ABOUT...what?

Well, well, finally.. the boring part begin...

WARNING...this page contains broken English and materials that don’t make sense to people.
If you are concern about damaging your brain please click HERE and leave.. Thank you.

OK guys.. bare with me all right??.. Just ignore the part you don't understand or doesn't make sense ok? Here we go.

Almost all the web pages you see out there have “about” or “info” pages.  They usually contain the info about the webmasters and their personal stories etc.  So I figure, I might as well have one on my website.  However, I am not good at telling stories; especially I have to type this stuff out.  Every time when I updating my website, I would sit in front of my computer and bit the crap out of my fingers trying to figure out what to put in my “about” page.  Well, if this website is about the car, then the about page should be talking about the “driver” right?  However, what kind of idiots (that means you .. yes you who is reading this page now) would spend their time reading through all this crap if they can just look at pictures of cars? (You know you still have a chance to get out of this boring stuff, so click HERE and find something else to do)

One day I was checking out other people’s site for ideas for this “about” page, I came across Marc’s website.  He was talking about how websites out there usually filled with pictures and lack of words.  He said that those websites are absolutely ordinary and boring.  I was like, hey!! That’s how my website is, lots of pictures and no word.  I was thinking, man~ I got to do something or else this website is going down!!! (and now I am typing this boring stuff .. LoL)

Anyways, I figured most people like to see pictures anyways, might as well adding some subtitles to make the pictures interesting.  I also put some secret videos in the subtitles for those peoples who really take their times and enjoy my website.  What about this “about” page??  Well, until I can find something or thought of something interesting, this page will remain boring and filled with my stories and some pictures of my cat Iddie.  If you have any suggestions or feed back, feel free to e-mail me at Richard@jdmrice.com I would love to hear from you.  Let’s enjoy the ride.

How Did It Begin?

My car life started around summer 2000.  I got myself a very nice Fairlady Z (Nissan 300zx Twin turbo, Z32TT).

  Immediately after the purchase, I spend every single penny that I had to make the car better.  I had Greg Dupree aka THE Z GOD changed my timing belt, water pump, clutch, rear main seal, installed 3 inch down pipe and high flow cat etc.  He taught me a lot of useful knowledge about cars, and gave me a ride in his little 240z monster.

  I enjoy driving the Z around; it’s definitely an eye catcher.  However, good days ended soon though, I blew my motor by putting in the pos JWT ECU in my car.  The pos welding tips came with the pos ECU over boosted my turbo. I smoked my turbo and blew my motor, and then I was in the market for another car. 

One day, my friend asked me to go with him to help his other friend moving out.  Turns out it was Sam’s (Mr. Jspec.com) house, and I also met Alex C. and Kyle M. there.  These bastards got me into thinking about buying a 240sx, although Alex was driving a low rider at the time carrying exhaust around.  I still remember I was helping Sam’s roommate cleaning out the storage room.  He pulled out a set of S14 seats and said “Can you take these junk out for me?  Those 240 junk collectors might want to buy them.”  He was right, as soon as I took those seats out, Alex’s seems to see treasure or something.  He bought it right after I took the seats out. ( He also bought a complete 300zx NA rear end that day…LoL junk collector…it was funny at the time, but now I am one of them. :p )  I started visiting Freshalloy.com and started learning everything I could about 240sx.  I learned about the models, styles, and the SR20DET.  It was hard for me to down grade from a 400 hp twin turbo Z  to a 150 hp NA 240sx.  ( I was still a street drag racing kid at that time~~)  So I started looking for a 91 and up 240sx shell, getting motor info, collecting parts etc.  Till one day, I saw an ad in auto trader. “91 240sx Super Hicas w/SR20DET” for sale.

 I met up with the guy and took the car for a spin, wow it was fast.  I got too excited and got pulled over right after the first turn I made.  I still remember the cop asked me, you are thinking about buying this pos?  He laughed and let me go.  I bought the car without thinking.  It was a mistake, but I didn’t regard it.  Lots of people told me the car was used and abused.  It’s been through so many different owners and non of them took care of it.  But I loved it, I spend a lot of time and money to fix it up and turning it into the one and only JDM RICE machine.

The Car

It was no doubt that the car was fast, and it was all modified.  In fact, it has all the goodies already (SR20 motors, FMIC, intake, exhaust, suspensions and wheels), it was own by some famous people in the import industry.  However, like I said… the car was used and abuse.  It had an SR that doesn’t run smooth (it was running but not in top conditions), it has an FMIC that’s all beat up from the rocks, it had an GT exhaust that has a huge dent on the muffler tip that I can’t event fit the silencer, it had a suspension with blown shocks, and did I mention the chassis has over two hundred thousand miles??

The Task

First task was getting the car to run right.  Running a SR motor in the 240 was pretty rare two years ago.  I remember I would attend all the 240sx meets and people usually asked me to pop my hood to see the mystery motor.  I was lucky enough to meet Wayne (Phase2motortrend) back in the day.  He and his friends were one of the old school hard-core SR pioneers.  If you think running SR back in year of 2000 was rare, think further… they got their SR swapped into 240sx and got it to run back in 1995.  According to the 240sx history books, they were the first crew to have SR in their 240sx in whole west cost.  With their help and helps from many other forum members on Freshalloy.com.  I learned everything I could about my car and did everything I could to make it run right.  I purchased the Apexi Power FC, alone with other goodies such as Greddy Down pipe, DD Exhausts, Blitz boost controllers from Sam (Jspec.com) and got my car dyno tuned by XS Engineering.

The Track

Tuning my car made a huge difference on my engine performance.  I got 216 rwhp with stock everything. (with few basic bolt-on parts of course)  Then it was time for the tracks.  My first track event was back in April 2001.  It was a road race event held by SpeedTrial USA at big track Willow Springs Raceway.  I still remember, it was a rainy day, it even hailed that day, and it was absolute crazy.  I met Tommy from SpeedTiral, Moto from Club4AG, Alex C from 5Zigen, and Alex P from Battle Version that day.  I got a lot of advices about cornering technique from Moto, safety tips from Tommy, and best ever; I got a taste of drifting from Alex P. for the first time.  The only world I can describe how I felt that time was “insane”.  Alex came over during the break and asked me if I have the SR motor in my car, and was wondering if he can take it for a spin on the track.  I let him took it with me sitting in the passenger seat.  The next thing I knew, I was looking over my right shoulder, the rain was hitting straight in my eyes, and the car was traveling side ways.  It was like a roller coaster ride and it was fun.

The Show

I didn’t have any intention to show my car, because it’s hard to keep the car in its top condition when I use it on the track.  In the end of year 2002, I got a brand new paint job along with custom fender flares for my car from my boss P.J. Bonifacio.  Oh man, that’s how my show life started.  He entered my car at a car show hosted by Mainstream (Import Showoff Classic).  It was a small show, however, it was complete different then the tracks.  Every car there has big rims, nice paint, nice interiors, and all the cars were CLEAN.  I was like, man… it would be nice if all the cars at the track can look these.

The Show and the GO

Tokyo Auto Salon was a big impact to me as well.  I got to see all the cars in my Option magazines in person.  Every car there was a show piece; however, every car there was also a race machine.  Inspired by all the TAS cars, I came back to the state and start fixing my car up like one of them.  It’s impossible to keep the car on its top condition especially I daily drive and go to the track events with it.  However, with the help of my friends and especially my sugar daddy P.J., everything was made possible. J

The Thoughts

It’s been about 2 and half years with lots of help from all my friends, the JDMRICE machine has become one of most beautiful and powerful 240sx.  I’ve had a lot of people e-mailed me and told me how they like my car and wanted to do the same thing to theirs.  To me, that is a big honor because I feel like all my hard work has paid off and somehow inspire them to create a dream machine of their own.  Here is a little advice of my own: To all cars enthuses out there.  You are modifying your car for your own enjoyment, not for others.  Always keep in mind that it’s your own car, you have the right to do what ever you think that works best for you.  However, keep it clean and simple is always nice.  Don’t do stupid things on the street because it endanger not only to yourself but also to all the people around you.  Enjoy the ride my friends.

Richard T.

Here is the Fun part, PICTURES!!!

The Driver:
(I only post these two pics because the rest were rather scary)
 

The Driver's Cat Iddie:
         

The Driver's Friend's Cat Fishy:
       

Please visit the Gallery section and Journal section for updates and more Pics