Seaver’s Nissan Skyline R32

I finally got to sit behind the wheel of my all time favourite, childhood dream car. A friend of mine, Seaver Brown, offered to let me test-drive his 1992 Nissan Skyline and I jumped at the chance. Since the days of The Fast and The Furious, the Skyline has been the one vehicle I’d wanted more than anything else.

“I really just wanted something unique, fast and fun and it’s what was in my price range.”

Seaver had to go through an interesting buying process in order to finally get his hands on this car. Before buying the car he took it for a test drive like any normal person would. Once the car was warmed up it would hesitate and wouldn’t go past 3000 rpm. Seaver told the owner that he would buy it if the problem got fixed and so the owner promised and the next day Seaver went back for another test drive. The car ran fine and so he went ahead and bought it, only to find out half way home that the issue hadn’t been fixed at all. He called up the previous owner and called him out only for him to tell him “that’s what you get for buying a used car.”

After working out the problem the car has been running well for just over two years now. Seaver has big plans for this pristine platform in the years to come. With a brand new motor swap in the works, an upgraded turbo, forged internals and a new tune he’ll hopefully be able to make 350 horsepower.

The mod list for this car is extensive, from replacing most of the engine gaskets to carbon fibre hood and trunk; there isn’t much on this car that hasn’t been touched. With a brand new paint job and a nice, wide set of wheels it’s a flashy car for sure.

Sitting behind the wheel, I have to say right off the start; the clutch in this car is very difficult to figure out. Not only that but this was the first time I’d ever driven a right hand drive car and was pretty nervous at first. After getting out of the parking lot the shifting felt so natural with my left hand. The switch from left to right doesn’t feel awkward at all. The transmission is chunky but what can you expect from a 22-year-old car. Seaver warned me that it’s currently under boosting but putting out 210 horsepower on 8 lbs. of boost still sinks you back into your seat pretty well.

I can’t wait to see what next year brings for this amazing car. Thank you again to Seaver Brown for letting me live my childhood dream by finally getting the chance to drive this beauty. Hopefully I’ll be able to do a follow-up when the new engine gets broken in.

Noah Cormack

For my next post I want to feature a close friend of mine and amazing photographer Noah Cormack.

After picking up his first SLR camera in 2011, photography has been a passion for Noah. Taking up freelance photography of sorts for the last three to four years, he just began shooting weddings for clients in 2013, shooting nine in the last two years.

Branded officially as of 2013, Noah set up Ncrashb Multimedia Solutions himself. After purchasing a domain and hosting the site himself, the portfolio site features photography and videography from his shoots over the years.

Most in the car scene will know him for his amazing automotive photography, however when asked what his favourite subject to shoot is Noah responded with,

“As dumb as this sounds- life. Whatever I can find beauty or meaning in. People and nature express this best. Then people’s creation and expression, like cars and buildings.”

So for some amazing content make sure to check out Noah on Flickr, Facebook, and his own website.

Hopefully I’ll have a review for you next week, stay tuned!

My Honda Prelude

For my first feature I want to make a post about a car near and dear to my heart. My very own, electron blue pearl, 2001 Honda Prelude.

I bought this car back in 2011 with an automatic transmission and 175,000 kilometers on the odometer. She was a blast! Why do car guys tend to refer to their cars as “she?” I really don’t have a good answer for that but all I know is this car is my baby. Not only does she get me from point A to point B but she does it in style.

For my first car I had to put a lot of research into finding the right one, now to be honest I really hadn’t heard about the Prelude until searching for my first car. After the first test drive I was hooked, a fancy two-door sports car for a young guy, what else could I want?

Very quickly the modifications started; a brand new aftermarket exhaust, new wheels and lowering springs. All to improve the aesthetics and sound of my car. Some people modify for the track, so their car can be the fastest, best handling machine it was meant to be. I wanted to make mine look clean and tastefully done.

Becoming a member of the Toronto Prelude Club brought me into a whole new world. I met a bunch of new friends and was introduced to a bunch of great resources to help me on my journey.

The modification never stops when you buy a Honda, from regular maintenance to aftermarket upgrades. The one major project that had been on my mind since moving to Winnipeg was swapping in a 5 speed transmission. The generation of Prelude I bought is notorious for having automatic transmissions that fail early and often. Luckily I hadn’t had any issues yet I still wanted to enjoy the car more with the manual gearbox.

I managed to get some fellow Prelude owners together to buy a write off from MPI and we took everything I would need for the swap from it. Aside from small parts I bought new, we managed to use most of the parts we had from the car. Over the course of a month in April of 2013 we took the old transmission out and dropped in the 5 speed.

Never did I think back in 2011 that in only two years I would be giving my car a transplant of epic proportions. This swap is hands down the best performance mod I could ever have done to my car. She drives like a whole new animal, more responsive, agile and faster!

Photo credit: Oliver Lau – AzianDrifter on flickr

Every day I keep looking forward to the next mod I’m going to finish. The list keeps growing and with no end in sight I believe that I will hold on to this car until the day she dies. It may seem weird to some that people can have such a connection to an inanimate object however this car means so much to me, we’ve shared some amazing times together and I don’t think I could ever let her go.

So thats the quick rundown of my car! Many more mods to come so stay tuned!