Late Update #4 Shiomi Garage With Matt Hines and Big Country Labs

Since my last trip up to Shiomi Garage I had been blessed with the gift of my Big Country Labs wing arriving and finding its way onto my trunk.  I couldn't have been happier as I'm sure some of you might have noticed if you read the update where I went about mounting the wing.  There is one detail that I left out from that update, and that was how well it secured to the trunk.  It didn't exactly secure that well... Where the holes were drilled to mount it they passed through a double layer of metal which I thought would be the perfect place for them as it would be extra bracing.  Unfortunately even with 2 layers of metal it's still really flimsy and it began to collapse after driving up to Minneapolis and back.  This was a problem because as the metal would crush together the bolts came loose, very loose...Luckily this was something I had noticed and I didn't lose my wing or any of the hardware holding it on for that matter.  Still, after re tightening the bolts I knew this would just happen again right away so it was decided to make a trip up to Shiomi Garage to have the trunk braced that way I could properly bolt the wing down.

Now for those of you that read my blog you'll remember at Proving Grounds 2013.1, a few months ago, a friend of mine Matt had a rather unfortunate event take place.  His coupe suffered from "smashing into a K barrier syndrome" aka he hit a wall.

I thought this was the end of the car but apparently I was wrong.  He put it on a frame machine, squared the car, and then dropped it off at Shiomi Garage for Travis to work his magic...In less then 2 weeks time!

Back on track, it was Saturday morning and time to head that way, with some breakfast of course.  I've decided to start a new thing where every time I leave to go somewhere in the morning I take a picture of my drink, which of course is always chocolate milk!

After a quick drive up there I had arrived.  Then shortly after Matt had arrived as well in order to pic up his now caged and tubed front drift machine, which of course I made sure to take some pictures of!

Right away Matt set to work getting the seat put back in the car.  Then we all sat in it and made race car noises.  Noah was very pleased with how it was to sit in.

Then it was time to check out the front, which needed to have the hood installed and the upper radiator brackets made.

While that was being worked on I took the opportunity to drink plenty of beer... 40oz to be exact and stumble upon his Silvia front clip.

I found myself thinking how crazy it is that this front end was here.  Surely back in the late 80's and early 90's the guy who put this front end together on the assembly line or the original owner would have never imagined it ending up cut off the car and sitting outside a garage in America.

Then after turning my attention back to the garage Matt's car was complete.

This meant it was photo shoot time!  This meant pushing all three cars outside and arranging them nicely against the fence.  I just wish the trees weren't there or the sun was in a different spot in the sky.  I feel ashamed of the photos and since I'm not good with editing I feel extra ashamed with how the final product turned out.  I'll definitely need to take some better shots of the three cars together sometime, but these will due for now.

The master himself even made sure to take some time sitting in the drivers seat of Matt's car.

Not long after it was time for Matt to leave, this meant pushing the car down the driveway and onto the trailer.  Which surprisingly was super easy to do.

Then strap it down.

And of course have Travis photo bomb one of the pics.

Now it was time to get the Sil80 back in the garage and start work on my lady.

After quickly pulling my BCL wing of Travis set to work welding some sleeves to prevent the trunk from buckling again.

Then we put the wing back on and well... That was it.

We spent the rest of the ridiculously hot day dehydrating ourselves by slaying some beers and getting some food.  That then lead to trying out a quick drift which went bad in a hurry.  Over shot the corner and catapulted the car backwards off a ditch like incline into a bumpy grassy field...  This tore up my driverside fender pretty bad but it wasn't anything major.  (sorry no pics)

After that I decided I should probably drink some water, and while attempting to sober up and hydrate myself I took the time to install an ISIS boost controller that doesn't come with instructions.

First install attempted failed miserably as it didn't work.  After that I decided maybe I should just take some pics of the Sil80 instead.

I really love the back of the car.  I don't know how it could possibly be sexier, it's exactly how I in-vision the perfect looking hatch.  Sick boso style wing, no rear bumper, and some blast pipes sticking way out!

After that I found myself motivated yet again to make a second install attempt.

That too failed miserably.  It kinda sorta worked but not really.  Plus it made the car run like complete ass because of the air being bled off by the controller.  So I decided to just forget about it and keep the car at factory boost levels.

As it began to get dark I found myself with a throbbing headache.  I clearly had drank too much and with it being over 100 degrees outside all day I was also most likely dehydrated.  It was a sign for me that I needed to head home.  I packed everything up, thanked Travis for the help with the car and hanging out all day, and took my last peak at the lovely Sil80 before I left.

I'm really looking forward to my next trip up there, even if I find myself driving home at night with an unbearable headache again.