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  • My Past Cars

    Since someone else did this .... i thought I might copy/past from a recent post i made on a different forum --- most of you probably havent ever seen any of these cars before

    ---------


    First car after I had turned 18 (1999) and got my license (MANUAL!@!) was Mum's 1986 Nissan Skyline Auto wagon. Id been driving it for around 2 years on L plates, and absolutely loved it. My parents bought this car in 1987 as an ex-factory 'getaround' (old Nissan Factory in Melbourne, Australia).... so even though it was build in 86, it wasnt first reg'd till late 1987 when parents picked it up with just over 1000 kms on it.



    For almost 2 years i fanged the Skyline wagon around. I was at uni/tafe, had no money ... but stole it at every opportunity so it was basically my car until the diff started making noises, so mum made the decision to trade it in for an EX-Fleet Mitsubishi Magna 2.4L Wagon (Astron POWER!). The 'new' wagon was out of bounds, and in late 2000 I secured a job at iPrimus and money was coming in, so it was time to buy my own first car.

    At the time, a girlfriend' had a KE55 Sedan, and I drove it a little bit cos she was still on her L's. Of course, wasnt long till we broke up .... but this wet my appetite for an old Corolla. Anyhow, long story short I found a KE55 Corolla COUPE XX ! It was basically a 'light green' interiors pimped out resprayed Coupe. Had aftermarket steering wheel, wooden gearknob, lukey zorst, 4 speed man on the 4K motor and LOVED compression locking.



    Had this car for a whopping 3-4 months until an 'unlicensed' friend at the time wrote it off. Stupidly i let him drive it, and he turned in front of a stationary tram at an intersection, a HSV maloo shot up the side of the Tram at over 60km/h through the intersection into a turning Corolla. Due to technicalities (unlicensed driver / not giving way to the right) my car was to blame, and I had to claim through insurance as the driver. The other car was all good as it was a 'business car' and he didnt care who it went through as long as it was fixed -- was VERY lucky the cops didnt show up. I learnt my lesson the hard way.

    Anyhow ... after a few weeks of lying to parents about what had happend ... i told em i wasnt driving, so they felt sorry for me, and I ended up being allowed to drive the Magna most evenings.



    The magna was AWEFUL to drive - it handled like a boat, and was Auto. I saved my ass off a few months, and ended up looking for another R31 Skyline as I missed the power that mums old SKyline Wagon had. After a short search, i found the following car – A 1989 R31 Skyline TI Series 3 model. Was slammed on Lovell springs, Monroe shockers, Import projector Headlights, Dark Tint, 2.5" Straight through exhaust, Polished stock rims, etc . The only mods I really did were the Custom TI.089 Plates, and a bit of stereo work.








    After losing my license in this car (148 in a 100 zone… oops). ….. and then driving it for another couple of months, the suspension started to creak, Uni-Joint had to be replaced, New tyres, Injectors …. It was costing me more money than I liked. I truly loved this car, and I have LOTS of happy memories cruising around in this car --- I also founded the R31 Skyline Club which still exists today with thousands of reg’s members. ( http://www.r31skylineclub.com ) . After an 18 months relationship It was time to call it quits, and get a ‘brand new car’ I wouldn’t want to spend money on.

    Enter 2002 Toyota Echo I purchased – Man I copped so much shit for buying it LOL – I still do to this day even though I don’t own it! Those who know me, will probably tell u I was a MADMAN behind the wheel. Boy I boy was I wrong about not modding this car …… Tein Coilovers were sourced on a forum for only $650, 2nd hand .. and 5000kms old from some Ricer in Sydney who’d bought them for his car purely to go low at autosalon. Within 6 months of ownership it was on coilovers, had 15” gunmetal rims, 2” cat back with genuine Apexi N1 muffler, Tinted windows, and doof doof. I could write a whole thread on this car --- It stayed with me just shy of 4 years. Numerous stereo setups, a few suspension setups, a couple of sets of wheels … blah blah blah,
















    The echo was a money pit that should’ve remained standard -- It was slow, but It was a hoot at any speed chucking it into a corner, it drank absolutely no petrol compared to previous cars, and absolutely loved and abused it. It got to a point where I was scared something might break and I wanted more power, so Aug/Sept 2006, I traded it in for a Brand new Lancer Wagon. Looking back at previous cars Ive more-or-less driven for a long period, the Wagon was probably an obvious choice. Ive always liked to buy cars that stray from the norm a little with a vision of making them individual cos no-one else would be crazy enough to make a car look the way I wanted it to.

    Anyway … that’s my story. Hope u liked it. Lol

    Below …. The Lancer Wagon which I’ve also grown very fond of ---but it's a waste of a car, im not using it as usefully as i could. It'll be sold shortly to help fun a house deposit, and the Mazda 121 is my new daily driver.


  • #2
    Cool history, what engines were in the Skylines??? Turbo? -Kyle
    Cosmic Blue 2008 Mazdaspeed 3 - Mostly Stock...

    White 1990 Ford Festiva - B6 SOHC powered 50 shot = 14.5 @ 94 mph Gone but not forgotten

    Proud member of Chicken Mechanix Racing

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    • #3
      Both my R31 Skylines had RB30e Motors .... 3.0L Inline 6cylinder, 115kw. Bother were Australian manuf, and this was the only engine to come in these models locally. Jap Imports all had RB20 NICS / ECCS engine variants.


      The same model Nissan motor (rb30e) was also available in locally manuf & sold Holden Commodores. There was a Turbo motor available in these , RB30et , where were known as 'VL TURBO's ... VERY VERY popular cars in Australia to modify.




      All sorts of RB Engines have been fitted into Aussi R31 Skylines, and Holden Vl Commodores ---- RB30ets, RB25dets, Rb26detts. The RB30 bottom end is very strong and hybrid motors such as RB30/25dett and RB30/26dett are also popular choices.

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      • #4
        Cool old-school cars Sp33dy!!! And I really love that Echo! I was thinking about getting one, but the fact that the engine is not really mod-friendly, and the fact that basically no engine swap is possible, keeps me away. It sucks that the Echo hatchback was only sold in Canada and not in the USA; it could have sold enough to create a following, creating a market for performance parts for these cars...
        The left lane? Are you crazy!!! I never drive in the left lane...It's full of freaks driving the wrong way and charging right at you!!!

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        • #5
          Canada actually were very luck with echo hatches as the were ALL 1.5L! ..... Mine was only a little 1.3L. The 1.5Ls in Australia were only available in Sportivo models, and Sedans. At the time of purchase in 2002, i didnt have the $ to fork out 5k more for the extra 200cc Ypu are right about engine potential, hardly anyone has done engine swaps. Turbo / Supercharger kits were available but arent cheap, and power gain wasnt big enuf to warrant the $.

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          • #6
            You guy had a 1.3 as a base engine? I think the 1.5 is perfect for a stock engine and wouldn't settle for less. But performance-wise, you might as well start with a good base, and the 1.5 is not. It wasn't intended for performance and it shows, like the fact that it's a twin cam engine, but uses a slave-cam system instead of two independent cams, which makes it difficult to tune each individual cam's timing, for example. And I've seen some shop put a 2ZZ-GE (1.8 VVTL-i engine from the Celica GT-S) into a 2005 Yaris but they had to do a lot of hacking, cutting, bashing and welding to shoehorn that thing in...Maybe retrofitting is the way to go; I never heard of anybody trying to put a 20V 4AGE in an Echo, but it sure is more compact than the 2ZZ-GE... :twisted:
            The left lane? Are you crazy!!! I never drive in the left lane...It's full of freaks driving the wrong way and charging right at you!!!

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            • #7
              Oh and by the way, why is your stock Echo looks jacked up like an off-roader in the pic with your Skyline? We got them lower than that over here :shock:
              The left lane? Are you crazy!!! I never drive in the left lane...It's full of freaks driving the wrong way and charging right at you!!!

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              • #8
                Yeah .. they're hideously high standard That was back in 2002 when it was 2 days old.

                Looks like you've done your fair share of research on Echo's / yaris ! Im impressed. Ive seen a couple of 4age conversions in japan, but only pictures. Theres also beena couple of 4afte (Starlet turbo) done as well, but again ive only seen pics from Japan. The echo was NEVER intended to be a base for a performance orientated car, simple as that. The stock 1.3l / 1.5L is enuf for daily driving and can cop a thrashing so it serves the purpose it was manufactred for very well --- same reason the same engine went into the bB's, and into the newer gen Yaris's The moment u put on bigger exhuasts, u lose backpressure ... if u are to spend money on an Echo, it should be focused on suspension and tyres if u cant go fast in a straight line, might as well be fast through corners!


                Anyway .. enuf of Echo talk or I'll start wanting another one.

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                • #9
                  I haven't done my share of research, I just worked at a Toyota dealership once...
                  The left lane? Are you crazy!!! I never drive in the left lane...It's full of freaks driving the wrong way and charging right at you!!!

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                  • #10
                    Ahhhhhhhhhh .. it all makes sense

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                    • #11
                      one mod for the Echo/Yaris/xB/xA 1.5L... Prius pistons. Gives you around 11:1 compression ratio...
                      Jim DeAngelis

                      kittens give Morbo gas!!



                      Bright Blue 93 GL (1.6 8v, 5spd) (Hula-Baloo)
                      Performance Red 94 Aspire SE (Stimpson)

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                      • #12
                        hmmm, cars I used to have...

                        primary drivers in order...

                        1969 Ford Bronco wagon 302 v8, 3 on the tree, gray and black (sold)
                        1989 Chevy S-10 4x2 extend cab, 2.8L v6 5spd, red (traded)
                        1993 F-150 XL 4x2 std cab 4.9L I6 auto, black w/ gray int (traded)
                        1994 Aspire 2 door 5spd, green (sold)
                        1986 Thunderbird Elan, 5.0L AOD, black w/ red interior (sold)
                        1989 Taurus 3.0L, blue w/ tan interior (sold)
                        1992 Thunderbird 3.8L, black w/ gray int (sold)
                        2004 Mustang premium coupe 3.9L, Dark Shadow Gray w/ charcoal int (totalled)
                        1990 Festiva L plus (current)

                        this doesn't count project vehicles, classics or motorcycles that I have owned or still own.
                        Jim DeAngelis

                        kittens give Morbo gas!!



                        Bright Blue 93 GL (1.6 8v, 5spd) (Hula-Baloo)
                        Performance Red 94 Aspire SE (Stimpson)

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                        • #13
                          theres a really clean black echo around my town with a garrett t2 turbo setup, its very slow but cool none the less.

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