Well, okay, maybe one last thing needs to be said: MOAR LOW IS REQUIRED.
At long last, they have been fitted.
Time for some coilovers ex Japan? Blarrrghh! It never ends!
fronts: 15×6.5+14.5, 205/55/15
rears: 15×7.0+15, 225/50/15
Author Archive
RSワタナベ; nothing else to be said here.
June 2, 2011
Goodbye faithful MR2
May 18, 2011
Today I sold my AW11.
Small milestone for me, as this is the first car I’ve ever gotten rid of for any decent amount of coin, and in tidy running condition, i.e. it’s not being sold for parts or with broken bits or anything silly like that. The new owner is an acquaintance from Christchurch that I know through another forum who promises to slowly restore it to its former glory, and keep it in tip top shape. One day I may even see it again, who knows?
Seven cars down to six – but never fear, the search is already underway to find another AW11 to plug the gap with (and for keeps this time). Hopefully I shall acquire one ex-Japan but who knows, I may find a gem here in NZ worth paying money for. In fact, the only reason I decided to put this AW11 up for sale was to fund the acquisition of a mint one. Yeah, I have strange priorities.
Goodbye faithful MR2… thanks for the good sideways times and almost 2 1/2 years of reliable supercharged motoring!
AW11 SC (Jan 2009 - May 2011)
Retro audio revisited
May 10, 2011
To anyone who’s noticed my lack of updates recently, apologies for the leave of absence but moving house is such a chore. All settled in to the new place now though, so let the posts re-commence flowing henceforth! It’s also been a while since regular blog entries I know, but Michael should be back from Nationals any minute and will most likely have a swag of photos and crazy anecdotes to share in the upcoming days to keep you all entertained.
on to the subject at hand: $1 reserve auctions on Trademe are awesome, aren’t they? Especially when you pick up gems such as this vintage “Lonesome Car-boy” KP-707G component tape deck in unknown condition, but still in its original packaging.
For a dollar.
Mint. In Box.
Special Kei
April 6, 2011
Petrol prices are rapidly approaching NZ$2.50 a litre for the “good stuff” (read: 98 octane) and public consciousness is once again turning towards small fuel efficient vehicles as a form of personal transport. While I still love my daily driven supercharged AW11 MR2 and wouldn’t give it up for a newer car in any great hurry, I’ve warmed to the idea of importing an ’80s kei car to take over everyday duties if the MR2 ever gets sold. But no way an hell am I gonna settle for something with less power than a wet fart, so I did some interwebs trawling and came up with this:
Presenting the CC72A Suzuki Alto Works RS-R.
550cc of fury.
Publications all over the globe have spent years waxing lyrical about the kei car phenomenon, and the Japanese penchant for shoehorning the latest technology of the time into the most compact and mundane of things really shines through here. Where else in the world could you find Grandmama’s Little Shopping Cart with a twin cam, turbocharged, injected, intercooled 3-cylinder engine with full-time 4WD? Even better when you consider this was all the way back in 1987.
If you haven’t already read Autospeed’s 2004 writeup on the Alto Works, I suggest you go read it post haste. And then go watch some of the nutty Japanese videos on youtube. Those 3 cylinder engines sound AWESOME!
And if forums all over the web are to be believed, you can get 100kW out of the damn things with a bit of effort.
Though I’d have one without the hot pink interior, thanks.
Authors’ cars: Savanna RX-7 two seater conversion begins
April 4, 2011
If you thought my pace on the Skyline was glacial, the task of converting my RX-7 to a pure two seater is proving to be a few orders of magnitude worse. At the rate this is going, I don’t see it being back on the road this year unless I fly over to the States and hand pick the parts myself.
the first piece of the puzzle has now arrived in the form of a complete rear carpet section (in the correct colour and trim). Discovered it going for cheap on eBay partway through last month, so I promptly bought and had it shipped to NZ – and the goddamn freight ended up costing more than the item. At least it only took 14 days to get here.
One thing down, about 400 to go...
the search continues in the form of a daily trawl of eBay; a listing for a pair of rear trim panels has now appeared, but the seller has quoted phenomenal shipping to NZ – easily over $100US. Fun times.
Some days I wonder if it would’ve just been easier all along to have the rear pillars re-engineered, the interior hacked to pieces, and an extra $3000 handed over JUST for a pair of seatbelts in the back.
