Blog

APRIL 19th, 2024
How to ruin an S13: A love story

Of all the S-Chassis (15) I've ever owned, there was no debating this was the cleanest, may have even been the cleanest S13 I had ever seen. Funnily enough, keeping it stock was something I never considered. It was a one-owner car that had never been touched with a single modification. Other than the original owner having the DEALERSHIP install a sunroof for her and power windows that also rolled down (shoddy indeed), it was untouched and sitting at about 200,000 miles when I bought it. 



I lowered it within a week or so lol


Then started taking it to as many track days as I could afford
It was this Grange (now AVS) track day where I got some dents on a couple different spots and decided it was time to treat the car like the canvas I knew it was.
After picking up used body panels and piecing together something I liked, I sanded the car down and grabbed a paint gun from harbor freight and some real car paint from a local shop and painted the car in my garage. It was my first attempt at using a paint gun after 5 or so Rustoleum specials. It could have turned out worse.

Then drove it to as many track days as I could afford
Then, after deciding on the 180sx Type X bumper, I got an offer to get the car wrapped for a very reasonable price in all black, so I sanded the whole car once again.
Being an anime and itasha lover I drew out and printed/cut the livery, this is the part I find most fun. I also sent the car to Rival Auto Works after blowing up the KA at a 2 day event, I considered staying KA but after driving my friend's car, the 1JZ was swapped in, I kept the R154 as I wanted to stay low and the Z33 trans hangs well below the s13 frame. After that was done, and even inbetween adding the printed vinyl and the Gold leaf, I drove as many track days as I could.


Of all the cars I've owned, this is one I will hold dear forever. It was my blank canvas and through the entire build I was able to be on the track more than ever, with all the people I started driving with way back in 2008. It has been a beautiful journey that I wouldn't change a thing about. And that is how to ruin an S13. Thanks for reading!


March 8th, 2024
Moving Forward

This was the first bit of "work" I have done to my car since my surgeries. I Want to start with a clean slate and end with a much more streetable look as the end goal is to have a cruiser now that I have to hang the helmet up so to speak. What better time to do it than when the entire sticker range is changing. I was in the garage for 9 hours over 2 days scraping the livery off of ONE SIDE with my nails and no heat gun as to not lift the wrap that is on the car underneath the AllMight Livery I put on top. The Ultra Metallic Black proved to be very sticky and to have it looking slick with some lemon oil and a sponge to get the residue off after that many hours felt good. It felt good to be back in the garage making progress. Also got some tires mounted on the "Front" Wheels and slapped them on the back while I get the the wheel I bent over to VR Wheels who built them originally to see if the bend is fixable. I will be making more updates here now that I have started messing with the car again. So the more detailed breakdown of the getting this thing ready to go out on the town will be best told here. Thank you for reading!

P.S. Shipping on ALL stickers is free worldwide for 48 hours
Old designs will retire at the end of that period










Feb 23rd, 2024

The S14: Rest in Pieces
(2012-2017)


The S14 was a car that I will always hold near and dear to me. It was S-Chassis number 7 or 8, but it was the one I held onto the longest, drove the most, and to this day, miss the most. Swapped with a completely stock S13 Red Top SR20DET when I bought it. It was very shodily pieced together, but faster than anything I had owned to this point. The Back end had been repaired from a decent hit, the trunks floor was bent and twisted all the way to the shock tower and after being pulled back out (also shodily) it was covered in shiny dynamat, the quarter panel was ugly, but I loved that car. I delivered pizzas for my dad's & Great Uncle's pizzeria in it and drove it to all track days except the few rounds of Top Drift I tried. My heart tells me SR's are happiest when you drive them every day, I would eventually blow 5 of them in this car. 


It was the car that I first realized what some people were doing to compete in the quickly growing sport of Professional Drifting. I felt my skills developing and decided to compete in Top Drift in an attempt to earn a license for FD, at the time Pro2 was a year or two away from being added as a filter to the big leagues. So with a stock SR and my first ever wheel alignment, I was quickly humbled. Ran out of tires just before qualying and bought a used pair of Falken Azenis from some guys that made the trip from Colorado to California to compete. Laid down a couple decent laps for morning practice just to shit the bed during qualifying. Looking back now, the amount of preparation that went into that level of competetion was something I wasn't even coming close to. Giving yourself a decent shot at it  meant a lot more than I had realized, and drifting for fun with friends made me happy. That being said, driving to beat somebody, even in something with limited tire sizes or low power is rush that is hard to replicate. Never got too far in the comps, but had a lot of fun regardless.




It was my first car with a real paint job, but it got the rattle can treatment a few times before that. It ended up being a canvas for me that I always wanted to change throughout the years.




I street drove the car through 5 SR swaps and every stage of beat up and pretty, pulled off turbos in the pits, and swapped transmissions on my garage floor. For all the ups and downs I experienced with/because of it, the ups far outweigh any downs and I will always love the S14, may it Rest in Pieces. Thanks for reading!




Feb 8th, 2024

The first post: A little bit of history

Jimmy Up is a brand I started just out of high school after buying my first s13. It was an automatic, red, pignose hatch for TEN easy payments of $100 made to a high school friend, while I was working at shakey's, going into the summer of 2006. Drifting was introduced to me by an early adopter here in the states, someone that I am still lucky to call a friend to this day. He had an older brother and cousin building cars for the very first USA D1 driver search and would show me videos in graphic arts class, and we would just google different drift cars, instead of finishing our assignments. I summized that the S-Chassis was the prettiest of them all, and I needed to try drifting.

I got on Zilvia.net to look for parts and knowledge on these cars that had stolen my heart, and I found both, in heeps. The first hatch was sold on that forum for a profit and I started hunting for a 5 speed immediately. A little over a year after combing more threads than I could count, I had my 5 speed hatch, I had learned enough to feel comfortable ripping into it and had absolutely 0 extra dollars to chase any of the dreams I was googling and seeing on zilvia. And thus, Jimmy Up was born. As a means to get on the track, to go to one of these "Balcony" events I was seeing on the forum. I started putting ideas on that forum, gauging interest from the community and people wanted my simple design offered in purple ink on black tees or black on white. The gold leaf that I still use to this day is the same that the first ever stickers were cut from. I walked into a local sticker shop and asked to see their flashiest materials. They said the gold was ordered for a customer that never picked it up and that it had been sitting for a while. It was perfect. 

Fast forward to 2024, 18 years later: I have owned 15 S-Chassis in my life and 2 Z33's. I fell in love with drifting and creating for the community and I never looked back. 

I'll say more here soon, but for now, here is a pic of me on Balcony from 2010, credit: Nguyen Bui.