Originally, Joel owned a super clean drift built Nissan Cefiro.
But, all good things do unfortunately come to an end.
It was a sad, sad day when Joel McNabb from Gravy Garage put his Nissan Cefiro into Queensland Raceways Turn 3 wall one morning session. Due to a possible tuning error Joel’s engine cut mid-manji just before turn 3, sending him flying brakeless and steerless at 100kmh+ into the concrete.
After seeing it happened a bunch of us sprinted to the other side of the track to get to the car as fast as possible to make sure he was okay. Other than being a bit shaken and devastated, Joel was fine, but QR had once again claimed another drift car.
After binning the Ceff Joel had a little over 3 weeks to track down and build a new drift car before Decembers All Day Drift Sesh.
After tracking down a tidy enough S14 he got to work. Joel started off with stripping the engine bay, tidying up the tubs and painting it. He then got to re-shelling everything from the Ceffy into the 14. He bolted in the RB25 engine, gearbox and tailshaft, added a new hot side, made a new exhaust and intercooler piping and got it all running.
He then changed the ECU and injectors and got it sent off to the tuners 4 days before the December All Day Drift Sesh. He was cutting it close to say the least.
After many late nights and endless hours, everyones fingers were crossed the tuning went well. Unfortunately bad luck struck again and we got news that the new injectors were playing up on the dyno and that it was going to miss the day he was aiming for.
He got it home and ripped the stock plenum off and changed it to a forward facing one with good top feed injectors and got it sent back for a re-tune. It didn’t make the power he was hoping for but dubbing it ‘good enough to skid’ Joel made it out to the Feburary Morning Sesh!
Straight away it’s a neck breaker in terms of looks. I remember the first time I saw the new car when I rolled into the Gravy Garage in Tweed one arvo after I put a ding in my daily to get a hand pulling it out. I instantly drooled and it wasn’t even close to completion at that point in time.
With the mix of a Navan Front Bumper,
Vertex Sides,
and the S2 Rear bar with Dmax wing you get really nice body lines without having all the crazy bits and bops hanging off it.
Everything’s powered by an RB25 Engine rocking a Biagio turbo with a 38mm gate, Freddy plenum, top feed rail, Siemens injectors, Sard fuel regulator, Greddy swirl pot, Splitfire coilpacks and a HKS Mushroom pod. All being told what to do by a Z32 AFM and Nistune ECU tuned by East Coast Customs.
Everything cooled by 42mm aluminum radiator and oil cooler kit.
As we all know stickers add the most KW’s out of any mod, especially DOMO’s!
It has a full Gravy Custom dump back 3″ exhaust with some huge twin 3″ Blast Pipes!
The S14’s also running a RB25 Gearbox with a Jim Berry clutch and the rears are turned with a Kaaz 2-way diff.
All this would be pointless without the HSD coilovers, Ikeya Formula tie rods, KTS ends, Extended LCA’s and a Joel Smith crossmember.
Sitting on some Bronze Varrstoen 18×9.5 +12 wheels wrapped in Federal 225/40 tyres with R33 5 studs and some Fab 81 Knuckles. All adjustable arms being alligned with 6 degrees camber, 2mm toe out on the fronts and 2 degrees with 2mm toe in on the rear.
Looking on the inside you find a Bride drivers seat and an R33 GTR passenger bucket seat, Nardi Suede Deep Corn steering wheel, Big clear dildo shifter and a C-Pillar brace in the back. Joel’s also sporting one of my ‘Clutch Kicking, Full Locking, Pantie Dropping’ stickers on the dash. You can pick one up from my website www.sirck.com.au, a little self advertising never hurt :P. Since then, Joel has put in a PBM Hydro to help with those extra long ass drags into corners.
Since the shoot Joel has unfortunately had another fight with the Turn 3 wall but this time not so bad! So next up on the list is the new paint job for the team colours, modify the rear cradle to squeeze some more low out of it. New wheels, cage, braces, stiffer springs and a new T67 for some silly extra bake! Probably along with a new front bumper, headlight and maybe bonnet after the other day.