I love your creativty and your blog posts are super helpfully but the hello kitty really kills its!

. I can't think in anyway why hello kitty would make it anymore JDM. All it achieves is making an already super gay car even more crazy gay

.

I'm sure it's all in light humour but if you loose that you will have a very sorted tech spec 5

 

You can't get more JDM than Hello Kitty. But it is supposed to be taken as amusing. It is a poke of fun at the JDM tax involved in being 'JDM YO' and it's doing it in a hopefully 'Kawaii' fashion. (Kawaii is the quality of cuteness, especially in the context of Japanese culture) Plus if a car is going to be seen as gay then why fight it... embrace teh gayness! Seriously tho, every Hello Kitty is a solid ten JDM points.

The new decal is, of course, a replica of the one displayed on the cars of the 'Akina Speed Stars' in the Manga 'Initial D'.

----

Akina Speed Stars
The Akina Speed Stars (秋名スピードスターズ Akina Supīdosutāzu) is a team made up from a bunch of friends who like to race in their leisure time. Based in Gunma, their home course is Akina. Named after a Japanese brand of wheel, they are among the weakest teams in the series, not having proper training and using erroneous techniques.

----

So even that is a little of a joke. It's the team sticker of the weakest team of drifters in the show. Since I'm a fan of the Manga, I can't drift and I often use erroneous technique I was amused by the idea.

I guess if you have to explain the joke.......?

It's going to be really really hateful when the big gay wing goes on it

Cerbs

 

jdm ...

 

Go for it mate, if you can rock it then why not. I personally hate the whole search to be mega JDM king of JDM... It's why I headed the american route.

It's totally amusing, just glad it's not mine

. I do love your tech though! Perhaps two boot lids might be the best course? Then you can chop and change between BGW and Hello Kitty as and when you feel like it

.

 

Go for it mate, if you can rock it then why not. I personally hate the whole search to be mega JDM king of JDM... It's why I headed the american route.

It's totally amusing, just glad it's not mine

. I do love your tech though! Perhaps two boot lids might be the best course? Then you can chop and change between BGW and Hello Kitty as and when you feel like it

.

Ohhh hell yeah! Read my mind

I already have the spare bootlid to bolt the BGW to. I won't be harming my current JDM Hello Kitty Boot.

Currently applying for planing permission with the Department of Wife to hang my current bootlid on the wall when it is not on the car. There have been a few planning objections

Cerbs

 

Time to bring things up to date again. The white Rota Slipstreams are still sitting in their boxes awaiting boots and for the winter road salt to go away

Should be having their boots fitted on the first of February. What better way to dent my valentines day budget!

Whisper decided to play silly buggers with her central locking. The position switch in the drivers door actuator went bad. The central locking ecu was getting into rather a tizzy over it.

Had all the trim off to diagnose the problem. Doesn't take long to get her half nekkid

Since I was taking out trim I decided to whip the glove-box out and get the PSII mount sorted at last. First job was fire it up and see if it had survived being stored. Nope. The cdrom part of is was seized. Disassembled, Cleaned, Given a good going over with some canned air for good measure and it roared back into life. Yay!

I was pretty sure the PSII would fit neatly in the glove-box and it did.

But not if it had the AV and power cables plugged in. The angles at the bottom of he glove-box weren't working out too favorable for having them protrude out the back either.

The AV cable was the biggest problem. Literally and figuratively! But I discovered the outer shell of the connector un clipped fairly easily and the connector could then be bent to a right angle. That would solve the problem.

Measure five times.....

Cut once.... Then spend hours tuning the fit with a small file.

Yep, That works

Mounted with stand offs and bolts

Just got to have the rear deck cover off again to take the wires thru into the boot. Should be pretty easy to get it finished up

Cerbs

 

looks good but will there be no running problems with it being upside down ??

 

With the glovebox closed it's more... on it's side.... sortof....? Which should be ok. I reason that the exteral usb-cdrom drive on my pc has a cradle to mount it standing on it's side.
If it is ok for that then it's ok for a PSII.

With the glovebox open... yeah... drive is upside down. Currently I believe thats ok. Even means theres no pesky gravity bearing down on the drive motor as it spins.

It's got a margin of suck it an see to be totally honest. PSII was a fiver at a car boot and I had a box of PSII games in the loft! I don't think it will do it any harm. Don't forget I can
only use it when the car is stationary as the screen is within view of the driver. My Plod would take a very dim view of playing Gran Tourismo whilst belting down the A45!

Cheers
Cerbs

 

stick a massive screen in the boot and play need for speed ahahahah !

 

I am working with the team over at www.freeice.co.uk. Assisting where possible with the writing of the new version of the CarPC software that I use. We've got it to a point where media, satnav and radio are now working reliably. So it is almost time for the current laptop running FreeICE 1 to be removed and replaced with a much more powerful unit running FreeICE 2 (Alpha11).

I've had to order a speshul in car psu for the HP laptop that is going in. HP in their infinite wisdom have equipped their power lead with three wires to the connecting plug.

So I have been testing on the workbench for now.

This is the BIOS screen on boot up-

Main FreeICE screen

Radio

Media

Relay control

Just waiting for that PSU to see how well it behaves in the car

Cerbs

 

No love for teh car pc huh.

Ok Bring on TEH WEELZ!

Heading over to the P5 monthly shindig tomorrow at which will be the most excellent Mr Nick From Mazda-On-Track. He will be furnishing my loverly white Slipstreams with some Kumho rubbarz.

So tonight I sorted out the arch liners. I already know that the tyres will rub the liners because Shogun had the same wheel and tyre combo with a similar axle to arch height (310mm). Unluckily for Mr Shogun his ride was seeing a lamp post on the side (drivers side) and so was dismantled. I lent a hand with the strip down and whilst there half inched his arch liners

This is a standard liner:

This is Shogun's pre-adapted liner:

I noticed there had also been a tiny lil bit of rubbage in two other areas. Nothing to write home about.

I had a knife handy so it seemed sensible to belt and braces the thangs and de-hump them.

Sorted.

New boots on tomorrow night but until then I had to throw them on and have a squint!

Cant wait to see them with rubber on.

Cerbs

 

Rota Slipstreams 15" 8J ET20 Shod with Kumho Ecsta KU31 tires in 195/50/15

Cerbs

 

what on earth is that spoikler wrapped in ??... car looks good though

 

It is wrapped in pure JDM goodness with a sprinkling of Kawaii seasoning!

Cerbs

 

Looks awesome that does bud, those slipstreams really suit the shape and styling, nice to see a different set of rotas on a to, seems to be grid v's everywhere atm! Whats coming next then?

Mike

 

Cheers

I'm thinking she needs some skirts now. Bomex maybe. I know it's bindun but I keep coming back to them. Not seen any others that I really am drawn to the same way.

Cerbs

 

gota say i like the way it looks, if you hadnt stretched the rear tyre. Do love the slips...its just your tyre choice..but im guessing your gona slam it

 

All 4 tyres are stretched. But 195/50/15 on an 8j..... It barely registers on the stretch-ometer.

It's not going lower than it is now. Its 310mm axle to arch and that's quite enough lows for me!

Cerbs

 

think it might have been the pics before.

Much happier with this car now that i know shes on sensible ride height! lol!

keep it up!

 

ive got to admit its not entirley to my taste, but this whole thread did make me chuckle, no big gear knob for moaar JDM points?

 

Ha ha, you have no idea just how big a Gear knob I'm trying to get C to put on this car...

Go on C, you know it makes sense... I'll even buy it for you, just need your know how to fit it properly...

Russell.

 

LoL! I was hoping you had forgotten that idea Russell!

I think we need to find a USB powered one. Would make the install easier

Cerbs

 

Those wheels make such difference! I really like it.

 

My oh so witty work colleagues are convinced that my new shiny red tow eye has been fitted because "These hairdressers cars are unreliable innit"

No!

There is only one reason to haz a big red tow eye.............

BECAUSE RACE CAR!!

Cerbs

 

Not even a chuckle for the tow eye arrow? Damn... Must need more kitties!

A long time ago but in a galaxy relatively close by, I purchased some P5 frame rails from Mr Vindi. They had languished on the good man's to-do list for some time and he decided to part with them as they didn't seem to be getting close to the top.

So I popped them in the back of the shed and made a note on my to-do list. Must be something about these rails because there they stayed for bloomin ages!

But! with the advent of a bit more sunshine and longer days and a Gayzeeeeboooooooo and a proper jack.... I declared it to be RAILTIME!

With the assistance of the much beloved we put up the shrine of dryness. It took us half an hour the first time. No instructions were provided so we weren't sure which bit to pull when. Then there were these springy nipple things that had to pop into retaining holes. There were ropes to be tied and clips to be clipped. Thankfully we got there in the end and many lessons were learnt. We can now achieve a satisfactory erection in mere moments. It's all in the technique.

With the shrine of dryness established four sturdy axle stands were retrieved from the shed and up she went.

I'm still loving the Costco jack. I just wish it was a bit longer. I rolled under the car and offered up a rail cover to the driver side rail. Ohhh no, not good, not good at all. The drivers side rail was an inch too wide due to the various speed bump type dentage in it.

Pass the 3lb lump hammer please nurse! After a little tickle with the hammer, the rail covers slipped on nicely. All I had to do then was whip the drivers seat out, roll back the carpet and drill 12 holes. SImples!

Lovely. Now to paint the underside with under seal. Except my tin of under seal had fallen into the hands of those damn faeries and they had hidden it. It was getting late anyway so I popped the seat back in and tidied the tools away.

Fast forward one week and a trip to Halfrauds later. Out came the Gayzeeeebooooo up went the jack and under I went to drill the passenger side holes and splash some under seal about.

Splash it all ovah!

With that done I stopped for a cup-o-tea. Earl-Grey, hot, as usual. It was as I enjoyed my Rosie-Lee that all hellfire erupted across the road.

A manhole cover belonging to the electricity company started smoking. Then it started being a bonfire.

A quick 999 and the Fire Brigade arrived and made it safe while it burnt itself out. The fire proceeded to damage the feed to each house in the road one by one. Leaving us all with no electricity. The men from the MEB arrived and started digging up the road immediately to fix the problem. "Back on in the early hours of the morning" They promised. (They were right too. They had the whole lot dug out and all the cables replaced by 3am.)

But that was me done for the day. The under seal needed to dry. We watched the MEB men working in the rain from the shelter of the Gayzeeebooooo for a while and then packed up the tools and retreated indoors to watch DVDs on the laptop by candlelight. Most romantic! (The only DVD I seemed to be able to find that the laptop would play was Season1 of InitialD 8) )

By Monday evening the under seal had cured enough that the rails could be bolted on. The much beloved assisted me in getting the Gayzeeeboooo up but then she was off to her mothers for the night so I made a call to the P5 roving mechanic. "Shoooogunnnnnnnnn! Dude! Come hold a 13mm spanner for me please?"

And so he did

For reasons best explained by him, some of which weren't my fault. He removed and replaced the passenger seat four times. The drivers seat only once tho.

Very soon the shiny shiny was bolted in place!

Then off for a test drive. Lorks a Lordy! What an improvement! I'd read many forum posts saying these things were good and thought it was all just placebo effect. But no! It's very real. The P5 Frame Rails really really do have an effect and it's a big one. Scuttle shake is all but gone. The car rides bumps without all that twisting and shuddering and dashboard squeaking. I am properly properly impressed. Everyone should have a set of these things because for they money they are bloomin brilliant.

Now I just need to save up for some more up to date suspension :shock:

Cerbs

 

i was wondering about p5 frame rails myself but my rails are a bit mis-shapen! i was wondering how difficult it would be to knock em back in to shape as i believe the frame rails are a tight fit. looks like its easy enough!

 

The P5 instructions recommend a ball-pein hammer. I didn't have one but a 3lb lump hammer did the job very nicely. I would say the trick is being able to have the car supported high enough to give you room to swing. Even then it takes worryingly little force to beat the rails back into shape.

Cerbs

 

MUCH better with the new wheels!!!

 

Why oh why oh why is it that I can't just buy something and bolt it straight on? I always have to fiddle with it, improve it.

These things -

Could be fitted very easily using vampire-taps. But no. For a start look at that earth connection. Utterly unacceptable. Plus vampire-taps are evil. So the mission is to add a proper earth point (Easy. Drill, tap, add a bolt and a ring terminal) then wire them in such a way that the car's original wiring and connectors remain unchanged and these are plug and play parts.

Still. If a job's worth doing eh!

Cerbs