Drove my old car again the other day, LOOOOONG RANT FOLLOWS.
Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2004 2:34 am
I'd like to take this opportunity to rant about rice-boy-racers and ill thought-out modifications to cars. Last year, when i was working, and had money, i bought and did up a starion, it was a damn nice car when i was finished with it. I loved cruising with mates, and driving it hard around the hills into the early hours of the morning, i'd built the engine, i figured i could re-build it if i broke it.
Then i decided to actually do something with my life and go get some edumication, alas i had to axe my baby, so i sold it. I lost money, but thats part and parcel when it comes to cars. I could afford to go to university however, so a smile was firmly planted on my dial, and still is.
The fellow i sold my car to bought it around the other day. He's having some problems you see, and ofcourse im expected to give him hours of my time to sort out these problems, coz im a nice guy, right?
The engine was in a very mild state of modification when i sold it. Standard boost increase, exhaust (2.5", gutted cat), factory intercooler and piping, modified skyline BOV. It went phenominally well for what it was, it always impressed me with how much mumbo it could muster when really asked. I'll admit i like to street race, and my car was a beast for it, no one ever expected their GSR or Skyline to be beat by technology this old, ahhh good times.
The new owner, lets call him Alex, mainly because thats his name, decided to add a TC-06 turbo from a cordia. Possibly not a bad idea, as the number is higher, the turbo must be better, right? He had this done properly, and a new downpipe manufactured, as the flange was different. He even went to the expense of getting the turbo re-built, good for him. Now, whereas my car would just spin in 1st gear from 2500rpm beforehand, and changing into 2nd a fraction to enthusiastically would cause the rear to creep sideways and bellows of white smoke to pour, now the car has nothing but dough below 4500 rpm, and falls out of its powerband on any gearchange. But the turbo was bigger, and shinier! IT MUST BE FASTER!
Next were the wheels. I had purchased a set of 15" mags off god knows what when i owned the car, they were a triangle slot type, and made the car look rather mean, they filled out the guards completly, but didnt rub anywhere at all. Alex needed 17" rims tho!!! Bigger and shinier! So a set of 17" lenso 5 stud mags were purchased at no little expense. But whats that!? Offset? pffft, thats not important. Spacers had to be purchased, 26mm spacers to be exact, the re-studded type. both illegal and IMHO, dangerous. But once again, bigger and shinier!
Under my careful eye, the interior had been bought back to a very nice standard, all original tan cloth, not the best of colours, but it was all there, all clean and matched. The dash is now matt-black-grey, with a kind of fuzz texture... im assured this is how the paint is meant to look however. The carpet in the passenger wheelwell has been sprayed black aswell, with some vinyl paint, as has the passenger door skin, carpet and all. That stuff works just as well on carpet as it does fabric as it does vinyl fellas! she looks mint! Ahem. One half of one of the rear panels is done aswell, in a gloss vinyl dye, just to keep the piecemeal theme alive in the rear.
The 3 piece aerotech spoiler i was oh so lucky to find was removed, as being "de-bootied" is so cool these days. Nevermind the bits of glue left behind, much-less the holes from the original rubber spoiler. A point of contention and stress between Decoy and myself has been a set of aerotech sideskirts, and a rear skirt i had, and said i would sell him for $100. Alas, these had to go with the car to complete the sale. The sideskirts were chipped on every edge, rather deeply, and one was completly snapped in two. The rear skirt was in fair condition. These have ofcourse been expertly repaired with bog, paint matched with the "Starion White" colour from "Spray Kote" and neatly fitted, with hot glue. I can assure you, they look like a factory addition, really. The colour is even the same as the rest of the car, honest.
So here i was, driving this car around the block, trying to sort out what's wrong with it. Rumble Rumble... I boot it, and nothing happens, i hit 4000rpm and boost starts to build.. it his 7psi and snap, the computer starts running protection mode, making the car buck back and forth like crazy. This is accompanied by bellows of white smoke from the exhaust. At idle, it puffs black, and on down revving it chugs out blue, its a technicolour rainbow of "ive been butchered" syndrome. I suggested he remove the BOV, as i suspect its leaking, but no, Alex needs his PSHHHHH! Who cares that the car can hardly get down the road, and the only reason people are taking notice of it is because it is gushing smoke and backfiring so loudly you can see the pedestrians flinch. I told Alex i would follow him in my car and observe a drive back to his house. I was treated once again to the delights of oil, fuel and coolant smoke from the exhaust, along with the occasional flame, but come on, flames are cool, right!?
I regret having to sell the car, but even more i regret who i sold it to, my sweet honey pie baby, that I loved so much has been butchered and is now out-classed by my $500 beater. Things seem to have come full-circle, as i once again embark on the starion modification journey, allbeit very slowly, ponderously almost, so i can make sure i modify it as i see fit. I want to build a car for me again, not for other people to gawk at. The grin on my face when i feel the rush of increasing boost, accellerating acceleration is just the most fun one can have with oncs pants on.
This is the longest post im ever going to write here, so if you read it, im amazed, just thought i might share. That was written in one piece by the way, and i havent re-read it yet, so im sorry if its not well structured and parts dont make sense.
Then i decided to actually do something with my life and go get some edumication, alas i had to axe my baby, so i sold it. I lost money, but thats part and parcel when it comes to cars. I could afford to go to university however, so a smile was firmly planted on my dial, and still is.
The fellow i sold my car to bought it around the other day. He's having some problems you see, and ofcourse im expected to give him hours of my time to sort out these problems, coz im a nice guy, right?
The engine was in a very mild state of modification when i sold it. Standard boost increase, exhaust (2.5", gutted cat), factory intercooler and piping, modified skyline BOV. It went phenominally well for what it was, it always impressed me with how much mumbo it could muster when really asked. I'll admit i like to street race, and my car was a beast for it, no one ever expected their GSR or Skyline to be beat by technology this old, ahhh good times.
The new owner, lets call him Alex, mainly because thats his name, decided to add a TC-06 turbo from a cordia. Possibly not a bad idea, as the number is higher, the turbo must be better, right? He had this done properly, and a new downpipe manufactured, as the flange was different. He even went to the expense of getting the turbo re-built, good for him. Now, whereas my car would just spin in 1st gear from 2500rpm beforehand, and changing into 2nd a fraction to enthusiastically would cause the rear to creep sideways and bellows of white smoke to pour, now the car has nothing but dough below 4500 rpm, and falls out of its powerband on any gearchange. But the turbo was bigger, and shinier! IT MUST BE FASTER!
Next were the wheels. I had purchased a set of 15" mags off god knows what when i owned the car, they were a triangle slot type, and made the car look rather mean, they filled out the guards completly, but didnt rub anywhere at all. Alex needed 17" rims tho!!! Bigger and shinier! So a set of 17" lenso 5 stud mags were purchased at no little expense. But whats that!? Offset? pffft, thats not important. Spacers had to be purchased, 26mm spacers to be exact, the re-studded type. both illegal and IMHO, dangerous. But once again, bigger and shinier!
Under my careful eye, the interior had been bought back to a very nice standard, all original tan cloth, not the best of colours, but it was all there, all clean and matched. The dash is now matt-black-grey, with a kind of fuzz texture... im assured this is how the paint is meant to look however. The carpet in the passenger wheelwell has been sprayed black aswell, with some vinyl paint, as has the passenger door skin, carpet and all. That stuff works just as well on carpet as it does fabric as it does vinyl fellas! she looks mint! Ahem. One half of one of the rear panels is done aswell, in a gloss vinyl dye, just to keep the piecemeal theme alive in the rear.
The 3 piece aerotech spoiler i was oh so lucky to find was removed, as being "de-bootied" is so cool these days. Nevermind the bits of glue left behind, much-less the holes from the original rubber spoiler. A point of contention and stress between Decoy and myself has been a set of aerotech sideskirts, and a rear skirt i had, and said i would sell him for $100. Alas, these had to go with the car to complete the sale. The sideskirts were chipped on every edge, rather deeply, and one was completly snapped in two. The rear skirt was in fair condition. These have ofcourse been expertly repaired with bog, paint matched with the "Starion White" colour from "Spray Kote" and neatly fitted, with hot glue. I can assure you, they look like a factory addition, really. The colour is even the same as the rest of the car, honest.
So here i was, driving this car around the block, trying to sort out what's wrong with it. Rumble Rumble... I boot it, and nothing happens, i hit 4000rpm and boost starts to build.. it his 7psi and snap, the computer starts running protection mode, making the car buck back and forth like crazy. This is accompanied by bellows of white smoke from the exhaust. At idle, it puffs black, and on down revving it chugs out blue, its a technicolour rainbow of "ive been butchered" syndrome. I suggested he remove the BOV, as i suspect its leaking, but no, Alex needs his PSHHHHH! Who cares that the car can hardly get down the road, and the only reason people are taking notice of it is because it is gushing smoke and backfiring so loudly you can see the pedestrians flinch. I told Alex i would follow him in my car and observe a drive back to his house. I was treated once again to the delights of oil, fuel and coolant smoke from the exhaust, along with the occasional flame, but come on, flames are cool, right!?
I regret having to sell the car, but even more i regret who i sold it to, my sweet honey pie baby, that I loved so much has been butchered and is now out-classed by my $500 beater. Things seem to have come full-circle, as i once again embark on the starion modification journey, allbeit very slowly, ponderously almost, so i can make sure i modify it as i see fit. I want to build a car for me again, not for other people to gawk at. The grin on my face when i feel the rush of increasing boost, accellerating acceleration is just the most fun one can have with oncs pants on.
This is the longest post im ever going to write here, so if you read it, im amazed, just thought i might share. That was written in one piece by the way, and i havent re-read it yet, so im sorry if its not well structured and parts dont make sense.
