Saturday, October 23, 2010 0 comments

Cage Update and Five Finger Racing Shoe...

I sent the car and cage over to Gary at Steen Chassis in Signal Hill and they should be finishing up the install later today, or for sure on Monday. I'll update with pictures as soon as I get her back. After that, I will be sending her off for another alignment and its of to the track. I have 6 sets of brand new tires ready, so its on like Donkey Kong. I also wanted to post up a link to my review of the Vibram Five Fingers that I have up on my fitness blog. I use it primarily for running and also for the track. I've seen a lot of racing shoes out there on the market but I don't think they have as much pedal feel as these do. Although they are not fireproof and don't have any kind of SFI spec or FIA cert, I would still rather use these than any other typical racing shoe just for the feel. If you've ever used your Five Fingers for driving, please feel free to post any comments or opinions.
Sunday, October 10, 2010 0 comments

Caged Up...

Sorry its been a while with the updates. Life's caught up and I've been busy with work and other stuff. I ordered a full weld in Formula D Spec legal cage a while back from Mazworx. Hopefully I will have her in the shop this week to get installed. Stay tuned!!!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010 0 comments

OMFG!!! That must be why...

Today was a very interesting day. We ordered our clutch after consulting with Lee over at Mcleod Racing, he advised us that their their Mag Force clutch would be the best for our application. So $1400+ later when I got home. I decided that I was going to swap out the front tires and put them in the rear. When jacked up, I noticed that the front wheel had a lot of slop and the entire wheel was really loose! I mean really loose, like a prostitute. But it wasn't from the wheel nuts but from the hub to the spindle. So after further investigation, I discovered the other side was loose also and that the hub was not seated all the way against the knuckle. Then the light bulb hit and realized that this must be why the car was driving inconsistent and had lots of under steer at times. So I took it over to PrecisonZ and let them deal with it because I wanted to change my alignment settings anyway. So what I'm guessing the problem was, that maybe since I removed the dust shield, that it left a gap or since the knuckle was powder coated, it might of had a lip from where the spindle was masked off, not allowing it to seat all the way against the knuckle. When I installed it, I just torqued it to spec and assumed it was good. So after drifting on Friday, it probably got even looser. So what precisionZ did was impact gun the hub in and even after all that torque, there was still a little slop. Has anybody else ever have this problem. I was thinking about putting a huge washer between the hub and knuckle to compensate for the dust shield. It could also possibly be that my bearings are shot. I did buy them used. But anyways, she's on really tight and I got my alignment. We'll check her out on the track this Thursday to see how if that was the problem. Stay tuned...
Sunday, May 23, 2010 0 comments

Drift Debut!!!

So last Thursday, we got another set of rims and wheels and on Friday we headed out to the track. We decided to use the balcony on WSIR just to get a feel for the car prior to hitting up the oval. I will start by giving you my initial impression of the vehicle, then all the parts. Being the first time I've ever drifted on a track in over 2 years, I really felt like I had to relearn it all over again. But that could also be because we were driving a whole new animal with over 100 more horses than the old SR we had and with high quality parts and real tires. Unlike the used tires we use to go up to the track with, that lasted 2 runs. The first thing I noticed was that the car had a lot of grip but understeered very heavily. I couldn't quite figure that one out yet. The suspension was really SMOOTH and I am so much happier with this setup than the old S13. So let me start my reviews, but please remember that this is just my initial review being only the first time out on the track. We plan to go once to twice a week, so there will be more to come.
KW clubsports
I love these things!!! On the old S13 we had the KTS coilovers that SPL parts sells. The KW's put the KTS's to shame and there is really no comparison. Looking back, I can't believe I went budget on a part that is so critical to your suspension. I use to get headaches just riding in the freeway to and from the track on the old S13 but with the Kdubs, its such a smooth ride. You can feel the road so much better and the dampening is incredible and its stiff when it needs to be. Its like Cialis for my car!!!
SPL parts links and arms
So I'm rolling with SPL's outer tie rods and tension rods up front and RUCA's, traction rods and toe rods in the rear. It's really hard to review the performance of a part that has no moving parts, but the quality of  SPL's products has to be the best out of all its competitors. You can feel the difference as soon as you take it out of the box. I got to give it to SPL for making quality products that are made in the USA!!! My alignment guys at PrecisionZ also love them and I bet it's because it makes there job easier for making fine tuned adjustments.
KPR steering angle modification
What else is there to say about these. I definitely got more steering angle! I really want to review this one later because I feel my driving skills is not on the level it needs to be to give this an honest review. But I can tell you this much. You know how the steering wheel usually spins hella fast when the car auto corrects in a drift. It doesn't do that no more and its so cool because it gives you so much time to think, react and feel what's going on in the drift.
Welded Diff
All I can say is that I can't believe that I spent a grand on my KAAZ 2way. I can barely notice the difference in the two other than that my welded diff is 75% more quieter because I removed the pinion gears and welded the gears to the casing. Only thing is I don't know is how long it will hold up and what's going to happen when I start pushing 450-500 horses. I did use a 400amp welder to makes sure I got deep penetrating welds, so we'll see. But I must say that this is the best cheapest drift mod I did for my car. Check out the pictures from my prior blogs to see how it looks like.
LS review
I don't even know where to start with this one. It's such a satisfying feeling to drive an LS powered S14 coming from an SR powered S13. The power, torque, sound, its just everything is so much better with less headache and from what I feel a better return on investment. I invested a lot of money in my SR with all the expensive Greddy bolt on's and for the price I could have done it right with the LS the first time around. So I'll chalk it down to a learning experience. Another plus is my car is smog legal! But I'm a much happier person. No turbo, no headaches...
Driver Review
So how did I do??? I didn't take no video so I can't show you, but to be honest, I wasn't impressed with my driving skill on Friday. It just took a while to get use to the car. When clutch kicking, the back end didn't pop out like I was use to because we are rolling with a stock clutch that doesn't bite aggressively. For those that drift out on the balcony, before with the SR I could hit it all up in second gear. But since my car was understeering, I would have to go faster in third for the first turn and downshift to second to finish the run. But it was so much fun!!! To finally reap all the rewards and enjoy all the hard work and money I put into my car. I had drifting on the brain ever since and its all I can think about now. How do I get better... But to me, drifting is one of those sports where its all about seat time to get better. So that's the plan for the next few. Get as much seat time as possible. Going to also try -3.5 camber up front.
The next upgrades for June is a Mcleod twin disc clutch with flywheel, an accusump for my oil and a custom roll cage. So stay tuned!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010 0 comments

The Ride!!!

Sorry for the delay guys. I finally got the car back from alignment from PrecisionZ out of Canoga Park. The car drives like a champ and they adjusted my ride height and alignment. They went over everything and made sure everything was tight and safe for the track. Great customer service and they did an excellent job. They recommended not to get the corner balancing until I get my cage and other bucket seat installed. On the way home, I even ate up a S2000. Pretty funny actually because my car feels like a beast. Before, when I just had the V8 with stock suspension and no front or rear sway bars, the car felt like I was driving a boat. I would actually get sea sick and need to take pills just to drive her. Now its a night and day difference with the KW's and all the SPL links and arms installed. The knuckles are pretty cool too. It's like a go kart because it takes one rotation from center to get to full lock. I love it!!! We tried to get another set of my fake rims yesterday and they are all on back order. So that kinda messed up my day but I've been searching around and I'm probably going to pick up anything just to make it to the track this week. I'll keep you updated but hopefully we make it to the track this week. I also got to learn how to post up videos on here so you can see her in action!
Sunday, May 16, 2010 0 comments

On all fours!!!

So the part arrived and I finally have everything installed and she's sitting on all fours. I'm so excited! You would be excited too if you had your girl on all fours!!! So first thing Monday, she is off to get corner balanced and aligned. I might have to bleed the brakes again also. After moving her around in the drive way, I noticed the brake pedal a little low. I'll update with pictures later in a few. I'm also going to pick up another extra set of (4)rims and Maxxis tires for the rears. I'll put up a review comparing the two after she is tested on the track. Stay tuned. The fun part is almost there.
Saturday, May 01, 2010 0 comments

On hold again... WTF!

I haven't posted in a while because the project has been put on hold again. Turns out that the studs on the front camber plate is too short and is the wrong diameter. I'm really disappointed but the customer support over at KW have been really courteous and are doing their best to resolve the issue in a timely manner. It's just when you spend over 2 grand on coilovers, you expect to have it work the first time. But I was told that the clubsports are not a mass produced item for the S14 and that's why I had to have them special ordered and that is where the problem occurred. It's no biggie though, I'm over it. Shit happens and I understand that.
So while we are on hold, I'm going to start putting more blogs on other stuff that I've been up to till the camber plates arrive. Stay tuned!
Saturday, April 24, 2010 0 comments

The knuckels have landed!!!

So yesterday evening, the long awaited modified knuckles and lower control arms from KPR finally arrived. But all day yesterday, I was just working on pulling everything out of the front and finished tucking the wire harness up a little bit higher. Also drilled holes through the shock tower to route the hood latch cable to get that out of the way. I messed up the harness on my old S13 and didn't want to go through that mess again. I also banged on some of the other areas in the well where I would experience wheel rub. I was planning to install everything today but had some issues with the studs on the coilovers which I plan to resolve immediately. So I just ended up installing the tension rods from SPL parts and the lower control arms. As far as the KPR steering angle modification, I'm really happy with the quality. All the welds look strong and hopefully they stand up to all the abuse from drifting. But I would I have to give KPR 5 stars for putting out a quality product/service with great customer service and pretty quick turn around time. I look forward to trying them out on the track. I read a review on powered by max's knuckle modification the other day and I got excited because I believe that these will perform as good, if not better than PBM's modification. Check out the link.
http://www.gtfactory.jp/cms/page.php?15
Thursday, April 22, 2010 0 comments

Keep Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' ugh!!!

Got the fenders rolled today. I wasn't to worried about the tires rubbing, but decided to get it rolled anyway. Just wanted to say thanks to Tony for doing such a good job and hooking me up for cheap. If anyone needs there fenders rolled in the San Fernando Valley, message me and I will hook you up with his contact info. I also wanted to thank Victor and the rest of the boys at KPR engineering for hooking me up with free next day air shipping on my steering angle modification for my front spindles. I will be giving them a detailed review when they arrive and again once I get them on the track. I'm getting really excited. Got the rear wheels on and after that the fronts arrive, I'll be ready for my alignment and corner balancing. Check out the pics with the crazy camber!!!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 0 comments

ViK's new project!!! The Raven!!!

Just wanted everybody to check out a new project that my boy ViK and Team Tempest has been working on. Spread the Love!!!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 0 comments

Updates and Pix....

What's going on everybody... Just wanted to give everyone on update on the car. We are still on hold for the steering angle mod. Contacted KPR and was told that it should get shipped out today. I'm hoping it arrives on Friday. I was going to start installing the brakes and pads this week but decided to sandblast and paint the rear calipers. I found it hard to put on a new set of Q45 calipers up front and have junky looking, brake dust covered, stock rear calipers. So I sent my parts to my boys at Quality Precision Cleaning in Duarte,Ca to get sandblasted and cleaned in their clean room facility. I had it painted a cast coat aluminum color with high temp paint to make it look factory. I wasn't going to paint the STOCK calipers red or some exotic color because I think that's gay. But what is even gayer than that is this weekend, I saw another S14 with shiny red Brembos all the way around sitting on tight 19" rims and I noticed he had his hand brake up. I was wondering how he had his handbrake hooked up to his brembo rear calipers and decided to investigate a little further. Come to find out, he had Brembo caliper covers!!! Almost had me fooled...
Anyways, this week we also bought some rubbers for the rims because I believe in practicing safe driving and I never drive with out a rubber. We  got some Federal SS595's all the way around. I don't know why, but it was hard finding Federals anywhere because they are all back ordered and Obama's tariff tax on foreign tire companies. Anyways, we are running 235/40/17 up front and 245/40/17 in the rear on a 17x9 + 17 rim. I originally wanted 255's in the rear but they were not available and took what they had. On the next set of rims that we will be getting next week, we are going to run Maxxis MA-Z1 so we can compare both brands. The rims are generic Work knock offs and yes I am gay too! But not as gay as the Brembo caliper cover dude!
So I guess that's about it, I also attached some photos of the swap because so many of my blog followers (all 3 of them) have been asking for pictures. So here you go... Enjoy

Friday, April 16, 2010 0 comments

Welded!! hmmm... Let's give it a shot...

So after hours of internet drifting on which differential setup I was going to go with, I decided to try welding my diff. I previously had a Kaaz 2 way on my S13 and I really liked it. It was aggressive just the way I liked but it was just so expensive. So anyways, I bought an extra open diff to weld so I can see how it is compared to a clutch type 2 way LSD. I also read somewhere that both Rhys Millan and Dai Yoshihara loved how the spooled diff felt and how it was a lot more predictable and solid. Spooled is pretty much like a welded diff in which it is always 100% locking in acceleration and deceleration, so if its good enough for them, it should be good enough for me. Here's a few pix of my welded diff. I decided to remove the pinion gears and weld the gears to the casing rather than welding the spider gears together like most people do. I also used a heavy duty 400amp welder to make sure my welds penetrate the thick metal.
Friday, April 16, 2010 0 comments

"These are the Brakes"

Clap your hands everybody, if you got what it takes. Cuz I'm Curtis Blow and I want you to know that these are the brakes!!!
So just a few updates with Project Drift. Yesterday I ordered my brake upgrade.
- New Q45 Front Brake Calipers and Rotors
- Goodridge Stainless Steel Brake Lines all the way around
- Porterfield R4 race brake pads front and rear ( Boy where these really expensive!)
- Muteki SR48 lug nuts (black)
-I also picked up some rims, I'll post pics once I get my SS595 rubbers on them.
So the project is coming along pretty smoothly. I'm just on hold right now for the modified knuckles and lower control arms for the fronts. Here is a pic with the rear KW coils, SPL links and arms and 5 lug conversion that I just installed. Thanks for following and I will be sure to post up reviews of all the parts that I have installed once I get her on the track.

Monday, April 12, 2010 0 comments

Drift Car in the Making - 30 days or less

It's been a pretty exciting week this week. Most of the parts that we've ordered for our drift project have finally arrived. Today's gift from the mailman was a set of KW club sport coilovers that we had special ordered from Germany. I was so excited that I texted all my friend the good news.
 Since this is my first ever blog, I want to take a moment to tell you more about me and our new project drift car. I've always been a car enthusiast and I first learned about drifting while I was stationed in Okinawa, Japan back in 97-98. After I got out of the Service, my best bud ViK and I built an SR powered S13 (Nissan 240SX) strictly for drifting. After the build, we would go to Willow Springs once a week for a whole season with 10 sets of used tires and burn it up! It was all Good times, until I blew a piston?
After that our drifting was put on hold. ViK started his own project, an LS powered S10 drift truck that didn't work out due to him getting raped from the shop he took it to. I don't want to get into details, but it was a very expensive mistake. I decided to sell my S13 and move on to a S14 chassis which I just bought recently for this new project. ViK decided that he would let me use his engine and that we could just go in together on this car like we did with our first S13. For all of you that don't know, Drifting is a very expensive hobby.
So he we our today and the build is as follows...
-LS Powered S14
-Custom headers and exhaust
-Aluminum drive shaft
-Progress sway bars
-Sparco Pro 2000 race seat
-Nardi Steering wheel with NRG hub and quick release
Parts that have arrived
-KW clubsport coilovers
-SPL parts tension rods, traction rods, toe rods and upper control arms
-Tien S14 inner tie rods with SPL outer tie rod ends
-Modified Spindles and lower control arms are on the way from KPR race engineering 

Well that's if for now, but make sure you guys stay tuned in because there is definitely more to come!!!