you could call this an intro i suppose.

well i should start off with my name i suppose. my names alex, i’m 22 (23 in 14 days), and i drive a pile of sh*t hatchback s13! i was first introduced into drifting back in ca around the same time as tokyo drift came out, although that wasn’t the intro. if i remember correctly, tony angelo and jtp came to uti and did a “demo” in the back lot. initially i wasn’t as intrigued as i was with road racing and auto cross. then i moved to washington state where my friend would take me to our local track. once again i was impressed but not intrigued. then i hopped in a car. game over. i was hooked. 2 years later and i bought my first project.

1989 s13 hatchback with a ka24de swapped in already. bought it barely running on bald tires. ultimate goal was immediate 1jz swap. better judgement was keep the dual cam, and rock it hard. went with the footwork first.

coils and adjustable arms. nothing fancy, gr+ coils and fortune auto adjustable arms. kept the car at a functioning height as i’m not a fan of low. looks cool but not for me. then i got a fantastic deal from garage autohero

and with that deal, knuckles came into play! also got some new steer tires and a decent alignment. and so the car went on for a bit. swapped out power doors for manual doors, the car got gutted and i rattle canned it. i figured it was fitting seeing as this car is meant to be driven hard and aggressively. a missle car if you will 🙂

http://vimeo.com/49581079 <——— that lead to…

and thats a bit about me and my car!

-alex

Formula D pt3

Some pictures of my car with other people’s cars that I met. The last picture shows what’s left of my tires from the last week and a half.

The Subtleties

Got sick of the coffee stains from the previous owner. So I hit them with a steam-vac-like deal.

Also, deep cleaned the new seat.

Washed my old mudflaps and slapped them back on. The fronts sit about as low as the downpipe.

 

How she sits

Mounted new tires a bit ago and put the bumper back on

Downpipe now an inch and a half off the ground

I’m pretty content with the car for now. Love the new tires and seat.

“Pull off at the next intersection!”

Last night a little before sundown, Nick and I had a super close call. We were drifting our usual spot for a few passes back and forth in my car. As we were heading out of the complex a security guard pulled his cruiser out into the road to block us from leaving. Everything fell into place within a second. My car had been sitting near the road for a couple days prior and we drift there daily. They caught onto us and this guy was about to catch us. We didn’t have enough speed to 180 at this point so I came to a stop a few feet from the car. Just as he stepped out of the car I saw there was enough room to get past the front of the cruiser on the left. I dropped into gear and peeled around him as he stared in disbelief. He gave chase for maybe a block and stopped. Now Flying down the narrow road and barely slowing down to make the turn onto the main street, I see the cruiser disappear in my rear-view. We weren’t off yet. Security guards have the local police on speed dial. We assumed that the description of my car was all over their scanners that instant. We considered pulling off some place secluded and laying low for a bit, but opted to make a straight and fast dash for home. We made it a couple blocks in light traffic to a red light. My foot was still shaking a bit as I depressed the clutch. I glanced up into the oncoming lane and froze. I saw the silhouette of a new charger with lights and all sitting at the light facing us. I felt somewhat safe being tucked in between traffic. His light turned green and we were still stopped waiting for ours. As he passed by he turned his head and looked straight at us. I felt my heart beat in slow motion when I saw his brake lights come on in my side mirror. He made a U-turn. Our light turned green. We knew he was after us. With one car between us and a fuck-load of trouble I drive as carefully as possible. After one block he flips on his lights. Every car except for us pulls off the road, cause I knew what he wanted. His voice blares over the loudspeaker,”Pull off at the next intersection!.” We know we’re in deep shit. I pull off and come to a stop and the cop gets out immediately. I expect the next command to be, “get out, hands on the car!” He calmly asks where my front license plate is. I tell him my “painting my bumper” spiel and he communicates a code into his radio. He walks back to his car with my documents and I mumble to Nick, “he’s trying to keep it cool til back up arrives. We’re fucked.” I keep looking into the mirror to see more patrol cars and the security guard. The cop returns with my documents and says, “Get that bumper back on there and have a good night.” This is my 17th time getting pulled over since I got the car (only 1 ticket ever). Nick and I start smirking as he walks away and start to laugh uneasily as I start the car. Not going back to that spot for a few weeks…

Catching up 2

Moving my Initial D into my new apartment with Nick and his gf Sam.

I finally got to see how many car magazines I have.

Posted at our new apartment

Catching up

First off:

72 hours later:

came back to the seen of the crime and started RRR (Red g’s Road side Repair)

Got back on the road by midnight and headed home.

That’s drifting

Had an awesome session tonight. Just need an FLCA and tension rod now…

Subframe bushings

Replaced the bushings on beau’s hatch

custom plastic axle boot retainers

i pulled these out with my bare hand. bushings were fucked.

The bushings turned out nice and made a huge difference. No more wheel hop or rear end slop!

Testing waters

Went out right when the sun went down today to capture a litttle footage and then made a run for it. lol. I also seem to be really uneasy drifting in the dry. I haven’t really gotten used to it since I had my Ka. The power band on SR is so flat below 3k. I still really love drifting when it’s wet out though. 🙂