This is why I love Japan: Stripped out EF/ EG/ EK Civics on track rubber, running B16s, racing on the street and chasing Police cars.
Thank you JDM Insider for bringing us a window into this awesomeness.
27
Nov
09
Type One
22
Nov
09
A BMW Odyssey
21
Nov
09
I Hate Slotmags…
Oh, wait….
20
Nov
09
Represent.
This weekend I headed over to the NEC in Birmingham for the big annual Classic Car Show. Not only was the NEC a mere 1/2 hour drive from my place, but there was also the promise of a hang out with the boys and girls from Retro Ford. We have a little history, so it’s always good to catch up!
The show was pretty cool, though I didn’t spend long walking round and taking pics; mainly because I was hanging around on the stand talking crap or catching up with people!
I have seriously been lusting after ‘Rods recently…anyone got a ‘29 Model A knocking about?
This K12 was a demo car for a Lotus specialist..no, really. It was running a 300 bhp step-cam motor out of a Sunbeam ! Now may be a good time to out myself as someone who thinks these K12s have real potential.
Alpina 5 was one of my “cars of the show” needed decking until the crossmember fell off though.
I was also in love with this:
The MPH show was on at the same time and once in, you could walk through into the hall where it was all happening. It was cool to check out a few moderns.
Citroen DS 11MY
Big thanks to the crew for keeping me fed, drunk and giving me somewhere to sleep!
Here’s a couple of lame pics from today:
I’m all about this interior:
The truth according to 8380 Labs:
Future plans? Well, I’m just going to enjoy cruising round in it. When it settles I’ll probably drop it a bit more, but beyond that I’ve no real plans. There is a kinda perverse side to me that would love to see it tucking Bentleys but….
08
Nov
09
Project MK1 Cavalier: Build Pics
Ok, so some of you guessed it. In fact, Guy even posted a picture of the exact car! Well, before I throw up some pics of the whole car I thought I would get the boring build stuff out the way.
The car was minter than mint when I bought it. It had even won a trophy, so I can’t take any glory for just how nice it is. Mountains of cash had been spent on things like a new Vinyl roof, fresh paint, suspension..the list was pretty endless. What it didn’t have, was stance.
First off was wheels: BMW Mini banded steels in 15×8 and 15×9 with 185/45 and 195 45 tyres. The wheels needed painting so I gave them a coat of gloss black:
I gave the car a full service: All fluids, set the tappets, new thermostat and temp sender:
Then it was onto what really counts; suspension!
New ARB drop mounts:
Shortened the springs:
Rear converted to MX5 adjustable platforms:
So, the car was on the deck. And that’s pretty much where it settled! After a short drive it was sat on the bump stops at the front, even though they had been cut in half. This called for some pretty drastic action as it was pretty much un-drivable.
I swapped out the front dampers as they were bottomed. I used Mini rear dampers as they used the same mounts and were about 2.5″ shorter:
To solve the bump stop issue and get some travel back I had to modify the subframe:
I removed the rubber bump stops and cut the bump stop towers:
I then cut the end I removed down to it fit inside the cut-off tower end and welded it back together. This effectively raised the stop 50m. Here it is back together:
The car is now dropped around 120mm and has loads of plush travel; no crashing, no bone shaking, just a smooth ride like you would expect from a big saloon car. Oh yeah, the car?
Well here’s a pic of how it arrived:
It’s a 1980 MK1 Vauxhall Cavalier! Stay tuned for “after” pics!
This Friday I headed up to Halewood to attend a photography course with Tim Wallace (Ambient Life). Tim is an award winning photographer who specialises in automotive with clients such as Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin. I’m a massive fan of his images and style, and especially the fact he does all of his work “in camera” with little or no post processing.
The day was made up of a brief lecture and a chance to ask questions, then we were out shooting on scene for the rest of the day. As we were at Land Rover we were able to use the off road circuit to set up some shots.
Tim took us through how to effectively light a car, setting up the lights as he talked through it:
Once the lights were set, we were able to do some shooting and actively encouraged to move the lights about to get a feel for it ourselves. Here’s a one of my pics:
Having no previous experience with lighting, I was blown away by the amazing effect it had on the scene we were shooting!
Following on from that, we moved into another couple of areas shooting a Freelander on a ramp and a Disco driving the course, allowing us to get some action shots:
It was an amazing day and I learned absolutely loads! Now I just need to invest in a better camera body and a decent lighting set up; Dear Santa….
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a229/racer_86/Tim%20Wallace%20Course%2030-10-09/IMG_0089.jpg
27
Oct
09
New Project???………
Things have been pretty quiet over here lately, and by quiet, I mean totally dead. There is a good reason behind this though:
Yep, I’ve done it again. I’m literally worse than Britney Spears. Once again my driveway has 33% too many cars. But what is it?
Well you will have to wait and see, but here’s a teaser of the wheels and fitment:
More soon…..
