I originally bought my 91 hatch for $300 off craigslist, guy I bought it from had drifted it into a curb and bent a bunch of front suspension stuff. While fixing it I upgraded to coilovers and bought some wheels, Tanabe Sustec Pros and 16x8 +10 Rota RB-R. It was also auto, so the first thing I did after fixing the front end was perform a 5sp swap. Here is a picture of it at that stage:



I wanted to drift it, so I looked around for local drift events. The closest one was Driftwater, it's hosted by LookoutDrift/US Drift. I tried to go ka-t but that plan failed, so I was back to stock KA for the event, however I was still running my tuned ecu. I learned a lot at that event, here's a picture.



After my first few events I wanted to try ka-t again. This time I did it better, but I still cut a lot of corners. After figuring out an ignition issue I was running 7 psi on a t25, I thought it was the fastest thing ever. I think this picture is of that setup.



After the ebay turbo blew I decided to upgrade to a GTi-R t28. Here are some pictures from that:






Unfortunately I wanted to break 300whp with 370cc injectors and stock mafs. I got close at 12 psi, but I blew my ringlands in the process. I still drove it around for a while at lower boost, smoked a lot but still made decent power.



I got a friend to take some rolling shots, the car was pretty haggard in this stage but I thought it looked cool.






Around that time I swapped in another KA, I was tired of burning oil due to the ringland issue. I think it's also around that time that I swapped everything over to a cleaner shell, not sure though. Either way the new shell was the same color, you couldn't tell it was a new car. This is either during the engine swap or the shell swap:



I got some new coilovers because the Tanabes didn't go low enough. I also got to drift VIR's Patriot Course, that was a blast. Pictures:




My oil pressure had issues. By issues, I mean I had almost none. I decided to tear apart the blown ringland block and build it, but I ended up saying screw it and rebuilt my turbo instead.



round that time I decided to go 5 lug, but being the cheapass I am I did it in parts. 5 lug in the rear came first since it was the easiest.



I go to school in NC, so I decided to hit up some events in Charlotte. Streetwise drift has a points series or something, I just wanted seat time.




We all stayed at a friend's house, this neat picture was taken there.



After that I wanted to change the look of my car, so I went pignose front and got some chuki sides, as well as did some more drifting.








http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOTiw0zhxaA Then I finally went 5 lug, 16x8 -10 Starion wheels all around

In addition to my oil pressure problems I kept losing coolant. The head gasket was going, I decided to have it blow at the track. I got some new wheels somewhere in there too. First time my car had ever been on a trailer, it kinda sucked.








At this stage I decided on sticking with the KA and doing a top mount turbo setup. I thought about keeping my turbo and going top mount t2, but in the end I decided against it. I found what I thought was a good deal on a built KA, $1,000 for forged internals and less than 25 miles. Bought it, swapped random parts over, started it up, and of course it had rod knock. I ended up not even using that same engine when I built my own, just the rods. Shitty situation, should have just built my own engine and saved all that time and money. Bad engine:




New built engine:



I broke it in N/A and drove it around for a while before deciding to turbo it again. 550cc injectors, z32 mafs, and at the time a Holset HX30. I bought everything to make it work, almost had it running, then decided to go with another turbo. Sold the Holset and bought a Precision 5431 and "made" a new manifold for it. It's a bottom mount t2 manifold flipped and braced with a t3 flange welded on.





Since it was finally running again I went drifting. Broke a coolant hose, other than that it went really well. I also put on my rear valance, I don't think it's an actual G-Grow, probably a replica. Either way it was in 3 pieces when I got it, I didn't bother fixing it at the time. I also got MB Battle wheels.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ_TkAsLRBQ Since the car was working I decided it was finally time for paint. A friend of mine found a post of mine from like 3 years ago saying I was going to paint it within a week, but obviously that didn't happen. I decided on a color(s) and started prep work.














Since it was all painted it was time to go drifting again!

At this point the car was running well so I decided to focus on suspension. I wanted to have correct suspension geometry so I had my knuckles modified. This gave me 45mm of front roll center correction as well as a lot more steering angle for drifting.




I went to the Driftwater event in May, these are some pictures from that:




More suspension bits, this time solid rear subframe bushings. These bushings also raise the subframe by 20mm which helps out suspension geometry.





I just got back from another Streetwise event in Charlotte this past weekend, not too many pictures of that but here’s a video I took.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bhK5-m9pa8 And here’s how the car currently looks. Bumper is going back on after I get an alignment, other than that my only plans are for more seat time!