Royal

I'm doing the British Drift Championship this year so spreading the word :) Here is a little promo vid for the first round in Teeside in March, and a picture from yesterday. I don't think I can do you-tube on here? I did a practice day there yesterday and it's an incredible place. Excellent for spectators as well. Dates for further rounds are 29 March, Teesside Autodrome, Middlesborough. 26 April, Llandow, Wales. 31 May, Norfolk Arena, Kings Lynn. 21 June, Teesside Autodrome, Middlesborough. 19 July, Lydd International Raceway, Kent. 23 August, Stowe circuit, Silverstone. It would be great to see some familiar faces at some of the events. I'm driving an S13 at the moment and have been toying with using the Rex but its not really ideal for it (not enough lock, throttle/power not very progressive with my huge tub, plus there's too much money wrapped up in it to trash it!). I'm going to do things to it whilst rebuilding to get it more drifty so it may yet be used, alternatively I may get a cheap one which would be more practical.

Problems starting/running when cold. Less problems when hot. I think this normally points to worn rings. Knowing a Zed though its most likely something silly like a temp sensor or something. Its worth changing the water temp sensor just to get it out of the way, only a couple of squids and an easy fix. Its one of the two on the top rad pipe at the front.

Why do people spend so much money on body mods and leather interiors and then leave in a scabby steering wheel and a carpet that clashes with the leather? It looks too overdone and 'show car' for my taste, but I wish these people would finish the job or get some idea of colour matching!

Thats bloody impressive looking work fry1. Its tight enough in a Zed, can't imagine what it must be like in an s13 to work on. You must like torturing yourself?! What made you choose a vg30dett over an RB or something a little easier to workon?

I've had a bit more background info on Royal Purple since Jon started this post. It is pretty special stuff, loads of amazing results including from oem's and many race teams.

Wow, thats really beautiful.

Are you going to pop along to a day still Mike? You're welcome to do some passenger rides for the crack if you fancy it?

Bloody great mate :) The surface as this venue was vicious. I went through eight part worn tyres in about 4 hours. They didn't so much wear as just delaminate and the whole tyre tread would come off in a few laps in one go! Its a great setup though, a longer track than you get at a lot of the drift days, plus there's a couple of high speed corners after the straights you see in the vid.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cVsR8mAE7nk I did a drift day with Javelin track days a few weeks back and they took some video and pictures, thought I'd post it up so people can have a laugh :smw:

My missus just bought me an ipod nano 3rd generation as a pressie for getting a new job. Its an amazing bit of kit, 8gb solid state, about the size of a credit card. Does videos and music, although I'm still wrestling with the video bit for some reason.

Cool, that car looks the bollcocks. You might need adjustable top mounts to move the spring assemblies out at the top as well?

Haha, thats some rather nice kit Si! what made you look at the adjustable arms? are you thinking of tracking it? The subframe locking collars will make it a bit harsher/noisier ride but it will drive better. I've just fitted all adjustable front arms and tension rods to my s13. I broke all the originals and a front subframe and coilover when I hit a kerb on an erm... slippery...roundabout the week before :smw: I fitted it all but it then took five visits to the garage last week to get it set up the way I like it :nelson: worth it in the end though as it drifts so well now. That leather looks bloody amazing. Glad you've sorted your drink problem :D

Its just rears dude.

As said above, its most likely the little small turbo coolant hose. Right bitch to get to.

Zzzzzzzoooooonnnnnnndaaaaaaaaa! mmmmmm shiny thing. I love them :hyper:

Thats brilliant! haha

If I was to get another Zed with the intention of making it high powered and trackable (do you really want all that power if you are not going to do something with it? 500bhp on the road is pretty uncomfortable) I'd get it to 350-400bhp which is easily attainable at a practical cost then the first thing I would do instead of spending thousands on that extra 50-100bhp would be to strip it out and renew/upgrade the suspension and bushes etc. Driving around in 300bhp everyday its easy to forget how powerful the car is. The Zed has so much weight inside with the dash and the seats that are as heavy as a granite block. BHP per tonne you'd probably gain 50bhp just by removing all the crap. Plus all it would cost is the price of a decent bucket seat and harness. Lately I reguarly see cars with only a fraction of the BHP having more fun around a track than the big skylines etc. I'm currently drifting a 140bhp e30 bimmer and have just as much fun as in my 550bhp Rx7. The adrenelin isn't the same when you accelerate but there's so much more to driving a car than that. Much better to spend your money on good seat time at a track than on getting huge power. Its not how much power you have , its what you do with it. Easy to say when there's 550bhp in the garage (currently broken) but I'd honestly say I have just as much fun with 140bhp!

I'm talking blown pistons here, not just a ring refresh. A rotary tip refresh would probably cost £600 including bits. The labour involved in rebuilding a Rotary is tiny compared to the Zed. There's hardly any bits to a rotary. SWB looking nice by the way :)

Haha, soz thought it was your car. I'll go back to sleep.

I think you just have to be very realistic with what you are taking on. I bought my Rex and after a while really missed being in a comfortable Zed so bought a stock one for getting around in. Four months later I just couldn't stomach how much I was shelling out for it in the effort to make it perfect and got rid again. I reckon you need to budget at 80-120k miles for just about every replacable item from turbos,engine,suspension,etc,etc. That means the possibility of double what the car might be worth and for most people that is not palatable. In my mind the Zed is still a £6-8k car, you just have to spend the money after buying it! The quality of the car is more than enough to warrant the outlay, its just whether you can stomach spending the cash knowing there's no way you could get it back?

With all respect mate, thats a standard Zed with a tidy body kit and alloys! 121k miles will possibly need new turbos, new cam belt, new heater matrix, etc. Plus I don't see what has been done with the brakes ? they look the same size as normal??

Horses for courses mate. The two cars are quite different, even a standard Rex. If you want a sports car/track car then the Rex (standard or not) is head and shoulders above the Zed. If you want a performance road car that can drive across the country then the Zed is one of the best out there IMO. The Zed is the most expensive car I've owned to maintain, assuming you want to get everything right which I did. Everything on a Zed is either expensive or a nightmare, hence why they are so cheap now when comparable cars such as Supras are still three or four grand more. An Rx7 rotary engine is actually one of the cheapest engines to rebuild. Bits needed are roughly £1200 and labour can be got for £1000. The main problem is that they usually need rebuilding at 60k miles so don't get one near this unless its had a rebuild. Rx7 are more expensive to buy than Zeds, although I'd say if you buy well then it will equal out as there are a lot more expensive things to replace on a Zed. On the other hand though you could get one of the best Zeds out there for £6-7k that has had £15k spent on it whereas you'll only get a bog standard Rx7 with rebuild and possibly a single turbo conversion (much better as it eliminates all the problem solenoid areas).

Well done to Turbo Technics. Gotta appreciate old style helpfulness. Not many companies are willing in this day and age.

You still living off those old war-stories Kirbz ? :nana2: :hyper:

Surprised he can get all that power to the road with such narrow tyres? Wouldn't having extra injectors make for better atomisation of the fuel rather than one big one in each cylinder? I think this may have been a suspected issue with Boomins high power Zed and number 6 cyl going.