Guest Coverage: Slamology 2011

By

-

Jul 3, 2011

Reader Scott Simmons recently went to Slamology 2011 which took at the Marion County Farigrounds June 18th and 19th and sent in these photos.

Wow is pretty much all I can say about the level of trucks and cars that were at the show.

I am going to have to make a point to try and attend a large American show because the turn out of completely buried in the weeds mini trucks at these events never seems to disappoint.

Take a look at the pics Scott sent in below on this relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Scott’s full gallery of photos is here if you want too look for more photos or perhaps look for your own ride if you were in attendance.

Thanks for the photos and support Scott!

WTF Friday: Pontiac Trans Am Italia

By

DaveT

-

Jul 1, 2011

7

About a month and a half ago I was spending a lot of time lurking the Kit Central forums digging up a little more info on an article my auto teacher took to Carlisle for his replica Diablo build. While I was there I came across this Trans Am Italia.

This kit made the Pontiac Trans Am look less like a Pontiac and more like a Testerossa. I’ve seen a few kits with this effect (widebody e30, Truxarossa) but never this one. It looks pretty dated now but was probably a head turner in it’s day.

Someone on the Anand Tech forums was nice enough to scan the original brochure which is below:

trans_am_italia_ad — Style of Ferrari all the handling of a GM... hey wait...

trans_am_italia_ad2 — Long front end is long

trans_am_italia_ad3 — Curious how much a set of rollers for this would have cost at the time, also this needs a drop desperately

This black one is the one that is (or was) being restored back to driving status. No complete pictures were ever shared unfortunately. Though I don’t blame the owner for not sharing them the forum didn’t really seem all that appreciative of the project.

trans_am_italia3 — Interior gutted for somewhat of an update

trans_am_italia5 — Interior a little farther along in the update

trans_am_italia4 — Is that... mold in the fins?

trans_am_italia7 — Engines got a few mods done to it

trans_am_italia6 — Close up of the rolling stock

trans_am_italia8 — I prefer this car in black over the yellow

trans_am_italia2 — Pea shooter exhaust is a little out of place

trans_am_italia — Last shot, do you think it would be possible to update one of these?

Full build and a couple more pics can be found here.

Site Updates

Not sure what happened but June seemed to leap frog by. Must be the combination of work, car shows, and BMX that have the summer escaping so quickly.

This weekend I will be at the Too Fast Custom Car Show on Sunday which takes place at the Powerade Center in Brampton. Spectators are free and competitors will get $5 off registration if you say you heard about it here. I will also be picking up my shirts at this event so it will be the first chance anyone has to get one.

Other things I am hoping to get a chance to get to next week are:

Readers Rides Part 5
The Midnight Marauder Series by Mike Branco
Guest Event coverage from Slamology in Indianapolis
Guest Event Coverage from XTS
Another Featured Ride

We will see just how many I managed to get posted next week. I might try and get a jump on posting one of them this weekend.

Flashback Friday

Going to take it back to the vintageLow Rider Theme Tuesday only because I will have a very similar Theme Tuesday this week based on a thread I found today looking for pictures of the Truxarossa.

Happy Canada Day!

Guest Coverage: Eurokracy 2011

By

DaveT

-

Jun 30, 2011

11

About a month ago now Jesse from Air Society and myself began discussing collaboration ideas for both of our Canadian based stance sites. While we continue to work out some of the final details of our future plans he sent over some coverage from ‘Eurokracy’ taken by Fuel Riders.

Eurokracy was Air Society‘s first show and it brought out a number of quality cars from Vermont, Strasse, NY, as well as a few people from Toronto including Scraped Crusaders .

I don’t go out to Montreal often (every couple years) but with the amount of cool shows that seem to be taking place there I might have to brave the roads sooner rather than later. Enjoy a small sampling of the coverage provided by Air Society and Fuel Riders below.

Photo Credit: FuelRiders.com

Event Coverage: Niagara Truck & Tuner Expo Pt 2

By

DaveT

-

Jun 29, 2011

12

Before I get into part two of the TNT Expo coverage I would once again like to thank and congratulate Nine-O-Five rides for putting on a great event. If there is one thing I remember most about putting on events (BMX) its that people don’t always say thanks or even show any sort of appreciation for the work you put in so again thanks guys see you next year!

Today’s coverage is 99% cars because I posted all of the trucks yesterday and it also includes a few of the vehicles that were in the limbo contest.

Random stuff

As I was walking around I came to the realization that when I started this blog I used to take a lot more pictures of random whatever at shows and of late I have kind of fallen off of that.

I am going to make more of an effort to going back and capturing some of the oddities (and while I am at it I should start taking model photos again).

random_first_aid — Not sure you could mount all of these emergency items to your a pillar

random_exotic — Pretty sure this guy was the only one in his class

busa — This wild 'Busa won best motorcycle

Car Limbo

This was the first car limbo I had seen in person (surprisingly) and it was pretty neat though the different a pillar angle of all of the cars kind of make the concept slightly flawed. However watching this all go down made me think of some different ways to measure lowered static and bagged vehicles for next year that I am going to run by the organizers.

I mean really as long as you get some scantily clad women to do the measuring no one is really going to mind right? Right.

limbo_6 — A crowd gathered quickly for the limo which started minutes after I arrive, coincidence?

limbo_1 — Like I said yesterday the roof line on Rangers didn't do it any favors in the limbo even though it was low

limbo_5 — I think this was around 39" can't quite remember.

limbo_4 — Carlos is actually the guy making the stanceiseverything.com t-shirts

limbo_3 — The next two e36's were pretty low but the limbo didn't reflect this so that's when I thought of a ground clearance contest

Domestic

As this show expands I can only see the domestic turnout getting larger, hopefully next year some low lows come through.

caddy_escalade_1 — Normally not the type of vehicle I really post up here

caddy_escalade_2 — But it had a pretty wild I.C.E. setup including very expensive rear firing Focal components

ford_mustang — Last time I saw this stang it was closed up so I never saw all the pink airbrushing and accents

ford_probe_3 — Erik finally brought his Probe out to a show this year and not his beater 😛

ford_probe_2 — I'm sure it's always been there but this is the first time I noticed his trunk/hatch setup

ford_probe_4 — He is on 9.5" wheels all around now, thanks for the love man!

pontiac_bagged_sun — I might be mistaken but I think this car was female owned? I know a Sunfire took an award and a female accepted so...

pontiac_bagged_gtp — This car manages to lay out with little to no camber, that's fairly unique

chevy_camaro — Remote mount twin turbo Camaro that sounds god like, power specs top right

Euro

A lot of the euro cars were at the June Jitterbug which was taking place just around the corner.

I had intentions of going and checking that out but by the time I was done taking pictures and shooting the breeze with everyone that show was coming to a close and the trophy ceremony was starting.

bmw_e36s — I really liked both of these e36s, if the stance class was top 3 one of these would have been in it

audi_pedro — I've got a real A3 thing going on lately, between this one, the EuroProjektz one and the other Red one kicking around the net I feel the need to have one

vw_equip — Last time I saw this car I didn't realize these were Equips as well just a different model

vw_spencer — Spencer from So Fresh Automotive swung by after leaving Jitterbug

Hyundai, Mazda, Nissan

hyundan_gen_1 — Someone needs to put a Sega Genesis in a Genesis then challenge Xzbit to a game of NBA Jam...

hyundan_gen_2 — This shot shows Andrew's new front end better than the one I took at CSCS, doesn't do the paint justice though

mazda_fd — Fairly done over FD that I don't think I have seen before as I would have remembered it

Toyota

toyota_celica_engine — I wonder if people ever ask him what that whine is when he is sitting at a light...

toyota_soarer_front — Zack recently put his Soarer on a ksport cup kit

toyota_soarer_rear — Tuckin' pretty good now

Subaru

subaura_forrester — Clean and functional in so many ways, from what I hear the owner has another one too...

subaru_grids — Been meaning to check out this car in person for awhile now, just as clean as I've been told

subaur_kicker — This car later passed me on the highway, I think he drove all the way from Quebec for the show

subaura_kicker_show_trunk — Trunk full to the brim with Kicker Audio

Honda/Acura

NSX’s out of no where at this show.

honda_ef_1 — The car with the I <3 sluts sticker

honda_s2000 — Msequence was on hand to DJ, new wheels for his car soon, again...

honda_brad — Brad had also swapped out his wheels

honda_brad_trunk — Clean trunk and air management setup

acura_nsx_black_2 — Last time I saw this NSX was over a year about at Summer Sizzle 2

acura_nsx — The NSX interior really doesn't look all that dated considering when it was designed

acura_nsx_organge — This color looks amazing under the sun, first NSX I have seen this color actually

acura_nsx_red — Even though I liked the color of the one above this was my favorite of the trio

This is where my coverage ends but before I close this out I’d like to say what’s up to all of the readers I met on Sunday, thanks for the kind words and encouragement.

Event Coverage: Niagara Truck & Tuner Expo Pt 1

By

DaveT

-

Jun 28, 2011

8

Nine-O-Five Rides is one of the larger car clubs in the area and has made a name for itself as being a group you can count on to come out and support your event, when you give support you get support and that’s exactly what happened this past Sunday when they decided to have their first show called the Niagara Truck & Tuner Expo.

As a spectator it looked like the event went on without a hitch, it didn’t rain and the turnout was great, and I’m glad to have been able to help out with sponsorship.

I know for the organizers it was probably a whirlwind of a day but I am sure now that the dust has settled they have had a chance to appreciate what they were able to do.

I’ve been neglecting Minitrucks around here lately (unintentional) so I figured I would give them part 1 honors because the day I saw my first dropped Blazer was the day I got hooked on lowered vehicles.

Trucks that were not s-10s

S-10s generally make up a large portion of any truck category but a few non s-10s were at TNT 2011

ford_ranger — I was pulling for this truck to win the limbo contest, sadly the fairly straight up roof line didn't help

mazda_b2200 — Geoff's B2200 laid right out on the floor, thanks for the support also!

First Gen s10’s

Whenever I see these I get slight pains of regret for giving up so ‘easy’ with my Blazer. But I eventually remind myself (with help) that it was rusty and cursed.

chevy_retro_1 — This truck is extremely period correct to when it was built and I respect that a lot

chevy_retro_2 — I'm sure this truck and it's modifications brings back memories for some readers

chevy_blue_white_front — Pancaked first gen

chevy_blue_white — Extensive work has gone into every area of this truck

chevy_tiki — Jeff's Tiki truck with D&K airbrushing

chevy_tiki_2 — The pinstripe/idol face deal is so sweet, this truck has come a long way and continues to keep changing

Second Gen S10

Now that the avalanche is out I like these even more, go figure.

laid_1 — I saw an older lady reading this sticker, not sure if she got it or not...

chevy_black_2ndgen3 — It's starting to become a little harder for me to say I like first generation s10s over second

gmc_sonoma — I had a little (a lot) of truck envy on Sunday let me tell you...

chevy_s10_leather_bumper — Quite honestly one of the coolest bumper treatments I have ever seen

chevy_black_2ndgen — More than a couple vehicles came in from across the border

chevy_2ndgen_10_2 — This truck was almost exactly sky blue

chevy_2ndgen_10 — I am a little more partial to fleet sides but steps get love too

chevy_not_low_enough — This truck lays out hard and tucks big ass wheels

chevy_bd_2 — I don't think much more wheel could fit under this truck

chevy_james_2 — James brought his full setup to the show

chevy_james_1 — And for the first time I got to see him take it down of the stands

Tomorrow I will have part 2 of the coverage which will be all of the cars and a few shots of the vehicle limbo contest which was pretty entertaining.

Guest Blog: Theme Tuesdays: At The Car Wash

By

DaveT

-

Jun 28, 2011

5

Car washes are fun when you’re young, but frankly, if you’re out of the training diapers it’s about as boring as it gets when it comes to cars. Unless of course, there are women in wet, skimpy clothes bending over to polish your dirty body.

And what makes it even more special and makes us feel a lot less guilty for wanting to partake, is when companies do these car washes for charity! (Plus our significant other can’t get as mad).

You’ve got to give it up for these women, giving back to society on so many levels. Who cares if they’re getting more soap on themselves than the car? They are fearless and courageous, and while other women might talk badly about them, they are the most confident business women around, having fun while making a living, and looking damn good while doing it.

Photos courtesy of Stefane Paye, William Lee, Peter Tsang Chung, Joits, Jer Digital, David Bay, SpeedHunters,and other various sources.

Written by Jeff Butler. Jeff has lots of blogs, two of which are Motor Models where vehicles and women come together, and Motoriginal the best automotive blog one could imagine (besides Stance is Everything of course).

Featured Ride: JDR’s Mazda 3

By

DaveT

-

Jun 27, 2011

12

When discussing aggressively fit Mazda 3 hatchbacks* three cars instantly spring to mind: Kevin Nigel’s titanium gray 05 that was on SSR Vienna Kreis wheels, Rocky’s fender flared conversation starter, and the subject of today’s feature the always clean Safron Yellow example owned by Yevgeniy Kovalchuk.

Yevgeniy, better known as JDR on the forums, has already received a number of kudos for his cars 2010 look, and his 2011 makeover is about to turn just as many heads as before, if not more.

Since debuting his cars second lower and wider makeover in 2010 JDR has been an inspiration to a number of Mazda 3 enthusiasts around the globe including myself. Ever since photos of his car on 17×9 Enkei RPF-1s appeared online it’s been regarded as one of the cleanest Mazda 3 examples done to date and was rightfully showcased on multiple online outlets including Speed Hunters.

That look was 15 wheels in the making and after a journey like that most wouldn’t be rushing to change setups so soon however JDR’s mind couldn’t stop thinking of new ideas and for 2011 he decided to switch things up once again.

JDR opted to stick with the Enkei brand for his new set of rollers but go up a diameter with custom painted and hand polished 18×8.5 and 18×9.5 RPF-1 Type-RC wheels. He was able to get these wheels to fit with their effective offsets of 37 up front and 35 out rear by relying on his previously rolled fenders and stretched 205/40 and 215/40 Falken rubber.

The ride height on his Mazda is handled by a set of KW manufactured AP coil overs that initially were not quite to the level JDR expected. Because parts are not as easy to come by in the Ukraine as they are in North America the most feasible way for JDR to get where he wanted to be was modification.

After a few tear downs and rebuilds JDR was able to satisfy his quest for ‘more lows’ by removing the helper springs up front and shortening the springs in the rear, and to squeeze out just a little bit more visual low he made a custom lip that is just slightly beefier than the standard Garage Vary Mazda 3 lip.

Those familiar with Mazda 3s will notice that JDR’s car isn’t a factory Mazda color and lacks badging in the rear but a few of the other exterior details that can be easily over looked include shaved side moldings, a shaved rear bumper, oem rear bumper flares, a custom grill, and blacked out headlight bezels.

On the inside JDRs car has a custom suede headliner and plaid accenting, along with a MOMO wheel, Razo shift knob, Saebelt Clubman harness and Bimarco Futura bucket racing seat.

Under the hood a few of the performance modifications done to the car include a Simota CF short ram intake, HKS Hi-power exhaust, and a FL-6 speed gear box.

While I think JDR’s car looks stellar as it sits he has already let me know that further modification is to come, I can only hope that when the car is done it’s next round of revisions that JDR shares the pictures with me so that I can share them with you revision here on Stance Is Everything.

Full modification list

Exterior:
-Lotus Saffron Yellow paint
-Custom GV style front lip
-Custom GV style fron grille
-AutoExe rear wing (replica)
-Mazda Genuine Accessories rear bumper flares
-Shaved trunk
-Shaved mouldings
-Shaved rear bumper
-Yellow fog lights and high beam reflectors
-Red out tail lights
-Black headlight bezels

Interior:
-Custom plaid upholstery
-MOMO Tuner steering wheel
-RAZO Rally RA102 Black shift knob
-Sabelt Clubman 4-point harness
-Bimarco Futura bucket seat
-Aluminium pedal pads

Wheels & tires:
-Enkei RPF1 Type-RC 8.5×18 ET42 (ET37 efffective) front
-Enkei RPF1 Type-RC 9.5×18 ET45 (ET35 effective) rear
-Falken Ziex ZE-912 205/40-18 front
-Falken Ziex ZE-912 215/40-18 rear
-Drag Neo Chrome forged lug nuts

Brakes:
-Rotora drilled and slotted brake rotors
-Rotora H2 Ceramic brake pads
-Techna-Fit SS brake lines

Suspension:
-ap coilovers (by KW) (with removed helper springs and cut rear springs)
-Kakumei front strut brace
-Kakumei rear trunk brace
-BMW solid rubber front arm bushings (modified)
-Progress 22mm adjustable sway bar
-Hardrace rear sway bar links
-Extended 50mm wheel studs
-5mm/10mm wheel spacers

Engine, transmission:
-Mazda3 FL 6-speed gearbox
-HKS Hi-Power catback exhaust
-Kool-Vue (Simota) Carbon Fiber Short-Ram intake
-Hardrace Pro N1 reinforced engine mount
-Corksport PU rear engine mount inserts

Photo Credit: Lait

*I’m not counting speed3’s for this article 😉

WTF Friday: SR20 Echo

By

DaveT

-

Jun 24, 2011

8

The drift community is known for their creativity when it comes to builds and this Echo I found on Build Threads is really no exception. Outside of this car there has been no real reason for me to pay attention to anything going on in the Toyota Echo world but this car peaked my interests (briefly) in the small commutator minded hatch.

A bunch of creative (demented?) fabricators in Japan took it upon themselves to merge an echo with an s14 rear sub frame and a blacktop SR20.

The result is a very unique, and very pink, Toyota that can get ass out with the best of them.

The obvious piles of fabrication that would go into the project that would at the end still result in an echo is enough to discourage most but not the Japanese!

SN3D0040 — Not where you would expect to find a black top

SN3D0014 — Anything can be fit if you are determined enough, or stubborn enough

SN3D0104 — Not really a fan of the color or pink tints but it sure makes the car stand out

Here is a quick video of it in action

And a Japanese page full of details I found linked off of the article on Build Threads

Site Updates

This Sunday I will be at the Niagara Tuner & Truck Expo – Presented by Nine-O-Five Rides. I am sponsoring (but not judging) a trophy and it’s sure to be a great event so be sure to roll on through.

I will have stickers on me as well if you spot me.

Niagara Square 7555 Montrose Road Niagara Falls, ON 11pm - 6pm Roll-in starts at 8:00am

On the note of stickers I have about 8 orders ready to go out as soon as the Canada Post comes of strike. If there is no sign of a resolution on the horizon next week I will look into alternative shipping measures such as Fed Ex.

Thank you to those who have ordered for being so patient about all this…

Following up some bad news with some good the first run of Stance Is Everything T shirts has been paid for and next week I will have in my hands 10 Large, 10 Medium, 5 small, and 5 XL for sale in the first batch.

Pricing will be confirmed once the shirts arrive and I can figure out how much it costs to ship (again if our postal service ever comes back).

The first run of t shirts by popular demand will look like so:

Flashback Friday

Last Friday I missed the Maxbimmer Midnight cruise for the first time in three years. I had good reason (I was at the Relay For Life) but I am still just a little bummed I didn’t get to see at least the pre-meet of the cruise. Oh well there is always next year.

Coverage from last year can be found by clicking here or the image below.

Where did this Rx-7 get off to I wonder, never seen it again

SilForty

By

DaveT

-

Jun 23, 2011

4

I have had this car saved on my hard drive for almost two months now but I just kept putting it off until later for one reason or another. However now that Readers Rides Part 5 is number one on my procrastination list it’s time to let this Silvia clipped 240 go.

This 240SX was owned by three Super Street editors in it’s day and was built up for the magazine on two separate occasions, once in 2008 then again in 2010.

It’s in print popularity means that some of you may already be very familiar with the it.

I however was not familiar with it so it really drew my attention when I saw it posted. When I found out it was a magazine build I was even more intrigued because sponsored builds often end up over the top and this car is refreshingly grounded.

A full detailed run down of the mods done to the car at the time these photos were taken can be found here on CharlesCharlesCharles.com but if you just want to see some photos keep scrolling.

sileighty01 — Very tasteful choice of modifications by the people at Super Street

sileighty35 — The fairly built SR20 mill that puts down over 300hp

sileighty23 — Streetable yet track read interior

sileighty30 — The old school GT logos on the x-brace intrigue me...

sileighty02 — Rear 3/4 shows how well those 17x9 and 17x10 SSR Mesh wheels fit

sileighty06 — Anyone know where this car is now?

I am looking to have the next Readers Rides up hopefully within the next week and it currently sits at 16 cars deep so if you want to see yours in the next one shoot me an email or upload it to the fan page.

Event Coverage: S&P June 19th 2011: Part 2

By

DaveT

-

Jun 22, 2011

11

Back with the final set of photos from the June 19th Stretch and Poke event (aka ‘The Stakes is High’). Today’s coverage is quite simply everything I didn’t post in part 1. Looking back I wish I shot a little more but as always hindsight is 20/20 and talking with people is easier than taking photos.

Not too fussed though I will see these cars again soon and I think the next S&P event at Downsview Park I will raid Lyndsey’s lens stash to switch up the look of the photos a little bit.

Anyway enough talk, more photos!

Lexus

Missed these three from part 1. Funny enough the first two both live in the neighborhood I grew up in and I saw these cars a lot at an impressionable age which makes them a big influence on why this site exists today.

Sharad from SK Performance was out in his wife's car and I grabbed an LED kit from him that was a really good investment on my part

sic_ryde — Check out that camber, tire shops live Sic

sic_chicken — Sic Ryde unexpectedly showed up with a trunk full of chicken, I was hungry so this was perfect

gb_samson — Samson from GB Tires leading his crew in

Nissans

skyline — Drift Posse gettin' a little love on the lip there

nissan_skyline — Skyline I have never seen before

gb_lee2 — Seeing this car coming straight at you then turn is crazy, because it really emphasizes the dish on those works

Mitsubishi

mistu_bay — This car was recently featured on Stance Nation and is just as clean in person as it looks in pictures

mistu_rear — The TE37 SL's are a nice switch up on a modern classic

Subarus

subaru_chris_front — This car is beautiful in person, hats off once again to Chris

subaru_chris_rear — It's just well done all around and exactly the type of car I would drive

subauru_wrb — Another winner in rally blue (...I know clever caption right? Ha)

subaru_lownatics2 — This car puts down 400 hp and looks good doing so

subaru_lownatics — If I could afford it one of these would be my next car, the money tree just refuses to grow though

Euros

CHOPSHOP dominated a lot of the Euro presence at this meet.

vw_jetta — Aidan gave this guy a heads up when out at the movies, great to see new people out

vw_chop_shop — Perhaps the first time I have seen this car in person, I thought it was a unicorn for awhile

vw_caddy_2 — Manny likes this Mexican lowrider

Supras

I guess the price of Supras has fallen a little bit more because they seem to be popping up more often at meets. That or a container full of them just arrived, either way I’m stoked to see ’em.

toyota_supra — This one was closed up so no telling what was under the hood

toyota_supra_side — But this one was opened up to reveal...

toyota_supra_underhood — a large single turbo setup

Since posting my last set of photos it’s come to my attention that the actions of some people at the meet have put the venue in a little bit of jeoprdy because the management is not happy.

Personally I like this venue and I enjoy these meets so if you happen to know some of the people flexing their horsepower at the meets just give them a heads up that their actions were noted and are not encouraged.

The next Stretch & Poke meet is at Import Expo which I am not 100% sure if I am going to enter or not (my car is not a show car) but I will be covering it.