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Product Review: SK Performance LED Lighting

By
DaveT
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1

While I’ve always done basic exterior lighting modifications to all of the vehicles I’ve owned I had previously never upgraded to exterior LEDS or addressed my interior lighting.

With my 3 I chose to upgrade all of my interior bulbs and some of my exterior bulbs to SK Performance LED units.

After the upgrade I now realize how inadequate (and yellow) the factory lighting Mazda shipped the car with actually is.

A view from the hatch facing forward of the 3 SK Performance LED units installed in my 2004 Mazda 3
A view from the front bumper facing backwards of the 3 SK Performance LED units installed in my 2004 Mazda 3
A photo to give you an idea of how far the light spreads

The LED package (two map lights, one dome, and one hatch) inside of my car is simply remarkable and now when I open my doors the car is bathed in incredibly bright, incredibly white light.

In the six or so months I have had these lights installed nearly everyone who has been in my car at night has commented on the brightness of the interior lighting (which makes selling stickers and shirts at night way easier).

In that time the light output has not dulled or changed color in the slightest.

The single hatch unit which illuminates the back of the car
The front lights in the factory locations

The LEDS I have on the exterior of the vehicle (projection reverse lights and license plate lights) are to the same high standard the interior lights are manufactured and even brighter. With my new plate lights  there is no way I could ever get pulled over for having an illegible license plate on even the darkest of country roads.

The projection reverse lights (which are exclusively designed by SK Performance) are really the crown jewel of the entire set-up though, they project a good 20 – 30 feet behind my car and are to the point where it is like having a set of HID headlights installed in my tail lamps.

Note how much projection there is on the floor from the plate lights

Product quality aside one of the main selling points of SK Performance is customer service, with SK Performance you are not dealing with a middle man who simply resells products available on Ebay. You are dealing with a long time GTA scene veteran who took the time to head to Vegas and meet with suppliers first hand at the AAPEX show to ensure that all of his kits are made to last.

Should a problem ever arise you deal with the owner personally who stands behind his products 100%.

This photo doesn't do these reverse lights justice, I have had people ask if I installed HIDS in my tails

The quality of these products combined with the owners exceptional customer service is why you can find Aidan’s IS300 and Yudi’s Y33).

Check out the entire line-up of SK Performance Lighting (including interior lighting, angel eyes, puddle lights, turn signals, license plate lights and HIDS) on the SK Performance LED Lighting facebook page.

Oh did I forget to mention SK rolls proper too?

Theme Tuesdays: Widebody American

By
DaveT
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8

When the subject of wide bodies comes up in the circles I travel in people rarely ever mention American examples.

Probably because euro and JDM widebody builds are much easier to find online, at shows, and on the track, but if you look hard enough American builds are plentiful.

Several of them dating back to when fuel efficiency wasn’t considered and there was no replacement for displacement.

I might have colored a little outside the lines of ‘stance’ with this post but what is wrong with a little function now and again? Also I would love to see a few more pro touring styled cars on the road.

Holy crap is this ever wide
This one is subtle as it isn't really flared out so much as stretched horizontally
Cone hunter
Goat.
Dated but pretty badass looking T/A
Not the only z28 on todays hitlist
You might remember this Fox from the fan page... it was known as the Dominator GTA
Participated in an 89 road and track event
This is a Cyclone
This is a Syclone
Stupid nasty looking 72 Nova
Super bird esque wing
and some say American cars can't go around corners...
Widebody Mustang II on beebs? Need bigger photos
Good. God. (got an american heart)
So you've been letting this sit on your lawn for 35 years what do you do?

Drive it:

If you want to see more of this check out the thread on Pro-touring.com

Dunno what’s up next week… got some women kicking around I could post….

Sweden gets down

By
DaveT
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4

It’s still a little shocking how popular this Canadian based blog with predominately North American content is on a global scale.

I’m not complaining of course because this global appeal is how awesome cars like this dub which belongs to Richard “Mingan” Håveland of Sweden show up in my inbox.

A reader of a few months Richard got in touch recently about running some photos of his car from a shoot with Jalle Graphics.


His car is a 1.6 SR that has been brought down with TA Technix coils, footwear is 17 x 8.5″ and 17×10 OZ Futura wheels with Kumho 195/40 and 215/40 tires.


Body mods have been kept pretty simple as he is an OEM+ kind of guy, and additions include an oem hood bra, Golf GTI rear tails, and a 25th anniversary front valence.


Richards future plans include spinning the coils down a bit more, getting yet another new skid plate, 25th anniversary side skirts, an ecu tune, and a new color for the face of those OZs.



Thanks for sending your ride in ‘Minigan’!

Photo credit: Hjalmar on behalf of Jalle Graphics

WTF Friday: Rocket Karts Continued

By
DaveT
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4

Some of you might remember when I stumbled upon a Turbonique rocket powered go kart for the first time last August at a Street Classics Cruise in.

The original WTF Friday post I did on that kart shortly has been one of the most popular posts on the site, period.

It has drawn collectors from all over looking to exchange information about these extremely rare pieces of drag racing history and automotive ridiculousness.

The popularity of that post lead to today’s kart showing up in my inbox, and while the owner was fairly Spartan on the details he did share that he purchased the kart a few years ago in Chicago and can confirm that this one has never been run.

Unlike the blue one I posted previously of which there seems to be some dispute about whether or not it was a factory direct kart this one seems to be (as far as I can tell and feel free to correct me) one of the ‘original 7’.

Notice how this Kart has much different brackets attaching the tank and the entire assortment of gizmos required to get the kart to move down the track
The extremely rare rocket pods are also mounted differently than the blue one
Someone put this away knowing it was going to be worth something one day

With stories of these karts blowing up, getting confiscated by municipalities, and generally falling off the earth (or launching into orbit?) it is pretty cool that the community of these kart owners has decided to share some of their information with me so I can share it here.

Now if I can only convince one of them to take a ride down the strip in one…. (video of someone (Jack McClure?) doing just that back in the day here)

Site Updates

Reader submissions! I have a ton of them to get through, thank you to everyone who has sent their rides in. I will do my best to find a home on the site for your cars.

Be it in a feature, its own post, or in a readers ride post.

By all means keep them coming.

Flashback Friday

The feature of Aidan’s VIP inspired IS300 has been getting a lot of traffic and comments latlely so I will throw it back to that this week.

His cars gone through quite a few changes since but I still really like how it looked here.

Have I ever mentioned that we had one chance at this photo and security was actually entering stage right as it was taken?

Being Remeberance day in Canada today it wouldn’t be right of me to end this off without saying a thank you to those who fought and continue to fight for this country. 11/11/11/11 – ‘Lest We Forget‘

Sterling

By
DaveT
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5

Calgary correspondent (aka nice guy with beard and camera) Mike McConnell of MDM Visuals got in touch with me recently about a new set of photos he had taken of an exceptionally clean air cooled bug.

His message was pretty simple ‘pick your favorites and go nuts’.

Choosing my favorites ended up being a little harder than I thought as this simple shoot yielded excellent results.

There is something about a clean bug that will never get old.










The owner of the car also owns Sterling Tire in Keswick (Ontario) so if you are from there and need a place that is low friendly this would be your shop.

Photo credit: Mike McConnell / MDM Visuals

Pink is for…

By
DaveT
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3

There are a number of different ways I could finish that title and while I posted a mammary filled video on the fan page yesterday my intentions are to keep this blog (mostly) safe for work, so in this case pink is for eye catching.

Which just so happens to be a great way to describe Bryan’s Pink DC Interga that sports a completely custom and fairly subtle all metal wide body.

Being able to keep things clean while rocking such a bright color can be tough but Bryan has got it down to a tee.

Helping set this car off in addition to the body mods are CCW 16×9 wheels and air pistons providing the low on all four corners.




Bryan has got a few things planned for the car that I won’t spoil but hopefully sometime between now and completion he sends over a few more pictures, in the meantime you can check out his previous feature here on Air Society.

Photo Credit: JGODIN and Rob Langelier

Fat and Flush: Butch King

By
DaveT
-
8

I’ve got a thing for s10s, Sonomas, Blazers, Jimmys, Sy’s and Ty’s. Those who know me know this, and if you have been reading for awhile you have probably also noticed this as I am no stranger to posting S trucks.

However most of the ones I post are not exactly fast (in anything other than a straight line) and wouldn’t exactly fall in the Fat and Flush category.

This is nowhere ordinary Blazer though, it is a fire breathing, hill course eating, monster.

With a 6.7L 450HP V8 sitting under the hood the owner (Butch King) puts this truck to task at hill climbs all over the good old US of A.

If this truck doesn’t deserve to be in the Fat and Flush category I’m not sure what does.

This photo was literally love at first sight
Butch beat those fenders into submission
This truck has a tube chassis, double wishbone suspension, quick change rear, and is a thing of beauty

This post needs video:









Yes you just saw a SUV three wheel into a turn and power slide out.

Does this look like a guy who would let some twisted sheet metal stop him?

Butch has actually commented on this blog the last time I posted his truck which means I have his email so I’m going to send him a message and see if it is possible to get some new pics/updated info on the truck after the crash.

(Thanks to Suck Squeeze Bang Blow for the reminder)

….I suddenly very much regret junking my Blazer for reasons entierly different than what I thought….

Theme Tuesdays: Wagovans

By
DaveT
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3

Do you think when Honda designed the Wagovan they expected it to be as popular as they are now?

Maybe popular isn’t the right word but they certainly have amassed a dedicated group of followers.

To be honest I never saw much potential in the Wagovan until sometime early 2000 when the second to last one in today’s post came along and opened my eyes to what could be with this unique, incredibly boxy, vehicle.

ATS cups work pretty well on Civics I have noticed
Tuckin large
K.I.S.S. rule applies
Naturally I went to the url on the windshield... I was met with an under construction page
Got a feeling this one can move
This one and the one below may in fact be the same car
and perhaps the one below this
Plane hangers make good locations
Draggin' flap
Been awhile since I've posted something by Mike Gilbert
It's JDM YO
Wheels look like they are practically glowing
Same car different angle, dope stance
Looks like this one is sitting on Equips
The color on this one reminds me of a glossy paper bag
Japan doing things proper
Randy Sparre (of e30 fame) changing my view on Wagovans forever
Sneaky nitrous setup was sneaky

and no I didn’t forget this one:

Alfa.

By
DaveT
-
9

The Alfa Romeo Brera is one car I can safely say I have never seen before in person before, and one that doesn’t pop up often in the forums and blogs I frequent.

That is probably a big reason why this car really impressed me when I saw it.

Dropped significantly lower than stock and sitting on wheels by seemingly unstoppable wheel company RotiForm this car is certainly going to make it’s rounds on the net.

Companies should take a hint from Alfa for mean looking front ends
The color and design of these wheels suit this Brera really well
Nailed the wheel specs for this car
Beautiful as is but room to go more aggressive with spacers if the owner wants
This angle kind of reminds me of the new Scirocco
Wonder what the next platform to go down and out is?

Photo Credit:Harvey Fulford

Spotted on S|W

Got Nine Grand?

By
DaveT
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3

Looking to pick up a new car and have nine thousand dollars?

Then maybe you should give this 97 328is strong consideration because even if it didn’t have an Active auto c30 intercooled and water cooled fully rebuilt super charger setup it would be a steal.

I’ve seen this car around a couple of times and it would be a damn shame if it just sat in a garage on fire and theft for the rest of it’s days.

If you are interested mods/maintenance list, pictures, and contact info lay below.




97 328IS, motor is in good shape, it has about 271k on it, and it has been well maintained all its life it seems. Car has no rust anywhere really… previous owner had it painted and everything was done properly… all the window and sunroof weatherproofing redone

  • Active auto c30 inter cooled supercharger, with water alcohol injection, Freshly rebuilt in 2009, works flawlessly
  • Active auto tuned
  • S52 cams
  • M50 intake manifold
  • 3:38 rear diff
  • Dinan exhaust (sounds incredible)
  • Carbonio CF intake custom fit to work with charger
  • M3 front and rear bumpers, mirrors, side skirts and mouldings, + m3 lip spoiler ltw splitters (are not on now)
  • Great condition seats
  • Blacked out grills + clears (included are amber ones)
  • Asa ar1 wheels 18×8, 18×9, with yokohama sdrive 80% tread left
  • Fenders are rolled so the car comes with 25mm h&r spaces in the back and 15mm in the front
  • H&R race springs and bilstien sport shocks
  • Brembo crossed drilled rotors with pbr pads installed summer 2009
  • Car was painted in 2010 by autopia, the paint is immaculate, all the window and sunroof waterproofing was changed.
  • Recently bought a mp3 deck with USB connection, and the color matches the interior (has 30 options of color)
  • MA audio 5 channel 1600rms amp, Rockford forstage front speakers
  • 6000k hids…foglights, etc. list goes on.
  • (rear speakers need to be swapped)

The car is very fast AA rates the kit at 300hp to the crank on a stock 328 motor, the car is easily making well over that with water alcohol and the other upgrades

Also in summer 2009:

  • new camshaft sensor
  • new o2 sensor
  • replaced tie rod assembly
  • alignment
  • Spark plugs
  • coolant changed 2010 as well
  • tranny oil changed last summer
  • rear diff oil, fuel filter done 2 summers ago
  • New vanos unit installed
  • New clutch fan installed
  • Oil change with lubro moly 5w30 synthetic…every 4000km…
  • Supercharger rebuilt by superchargerrebuilds.com.

ASKING $9000

Contact:
[email protected]

For sale thread

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