So I decided I might as well start a thread to keep track of my car addiction, primarily for my own amusement - I can't imagine anyone will find this interesting! If anyone does read this, I will only be updating sporadically. Today seemed like a good day to start, as I have a rare Saturday at home with nothing else to do, which is a deeply exciting prospect! So let's get started. I promise there will be Porsche content if you bear with me.
I should also mention, the drifting photos in this post were shot by a talented friend of mine. The M3 was photographed by Jeff Chin:
https://www.facebook.com/Jeff-Chin-Photography-134164841165/. Otherwise, I'll try to stick to using my own photos.
I've had a lifelong obsession with all things automotive. The unifying theme is that I never have enough time, money, or garage space to actually own anything interesting for very long. It all started with a 1989 BMW 325i 5-speed. Great car. Could pack about 6 friends into it, or a weekend's worth of camping/ski gear, and on Michelin X-Ice tires in the winter, it was a force to be reckoned with. It was frequently sideways and always living above 4000 rpm with the throttle wide open. With only 168hp on tap, it was perfect.
Sadly, it was frequently leaving me stranded, and it wasn't comfortable for the long road trips I was taking it on. So I (stupidly) got rid of it and jumped into . . . a MKIV VW GTI. Ugh. It was comfortable, being electric lime green with black leather, but that's about all it had going for it. So I grabbed this as a side project:
That ill-fitting bumper and crooked intercooler? Well I very quickly jettisoned the truck motor/boat anchor KA24DE that someone had swapped in (twin cam? could have fooled me . . .) for an RB20DET inline 6. With a huge amount of help from a good buddy, we swapped the problematic factory ceramic turbo for a Garret "disco potato" ball bearing unit and crudely turned the boost way up. The car probably made a solid 250 whp based on "butt dyno" figures, compared to 200 hp at the crank from the factory RB engine.
So that was cool I guess, but the GTI and 240SX were dumped in favor of this lovely machine:
... which was short-lived. Back to school, it was quickly traded for a MKV GTI and some cash, but not before teaching me a lesson in ownership costs. My god, tires are stupidly expensive in Canada. Well, everything is really.
To be continued . . .