Vanilla Fitment - '95 FTO

[gnmzl]

Looking good, get it out in the sun indeed and take pictures, it really looks like the color will be a match for the car.

[bjk]

Test fit one side, and also realised I'm late on rotating tyres... again lol. And a bit of uneven wear, so left the Enkeis on for the moment. Estimations on fitment, given it wasn't hugely different, were about right. Still running an oversize diameter though, and I can tell it'd be tight in the back even with the few degrees of camber it has now. But will know for sure when the base height gets set.

Pressed Graphite continues to grow on me, keen to actually get some nice photos in the sun, instead of the dim garage where the spokes just become mostly flat grey. Nonetheless!

[bjk]

Been a million years. The lesson is: sometimes mates rates ain't worth the wait. Many months of debating whether or not I'd keep the SLs, prompted by waiting for tyres, only to have them not be any better of a deal than another shop was offering. On the plus side, the Hankook RS4s were only $780 all up fitted to the wheels (mate's shop could only do $1060, and another quoted me $1140, but they estimated a 2-4 month wait for stock and they only had a pair of the size I wanted). 235/40R18 is a smidge stretchy as expected on a 9.5", but will probably help it clear the guards. Looking at getting the coilovers properly set up now too.

In other news, grabbed a PWR radiator on an ebay special for a bit over $700, which has been delayed twice but hopefully not too far away. Will necessitate even slimmer fans, I reckon probably two SPAL 11", try and shroud the one side with more room by the gearbox.

Oh, and had some ducting/undertray made to try and make the air do good air things. Seems to have kinda helped, but rad is probably still lacking the capacity. Things are haps, just not enough time, and not enough monies.

Anyway, have some quick vanity shots of the wheels.

[bjk]

I have to say, you are right about the color. Once on the car, it looks spot on. Fitment is correct too. Good choice, excited to see some tires mounted. Maybe I missed it, but what size are you going with?

Getting them on the car really helped. Sometimes a pic of the old bronze ones pops up and I feel a bit sad, but I think once they are mounted up I'll be chuffed. (also just because the 17x8 +38 Evo wheels are really lacking in the width and offset department).

They are 18x9.5 +22 (old ones were 17x9 +22). I was reeeally close to ordering a set of ZE40s (I still think about it), which come in the same spec, but... they don't clear the front brakes (one major disadvantage of the Brembos, the caliper body is huge). And I disliked the idea of slip on spacers, having to do extended studs, and also making them poke even more, so the TE37s won out again.

[gnmzl]

I have to say, you are right about the color. Once on the car, it looks spot on. Fitment is correct too. Good choice, excited to see some tires mounted. Maybe I missed it, but what size are you going with?

[bjk]

Finally had a warm enough afternoon before work one day to get into the garage and test fit. It's actually a pretty minimal departure from the bronze ones I had on before; same offset, just an inch more diameter and half inch more width. Not as if others haven't been equally or more ambitious fitting things onto these cars before, mind you, but I also don't really like excessive poke/mexi-fit/overly stretched tyres. I just wanted to squeeze as much under these as was practical to get that nice concave face, make it flush, and hopefully not touch the fenders. The 9.5" also means I can still run a 235 tyre and be within manufacturers spec, but also go wider if I think I have the clearance.

Discovering the variances between brands in tyre section width and diameter in the course of trying to decide what to run has also been somewhat eye-opening. And that wheel widths are the bead widths and not overall figure. But enough waffle, have some pics.












Pretty much the limit of my comfort for closeness to the trailing arm lol

[bjk]

S'been a hot minute, most of which was spent sitting and waiting, but now for glorious, splendid happenings.

Best news: after thirteen weeks, the wheel gods answered my prayers and delivered (a day early after initial ETA even).









I had wondered if I would regret getting the SuperLaps in the Pressed Graphite instead of bronze or gold to save a few hundred bucks, but after seeing them in the flesh they are immediately growing on me, and the way they change in the light is like the paint on the car, so I think it'll make for a nice match. I haven't even slapped them on the car for a look-see yet, just been busy with work and quickly preparing for taking it out on its maiden track day.

Which, in typical fashion, it was raining for. But it wasn't a full-on race day, more of a group lapping sessions, so really for the sake of taking it easy and getting to know the track it was not such a bad thing.









Survived three sessions even though the coolant was getting toastier with each one, hoping the suspect is just the rad cap letting too much into the overflow tank. For my first time on track with only a couple slides it could've gone a lot worse lol. Grabbed some footage of the last run too.

[bjk]

Still looks rad. I dig the Evo wheels, too.

Thanks! I dig em too, but still can't wait for the Super Laps to arrive aha. Been like 6 weeks out of an 8-10 week wait...

Starting to grow fractionally more confident wringing the full potential out of this car. Almost booked in for some track time but it was forecast to rain the whole weekend, and I didn't really fancy paying money and driving an hour for a wet track, but maybe soon if the car keeps mostly behaving.

Happy snaps after a wash

[MommysLittleMonster]

Still looks rad. I dig the Evo wheels, too.

[bjk]

Winter drives

[bjk]

Finally back in working order. Dyno afterwards revealed that, unlike what I had expected, the new turbo CHRAs actually improved spool time, and in combo with fractionally more boost from the upgraded wastegate actuators, picked up 5kw from 2750-4750rpm. Dunno if I can actually feel that on road, but shows there's good potential for winding them up.



Almost winter here so it's pretty cold and miserable out, but was dry enough today for a quick zip through the hills and some snaps. Should try to grab some with the autumn leaves before they all disappear.

[bjk]

Car is looking great man!

Cheers man

[Matt2low]

Car is looking great man!

[bjk]

Sold the Volks!







Hadn't anticipated in how much demand this sizing and style was. Put them up mostly on a whim due to aforementioned desire for upsizing, didn't think that I'd get the asking price straight off the bat. Now to decide on replacements while I run the backup Enkeis, and fix my split CV boot that threw up grease through the engine bay...

[bjk]

Looking good! Been wanting to shoot down at the Darlington Overpass now that it is close to finishing...

I did a few laps around looking for places to stop, but even though it was almost 1am and there was bugger all traffic I still felt a bit self-conscious about just stopping in a lane lol. I grabbed a quick snap with the phone on the overpass across to Ayliffes.



Would like to get some in the corridor that runs from South Rd but I reckon I'd want to go even later in the night just to not be a nuisance. The tunnel pics above were convenient since the runoff is so wide.

This FTO is so cool. Looks great on the TEs and the RPF1s. Nice you get such a good spec/offset wheel on a stock body too.

Wish we had FTO's in the states. Still have yet to seen one in person.

Cheers man I like that it's a bit different. And yeah, fenders are pretty generous for just stock body with a roll! Not quiiite generous enough to get some wheel designs with the most concave/dish as some of the Nissans can fit easily, and it can't run higher Evo/STi offsets since the trailing arm interferes in the rear, but even still I probably have ~10mm of wiggle room if I did want to try squeezing the 18x9.5 I've wanted for ages. Would be nice if the RPF1 came with a +20 offset for that instead of +15, but then it probably wouldn't clear the Brembos.