Hey it’s been a while! I got caught up with life and kinda forgot this place existed up until two months ago when I got the reminder to pay the bill. This year was kinda all over the place but it isn’t over yet! Where I left off last time I had just gotten some goodies from the auctions, man I wish I could order some more stuff right now but I think the tariff fees would kill me nowadays. We had just gotten the engine back into Wei’s car and I will have some good news about his car later in this post! I’m going to structure this post month by month to keep it somewhat organized.
February
3 or 4… heck maybe even 5 posts ago I talked about changing job positions at my work from working the lot and managing detail to learning how to sell cars. Unfortunately for me what I had not known when I transferred into that position was that the dealership I worked for was going to close in roughly 4 months. I had known for quite some time that the store was not in the best place however with promise of sale to a new owner who was going to revive the business I was optimistic. Well after 3 months of my best optimism and only selling 7 cars to people who were only buying for tax write offs I decided to try my luck at doing something else and quit! Really smart of me I know, well at least now I wasn’t going to be sitting around in a building that smelled like mold and had nothing to do for 9 hours a day. 2 weeks after I quit my old boss called me and told me about the closure and that everyone was let go. I was happy I split when I did. Now I was free to do whatever I wanted, and quite frankly I wasn’t sure what that was. I figured in my free time I’d try something I’d always loved doing. Making YouTube videos. I kinda replaced the blog entries with these for a couple months.
March
On the first of march Wei’s Miata went for it’s maiden voyage out of the shop compound. I was glorious seeing what we had worked on driving down the road after so much hard work.
The car still needed many things to be buttoned up but having it move under it’s own power was very rewarding for Tyler, Wei, and Myself. A few days after getting Wei’s car going I had motivation to do some work on my car. I figured it was finally time for the manifold swap I wanted to do on my SR. Heck I even wanted to make a video about it. It took me the better part of the month as I got set back by ordering parts that took forever to arrive.
Besides swapping that around the month was pretty laid back. Had enough money saved up where I could comfortably hit a drift event so that’s exactly what me and the boys did!
Always love hanging out with the team and getting to run some laps! This event I really felt like I was starting to understand how to get closer while chasing Tyler in tandem. Had a close call where I thought I tapped his rear bumper but turns out I was too far outside and slipped over the curb for a split second. All in all great day and nothing got broken on my end. In the two weeks prior to this event I had gotten a job repairing and detailing RV Campers. After having such a great weekend at the track I realized that I did not like what I was doing there and once again quit my job. I know, I am really on a roll! I spent the last week of march hanging around and helping TJ prepare his car for paint.
April
The video I made for the month of April sums up the month fairly well.
May
May Day I packed for our trip in the morning and slept all afternoon in anticipation of our night drive to Virginia. I had never done a road trip like this so I was very excited. TJ picked me up at my house around 9pm and we were headed to Chili’s for a pre-trip triple dipper. After absolutely demolishing our food it was time to start our 9 our journey.
After this Final Bout/Vacation Vlog I kinda forgot about doing more of them. Ate a whole bunch of delicious food while we were there with the boys!
TJ and I were able to go check out the Air and Space museum at the DC airport and put the bikes we hauled down there to use at a cool pump track/small woods course!
Unfortunately for us after a week of fun it was time to head back home and so we did. When we got back first order of business was to get TJ’s rear sub frame bushings replaced as well as the diff. Once we got the sub frame dropped from the car we realized that his bushings had completely disintegrated!
We had to wait a few days for some more time or maybe parts? I can’t remember but my camera roll’s dates tell me that we took a break for 4 days. In that time I made a trip out to see Wei and deliver his Arios body kit that we had painted. He wasted no time and got right to installing it!
After visiting with Wei for a few hours I headed a bit south to fetch a pair of wheels Tyler enlisted me to pickup from our friend Ben. Ben is the guy I bought my hatch from. After chatting with him for a little bit and acquiring the wheels I headed for home. The next day Tyler came over and test fitted his new shoes, 16 inch CR2P.
He is very pleased with them and is still running this setup at the time of writing this. Few days later we got TJ’s rear end assembled with the new sub frame and differential bushings. It now felt solid as a rock and read for action! Good thing too because he had a beginners clinic drift day booked the next week.
Drift day ended up going great and car made it through the day without major issue! If I remember correctly he was having some cooling worries but everything worked out in the end and he still had a little tire to spare at the end of the day! Two more pictures then onto June.
June
June first kicking off the month with a cruise up up the Mohawk Trail and Florida Mountain to the destination of the hairpin turn. This is one of my favorite spots to cruise to and snap a quick picture or twelve.
A week later I brought Tyler there for his first time for yet another quick picture.
The day after that picture was taken I started my current job selling GM parts at the sister dealership of my old job. I’m happy to report that selling parts is far better than trying to sell cars and I don’t hate going into work everyday. By this time I had basically drained all the reserve savings I had for the 4 months prior so I had taken off time from drifting and only done one lock city event and one Lebanon. Lucky for me it’s cheap to spectate while I saved up money from my new job. Month of June comes to an end with me and Tyler ripping down to Lock City on June Jam weekend to shoot media for our friend Devin. Devin has an awesome BRZ/86 that is super low and has tons of style. Every time I see it I can’t help but admire how cool it is.
Devin tossed me his 2000’s camcorder and I shot everything I saw for like 2 hours. He made this awesome edit with some of the clips I took on his camera!
July
I spent this month pretty much just saving money and eating good. Tyler and I picked up a free side of the road smoker someone left and and cleaned it up. We smoked so much stuff including but not limited to cream cheese, chicken wings, pork chops, steaks.
I also used one of my weekends in July to take a MSF class with TJ so we could get our motorcycle licenses. I have been riding dirt bikes since I was about 5 years old so I have a good handle on how to operate the machine, just no street riding experience. We both passed no problem and since TJ already had a bike and has been riding for the past 4 years he was all set. Unfortunately for me this meant I now NEEDED to get a motorcycle as soon as I possibly could.
Towards the end of the month Tyler and I hosted a BBQ for our friends to come and enjoy. Was a lot of fun to get everyone out for some pulled pork as well as plenty of appetizers off the smoker. We hung around Tyler’s house for a while then cruised to the local frosty and got some soft serve.
August
So August rolls around and on the first I’m in my car eating lunch scrolling marketplace and come across and 95′ Harley Davidson Sportster 1200 that was listed 3 minutes prior to me seeing the listing. Oh yeah and it was only 2 miles from my work! It was in the price range I was looking to pay for the bike so I figured Id message the guy. Was able to meet up with the him a couple days later and check it out. It had a bunch of stuff on it that needed to get removed ASAP but as far as the bones go it is solid so I pulled the trigger and rode it home!
First thing I did on the bike was to remove all the stickers that the previous owner put on the gas tank and fenders. After that it was bye bye to the saddle bags, for the look I envision for my bike they are not a part of it. I desperately wanted to ditch the sissy bar but it offered me a place to strap things so it temporarily stayed put. My plans for it are to make the frame rigid and try to style it as a late 60’s early 70’s chopper. There are infinite directions I can take with the project and it’s kinda overwhelming. But luckily it’s not something that needs to get done right away so for now my plan is to enjoy it with the swing arm until I can reasonably afford the parts to make it a chopper. I went to go get the bike registered the Monday after purchasing it only to realize that the guy filled out the title wrong when he sold it to me. The lady at the front counter was very unpleasant and refused to help me. When trying to explain how I was not going to get my bike registered she called over her manager who was thankfully not dead inside like her and helped me figure out my options. Luckily I was able to use a form of correction and get it taken care of without a long debacle of trying to get the guy to get a new title. Went back the next day to a new lady at the front counter who didn’t even bat an eye at my paperwork and got me registered within 15 minutes! After I was legal I was riding the bike everywhere!
The following weekend we headed east to Wei’s house for another BBQ! Super fun getting to spend some time in his neck of the woods especially since pretty much everyone who we drift with lives out there it’s easier for them to congregate there. We grill for the majority of the afternoon and then even got some fixing done on Wei’s car.
The rest of the month was filled with as many miles on two wheels as I could squeeze in as I knew it was only a matter of time before the temps started dropping.
September
This month I was really focused on the bike as previously mentioned so unfortunately is my most inactive car month of the year so far. Well at least as in car specific activities, I was actually daily driving the Miata from late July until early October. During this time my civic was down with a dead battery and overdue brake repairs. I couldn’t justify spending money on it when the Miata started up every time. And my S13 needs coilovers very bad. The suspension is so worn out it is not pleasant to drive at all and I fear the wrong pothole may take out the rear driver strut. Anyways daily driving the Miata in this time was very fun. I always forget how much I enjoy driving it everyday because I get caught up in having the A/C capabilities of the civic during peak summer and having the retire the car every season for winter.
Ended up removing the black sissy bar on the bike in favor of installing a new chrome one that was actually made to fit the bike and doesn’t lean back too far. Also removed a bunch of other junk and it’s not looking too bad now. Over the winter I’m trying to decide where to spend my fun money, S13 coilovers or a hard tail kit for the bike are about the same cost. I think I will go for the coilovers so I can finally enjoy driving the 240 around but only time will tell.
October
The highlight of October for me was when the Boston boys made a trip out to see us and enjoy the fall foliage and devour some chicken wings. They came over on a Saturday morning and met us at Tyler’s shop. This is the beautiful lineup we were greeted with when we walked outside. From left to right it’s Pat’s Silvia, Wei’s Miata, Marks S13, and Devin’s 86.
We caught up for a little while chatting about cars and getting Wei’s car eyeball aligned before heading to a quick test spot. Unfortunately we didn’t wanna blow our one good spot like we did last time so this place is just for donuts but it’s still a good time. After that we headed to Tyler’s house to relax a bit before chicken.
It wasn’t long before we ready for lunch, pretty much only waiting because the restaurant didn’t opened until 12:00. The lineup in the parking lot was pretty sick!
After 6 and a half pounds of chicken we were ready to hit the road. That is after we got some arcade action in at the restaurant. Tyler and I decided to take them to the Yankee Candle flagship store that is located in our home town. It is a big attraction that always has the parking lot packed especially this time of the year. We went in and showed them around the whole place which took about an hour and half since it’s so big! After we made our rounds the boys got some Ben and Jerry’s from inside the store and then we boogied back over to Tyler’s house. We hung out for a few more hours watching drifting videos from last decade and then we parted ways.
November
Well this brings us pretty close to the present! Most recent happenings are that last week we went and picked up a chopper project for Tyler! It’s a 1979 Yamaha XS650 motor in a custom frame! Came with some spare spoke wheels, some exhaust pipes, and even a good battery! Thing needs a lot of time and money but Tyler’s up for the challenge. In the end I think it’s going to be a super badass bike! Past few days he’s been doing a lot trying to get what he can situated and I’ve helped a little. Wei and Devin made another appearance last weekend again for more chicken and hang time. With seeing them more frequently recently got me back on a drift car kick again… Well somewhat, it’s hard for me to focus on more than one hobby at a time as I get tunnel visioned. Since the MSF course it’s been BIKES BIKES BIKES and I haven’t slowed down on that, watching bike videos on YouTube, reading books about motorcycles and reading blogs about builds online. But over the past week I’m trying to balance both bikes and cars 50/50 in my mind not getting too overwhelmed with either taking my projects small on the 240 which I will update you guys with in another blog post soon.
Here we are finally caught up to the present moment in time when I am writing all of this. As always thank you guys for taking the time out of your day to read this it truly means the world to me especially if you just read all of that. Probably a lot of things I forgot to mention but hey if they are important I’ll bring it up another time.
Bino W0rld 