and did some more driving at a couple events
this is around May 2019
also installed an AEM water temp gauge into the thermostat housing neck. had been relying on the factory sensor for wayyyy to long


this took way too long todo




all back together

more driving with kyle

photos from the east track event at bonderaunt

wow look it made tire smoke

matching AEM water temp gauge

 

car sounds like absolute **** still running but down on power
ended up being low compression on the rear rotor if I remember correctly.
it pretty much sits from July - August of 2019

car sits for a good while....

 

Met @hard.runner and saw his first gen at a car meet up here in WA. I'm sure it's broken many necks over the last 10-15 years lol

 

absolutely his, and his brothers cars are beautiful!

 

Only photo I was able to find of it from the show. Is his brother's the "BOSS" blue car or the "AKAI" white one? Either way I remember seeing both as well lol