Doesn't get any more JDM than this!

[Ptotherice]

This entire thread is sexy.... I vote for the black lip, and leave it black. It gives a nice offset to a car with good paint to have a black lip in my opinion. Two thumbs up to you, sir.

[soldave]

Thanks man. Missed out on the lip unfortunately, but have my eyes set on a set of old skool BBS wheels and a full respray (with repaired bumper, passenger door without JDM stage 1 weight reduction (aka rust hole) and front passenger fender), along with plenty of other bits that I can't currently afford!

[soldave]

Dammit... these parts keep coming up to try and make me spend my money! Exhibit B is a set of 4 of these BBS wheels for 95 quid. Think the style would suit the car to a T.

[Sharingan 19]

17? x ? offset?

[soldave]

7jX16+45/114.3-5H

[Sharingan 19]

16"+1=

[soldave]

Well, apart from a minor overheating problem (I know, "minor" and "overheating" are not usually words that go together with rotaries), things are running OK with the car. The inferior plastic on the interior trim is starting to break a little through use (latest thing to start to fall apart is the turn signal/high beam lever) but the car's running at least. At the moment I have quite a few ways to spend lots of money I don't really have, but not sure what order it should all go in. Note that some of these things might seem minor, but am watching all my spending on this thing. The one thing that is definitely happening in the next couple of months is that I'm going external wastegate on the stock turbo to control my overboosting a little. But here are the others:

Respray: Y70,000. Would be done by a decent enough bodyshop and would also take care of any rust on the body, and there is some (top of the windscreen to name one place). Would also let me throw on the passenger door I've got in my kitchen and the good condition front bumper & fenders. Would also make the car look a lot nicer too.
New Apexi filter: Y6,200. How do you actually tell if these things are beyond their usual life? It's not falling apart or anything but looks pretty damn dirty.
Bushing kit: Y8,000. Worth buying at the moment from the States with the shitty exchange rate. Could change out all my suspension bushings under the car, and they definitely need doing. Would love to get another set of coilovers or these ones rebuilt, but it'd cost quite a bit I think and I don't wanna fork out for another alignment so soon after I've just got one.
Upgraded turbo: Y?????. Cost could be variable, but I have thought about a bigger T4 turbo to go on the manifold that's going in mine, in place of the stock one. Wouldn't be huge, but something that I could run at stock boost for now, but if I upped the injectors, ECU etc then it could grow with my car.
FD engine & parts: $couple of hundred? Might be able to grab this FD from someone that is selling. Would rape the engine & a couple other bits from it for myself and other bits to sell, junking the rest.

Any thoughts on what you reckon I should do first, last etc, or should I just get my ass in gear, whore myself out a little more and get it all done?

[soldave]

Nothing too exciting, but big thanks to Justin for the carbon cargo cover in the rear. Looks a hell of a lot better than the sagging stock one that was in there and will work nicely while the rear seat remains. Unfortunately it does cover up the JDM mad tyte scaffolding bar that is being used as a rear strut bar, but you take the rough with the smooth.

[soldave]

Stage 1 of "project bankrupt Dave in trying to make this car look a little meaner/better than before" is complete. New passenger door, front driver's side fender and bumper, and a respray in original red.

Before pics:





At the bodyshop





After pics:






Pretty pleased with it considering the cost. Shame I had to choose by far the wettest day of the past few weeks to pick it up. Better pics to come very soon. Also, stages 2, 3 and 4 to come in the near future too. That should then see me right out of money!

One strange thing this evening happened when I got back to my apartment. It's a steep ramp up the kerbside to get into my parking area and I went in at a shallower angle than usual to make sure no body part touched the door. As the front right side wheel mounted the ramp and up the kerb the stiff chassis made the rear right hand side wheel lift up off the ground. And from then on the car wouldn't go in any further. Wouldn't go forward or back and wasn't grounded on anything. When I pushed the car back onto both rear wheels again though it was fine. Now diffs confuse me (as do most things), but is that how they should work or is something wrong that needs addressing?

[Prodigy]

Looks much much better Dave... I love FD wheels on a stock looking FC... they fit it better then they fit an FD :P

when my car got here (to Canada) the importer gave it a paint job that even a 3 year old could do better... so in the near (2-3 year) future I will be doing the same thing you just did....


J.