Why This One?
This car used to belong to a close friend of mine and was a long term project of his. As a matter of fact, he's owned it as long as I've known him. No BS. Well over 15 years now.Originally like most DSM owners, he was more interested in just going fast in a straight line and the car was modified with those goals in mind. From what I can recall, it had a 16G and the usual mods one makes when owning a DSM. Boost controller, S-AFC, lowering springs, exhaust etc. He worked as Mercedes Dealer Technician, so the car was always well kept up and looked good.
Sometime around 2010 or so, his goals and mindset began to change. He wanted a 1G AWD that he he could take out to the road and autocross course, with less of a emphasis on straight line (drag) racing.
A few friends in the local DSM community had been road racing their 1G AWD DSM's at various tracks in the D/FW area. The guys in this group came up with some really nice and unusual one off parts for their cars. When they decided to switch to another platform, their cars were parted out and my buddy swooped in and snagged some of these parts for his car.
With this goal in mind, he began to build the car up using these parts.
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| God, This Meme Is Old |
Burninating Teh Countryside..
He called the car "Trogdor" and started building the car up for his new goal. And he made some serious progress on the project. However, pesky things like Work, Life, An Addictive Online MMORPG, Home Ownership and a desire to Relocate To Another State, soon led to a slowdown on progress.
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| Geez, I Wound Up Owning Both Of These Cars...Eventually |
After a few years, he lost interest in the project and migrated to Miatas. This car sat for many years in various garages, outside his apartment and stored at his job before he mentioned early in 2017 that he was going to start parting it out and crush the shell. He figured he'd have to crush it because he'd "Gone Too Far" with it, and no one would be interested in turning it back into a street car.
At the time, I still had my 99 Miata, but I had just gotten the 1G DSM "bug" back in my system. (It actually never left.) I knew the car, and I hated seeing a good car get parted out, so I asked him..."How much?" (Stupid, Stupid, Stupid DSM'er)
We talked prices, and worked some deals out. I didn't get everything, just most of it. He unloaded his automotive "albatross" on me and I was back in the 4G63/DSM game.
What Have I Done?
I drove down to Plano, TX from Wichita to pick up the car and the parts that came with it. Because all DSM's come with extra parts.
Since the car was going to be primarily used for Road Racing, as mentioned before, he had done some "Because Racecar" mods to it.
- Welded Rollbar With Integrated Harness Bar
- Gutted Heater Core, Blower Motor And A/C Condensor Under The Dash
- Modified Water Pipe With Deleted Heater Hose Fittings
- Jay Racing Alternator Relocation Kit (Where The A/C Compressor Was Located)
- 5 Point Harness And Corbeau Racing Seats
- ABS System Deleted
- "Custom" Gauge Install In Place Of Ventilation Controls
- Odyssey PC680 AGM Racing Battery In JM Fab Billet Bracket On Subframe
- No Front Bumper Crash Beam
- 3 Inch Thick Custom Griffin Radiator, No Fans
- Gutted Interior Behind Front Seats
Some of these mods were fine for a track only car, but I wanted a more street oriented car, so some of these things would have to be addressed at a later date.
A few "Good Things" it came with:
- Fresh 6 Bolt 4G63 With Good Compression and FP2 Cams
- Forced Performance 68 HTA Turbo, Exhaust Race Manifold and Ported EV03 O2 Housing
- 1G EPROM ECU with Custom EPROM and S-AFC
- 850cc Dephi Fuel Injectors, Fuel Lab AFPR and Fuel Filter
- Mach V Brake Master Cylinder Brace
- Custom Front Big Brakes (Porsche 996 Brembo Calipers/Mustang Cobra Rotors)
- Diamond Star Specialties Coilovers with KYB AGX Shocks F/R
- 3 Inch Turboback Exhaust (RRE Downpipe/Apex-i Catback)
- SS Brake Lines
- Indy Race Core (Old School) FMIC and Piping
- Kosei K1-TS 17x8 Wheels with Bridgestone Potenza Tires
- MB Motoring "Competition" 17x9 Wheels with Toyo Proxes Tires
- Spare 6 Bolt Block, with a Stock and Stroker Crank
- Spare 6 and 7 Bolt Heads
- Spare 4 Bolt LSD Rear End
- Spare Set Of 90 Eclipse GSX Front Seats
- Other Odds and Ends
So after loading up his truck and my truck with parts and the trailer, we set off for Wichita.
Now, The Real Work Begins
Along the way we stopped to grab dinner with another DSM Buddy of ours in Oklahoma City, and decided to stay the night after having a little too much to drink. We spent the night nerding out to old DSM Shootout videos and geeking hard about the 4G63 and the DSM platform.
The next morning, a little more worse for the wear, we finished our trip to...Wichita (yay). Got the car unloaded and in it's new home. Got the parts off loaded and somewhat organized in the garage.
Grabbed some lunch before my friend headed back to D/FW and I returned to the garage to contemplate my next move for the car.
Turning a "Track Rat" back into a street car. Should be interesting.
Alpha...Mike...Foxtrot...
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