GreyDesigns - Sr20 S12 - Build
Right where to start, I am planning to build a new car...
Why the S12? -
I love old jap cars, I bought a mk3 supra at 18 or 19 and loved it. It was an ace car, even if it did consume all of my pay, cost over £2000 to insure and drank petrol like it was going out of fashion. I started learning to drift in it down at crail, but being an N/A it just wasn't fast enough for me. March 2013, I had saved for a while and finally had enough for a cheap S14, I searched around for a few weeks and one night spotted one going pretty cheap on ebay, it had hardly any bids and a horrible body kit, new tyres, new mot, loads of tax and lowish miles. It was going to end soon, so seeing it had just had a new MOT on it and I couldn't see any rust in the pictures, I put a sneaky bid down on it ",how bad could it be?"
Turns out it was the worst purchase I could have possibly made. I got a flight down, and picked it up in some crazy rain, then drove it up from Southampton back up to Aberdeen in a very long day, when I got under the car the next morning, I was shocked to see it was rusty, very rusty! - In fact the car is fully rotten. To the extent where there is pretty much nothing holding it together (I'll take some pics of that soon!,) despite looking perfect on top. Spoke to VOSA, it was a dodgy mot, there was nothing I could legally do to get my money back. I had just thrown away the largest savings I had ever had, and I was very angry for a long time. I still wanted a drift car, So I sold the Supra and bought an E36 that I have been driving since and have built up a fantastic car out of it. But I still crave that Jap Turbo power, the heartache and hatred I have for my S14 had subsided, so I decided it was time to decided what to do with it. I almost bought back my Supra as a shell to save it from the scrapyard and fit the SR into that. Until I spotted this unusual S12 here on SXOC, in Scotland no less! And for hardly any money. I became totally smitten with the pictures of it from the add and former SXOC members build thread on here for it too.
So, I get a lift up to see the car. Its a bit rusty in places, but the majority of the car is mint really! And it has some s****y Rotas on it. Deal.
I know that it has some running issues and might cut out on me, and it did. On the third time while on the slip road for a bridge on the A9, I decided to throw in the towel and call for roadside recovery. A few hours sitting with this cool car on a nice sunny day, feeding some friendly cows. Piece of cake, and I save a load on fuel (I am used to waiting on recovery from previous Supra adventures.)
We get the car hooked up to the back of the van, finally. End of the days dramas, time to go home, get something to eat. We stop a few times to check the exhaust hasn't been scrapping as it was only a few cm off the ground. No issues again. So at this point, I had driven the car for 40 odd miles, and we had towed it for 20 or 30. All of a sudden there is a loud scraping noise, and looking in the mirrors, the car behind is flashing its lights with hazards on and the car is sitting a bit funny..."F+ck, what now?..."
Get out of the van to see my luck has not really changed with s bodies, as the S12 has no wheel now. Turns out the rear wheel nuts were loose for some reason (really loose) I had to run back 1/4 mile to find a my Rota wheel in a field. We hadn't even noticed it had fallen off as the exhaust had taken the weight instead, until it melted down. Luckily it came off the passengers side and not the drivers side, as that would have been a whole other issue if it had hit a car on the other lane!
So here I am now, I own this cool S12 and a rotten S14. I plan to merge the two and try to make a respectable drift car out of it.
I have never welded before, and I have never swapped an engine over before. So I have lots to learn and lots to go wrong, I can't wait.
:D
