So another long ass hiatus, sorry about that.

Not a lot interesting to tell cause life has just gotten in the way really

Got this back 3 weeks ago (i think), 20mm guard pull both sides and not a single piece of aqua to be seen anymore. Was pretty hyped to lay in and get it sorted but alas everytime i seem to take a step forward with this i take 3 backwards and fall over. Needless to say i wasn't left with a lot of spare coin to battle with and i ended up making the decision to sell off my 1j setup to keep things rolling. Since the bellhousing with the 1uz setup was the only thing that had sold (and i couldn't bring myself to sell the masterpieces Craig at ECE had fabricated) its reverted back to that setup. After seeing it at Jace's shop fresh out of the booth i knew this was the setup that suited what i was going for from the start.......the regret of past decisions crept in....

I've made some poor decisions in the last 6 months and i felt that ditching the 1u to follow my previous endeavour (which was just problem after problem) was the second one. Number one on the list went to ditching my BT-50, loved that fucking thing and ended up moving it to inject my savings (since my numerous unfinished projects had been a constant burden my bank account had to live with) with some much needed funds. As it turns out buying an RVR was my next shoddy move, problem after problem which then reared it's ugly head in the form of a fast dying gearbox left me feeling pissed off and jaded about the whole deal and wishing i could take back what i had done to get to this point, sold it this week for pocket money and i'll admit i'm already feeling a little better about it even if i am now currently in a worst position financially than i was before i sold the BT.

Picked up an '86 Hilux, painted slate grey, no power steering, 3rz conversion ('03 hilux), falcon/skyline brakes and all the suspension fitted out with new shit in the last 4-5 months with receipts - it's spartan but i'm hoping that being fairly basic and a little of that infamous Toyota reliability hopefully coming my way gives me trouble free driving. I'm really over buying fucking cars.

Sorting out a few little bits and pieces on the Hilux to get it 100% and legal (lowering blocks are huge, wheels are incorrect loading, no catalytic converter) and then it's just save, save, save for our trip to LA and Vegas in June/July so the progress on the sil will be near nonexistent until after i get back. Pains me to say that but it's the reality of it and (thankfully) i already have all the parts to drop in when i get back rather than forking out for mounting, fancy pipework and all that.

Another reason for the slow progress (and probably the major reason to be honest) is where i live in sunny Queensland and the government that currently runs it.......well i'll explain in the post after this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLjSzwFa4QI&feature=g-like

Picked the fuel tank up last tuesday after we got back from WTAC (still haven't said shit about that trip.....raincheck). Andrew and the boys at Cairns Cross Radiators did a mint job and couldn't recommend them enough. Picked this tank up last year for $100 and it was in decent condition, turns out it still had rust around the internal baffle and the rust converter ate through it overnight, Andrew rocked up the next morning with the tank having jizzed all over the floor.......ahhhhhhhh yeah.

All fixed though, welded up, cleaned up inside and out, resealed and good to go - like a new tank and it's not fucking plastic - good things.

Got this pm back as well, might be the cheapest part of this entire build..

Next part: Maddat Booster (this will make more sense one i put pics up of the motor in)

Spare time TO FILL

Filler time

FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKK

But here's a positive, i read doom and gloom reports of shit fuel consumption (struggling to reach 400km tank even with a cai) from what seemed like the worldwide congregation (NATO) of RVR owners on a forum i found a while back - turns out it was all a web of lies. My theory is they didn't want their space program found out by the masses should someone beat them in the space race to uranus.

Filled up at 447 just on the fuel light

Gonna push for four fiddy next, escape velocity after that

Don't fall of your seats but that appears to me to be progress. Ignore the seam weld that is on so thick it looks like cake mix. Reason for it is that in the lovely state that we live in the law and the transport department don't like the idea of any welding on what they class as structural......apparently a couple of spot welds from factory and panel overlaps with some glue work just fine to eat up all that force that decent suspension dishes out.

Anyways it's hidden now and i have yet to go over it with my mighty sanding arm, it'll look a lot less like the surrounds of a wedding cake and more like how it should once i've finished.

And this is the vehicle i build after intense time spent playing KSP, haven't yet achieved maximum velocity yet and slingshot around to the moon but i'm working on it.

In all seriousness i bought it that way. For the uneducated it's a Mitsubishi RVR Hyper Sports Gear (don't bite your tongue) - Evo 3 running gear underneath, trailing arm rear end that you can't do a single thing with and GAB stop making adjustable shocks for them back in the 1960's. Other than that it drove 3 of us down to World Time Attack 2012 in comfort and the way back but isn't designed to take 300kg of dude's 1000km to a racetrack so next year everyone can fuck off and i'll drive the silvia cause it'll be finished (i promise).

Took my fucking

http://youtu.be/lazRr-asBfA

Time.

So is it working yet? What a silly question of course it's not

But i'll give you a brief run down (it won't be) of what has been done/what hasn't been done.

- Went to ECE, learnt Craig was a king amongst dudes, got everything done in a week (it was a lot to do) exceeded my expectations. Will pay to get more cool shit done because......well he impressed the shit out of me, kept me updated at every step and didn't return my car to me as a hacked up piece of shit (like the last place when my first sil went 1j eons ago). I pulled that car down cause of it and never finished that car....recurring theme.

- Got held up (again) by a joint that has now lost my business to another workshop that doesn't specialise in 1uz gear. So far they actually want to talk to me for more than 5 seconds on the phone and don't suck ass at returning phone calls or returning emails before the apocalypse (i would like to finish it 5 minutes before shit hits the fan). This is helpful as i'm at the stage of lining up somewhere to wire in my ecu and dyno it so as you can imagine i'm that annoying dude who asks a bajillion questions before i book anything in.

- Bitched and moaned out the ass about it after months of it just sitting there and having to pull the 1u out - gearbox and all to weld the bay up and paint it (i'm at filler stage now). This was actually my fault to begin with so i only have myself to blame......but i'll probably moan about it more later cause i can.

- Nearly sold it all for the second time.....but too many dude's who raised interest in the EOI i had put up just wanted to run it into the ground at Matsuri - this i could not allow. At the same time as putting the EOI i looked at a 180 that had quite the drag rep back in the day, unfortunately TIME has not been kind to it and hasn't been run in quite some time and would require a bit of work to get it to the same stage mine is currently at.