Random SIE/Dave Thomas fact: Between 2009 to now I have never shot a single rolling shot. Not.A.Single.One.
Reason? I’m normally the lead/follow driver.
I should really try my hand at it sometime soon, here’s the fourth edition of the rolling shot Theme Tuesday Series.
While I was somewhere between Toronto and Montreal on my way back Eurokracy 2014 Drake Nolte was in Grand Bend covering the second round of the 2014 Canadian Sport Compact Series which took place at the Grand Bend Motorplex.
The Grand Bend stop is a favourite for many because it’s proximity to the beach practically begs for you to make an entire weekend of the event.
This year the weather Friday through Saturday was flawless, but come Sunday mother nature was having temper tantrums reminiscent of the 2011 CSCS season. Never the less the show went on as best it could before the weather ended things for good.
Prior to that Drake managed to walk away with some great coverage and today we will take a look at the pits and show and shine before moving onto drift coverage later this week.
Recently I stumbled across a fairly peculiar looking 300zx and in the search for more information I came to learn that the ‘Buttigiri Special 300zx’ lead a fairly interesting life of constant change up until it’s presumably life ending move from one part of the world to another.
This story isn’t new (it actually pre-dates this site) so there’s a chance some of you already know it. However I’m willing to bet a few of you have never heard of, or seen, this car before.
Like many an awesome tale this story starts in Japan with a humble factory spec Nissan 300zx.
The car didn’t stay stock for long though, as the owner clearly had intentions of building one of the wildest Z32s to ever roll the streets. Specific details are somewhat scarce but it’s pretty clear the car went through at least 4 revisions which are below:
As you can see the car was pretty wild in every iteration and something that you would never expect to see ice racing in Norway, and yet that is exactly where it ended up.
(49 seconds in)
Such a weird ending for a wild car, and yet it somehow seems almost fitting that a one of a kind Nissan would go out in a truly one of a kind fashion.
Impressively the fifteen plus year deceased Nissan s14 chassis boasts one of the larger after market catalogs in existence. There’s literally no shortage of options when it comes to modifying these vehicles and yet oddly enough many of them end up remarkably similar.
The same body kits, the same wheels, the same paint or wrap, and more often than not the same engines.
When Trevor shipped his S14 Silvia over from Japan he knew following in the footsteps of people before him was out of the question, so when it came time to put a new motor in the car he turned to a power plant he knew like the back of his hand…
…the Volkswagen VR6.
On paper the idea of a VR6 motor in a Japanese car sounds like something that simply shouldn’t work, and if you mention it to either Nissan or Volkswagen enthusiasts they both tend to doubt the feasibility of such a project, or recoil in horror at the fact that someone would even consider such a ‘blasphemous’ idea.
To these doubters and naysayers Trevor responds with the same words affixed to his bumper; Shut Up! I Fucking Got this.
Incredibly Trevor’s world colliding mesh of Japanese precision and German effectiveness came together quicker than you might think –about eight weeks– and the ball really started rolling once he received the adapter plate from SEO Motorsports.
SEO Motorsports had previously put the Nissan 350z transmission behind the Volkswagen VR6 motor in one of their own projects and knew it would be a suitable backer for the turbo 12 valve Trevor intended to use.
The plate used to mate the transmission to the motor was just one of many essential pieces of custom fabrication that has gone into this car. On top of the obvious motor mounts that need to be fabricated when you put a FF motor in an FR car the intake manifold needed hand crafted and TIG welded in addition to the valve cover, inter cooler piping, and a long list of additional under hood accessories and components.
If the feat of getting the motor positioned into it’s new home somehow isn’t impressive enough it’s worth noting that Trevor actually taught himself how to TIG over the eight weeks he built the car.
Before continuing to outline a fraction of the work that went into this build it’s probably worth mentioning that the motor Trevor chose for this build is no spring chicken, it’s got over 250 thousand hard driven kilometers on it dispersed through a nearly double digit number of cars.
Why build a unique project around a motor with so many clicks on the dial? Well why fix something that isn’t broken? This motor is capable of making good power, has never let Trevor down, and has never shown any signs of kicking the bucket, so Trevor put it in.
Remember he’s got this.
However just because the motor was well seasoned doesn’t mean it couldn’t get a little bit of cleaning up before being installed so Trevor did a little bit of preventive maintenance before getting a few things ceramic coated by RE-Speed in London Ontario.
Since the power plant got a little bit of sprucing up Trevor also gave the engine bay a once over, tubbing the front wells and having the whole bay painted the same metallic white the rest of the car will eventually be by D’ALCOR Collision Inc.Â
With the motor sitting between the tubs the next hurdle Trevor had to tackle was the wiring harness and since Trevor’s job takes him miles away from his car every few weeks he simply took the schematics of both vehicles with him on the road and tackled the harness during his down time.
Once back home in his garage, with one rainbow end of the wiring harnessed connected to the other, Trevor reached out to Ricardo Tolay at DNA performance in New Jersey for help dialling in a driveway tune that would allow him to start shake down runs.
Currently the car is fairly sound mechanically, but inside Trevor’s head lives an impressive list of things he feels can be approved upon before he deems the car properly finished.
In fact at the time of this shoot Righteous Garage was about to pull the suspension of the car apart and replace it with HSD components in order to get the car sitting over those Work VS-XX wheels exactly how Trevor in-visions.
Already one of the most unique Nissan S14s ever built this car will no doubt be a thing of legend once it is finished to Trevor’s approval. I can’t wait.
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Trevor sends thanks to everyone who helped him out during the build including all the Twisted Whips members eagerly waiting and encouraging him to finish!
Eurokracy must have had a lasting impression on me because when it came to this week’s Theme Tuesday first generation Volkswagen Caddys came to mind and simply wouldn’t leave.
Clean first generation examples are a bit of a rare sight (at least here in Toronto) so whenever I see a nice one I can’t help but stare like a slack jawed yokel.
I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that many of you are the same way.
Team Importfest and Nextmod have literally been grinding away in order to bring some heat to this year’s event, they not only rolled out Canada’s first Rocket Bunny kitted GTR, but followed it up in short order with Canada’s first Rocket Bunny RX-7.
I don’t think either car is 100% finished quite yet (read: riding high) so expect to see the final products in all their glory at this year’s ImportFest Toronto July 26th.
Big tings a gwan in Toronto these days.
Photo Credit:Â Angelo Madrasto | Focus Films
Sincerest apologies for the lack of WTF Friday posts recently but this week your favorite post of the week is back with a doozy submitted by my friend Dave.
I’ve seen a couple different motors in the foxbody Mustang chassis in ‘my time’ but a biturbo Audi V6 mill is certainly a first for me.
It takes a special kind of crazy to even think of a swap like this –let alone attempt it– and it seems like the builder just so happens to be that right kind of crazy and more importantly have access to the right combination of parts.
There is a build thread over on Vortex but currently all the images are down so all I really have available are these photos that someone loaded up into an imgur gallery.
I am sure once it’s done this car will get it’s fair share of shine time on line, but if anyone has more info no please do feel free to share.
Moving right along with the Eurokracy coverage, today we will take a look at a few of the vehicles that various vendors brought to the show as well as a selection of vehicles from the ‘Top 100’.
Hopefully by the time you get to the end of this coverage you will be convinced that Eurokracy is a show you need to attend next year. If not I’m sure a few of the videos that will be popping up on-line over the next few days will be all the further convincing necessary.
As the show grows more vendors come out to Napierville and show off their latest and greatest, 2014 brought a number of bangers.
With the show and shine growing in size the Eurokracy staff switched up the judging format by creating the ‘top 100’ who were judged on roll in. This helped things move along smoothly and ensured that the best of the best get showcased and judged.
Located in close proximity to the Stance Is Everything booth it was clear to see that Top 100 was a resounding successes as people were walking up and down the isles all day.
After an awesome weekend in 2013 there was no question in my mind that in 2014 I would be returning to the land of poutine and cheap beer for Canada’s largest euro-centric event:Â Eurokracy.
Now four years deep the Eurokracy staff –consisting of Rick Di Corpo, Sergio Da Silva, Jesse James and a host of volunteers– had their work cut out for them to best last year’s efforts, but with a little help from a stellar weather forecast they functioned like a well oiled machine and put on one of the best events of 2014.
People came from far and wide to see exactly what all the hype was about, and with lots to do and see I don’t think a single person left the Napierville Dragway disappointed.
I showed up smack-dab in the middle of the burn out event (baby life) so I didn’t get as many photos as last year but I did get a few photos I’m quite happy with and as usual nothing gets the crowd hyped more than a big smoky burnout.
This year Stance Is Everything and French Canadian VDOÂ teamed up to have a vendor booth which proved extremely useful as a place to hide from the sun and meet a few readers.
Additionally since I was car-less Taylor’d Customs let me cruise their Audi up while they trailered in the famous 57 Chevy pickup (the Beetle project didn’t quite come together in time).
After ducking out in the tent for a while, and properly rehydrating myself from the festivities the night before, I made my way out to snap a few pics of the vehicles who were not in the top 100 portion of the show and shine.
Being such a huge show I knew there was no way for me to cover it in it’s entirety so I stuck to things that caught my eye and held it.
Coverage of the vendors and the top 100 to come later this week, check back soon!
I’m not sure what it is about the European car community, but they really seem to have the swapped, tucked, shaved, and polished engine bay game on lock.
It was a real treat to walk around Eurorkracy 2014 and see more than a cold air intake, fender washers, and colored wire loom sitting between the strut towers.
Each bay somehow managed to out do the last and instantly the subject of this week’s Theme Tuesday became clear as day.
Lots more coverage from Eurokracy 2014 to come this week, stay tuned.
