Domo Factor

snow = lots of me time

hey everyone,

It recently started snowing since tuesday here in the Pacific NorthWest and kept on going until last night. As a result I’ve had yuki parked in the garage safe and sound for fear of anything happening to her. lol Here’s a quick shot of my backyard. :p I’d say in total we got up to about 2-3feet of snow.

Because of the snow, and people not getting out much, Traxx indoor raceway,the go-kart track around the corner from my house, was having $10 sessions all day yesterday! So, I took advantage of the deals, and make the trek through the snow on foot, to go tear it up at the go-kart track. It wasn’t a very far walk. Maybe a mile at most.

Driving their dual-engine karts was a blast, and with the cold temps, they basically turned into high powered drift karts. Downside, is after my first session, I couldn’t feel my hands, and after a few minute they swelled up due to the cold. Yes, that’s with the racing gloves on. lol It was totally worth it though as I had the whole place to myself to just focus and go into time-attack mode. Sadly, because of the cold temps, cold tires resulting in lots of understeer, I wasn’t able to beat my personal best. But, I think given the conditions, I put down some pretty good times.

Anyways, having the past few days off from work, and being able to hangout at home, sleep in, and do a whole lot of nothing provided some WELL needed R&R from the hectic work/school schedule. I hope everyone else is having a good start to they’re year so far! ^_^

-Terrell

New Years in Japan is still here!

Posted by slider2828 on January 12, 2012 3 comments

New Years in Japan lasts about 7-10 days, but the festivals are still in the air. My friend in Japan posted a nice picture of her walk in Asakusa, Tokyo. It’s probably one of the two largest and old shrines in Japan. The inside is a shrine, but on the outside, its Japanese tradition that after you make a wish, you go outside and eat finger foods. You can get like mentaiko (red bean soup with some mochi), dango (mochi on a stick with different sauce), Okonomiyaki, yaki-soba, taiyaki (fish filled with red-bean), takoyaki (my favorite), deep-friend spaghetti noodles (weird, but good), shaved ice, and many other stuff. What you see here is the doorway behind Asakusa where people are leaving and walking past those vendors for yummy food.

By the way, that huge red head is called Daruma. It’s sort of a spirit where you buy him, and both his eyes are white. You sorta decorate him and color one eye in when you have figured out what your goal is for the year. Then you fill in the other eye when you have completed the goal. It’s popular for kids and stuff. More recently there have been different colors, where Daruma is like dressed in white and specialized for entrance exams or good luck company interviews or many other things. Sort of neat eh?

Finally the other thing is that little white cat. Depending on which paw is up, it means different things. Don’t quote me but if the right paw is up, it means wishing money to come in. If it is the left paw, it means luck or something.

Ken’s Trip to Japan… The Big One!

Posted by slider2828 on January 9, 2012 3 comments

Hey guys,

Most of you know him already, but Ken(slider2828) has been kind enough to do a guest post for me on his recent trip to Japan!^_^ Enjoy!

-Terrell

Haven’t been back to Japan for 2 years, but this time its a big trip. Well I recently got engaged to my long time girlfriend and it was time to ask her parents for her hand in marriage, so I find myself in Japan again. So big trip filled with fun…..

Her mom made this, which is a croquette sandwich…. It was so good I had to have two of them!

Nissan 200sx 1990

Posted by Derrick on January 6, 2012 No comments

Yuki Featured on Speedhunters!

Posted by Terrell on January 6, 2012 3 comments

Hey guys,

Just wanted to make a quick post that Yuki got featured over on Speedhunters for their Reader’s Rides section because it was 1/3. Also known as international s13 day. lol ^_^ Head to the link below to see Yuki and many other awesome S13′s the interwebz have to offer!

http://speedhunters.com/archive/2012/01/03/readers-rides-gt-gt-your-s13s-and-more.aspx

Handmade Katana!

Posted by Terrell on January 4, 2012 No comments

I recently bumped into this awesome video profiling one of the VERY few legit swordsmiths left in Japan that make katana. I have alot of interest in earlier period Japanese history and the amount of passion and hard work craftsman invested in those times. I used to take Kendo and Iaido myself. So, I really enjoy the tradition and overall dedication it takes to do this type of work. To think that making one sword would take roughly 3 months on average is NUTZ! It takes 3 months to build a car! 0_o

Project Yuki: Swift Springs, Corner Balance, Alignment

Posted by Terrell on January 2, 2012 5 comments

Hey everyone!

First off, i’d like to say Happy New Year, and hopefully this next one is better than the last for all of us.^_^ Hopefully everything had a good holidays/new year as well. With that said I’ll make it a goal to be a bit more active around here this year. lol

Anyways, I recently had some upgrades on Yuki that I wanted to share and have just been super lazy in posting them. I had heard great things from friends about how much of a difference getting a corner balance on your car was. So, I decided to fork up the cash and try it out.

Luckily before doing so, Ken started talking to me and convinced me to get some new swift springs before going through with the corner balance. I was able to pick up a set for a great deal of $377 shipped for both sets from the guys over at Touge Factory to replace the old crappy ones on my Megan Street series coilovers. Here’s the 2 sets springs I ended up getting.

Front: 65MM(2.5″) Inner Diameter, 8k(448lbs) Spring Rate, 178mm(7″) Length

Rear: 65mm(2.5″) Innder Diameter, 6k(336lbs) Spring Rate, 203mm(8″) Length

Moves

Posted by Derrick on December 28, 2011 No comments

This kid has got some…

Merry Christmas and happy holidays~ and soon to be happy new year!
Read more »

Swift Springs

Posted by Terrell on December 14, 2011 No comments

Lookie what I got in the mail today!^_^ props to Ken for suggesting I get these swift springs before doing my corner balancing. So far there’s some noticeable differences between the springs that come with my Megan Racing Street coilovers and these Swift springs. They feel about half the weight, and also the coils look slightly smaller, and better spaced apart.

I plan on doing a full write up on these things and how to install them tomorrow.