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Theme Tuesdays: Classic Toyotas

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I got home late last night from the Toronto Blue Jays home opener (they lost) & therefore had to hard drive dive for today’s Theme Tuesday since I have not had time to finish the e30 touring, or 190e Theme Tuesdays yet.

After a few cycles through the photos on my drive I noticed I had quite a few classic Toyota’s, enough to fill today’s post at least, so here they are some Corollas, Levins, Cressidas, and Supras.
Enjoy.

Nice clean Levin to kick things off
It's weird I am a fan of white letter tires but glad you don't see them all the time
Car show on carpet, don't see that all the time
If it's not Cali its Hawaii bringing the heat
Nice lookin litte yota
Big rimmed Cressy
Another big rimmed Cres
This one showed up in all of my searches and for good reason, clean looking ride
Another Cress off in the Carib some place
Gotta thank my friend Brad for putting me onto Cressidas
Powdered toast man!
Nice shot from Mr Burroughs
I love this generation of Supra
Immaculate looking 84, those wheels are NIIIIICE
This could have shared wall space with my Countach poster

Two local MK5s

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Saw these two cars on maxbimmer and knew that they would have to make it here. I believe the first one is owned by the same guy who put e46 m3 wheels on his mk4 while the second one is owned by a fellow rider who used to own a boosted e36 m3.

Fitting plate for the height of this car
Last years look on the Alphards
Check out the width on those rear rims
Down and quite far out with lots of stretch

This second one is the one you should expect a full feature on in the near future. From my brief conversations with the owner this is just the beginning and it’s about to get a hell of a lot sicker.

Nice clean front end (hood notch will be gone soon)
Rockin the Alphards as well
Note the chop shop plate, big things coming when that team is involved

WTF Friday: We put a Camaro in your Camaro

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When I saw this my head nearly exploded, why on earth someone would put the front and rear of a 1st gen Camaro onto a 4th gen Camaro is beyond my current half awake state of comprehension.

To mess with me a little more this Camaro is RHD and I didn’t know RHD Camaro’s existed to begin with.

The craftsmanship looks good but why?!?

...I don't understand....

The fact that it’s an auto v6 doesn’t make me feel any better about it. If for whatever reason this is your cup of tea it’s for sale on ebay.

Picard > Kirk

Site Updates

Not too much new going on this week, slowly collecting facebook fans even with my lack of promotion on facebook, and the store keeps making sales weekly so I am stoked on both of those things.

I’ve been making steady progress on my lip and it should be all finished tomorrow and probably installed next week when I wash my car before the nextmod/torontomazda3 season opener meet. My spacers from Garage16 have also arrived so I am looking forward to picking those up tomorrow.

Other than that steady as it goes, I might take some pics at a maxbimmer dyno day tomorrow but it really depends on how far along I am in the painting of my lip so we shall see.

Flasback Fridays

So I posted a gross/weird Chevy above so lets all wash our eyes out with Dale’s sweet 67 Impala shot my Keven Soldo. Sounds like a plan to me.

Sick status

I’m off to find somewhere to sleep….

Spring is in the air: Part 2

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Continuing my journey around the internet seeing what other bloggers are up to this second, and final entry, in the ‘Spring is in the air‘ series asks the same five questions from last week to the writers of Up-Shift.net, N/A On The Run, and Full-lock.

Jon Gandy – Up-shift.net

Take a group of car grassroots car enthusiasts and give them a place to post not only their own personal experiences regarding automobiles but also random car related nuggets from the internet and you end up with Up-Shift.net.

The ‘leader’ of the pack per say is Jon Gandy and by looking at what he drives  you just know he is a die hard car nut, because nobody other than a true nut would delve into the world of rotary motor modification.

Where are you from and how did the winter season treat you?

Maryland, USA & SUCKY. We got dumped on three times for a total of 38 inches of snow I buried my Corolla under quite a bit of snow.

Jons Corolla under heaps of snow in Maryland

Did your car receive any new modifications over the winter months or any plans for spring?

No new mods, spring should see new life in the Corolla but just as a daily driver.

I’ve been looking for a Cummings 1500 Diesel Holset turbo for the RX-7 as my block has been heavily street ported and I am looking to flow as much air as I can.

I’ve custom fit a Mack Truck inter cooler to it for that purpose as well. I want to have at the builders & done before the season gets fully underway.

Jons FD before he tore into it
Under the knife

Any particular events you are looking forward to this year? (show or competitive)

Actually really looking forward to Club Loose events this year as I am acquainted with one of the organizers.

The East Coast Bash is a pretty big season opener, info can be found at, clubloose.com

Anything new and exciting we can expect from Up-Shift this spring/summer?

With the addition of the RX-7 and an upgraded Porsche 968 look forward to seeing more road trips to events like Club Loose drifting, I want to head out to Mid America Motor sports complex for a buddies track day events findtheline.com and quite a few highway and back road videos and upgrade suggestions as we continue to modify our vehicles and simply enjoy driving and tightening up the cars.

Ive also reached out to another successful internet blogger who is reviewing vehicles and we look forward to getting a few new car test drives in soon, but we have to see how those plans go.

Antonino Botelho Filho (Ant) – N/A On The Run

Ant is a self proclaimed ‘Rookie AutoX’er, Drift N00b, Tougè Addict, Arcade Racer’ and most importantly ‘a guy who likes to have fun’.

Ant is regular commenter/supporter here at Stance Is Everything and he’s the down to earth type of car guy that makes this sport fun.

He is currently working on a budget naturally aspirated (hence his blogs name) Subaru Legacy Franken build in his garage which should be pretty quick once it’s all said and done.

Where are you from and how did the winter season treat you?

I’m from CT, USA, and winter here can be bad at times, the snow storms that hit made it hard to even do an oil change.

Antionios car, Hitomi, at the end of last season

Did your car receive any new modifications over the winter months or any plans for spring?

Just stock piling parts for my budget N/A build. I Just need an engine stand to get started on tearing into the EJ251’s that I have sitting in my basement and some misc. parts here and there

[Note: He has his engine stand and has begun the motor build]

Ant puttin in work on his build

Any particular events you are looking forward to this year? (show or competitive)

AutoX season and hopefully try HPDE (High Performance Drivers Education) in late summer. I’m not really sure if I’ll be able to make it to the HPDE, but it’s definitely something I want to try.

Ant reppin the cone stickers for this years events

Anything new and exciting we can expect from N/A On The Run this spring/summer?

I’m going to be doing features of some Legacy’s that might have gone by noticed online. I’m also going to try to get some stickers cut to share around.

Logan Noel – Full-lock

Keeping the Subaru guys together the last writer/enthusiast I polled for ‘Spring is in the air’ is fellow resident of the Great White North Logan Noel from British Columbia.

Logan’s a drifter who whips around a car that not too many other drifters do. His  RWD converted Legacy that has made quite a buzz on the net with it’s flush wheel setup and agressive stance.

Last year it was white but this year it’s coming back with a fresh coat of paint, new suspension bits, and more power.

Where are you from and how did the winter season treat you?

I’m from Kelowna BC Canada. Winter was strange this year with us only getting two big snow falls, it made for a short winter.

My car was back lowered with the summer wheels on some time early February. [Editors Note: I am jealous]

Did your car receive any new modifications over the winter months or any plans for spring?

The rwd legacy got a lot over the winter, new dohc heads (the ports and valves are almost twice as big as the stock sohc heads) next was a Td05 turbo off a jdm STi.

The lego also got some custom made knuckles for more angle since the. awd car was lacking before.

Also by the time you read this the car will be purple!

Logans Legacy sittin flush, I dig the fatlace sticker placement.

Any particular events you are looking forward to this year? (show or competitive)

We do a drift day once a month locally so all of those, some autocross, a few evergreen events, and the big one, All Star Bash.

Logan lettin it slide at a local drift event

Anything new and exciting we can expect from Full Lock this spring/summer?

I hope that I find time to continue to post almost every day on full lock. But other then that lots of dope shit, flush cars, and sick drift videos.

That wraps up this years ‘Spring is in the air’ series, once again a big thanks to everyone who participated and hopefully next year I get my act together a little earlier and I can really stretch this series out.

If you missed Spring is in the air: Part 1 catch up on it here.

Benzo

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I don’t post a lot of Benz’s and I have no idea why, I do however know that I want to do a 190e Theme Tuesdays one of these days.

Anyway this e55 has been sitting on my hard drive for some time now and I quite like it so it’s time to share.

According to his post on mymbonline the owner had a set of BBS LMs and HRE’s before getting these Forgestar F1 20″ wheels.

As much as I love LM’s and HRE’s I must say these wheels suit the car perfectly.

At the time these photos were shot this car was the only Benz on these wheels
Love this shot, nice profile on this ride
Beautiful, love how everyone has shot in an underground at somepoint
I need to try rig shots...

Theme Tuesdays: DA Chassis Integras

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Not too long ago I did a Theme Tuesday on DC Chassis Integras, well now it’s time to throw it back to the predecessor of the DC the DA.

Sadly like the DC chassis a lot of DA Integras have rotted away due to the amount of salt we use in the winter here in Toronto.

A few people have been able to keep theirs in one piece with a strict regime of cleaning and maintenance. The rest of the nice one’s live in Cali.

Today's post will have a lot of Cali cars, you have been warned, love the red on red
White on red isn't bad either
Sportmaxx! These look great
The only thing on this car i don't like is the tilted hood, that never grew on me
I am man enough to say I love purple cars
Clean, clean, clean
Four door slam
I like this one a lot, the wheels are really unique
The CF hood is a big improvement over the bra in the previous photo
Another clean Cali Teg
Rare front bumper on this one
The exhaust sticks out like a thumb on this otherwise very clean car
These wheels kind of look like pansports, but I don't think they are, nice though
Dat ass
Gorgeous

Featured Ride: Pete’s Passat

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Not to take anything away from the builders doing great things here in North America, but the guys over in Europe consistently build Volkswagens of outstanding quality.

Today’s featured Passat, out of London, England, is just another example of what the European crowd is capable of.

Pete (better known as Big Pete in his local scene), the owner of this Passat, spared no expense when creating this jaw dropping VW.

Pete chose the Passat for his build due to it’s practicality both in storage capacity and fuel efficiency (diesel) and while his friends may have thought he was crazy Pete had an exceptional end goal in mind.

In stock form the Passat is not much to write home about

A week after Pete took delivery of his new ride he yanked the stock springs out and installed a set of 40mm lowering springs, while the springs were being swapped he discarded the stock wheels in favor of a set of 19” Audi A8 wheels.

The new bumper, 40mm drop springs, and Audi wheels installed

After a little bit of a fender bender aftermarket headlights, hood and bumper were added while th car was being fixed. Not long after the new body pieces were installed the 40mm drop springs were replaced with a set of coil overs. At this time the 19″ A8 rims were also removed in favor of a set of 20” Ascari Cuervo rims.

The 18inch Ascari Cuervos looking sharp with the lower stance

Once this stage of the exterior additions was complete a full in car entertainment system (9 screens in total in addition to components and subwoofers) was installed while the stock cloth seats, which were already out for the install, were replaced with a leather set.

I think there are more screens in this car than screens in my house

At the end of 2008 the car was sporting yet another set of wheels (color coded Legendary Penta’s) and Audi R8 headlights supplied by ULTRA.

Yet another set of wheels on Petes ride

Early in 2009, after a few run ins with the ground Pete realized that what his car sorely needed was a dynamic suspension set up.

After visiting his friend and getting an ‘idiots guide’ to air ride Pete headed home and laid out all the components of his air ride setup so he could figure out exactly how it was all going to fit into the car.

He and his friend managed to bag the front end themselves before sending the car to UK specialist Rayvern Hydraulics for the rear end and complex wiring.

Shortly after the install Pete added a set of digital gauges to monitor what was going on at all four corners of his vehicle as it’s a FBSS set up system.

The air ride labeled and ready for installation

Speaking of the four corners Pete had much, much, wider wheels in mind which required his car to go to the body shop and get it’s fenders widened. However no ordinary flared fenders would do, Pete made sure that the shop kept the flares as oem looking as possible since he wanted his car to maintain that clean OEM look once it was complete.

While the fenders were being reshaped the hood, bumper (MKV golf GTI fogs and Scirrocco mesh for the center were added the the bumper at this time), and side skirts also got some attention. Right before the final coat of Mercedes Benz Tanzinite blue was sprayed a few unnecessary factory bits were also shaved off.

The Fenders being massaged into compliance

Once the car was done at the body shop Pete added the last of his final touches to the interior and exterior (including being able to control the air ride via a remote FOB) and bought a new set of wheels for the car.

The first set being 20” x 9 and 20 x 10 fully polished (both sides of the wheel and between the spokes) Ascari Pentas and the second set being a fantastic looking set of Mercedes Benz AMG 20×8.5 and 20×10 as Phils daily/winter wheels.

Yes 20” wheels for winters.

Pete’s car out of the body shop and in show trim
The 20″ Ascari Pentas look great fully polished

Pete took his Passat and made it into an absolute masterpiece and it’s hard to capture everything that was done to this car in one feature.

Be sure to check out Pete’s highly detailed build thread on AUTOBAHN25.com as it is a delightful read.

Big thanks to Pete for letting me feature his ride and his friend Zebtan (zebtanphotography.co.uk) for hooking me up with the photos and connection out in England.

I’m sure his car will inspire a lot of Passat owners for years to come.

Here are some more photos of this great looking Passat:

The new color turned out great
Shining under the lights at a show in Germany
Phils car on his daily/winter rims, best looking winter wheels ever?
A close up of the fenders hugging the 10″ wide rims
Nice street side shot
Nothing beats a nice slammed rolling shot

Lupo

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I’ve had this car in the cue for a few days now but had yet to have a chance post it with a lot of the other things that have been going on lately. Since I am waiting on some feedback for the final touches of the latest featured ride I now have my chance.

We don’t get Lupo’s here in Canada but it’s good to know that they adhere to the BBS RMs + Drop = good philosophy.

I actually found this car on a BMX message board as it belongs to a fellow rider from England.

The smoked head lights work well with the dark centers
As does the blacked out grill
Lovin the interior on this little Lupo
Euro plates always look so much cooler - check the car in the back too
I should have kept my RM's 🙁

WTF Fridays: Front end swapping maddness!

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Earlier this week I thought I had the perfect WTF Friday planned, but the problem was I saw the car I wanted to post on Monday and I knew there was no way it wouldn’t get posted up on Jalopnik before Friday. As it turns out I was right the Dragon Corvette has already come and gone from the front page of Jalopnik.

No worry though I think this back up WTF Friday filled with crazy front end swaps is just as good (or is it bad?).

Front end swaps are a tricky bird, in some cases they look great (sil80s) but in a lot of cases they look like (to quote a comment I saw NWP4Life) “an asshole full of dicks”.

MK5 front end meets MK3 Jetta, I saw a white version of this that looked alright
No!
Isuzu meets Nissan of some sort?
Somewhere a 5 series is missing its face
Hummer H2 meets fullsize Chevy
Uh?!?
Acura front ends should stay on Acuras
Craftsmanship is great but long front end is long.

Site Updates

The biggest thing this week is obviously the addition of official Stance Is Everything Store, but that aside I’ve been contacted by a local show to come out and cover it, as well as contribute some prizing for the lowest car trophey.

Part Two of Spring is in the air is nearly completely written and will be posted next Thursday, these posts have been a blast and hopefully I can do new stuff with other bloggers soon. I’ve also got a neat over seas feature for Monday.  April looks great so far!

Flashback Friday

Wasn’t really sure what to Flashback to today so why not some event coverage from 2009s Sixth Annual Honda Tech meet at Downsview park in Toronto? This was a fun free meet and the weather was great so if you missed the coverage or missed going here it is!

P-Dizzles sick civic

Have a great Easter Weekend everyone!

Spring is in the air: Part 1

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With spring weather finally here I thought it would be interesting to get in touch with with some of my favorite independent automotive bloggers and ask them what they had in store for both their cars and blogs this year.

I sent around five questions to each of them and to my surprise all of them were kind enough to answer in depth. In part 1 (of 2) of the spring is in the air series I catch up with the authors of Rich Corinthian Leather, Cars X Girl, Hatch Life and Build Threads to find out what they have in store for this spring.

Derek Kreindler – Rich Corinthian Leather

Derek Kreindler is a lucky guy. His job as a Toronto area automotive journalist has allowed him to spare his Miata from some of the winter duty and drive press cars in the miserable weather instead.

I’m not jealous or anything of course… let’s see what he’s up to.

Where are you from and how did the winter season treat you?

This winter was pretty good, I had an Acura TL AWD and Acurca RDX with big winter tires during the two heavey snow falls. The TL had a 6-speed manual and was a blast to drive in the snow as was the RDX. I haven’t spent a lot of time with a turbo car, since my MKV Jetta 2.0T, and the AWD system works like a charm.

After I gave them back, the snow cleared up, and I was driving my car on snow tires for a while and with weather being so dry I managed to do a few track days!

When the snow and ice were present things were a little interesting. Driving my car was treacherous, but one day we had a last gen Audi TT, a 2010 Taurus SHO and a 650 horsepower R35 GTR. That day was a lot of fun.

The only time I won’t drive my car is after the roads have been salted or after the snow melts and there’s saltwater everywhere, that stuff kills cars; NA Miatas, EG Civics and 240SXs have disappeared from the roads up here due to rust.

Dereks car in more favorable weather

Did your car receive any new modifications over the winter months or any plans for spring?

Yeah, I put the snow tires on! My biggest acquisition was a Hard Dog rollbar, which was something I sorely needed, I also got a Bride Zeta II seat, which is one of the few that will fit in a Miata.

Spring plans include a bigger front sway bar, poly bushings and maybe a new steering wheel, and hopefully some new rims but that depends on “real world” bills.

Dereks car with the rollbar installed

Any particular events you are looking forward to this year? (show or competitive)

On March 27th I’ll be getting a tour of the Sultan of Michigan‘s garage, If you’ve never seen the famous video, this guy has 3 warehouses of exotics, muscle cars and Corvettes. I think I’m going to see all of my dream cars under one roof.

I’m also looking forward to my usual track days at Toronto Motorsports Park, it’s become something of a scene, where we have a regular crowd with a few professional instructors and we all help each other out, swap cars and enjoy bagels & junk food.

I’m not baller enough to do any competitive events yet, but I’m going to be out there as often as I can to work on going faster.

Anything new and exciting we can expect from Rich Corinthian Leather this spring/summer?

Rich Corinthian Leather doesn’t really have a direction, it’s more spur of the moment topics I choose to write about. You’ll be seeing more of me at Speed Sport Life and other outlets as well.

Meg – Cars X Girl

Meg was one of the first regular commenters here on Stance and continues to be a familiar face both here and on twitter. When not zipping around the autocross course in her Miata, or taking photos, she can be found learning whatever she can about 240s so that she can pour that knowledge into her own build.

Where are you from and how did the winter season treat you?

Currently living on Little Rock AFB, in Arkansas. For my last winter here (moving to Spokane, WA in May/June) it was more wintry than usual — including four snow days during the spring semester.

Overall, all three cars made it in one piece, so I can’t complain.

[Two her’s one her husbands.]

Megs Miata one cold, dry, winter night

Did your car receive any new modifications over the winter months or any plans for spring?

Let’s see…. The Miata’s been relatively unchanged, I’m pretty happy with where she’s at right now anyhow. I will be picking up a Torsen LSD this year, hopefully.

The S2000 is just getting new tires, but also an alcantara leather center console cover. Plans for her are unsure as the husband’s looking into another car for himself. (I’m not allowed a new car until he gets a new car, ha.)

Megs husbands s200 getting covered
Dug out of the snow and awaiting the next track day

The 240SX is where ALL the work’s been at lately. Over the winter (wrong time to do it, in hindsight) she underwent the SR20DET swap.

Plans for this year include (hopefully) the Silvia front end conversion, a Bride seat, and wheels. Really I’m just looking forward to enjoying my new engine. 🙂 (Actually she needs a new diff too….. Yikes.)

Megs 240 early in the SR20DET swap
One of the few times I might suggest lifting a car 😉

Any particular events you are looking forward to this year? (show or competitive)

There’s a chance that this year we’ll be able to go to a Formula D event. I’m excited because I have yet to actually go and see drifting first hand, it’s all been on DVD’s and the web and in pictures for me.

There’s also Spokane County Raceway, which is literally within eight miles of the Air Force Base. I’m looking forward to hopefully getting out to a track day or two with the Miata. 🙂 And, of course, auto crossing!

I might go to Hot Import Nights as well, I’ve never gone and I feel like I should go once. I can also get a media pass which is great!

I should be a busy girl this season!

Anything new and exciting we can expect from Cars X Girl this spring/summer?

Plenty! Mostly after we move, though.

There’s so much that the Pacific Northwest has to offer as far as car culture goes I can’t wait to sample it all, and, naturally, share my experiences. 🙂

Other than just going places and seeing things, the 240SX should be humming along yet, and I may start sharing some details on looking to add a fourth car to the family.

Noah – Hatch Life

Noah is one heck of a guy not only does he use his blog, Hatch Life, as a place to post car after car you might have never heard of or seen before, but he also uses it as a way to change lives (more on that further down).

Noah is fairly modest guy, who doesn’t think his cars are all that much, so while he didn’t answer the questions as traditionally as everyone else I was able to answer them on his behalf based on the information he sent along.

Where are you from and how did the winter season treat you?
Noah’s from Columbus, Ohio and the winter season kept him pretty busy and not just because of the snow.

Like a lot of people over the past year or so (self included) Noah has had to keep his ear to the ground and feet to the pavement looking for a new job opportunity since his current employment situation is coming to an end.

While this is a downer Noahs spirits remain high since his friend Melisa, in which The Melissa Project was founded, beat her cancer into remission and the $2500 he raised through his site for her cause helped tremendously.

If you click through to any link in this post click this one because it’s truley awesome and inspiring story.

Did your car receive any new modifications over the winter months or any plans for spring?

The stock pile of parts for Noahs first Civic (the red DX below) increased over the winter by way of a red carpet, vibrant catback, and as Noah puts it ‘a bunch of overpriced beauty washers’.

Noah's red Civc never sees the white stuff

This Civic, which is his baby, has a plethora of mods including: APEX’i N1 coilovers, Wicked Tuning LCAs, Benen rear subframe brace, Megan C Pillar Bar, Hawk pads, Password carbon cooling plate, Y8 intake manifold/short ram, 15×7 rotas and a CRV 5 speed cluster.

His Civc also has a Volante steering wheel with a bit of a story behind it. Purchased on ebay from an owner in Thailand this wheel came with it’s mother of pearl inlay heavily tarnished and the original horn button replaced with a BMW unit (in an e30 it’s previous life perhaps?).

While this has all been cleaned up it was quite a surprise when he got it.

The aforementioned steering wheel

During the course of he winter his Civic got a bronze poweder coated valve cover, and a polished fuel rail, in the spring it’s also going to get some out of the way by installing a new water pump and replacing his timing belt.

Another shot of Noahs red Civic from his description this car rides like its on rails

His silver daily driver EK is a salvage title car that now only receives what it needs to keep going, but this doesn’t mean that this car is stock.

It has a bunch of mods including a 99-00 front end, ChargeSpeed lip, CTR rear lip, color matched side skirts, Nuespeed springs, and Konig Work Equip replicas.

His silver one isn't quite as lucky
Noah's daily in summer trim, looks to clean to be a beater!

One thing this Civic no longer has though is Honda Emblems as they keep getting pinched every winter

Anything new and exciting we can expect from Hatch Life this spring/summer?
Noah’s been pretty quiet about his plans for Hatch Life since he has not had time yet to implement them but rest assured that even if all he does is keep doing what he is going Hatch Life is a blog worth visiting.

Anth – Build-Threads.com

Anth and Build-Threads really need no introduction, this site is bar none the best place to visit to get build fix.

Since the last time I mentioned Build Threads Anth has moved his site from a wordpress hosted server to his own and has lent his writing talents to Speed Hunters for a four part feature.

With so much going on I’m glad Anth could clear his schedule enough to let me know what’s going on with his rides, did I mention he is on the other side of the world?

Where are you from and how did the winter season treat you?

I am from Melbourne, Australia, so our seasons are actually the opposite to what you guys have, We’re just entering Autumn now, so I’ve just finished my summer season and I’m getting ready for winter.

Anth's put in a lot of work on this Datsun and it shows

Did your car receive any new modifications over the winter months or any plans for spring?

At the very beginning of my summer (late Nov, early Dec), the diff in my Datsun 510 started to play up and make a terrible whining noise which ended up being the crown wheel & pinion.

Christmas was just around the corner, and if I took too long (to get it fixed) I would have had to wait until the new year for workshops to re-open.

Luckily everything went to plan, the diff was re-built and re-installed, and I could enjoy driving the car over the summer months.

Ants Datsun rollin through the summer

My MKIV Golf daily had it’s coilovers & 18″ Aristo replicas fitted, which meant that no matter which car I choose to drive I can at least be happy that I was traveling in style.

Ants VW after a bath

My plans for this winter are minor, as I am trying to save money, the Datsun will continue to receive minor detail work such as cleaning up the engine bay a bit at a time while the Golf is awaiting a new sway bar (as the stock one is rubbing on the drive shaft).

sway bar leaving it's mark on the drive shaft

Once that goes in I can lower it some more, and then I want to track down some spacers for it to get the stance looking right (Stance is Everything, after all!).

I also want to fit a CD/DVD/MP3 head unit + 7″ fold-out monitor that’s been sitting in my garage for the past 2yrs.

Any particular events you are looking forward to this year? (show or competitive)

I am actually looking forward to viewing all of the American and European shows online.

One of the good things about entering Winter on this side of the world is knowing that on the other side everyone else is debuting their cars at all the latest shows.

So, I know that most cold mornings when I boot up my Mac, I can count on some fresh coverage from yet another car gathering and lose myself in the summery images of all the newly modded cars.

Anything new and exciting we can expect from Build Threads this spring/summer?

Well I’m a pretty bad procrastinator (eg. the previously mentioned head unit that’s been in my garage for 2 years), I’ve been meaning to work on the appearance of the blog, create a new logo, header, forum signatures, and even register it as a business so I can run some advertising.

How much of that will actually get done? We’ll have to wait and see!

That’s it for this round of ‘Spring is in the air’ but check back next Thursday to see what the authors of N/A On The Run, Full Lock, and Up-shift.net are up to this spring.