Category Archives: Cars

Spot the me! Nooooo! I hate being in front of the camera, haha!

New owner driving NA8C home.

On a whim the other morning I put up an EOI on my MX-5. I was never meant to sell this car as it’s my second NA8C, and this time I was going to go all the way, flares and a high comp engine. I’d bought some stupid expensive rare parts for this car. Stuff that is totally not worth the money. I even had a spare engine too, but my looming Japan trip (want more spending money!) combined with the loss of Zen Garage as a place to store my cars pushed me to put up an EOI, and as soon as I did the interest came in fast.

$5k, $6k, $7k offers came flying at me. Just when I was going to sleep on the $7k offer an offer of $7500 dropped. I decided to ask for $8k and had a mate keen on the car, as well as a kid who knows the car well, has seen it in real life and he was just waiting for insurance money to clear (as his MX-5 was totalled in an accident which wasn’t his fault). I then got a call whilst I was at Zen from a guy who dropped in and boom, he took it. I feel bad for the kid who really wanted it, and my other mate had taken the cash out and dropped by later that afternoon despite the car already being sold!

It’s amazing what a detailed build thread can do when it comes time to sell a car. The build thread on JDMST was so many pages long. Every time someone asked me about the car I just sent them to the build thread instead.

The snap above is of the new owner driving the car away. Locked into memory now, it’s always sad seeing your cars drive away at the hands of their new owners!

Skylines Australia (SAU) celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R last Saturday. I really wanted to go and represent, but I’m not a morning person (I get up at 5-6am most morning but don’t get out of the house until 10-11am!).

On Friday night I saw old mate Adrian Hodgson make a call out on his facebook page looking to borrow an R32 GT-R for a day. I knew it had to do with the SAU meet. Adrian’s the editor of Performance Garage Magazine (my car’s on the cover this month btw! Perhaps a blog post on that soon) and turns out he wanted to cover the event.

Without too much thought (because if I think too much I get paranoid and just end up doing nothing at all) I let him take my car to the event. Turns out he hired gun photographer Matthew Everingham to shoot the event too so I’m looking forward to the photos!

For now, enjoy this one shot above by Stefan Trajkovski.

PS: I always love hearing the positive feedback from everyone who gets to drive RB26. Adrian made a lot of mates driving my car (many who thought he was Justin Fox, haha!), many thumbs ups too (I’m always getting the thumbs up when driving this car). Newfound love, the feedback always brings it home!

PPS: The price of these cars (well, my car) is finally going up. Last weekend I received the biggest offer on the car to date. I was tempted… for all of 10 seconds! Haha, the car is not for sale!

First up I had to check out this NSX which I’ve seen in the window of this dealership for years. It’s a targa (boo). Lovely though, really, what a car.

Low km’s (I thought it might have been brand new with no km’s but I was wrong).

STI in the showroom looking pretty damn aggressive.

The WRX Pou was testing.

Inside with Charlie at the wheel.

The BRZ we tested.

Golf R looking great in red.

Race mode please!

Yesterday I tagged along with my soon to be flatmate Pou (pronounced ‘Poy’) who has a $50k budget to buy a new car. He’s been driving a manual Toyota RAV4 forever (it’s his first car) and what makes all of this more interesting for me is that Pou’s not a ‘car guy’.

Initially Pou asked me about the new Toyota 86, but that wasn’t going to have any more power than his RAV4, and I thought he’d definitely enjoy something that would whip people off the lights so after some help from Facebook friends we booked in a WRX and a Golf R too.

First up we visited my old mate Charlie at Tynan Subaru in Sutherland. Pou got a big drive in this car, in all sorts of conditions. Being passenger in the WRX as Pou threw it through some 15km hairpins in the twisties scared the shit out of me (pretty sure Charlie would have been scared too lol), but the WRX was a champ, so much grip. I’m truly impressed. The car is so quiet and super comfy too (quite softly sprung), 1st gear is short and doesn’t really go anywhere but grab 2nd and power comes on mid to high which was surprising to me (I thought it would have been more low to mid range power). Pou had a blast driving the WRX.

Next up was the BRZ, which Charlie thought we might as well test considering it’s what Pou originally wanted. Both Charlie and I had to remind Pou not to drive it like he drove the WRX in fear of us crashing! Pou instantly felt more connected to the car, he felt he was sitting lower in the car and he loved the meatier clutch feel and notchy gear shift too. He even compared it to a go kart. A few times when I caught him just cruising around I got him to smash the accelerator through the floor in 3rd gear and yup, no power at all, nothing. I just felt that it was important he realise how truly gutless these cars are in comparison to a WRX and R (turbo vs NA).

We thought he might take the backroads to work in the BRZ, more corners, more fun, but then again he could take the backroads in the WRX too, it’s a tough call.

Next up was Barloworld in Mascot but by the time we got there they were shutting. I opened up my mouth though and next minute we were handed the keys to a new Golf R, in red too of all colours. She looked stunning and took Pou by surprise. Pou instantly realised the interior is a much nicer place to be than the WRX or BRZ. Unfortunately for Pou the car was DSG, which confused him (as expected for all first timers to DSG). Driving an R in auto mode just sux as the car tries to grab 6th gear as soon as possible. We understeered on a big roundabout, tyres protesting quite loudly, the R definitely doesn’t grip as well as a WRX (short wheelbase on the R doesn’t help here). Unfortunately the R is way over the $50k budget and there is no manual until later this year so Pou is booked in the test drive the GTI in manual next weekend (which I think he’ll like more than the R anyways as the GTI’s lighter and should feel a lot more fun to drive than the R). So until next weekend, all is on ice!

I’m on a bus.

I’m on a ferry.

Hopping off the ferry was amazing. Where in the world was I? Cam river waters, no traffic, no noise… so peaceful I almost felt like I was holidays.

Beyond Limit Autos. Oh, there’s my Golf! And Adam’s too!

All mine again!

Loved this Lotus Jack was working on. It’s a full resto, chassis up and EFI conversion too.

Quads?! Man this car is going to be amazing when it’s finished.

Jack took some photos for me whilst working on the car. This is the new belt.

The fraying belt damaged some wires. Jack ended up re-doing this wiring loom (he did a really nice job of it too).

Under the engine, something’s leaking!

Turns out it was a very small part and it’s been leaking on boost so Jack suggests I’ve been losing power (not that I’ve noticed though). It has now been replaced!

This is the main issue. It’s the shaft of a bearing on the left side of the engine (part of the supercharger kit). The hard surface has worn right down. Jack is sourcing a replacement now from overseas so I’ll have to go back in when parts arrive.

I was wondering how the hell I was going to get to Rydalmere to pick up my Golf. The guys on the VWGolf Forums suggested I catch a Ferry as BLA are apparently really close to Rydalmere Wharf. They weren’t lying! BLA is literally the closest shop to the Ferry wharf!

Was such a nice day to be out in the sun, so warm and considering I never catch public transport, it was a bit of a treat! Jack from Beyond Limit Autos was awesome, great to finally meet him (the guys on the forum talk very highly of him and he is the guy who built my car when he worked at Ramspeed).

VW RPRSNT!

Low car friendly!

Once you’re on Bill raises the trailer then you can open your door without it hitting any part of the trailer at all.

Massive thanks to Billvich Lo Tow for transporting my car to Beyond Limit Autos. His pull car is awesome and his trailer is something else!!!!!!!

A while back I started to hear a (new) noise from the supercharger. I got it checked out, but the main belt was fine. The other night I heard an altogether different noise. I pulled over, popped the bonnet and saw that a much smaller belt had frayed so bad that bits of the belt were everywhere and parts of the belt were pretty damn close to snapping! Hopefully a belt replacement is all that’s needed, fingers crossed!