So, from the beginning I think I had found the CL add in the ITR master list of caRs for sale as we have on this new site. The Shell was in Dallas which is about 10 hours from me. My roommate and I loaded up his truck with a buddy's trailer and set out to go pick heR up after I sent a deposit. On the way we had some set backs but got everything taken care of.
Got heR loaded up January 5th 2014:
It was a cold drive back. Some picture in the middle of no where when we stopped for fuel:
Finally 24 hours later we were home:
She came with a bunch of junk that the seller thought was good, and ended up being completely worthless. I will skip all the details, but I tried to sell some of the junk to make some funds back:
Some pictures after the first wash:
The bay was unfortunately shaved, which I would have never done, however I was not going to let this turn down my opportunity to get a 97R which I always wanted.
Took the tail lights off to have look behind them.
And finally tucked away next to my daily.
So the interior had some carpet that was all patchy and spots were missing, so I pulled it out and threw it away. During that process I took the dash out as well and found the wiring mess left from the shaved bay stunt. Oh it was terrible.
This:
Lead to this:
This was the other side with same treatment under the tape:
I also took this time to test fit a knock off Bride with buddy club seat rails I had.
So fast forward a lot through cleaning up the wiring and removing and replacing sections as I could from a 98 Ls harness I had from my wrecked daily and I finally got somwhere.
Got a CJs tucked engine harness during the summer of 2014, and had him plumb it through a Ktuned shift cable plate.
Got the engine dropped in Octoberish 2014. 96-97 spec B18CR
Because a bunch of pictures went missing with photbucket being dumb, and old phones breaking I am going to jump forward a lot to where the car is mostly complete.
Engine finally fired up in summer of 2015 after getting everything else needed.
Ditched the whale dick for a Top Fuel piece:
Sold the OEM wheels, got some Volk TE37 15x7 +35, UKDM tails, Spoon axle back, and Moogen wang.
Felt great to actually move the car on its own power in summer of 2016. I battled the break tuck for every and literally had to end up replacing everything over the fall of 2015. After that I started collecting suspension components that consist of PIC P2 coilovers, PCI spherical front camber arms, hardrace bushing kit, hard race rear camber and tow components, and about $200 worth of new OEM bolts. Getting heR aligned literally for the first drive besides around the block of the house.
Picked up SIRG corners at some point. Cruised it to an old historical town near me.
I never leave the hatch open and the one time I did while working on the caR up on jack stands I opened the garage and the garage door caught the Moogen wang and ripped it off. So thats why in this pic and the previous the OEM wing is back on. Cruised it to my downtown area.
My first track event at my local track:
First track event started off excelent and turned into a nightmare with the caR cutting off more and more the more I drove it. Figured bad gas was in the tank, found out one cylinder was not firing so we pulled the injectors and the little caps were clogged. The tank was basically empty so I filled it up with fresh gas and just before the next track event engine started cutting out again. Decided to pull the pump and discovered the entire tank was full of rust. Like an unreal amount of rust in the tank.. Great. Bought a cheap one off ebay, it fit, fuel gauge float/sending unit did not fit so I capped that section off.
First fill up of the new tank:
New tune with clean gas now. Maxed out at 195whp but had to back it down to 173whp for my class. No clue on the Tq
Second track day, finally no issues and caR did great.
Drving home with another Moogen wang and CheckerdSports Ti exhaust:
That concluded the 2016 year, and now onto 2017.
I am bad at taking pictures so I do not have any of the season opener at my local track. This was in March 2017. CaR was doing great, tires were not. Next track day of the season was in May, buddy had some 15x8 +35 57DR wheels on 225/45 NT01s that he let me make payments on and made a world difference at the track. Oh and my track experience has been an Ej1 coupe on Neogens, and my daily Integra on Ecsta Xs tires. So I did not jump straight to an R compound.
Once I made this tire change I started winning in my class, and the miata guys were getting pretty pissed (they are my buddies). One of those buddies has been building an Evo for GTA SLB finals at Button Willow and found out two weeks before that it was not going to make it. Him an another buddy took their miatas apart to build the best one they could out of both of them. I went to GTA with them, and it was an amazing event. Even though my buddy knew the miata was not going to be a contender at GTA, it was really good for him to get the experience on Button Willow for when the Evo is ready. So the following weekend after GTA is my local tracks final SuperLap. Great these dudes put the best of the best between their parts, and now are going against me a week later.
Screen shot from my local Superlaps instagram page. Feel free to follow it!
It ended up being a great event with a huge turn out from an Arizona group that drove over 4 hours to get here.
Chopped bumper that needs more chop and paint soon. The CheckerdSports Ti exhaust.
Little three car chase with me @ the 1.45 mark from another buddies Ef hatch viewpoint:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K6K2s2EpZ0
Us talking shit of who was going to go first into the hot pits for the hotlap runs.
My miata buddy went first but we were in the same run group. He beat the lap record of 1.22.9 for our class with 1.22.6 in the CW direction. Then I came through and beat him with a 1.22.5! It was a really awesome way to end the season.
So for documentation purposes I am going to put a mod list
Egnine: JDM 96-97 B18cR
Skunk 2 header, CheckerdSports Ti exhaust
Top Fuel intake
Spoon oil pan
Interior: Auto Power 4 point bolt in
Bride Replica seat with Crow harnesses
90 pounds of ballast to make weight
Suspension: PCI front camber arms
Hardrace bushing kit, rear camber and tow adjusters
PIC P2 coilovers
Hawk HP+ pads with stoptech blank rotors
Stock ITR calipers front and rear
Spoon strut bars front and rear
Wheels: 15x8 +35 57DR 225/45 NT01s
ECU:Honda put down 195 but had to back it down to 173 for class rules
And that is what I am going to end it on. Trust me I am missing so many details, and this caR was such a pain in the ass to get together, and was still kicking and screaming when it was. So many times I wanted to quit the build, but luckily I have friends that keep me motivated, as well as the build threads that are now here and the old sites. I hardly drive heR out of paranoia, and it sort works because the caR always puts a huge smile on my face the rare times I do drive it and on the track days.
Future plans are to get an lsd (previous owner blew OEM ITR and did not tell me it was open diff until I had already pulled out the loan and drove an hour to pick it up) and a brand new set of tires as I have always had used tires. Really hoping to beat the record in the opposite direction in March for my class at my local track. I will be sure to add updates here, and feel free to ask any questions. Also I hope if I have any questions you guys do not mind providing me your input.
Thanks
