Dec. 20, 2012
So after the coupe was painted, I decided it was about time to get the car looking like a whole car again. Most people around town knew me as the guy with all the 86’s (which happen to always be missing a body panel). So I decided to piece the coupe together to be as close to 100% appealing to the eye as possible. So first thing first, was to get the rear over fenders to fit the 15×9 -41 rear work equips.
Just look at that… NOT CUTE
Man, I’ve been terrible about updating my builds. Over the last three months…a LOT has changed on my corolla(s). Branden did a quick profile on me back at the end of 2012. You can check it out here. At that time, I had just freshly prepped and painted my coupe. Being my first time using an HVLP gun and single stage paint, I think it turned out pretty good!
Here’s a before shot of the car:
Nov. 8, 2012:
First thing first, I started sanding down the spray paint on the car to get to the original paint. Once I got to that, I scuffed up the original paint real nice for the primer to stick. And started primering with Rustoleum spray paint. (in the future, I would buy actual automotive primer from Sherwinn-Williams bc, I don’t think my single stage paint stuck to the car as well with rustoleum).
All taped up, ready for primer
Two weeks ago I saw a link to meetup.com that was something along the lines of “Austin Sportbike Riders.” I immediately thought “Shoot, this is cool I need some people to ride with!.” With that I headed to their Noob event and met a bunch of great people. Long story short, after talking to some fellow members, (Ignacio, Art, May,Candace, Dannen, Cory) I was given a chance to go to a track day with a few of them. Normally I would have had to go through a lot of trouble to find transportation but ASR’s Ignacio coordinated it all for me. These people really know how to make someone feel like family, and did all they could to make sure that I could go there at any cost. Cost was another problem as I’m still in school and paying for my first super sport, so the fact that all things were worked out just so I could go and race around a track in a safe manner. You can’t really ask for better people than that.
Long story short, after trying to sell my xbox (failed), I still found a way to make it out, even though it was only for one of the two days of the event. Before we go any further I would like to give special thanks to my amazing friends Ignacio, May, Candace, and David for helping me so much these past two weeks, and for being truly awesome human beings. Through them I have started to realized my dreams as a racer.
I arrived with my duffle bag on my back. Since I had to ride over to David’s place I was trying to be a minimalist
My friend David has a pretty awesome race bike. He’s a fellow Honda head as well, and used to own a variety of great cars. He now, however, has moved on to racing motorcycles…. something that I could see in my future.
Close up on that awesome exhaust
Shout out to David’s sponsor
That Honda Racing life
After Candace showed up at about 6:30 PM we loaded up (we as in Candace and David) and head off to Cresson
So by 11:30 we made it to the track. After unloading the bikes we headed to our sleeping quarters and got some rest.
We started the morning early at about 5:30 AM. When we woke up it was time to get everything prepped for the day. Needless to day I didn’t have much work to do, but while everyone else was putting their bikes on stands and firing up those tire warmers I walked around and snapped some shots of the place.
Prep Complete!
Even the cruisers had their own class! ‘Merica
Race bike out and out. Sometimes farings just get in the way.
Most of the day’s ASR group
Don’t worry friends, even your fit’s can tow you to the track!
May has a cbr250r like I did, except her’s is all tracked out. Unfortunately someone (not pointing fingers) forgot her key and so she ended up riding some else’s ninja 250. Ignacio’s track bike on the right is a little track monster. For those who don’t know the 07-08 600rr is the fastest 600rr to date, and his was a testament to this.
May and Ignacio posted up like champions, leanin’ like a cholo
When you don’t race, you read. Get your education on noobs.
All types of bikes show up. As always I’m partial to the 600rr, especially 07-08’s (those little monsters), but those super motards are boss
For those of you who don’t know, racing bikes that run slicks or DOT tires use tire warmers to get their tires up to operating temp so they are ready to run right when they get on track. They also serve as a safety precaution since cool racing tires are hard.
This bike reminded me of my old hatch with the paint pens everywhere.
The man told me his niece’s and nephew’s went crazy on it. You gotta love My Little Pony right?
Our bikes in prime form
IP’s wife May and their son Zane having fun with the pit bike
There was no shortage of money at the track.
Street fighter GSXR. This bike just looked awesome, sadly he went down later in the day and had to replace a radiator. The awesome part about RideSmart is that everyone there extremely nice and helpful, and people were immediately ready to help him as soon as he was back in the pits.
That day there was a CMRA mock race for those who were getting their liscense. My two friends Candace and David were there doing just that. Here is a little pre-race mind game action for you.
Candace and David in their battle stance
The rest of the day went well. I was feeling much faster and much more confident in my riding. This was one the best experiences I’ve ever had and I can’t wait to go back (I am actually on my way to Texas World Speedway as I write this to do some corner working for RideSmart).
Later Candace!
I would again like to give special thanks to ASR (and all my friends there) and RideSmart for making this a great weekend. If anyone in the Austin area is looking to ride please look up ASR on facebook at http://www.meetup.com/austin-sportbike-riders and also RideSmart for your Texas track days at http://www.facebook.com/ridesmart1
After doing my Unitronic Stage 2 tune, I decided to change my oil every 3,000 miles instead of the 10,000 mile oil change service from VW. I figured the more frequent oil change will help improve the engine life since the boost is increased and keep the engine feeling fresh.
I bought my Fumoto oil valve drain from ECS tuning. The part is pretty straight forward, remove the old oil pan bolt and then then replace it with Fumoto oil valve drain. The valve is simple to use and it eliminates the risk of someone over tightening or striping the oil pan drain bolt.
To do the oil change I needed to remove my skid plate, and you can see my skid plate is put to work. For anyone slammed status or just want to protect your oil pan and transmission BUY the Panzer Diselgeek skid plate. Houston roads are horrible, Ive hit reflectors, bumps, small rocks, and dips going 80mph. You’ll hear a loud bang and see sparks but its just the skid plate.
You can see the two bottom bolts that hold the skid plate were cut down paper thin from the roads. Thats low life, some people dont get it but thats fine, you dont need to. I used my adjustable wrench and pliers to remove those bolts.
After i got those removed, the two front bolts holding the skid plate were in good condition, because they were not exposed to the road and carnage.
I used a 30mm socket to remove the bolts.
You can see the diference from the bolts and how much I scrape. Since the two bolts are scar faced, i bought new bolts from Dieeselgeek and its a direct replacement. I only waited one day to get my bolts with the basic shipping.
With my aluminum skid plate off, it may not look thick but its not weak. I can tell Dieselgeek did some engineering because you cant see any bends, open holes, or deformities. The skid plate can take a beating.
After seeing all the scrape marks from the skid plate, Im sure if didn’t have it I would have been stuck on road with a busted oil pan or transmission several times. The skid plate already paid for itself many times!
With the skid plate off, I can now get to the oil pan. I used a 18mm socket to remove the OEM oil drain bolt and let the oil drain out.
The Fumoto oil valve drain plug has a lever were you move it to open and close the valve. You can see there is a spring, to lock the lever in place to prevent it from coming lose. Fumoto also comes with an extension and washers but you dont need a extension for the MK5 GTI.
After the oil has drained, hand tread the Fumoto oil drain bolt. Then use a 18mm socket and torque it to the factory spec 22lbs. Now you dont have to worry about someone over tightening or striping the oil pan bolt! The Fumoto oil drain valve makes oil changes easier and less messy. I just have to put back my skid plate.
When putting back my skid plate I had some clearance issues. My Fumoto oil valve bolt was touching my skid plate. No big deal though, I use a hack saw and cut of a part of the tubing.
Ahhh, more clearance.
Dont forget to add thread locker to the bolts when attaching the skid plate!
My illest sticker holding up pretty well.
With the car on leveled ground, time to put the oil. The oil I used was OEM spec, Castrol Edge 5w-40. The engine uses 5 quarts but I used 4.75 quarts when my dipstick showed it was max level. I left it that way because overfilling is bad for the seals and gaskets. After topping off the GTI with oil, I drove it around and no problems. I didn’t change my oil filter because it is rated for 10,000 miles before I need to change it. Just some basic maintenance to keep my car healthy.
Natsukashi Garage 