Senna
Yesterday, while browsing through Netflix’s movie menu I found Senna’s movie. Every car enthusiast should watch this “biographical documentary”. There are a few things to learn from the Brazilian idol, Ayrton Senna… and not all have to do with cars and driving to the limit.
Look for it on Netflix’s instant streaming menu.
Reader Car of the Year
I came across this while I was getting my daily dose of Speedhunting. The guys at SH have posted their candidates for Reader Car of the Year Award and on that list I found Carlos (Charlie) Nissan Sentra. I, as a local Puerto Rican car forum fan, have witnessed (from a far) the evolution of Charlie’s Sentra from being his daily driver to being his toy, project car and now full-on race car.
In this car-guys world of ours, sadly, not very often you cross paths with people as down-to-earth and as willing-to-help as this kid. Best of luck Charlie!
Be sure to visit Speedhunters site and cast your vote for one unique, great car built with pure blood, sweat and tears… …and while at it, visit Charlies web site, C3 Garage.
Up for grabs!
Its been a while since the last post and about the same time since the last time I was able to surf the net randomly. Well, as usual, I ended up looking for car stuff…
While at it, I stumbled upon this jewel that just happens to be for sale…
Heres the mod list:
Suspension -
Tein Super Racings 16k,14k spring rates. 05-07 STI
GT Spec subframe brace
Carbing front strut tower bar with BCS and tow took through the hood
Cusco center brace
Cusco T brace
Cusco H brace
Cusco 22 MM 05+ STI rear Sway bar
Cusco 22 MM Front sway bar
Cusco rear subframe brace
Cusco trailing arms
Cusco laterial links 05 STI
Kartboy STI rear end links
Kartboy Front end links
Stop tech 6 piston Big Brake Kit
Whiteline Anti lift Kit race version
Whiteline center roll adjuster kit
30 Point WRC full weld in roll cage
Bushings -
Kartboy shifter bushings
Kartboy rear shifter bushing
Kartboy rear crossmember bushing
Kartboy short throw shifter
kartboy Transmission bushings
TIC rear diff race bushings
Beatrush propeller shaft bushings
Wheels/Tires -
APR extended wheel studs front and rear
Kics lug nuts
Volk Racing CE28N 18×10.5 +18
Falken Azenis RT615K 315/30/18 Tires
Interior -
OMP Red Seude Deep Dish steering wheel
Splash WRX/STI 93-07 Short hub adaptor
WORKS Bell quick release
Takata long harnesses X2
Sparco Harness bar plates
Bride Zeta III Type L X2
Sparco Seat Mounts
Engine -
Turbo XS full turbo back TI muffler
Access Port V1 05 STI
APS Equal length header
Exterior -
Voltex rear deiffuser
Cusco lip painted white 04-05 STI
Karlton Fender Flare Kit
Price: $27K… not bad at all…
All the right mods, nothing less, nothing more. Tastefully done and super clean! Just how I like ‘em…
More: NASIOC
Friday stuff…
Another Friday, another repost… but I gotta do it. This tme is all about Nakai-San and Rauh Welt Begriff:
I just admire this guy and what he does… Great weekend boys and girls!
Ken Block’s Gymkhana 4
I’m not a fan of KB as a pro driver and I hate Monster and their logo, but I do enjoy this gymkhana videos and I kinda like the Fiesta…
Cars & Coffee
Last Sunday morning and with the help of the guys at SneakyRacing.com, we were able to celebrate our first Cars & Coffee meeting. People started arriving at the Krispy Kreme parking lot around 7am. The meeting lasted about 3 hours and easily, more than 50 cars got to be part of the fun. Great people, great cars, a great way to start a beautiful Sunday morning… Oh, great donuts and coffee too…
Here are some shots:
FFF: Form Follows Function / Functional Fender Flares
A few years ago, when I first saw a picture of a RWB Porsche, I fell in love. The first one that I saw was the flat black Stella Artoise 930, but then I laid eyes on the silver 993 dubbed Royal Montego Bay, now known as Tunerhaus. Ever since I saw that silver coupe I’ve been dreaming about fender flares.
I’ve developed this theory that might explains why I now have this flare fetish and it has to do with what I call the “damned Subaru hubs”. See, with Subarus it is nearly impossible to fit aggressive yet functional wheel and tire combos. You might get to fit 9-10 inch wheels under the wheel wells but in most cases you need to use a tire so narrow that it completely defeats the purpose of the wide wheels. On top of the stretched tires you need to dial up a ridiculous amount of camber and ultimately end up with a setup that is nowhere near functional. A waste of money if you ask me.(Yeah, I’m a HellaFlush hater…)
Nakai San of RWB was one of the few guys that managed to blend looks and functionality when it came to fender flares and completely ridiculous yet amazingly functional wide wheel and tire combos. In the Subaru world, specifically in the GD chassis, I think the people at L’aunsport where the gurus when it came to wider fenders, but these are too wild for my taste. Well apparently I’m not the only one that thinks like that, the Levy brothers from LIC came up with one of the nicest set of fender flares ever on a Subaru, but these are a one-of. Bummer…
Well the other day, on one of my late night net surfing sessions, I came across one of the nicest street STi’s I’ve seen as of yet and it happens to have one of the best looking set of fender flares. I’m talking about Lew Karlton’s 06 STi.
“Originally, the car was supposed to be my daily driver and remain stock, but after it’s first autox, the mod bug bit me hard and I ended up building my car for the STU class.” Karlton explains, and man do I feel identified with those words. After a few years in the STU class, he felt that he needed to be more competitive so he moved to SM, that’s where the fun began.
One thing led to another and now this commuter boasts a bit more than 400 hp and 380 ft/lb of torque, and since SM allows for wider wheels and tires, it was time to invest in some serious, functional stance.
Among a variety of different wheels, Karlton went with what happens to be my favorite wheel: the SSR Type C-RS in a mind blowing 18×10.5 +25 size!
In order to accommodate that wide of a wheel he developed the Karlton Fender Flares that you see here:
Dont be fooled by how well kept this car is, this is no show car, this thing sees some abuse around the cones every now and then.
Here is a somewhat up to date list of mods he made in order to be competitive in SM:
Engine Mods
- Built shortblock – Darton sleeves, copper o-rings, JE 100mm coated pistons, BC pro rods, ACL race bearings, Nitrided crank, Cosworth modified oilpump, ARP headstuds
- Built heads – GSC S1 268/266 cams, Cosworth +1mm SS intake/ Inconel exhaust valves, BC valvesprings/Ti retainers, PnP, Bowl blend
- Full-Race twinscroll kit
- Garrett gt3076r 1.06 twinscroll Ceramic coated
- Tial 38mm mv-s wastegates
- TIGWERKS ewg mufflers
- Tial Q BOV
- PTP turbo blanket
- Custom 4” intake
- Hallman Pro RX MBC
- Perrin FMIC with stock bumper beam and counter clockwise flow piping
- Perrin lightweight crank pulley
- Deatschwerks 300lph fuel pump
- Bosch 044 fuel pump
- Custom surgetank
- SX adjustable fpr
- 07 STI top feed fuel rails (Aeromotive rails waiting to go on)
- 07 STI tgv deletes
- Hondata intake manifold gaskets
- RC engineering 1600cc injectors
- Full 80mm Magnaflow Ti catback exhaust with Burns Stainless mufflers
- Crawford Performance air/oil separator
- Hydra Nemesis full standalone
- Tune by Mike Warfield(GST Motorsports) on E85 fuel
- Odyssey pc680 battery
- KillerB ultimate oil pickup, baffle plate/windage tray, oilpan
Suspension
- Custom valved JRZ RS Pro coilovers with Hypercoil springs/ Eibach tenders
- Ground Control camber plates front and rear
- Whiteline 27-29mm swaybar front and rear
- Kartboy rear endlinks
- Group N lateral link bushings
- TIC front and rear trailing arm bushings
- MSI Trailing Arms
- Whiteline roll center adjusters
- Whiteline caster bushings
- Cusco cf rear strut tower bar
Driveline
- ACT sprung 6 puck clutch
- ACT streetlight flywheel
- Torque Solution motor/pitch stop mounts
- Group N transmission mount
- TIC race rear differential bushings
- TIC outrigger bushings
- TIC bodacious bushing bundle
- Kaaz Super Q 1.5 way rear LSD
- ACPT cf driveshaft
Exterior
- Genuine V-limited front lip
- Karlton fender flares
- Passenger side foglight housing
Interior
- Sparco Evo2 driver side seat
- Sparco Pro2000 passenger seat
- Buddyclub super low down seat rail(driver)
- Wedge engineering/Sparco rails/sliders with aluminum sidemounts(passenger)
- Innovate Motorsports LC-1 wideband with XD-16 gauge
- Defi BF boost and oil pressure gauges with controller
- ATI gauge pod
- Rear seat removed
Wheels/Brakes
- Wedsport TC105N 18×10.5 +12 with Yokohama Neova AD08 285/30/18
- SSR competition type c-rs 18×10.5 +25 with Hoosier A6 285/30/18…
…and a few others
- Girodisc 2 piece rotors front and rear
- Hawk HP+ pads front and rear
A few other mods were just caried over from STU, like coilovers and such…
Man I miss the good old AutoX days…
For the build thread on Karlton’s STi, visit IWSTI
Size Matters
Sorry Ken Block, but all of a sudden you suck buddy… This is how Gymkhana should be done… Go big or go home!
The Underdogs 2011 Special
The Levy brothers from LIC Motorsports are back at it with their STi. New livery, new pilot (Russ “Doc” Warr), new wing, new dry carbon parts, etc.
These guys rock!
Look Ma’… No feet!!!
I have to be honest, I’ve never been a Travis Pastrana fan. I mean, he is a talented athlete but I just never got what all the fuzz was about. This weekend he made me realize how dumb he can be, how crazy he is, but at the same time what a great athlete he really is.
Thursday night this dude was competing on the MotoX Best Trick event where he tried to pull what they call a Corked 720. Well, he didn’t succeeded on the first try so he immediately went for a second attempt. This time he not only landed on his side, but his bike landed on his right leg, breaking it and his right ankle. Ouch!
He tried to stand up only to realize a couple of very bad just happened. See, this weekend, something called the Pastranathon was supposed to take place. He was supposed to compete on a couple of events at the 17th X-Games and also make his debut as a NASCAR driver… Yeah that never happened…
Frustrating, I know, but there’s where my oppinion about this guy took a turn for the best. All right, the NASCAR thing went kaput, but what about the other X-games events? Well, what happened next was just incredible.
Overnight Pastrana’s Rally Team’s mechanics went to work on making it possible for Travis to be able to pilot his STi without using his right foot to push the throttle pedal and they came up with this:
Now those are not some paddle shifters like we see in modern super cars, Travis’ STi is a “stick shift”. These are steering wheel mounted throttle controllers.
In went the newly relocated throttle control system, and off he went to test it.
Then he went and competed on the Rallycross event, where he drove a total of 18 laps with his broken leg taped to the transmission tunnel of the Subaru, controlling both the brake and the clutch pedals with his left foot and the steering wheel, throttle and e-brake with his hands.
Incredibly, he not only made it to the final but he nearly took a podium position and a bronze medal. Unfortunately, he crashed the Subaru against a concrete barrier and couldn’t finish the race. Despite of all that, he delivered and he pleased his fans and that is amazing in my book.
I’ve never seen such an effort being made by any other athlete so I now have tons of respect for this guy. My hat’s off to TP.
Christmas in July
I just got some toys on the mail…
It turned out to be impossible to get these Star Specs locally. I called almost everywhere they sell tires and for some reason nobody had them or charged Advan track tire prices for them. I was offered some Nitto Invo BS more than a few times for almost the same price as these including shipping.
Anyways, thanks to Mason and his people at Tire Rack, as always great service and lightning fast shipping. You guys are my favorite company to buy from. Hopefully I’ll be installing all these and some other stuff on the WRX over the weekend and will post some feedback later on! Can’t wait!
Subaru STi R4
Seems like Subaru’s officially back on the Rally world. Good interview and overview of the car. Love the door cards!
But will it be competitive? We’ll see…
RWB
SpeedHunter’s Dino Dale Carbonare has been punishing me with his Rauh Welt Begriff posts this week. I’m a Japanese car guy, but I’ve always liked Porsches and what could be better than a Porsche modified a la Japanese? Nakai-san, RWB’s mastermind, is a genious at converting these great cars into the things car dreams are made of.
Nakai-san is one of the few tuners that manages to fuse functionality and looks and make them work as one, something that has become somewhat rare these days with all the Hellaflush/Stance craze… not to mention the stupid things that we need to cope with on the streets of Puerto Rico. Luckily, there is something called Internet, something called Speedhunters and something called Rauh-Welt Begriff.
There are lots of details on these cars that serve me as inspiration for future mods on my WRX. Here are some of my favorite pics of Nakai-san’s creations:
Nakai-san’s own Stella Artois 930
My favorite, the Tunerhaus, formerly known as the Royal Montego Bay… I know, what’s with the names?
Another 993, Rough Rythm…
Porsche air cooled engines… I want!
I love those brake cooling duct intakes on this blue 964… Hmm…
What’s not to like about the simplicity on this 964? The roll bar… ah the roll bar…
That’s enough Friday stuff for now, be sure to check Speedhunters’ articles on this shop, the cars and the man behind it all.
Thanks to Dino Dale Carbonare, Nori Yaro and sknoo01 for the pics.
Oh! and be sure to visit the RWB site!
The State of Tuning
Great article by the guys at Speedhunters. An overview of how the tuning scene has evolved and where its going from the perspective of a few respectable experts in the subject.
Make sure you read it: speedhunters.com
pics: SpeedHunters, Deviant Art, Mayday Garage, Driven Authority
Inspiration…
Wow… Its been a while since my last post and I apologize for that. I’ve been kinda busy but here we are again.
All this time I haven’t been able to attend any local events to shoot some action, nor have I made any other major mods to the WRX but I’ve been looking everywhere for inspiration… Here are some pictures that I keep in mind when planning what to do next:
I actually have a prize for the first person who gets me more pics and info on this blue bugeye!
And some non-Subaru ones:
Thanks to everyone who took these!
Personal Neo-Eagle steering wheel install
I had been flirting with the idea of swapping the OEM steering wheel on my Impreza for a while now but just about two months ago I decided to pull the trigger on it. So I went ahead and started shopping for all the necessary pieces of this puzzle. I ended up with a Personal Neo-Eagle 340mm black leather/blue stitch/logo steering wheel.
I also got an NRG 1/2 inch black spacer…
…and a WorksBell normal hub. These WorksBell hubs are model specific, the one that works on 2005 Impreza WRX’s is the #116.
So what do you need to do to get this done? First make sure that your steering wheel is straight and your front tires are pointing straight ahead, then proceed to disconnect your car’s battery, you don’t want that OEM airbag going off in your face.
Once you are done with that You’ll need a Torx T-27 key, a 17mm ratchet key and an extension for your ratchet. Using the Torx T-27 key, loosen the two screws that are found on either side of your OEM steering wheel.
Once those two bolts are loose you’ll be able to pull the airbag assembly towards you. Once this is off, proceed to disconnect the horn plug (green) and the airbag plug (yellow/black). In order to disconnect the airbag plug, you need to pull the yellow tab up.
Once you have the airbag assembly completely out of the way, use your 17mm ratchet key to loosen up the center nut. DO NOT take the nut off, leave it screwed half way in, you’ll need to pull hard on the wheel to make it come off, having that nut in place will prevent you from hitting yourself in your face when the wheel comes off.
Now its time to plug the new horn cable and airbag light fix cable, these came with the WorksBell hub.
Mate the hub and the spacer and place the whole assembly onto the steering column, tuck the airbag cable behind the hub and pass the horn button through the hub’s hole. Make sure the hub is straight.
Install the new steering wheel onto the hub/spacer assembly and make sure the wheel is straight. Tighten the 17mm center nut. Connect the horn cable to the horn button and press the horn button into the wheel’s center hole. Make sure all screws are tightened correctly. Your end result should look similar to this:
Connect you battery, test the horn and go for a test drive. I love this wheel, it just feels right and I feel more in control of the car, not to mention that it looks a hundred times better than that old OEM wheel…
Here’s a before and after shot to show you the difference:
In case you’re wondering, yes I lost my cruise control, but that was coming off anyway, I need the space where the Cruise Control module sits on the engine bay for a future mod: a Crawford Air/Oil Separator. Feel free to ask away if you have any questions!
The goodies are here!
My project WRX is alive and kicking! I think I’ll need a full weekend to accomplish all I have planned…
The UPS lady brought me this today…
Its like Christmas in May…
“Bring it on Lexus!” -Porsche…
“Oh really?” -Lexus
Fun stuff @ around 8 minutes…
Great racig action BTW…
SubyNation.org is back online!
My good friends at SubyNation.org are almost done with their new version of the site and just had their forum section up and running. All you Spanish speaking Subaru heads out there, be sure to click on the Image below and check out the site, lots of great people call themselves “locals” on there…
BTW, great work Cristina and Vagosto! I know you are working your asses off…
Business CLOSED!
Damn it! Great job posers!
I get it, legit parts are not cheap. You still want to modify your car, so you go out and buy fake stuff and pose. Meh… guess what… You still don’t have the real thing and your car works and looks like shit… On top of that you are contributing to eliminate the real brands, the ones that invest on research and development, the ones that allow us serious enthusiasts to enjoy our cars. Because of your stupididty and lame-assness, names like ZeroSports, Prodrive and now HKS USA are long gone.
Thank you assholes!
AE86
Black is not my favorite color when it comes to cars. I had a black car once and my father has a black car, I know that they are a pain in the ass to maintain. However I do love tastefully done AE86′s. Here is one of the nicest black AE86′s around, I don’t see a single thing wrong on this one. I even like the bolt-on wide rear fenders the stretched tires (meh… not really…) and the busted front lip (battle scars are an acquied taste)…
photos courtesy of XJG ( XJG’s photostream )
Are you a fan of AE86′s? Check out our Trueno Shirts, for sale @ Ebay in sizes M, L & XL:
Ebay links:
Hurry up, these are limited!
Le Bra
Some do anything to protect their front ends…
If you own a 2004-2005 WRX or 2.5RS Sedan, you don’t have to go to these extremes. You can buy my no longer needed Genuine Subaru Impreza front end cover or “Bra”. It is a Genuine Subaru accessory so fitment is guaranteed, plus it’s going for just a fraction of the dealer price! Check out my auction on Ebay:
BRA’S GONE!!!
green painter’s tape bra pic courtesy of Julian Guia
