Road to the 2013 Evergreen ProAm series

[Mooch]

A little background about me. I grew up around road racing, my parents raced in SCCA in the Northwest so I naturally grew into cars. My brother did his first SR swap in 2003/04, and started drifting around on the streets. Being in middle school, I tried to go as much as I could. I knew I always wanted to try it but never got a chance when I was younger. I attempted a couple of SR builds but money was the over-all demise of those.

Drifting locally was non-existent so I had to change that. I did one event in 2011, and I was hooked. Started a partnership with the local circle track and have been hosting open drifts ever since. This will be my 2nd year hosting SLD events and it's growing pretty good.

So last year was pretty much my first year ever drifting, I did a total of one drift day before the 2012 season so I was in for a lot. I decided to compete in the EVD grassroots series and shoot for every event (keep in mind I live 5 hours away from Monroe). The first event of the season, I made it to the top 8 and got knocked out. Placed 5th and felt super good about it.

Ended up making every grassroots event for the 2012 season and ended up 5th overall for the season. I learned a lot from other drivers and learned a lot about myself as well. I love competing and pushing for more so only natural that I'd wanna go further.

I wanted to start building the car up being that it was a coupe so I swapped everything from that to a decent hatch shell, I shouldn't have.








(No cage tandems all daaaaay!)

Got it all finished up towards the end of the 2012 season, competed in the last Evergreen Drift Grassroots series and seemed to do decent. And then the inevitable happened...I hadn't wrecked all season and it finally happened at our last local event (Stateline Drift).



Long story short, it was my fault but it happens. It's drifting. Bought the shell for $200, sold it for $200.

I started to think about 2013 and where I wanted to go and how far I wanted to take it. Like I said, it was only natural for me to keep competing and since the 3/8th's didn't offer the excitement I wanted, I looked towards the 5/8th's.

I've always dreamed of the 5/8th's, it seemed like that's where all the fun was. Fast, rowdy, loud, it was all there. I told myself that ProAm was the goal, and I haven't turned back. I picked up a job in North Dakota making decent money and it started...





I once again swapped over all useable parts from the old shell and started fresh. The parts I ran on the old cars were pretty limited but I made due.
-Custom lengthened/boxed FLCA's 1"
-Custom lengthened inner tie rods
-Custom modded knuckles
-Cusco RUCA's
-Fortune Auto 500 coilovers
-Welded diff
-Works Bell hub and quick release
-Momo Suede 350mm wheel
-Stock SR20det on 10psi
-Custom half pint front mount setup
-300zx front brake setup

That's about all it was. Super basic setup compared to a lot of people competing and half my junk was broke or old. I some how managed to make it work so I didn't change it.

I knew that ProAm would bring a lot of challenges so I did what everyone does and ditched the SR setup for an LSx style motor. After purchasing an all aluminum 5.3 from Pull & Save, and a T56 from Michigan, I was set...until I got on Craig'slist. I returned it all and picked up a first gen Camaro LS1 / t56 combo that luckily, came with the full harness and ECM.



A deal at $4000.

We broke into the shell a bit and immediately knew the front had to come off so we could fab a tube front for easy rebuild and a little more room to play with things.







While I was away in North Dakota, my close friend and amazing fabricator JJ started to build the new cage.







We tried our best to get close to the roof line and a pillar bar, we feel like it came out pretty good. All the remainder space will be braced with sheeting. Reading through the 2013 Formula D rulebook, I noticed a slight change in the door bar rules, which helped ever so slightly.



Both the driver and passenger side will have factory door panels with useable window mechanism's. Completely FD legal and I'm stoked! We also went in and put the anti-intrusion bars in which is another 2013 updated rule.



As of now, the interior cage is completely done and work has just started on the tube front which should be mostly done this weekend.

During this past winter, working in North Dakota, I was very bored when not working. So I got to work on finding support in my goals for the 2013 season. I am very very happy with everyone who has helped through out the off season and can't wait to see what we can do this year.

First off, we got the motor and trans in and mounted up without headers in a little under an hour thanks to Fueled Racing and there amazing mount kit. Call this a shameless plug but anyone who has used their stuff, understands. No pounding on the firewall, no mods, no stress. It literally slipped in and mounted up with no trouble. Every piece they make is 100% made in the US and is the best quality offered! I honestly can't say enough good things about them.

I went with their full mount kit along with their wilwood clutch system.













We still have yet to mount the headers because they just came in today. We also need to build the exhaust system and check out the clutch to see what it looks like!



The radiator in the picture was for mock purposes but everything is in and super solid. We grabbed a MAF off eBay and still need to fab up an intake setup but it'll have to wait till the front end is done.

Being in the Northwest, it was a no brainier on where to find my steering needs...



The Era1 dudes are nothing but awesome. Jesse and the whole crew are a bunch of rad dudes who are pushing for the best in the drift culture. I strongly believe these to be the best knuckle system out right now. The fiancé and I took a trip over to Seattle to pick everything up and was more then surprised.

I picked them up in raw form so I could have them powder coated in which ever color I came up with. I hate decisions, so it may take a minute to decide. But I can't wait to bolt them up and break them in properly. Era1 is only about a year old but already taking over with there huge amount of R&D and great attitude!

Fortune Auto is also helping me this season and I'm super stoked on that. I've only ever ran Fortune Auto, all last year and again, all this year. I've never once had a problem with their coils and they definitely are some of the best mid-range coilover (500 series). I've actually turned a lot of local drivers onto them and again, nothing but good reviews.

I've got a load of orders coming in to help complete this project and hopefully, in time for it's debut track day on March 24th. We still have a lot to go, lots of fabrication and stress but with the help of all of my friends and family, I know I'll be able to obtain my goals for the year.

Thank you to my Fiancé Kara, JJ for the fab work and knowledge, Trais Taylor for the motivation and help, my parents, Fueled Racing, Fortune Auto and Era1.

I'll keep updating this as parts and work get done and in the mean time, I'll keep growing my beard! Thanks for viewing.