The Dog Goes Retromantic 2012

A few years ago, a number of various pre-90s auto clubs decided to form a way to unite themselves in order to better communicate ideas and to strengthen solidarity. It was then Japanese Retrocar Forum (JRF) was born and Daihatsu Charmant Community is amongst the JRF members. One of the annual events by JRF is Retromantic which is basically a huge meet up of all the clubs where all the members discuss upcoming plans, show off their cars and awards for cars with outstanding features are held. This year marks the third time for the highly anticipated event and is the first for The Dog to attend.

This year's Retromantic is held on December 8th at KM72 Rest Area on Cipularang high way in Sadang, Purwakarta just 50 kms shy of reaching Bandung from Jakarta. Exhausting 4 hours of driving and 3 hours of ferry ride didn't seem to matter anymore once i reach the meet up area and witness this spectacle.

That's about 700+ old Japs crammed into the open parking lot on the Highway Rest Area. Definitely the biggest event i've attended for now!

Some of clubs that attend this event are Datsun Jakarta, SL Never Die, Retro Galant Indonesia, Bogor Corolla DX Community, Tangerang Retrocar, Oldskool Syndicate and of course our beloved Daihatsu Charmant Community. You can see the club logos on the stickers given away on this event.

The event was held for the whole day from early 9.00 AM until 15.00 PM, gathering even more beautiful cars as the joyful hours go by.

With so many nice cars showing up at the show, it was very difficult to pick some to be shown here. However, here's some of the interesting ones. First, as you perhaps realize first is that there are a lot of E20 and E30 Corollas so here's some of them that manage to tickle my fancy, starting with this flushed one.

Rat/shakotan/bosozoku/whateverthisis from Triple C autoclub.

Moving on to the rarer ones such as this Levin with Castrol livery, a member of TRC (Tangerang Retrocar).

Or this station wagon E20.

Now this is a rather familiar looking sticker, isn't it?

It belongs to this nice KE30 riding some Enkei wheel which are commonly referred to "starfruits" here.

Let's move up a generation shall we? Here's some E70s..

Normally, i'm not easily impressed with E70s with them being the go-to retro car preference but here's one that caught my attention. This Sprinter looks sweet riding on those Equip 01s..

.. add this huge Garrett snail and 3S-GTE and you have an impressive package overall.

How about some A170 Lancers from SL Never Die?

Of course, being a Lancer, we need one rally-look to complete the deal.

This one is also from Mitsubishi, can you guess what model is this?

This angle should give you a hint..

There were quite a number of Datsuns at the event as well, as evidently shown by some of these pics. It's quite nice to see some Bluebird 510s with such mint condition.

Some were sporting these 2000cc beasts underneath their hoods.

Here's a slightly lesser seen B310 (that's a B310 right? lol not really sure..)

Some of those that showed up really is one of a kind at the event such as this Toyota Kijang KF20 pickup.

Definitely one that managed to steal the show, a Supra Mk.II.

A sixth gen rat-look Toyota Crown, with a huge Southern cross on the hood. LOL.. Some people really have questionable taste. Well, as long as it works for them, it's fine i guess..

A shark-nosed shakotan Accord.

Some of the guys decided to make some cash at the event..

Really dig that 15x9 Watanabe.. Unfortunately (or fortunately), it's not that time for me to be spending any cash for The Dog.

Here's the award trophies..

Here's a Daihatsu Charade that apparently got me feeling that car crush again. Took many shots of this G11 as i love every angle of it.

Ah.. here's a familiar sight.. My fellow Daihatsu Charmant Community members.. There were only less than 10 of us coming to the event but we had a good time, nevertheless.

Or course, last but not least, The Dog to complete this post.. My girlfriend accompanied me to the event as well. We were still tired from the long hours of drive and reached the event area late so we had to park The Dog a bit far from the other participants.

Hachirokuism

Awful post title, i know. Sorry but it's been a while since i updated this blog so my writing is a bit rusty. Apart from being transferred to another area of work (which is sadly getting me further from my hometown Jakarta), the bike is basically my main focus lately. Fear not, The Dog is still getting some love from the owner as you shall see in just a bit.

So far, The Dog is running AE86 LSD, a W58 gearbox conversion, RX7 front calipers and T3 bits which are all somewhat common in AE86 scene. Yesterday, my Charmant is getting even similar to a four-door Hachiroku with this finally reaching my doorsteps from Japan.

43-teeth ring gear and 10-teeth pinion for a T-series diff, giving me a 4.3 ratio. You know what car these gears come stock in? Exactly: AE86. Ever since i upgraded to a W58, i have wanted a final gear ratio increase to recoup the loss of acceleration from the box's taller ratio compared to T50. While a 4.778 ratio might give me even better acceleration, i don't think it's really necessary for a turbocharged daily driven car, hence a 4.3 was chosen. Besides, it's already quite an increase from the stock 3.909 ratio coming from 43:11 and much cheaper.

Here's the 10 teeth pinion..

and the ring gear..

Although both a 43-teeth 6.7 inch ring gear, the one from the 4.3 ratio has taller dimension compared to the 3.909 which is of course required to reach the smaller pinion gear diameter.

Here's the pinion gears side-by-side (commonly known as "gigi nanas" or "pineapple gear" here for obvious reason). The left one was the old 11 teeth pinion.

I had to replace one of the conical bearings and oil seal. Bearing number was M86610. Some shims with various thickness was needed as well to adjust the bearing's preload.

Last but not least is the backlash adjustment. There are some things better left to be handled by the expert and working on diff pumpkins are one of them. Seriously, i had no idea that gear to gear contact is such a delicate work!

After everything was put back together, a test drive was done and as expected, it accelerates much better and the rear wheels lock easier. Best of all, the whining is now gone. I guess the previous gear ratio was not adjusted properly and caused  the whining.

More from T&T

Just got these pics in my inbox. They're from Rishi from Trinidad and Tobago, just like my friend Dereck. The gold one below still has its original paint. I can tell that it's in a very clean state judging from the interior shot. That steering wheel is not something i see often in Charmants as well. Perhaps because it's the 4K engine version? Rishi's plan is to get rid of the 1300cc OHV and replace it with an SR20DET. Brakes are planned to come from a EVO1 Mitsu while the rear LSD axle will be from a Nissan E24.

The red one is of Rishi's cousin Vedesh. He'll be taking a slightly different approach by going for 3S-GTE with Skyline suspension and diff. Love that white lettering tyres!

Both Charmants above look mint, that's for sure! Do us a favor, will you Rishi and Vedesh? Keep the altering to a minimum, at least exterior wise. You don't often see Charmants looking as good as yours nowadays.