Aug 5th 23 - After a good 2 years of looking, I finally found some S13 door cards for sale at a reasonable price. The trim vinyl was separating from the cards in places but this was easily fixed one afternoon with some fabric adhesive.
So, believe it or not... my S13 is actually my second project car. I also own a 1991 BMW E30 318I. I'm going to use this post to introduce it's history in my life. I'll post soon explaining my future plans and my current endevours.
I believe that this photo taken on the 18th of April 2020, was the last time I had the car in a registered, drive-able state. I'd say my intentions, like a lot of other people's, was to use the mandatory periods of isolation to fix a issues I'd been ignoring. The M52B28 that I had swapped in was either using or leaking a good litre of oil for every tank of fuel. The amount of oil vapour that I could see evacuating my crank case vent was also a daily point of concern for me. I'd always hated the clutch in this car. It was a unit that I'd got second hand in a bunch of parts - a heavy duty Sachs clutch for an E28 M5. The poor feel may have been my oversight for not finding a clutch slave with an appropriate bore diameter to accommodate the hydraulic pressures needed to make this thing feel acceptable. My steering also did not re-centre itself properly upon exiting corners and felt all-around very disconnecting. I believe this was due to a missing plastic spring isolator on my left fortune auto coilover, a worn purple tag steering rack and no orifice to restrict pressure in my high pressure power steering line. I also had not made the step to fix my rear toe-in that I had gained from lowering my car, I believe this made the driving experience feel extremely twitchy. I'd say the most concerning thing I'd noticed was a large clunk upon harsh acceleration and a sensation that felt similar to the car stepping out.. but with no note-able tyre slip. When pulling the car apart, I noticed that I was missing two diff carrier bolts effectively allowing my entire diff to rotate in its cradle. I'm really glad I didn't die from this.
This photo is definitely a through back to simpler times. My mate Tim had just gotten his MX83 Cressida registered and we decided to take the cars to Mount Mee for a drive a few days after my birthday. I had a bunch of cassette tapes of questionable musical quality that I'd picked up from op shops that we were sharing between cars. It was a lot of fun.
Here are some photos from a week prior. I took the car out for it's 200,000th kilometer. I ended up at the end of a road somewhere in the hinterland. I'd really like to do what I can to get it to 300,000 and beyond. Also, these wheels are cheap 15" Aluline turbines that I picked up locally. They just made for a more stealthy street option in comparison to my Work Seeker SX.
Finally finished refurbing my set of SSR Hasemi Prot-S. All I did was strip the clear anodising off the wheel lips, polish the center caps and paint the wheel centers. Goal for this set is just to keep things subtle for the street. I lost a center cap emblem on the way to work which I'm very upset about... all I can think to do is eventually make my own center cap to take it's place. I'm going to be very protective of the remaining 3 caps though.
xmas bash 22
Morning Session 2021