Main Quest s13 Ft. Side Quests Galore

Quick breakdown of the last 10 years of mayhem to start things off.

In 2013 we got some advanced notice about Final Bout. At the time I was driving an NB miata that had been rolled, kissed a few walls, and had an engine on it's last leg. I had a new shell and a 13b-rew as well as a Q45 mid-manual swap and motor rebuild waiting in the wings, but neither were anywhere near completion. I had always wanted a two tone so when the perfect candidate popped up I knew it was time to part ways with the other projects and return to my s13 roots.

I had originally intended to do a slight restoration, lower it, and stick with little wheels, but things quickly spiraled out of control. By the time Final Bout rolled around I had put a dual cam in, slammed it on some combo of Weds, Gramlights, or Advans, and put Sexy Style-style aero on with a fresh coat of paint.

After driving nearly 3 events a month leading up to and following Final Bout, I decided it was time for more power and I had fallen in love with Car Modify Wonder, which I thought would look funny two tone. I didn't do the first start up with the SR until the day before we loaded the cars up to head to Final Bout 2.

I ended up breaking 2 transmissions at FB2, which sent me down a rabit hole for the next 1.5 years. Finally I managed to get my shit together just before the first Super D Party at Grange (now AVS) and got a bunch of events in over the following couple years.

And then it was time for another change to promote Auto-Collect Storm (RIP), which I was involved with for a short period of time. Green turned out to be a bad luck color and I only was able to successfly drive a couple events until the motor showed signs of problems.

I had picked up a hatch that I was planning to daily and grip during the green car phase and after the SR in the green car seemed to take a turn for the worse, my focus shifted to the hatch, which quickly got out of hand...

I got a good deal on a Tomei exhaust manifold, which inspired me to go down the KA-T path. When I pulled the turbo off the SR to use on the KA, I realized the oil drain tube had a bubble on the inside, causing the oil to back up, which was the source of the smoke, not valve seals or any other issue with the SR 🙄

I was too far down the KA-T route to turn back and fully comitted to the hatch and picked up some 326 aero and SP1's. It was a good car and I got it working/driving really nice.

Unfortunately, the KA wasn't a fan of the boost and let go at Super D NYE. After looking at KA longblock prices, I decided to part the car out and shift my focus back to the coupe. I put the turbo back on the SR and put it back in the coupe hoping everything would work just like it had before I removed it. But of course for whatever reason the SR wouldn't start without a push start, but once it did, it'd run perfectly. After trying to diagnose the main coupe for nearly a year, I again got a bit carried away on another side project...

I picked up another two tone in 2016 that I, again, had intended to restore. After sitting for 6 years, I finally gave it some attention, putting in a single cam, doing a manual swap, and adding come bits and pieces from the other coupe.

And then uhhhh I couldn't get it to run right. I kept thinking I had the problem solved when I'd do shakedowns around town, but the second I took it to the track it'd fall on it's face. At this point, I realized I was doing the same thing over and over again when I should just finish my original plan. So I put the car up for sale and used the money to buy the rest of what I needed to complete the k swap that I had started piecing together 6 years earlier.

But first, I had to go on a quick side quest putting an engine in an NC that I got for free. This time it really didn't delay the k swap at all, which was nice. If anyting it actually helped because it made commuting to and from my shop while working on the coupe wayyyyy cheaper.

Winter '22-'23 I busted my ass getting the car ready with the goal of driving Final Bout SSNW. I spent a hair too much time doing body work and ended up only having the week before the event to button up the k swap and get the car tuned. Given my history I decided to not push my luck.

I took my time finishing up the swap and finally got to take it out for it's first event in August. To my surprise the car ran perfectly. The only issue I found was the k likes to rattle everything loose and the gearing was a bit short. Some blue Loctite and a 3.5 final drive did the trick and it's been ripping without skipping a beat since!