Modification List:
1992 hatch, navy blue, with HICAS
Engine: KA24DE
-Brian Crower stage 2 cams
-to celebrate the new cams, I painted the valve cover bright green
-CAI (Cold air intake system)
-Megan 3" catback exhaust with 2.5" test pipe
Foot Work:
-Megan Track Series coilovers (12kg front, 10kg rear)
-Megan strut tower braces
-18" Dish Rims wrapped in Potenzas (225 / 40 / 18 )
-For drift days, 17" Motegi’s for the rear
-180sx front brake upgrade (Maxima/Ultima combo)
-aluminum subframe bushings
-polyurithane bushings in the front
Inside:
-Sparco Junior bucket seat with custom bracket
-Custom harness brace for seatbelts (rear seat removed)
Outside:
-simple hatch job, removed spoiler and 3rd brake light
The Story:
March of 2006 was when I picked up my 92 hatchback from a dealer in Toronto. I overpayed, but wanted it because it was clean. The first thing that need to be fixed was the sending unit. A mechanic quoted me $1000 because he said the tank had to be replaced as well. I gave him the bird and wen’t online to do some homework. $165 bought me a refurbished one from the southern US. LOL. In April, I started to take my car out to Solo 2 events to see how it handled. It was scary. Bald tires, worn suspension, bushings, etc… Money was tight, so the first thing i got were strut tower braces. The difference was noticable.
On a random visit to a performance shop, I noticed some seats lined along their wall. Sitting in a blue sparco, I asked its price thinking it was new. A customer turned to me and said they were his, and he has been trying to sell them but had no luck. “$300 for the two of them”, he said. Which included base and sliders that fit a honda. I flew to the bank and threw the cash in his hand, and the seats in my trunk.
I worked in construction over the summer, so I saved up a bit of money for the car. The Maxima/ultima upgrade for the front was next, giving me a bit more stopping power. In june, CSCS racing was having thier drift event in Grand Bend, and i wanted to go. The car was still stock, and I was actually wanting to replace the upper timing chain in order to compete. In the mean time, i had ordered some coils from BattleEndless, and was pricing out some used 18’s from someone in London. I was actually going to do the timing chain, but a friend convinced me to pick up the coils and rims instead. This was on a friday night. The competition was sunday morning. We had some work to do…
Saturday morning, I rushed to TO and picked up the coils. Nick came down from kitchener and the two of us slaved away that afternoon. I put a deposit on the rims and managed to get them though I didn’t pay full, but the guy trusted me. Coils and Rims installed, we spent 2hrs fin tuning the hight and damping force. By 11pm, we were finished. Nick let me use his seat base, and we installed on of the sparcos i had purchased earlier on. (for the timing chain, I removed the tensioner at a later date)
The competion was a blast, and the car felt like it was someone elses. Several track days went by, and the undercariage took quite a beating. My hicas lines blew out 3 or 4 times, so we eventually pluged them. The exhaust too suffered alot. I replaced it with a used cat-back from a silvia, but the muffler exploded on a lapping day in Dunville. I needed something better, but I didn’t want a 3" exhaust cause of the noise they made. I looked for 2.5", but they were expensive and rare.
meanwhile, I got on a groupbuy with some people for Crower stage 2 cams. Shipped, they came out to $330 CAD - very cheap. While those were on their way, I picked up a CAI on e-bay for $80. Came with cone filter, all aluminum pipe, and some fixins. take that Injen. That went in the car, and a month later so did the cams. >>for write up on cam install, trust me it’s worth the read, goto:
http://www.n-e-c-c.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9405
The only thing missing was the exhaust. So I gave into peer pressure from other nissan owners and bought a new Megan drift spec 3" cat-back. Nick fabed up a custom test pipe, and everything was set. The car had noticable power gains with this 3 piece setup, and breaking the back end loose became alot easier.
The truck was a side project done by a buddy of mine, which has become a huge headache. even now, the trunk still needs to be primed and painted. I threw flat black on it for now, but oh well.
That’s the jist of it. Feel free to take a break hahaha. For the 2007 season, maintenace will be all i want to do. Put in the new bushings I bought, replace all the ball joints and bearings, new arms and linkages. This too will have noticable effects on the handling of the car.
hope My writing was coherent enough to digest, any comments or questions will be well received.
Leo.