CamryOnBronze

I officially have the winter blues when it comes to cars, lol. Everything else in life is going well, and the car project is basically right on schedule- this is just the time of the year where I get discouraged.

I’ll be heading down to Illinois to hang out with Toby and Kyle this Friday, so that will make for a fun weekend. Planning to stop and meet up with Tony and Max in Indiana along the way as well. It will be good to hang with some Zilvia bros and hopefully get some motivation. I’ll be wrapping a set of door panels in red BRIDE logo fabric while I am down there too, so that should get me pumped to reassemble the interior.

Here is how the car sits at the moment. I’m on round three of the filler on the passenger side and haven’t started applying it to the driver’s side just yet. I am already super sick of sanding, lol. I have no idea how Toby managed to devote so much time to this portion of his build, but I have a feeling I will be coming up a little short quality wise when compared to his bay:

I won’t be able to work on this thing much at all until March 2nd. That’s the day my wife and I get home from our pre-baby vacation. I took the day off, because I know I am going to be anxious to get to work on this thing as we move into March. I’m still confident that I can have this thing home from paint and back in the garage sometime in mid-March, so let’s hope that happens.

I just want to do this already…

Just add ENDLESS towel…

I’ve been up and down with motivation lately. It’s been about two weeks since I worked on the car due to Mike and I’s schedules being really busy and coming down with a nasty cold. I’m hoping to finally hit it and get back in the garage tonight to finish grinding welds and scuff the bay.

While I was home sick the other day, I watched some YouTube vids I have of the car and got super motivated. It’s always nice to be able to see what the end goal is and remember what it is like to drive the car.

I think I finally have a shop lined up to paint the bay that sounds promising. I’m working out the details for my battery relocation and then I should be in good shape. My goal for completion of the car is May 1st- we’ll see what happens!

Damon

So many welds. So many grinds. It’s getting there, though. More progress soon!

Alright, so in early July, just before we were about to take the car on the longest trip since I have owned it, it ended up on a flatbed. Not a good feeling at all, lol. My neighbor and I drove about an hour or so to a local Cars & Coffee meet, and the car stuttered and stalled on the way home. The ignition switch fuse was blown again, but kept popping after a half mile or so each time it was replaced. Ended up taking a $200 ride home and riding INSIDE the car on the flat bed on the hottest day of the summer. Not a great time…

I tore into the car over 4th of July weekend and found that the fuse box had water in it (again) and some power wires had rubbed through the shielding and were touching the metal of the engine bay, shorting out and causing the ignition switch fuse to blow. I decided to move the fuse boxes back into the bay to keep the car as reliable as possible for our drive to Import Alliance in Tennessee. It looked like crap, but it did the trick.

Import Alliance was by far the highlight of the year for me- and probably the most fun I have ever had in a car. It was the same weekend as my wife and I’s anniversary, but thankfully she was totally cool about including this event in our trip. I can’t thank her enough for that- she’s one amazing woman to put up with over 1,700 miles of driving in this crap box without air conditioning during the hottest days of the summer, LOL.

We cruised down on Friday with my friends Kyle (red kouki 240SX) and Jason (Red FD with LSX swap) from Illinois and met up with the Honda Tech caravan in Kentucky. I’d never been on a trip this far in the 240, so it was a little nerve racking- but thankfully it ran well and we didn’t have any issues along the way.

I really can’t describe the experience we had at IA- it was unreal to say the least. I had never been to an event even close to this, so I totally expected to just be one of the guys with a beat 240 in the corner somewhere. The response to our cars was NUTS- I was in disbelief the entire time. We ended up with an awesome spot on Saturday and met a ton of cool people, including Joey Lee from the Chronicles, which was awesome.

Seeing all of the photos pop up after the meet was unreal as well. Joey was cool enough to talk about our cars and post some pics on The Chronicles, as well as toss a small shot of my car in the Super Street coverage of the event- too cool! I really appreciated that- a small thing that most people might not care about, but it was a huge deal to me.

On Sunday, we actually bumped into Don Napier of Import Alliance, and he was gracious enough to let us park in the VIP area near the vendor booths- which pretty much blew our minds. Again, could not have asked for this to be a better trip- the experiences we had and people we met were unreal. Not to mention the rest of the trip in the mountains with Alicia being a blast as well. I’m really grateful we got the opportunity to do this trip, since I am not sure that we will be able to make it this year- but more on that in a bit.

Less than a month after the trip, I found myself with a broken car again. This time 3rd gear went out- it had been grinding since I bought the car, so it finally gave up the ghost, lol. At least this time I was close to home and was able to drive it there. A friend had a spare he sold me, and I got the car back on the road just days before I was going to head to Chicago for Wekfest.

WekFest was another awesome opportunity for me this year. It was a bummer that my friends couldn’t make it there with me, but I got to make some new ones in the process and spend some time with my brother out there. A lot of people gave Wek Sos crap for how the event was handled, but I enjoyed it- it was great for their first show out of California if you ask me, and I hope that they come out this way again next year. I’ll be there for sure.

I got to meet a few of the guys from JUNKHOUSE, which was really cool as well. Super chill dudes:

I took a few random shots of the car after I got home that Sunday, and they ended up being some of the best shots from the year. I guess I didn’t do much shooting this year, haha.

This was around the time that Jay from JDM Ego sent me an awesome care package full of goodies- one of the coolest people I met (or e-met, lol) this year for sure- really appreciated that and your support Jay!

I didn’t make a ton of wild changes to the car in 2011, but this was another one of my favorites. I was fortunate enough to work out a deal for BH’s old red Bride ZEROS and a red Bride Ergo 1- I believe it is one of two red ZEROS in the states. Awesome seat, and I think this really changed the look and overall presence of the car a lot. I decided to ditch the back seat at this point as well:

Too cool. That just about wrapped up the year for the car, aside from a trip down to Normal, Illinois to see Kyle and Toby for Toby’s BBQ. I stopped along the way to meet up with Max and Tony in Indiana, which was really cool. Chill dudes that I will hang out with again next summer I’m sure.

Kyle took some snaps while I was down there that ended up being the nicest shots of my car from the year. He will probably be bummed to hear me say that since he is always super critical of his work, but whatever haha.

My alternator went out in late October a few days after the trip, and the weather started to get cold and rainy, so I pulled the car for the year and dove into working on the engine bay project for the winter. It was a bummer to end the season with an issue like that, but it motivated me to get to work on this thing and try to address an area of the car that really bothers me.

Overall, 2011 was an amazing year for me- no doubt the best year I have had since I got into the car scene. The list of cool people I met and got to hang out with this year still blows my mind- Peter Tarach, Don Napier, Joey Lee, Big Mike, DPK David, Dave from Canibeat, Danh from MayDay Garage, Josh, Chob, & Phil from Junkhouse; some of the folks at WekSos, Dai Yoshihara, BH, Max, Tony, Chase at ChaseBays, Jay from JDM Ego, etc.- though a lot of those people probably wouldn’t even remember who I am, interacting with all of them really made my year great. I’m really looking forward to being a part of the scene and making new friends again while driving the 240 in 2012!

That being said, my wife Alicia and I are expecting our first child at the end of June 2012. We are both really excited to start this new chapter of our lives! I might be on a bit of a hiatus for a while this summer, but I don’t have any plans to give up or sell the car at the moment. I probably won’t make it to the IA summer meet again due to the timing of the little one, but I should still have a chance to get out there with the car and enjoy it a bit this year. Here’s to a happy and healthy 2012- thanks for reading, and I hope you stick around to see what goes down this year!

Damon

I’ll admit that I am a little late to the party as far as 2011 retrospective posts go, but better late than never- right? I had a great time in the past year, so I want to take a minute to look back!

First of all, I’d just like to thank everyone who follows this blog. I had about 22,000 views last year, which isn’t a ton by any means- but I am overwhelmed by that number. Granted, 10,000 of those views were by me and Kyle, but still- very cool! I appreciate all of the support and random people checking in from time to time.

I don’t have a photo from New Year’s Day, but here is how my car sat in mid January of 2011:

The year started on a high for me that I didn’t think could be matched- my cover/feature had been out for about a month at this point in the January 2011 issue of Modified magazine, and I was still in shock. I still can’t thank Peter, Nate, and Dave enough for everything- an experience I never thought I’d be able to have in a million years.

Since the car was torn apart completely from November 2009 to August 2010, I had no desire to tear it apart for the winter of 2010-2011- so for the most part, I just let it chill in the garage! Winter was spent trying to wait patiently for new parts to arrive from Japan. The biggest changes to the car in the beginning of 2011 were the DMAX coilovers, Defi Advance CR gauges, a Cusco 6 point roll cage, a new Bride Zeta III that somehow found its way to the states right in the middle of the tragedy in Japan in march, and of course- the  Volk TE37s.

Alicia and I took the car out to the GVSU car show on campus at the college we met at and graduated from in April. I used to help organize the show when I was at school there, so it was awesome to see that it was still taking place and whatnot. We had a great time being on campus again and enjoying the weather that day- and I won best import! lol. Pretty silly award, but it was cool to have the car out again.

The new coilovers and wheels brought a smaller tire up front and a lower height overall. Though these were subtle details, I think it made a HUGE difference in the appearance of the car. Again, another accomplishment I never imagined I would achieve- owning a set of TE37s. Some call them played out, but they really are timeless in my eyes. Really stoked I got a chance to own a set- can’t thank Peter Tarach and Brian Duong at Mackin Industries enough for helping me out with this and making it happen! The five month wait was pretty brutal, but totally worth it in the end! lol.

These are the first shots I took with the TEs installed. Brian sent them out to all of the Mackin dealers in the world, which was wild. These shots were reposted on a couple of FB pages as well- always crazy to see them pop up like that.

In June I acquired one of my favorite parts ever- a NeXt Miracle cross bar. I had wanted one of these bad boys since I got my 240, so I was beyond stoked to have this thing. It popped up in a thread full of random junk, which made it even crazier. Thankfully I was able to score it for an awesome price- one of my favorite changes to the car in 2011!

In June I had the pleasure of work with a couple of local guys to organize a local BBQ/meet to benefit the relief efforts in Japan. I made some awesome friends in the process, including none other than 2011 Formula Drift Champion Dai Yoshihara! Though we only spoke on the phone, it was an incredible opportunity to work with Dai. He hooked us up with some great prizes and we raised $17o0 for the relief efforts- one of my favorite memories of 2011 and for a long time to come.

Summer continued to roll on. I added a few Cusco components to the mix, and won my first award at the Eyes On Design show in my third year attending. I had an awesome time meeting people there and seeing some pretty crazy cars- quite on honor in my book to win something here!

One of my favorite shots from the year- cleaning the car up the night before:

That just about did it for the first half of 2011… I think I’ll split this into two posts to keep the size down a bit. If you read the blog year round, none of these things will be new to you- but it’s fun for me to take a look back on the year. Hope nobody minds, lol- back soon with part two of 2011!

Damon

I didn’t get a lot of time this weekend, but I managed to scrape together a couple of hours last night and get my engine and transmission out of the car. Thankfully I didn’t hit any snags or drop the motor or anything like that- I was a little wary of removing it all by myself, but things went my way and it wasn’t too bad.

I ran into a small snag with the height of my garage door, but I lowered things down a bit, shut the door, and was able to pull the engine out to the side- thankfully it wasn’t a very big deal.

Alicia insisted on the obligatory "JDM Pose" photo op.

Back on the ground...

Drift missile status... let's fix that.

My side of the garage is pretty trashed right now, haha. Too much stuff everywhere…

More updates soon- Chase Bays parts should be here by the end of the week I hope. Time to start getting the battery tray out and welding things shut. Happy Holidays!

Damon

I sold my first car yesterday- my 94 Toyota Camry- for $550. The car that started it all if you will, haha. My mom bought it for me back in May 2003 with 109,600 miles on it and it has been my daily (mostly in the winter months) ever since. Eight and a half years and 135,000 of my own miles later, I finally said goodbye yesterday. Kind of a weird feeling selling a car! The only car I had sold before this was an S13 rolling chassis that a friend gave me as partial payment for my Work wheels that I owned for less than a month.

Here are some shots through the years- pretty lame, but she was my baby for a while haha.

It wasn’t fast, and I got made fun of a lot for it, but it was an amazing car. I couldn’t really have asked for more- learned to drive, turn a wrench, and had a lot of fun times in this thing. Hopefully the new owner gets some use out of it before it finally gives up the ghost, haha. Here are a couple shots of how it looked before the new owner picked it up:

Thanks for the memories, Camzilla!

My wife’s 99 Solara V6 Auto will serve as my daily driver for now. On the hunt for a Honda Element for her- then maybe something new for me to replace the Solara. We’ll see what happens!

More 240 action soon- thanks for allowing me the trip down memory lane, haha.

Damon

I’m back from vacation- time to get to work on the car again. I have the day off for my birthday next week, so I’m planning to get a lot of the wiring done that day. I’ll probably focus on that for the whole day, then see where I end up. After that it will be time to pull the engine.

Since I haven’t touched the car in a week, here is a little something I made in Florida. My mother-in-law brought some clay for us to mess around with, so this is what I made… lol.

This is what I came home to in the yard- we got about 4 or 5″ of snow on Tuesday night. I guess winter is officially here…

Actual car updates soon- should make some progress on the car itself and with ordering some parts late next week.

Damon