Hi waynne,
Yeah nice one for sorting the registration out - thankyou again for being so quick and thanks for the welcome!
I'm uk (obviously) between north london and essex so have the best of both worlds in terms of space n roads and, 24hour convenience shops!
The tuning scene over here is same as anywhere else I guess - everyone wants shiney expensive toys but dinner and rent have to come first! Lol! Trend-wise a lot of the guys new to the scene are starting to lean towards japs more but there's still the dedicated 'dub' guys and ford & vaux boys there too. I'm mostly in the jap scene leaning towards drift and track these days though - too many police cars around for the old school back lane blasts anymore! There does seem to be an interesting turn developing though that's seeing more guys going back to the tuning scene roots of diy though - not so much serious tuning or cosmetics stuff but the entry level stuff like air filters and exhausts etc.
As for my projects, well the scooby is pretty much a brick wall now - spent WAY too much on a 'built' engine (I didn't have the time or space to do it myself at the time) and basically ran out of money to finish it! Engines currently a fully forged 2.5 conversion (in a classic type ra) with fully ported, polished and flowed heads (and a full stand-alone ecu). Making 300bhp on stock ported turbo and stock injectors with no boost controller, no actuator and the turbo wastegate held open permenantly. Idea was to run it in then upgrade the gearbox (stock one is made of cheese) before putting a larger turbo and bigger injectors and heading for predicted figures of around the 500bhp mark (with matching torque). Unfortunately the box let go of 5th gear sooner than expected courtesy of the aggressive clutch and I haven't got the 2.5 grand handy for the new one yet lol! Actually looking at selling it and buying an old 944 for track thrashing at the moment because they're cheap!
Think I may well keep hold of the sti showa legs and springs I managed to get hold of though since I'll undoubtedly have another scooby and that suspension is rarer than an albino with a sun-tan!
The mx5 is the gf's first modded car and is getting the full works - bought for 350quid and being fully worked up. Half way through the prep for a full re-spray (there's a lot of dents to fix on it!) into arden blue so there's panels all over the place in my unit at the moment! Ended up completely tearing down the engine too since a leak-down test showed less than good results! That's going back together with a set of re-ground cams, vernier pulleys, larger injectors, a standalone ecu (probably a megasquirt) and a turbo conversion. Only aiming for around the 180bhp mark with this one but should be enough for some fun and certainly enough for the gf as her first tuned and rwd car!
So there's me lol! Typing this on a phone has made my thumbs hurt now so that'll do me thinks!