With the coupe underway (more on this soon), I wanted to shift the primary purpose of the hatch to improving my driving. For me, this means swapping out non-expendable parts for easily replaceable parts that I wouldn’t mind getting damaged (as much). When you start pushing your driving, you start to make mistakes so I want those mistakes to be as painless (and inexpensive) as possible! I’ll be running the following:
- A three-piece wheel up front (any impact to the wheel will cost $150 in lip replacement and a few hours of work)
- Vert doors with the nub cut off (heavier, but don’t care if they get hit)
- My old hood from when I wrecked the car at Summit Point
- Pignose bumper w/ aftermarket bash bar
- Chuki skirts
- A cut rear aftermarket bumper and bash bar
- Stock taillights (can’t smash kouki tails!)
This year, I also want to experiment with how I set the car up. I’ve been driving with 12-14 degrees of front camber for almost 3 years now. The look is killer, and I am enamored with the presence front camber adds to a car. The issue is, the entry at Spirit can be dodgy at times when you rely on front grip to feint aggressively towards the wall, and using 1/3 of my tire for that grip makes me a bit anxious. I dropped from 14 degrees to 7 degrees!
I bid farewell to the arms I extended 35mm – they have served their purpose and can now retire in peace! Running a stock S13 FLCA now:
Next, I wanted to use an aftermarket rear bash bar to absorb impact better – but wanted an OEM-style bumper. I had some junky aftermarket bumper laying around, and I decided to cut it along the body line. You can see where I marked below:
Goal was to have an easily removable, factory looking bumper.
Next, I wanted semi-cool cheap taillights (nothing can replace kouki tails), so I found some crusty stock taillights that someone had plasti dipped black. Gross. So I started sanding:
Then I started sanding on the others, and prepared for paint:
Oh yeah, did a two-piece lip modification, gotta love bridge joints!
Overall, I’m content with the new style. The car lacks the same cool demeanor it had before, but I’m down to start experimenting with both functional drift setups and aesthetic changes. After a few test-drives, the car does feel quite stout and I thoroughly enjoyed the increased peace-of-mind of having less front camber! I also enjoyed practicing my painting on the rear bumper and learned more about technique:
Having matching camber front and rear on a drift car is something…. different. I could get used to this!
Here’s a shot of the taillights, they turned out kinda cool. Seven coats of red translucent paint on the amber portion, four on the reverse lights, and two coats of red on the whole taillight. Topped it off with four coats of clear on everything, then wet-sanded and buffed after!
That’s all for now – stay tuned for an update on how it performs on the track and a post on my coupe project!
-JuanLo