Drift Mini Truck

I see a new platform creeping into the Drift scene these days. Mini Trucks. Those that remember the 80's mini truck days will associate air bags and hydraulics beds with 20 subs and custom mural paint schemes. What some Japanese tuners are doing is full frame replacement and rear suspension conversions to independent sus and strut coilovers. Why go through the hassle of doing all that welding to achieve the same drop as compair to air bags..? Well, these mini-track trucks are full race drift machines. Check out these sick little 1 ton mini trucks tearing up the track.

Notice this truck with a full RB26 Skyline motor carefully swapped into the bay. With an upgraded single turbo at that size, you know that's all business. In the rear bed you will see the extensive custom work from the rear mounted radiator to fuel tank. But what is most striking is the custom coilover setup and frame design that integrates directly with the coll cage. All business.

Personally I would like to see the Drift scene flooded with different makes and models from old school to modern platform. BTW, did you notice the first image to have a California plate..

Most incredible IS200/Altezza Ever

So it's late and somehow I got linked to an Australian IS200 website forum. I snoop around and end-up following an incredibly build. Funny though, I landed right in the middle of the process and read something about 7" inches of lip in the rear under the stock body.. I stopped breathing and fell off the chair.

After picking up my jaw and the rest of myself, going through the entire build page by page has led me to this amazing IS200 project car. This is the most custom fabricated SXE10 chassis I have ever seen. There are nothing in the States that can complete with this. 

I know my IS300 chassis and there are no way in hell you can achieve a 7" inch lip in the rear without doing some serious custom work or flares. The answer is nothing unique to the typical hot rodder or G-machine builder. Custom rear-end 4-link suspension with a Mark Williams axles. But to cars in the import scene, that's a completely new language.

To give you an idea, that axle probably cost around $10k. The entire back half is custom made, fabricated and welded back to the stock chassis. Simply amazing. 

Every measurement was perfectly calculated to fit the 19x12 wheels wrapped by 335 rubber. Specs on the custom built engine reads, 869 whp at 30 psi. The waste gate spring maxed out at 30 psi, but the turbo and engine is capable of 45 pounds of OH SHEEEEET... 

Builder's name is Brett and this is his personal daily driven project car to showcase the shops abilities.

All Style Automotive

Most incredible IS200/Altezza Ever (cont.)

This is how you achieve 7" inches of lip in the rear wrapped on a 335/25/19 tire all under the stock body. Custom Rear axle.

Here you can see all the custom work involved to create the multi-link rear suspension with a 9" inch straight axle. This is a first for me. I have never seen this kind of conversion done to an Import car. To many hotrod builders, this is a everyday work load, but most import tuner cars are basically a bolt on heaven.

Lots of cutting and custom fabrication were involved to make this work correctly. Chassis frame stabilizer bars were added for more strength and a custom set of Alcon BBK kits were chosen for this project. The wheels are 19x12 in the rear and I just fell off my chair, again. The fabrication is seamless.

Of course the engine bay had to match such wonder and a 2JZ-GTE was chosen along with the GeTrag 6-speed tranny. Everything in the engine bay was completed hidden and or custom made for this kit. The Greddy intake manifold had to be modified to clear the strut brace as were the original turbo was way too big for clearance. All the stock bolt holes were filled with metal and resprayed in black onyx.

This motor is all business and the goal is to hit 1,000 hp. With this kind of metal fabrication involved, this is the next level for import builders. Hopefully some of the "big-builders" here will learn a few from Brett and his imazine Lexus IS200.

Most incredible IS200/Altezza Ever (cont.)

Here are pictures from the local Toyotafest in Australia. This car is incredible! Brett was awarded 6 awards in one day:

- Best of Show

- Best Engine

- Best Performance

- Best Engineered
- Best Interior

- Best Late Model

Hats off to the most insane IS200/Altezza build ever. Next, lets get this car to tour the US.

Humble and speechless.

***Drift Demo Video***

Honda F1 Engine

Came across this on another website earlier today. This is pretty amazing to have all 80,000 pieces exploded and hanging on strands as a display.

F1 engines are made to last around 2 hours before it blows up. Keep in mind, that is redline driving. Standard RPM is around 18,000, basically 3 times more than a standard car. The brakes are rated at 1,000 degrees and every race, a driver can loose up to 8 pounds of body fluid. Helmets weigh 14 pounds so there are special exercises to strengthen that area. 

An F1 machine can go from 0-100-0 in 4 seconds. Total weight is half of the Mini Cooper and if a water hose were to blow-off, the entire engine would empty all it's fluids in 1 seconds.

It is truly astounding to see how advance F1 is today. Before you know it, F1's will run on magnetic forces without tires and speeds of sound.

Nissan 370Z Spy Photos

The latest spy shots came in from Germany where the Nissan 370Z was caught slipping the wet streets in little disguise. What we do know is the motor is the new G37 330 hp found in the Infinity G37. Others will also like to know the next gen weights less than the current 350Z. New styling comes from the latest Maxima include headlight and taillight similarities. The A-pillar is very GT-R looking with a very tiny rear side-window. The rear fender looks wider and more aggressive. I like it. Surely, there will be an abundance of goodies for this next generation Z.
Nissan is pushing ahead.. where is Toyota and Honda..?

Dream Garage

If I had a car collection garage, this image is pretty close to what that would look like. The history of Porsche in racing is unparalleled compared to anybody else. Wood floors, spot lights, and plenty of background images sure tells the story to any viewer.

If I built custom cars, this custom chassis with independent 4 wheels suspension would be the kind of projects I design. This particular shot was of Michael Moal's shop in Oakland. The Moal family builds extremely high end beautiful Hot Rods. The difference between their cars and the next shop is Moal's car can all perform incredibly on the road. So it is no surprise to see this independent suspension project coming from the Moals.

Full Feature next time.

This is a dream garage for many. Just look at the collection of cars and the space allocated for each bay. It is amazing how clean it is to work at such a private facility.

Having a garage at this scale is one thing, but having these kind of cars to work on is a total dream garage.

Strange Sighting

During West Coast Nationals in August, Goodguys host Hot Rod week. Basically, touring the local shops and collector garages with our many guest that have traveled from out of town.

Sorting the images, I came across this interesting car with a Republic of China flag but driven in Mexico lettering. If anybody knows, I would love to know the history of this car. Perhaps it served as a politician vehicle in China then later sent to Mexico for the dirt racing. Fun!

SEMA 2008

Got my SEMA badge today. Hopefully many of you can make it and support the auto industry during these hard times.

-s-

Greddy USA files for Chapter 11

In these troubling economic times, one should be glad to have a job.. no, to work for a company that is actually surviving. Most are already gone.

I just stumbled onto the latest Press Release from Greddy USA website. They have filed for chapter 11, but operations will continue to flow and nobody has been laid-off yet.

I wish Greddy and the parent company Trust Japan the best in the near future as the company reorganizes and continue to bring state-of-the-art performance products to the Automotive Industry.

Greddy USA Link

-Solo

Top 7 Most Overused Techniques & Elements Used In Graphic Design

One more time: Speed 33

If you follow Goodguys then you should know this car. This was our 2008 giveaway car built by Roadster Shop. The car was given away at the Columbus, Ohio Goodguys PPG National event earlier this year in August. So we all thought..

Well, the car is back in our hands and will continue to become our 2009 giveaway car. Plans are to change out the custom Intro wheels and low profile tires and go with something more traditional and get it ready again for tour. Personally, I like the dish looking wheels. Definitely gives the '33 roadster some different characteristics. But, die hard hot rodders will disagree and would prefer a good set of steelies with chrome cap.

It was too bad the winner from this year could not afford the Income tax on this $200k hot rod. If it was me, take out a second mortgage b/c this '33 is one-of-a-kind.

Goodguys

Job Design coming to the US

JO just completed a huge order of aero kits ready to ship to the US. Who got their hands on this shipment?

This CLS Mercedes have been fitted with the entire JOB Design package. Even the front bumper was further modified to house quad foglights similar to some of the German made aftermarket bumpers. Personally, it is not my cup of tea. JO also installed their line up of Big Brake kit painted in red with red hats to match. Notice the little piece of chrome on the side of the foglight. Details like so does make JO's kits stand out from the next.

10 huge boxes of Aero kits ready to be shipped to 10 very lucky owners here in the states. Is one of them a UCF30 kit..? Maybe a GS350 kit.. only time will tell.

One Lug Wheels

Another custom set from One Lug Wheels roll off the assemble line and heads home to it's owner. All I can say is this is by far one of the hardest looking wheel from from One Lug. Satin black face on Gloss lips and barrels = so damn sexy! I even like the gold bolts to complement the black. Pure Sex.

All I can tell you is this custom set is 19x12 and 19x13 and this just gives me a chubby. Okay, you will gonna have to wait and see what project car this is going on and when it will be debuted.. HOT!


One Lug Wheels

Images courtesy of Fortune.

BeanGrower updates his LS430

One of the sickest Hawaii UCF30's around. BeanGrower has bit the bullet and got the Junction Produce areo kit. Also looks like major negative camber has been added to the rear to fit the 20x11 inchers.

More later..

Black Pearl Celsior UCF31 *Updates*

Looks like my good friends at Black Pearl has updated their Celsior 31 with modified sides and rear bumper. It almost resembles abit of JO's work, especially the rear bumper and tips. The rear fender has gotten a huge increase of stretch, pull and radius. The new set of wheels looks to be Work Schwert, step lip painted in black and white/diamond face. Hot!

The brakes are confirmed finally. They are Mode Parfume full BBK front and rear manufactured by Endless Japan. But looks like they have played with that aswell with a custom caliper design and custom color. I prefer the orange on white color scheme but you just can't deny they are experimenting and trying new things.

This rear bumper setup has a good mix of parts. Looks like the JOB Design rear for the IS350 and much influences from the new line up of kits offered by Wald. I like the 2-tone with the gun-metal but the center LED light has no place on this car. This again proves that there are no perfect kit in the market and never will be. Back on point, this is the new redesigned rear.