When I was trawling the net for Daruma information I came across this little dude on eBay and had to have him.
Official Disney merch.
I’ve ordered a whole lot of original (traditional) Japanese Daruma Dolls Zen Garage, they’re landed, will take pics of them ASAP. Still trying to hunt myself down a massive Daruma Be@rbrick too.
My DC2R @ JDMyard.
Exedy lightened flywheel and sports organic clutch kit.
Hardrace goods.
More Hardrace goods!
Fresh new Honda OEM clutch master cylinder.
Flywheel installed.
Old vs new control arms, you can see the old stuff was off centre already.
Old vs New sway bar bushings.
The car has been my trusty daily driver since I bought it, and whilst I was initially upset with the lack of torque (given that I came from owning a Golf GTI) I’m finding myself liking the car more and more.
Last week the car had it’s 175,000KM service at TOP ONE AUTO. Dedy found that there was water in the boot due to leaking seals, he’s got these on order from Honda. I’ll fit them as soon as they get in. He also found a broken rear engine mount. That got me thinking about replacing all the engine mounts, and basically started the whole – should I mod it, or should I just freshen it up state of thinking all over again.
After doing my head in (as I do!) I’ve decided to just to freshen up the car and keep it stock. I’ve always felt that the steering isn’t as sharp as a DC2R should be so bushings had to be replaced, the clutch pedal is so wussy you could put it down with your pinky, it takes up a bit late too which I gate so I wanted to change that too. I also felt the shifter wasn’t as notchy and tight as it should be. I did think it could be because of the broken rear engine mount, but I was up for a shifter bushing replacement too.
I dropped in to visit Zi, Yonas and David at the new JDMyard. Damn it’s massive! I love it! They’ve got a workshop now too, so I just left the car with them overnight.
This is what I ended up buying:
Exedy sports organic clutch kit
Exedy lightened flywheel
Honda OEM clutch master cylinder
Hardrace engine mounts
Hardrace shifter bushing
Hardrace front lower control arms
Hardrace front compliance bushing set
Hardrace front sway bar bushing set
Hardrace front upper arm bushing set
Hardrace rear lower control arms
Hardrace rear sway bar bushing set
Hardrace rear sway bar end links
Hardrace rear sway bar collar bushing set
Motul Gearbox oil
I’ve not yet had a wheel alignment done, but of-course there were some major differences instantly apparent.
Engine mounts: First thing I noticed when turning the key was the extra vibration from the engine mounts. Unlike a DC5R, there’s definitely no doubt at all that your car is on! The steering wheel visually shakes! I can understand how some people would absolutely hate this (shakes even more when A/C is on), but I’ve always upgraded engine mounts for more feel, especially the feeling of more response when accelerating. One thing I didn’t count on was a lot of extra engine noise. The sound literally fills the cabin now and I love it!
Clutch/Flywheel: The clutch was the next thing I noticed, it’s meaty and punchy now (where it was crazy soft and sticky before), what’s best is that it takes up very early making the car much easier to drive both smoothly, and more aggressively. The lightened flywheel is instantly apparent as well when clutching in from high revs.
Hardrace bushings: Strangely the first thing I noticed with the upgraded bushings was more braking power. The brake pedal is a lot grabbier now. I put this down to less movement in the suspension. The vague “play” in the steering wheel is gone, where before I could move the steering wheel a little left and right and have the car not move at all, it’s now connected. The shifter bushing kit has given me back that nice notchy feel when slotting into gear, still doesn’t feel as tight as a really fresh DC2R though, perhaps my gearbox is just a little tired.
So as I write this I’d much rather be out there driving what feels like my brand new DC2R. I’ll book in for a wheel alignment and report back ASAP.
Happy Chef peg ordering system.
Chicken Laksa.
Spicy Beef Laksa with Wontons.
Relentless rainy weather and laksa cravings drove us to call a few fave laksa houses, but being a public holiday they were closed. Google led us to Happy Chef (Sussex Street Food Court), what many believe to be Sydney’s best Laksa. Was it the best Laksa I’ve ever had? Nope, but it was good and it warmed up the soul.
Excitement! New 86 @ Zen Garage.
Angry face, ugly colour but!
Boxer heart. Lots of room to play with in here, that big box in the middle at the front is there just to quieten down the induction noise which suggests some pretty conservative design which I’m sure tuners will amend in a hurry.
Later that Saturday this Toyota 86 dropped in to Zen. Everyone dropped what they were doing, myself included, and ran out to gawk at it. For all of us it was the first time we’ve laid eyes on one, and as much as I wanted to not like it so much… I liked it so much!
It’s not as small as everyone’s making it out to be, interior is neat enough, it’s got an angry face which reminds me of a mini LFA, it’s got fat pipes and it’s boxer engine sounds meaty on revs too.
All of a sudden I want one, again!
Alfa’s Euro.
The lens loves it.
Manning the shop alone today. Beastie Boys on full blast, hot cars, sun’s out too!
Narada and I packing all the APA books into padded bags.
Gotta love IKEA bags. Each book is 800g, we had too many books for 2 bags!
We got stung HARD at the post office! HARD! :(
APA books FINALLY got sent out today. My hand got so cramped up writing addresses, then filling out declaration forms for each and every parcel to go overseas, reminded me of being back in high school doing the HSC!
We’ve got quite a few books left over, so we’ll be selling them to try to re-coup our massive loss (we paid out of our own pockets for printing and shipping). If you’re curious, you can view the entries here: http://automotivephotographyawards.com
Self inking.
Lovely.
On our plain brown paper shopping bags.
We love our new rubber stamp :) Massive thanks to Speedy Stamps, awesome service, crazy fast 1 day turnaround!
I broke the Lucky Cat @ Zen Garage. Doesn’t help that I’m superstitious :(
Justin, working hard… oh wait! He’s bludging on facebook!
Meet Justin Narayan, the new guy @ Zen Garage. Justin has a background in writing for various automotive magazines; Zoom, Extreme Performance, Hot Fours, Custom Hod Rods, Custom Choppers and The Circuit to name a few. He’s a down to earth car nut, and a real man too as he smokes Marlboro Reds. Look forward to feature articles from Justin (we might have to give him a new name too as having two Justins in the garage has already been quite confusing!).
Mini Countryman.
Sergio dropped into Zen with this Mini Cooper S Countryman and I couldn’t resist taking it for a spin. It’s pretty big and you sit pretty high up in it. I’m still not a fan of the mini’s interior. It’s crazy over the top, kitch almost and the massive speedo in the middle of the dash is just plain silly, tradition, or not. This Countryman was an auto which really did take the fun out of it’s zippy little engine. Whilst I’ve been loathing driving a manual on bad traffic days I’m not sure I could ever handle a full auto again… clutchless manuals (like the DSG gearbox in my old GTI) are a great compromise me thinks.