Ben's two tone s13

[BenRice]

Just had a read through some of the forum, figured I'd post up what lives in the garage. A couple of us old farts run a blog: nomnomturtlebrains | zombieturtles – out of the sea and behind the wheel if anyone wants to have a squiz.

I'm in New Zealand, so some small differences to the cars here and there. I’ve been involed in drifting for about 9 years now and am crewing for a mate in our national drift championship. He’s originally from California but now lives in NZ obviously.

The “zombie car” (as its been nicknamed) was a factory CA18DE auto Japanese import. Previous owner converted it to RB25DET and manual from an R33 front cut from Japan.

Some good basic modifications were also done by him: 3" exhaust, Tein coilovers, 6-puck clutch, Apexi filter, aftermarket intercooler, R33 brakes and 5 stud conversion, R32 GTR radiator, S15 seats, brick headlights and he had the conversion certified for road use.

I bought it looking bone-stock on 16” R32 Skyline GTS-T wheels. I previously built a 1993 C34 Laurel powered by an S14 SR20DET which I lost a lot of money on so figured I’d do it the other way around and buy this S13 with all the hard stuff done.









Since purchasing it 5 years ago it’s had only minor changes, mainly suspension and cosmetic but been used a lot and maintained religiously. I’ve added a Vertex bodykit along with Dmax roof wing and BN-knockoff vented fibreglass bonnet, factory monsoon shields (rare), swapped the old Teins for new BC Gold (recently going to 12kg/mm front springs and 8kg/mm rear springs), R32 GTS4 rear swaybar, had the knuckles modified for more lock, gusseted lower arms with adjustable lock stops, adjustable camber, castor, toe added, Racetech fixed back bucket seat on Super Low Bride rail, Nardi wood grain, Autometer water and oil temp and oil pressure and a bolt in half cage.









Mechanically it’s had an oil cooler plumbed up, 3x electric fans and ducting added, Walbro 255l/hr internal fuel pump, cut-and-shut plenum to reduce the intercooler piping, and recently a Power FC. It made 216kw at the wheels on 9psi with a nice safe air/fuel across the board. Standard injectors and ceramic turbo remain in place.





It started off rolling on 17x9 Advan SA3Rs, stripped and centres repainted gold with the lips polished. I collected another four of these so now have eight 17x9 +38 as spares for the track. Then some VS-XX popped up for sale (17x9 +22, 17x9.5 +26) that I bought and had refurbished. Fronts have 25mm spacers so they are sitting at -2, while the rears have been a work in progress. As I’ve been searching for more grip as I’ve progressed I’ve been pulling rear camber out, but because it tucks almost the whole sidewall I’ve had to reduce the space to clear the guards. Currently it sits at 13mm of space, so an effective offset of +13. I may have to pull the guards a little to allow me to get the camber to -0.5deg without having to reduce the spacing anymore. The Advan’s run anything from a 215 to a 235 so need to have a variation of space so I fitted extra-long studs to allow a variety of spacing.



Getting the car to events can be expensive, hiring/buying a transporter trailer and running a daily with enough grunt to tow it. To reduce the weight to allow a lower-powered/more economical daily I went for an a-frame set up that hitches up to the tow hooks. The S13’s taillights have trailer wiring spliced into them and run through the car to the front where a trailer plug sits ready to be unwound and plugged into the back of the daily (1998 C35 Nissan Laurel RB20DE). In NZ it’s not illegal to a-frame unroadworthy cars, for now anyway, so it’s worked out well. The locked diff makes the tow car predictably push a little in the rear, but it tracks really well.







Lately I’ve started tidying it up, with the bonnet the first panel to be repainted. I’ve redone the ducting in the front and tidied the butchered front bumper support. Next are the cam covers which will be done in black wrinkle paint, then try to source a small boot spoiler to hand off the rear (possibly Origin).



It’s next outing is middle of next month and I’m running new tyres on the rear for the first time. They aren’t anything flash (215/45/17 Austyres) but at $90 each I can’t complain. The last day saw pairs only lasting an average of 7 laps of a 30sec 3rd-2nd-3rd three corner section.









So thats where its up to, been a good solid car so far and hope it continues to do so. No huge plans in the near future, just keep doing around an event a month and having fun with it.

Let me know what you think.

[BenRice]

Some vids of us:

https://vimeo.com/24762753

https://vimeo.com/45809565

Taupo Track 3 - 2/2/2013 - YouTube

[R3VO 3VOM]

I like those skyline wheels. And that interior! Looks so clean with those s15 seats.

[Vatche]

i love two tones and vsxx. and people who take care of their cars.

its a win, in my book.

oh and your steering wheel reminds me of mine

[BenRice]

Thanks guys. Its not that tidy, its got rust around the sunroof and and A pillars. I crashed it over a year ago, ~70kmh into armco with the passenger side rear quarter bearing the brunt. The quarter has been repaired and one top coat added until it gets a full repaint in two tone still of course.

The kit has taken a bashing, but i'm toying with the idea of going BN on stock metal. Not 100% convinced, will probably hold out for Dmax.

[BenRice]

Chris @ Freshly Whipped (Freshly Whipped -) has taken some cool shots of it over the years:

[Boorito]

Your car is fantastic, I love it.

[2tonecoupegrl]

Interesting aluminum panels around the fmic and neat silvia!

[BenRice]

Yeah the aluminium panels were needed to keep it cool. With the RB engine there isnt much space behind the radiator to put fans on or to allow a vacuum to draw air through. There is one slim 12" on the RHS but two 12" on the front. The ducting fits into the Vertex front bumper and around the headlights perfectly and ensures any air going around the intercooler gets channelled into the radiator. It used to run at around 82-83deg celsius on the open road without the ducting and the fans on, getting over 100deg after 3 laps of hard running at the track. Now it sits at 75-76deg on the open road and i can hammer it hard at the track for 8-10 laps without it getting over 100deg. Havent tried going longer than 10 laps as the tyres dont last past that :P

[Big Zee]

Another two tone!!
Love it! it looks really good, and well maintained!

how is it not road worthy though ? looks solid to me

[BenRice]

Thanks man, yours looks pretty sweet too.

We have 6 monthly roadworthy tests and pretty strict laws on modifications. This would fail on having a welded diff, being lower than the certified heights by about 2", the bolt-in roll cage isnt certified and the tyre stretch isnt legal either (215/40 on 9" and 215/45 on 9.5).

The tester's dont normally pick up the locked diff or the tyre stretch but the ride height and roll cage are an issue every time.

Ive got the viscous R200 LSD that the car came with so will shim it up, pull out the half cage, swap some legal wheels on and raise it after the tidy up process is complete and get it back legal. Then undo all that until next time it needs a check!

[BenRice]

After the track day on the weekend the old girl is looking a bit worse for wear. Thankfully it’s mainly superficial.



First of all, the day started at 5am and cold (3deg C) in my hometown. Fog greeted me halfway into the 2hr trip, but the early morning rise paid off and meant I was first in the line and had first choice of the pits.



The track was looking picturesque in the morning sun and fog



I put a pair of the new 215/45 Austyre's on for the first session. I found out after briefing I'd been bumped to the top class too. First session I struck it lucky and had fresh track, hammering out 5-6 laps before feeling the tyres get a lot harder.



Stupidly my confidence had grown and was throwing it earlier and faster each lap in, not accounting for the slipperier tyres. On lap 8 I entered early and fast, putting my foot down hard, only to find no forward drive and heading straight for the outer tyre wall at ~100kmh. I feathered the throttle to get what drive I could, gaining enough to narrowly avoid contact. I got so close I could hear the exhaust get louder, echoing off the tyre wall. Thankfully the cool down flag was out and it was in to the pits.

I knew I had been hammering it pretty hard, but was surprised to find only 1mm left on the tyres! New tyres down to 1mm in 1 session was unheard of, for me and the car.









Anyway, next pair of new tyres fitted and I started by chasing Joel Patterson and his tidy grey AE86 hatch. It was great to find someone who entered the same speed as me into the hairpin, and being a turbo 4AGE it didn't put out too much smoke so I could see where I was going. I mucked up my turns at leading, but got progressively closer to him each chase run, so took a lot away from it.

Next session another driver clipped a tyre on the last corner, dragging it onto the track, just where my right hand corner goes. Having no option at ~90kmh I ploughed into it. It smashed the right hand corner off the bumper, smashed the mounts off the corner light and bent the ducting pretty bad. But nothing that some hammers and cable ties couldn't fix. Thankfully the oil cooler and intercooler piping were undamaged.



A mate and myself unbolted the ducting and hammered it as best we could and reassembled. We cable tied up the bumper as best we could and went out again.







Sadly, I struck a session with a lot of spins and didn't get many clean runs. The next saw that damn tyre out again on the final corner. The marshal's took half the session to move it, by then I was ropeable.

The final session saw my tie rod inner pull itself out of the rack. It must have been unwinding over the past few events, finally ripping the last few threads. I frantically repaired it in time to load up and tow home. So a day with only two really good sessions, and two frustrating ones, and one with only one corner.

I'm hoping the next day in July holds a better organised day and more track time. The front bumper needs some surgery, but it will add to its character.

Test fitting one of my mates BN side skirts to see how much I need to pump the rear metal to make the rear wheels not look sunk. I've also been offered a FK Type 2 front bar and side skirts for stupid cheap. Just waiting on the width of it to come through (to see if my current track isn't too sunk). If it’s too wide I’ll stick with Vertex and get a fresh copy.

[Supra_Lover]

Y u no update!?!?

[BenRice]

Because nothing much has happened. Will update after this weekend's drift day once pics turned up.

Since the last day I've stitched the front bumper back together, fixed the corner light, got a wheel alignment, had a pair of new tyres fitted and a couple rotated. Nothing picture worthy really.

Am using Hydrogen in the tyres to see if it will help keep the pressures from increasing so quickly.

And my FK Type 2 front and sides should turn up next week with any luck.

[Supra_Lover]

Sounds great,thx!!

[BenRice]

So the drift day saw torrential rain, cold wind and temperatures of around 8deg celsius. After the first session was done i went to go start it to find it dead. Suspected a blown fuse as we had no cover for the cars, let alone ourselves. Packed up at lunchtime as it was pointless. Got it home to find i left the fans on. Rookie mistake but wasnt feeling it anyway. Save the fuel for another day.

Good news was I had a pressie waiting for me when i got home. Some quick trim ming with the grinder and boom.



With the front another 10mm lower it will look tight.

Side skirts are a little lower than the Vertex but not as much as i had hoped. Ahwell, its cheap and i can re sell and make good money if i decide to pursue BN.

[BenRice]

To give you an idea of how wet it was:



And the side skirt doesnt normally sit like that, bottom ziptie on the rear had come off it.

[BenRice]

[bc.]

:O that R32 @ 2:10, just pumping water out of the back!

[BenRice]

Hes a 17yo that can drive pretty well but is a massive tool. Competes in our national Pro-am series and ignores a lot of rules and generally pisses the organisers off.

The cream Cefiro with the weird tints is RB30E (ie single cam, non turbo) run by my mate Neal, has cost all of NZD$3k to throw together. Can do this track in the dry too, check the blog for some vids of it entering with epic 4th gear manjis in the dry.

The gunmetal s13 with orange gram lights is my mate Tom's, running 285rwkw SR, Tomei ARMS turbo, PFC and a lot of genuine parts.

[BenRice]

Another from the day and another from Chris.



Got some work done on the weekend. Dropped my LSD off to get shimmed and my mechanic (and local Pro series driver, Dave Steedman) turned it around within the day. Then I swapped the bucket seat and rails for my S15 drivers seat and started removing the cage. Also tidied up the spare wheel well as it had a lot of surface rust, so spent some quality time with the wire wheel and electric drill.

So next weekend the plan is to swap the welded diff for the shimmed diff, raise the suspension and finish removing the half cage. Then on a following weekend i'll drive her down to Dave and get a new front pipe fabbed up (current one has been smashed down to 2") along with the flexi that's been sitting there patiently to be fitted and get a few other holes filled due to scraping/impacts.

After all that's done it'll hopefully fly through its test, so fingers crossed.

[eshr32]

I remember seeing this car on rimtuck, nice to see the build here!

[BenRice]

Thanks man.

Not many pics but figured i'd update where I'm at.



Well she's all street legal! Amazing really, only had to raise it 15mm at the back and 20mm at the front and replace a few bulbs. Have a intermitent connection on one of the rear bulbs but otherwise it's pretty good! Celebrated by linking up a couple of corners on my way home (drive them every day in the daily, always wanted to hit them in the S13).

Drove it down to our national gourmet burger franchise Burgerfuel, (who sponsor my mates girlfriend with her time attack Evo) then to work yesterday and then to the gym. Apart from the iminent sound of disaster coming from the halfshafts it's so easy to drive.

Back up to my mates shed this weekend to lower it back down, fab up the new front pipe (will grab pics) and do a gearbox oil change while it's on the hoist. FK bumper and sides are with a mate getting sprayed too. Also on the lookout for bonnet pins as i want to take it for decent trips now and i don't trust the latch that's just bogged into the fibreglass bonnet. Also looking into doing a blue window tint (Suntek 50%) on this and the daily Laurel. Hoping for something like this:



The Laurel will be the next to receive some love. Have sideskirts and rear lip from a M34 Stagea at a mates that we measured and will fit. Also have a set of cheap 18x8 and 9 VIP style wheels that just need the last of the spray paint removed and a good polish. Also hunting out some cheap chinese adjustable rear camber arms to reduce the -4deg it runs due to the super low 5zigen lowering springs and s14 shocks in the rear with standard camber arms. Finally, plan is to bring in a FRP front lip and roof wing in from Japan in the next container from Ewan for it and get them colour matched and fitted along with the sideskirts and rear lip. Hope to have that all done by the end of summer here.

On a more practical side, i'm investigating how hard it will be to fit a 12V air compressor and air tank in the boot of the Laurel, with the idea to run an impact gun off it for wheel changes and be able to pump up tyre pressures at the track. Will tighten and break the nuts by hand, just using the impact gun to speed up the winding with the long wheel studs. Looks like i'll need a beefy compressor, something that can flow at least 5cfm for the gun so the ARB twin cylinder heavy duty setup seems to be the best option. The Laurel has the fuel tank in between the strut towers, leaving a 1.2m x .3m x .25m cavity above it in the boot, perfect for an air tank. The reason for going for compressed air instead of a 18v cordless impact gun is that i have a compressor at home so can reuse the impact gun and hose on that.

Will update with pics of the front pipe and proper ride height after this weekend.

[BenRice]

So weekend was productive.

As S13 owners will know, running a 3" exhaust out of harm's way is a bit tricky, especially the front pipe. Still, we thought we'd have a go at it and see how high we could get it without it hitting the floor or the road. We also had a flexi to fit which has an overall diameter of around 3 and a half inch. The ideal scenario was to sit it above the chassis rails, letting them take any impacts.

So on the hoist she went (sorry, all photos taken with a potato operated by Michael J. Fox)





We unbolted the front pipe and immediately struck issues.



Luckily i had a chinese dump pipe i had been meaning to fit but hadnt until i had a flexi fitted. With one going on today there was no better time than now!

Next we got the rear section sitting where we wanted, cut off the back half of the front pipe and bolt that up to the rear half and decided where to put the flexi. It's placement was a bit further back than is ideal but due to space constraints under the dump pipe (would have meant a sharp bend after it to avoid hanging low) and after the bend (lowest point of front pipe) it was the next best spot for it.

Cue the sledge hammer. We managed to smash about 15mm of clearance out of the floor, enough to give the exhaust 5-8mm clearance on all spots, and end up with this view when lining up the chassis rails:



That's the front pipe bending up towards the dump pipe on the left. So, great success!



A spot of paint and she was sorted



I changed the gearbox oil while she was on the hoist too, and dropped the ride height back down to where it was pre-road worthy test. I forgot to plug the O2 sensor in on the way home but thankfully it didnt melt the plug.

I took the a-frame up to my mates as well and we dummied up how we were going to mount a removable subframe to the top of the a-frame to carry the front bumper on it. We decided to leave it until my FK kit was done as it sits lower than the Vertex and we wanted to make sure it could take both front bumpers.

Just need to put the extra 5mm spacers on the rear to get it back to how i want, but i am undecided on whether to leave them off and pull some more camber out of it (it currently sits at -2.3deg) or put the spacers back on and leave it.

[BenRice]

Drove car to work last week.



Still driving it now as got sent wrong replacement shock absorbers for the Laurel last week. Get a few looks and have a few people taking pictures of it at traffic lights which is a first and a bit of an egorub.

Laurel's new wheels should be ready today: Work Eurolines in 18x8 (+38) and 18x9 (+45) so will be breaking out some spare spacers. They came in poor condition and someone had spray canned the centres. No metal polishers or chemical strippers in the town i live so had to go with sandblast and powder coat in a silver finish. Not ideal, but for NZ$300 for the wheels i wasnt going to worry too much. At NZ$60 a wheel for blasting and coating, then another NZ$460 for 225/40s and 235/40s it's still NZ$1000 in wheels for the daily. The adjustable camber arms in the rear should help eliminate some of the camber wear too.

And if anyone can help with buying and sending some SunTek High Performance 50% Blue window tint it would be much appreciated. Local distributors dont stock it. Can PayPal through the money and some extra for your time.

[TheFresHesT]

I love coups very nice pics and clean car

[BenRice]

Thanks man. Picked up the Eurolines a couple of hours ago and will trial fit them on the Laurel tonight. They look good, pity they don't have centre caps. My tyre fitter did a great job of not marking the freshly coated wheels.

Am hoping to win an auction on a Navan S14 wing tonight for the S13. Already in silver too. And pick up my FK Type 2 front and sides from my painter this weekend as well. Will update with pics as it all unfolds.

Am going to a test day on Sunday as crew for a mate but will drive the S13 along for shits and giggles seeing as though its road legal. The word around the traps is that the C's Garage cars will be attending for a shakedown (featured on Speedhunters last week).

[BenRice]

Could put 25mm spacers on but would need guard work and i CBF'd, so will just throw some 5mm slip ons at it all round and call it done. And spray the hub caps silver. Proper shocks should turn up for it tomorrow thanks to my mate.

And this makes me elated:



Removable frame so I can fit the bumper to the a-frame when in transit. Just waiting for my FK bumper to be finished to finalise the mount height.

[Oakville]

Really nice man! Digging the two tone.

Dumb question but I don't know anyone in NZ...How does it work in a country without required insurance? Like, you can drive anything without it? What happens in the event of a collision with someone who isnt insured?

[BenRice]

Thanks man.

If a driver without insurance hits someone with insurance then the insurance company will pursue the individual for the cost of repairs, taking them to court (or small claims court) if need be.