Ethan Nakaya's 2008 QSM Spec B

[08Spec_B]

Well, I've been a long time lurker but never made my contributions to the group via forum posts. Owned my spec b since end of 2019, was basically stock with 166k miles located in Utah but fairly rust free for the area. Been a fun two years and it's finally shapping up how I envisioned. Kinda hard to figure out where to start this post since car has been heavily modified up to this point ha. I'll just go from the start of my ownwrship to where we sit now woth a couple pictures. Thread will become mote organized as time goes on. 

Current build list:

Drivetrain:
Battery relocation with 1/0 gauge, inline fuse and breaker
Rev 9 FMIC
Rev 9 silicone turbo inlet
Custom in-fender intakes
IAG V2 TGV deletes
ID1050X injectors
Iag parallel fuel lines
Radium fuel rails and dampers
Aeromotive adjustable FPR
Fuel labs inline fuel filter
Aem 320lph fuel pump
Chase bays thermostatic sandwich plate
Mocal oil cooler
IAG AOS
AEM IAT sensor
HKS SSQV BOV
Grimspeed EBCS
Mishimoto radiator
Silicone rad hoses
Custom 321SS v-band ELH
Custom 321SS vband 44mm EWG up pipe
Tial MVR 44m EWG
BNR Billet 20G
SS turbo oil feed line
Megan racing catless DP
HKS Silent Hi Power BP fitment
Accessport v3 353hp/349tq on 91 oct.
Made 407hp/373tq on e85 (tuned by simple performance in SLC, UT)
Fumoto quick drain valve
Secondary air pump delete
Mazda rx8 oil filter
Poly pitch stop mount
Modified Andrewtech 6mt Cocktail

Suspension and Handling:
Cygnus X-1 series coilovers (hyperco spring upgrade, spring rates 8k F / 7k R) @ 184k
24mm Whiteline front sway bar
21mm JDM wangan gulf rear sway bar
Cobb RSB reinforcement brackets
Group N motor mounts
Polyurethane sway bar bushings
Energy suspension rear diff bushing inserts
Moog upgraded sway bar endlinks (F/R)
Megan racing adjustable rear lateral links
Front strut bar
New front control arms with bushings
Kein trans mount
Prothane rear diff bushing inserts
15+ STI steering rack
Motegi traklite 18x8.5 et42
Achilles atr sport 2 245/40r18
Cobb short shifter
Whiteline front and rear shifter bushings

Interior:
Jdm double din hvac kit and jdm hazard
Kenwood DMX906s headunit
Tightfitfab adapter harness
Backup camera
Kicker front speakers
Rockford fosgate punch rear speakers
Soundqubed 4 gauge amp wiring kit
Custom tweeter delete gauge pod
Aem uego afr gauge w/ custom tweetr pod
Weathertech all weather floor mats
Stitchboots faux leather EU shift and ebrake boots
Perforated stitch on leather SW cover
EU console with tbsti/s402 red lit cupholders
Tuned by sti armrest cover/storage cubby
Custom forged CF trims/handles
Custom 2x2 twill CF Ebrake handle

Exterior:
Wingless trunk
JDM STI trunk lip w/ brake light
JDM aero splash guards
JDM Zerosports CF grille
JDM spec B front bumper
DAMD rep vented fenders
Tinted windows
Wellvisors rain guards
Rear s209 bumper vents grafted in

Engine Build that should be done next week:
New RA calse halves
Closed deck service by outfront
Manley platinum 99.75 pistons
Manley Turbo Tuff I beam rods
ARP rod bolts
ACL main and rod bearings
ARP 625+ heads studs
New shimmed 11mm oil pump
Nitrided Crank

[SoobyDoobyDoo]

Welcome to the site! That rear bumper is sick…and the car looks awesome overall! Those pictures of the consoles are making me reconsider buying one…but I need to let the wallet recover a while before I dive Into all that…looking forward to more!

[08Spec_B]

@SoobyDoobyDooThank you. The vents seem to becoming more common than they used to be. When your wallet is ready to be drained let me know ha, I've imported 6 of them in the last couple months and they all sell very quickly. 

[SoobyDoobyDoo]

Not hard to do with this car.  If I stayed off the JPN auction sites it’d be in much better shape…lol. also going back and forth about converting it. I love the look but at the same time wanting to keep it simple. Either way I know who to talk to now! 

[DoctorDaveLGT]

How much do you sell the EDM consoles for typically? I'm guessing they have all the pieces for the conversion and it's not just the center portion in the pic?

[08Spec_B]

@DoctorDaveLGTI sell the base setups for $600 + shipping and fees and they come with everything needed for the swap into a facelift vehicle. Prefacelift need the driver side lower dash, facelift glovebox, and a brace removed under the steering column. Periodically I'll be able to include the extra parts for a prefacelift conversion at an extra cost. 

There are quite a few different add-ons that can bump pricing as well. Extended/double cubby storage armrest lid $150, Led lit cupholders $100, rear passengers vent setup with tubing up to dash vents $200, custom carbon skinned trims that I do $100-300. 

[Infosecdad]

So, there isn't a direct EU option for pre-facelift?  Or is it just much more rare?

[08Spec_B]

@Infosecdadunfortunately that EU style console never existed for prefacelift. 

[DoctorDaveLGT]

Good to know on the price. I'll reach out when I'm ready to pull the trigger.

[08Spec_B]

Still waiting for shortblock to be done. Told it could be beginning of next week, fingers crossed! In the meantime, had some jdm goodies in the mail recently with even more on the way! Anybody have information on this trunk lip? Looks similar to stanza v1 but its more low profile and a tad longer out the back. Started sanding for paint and found out its also carbon fiber. Pretty nifty! 

Edited August 5, 2022 by 08Spec_B

[08Spec_B]

So turns out the spoiler is a stanza V1 haha, thats why it looks similar. I though there was 2 revisions but theres actually 3. Also had the window spoiler show up. 

 

Paint match did not come out well but just wanted it coated before the wrap goes on. The shop I have used in the past has had worse and worse results so I'll no longer be using them. 

Edited August 11, 2022 by 08Spec_B

[Warlock]

Nice setup. Love seeing other Silver Spec Bs still alive out there and looking good.

[Febreze Mee]

The car looks amazing!

[08Spec_B]

Recieved a beautiful picture from the builder this morning! All GSC valvetrain parts and new head casings have been ordered at this point as well. 

[Febreze Mee]

Updates?

Also, where did you mount your oil cooler?

[08Spec_B]

5 hours ago, Febreze Mee said:

Updates?

Also, where did you mount your oil cooler?

Was literally grabbing some other pictures for an updated post this weekend ha, beat me to it. 

It's a Mocal core on some brackets I made, paired with a chasebays thermostatic sandwich plate. 

[08Spec_B]

Been a while so some updates are in order! Firstly, my wife and I welcomed our first child at the beginning of Oct and that's been great! While I have work off there was some progress made on the car (finally). 

My local head builder left me on read a couple times back to back so I took it upon myself to do the head assembly. Valvetrain was fairly easy to install, just time consuming. Especially when polishing each valve into it's seat with 4 different grits of metal polish lol. Figured it couldnt hurt while I was already there.

Tonight I finished with torquing down the heads. Next up will be taking shim measurments, which I am not stoked to do. 

 

I also had the new Aisin water pump modified, ended up tapping the single coolant port that flows to the factory heat exchanger and sealed with an NPT bolt since i'm running an aftermarket cooler. Upgraded from the Rev9 FMIC to a Treadstone core thats a bit bigger to handle my future power goals, and needed to move the piping up to clear fog bezels on the jdm bumper! New brackets came out pretty good for mounting as well. Will replicate out of something thicker at some point.  Tons of cutting required on the JDM bumper for this fmic core lol. 

[SoobyDoobyDoo]

Congrats on the new addition, that’s exciting! Get stuff done now while they still sleep a lot, once they’re mobile it’s game over lol. That FMIC looks good behind that bumper. What’s up with the blob eye behind it? 

[08Spec_B]

@SoobyDoobyDooYeah he is pretty awake all the time, even at 2 months old ha. He could be much worse so counting my blessings there though!

 

Its my buddies 04, his last setup made 550ish and now he's shooting for 1k. Big boy numbers lol. 

[08Spec_B]

Small progress updates. Out of the 40-50 buckets, I had one hand, 2 are small enough to work with desired lash lol. Really dont want to source another couple hundred so I'll be looking for used and remeasured ones in the meantime. If anybody has some of the following in the meantime, I'll gladly buy or trade for them:
(2x)4.56
(2x)4.58
(1x)4.61
(1x)4.76
(3x)4.78
(1x)4.81

Over the holidays I spent some time working over the valve covers with a little polishing action. Went from 180-1500 grit sanding and then hit with chemical guys heavy metal polish. Not bad for the time taken imo. 

Also decided to keep a set of the STI option front and rear door sills that I've imported a few sets of.

[Infosecdad]

Love the STi door sills, I'll have to look for a set.

[08Spec_B]

Finally bit the bullet and the last 6 of the needed valve buckets have been ordered. In the meantime, have been routing new PTFE fuel lines with FassterLLC fittings (same manufacturer in china who makes lots of vibrants stuff) but he charges less and is local to me! Need to swap the driver side 90° with another 120° to make fitment a hair better but overall super happy so far. Hopefully the AC hardline can be routed through the forward line and around the FPR. We'll see! 

Also, snagged a K2 rear caliper setup so my GD brembos that I had on the shelf will be up for sale! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Enlight]

Great build, surprised I didn't catch this earlier. I really like what you've done with the valve covers. Do you have a plan for inhibiting aluminum oxidation before you put the engine back in? Also, what are these brackets you have installed here? Please keep sharing.

[08Spec_B]

@EnlightThank you! No they will just be going in polished as seen. My train of thought, if they took 14 years to oxidize as much as they had, they should stay polished for more than long enough before starting to spoil again. Its not a show car so I'm not stressing about it too much!  Those brackets are just the factory power steering, alternator/AC brackets that I had my buddy powdercoat. All of the aux bracketry has been coated in gloss black.

[Enlight]

The powder coating looks very nice, that might be something I undertake myself. More likely I'll just give mine a scrub. In case you change your mind re: oxidation, I found KBS Diamond Finish which can go on bare aluminum in its brushable, non-aerosol version. I looked into other solutions, i.e. ceramic coating, etc. but those get expensive fast, esp. when applied professionally. An even easier, sprayable solution is CRC 3-36, which I saw a vapor honer recommend for aftercare of engines they cleaned up.