Back When I Was Slayin Dreams

The end of 2010 is fast approaching, as winter rages on I find myself remembering the all good times I’ve had these past few years.   With that being said I’ve decided to do a feature on my R32 Sedan.

I, like most adolescent males, could not wait to get my drivers license and be able to own my first car.  I was barely allowed to leave the block growing up so the thought of traversing the city streets in a car with my friends sounded like pure gold.  As soon as I was able to, I bought myself a 1990 Integra GS and it was a great car for awhile.  Not being very knowledgeable of cars at the time I did some pretty foolish mods.   That changed when my good friend Jordan Hall introduced me to the world of JDM Honda tuning; I fell in love with how simple and tasteful these cars were.  Time went by and i eventually sold the integra, now on the prowl for a new car I found out there was a four door skyline for sale just out of town, I immediately fell in love with it and the rest was history, Here’s the tale of our love hate relationship.

The car was basically stock aside from some small mods like exhaust, intake and lowering springs.  With Honda love still burning in my soul I decided to start acquiring some parts.  First came fully adjustable suspension, a front mounted intercooler and some 16×8 +30 R32 GTR wheels.  I loved the way the car looked and felt but the more car enthusiasts I met and the more research I did, I started to gain an interest in the tuning style of other Nissan owners.

Everything changed the spring  of 2009, when I was introduced to the world of drifting. I had participated in a few local auto slalom events and liked the idea of using my car for something other than getting me around. At this time another white four door skyline had appeared in the city and I was eager to meet the owner who just so happened to be one of the people trying to get drifting going in Saskatchewan. When we met he told me about these drift practices at the track just out of town and I decided to check it out.  After watching a couple practices I decided I needed to give this a shot despite having no idea what to do. It was Love at first drift (lets be realistic I was horrible for the entire season but had a blast none the less).

At this time I started cutting custom decals on the side for fun and people sort of took an interest in the idea of getting your ideas to come to life, so the sticker making picked up. I started with a few smaller decals on my car to advertise myself, stand out from everyone else and have some cool artwork out there for people to see…. this eventually turned into an addiction.

The car took the abuse I put it through extremely well in the summer of 2009 and i had nothing but good things to say about it. Not everyone liked the way I fashioned the car together but i felt it represented me just right.

In the spring of 2010 the vinyl frenzy only got better, when I got bored of what was up I would just do something new, it was great!  My wheels varied throughout the span of owning this car until I wound up with a set of mismatched work wheels, they fit like a glove.  I have a guilty pleasure for Bosozoku style cars and felt I may just be able to pull off victory pipes so I pulled the trigger and went for it, they were definitely a conversation piece, ha.

All the luck I had with the motor in 2009 didn’t transfer over with the new year, the head gasket went so I decided it was time to do a rebuild and upgrade some parts. ARP headstuds, new turbo, downpipe, port and polish the head, intake, valves etc.

May of 2010 we held a two day “Drift Matsuri” in which I was extremely excited for because every drifter loves the opportunity to get a lot of seat time at the track. The first day the weather was horrendous and even though our cars were caked in mud we continued to push through the torrential rains in anticipation for a better day tomorrow.

Day two came around and I was eager to get out on the track, I took a run and blew a tire off the rim, not a major issue so after a new pair of tires I was off again, when disaster struck. I made my way along the track and was ready to try and link the center portion of the course  after a clutch kick my car suddenly died and wouldn’t start. After inspection I found out I had broken the idler bolt and hopped my timing belt off the gears, smashing my valves into my pistons. This all happened only 4 days after the rebuild, such is the life of modifying cars.  Frustrated and disappointed, I just couldn’t afford to pour anymore money into the old girl and decided it was time to let her go, oh how I wish I never did so.

*Some photos property of Pho and Cuong Nguyen.