Austarion

So, time for another post updating more of what I've been doing.

About a year ago now, my drift JB died out at a Winton day. Bottom end fell apart, starting with some clunking, followed by me returning to pits and bringing it home. Since then I went over the car, and it really has started to fall to bits and rust away. So it has been retired, and I recently bought a black JA Starion from mteck (also originally owned by JDSTAZ45).

But first here is a short tribute to the JB.

My first drift day at Calder in 2005


Mods and improvements:


Montage of a few photos, including a Sandown drift day:


And now retired with the parts starting to be swapped into the new black JA drifter


Next post = new black one

So, here's the new black drifter.

As I picked it up, a bit tatty, but fun:




The intercooler piping was a bit average and rubber- lots of swell under boost, and mysteriously this car doesn't seem to be boosting heaps. So my first move- making some solid piping. Neatness is not a concern cos this is very much just a hack drift car for now. Eventually I'll put a properly built new engine in it, but for now, here's the solution








Now stripping out all the interior and body deadener.




Getting the drift setup ready. Installed some Widebody lower control arms, and steering knuckles from the US, plus the Mookeh adjustable castor arms (tension rods). The Widebody lower arms give me 20mm extra front width, and more camber. Allows tighter steering lock for more drifting angle before the front wheels hit on the bodywork. After installing these, and removing the lock stop bolts, the turning circle is now awesome!

Lock stop nuts to wind back or remove:


Mookeh adjustable castor arms, also Widebody lower control arms etc:




New parts installed- you can see the front camber on this now. Will also be more once I put in the Mookeh camber tops I have.




And the rear with 50mm bolt on spacers to run wider track:





Many more mods planned for this car. Just bought a guard roller too, so that will help.

Still need to work out why it's not boosting properly though! The hard cooler pipes didn't fix it. First of all I have to install a boost gauge to see what it's actually getting to, but I suspect perhaps the waste gate is never closing fully, and so is leaking past the turbine wheel. Will update here once I know!

Oh and I won't be putting that ugly fibreglass front bar off the JB on to this one either. Might have looked ok if the car had side skirts etc, but never got around to it. That front bar was off a Nissan R32 skyline anyway, so it will probably just go on my R32 drift/track car.

I know I said the Nissan word, but I do really prefer the Starions :D I just have some Nissans to race too just so I don't wear out too many Starions haha

Wastegate not jammed? My old ZR4 Evo 0 was like that, turbo in mint condition but wouldn't boost... found out it was the wastegate jamming.

Yeh, I reckon that's going to be it. I did disconnect the wastegate actuator arm for a moment and check that I can move the wastegate lever to full open and full closed with my fingers, and it seemed fine from the outside, BUT who knows if it's actually sealing on the inside. Gotta take the turbo off and see I think. Which I need to do anyway cos there's a broken stud to the dump pipe.

ZR4? never heard of it.. but it sounds like it'd be a monster ;)

the front bar looked like it was off an R33 rather than a 32

thrash wrote:ZR4? never heard of it.. but it sounds like it'd be a monster ;)

the front bar looked like it was off an R33 rather than a 32

Eterna ZR-4 looks like a VR-4 with a fat ass! same engine

5 door Vr4.

That garage looks mint, and a hoist as well :drool:
Great collection you have there.

did you have any fitment issues with the mookeeh caster bars? Do they work well?

thrash wrote:did you have any fitment issues with the mookeeh caster bars? Do they work well?

Dave says that the widey ones will not fit a flatty so have you modded them or are they a direct fit :?
Any info appreciated.

You can only use them with widey lower arms

Hope you're going to preserve those taillights. You got some JA ones you can whack in instead?

^^I love your commitment to the preservation of rare Starion parts, and to offer replacements, such commitment rofl

actually, those tail lights would be the least rare, considering they come from the US.. i would think there are still more conquests than even JAs left..

Living here, it'd be a pain in the arse to have to ship over a matching one.
And they're worth more here because they are rare.
That's where I was coming from...
Same as the Yanks wouldn't use the JA style ones over there. It's all relative.