Quick breakdown of the last 10 years of mayhem to start things off.
In 2013 we got some advanced notice about Final Bout. At the time I was driving an NB miata that had been rolled, kissed a few walls, and had an engine on it's last leg. I had a new shell and a 13b-rew as well as a Q45 mid-manual swap and motor rebuild waiting in the wings, but neither were anywhere near completion. I had always wanted a two tone so when the perfect candidate popped up I knew it was time to part ways with the other projects and return to my s13 roots.
I had originally intended to do a slight restoration, lower it, and stick with little wheels, but things quickly spiraled out of control. By the time Final Bout rolled around I had put a dual cam in, slammed it on some combo of Weds, Gramlights, or Advans, and put Sexy Style-style aero on with a fresh coat of paint.
After driving nearly 3 events a month leading up to and following Final Bout, I decided it was time for more power and I had fallen in love with Car Modify Wonder, which I thought would look funny two tone. I didn't do the first start up with the SR until the day before we loaded the cars up to head to Final Bout 2.
I ended up breaking 2 transmissions at FB2, which sent me down a rabit hole for the next 1.5 years. Finally I managed to get my shit together just before the first Super D Party at Grange (now AVS) and got a bunch of events in over the following couple years.
And then it was time for another change to promote Auto-Collect Storm (RIP), which I was involved with for a short period of time. Green turned out to be a bad luck color and I only was able to successfly drive a couple events until the motor showed signs of problems.
I had picked up a hatch that I was planning to daily and grip during the green car phase and after the SR in the green car seemed to take a turn for the worse, my focus shifted to the hatch, which quickly got out of hand...
I got a good deal on a Tomei exhaust manifold, which inspired me to go down the KA-T path. When I pulled the turbo off the SR to use on the KA, I realized the oil drain tube had a bubble on the inside, causing the oil to back up, which was the source of the smoke, not valve seals or any other issue with the SR 🙄
I was too far down the KA-T route to turn back and fully comitted to the hatch and picked up some 326 aero and SP1's. It was a good car and I got it working/driving really nice.
Unfortunately, the KA wasn't a fan of the boost and let go at Super D NYE. After looking at KA longblock prices, I decided to part the car out and shift my focus back to the coupe. I put the turbo back on the SR and put it back in the coupe hoping everything would work just like it had before I removed it. But of course for whatever reason the SR wouldn't start without a push start, but once it did, it'd run perfectly. After trying to diagnose the main coupe for nearly a year, I again got a bit carried away on another side project...
I picked up another two tone in 2016 that I, again, had intended to restore. After sitting for 6 years, I finally gave it some attention, putting in a single cam, doing a manual swap, and adding come bits and pieces from the other coupe.
And then uhhhh I couldn't get it to run right. I kept thinking I had the problem solved when I'd do shakedowns around town, but the second I took it to the track it'd fall on it's face. At this point, I realized I was doing the same thing over and over again when I should just finish my original plan. So I put the car up for sale and used the money to buy the rest of what I needed to complete the k swap that I had started piecing together 6 years earlier.
But first, I had to go on a quick side quest putting an engine in an NC that I got for free. This time it really didn't delay the k swap at all, which was nice. If anyting it actually helped because it made commuting to and from my shop while working on the coupe wayyyyy cheaper.
Winter '22-'23 I busted my ass getting the car ready with the goal of driving Final Bout SSNW. I spent a hair too much time doing body work and ended up only having the week before the event to button up the k swap and get the car tuned. Given my history I decided to not push my luck.
I took my time finishing up the swap and finally got to take it out for it's first event in August. To my surprise the car ran perfectly. The only issue I found was the k likes to rattle everything loose and the gearing was a bit short. Some blue Loctite and a 3.5 final drive did the trick and it's been ripping without skipping a beat since!
