Chapter One
(I)S Club 7: Bring It On Back
*EDIT*
To follow along with up to date posting on the car and the race season, follow me on Instagram @nikromanoracing
Hello My.IS!
I just made an into thread a few nights ago. My name is Nik, and I recently decided to start doing IS things.
The goal is to build the car for NASA wheel to wheel racing in the PTD class. I'll also bring it out to other events like the SpeedSF challenge (a grassroots time attack event and track day organization), and maybe some TRD Cup events.
My history with IS300s started with one Mr. Joe McGuigan, an SF Bay local ProAm drifter and one of my best friends. Over the years I helped him with his car as it changed form over and over, from a GE to a 1UZ, to a 1J-GTE. I always liked the car, but I was happy playing around with Miatas and didn't need another project. Here's that car in its final guise, on one of two laps I got to do some skids in it:
At some point, I got involved with a Hayward-based tuning shop, and I helped them to build this:
It ran at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill, and despite some major braking issues early on and not really having time to tune the car to its potential, it finished the race in 7th place. It would have been neat to see what it could have done when the power to weight was up to spec and the suspension was dailed. Alas, it was not to be.
Fast forward to last year, I decided one day that I wanted to build a first-gen racer, and that same day I called up a guy with a Craigslist posting, drove to see the car, then bought it and drove home. I had to take an Uber to get my other car back home. #planning
That very day:
The photos hide the bad clear coat well. It had a cold-start rough idle, what is likely the top-o-tha-fuel tank leaky valve, and a slushbox...but at $2500, the price was right, and I'd be disassembling the entire thing anyway. I DD'd the car for a few months, immediately began regretting my plans to take my only practical car with an auto, AC, 4 doors, useful trunk, power windows, and comfortable suspension...and using THAT one to gut and cage. Seriously, the whole thing is a totally dumb idea. Why am I doing this. Halp.
The first order of business was engine maintenance. There was some oil dripping off the front end, so I decided to tear all that mumbo jumbo out and replace the oil seals. Turns out, the crank bolt in these cars is good fun to take off. It must have taken 1000lbs of force to get it to budge. Two dudes both pushing on a breaker bar with a cheater pipe on it, and we almost couldn't get it done. I can get my Miata's crank bolt off with a stern glance.
The leak ended up being the VVT cam gear, so I bought one of those handy do-it-yourself kits consisting of a sheet of printer paper and an o-ring, and went to town. Half of this job was to fix the leak, half was to familiarize myself with a new (to me) car and engine. Once you get the hang of this car, it's not so bad.
With everything all buttoned back up, it was time to actually do some racecar things.
(I)S Club 7: Bring It On Back
*EDIT*
To follow along with up to date posting on the car and the race season, follow me on Instagram @nikromanoracing
Hello My.IS!
I just made an into thread a few nights ago. My name is Nik, and I recently decided to start doing IS things.
The goal is to build the car for NASA wheel to wheel racing in the PTD class. I'll also bring it out to other events like the SpeedSF challenge (a grassroots time attack event and track day organization), and maybe some TRD Cup events.
My history with IS300s started with one Mr. Joe McGuigan, an SF Bay local ProAm drifter and one of my best friends. Over the years I helped him with his car as it changed form over and over, from a GE to a 1UZ, to a 1J-GTE. I always liked the car, but I was happy playing around with Miatas and didn't need another project. Here's that car in its final guise, on one of two laps I got to do some skids in it:
At some point, I got involved with a Hayward-based tuning shop, and I helped them to build this:
It ran at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill, and despite some major braking issues early on and not really having time to tune the car to its potential, it finished the race in 7th place. It would have been neat to see what it could have done when the power to weight was up to spec and the suspension was dailed. Alas, it was not to be.
Fast forward to last year, I decided one day that I wanted to build a first-gen racer, and that same day I called up a guy with a Craigslist posting, drove to see the car, then bought it and drove home. I had to take an Uber to get my other car back home. #planning
That very day:
The photos hide the bad clear coat well. It had a cold-start rough idle, what is likely the top-o-tha-fuel tank leaky valve, and a slushbox...but at $2500, the price was right, and I'd be disassembling the entire thing anyway. I DD'd the car for a few months, immediately began regretting my plans to take my only practical car with an auto, AC, 4 doors, useful trunk, power windows, and comfortable suspension...and using THAT one to gut and cage. Seriously, the whole thing is a totally dumb idea. Why am I doing this. Halp.
The first order of business was engine maintenance. There was some oil dripping off the front end, so I decided to tear all that mumbo jumbo out and replace the oil seals. Turns out, the crank bolt in these cars is good fun to take off. It must have taken 1000lbs of force to get it to budge. Two dudes both pushing on a breaker bar with a cheater pipe on it, and we almost couldn't get it done. I can get my Miata's crank bolt off with a stern glance.
The leak ended up being the VVT cam gear, so I bought one of those handy do-it-yourself kits consisting of a sheet of printer paper and an o-ring, and went to town. Half of this job was to fix the leak, half was to familiarize myself with a new (to me) car and engine. Once you get the hang of this car, it's not so bad.
With everything all buttoned back up, it was time to actually do some racecar things.