2023 Recap Part 2

Alright we back for part 2. Trying to be more consistent with the blog this year. I am trying my hardest to keep up with current time, bare with me….

Picked up this super necessary snapon punch kit. Never can have enough tools.

I sold my FRP ASM fenders and got some carbon ones….

STi strutbar is installed on my Gc8!

working on “STi-ing” my Gc8….

STi bezel installed on the Gc8….

Stopped by Oniwraps to check out Peter’s S2k getting the “new” Carb Legal Greddy turbo kit installed.

I upgraded the speakers that came on my Gc8….. they have seen better days

Every Subaru guy knows replacing these felt pads on the window help with window glass vibration.

Old worn out vs brand new

When working on Japanese cars, please use JIS screw drivers! buy it here

I threw on my Ganadors too!

My ASM dry carbon fenders!

They guys at Formula S had some wisefab knuckles laid out for a customer ready to install

My civic getting some work done….

Jamie brought over his USDM 2000 ITR for a new used B18C engine. His previous engine went bye bye at the track.

Threw some Toda ITBs on the B18c in the EG!

After a run in with a blown tire from a semi that took out my drivers side turn signal on the GC8….

Coming together! I picked up a Hytech header used locally and installed it on the EG!

Toda Racing Oil pump installed on Jamie’s ITR!

Sooooooo…… After my S2k was put back together and driving the shit out of it…. after a routine oil chain I noticed a ton of gold flakes in my oil….. what not again??!?! The engine wasn’t knocking at all, I decided to take it apart just to see what the bearing health is…..

Everything was super super good, so where the hell did all the material come from? It turns out the aerospace company that cleaned out my dry sump tank did a terrible job and a bunch of material was still lodged in the tank…..I assumed the company was going to do a good job since it was a huge operation, but I was wrong….. So all this metal went through my engine again, and I made the decision to pull the motor again.

I got custom Cusco top hats for my ASM dampers…. I changed it up because the ASM dampers come with rubber top hats from the factory. I wanted a spherical bearings for a damper of this caliber. I had to get custom machined adapters to make this all work together.

Factory rubber top hats for reference

I started to prep my subaru for a tune. I am switching to top feed injectors vs the factory side feeds. Radium makes a great kit to convert my old EJ20G manifold to accept top feed injectors…. My GC8 has an EJ20G engine, it’s super old and predates what is running in Subaru WRX in the USA from 2002+. So nothing is really compatible with it i.e intake manifolds. Finding parts for this car is like pulling teeth since it is a model never offered in the USA. I’m glad radium makes stuff for these old engines.

I also got a spare intake manifold vapor blasted and added an IAT sensor to it, something the EJ20G never had…

I went to Fujiwara for a meet

Hana, Miya Orido, and some other ladies had a meet and greet.

Stopped by my Snapon guy to drool over some tools…. He’s building a crazy FK8 Honda Civic type R. Full Race turbo kit, crazy brembo pista brakes, Motec, Quaife sequential….. the works. I’ve never seen an FK8 built to this extent before.

As an experiment I got an ap1 crankshaft DLC and WPC treated. This is one of my spares….

excuse my ashy legs….. I got some Karo mats for the GC8

During my last dyno session…. my S2k on E85 I was at 95% duty cycle. I decided to swap them out for something with more headroom.

This nut is always a pain in the butt.

My EG civic in the latest form…. Group B wheels, Spoon calipers, ZAFT CF hood, Spoon rear spoiler, and I got a body friend to bring back my side molding holes that were previously bondo in the early 2000s.

Some lucky customer at Formula S getting a subframe reinforced and wisefab knuckles installed.

I flew to VA to visit my family… my dad let me borrow his beater LS400.

My friend Ian asked me if I wanted to check out his AE86 that he is storing at his buddy’s house in bumfuck VA. I said sure….

stopped by a greasy spoon place to get lunch…..

Ian’s buddy had a Toyota fx-16 gts

Pretty standard interior

Spicy Silvertop 20v engine with the ITBs

His friend has a few AE86 of his own… all scattered around his front yard.

AE86 coupe…. and a FWD AE92… big Toyota guys

Toyota AW11 in the garage….

Ian’s Toyota RA24 Celica he swears to me he’s gonna “just swap in and engine and go”. It’s been 4 years+ already and car is still in this state…..

I like the green on this car.

This is something I didn’t know until it was shown to me…. The Geo Prizm GSI is pretty much a Toyota FX16 with a 4AG and all…..

Ian getting to work on his AE86…. he was working on his turn signal switch or something……

Meanwhile in Japan I got a EK9….. It has some cool Ktech stickers on the valve cover, but I wonder what was actually done.

It was pretty clean

It came with some Karo mats, momo tuner wheel with an NSX-R horn….

Mugen Twin Loop muffler and Tein suspension…..

These were all pictures my guy in Japan sent me.

I threw a Mooneyes license plate on the car for the funs

And a linkecu into the Gc8 with a Can lambda wideband to get the process started.

Back to CA… a cool S2k showed up at Formula S, looks like it has a remark/ZAFT exhaust, voltex wing, and Car shop glow tail lights

I try not to eat fast food, but I was picking up something for my daughter….. RHD sucks haha.

I started to fill out my hyper rev collection…..

Looking at the sweet job Toda Racing did on the cylinder head…. and my tiny coolant leak.

Civic was having issues…. so off it went to my friends shop so i can use his lift to resolve it.

This J’s Racing car was getting the crazy parts!

Some JRZs peaking through

I stopped by a “All Makes Welcome Meet” with the E30M3

I was parked behind a Mercedes W124 wagon.

I borrowed my friends EK9 with fresh new 15×8 TE37 SL

Quick mid day meet at Fujiwara Tofu Cafe.

I was on the way to return his car and the distributor failed….. I was stuck on the middle of this road for 3 hours before a tow truck showed up…..

I completed the engine swap on Jamie’s ITR…. just giving it a once over….

I got him a brand new Toda Racing header…..

and SARD high flow cat!

I installed a new HKS downpipe on the Gc8

And installed some Cusco Bracing!

The Bracing made the chassis feel night and day better. These Gc8 chassis are wet noodles.

Ek9 finally touched down in the USA. This is me at Long beach picking it up.

I love picking up cars from the port

That night I took it out to a meet…..

I took my EK9 to meet my friends…. my friends Ek9 is a bit spicer with b18c internals. The B16b compared to it feels like a torque-less dog….

It was all B series….

I took the EK9 to my snapon guy to let him have a go

I installed the Cusco rear trunk brace on my Gc8 and temp mounted my Toda Racing EX Coilovers reservoirs on the strut brace which I had refreshed by Toda Racing…

I went to get boba…. Random 180sx on Blitz03

I drove my friends Ek9… the gearing is insane. I topped out max speed on the freeway….

I got some Cusco X Bridge ZETA IV for my GC8

I took a family trip to MAUI, Hawaii… this was a month before the big fire there….. I rented this big red Dodge Charger…. random fact, I went to College in Hawaii…..