Just checking in

Well it's been a while since I posted...again... But enough has been going on that I might have enough to ramble on about. I've finally made a decision on where to take the Celica. Between silly and classy, I've decided I'm going to make it (drumroll please) BOTH, just not at the same time. Since most of it is there, I'm going to restore it. Not so track oriented seats, full interior, power steering (maybe Jules, maybe), and the lot. The interior is coming along, just need new seats and to work on the back. I'll leave it that way for a while. Then bodywork. A bit of paint, a few dents pulled, and a front and rear spoiler, nothing big though. Yeah, it could be nice. I've got door hinges and a handbrake cable on the way, and I'm going to try to fix the ignition to accept the key, if I can find the damn piece. I really want to make it so that anyone (not pointing any fingers) can borrow it and not have trouble with it. Then when I have money to really build it, I'm ordering a widebody, new suspension and steering, and an SR20DET. Hillclimb Celica, hell yeah. But again, that's when I have money, so years from now. I'm very impressed with the classic Celica community. They're a friendly and helpful bunch, albeit small. There's 2 guys in Greenville alone with the same generation Celica as me. It's awesome. My only qualm with getting into the Celica is that I've been neglecting the Z. It's needed some minor work that I could do easily, but the Celica is coming along so quickly I keep putting it off. That's not to say the Celica is my new car. I still say "My Car" and "The Celica". While the Celica is fun, The Z still feels like home. I crank it up and cruise around about once a week. It's my weekend car. It's my old companion, and the Celica is just a project. I really need to get around to it. Once the Celica has a full interior or there is a lull in working on it, the Z is getting a nice wash and wax and the attention she deserves. I've decided it needs the TT with a 5spd. About $2.5k and it'll happen. It's nice to know exactly what I want out of it. I know the bodywork I want to do, the wheels I want, and the suspension I want for it. I'm going to make it an amazing street car, something with more class than a Aston. Very understated and smooth. I find it interesting how I'm coming through in the way I'm building my cars. The Celica is my jokey side, but the Z is the understated side of me.

Most people use paint or language as a medium for art. The machines in my stable are the perfect medium for me. The process just takes a while longer.

Wait, what happened?

Well this is a week or so late but shit has hit the fan with my cars. Driving the Z back up to Clemson, some electrical gremlin reared it's evil head and it had to limp back home. That left me with the porsche (see previous review) which was less than enjoyable. As good judgement showed, I got the Celica up here as soon as possible, and the porsche decided to eat itself. Something along the lines of the reverse gear in it decided it wanted to play, rough housing within the transmission ensued, and now reverse is dead, the other gears are worse for wear, and the housing is cracked. So Z=in the shop, 944=out like a light. But wait, that leaves me with the Celica. The Celica that leaks water if the thermostat opens. The Celica that has a non functioning fuel pump. The Celica that has more rattles than a desert snake pit. Busted door hinge, leaking oil, and it just keeps going. It has become my daily driver. It's inconvenient and annoying, but it's still carrying me around. Well now a new windshield, new radiator, and new fuel pump are on the way. Not in the works, not the next thing to do, on the way. So that leaves, what, an oil leak? It's miniscule and will be fixed as well. Then what's wrong with it? Rattles? Fixed with an hour and some fire retardant padding. And then... seats? It's shaping up to be a fairly nice car quicker than I imagined. Call it necessity or effort. Call it what you want, but the car is seriously coming to life. The only problem I'm facing is whether or not to continue the pursuit of laughs in favor of building a nice street car. On the one hand, the ironic ricerness of the car is so much fun. "Is that a mini mayonnaise jar? Let's hang it from the bumper!" is just one of the insane and childish things we've said and done. It is unabashedly fun to ride around in it, idling like a boat and cutting a tire loose and generally making a scene. It is the kind of car everyone wants but no one is willing to deal with or be seen in. On the other hand, it is an interesting looking car and is lightweight. I could tone down the stickers, clean everything up, and build a respectably performing classic JDM machine. I'd like to find a nice medium, silly but serious, ricer but respectable. The sad truth is that a balance that contradictory is hard to achieve. I really ought to get a plan and stick to it, but the decision of where to take the car becomes harder every day.

I hate falling in love.

It is truly a dark day. I have done something I vowed to myself some months ago I would never do. I can blame it on the words of the people around me, or the things I can do because of it, but it is entirely my doing and there's no escaping that simple fact. I have fallen in love with that plucky little Toyota. I have found a friend in the heaving groaning mess of a machine, a car with more character than many people in this world. I can not deny that I have become attached in a profound way to this car that I shouldn't own in the first place. I cleaned the inside, I washed and waxed it. I'm fixing things that aren't necessary and it's starting to look better. It's getting it's second wind, rejuvenated and soon will be ready to kick some ass. But I can't treat it like a machine anymore...

My plans keep changing. I have a basic idea of what I want: a car that can do everything. But it's the method that I'm flip flopping on. Half of me wants to save up, drive her around the way she is, and eventually tear her down, paint her, and do a 1-JZ swap. She'd have, as near as makes no difference, 300 hp and 270 ft-lbs of torque. She would be the fastest car I own. She'd be insane and impressive and the apple of everyone's eye. But she wouldn't be MY car. The other half of me has gotten intensely accustomed to the 4-pot that's in her. It's snarly and spits and coughs. I feel like the chassis could handle being ludicrously quick, but that's not what I need in my life. I need fun, I need unique, I need myself. She may not be the strongest thing out there, she may not be the fastest, nor the smartest, nor impressively handsome, but she's determined and quirky. She is new belts, a new intake, fuel system, electrical system, and header from being twice as powerful. Yes she'll still be a bit of a pig, but she'll be a happy little high revving piggy with a smile on her snout and a friend behind the wheel.

So here's me being selfish. Here's me saying that I'm going to do what I damn well please and I don't want to hear what everyone else has to say. I'll build a monster when I have money. But until then, I'm starting my automotive family. I am and always will be smitten by the Aztec Red beauty that I'm identified by, but I have found room in my heart for the goofy little yota that sits just out my window as I type this.

...she broke down on me yesterday. I was driving back from Myrtle Beach. She ran fine for about an hour and a half, then lost power on the section of the highway with no shoulder. She stopped in the right hand lane in mid day traffic. It wasn't until I pleaded with the car to run that she nutted up and pushed herself, driving for about thirty feet on nothing but the starter until she finally spit smoke and fired. The car ran wide open with 99% of the fuel filter clogged. The car burnt the tire through 3 gears on nothing but will and fumes. She did that for me. I couldn't ask for more, especially considering that it's my own procrastination that allows this to happen. I need to clean and rebuild the fuel system. I want to do 4 side draft individual carbs, a cleaned and lined tank and steel lines with an electric fuel pump. Then she'll be properly fed.

It's become far too easy to be this way. I have some perplexing things going on in my life, some people I don't understand and situations that I'm too inept to read. But in spite of breaking down on me, I find her solid in the same way that I find Vanessa solid. These cars are my security blanket. This Celica is my new friend yet I feel like I've known her for years. She loves me, trying her hardest knowing that I will reciprocate that effort.

So much life from something made of steel and glass. If that's not magic, I don't know what is.

Hearing crickets in here.

It's been, what 5 months since my last post. I had lost interest in this. Nothing really interesting going on, or too caught up in doing. But it's been long enough, I think it's time to get some thoughts down. So here's a recap of what's going on and things to come and whatever the hell else I want. So here goes...

Project Celica is underway: It is currently 6:21pm on day three of the shock install on my 1981 Celica ST project car and it's raining, so I'm spending my time doing this. No homework, no chores left, nothing better to do.

I've found out a lot about the car in doing this, namely, it needs a lot of work. While everything is solid, there are a lot of things left that need improvement. First off, my dad and I took it for a test drive today. When I got the car, it rode like an old caddy. With just the fronts shocks replaced, it rides like a newer cadillac. Still not great, but a huge improvement. It's also gotten a lot flatter over bumps where the nose used to bounce incessantly. Even so, transitions are much, MUCH better. And it's no wonder, the old shocks did nothing for dampening. I actually think they were the original pieces. Another strange thing is that the strut is welded to the brake from the factory, so taking the shock out required moving the brakes around. Someone with muscles is a huge help.

It's also been an awesome bonding experience for my dad and I. Not like we needed another, but he's never done a shock job either. I always wait for him to get home from work, and we've been having a blast working on it and driving it around.

I plan on really building this car. Properly. But I am aiming for fun rather than straight out speed. I want to put in a 1-JZ(280hp 264 tq's), costs running and with transmission for $2300 shipped. I want to weld the diff and put in ground control springs, bucket seats, and rack and pinion steering. It'll run on steelies and look just as junky as it does now. It'll be a sleeper, a ricer with the muscle to back it up. And I want to make a shift lever cover out of drift wood I got from Bull island (get it? DRIFT wood :D). But money is short and Jobs elude me. Working on that.

The 24hr. Karting race: So May 28th, some friends of mine and I entered the Victory Lane Karting 24hr Enduro. It was brutal, tiring, and expensive. But we were the only privateer team and we didn't lose completely. We came in 13th out of 15, which may seem embarrassing, but when you consider that these were the highest ranked karting teams in the country (and some international), We didn't do that bad. Yes the 2 teams we beat withdrew, but part of an enduro is finishing. Things learned: Enduro's are really tiring, we're not nearly as fast as we thought, and Pro karting teams are made almost exclusively out of douche-nozzles. We had so many people be so rude to us that I want to do as much as I can to mess with them next time we go. Next time, We go themed as Mario Kart Characters. YOSHI ALL UP IN THIS BITCH!!! Props to Nate, Kat, Zach, Chris, and Zack. It was fun guys!

Hmm, what else: OH!, I got an offer from Baker Motor Company to drive the new IPL G Coupe when it comes in. I'm really excited, expect a feature on it. The fun part is the camera car we're going to use is a G37 S Sedan. Gonna submit that one to Jalopnik, maybe I could get a freelance job out of it, or at least my name out there. Eh, whatevs.

So I get to teach someone how to drive stick tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it as they always stall it the first time. This'll be the third person I've taught and it has turned out well previously. But being me, I don't just teach them how to start off and change gears, I teach downshifting and weight transfer. It's going to be a hoot!.

EDIT: lol, she backed out. Surprised? nah.

I'm also getting super low on cash. I've gotten to the point that I can either go to Zach's birthday weekend (which Is priority) in Clemson, or I can go to the CMP karting event (which I'm not giving up on, Taking donations now), or I can sell something (Where the hell are my Pokemon cards?!)

More stuff later, I'm kind of getting tired of writing now and I'm running out of stuff to say. So you guys keep the rubber to the road, gas in the tank, and your knuckles white. I'm out!

My Vimeo account: http://vimeo.com/zmankellan

New Semester and "Zach's Car" take 2

Oh, it is the spring semester, which is funny to think about considering it's still winter, but we're splitting hairs. Happenings this semester include 4 CSCC autocrosses and possibly some outside events, The Carolina Motorsports Festival, and an eventual project car if I can keep my grades up. The project car will be a multi-purpose AutoX/Track/RallyX/Drift rat. More on that later.

For now, I was reading back through my old posts and remembered how crappy of a job I did on Zach's E36 post. He's my room mate and friend and deserves a real post. No history, no technical crap, just what I think. The first thing I should address is the statement I made about wanting one for a track car. That statement would be true if I had money to build a multitude of other track cars first. It's not a bad car, but not my cup of tea. Which makes it perfect for my room mate. I can drive and respect it from the next parking spot over... and make fun of him for it at the same time.

Riding in Zach's car makes for a very spirited game of "what's that noise?" It could be the shocks groaning, or the shock mounts cracking even more, or the interior panels falling out, or the body panels rattling around, or the zip ties rubbing against each other, or a bevy of other discouraging things. Oh yeah, and his computer is constantly dinging about "low coolant levels" and all sorts of other things. As the old saying goes, "it's german = it has electrical problems". It has studs on one wheel, the e-brake only works on one wheel, the worst sound system I've seen in a "well maintained" car, the suspension settings are different at every corner, the shift knob falls off if you breathe on it too hard, and the front end is held together with zip ties and optimism. So why does he like it so much?

...well, I'd be lying if I said it didn't have some redeeming qualities. It has heated seats and a nice intake sound, and doesn't look too bad. That's it though. I can't find any reason why I would hold onto it if it were my car. But it's not, it's Zach's. He's had it for long enough, screwed up enough in/with it, and fixed it enough to never give up on it. It's his security blanket, and he needs it just as much it needs him. But is that reason to keep it instead of selling it for something more reliable?

Zach and I have had the "super-car moment" conversation many times. It's the idea that no matter how much time a car spends in the shop or on jack stands, how much money we spend on them, how many times they let us down, or how many times we are reduced to sulking depressed lumps of regret from driving them too hard, there are those infinitesimal moments when it all comes together and everything works and all the hardship is worth it. Those moments when our simple little street machines transcend their humble mechanics and make their driver, no matter what age, giddy with delight. Zach has those moments with his E36, and that is reason enough for me. I can't wait to see how far you go with it dude.

A long time coming: Robbie's EP3

I wrote an article on this car once before in an attempt to get a job. Didn't work. Some crap about not reaching a word minimum. Sounds just like school. But that's all behind me now and I'm finally going to write about it the way I damn well please and not to meet some stupid requirements. This is way overdue and I should probably be listening to my professor right now or doing homework that's due tonight but "frankly my dear, I don't give a Damn"!

First and foremost, I am a NISMO man, always have been, always will be. That being said, I have a sort of bittersweet relationships with Hondas. I got my first ticket not a month after I got my restricted license. My punishment? spending the summer driving my mom's car. Blech. Turns out my mom had a '98 accord. 4 doors, leather interior, japanese luxury...you get the idea. But thank the lord that my dad had a say in buying it. His only condition was that the car came with the V6. that is where my punishment became fun. It introduced me to the mighty and legendary VTEC!!!!1!! (I know, I know, it's i-VTEC, but still). The engine sounded like it was trying to eat it's way out of the crumple zones encasing it. I loved walking away from my friend's '98 stang. All good times from my highschool years but Robbie's civic is different...and yet.

The EP3 is strange. It oozes Honda: not bland but not exciting styling, economy, ergonomics, practicality, comfort, all wrapped around a nice little nugget of surprise. Robbie's car is not fast in a straight line. It is not heavily modified. It is uber-stock. yet driving it or riding with him still brings back those immature tire-shredding days in a grocery getter. It is a wolf in sheep's clothing. It's limits are far beyond what it's humble grin expresses. And the ever so quietly puttering engine has the potential for greatness. It is in fact a K20A3. A variant of the superman of 4-cylinder powaaaaaa, the K20A2. But for now, it's happy staying under the radar. And that's why it's so fun. It's like a boxer fighting with weights on. It's like putting a Monet in the closet. Its like a stripper keeping her clothes on. It knows it has the potential for attention, but it's happy right where it is. That's where I respect it most. It is quick enough and asks for nothing more.

Being the Z guy that I am, it felt like cheating on my car driving the Civic. Nissan and Honda remind me of Ford and Chevy: both accomplishing sporty goals through different methods. But as much as I prefer Nissans and Robbie prefers Hondas, we can agree on one thing: at least it's not a Toyota!

Facing my Demons: My Dad's Porsche 944

Japan Japan America Japan. That is how my mind works. So 2 years ago when my Dad bought a 1984 Porsche 944 I was less than enthused. The '66 mustang? Sweet. The Z cars? Love 'em. The Porsche? I started to question the level of Douche-Baggery my father was capable of. It had no air con, was uncomfortable, negative ergonomics, had less pick up than our lawnmower, sounded like an airplane, wasn't particularly good looking, and IT'S GERMAN. On top of all that, the timing belt popped within a month of purchase and we could have gotten another car for what it took to fix it. But we were pig headed and repaired it. It was garish and loud and I hated it. I still hate it. And I'm not alone. For comparison, when we cruise in the 'Stang, everyone looks and thumbs up and talks about how they like it. But a trip to the gas station in the 944 unleashes a torrential downpour of haterade that would flood any area below sea level. You get cut off, yelled at, flipped off, and generally spited. I hate owning it and I hate being seen in it. But Porsche has an answer. Drive it. I loooooove driving it. The 944 is a driver's car. It's hot, it's loud, it's uncomfortable, it's unreliable, and it's slow in a straight line. But it's fun. It's halo night with the guys fun. It's doing jumps and 180's on a jet ski fun. It's adrenaline pumping, vision blurring, muscle straining, unadulterated fun(sexy). And the smile you have weaving through all the haters with grimaces of distaste is the biggest "F@*% You" to the bland motorists that clog the roads on your video game-esque travels from point A to point B. If you want something comfortable, get a sedan. If you want something with power and pick-up, get a V8. If you want something practical, get a hatchback. But if you want something fun, I dare say the 944 is a tie for my gorgeous 300zx. I'm glad the 944 is my dad's. I would hate owning it, I still hate looking at it, I hate everything about it when it's stationary. But Damn I love driving it.