Hangover cure

What better way to cure a hangover after spending last night YOLOing it up, than to play wheels. I finally got my Sebrings tired up and with valve stems thanks to Andrew and the team at Firestone and chucked them on the car. 

Big tire and small rim win!

The placement of the tree was very convenient as it obscures the front of the car which is still on the poo spec Windom wheels. But after having these on, I'm amazed at how well they turned out, and will definitely be painting my other set this same colour scheme as it contrasts amazingly with the red paint. I will be taking some better pictures on flat ground soon and will hopefully if time permits try and get the rear spoiler ready for paint.

While I was at Matt's, we also got cracking on getting my Impuls split apart. Spot the hangover glass of water haha.

Excellent safety gear like always. Turns out old frying pans are particularly useful as bolt collection units!

Much like the Rays, a swift heel kick is enough to drop the centers out once the bolts have been removed.

You can see in this picture our shortcut for removing the bolts. A drill, a 10mm hex bit, and an 8mm ring spanner! Excellent idea from Matt and much much faster than just doing them individually with a ratchet.

However, with the speed we were removing bolts with, we somehow ended up losing a nut on the grass somewhere. Patting the lawn down didn't yield results, and a quick brain wave (which was surprising considering how hungover he was), led us to adopt this now patented idea for finding the stubborn nut lol.

Hopefully over the break I should be able to make considerable progress on the Impuls and the car in general as I'll have some spare time and am super excited to work on it again. I've got a colour scheme in my head already decided for these wheels and if it turns out the way I imagine it, it's gonna be f-ing brilliant! Then I can move on to the Panasports! Exciting times ahead.

Labour of love

It's amazing how things turn out if you end up being patient and chipping slowly away at them. After landing back in Kiwiland, I decided to hit the ground running and get cracking on the things I had left on my to do list. 

First things first was to put the spoiler I had gotten while in the US from the car. Thankfully my mates came to the party, so I gotta thank Scott, Shaun and Charlie for helping courier it down from Auckland for me. I'd always fantasized about having an SW with an Autopista rear spoiler for shits and giggles, and when this came up for sale, I was not gonna miss out on it. The hemispheric and continental difference in location wasn't going to stop me! Unfortunately the seller was a bit shifty, and what was advertised as a mint condition refurbed spoiler turns out to be something that needs a bit more finetuning to get it to my goal. 

Nonetheless, champing at the bit, I did a quick fit on the car, and have left it on for 2 weeks now, and I absolutely love it. It may not be to everyone's tastes, but judging from my choice in dream car, obviously I don't care about people's opinions on my choices lol. It will be sanded back down, the mounts redone, and will be primered and painted before I do a final install on the car. Hoping to have this done before the new year.

The car is getting very close bodywork wise to the image I had in my head when I first bought the car. Which is excellent as this project keeps getting better by the day!

However, a major stickler and hurdle in the project for me is, and always has been its lack of suitably special rims. The problem with taking your time with refurbing rims, is that you have to roll on lame ass shoes for a while. Thankfully, this is a major motivator for me, and my first refurbed set is now all painted, cleared and bolted together. They are 95% finished, and just require new valve stems and a tire to be put on and I will be able to run em. Alas, it is not a full set, so it will have to be a pair at a time, but it is a start in the right direction. 

With verve and gusto I managed to get my Sebrings fully painted and cleared within the 2 weekends I have been back in NZ with Matt's help. Rather than explain it all again (which was covered in this post - Blood, sweat and fumes), here's some timeline pictures to do the explaining instead. 

Sadly no in progress painting pictures, nor polishing pictures but we all know what paint and autosol looks like. 

Centres painted, prior to being cleared, and barrels yet to be polished.

 Centres cleared, and barrels polished, pre clear. 

I got hassled by one of my mates the other day for always having my feet in a picture, but I defended myself by saying, "you know it's a Lush Garage picture if there's a picture of my feet in jandals". Looking thru my posts and uploaded photos, there is an element of truth to that statement lol. 

Centres fully bolted up, and awaiting valve stems.

Not a bad turn around at all if I do say so myself! So naturally, being a wheel whore, what else was there to do but roll the car out of the garage and have a test fit? 

 The wheel is on the hub and the wheel nuts are on, but I didn't lower the car completely as I was lazy, and there were no valve stems or air in the tire, so to do so would have been a waste of time. A preliminary test fit shows that the sizing is perfect, and i just love how badass the big tires look. I have always had a propensity for big tires and small rims, and these 225/50/16s are just that.

Saweeeeet! Looks spot on right now, and I don't think I will have to lower it much, if at all thanks to the big tires. Which is excellent news as the last thing I want to be doing is dragging the exhaust haha. Not in this car! Perhaps a couple mm should do it, but atm, it is all just idle thoughts as the car hasnt been lowered fully on them yet. 

In other news, I've managed to procure a full other set of Sebrings thanks to incessant trawling of Yahoo Japan. Sadly the sizing isn't the same as my current rims, but it could be an excellent beginning to a staggered setup. They are 16x7 +33 so they should be absolutely spot on for the front of this car, and couple with a 205/45, would be a perfect grip setup for the MR, which is notoriously picky for wheel and tire sizing. Now I just need to decide on a colour scheme. But I'm getting ahead of myself, as the container isn't expected to arrive in NZ till about late February hah!

So the next update for the blog will be a boring but required one. Top of the list is giving my GTS a full service as I'm not comfortable leaning on this car without putting in something I know of. So with the next paycheck will come new brake fluid, new plugs, new oil and filter, new clutch fluid, and most importantly new gbox fluid. Coming a close second to this would be the parts to fix my GT to get it running as I wold love to get it legal asap and flick it off. It's currently sitting unloved and is taking up space which I would like to have back lol. Stay tuned for the next post though as it's not going to be all service and repair related. I'm also going to be showing you all a few tricks to improving your driving experience as well as sharing some feedback. Till the next post, stay safe and out of trouble!

Picture dump

So in the midst of travelling, I haven't really snapped too many pictures, nor any features as of yet, so I will just upload whatever pics I have taken of things that have stood out to me over this past week in the big apple.

Supersize me baby!

I love the snowflake rims. This car had all the hallmarks of a car that is used and abused. Just the way I like it!

I was soo stoked when I walked past this thing! Gold star for the person who correctly names this car!

USDM sunroof yo!

Those rear quarters :3

If you failed to name the car previously, here's a clue as to its denomination.

This thing was soo straight! I couldn't get over it. 

I will endeavour to try and get some features on my trip away but no promises guys. Take it easy!

Instagram!

So a 2 part post today! Finally back into cars and posting regularly and it definitely feels good. Lets start of with the new Sunday driver. Last weekend I went up with my mates for a 5 hour drive to pick up the new car. Naturally, with 2 power lifters and a brown man, the first food stop was KFC. The breakfast of champions/lardasses right here!

All those calories for 3 people, and a Pepsi Max. Cos we gotta watch those figures. All this time, I was getting worried that the car would not be what it appeared to be as I bought this car sight unseen. 

However, when I picked the car I was amazed at the condition it was in! It had exceeded my expectations and came with a lot of useful and hard to find spares. 

It had a slight misfire and needed a bit of loving. It also needed a few touched for me to be happy with it like the wheels and the front bumper. But overall it was amazing and an excellent base to start from. The best part being, a GTS with Gen 3 tails! Love!
I don't know what face that is?

A nice 6 hour drive later and i was back home. And then I proceeded to take photos of what had always been the dream. A house full of MR2s! (Ignoring the Volvo in the background. That was the automotive ambalamps)

Some shady characters/mass murderers of chickens. 

Fast forward till today and I made the decision to download Instagram on my phone for shits and giggles. And with my impending trip looming, I decided to get organised and tidy up the garage bay and give the car another clean as I had already racked up over 1000kms in my ownership in less than a week. 

During the working bee, my good mate Charlie showed up with his still squeaky shiny Euro R (as seen in this post Charlie's suspension) to talk wheels and tire specs. While he was over and since I was on Insta-spree, I couldn't resist taking a side shot of my car. 

I want these so bad ever since I had a set on my old EG6. That set has now found its way onto an MX5 and I've been yearning for tris ever since! Here's hoping I can convince him to part with them for a special price :D

More furious cleaning ensued before another familiar face showed up in the Lush Garage area code. 
Brushie brushie brushie. 

By this stage the garage had been cleaned and all that was left was to clean cars and catch up. Cue more instasnaps. 

I'm not so sure if I'm sold on the whole instagram photos on my posts. I guess I will decide on the fly as to which pictures I use.

However, with the new acquisition taking priority, it now means that I will have to say good bye to my old GT and put it up for sale. Bye old friend. Hopefully someone else can enjoy you as I pass on the stewardship. 

Obsession by Lush Garage

Another long hiatus between posts. Sorry readers but I have neglected every facet of my life in an effort to search and successfully score a job, but so far that is proving elusive, so what else is there for me to do apart from add another car to the Lush Garage stables.

As I write this, its currently 7.40am, and I'm about to get picked up my mates before we do a 10 hour trip to pick up a car to add to the fleet. As a result my old MR2 is now up for sale as I move onto the next car. Pictures will come soon, and I will endeavour to post regular updates from now on, and hopefully some updates from the US scene when I head over in 17 days. Pictures of the impending roadtrip to come! Here's hoping its a good un' and I get a job soon haha. Lets hope the drive down is uneventful as well!

Take it off

Hey all, long time no post. A combination of searching for more, a broken foot and a lack of funds means that things have remained stagnant for a while. That and I broke the car lol (busted speedo drive). I will make a post on my car once I have the next few bits in it, but till then here's a post about what I've been up to lately. 

Eeerbody needs a token hand model shot with a brush. For the record that's not me, I'm not that skinny....thanks for the help Matt.

Here's a pic of my car from our recent spate of frosts

Hopefully in my next post about my car, I should have the interior and sound deadening stripped, the cage and foot plates in (hopefully) along with a new pew. 

In the mean time, I am still yet to put my Tein springs in the car, but I've been busy working on every one else's cars lol. Hopefully legal slams soon! On the plus side Lush Garage has a new daily/parts hauler, but heh me being me, I've neglected to take pictures of it. I blame getting doused with paint stripper all up in my face today on that. Hopefully my next post is soon, I don't like not posting often. Time and money, the two things we never have enough of.