TILTED: In Thoughts of Remembering THE AUTO

I decided that for my personal blog I would keep track of all of my automotive exploits.

EDGAR-
I'll begin with my first car I had after my mission, a 1987 BMW 325. I got the car from my parents for $1 and it had about 115,000 miles on it. I took the car from Oregon to Utah. I kept the car for about a year and sold it in February of 2007.

AUTUMN-
In May of 2006 I bought my next toy, a 2006 Honda CBR 600rr (Orang Tribal). I bought the Bike brand new from the Monarch Honda Dealership in Orem Utah.

I then purchased a few classy aftermarket upgrades:
Hot Bodies flush mounts
Two Brothers Carbon Tail pipe
Clear Alternatives Tail Light/ Integration

Aldo and I also took the bikes on a trip to California. We trailored the bikes to Grenada Hills and then we rode the bikes around through LA, Hollywood, Santa Monica, and Valencia. While down there I picked up the solo cowl for the rear seat.

HOLLYWOOD

Later on I got my race license at Millermotorsports Park

About a month after receiving my license I decided I would jump right into the MPRA series racing at the Miller Motorsports park. The first day of practice I layed the bike down and it suffered some minor damage.

At the race I came out of the last turn going into the straight away having just passed a pack of other riders, and while throttling back let the tire slip just enough to break the bike out from under me. The bike slid off the track, hit the side and flipped. Craig and Kim were both at the track that day and Kim saw the whole thing. I came out of the wreck untouched, though the bike was pretty mangled. Inbetween the races Craig and I ripped apart the bike, stitched it back together and got it ready so i could finish racing that day. I finished third in my class and even got a medal. I think I beat two other bikes is all though. I felt it an accomplishment though to finish and not give up.

ASHES-
I spent the next three months digging through ebay and other websites to find replacement parts and get the bike running again. I did most of the rebuild as I replaced the rear tail section (subframe/ battery trays). Then Craig and I did the fiberglass/ bondo work on the rest of the plastics. I ordered an orange decal kit from england, bought white pearl as used on the 06 toyota camry. I also had the paint shop match the orange paint to the original fender. I paid Craig to paint the bike in the BYU Paint shop and it turned out really well.

After rebuilding the bike I purchased a Scotts Damper and a Puig Double Bubble.

I kept the bike through winter and one more summer and just sold it yesterday.

MR. TANTRUM-
So in February of 2007 I decided it was time to sell EDGAR and pick up some new wheels. I decided a 2004 Pontiac GTO would fit the bill just fine. I purchased the used 2004 Pontiac with 11,000 miles. It was Cosmos Purple, but it was so dark it looked brilliant. The car came stock with a 350hp LS1 motor and it was fast. The car was not a pontiac by blood though. Holden motors (a division of GM) built the GTO in australia where the car has been known as a MONARO since the 50's. GM simply rebadged the cars and replaced the bumpers to distribute them on a left hand drive platform in America.

After buying the GTO I quickly debaged it so that I would not have to suffer the Pontiac name.

I begain purchasing Holden badges off ebay as well as a set of Holden OEM sidemarker lights which replaced the GTO badging on the front quarter panel.

After a month of saving up I was finally able to order the OEM Holden Monaro Bumper/ lighting/ and grills from a company called JHP out of Australia. I had the bumper painted by a place called Dave's classic Auto on 8th north in OREM.

The car looked great, but it was still missing something...

WHEELS!
I put an 18 Falken Koblenz on the front and 19 on the back.

I also took the GTO to the 2007 GT Live tour at Miller Motorsports Park. I entered in the Lap Battles and was able to keep up with most of the other cars in my class. The only cars that left me were a couple of Evo IX's that were highly tuned. That day I also was able to ride along with Taka Aono in his AE86 Hatch in the DRIFT Experience.

I kept the car a bit longer and eventually sold the Goat in August of 2007.

CHOLA-
I have wanted a mid 80's Toyota Corolla AE86 for sometime now, and in June of 2007 I found one. I found it on craigslist in San Diego (oceanside). The sellers name was travis I think, and he was asking $600 for a running 1987 sr5. I called him up and he sent me a few pictures he took with his phone. We made arrangements and I agreed to buy the car. I bought plan tickets and with nothing more than a pep boys shop manual and a box of wrenches I borded the plan with hopes of driving the corolla home from Oceanside.
I flew down and paid for the car. We wrote up a bill of sale, and I was off. I started by getting a full meal at wendy's before I hit the trail home. The car was 20 yrs old with 220,000 miles. I had no ac and had the sunroof stuck open as I made the trip across death valley, through vegas, and back to Provo. I still do not have any idea how that car made that trip back to Utah. I know it was defintely a blessing that I was able to make that trip in one day without any problems. Nikki was very nervous for me, as was I. I would never ever take a chance like that again.

(the mms he sent me of the car)

Once I got the car home and registered, I entered it in one of the Drift Enterprises drift events at RMR. I just raced the car stock but still had a great time. Here is a video of the event:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=dwOyVcSIdUU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z71hdM2rXf0
After the drift event, I begain my project. I bought a 3sgte JDM motor from Brandon with the red hatch and the other ae86 mafia. I got motor mounts, and a tranny mount from him as well. I paid $900 dollars for the motor and mounts. I ripped the 4ac out and begain the transformation. The Car is still in the works.

YODA-
While in the process of building my Chola, I decided to sell the GTO and buy another AE86. This time it was a true 1987 GTS with 215,000 miles on it. The color was originally silver and black with patches of spray paint here and there.

I then decided to repaint the car matte black with teal stripes on the driver's side fender.

The car ran perfect but had a number of problems with the door handles/ locks and mechanisims and the heater did not work. It was at this point I decided to sell the old beast and pick up something a bit newer. So in January of 2008 I sold Yoda to a kid from Arizona. He bought the Yoda and drove it home.

ShadowFax-
With the need for some drivers comfort and a reliable vehicle, I decided to move towards a Subaru. I wanted a white STI but could not find one anywhere. I really wanted a white 05 but everyone I found for sale had already been sold. After a few weeks of heavy searching I came across a white 07 at the Mark Miller dealership in Salt Lake. The car was a bit more than I had planned on spending, but I could get a good insurance rate on it, and it was flawless.
I bought it.

Since buying the car I have put the fog light kit on it with the black bezels off of Micah's 06. I als o bought an STI OEM titanium shift Knob and Blitz Nur catback exhaust. The car is a blast to drive and has been more enjoyable than any of my other vehicles.

In February I took the car to the Miller Motorsporst Park first annual Snowcross. Ken Block (owner of DC shoes) was one of the drivers there as well. He races for subaru's rally team and has done a number of jumps in his subaru. The event was a blast and I had a decent lap time. I ran a 2:20 through the cones. I believe the fastest time Ken had was a 2:13.