Featured Ride: Shea’s 2010 Mazda 3

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Jun 25, 2014

As with most people who have been in the fitment game for a few years Shea has been consistently working to get his car lower to the ground and his wheels closer to his fenders.

After a lot of frustration this spring, chasing down his personal vision of perfect fitment, he finally managed to get his latest setup mounted on the car ironically at the insistence of a police officer during a road side stop.

Since his old tires were at the end of their life his options during the badge influenced pit stop were to either fit the new wheels with their freshly installed rubber on the spot, or load his car up on a flat bed and follow it home.

Luckily Shea’s specs were bang on, and the new wheel set up fit even better than the one it replaced which used to rub his fenders at the slightest inclination.

With the new Works on and the fitment squared away, Shea met up with local photographer —and fellow Mazda3 owner— Steve Hayward (Square Peg Images) for some photos.

Shea’s new shoes are not the only fresh addition to his car for 2014, he is also sporting a new suede accented interior that matches well with his Sparco seat installed via custom rails.

Though some might question the necessity of a racing seat in this car it is important to remember that all of Shea’s time is spent in the drivers seat so why shouldn’t it be one of the best available?

Outside Shea has kept things fairly simple to allow the ride height, wheels, and camber to be the focal point.

Complimentary Nextmod lip kits grace the front and rear and the lighting has been subtle enhanced with GV eyelids and red tinted tails.

Despite the fact that Shea just got these wheels on and fitted how he wants there’s no guarantees that he will be on this set up for long as Shea is the first to admit that he will always follow The Lower Class motto:

Burn Fenders, Shred Tires, Go Lower.

Wheels and Tires

Work Meister S1R 18 x 9.5 +32 / 18 x 10.5 -3 (3mm spacers front and rear)
Falken FK453 215/35R18 and 225/40R18
Rolled, Pulled, Shaved bumper tabs on fenders

Suspension

KW V2 Coilovers (helper springs removed)
Dominant Engineering Rear Camber Arms (-9 degrees)
Corksport Prototype Camber Plates (-3 degrees)
Racing Beat Rear Sway Bar
Sawed out Strut Mounts

Exterior

GV Nextmod Lip
VHT Red Tails
Mz Nextmod Rear Lip kit
35/23 tints
GV Eyelids
Evil M

Interior

Sparco bucket seat with custom rails
Custom Red Suede door panels
Custom Red Suede A,B,C pillars

Razo Shift knob

Performance

Straight piped OEM Mazdaspeed Exhaust
Ractive SRI

Theme Tuesdays: DC Chassis Integras – Pt. 2

By

DaveT

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Jun 24, 2014

3

While looking for a new car it occurred to me that nothing in Honda/Acura’s current (or even past 5 year line-up) really falls under what I am looking for. I can’t recall the last generation of Civic hatch I actually liked and I’m not even really sure what they would consider as the current replacement for the Integra.

This is a start contrast from when I was in high school and Honda had a fairly respectable and well rounded line up. Then a used DA a reasonably affordable option, but if you rolled up in a DC you were damn near some kind of superstar*

DC’s, done tastefully, really stand up to the test of time so a follow up to the 2010 Theme Tuesday on the chassis was well warranted.

Such a shame ‘Honda rust’ was such a prevalent problem and took a lot of these off the road.

dc_integra_2 — In highschool this was pretty much the look, dropped polished blades and if you had the budget Type R seats

I think this car got sold/parted but I always liked it for being really clean and understate other than the loud paint

dc_1 — Nice to see a 4 door gettin down, don’t see them nearly as much

dc_12 — I used to be dead set on my opinion that the JDM front end was best…

dc_2 — …but these days I like both interchangeably

dc_3 — Sprint Harts are such a classic wheel

dc_6 — Remember when it was the rage to put Type R stickers on everything?

dc_8 — Love this, perfect function/form split

dc_7 — Had to sneak a few function over form builds in like this supercharged K powered monster

And of course one of my favourite cars to shoot, James Houghton’s Type R

dc_10 — ‘Hey Mikey”s freshly rebuilt DC was a smash at Wekfest this year

dc_11 — ..and for good reason, quite the transformation and attention to detail

dc_18 — End things with what is hands down my favourite DC out of Japan. Love the radiused fenders and fitment

*I could be exaggerating my memories of high school seem to be waning.

2014 Fitted Lifestyle Toronto Video

By

DaveT

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Jun 20, 2014

0

Sorry, no WTF Friday today, due to the complications of car smashing (and the scramble to locate OEM parts) I have not had a lot of time to get posts together.

However Gabe at French Canadian VDO has conveniently just finished his Fitted Lifestyle Toronto video preventing today from become a dead day.

Take a peak below, Gabe did a great job!

If you missed it the 2014 Stance Is Everything Fitted Lifestyle photo coverage is here.

Suburbia

By

DaveT

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Jun 19, 2014

0

In a perfect word –aka a world with California-esque climate here in Canada– I would be able to consider something like this for my new daily.

It ticks all the right boxes; on the ground, lots of storage, hatch (kinda), and miles of style.

Sadly the world is far from perfect and I’m stuck here desperately trying to find my next daily without pushing my dream project five years out.

Sigh.

Source.

50km to 0: Real Quick

By

DaveT

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Jun 17, 2014

20

It seems a little bit weird to be writing a ‘eulogy’ for a car that I never really expected to do a whole with but sadly here I am typing it.

Yesterday morning on my way to work my Mazda was struck from behind from a woman who thought texting was more important than piloting the vehicle carrying her daughter around.

She ended up hitting me, without hesitation or braking of any kind, at about 50 kilomertes an hour –assuming she was going the speed limit– which drove me into the Ford Escape stopped in front of me.

The damage to the Escape was fairly minimal (since I submarined under it) and though the damage to her car was pretty significant my car by far took the worst end of the deal.

All signs are pointing to a total loss due to the fact that both quarters are buckled, the core support is bent, and the glove box now takes a heck of a lot of force to close.

It sucks to end my journey with the car this way but it could have easily been significantly worse, both of the children involved were thankfully unharmed and aside from some stiffness this morning I seem to be holding up alright too.

With nearly 230km on the clock dispersed over Woodward PA, Rochester NY, Ocean City MD, Detroit and Lansing Michigan, Montreal, and all over Ontario I really couldn’t ask for more of car that split it’s duty between daily driver, road trip vehicle, and occasional show car.

The car may not have the history of Rusty, or the notoriety of the Elvis’ Charger, but fuck it it was my car and I’ll miss it.

Here’s to new projects and new stories with the next one.

Special thanks to everyone who helped me with this car at some point or another but special thanks to Air Lift Performance, Dominant Engineering, Miltowne Auto, Nextmod Precision Rim Repair, SK Performance, Simply Tire and Taylor’d Customs.

WTF Friday: Finally! A rwd Prelude

By

DaveT

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Jun 13, 2014

3

I’m sure we can all unanimously agree that at some point in it’s production run the Honda Prelude should have been a rear wheel drive car. Every generation has had the lines of a good looking rear wheel drive and had it been FR I feel like there would be more modified examples of the chassis today.

LS1_BB6, of PreludeZone.com, has decided that now is the time to fix Honda’s mistake and is currently part way through his rear wheel drive, right hand drive, LS1 powered 5th generation Prelude.

An ambitious endeavour for sure but LS1_BB6 is a 20 year veteran of the auto body and fabrications trade who has owned his own shop for 12 years and after modifying everything from trucks to RV’s he feels pretty confident that he has the skills necessary to get the job done.

Looking through the nine pages of his build thread at his progress, and approach, I’d have to agree that –provided he carves out the time to work on it– he will be able to complete the task at hand.

Similar to the Mustegra the plan is to put the 5th gen ‘lude over the Corvette chassis which will allow him to use all of the LS1 drive train along with the C5 suspension.

vette_lude_1 — The unsuspecting Prelude chassis

vette_lude_4 — Motor removed and front clip sent to the bin

vette_lude_11 — The slightly tweaked donor car…

Prior to acquiring both donor vehicles the builder did his due diligence researching the feasibility of the project, which included checking the measurements of both vehicles to ensure what he wanted to do was at least somewhere in the realm off possible.

The most significant bit of modification the Prelude would need to go over the Corvette chassis was some widening of the rear quarters so not scared by the need to move a little metal he got to work.

vette_lude_5 — In order to not lose the lines of the Prelude the builder opted to widen the body over using some random fiberglass wide body kit

vette_lude_9 — In total 3″ of girth was added to each side of the Prelude

An added bonus all of that widening means 19X9 +20 and 19X11 +11 Riverside Trafficstar DTS wheels look pretty sweet mounted.

Plans are to run a generous amount of tire, and as little camber as possible which given the chassis that will be sitting underneath the body fits right in with the whole theme of the build.

The last update to the build thread was in March of this year with the promise of more photos coming soon, there’s nothing yet but I will certainly be keeping an eye on it as LS1_BB6 promises that this isn’t one of those builds that will never get completed.

Event Coverage: 2014 Niagara Tuner & Truck Expo

By

DaveT

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Jun 12, 2014

2

Started in 2011 the Niagara Tuner & Truck Expo (TNTEXPO for short) is a show that I have had the pleasure of watching grow from nothing to something the past few years.

Tom and the Nine 0 Five rides club are an easy bunch to work with and each year they put a lot of time and dedication into the expo in order to make it an enjoyable event for everyone in attendance.

In addition to an extensive list of trophy classes TNT also has a number of side competitions like a limbo contest, loudest exhaust, loudest blow off valve, and the crowd favorite Bikini contest to keep people amused throughout the course of the day.

Unfortunately this year I met (or maybe I brought) the rain to the show so I didn’t get to take as many photos as I would have liked. Thankfully reader and show goer Justin Weiss was able to help me out by contributing some of his photographs to this year’s coverage.

Cars

One of my favourite parts of the TNTEXPO is the diversity of the show field. There’s a little something for everyone.

niagara_tntexpo_2014_ratso — It’s always fun listening to people guess what this car is, I heard all sorts of things from Datsun to Ferrari, no one ever guesses Alfa

niagara_tntexpo_2014_350z_1 — After only doing a couple shows last year it seems like Sam is back on the show circuit and sporting wider Work VS-XX wheels

niagara_tntexpo_2014_350z_2 — I wonder if he’s ever served at a show…

niagara_tntexpo_2014_bagged_dart_1 — This Dart has a number of unique touches…

niagara_tntexpo_2014_bagged_dart_2 — My favourite has to be the lace paint

niagara_tntexpo_2014_loudandignorant — Ground’d Kustoms, the same shop that did the Dart above, also did this Denali

niagara_tntexpo_2014_bagged_vw_2 — Schaf thoroughly enjoying life on the dark side

niagara_tntexpo_2014_eagle_talon_1 — Every time I check this cars build thread it’s a different color, the silver looks much better than the black I previously saw it as

niagara_tntexpo_2014_lexus_gs_300 — New wheels completely changed the look of this car compared to last year

niagara_tntexpo_2014_mazda_3_orange — Surprised this car made it in without ripping of the lip’s lip

niagara_tntexpo_2014_mazda_3_shea_2 — Shea’s new Meister S1s have become real close friends with his quarters

niagara_tntexpo_2014_next_level_e46 — Clean e46 from the Next Level Car club

niagara_tntexpo_2014_next_level_rsx — Spiked lugs seem to have officially crossed over into the tuner scene

niagara_tntexpo_2014_shannon — Shannon’s freshly dipped Civ on teal Advans

niagara_tntexpo_2014_vw_cabby — Justin’s last car met with some unfortunatness so now he’s rocking this

niagara_tntexpo_2014_army_jetta_1 — Army tribute themed Jetta

niagara_tntexpo_2014_army_jetta_3 — Cool to see people incorporate what is important to them in a build

niagara_tntexpo_2014_bagged_miata — It is kind of interesting that the closer you get to the border the more marble paint you see

niagara_tntexpo_2014_ryan — Congrats to Ryan for taking home the PASMAG Tuner battlegrounds award at TNT, look for a feature of his car in an upcoming issue of Performance Auto & Sound

niagara_tntexpo_2014_mazda_3_trevor — On the topic of magazine features Trevor just grabbed on in the latest issue of USDMFREAX magazine

niagara_tntexpo_2014_crx_enginebay — This certainly isn’t an engine bay treatment you see everyday

niagara_tntexpo_2014_toyota_mr2 — Brad creepin’ his way to the loudest blow off contest

niagara_tntexpo_2014_toyota_ae86_1 — Thise AE86 was nearly factory fresh

niagara_tntexpo_2014_nissan_1 — This might just be the only modified s12 200sx I’ve ever seen in person

niagara_tntexpo_2014_dodge_superbee — Pretty cool to see this phenomenal Dart GTS at the show

Trucks

Since I am (sadly) once again unable to attend Vanfest for the fourth year in a row I was glad I was able to at least see a few trucks at TNT Expo.

niagara_tntexpo_2014_chevy_silverado_steplock_1 — Brandon’s truck, clean as always

niagara_tntexpo_2014_ford_superruck — This truck has more A/V equipment in his bed than I do in my house

niagara_tntexpo_2014_chevy_s10_day_2_nite — Hard to keep up with the revisions on James’ truck but I think his front end has changed a bit

niagara_tntexpo_2014_mazda_mini_5_litre — Never seen this 5.0 swapped B series around before, certainly not what I expected to see under the hood

niagara_tntexpo_2014_chevy_s10_tiki_truck_2 — Duck Hunt on a 7″ screen would be one of the must frustrating things ever

Limbo

This year SIE sponsored the Limbo contest at TNTEXPO but unfortunately it started to rain pretty well right as it started. The show did go on but it wasn’t quite as competitive as the year before.

It was still a lot of fund and there is always next year, I know there is one of you out there who wants to stop a Miata from winning three years in a row.

niagara_tntexpo_2014_chevy_colorado_limbo — The truck limbo ended up getting the worst of the rainy conditions

niagara_tntexpo_2014_mazda_mini_5_litre_limbo — Somehow the drive shaft let go in this truck immediately after this

niagara_tntexpo_2014_ford_ranger_donkers_1 — Gary ended up taking it home for the trucks simply because he’s not afraid of dragging through the mud

niagara_tntexpo_2014_e30_1 — Stock height? No problem.

niagara_tntexpo_2014_limbo_1 — Team Mayzn TL givin’ it a go

niagara_tntexpo_2014_limbo_3 — Brad ain’t scared of doing a little limbo

niagara_tntexpo_2014_miata_limbo_winner — This years champion

Theme Tuesdays: Rear Wheel Drive Conversions Pt. 1

By

DaveT

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Jun 10, 2014

3

After posting the rear wheel drive Sunbird a few weeks ago, and being shown a rear wheel drive first generation Cavalier Z28 shortly after, I felt it was high time for a rear wheel drive conversion Theme Tuesday.

After vanishing down the rabbit hole of RWD builds for some time I realized that this theme will no doubt be multiple renditions simply because their are a TON of awesome conversions out there.

For this first edition I’ve limited things strictly to cars that were FWD from the factory, and omit all wheel drive to rear wheel conversions.

I’ve also loosely ordered these by level of ridiculousness.

KLZE RWD Probe

When searching for RWD conversions this is actually one of the first projects that pops up. This build is the odd duck of the bunch because it uses the motor the car orignally came with just rotated.

Miata parts come through with the assist for suspension and the like.

rwd_conversion_1_ford_probe_2 — The rotated KLZE

rwd_conversion_1_ford_probe_1 — Miata Underpinnings

rwd_conversion_1_ford_probe_3 — Largely stock appearance (it’s a daily too)

The very detailed build thread is right here.

F20C Civic

The only reason I am including this one so early on in the post is because I can’t really find much of any information on it, and being completed in 2010 it’s fairly old.

However it’s probably some of the best converted car drifting I have seen.

9 Second Geo Metro

This particular car is actually from a 2009 WTF Friday post but was to good not to bring back. It’s really a Metro shell over a toube frame and GNX turbo V6 but I am 100% ok with that.

Wonder if it is still around?

Rover Powered MK1

Over the weekend Speed Hunters posted a photo of this car on their instagram and I was instantly intrigued. After Forge Motorsports (who had the car at their booth) couldn’t come up with more photos I asked on the fanpage and was set down the path to find a bit more.

The car is clean as hell and actually has a Rover v8 under the hood not your typical Chevy for Ford mill.

Speedhunters has a few more photos of the car from 2010 here.

Vorsche

Another WTF Friday veteran is the ‘Vorsche’ which is, as the name implies, a Porsche motivated MKII Volkswagen Golf. For this build parts largely came from the Porsche 944 chassis.

The Vorsche build is here on badassassdubs, though I am not sure where the car is today.

Ziggy Built F20 Powered DC Integra

This car popped up in Wekfest coverage a few years back and since then there has not really been to much else about it.

Anyone from Cali know more about this car, is it a driver or just a in your face show piece?

LSX Cavalier

This appeared in the LS In Everything Theme Tuesday (which this post could double as with a few additions) and since then I’ve seen it pop up at various minitruck centric shows here and there.

I cannot seem to find a build thread but I do know it’s another tube frame car sitting underneath a FWD body.

Twin Turbo LS1 Powered VW Golf

An LS with two snails hanging off it, stuffed into a MK4, and slid around a track, what’s not to like? Well maybe the fact that it started as a real R32… but if you look past that this car built by Dala Performance is pretty damn awesome.

There’s coverage of this car scattered over the internet but SpeedHunters has the most recent feature I’ve found.

The Mustegra

Unlike the Ziggy built Integra above this Integra isn’t really much of a Honda (Acura) any more but rather a Mustang in import skin. It’s currently in pieces destined to be put back together sometime in the future but even if it doesn’t it was an awesome project and huge middle finger to both he Import and Domestic crowd.

This car too was the subject of a WTF Friday post and it’s got an active Facebook fan page if you want more info.

SR20DET Powered CRX

Going to end off with this one because while I’ve seen a few RWD CRX conversions I never really expected any of them to be powered by a SR20. This car comes from Greece and looks and sounds pretty beastly.

There’s a feature of the car here on nafsclick and while it’s not in English, and the translated page comes out a bit choppy, it does have a lot of high res photos of the car.

Suggestions for part 2? Let me know in the comments below.

Event Coverage: Mini Moto Lab Grand Opening

By

DaveT

-

Jun 9, 2014

1

While the Toronto Ruckus/Zuma/Met/Jazz scene has been simmering for a few years now it’s activity has mostly slipped under the noses of anyone who wasn’t explicitly looking for it.

This is mostly due to the fact that previously there were no local vendors dedicated to this niche market, and for a hobby to experience rapid positive growth it needs to become relatively easily accessible to the lay person without getting watered down.

Here to change things, and continue to steer the scene in the right direction, is Mini Moto lab. Run by Anthony, and Aidan (die hard mini moto enthusiasts in their own right) Mini Moto Lab is the first dedicated Ruckus/Zuma/Met/Jazz shop in Canada and is dedicated strictly to bringing in only the best of parts.

After putting in a few months of ground work building relationships with companies in Japan and abroad Aidan and Anthony officially opened the doors to their brick and morter store (a companion to their online business) June 1st 2014.

Personally I’ve only taken a bit of a curious glance at the mini moto scene, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from the grand opening, but I must admit it was really interesting to see the level of detail that goes into these builds.

Like any wheeled hobby it looks like these little bikes would take all the money out of your wallet at the drop of a hat!

mini_moto_lab_grand_opening_5 — Some of you may have seen these flyers getting tossed around at the Fitted Lifestyle Event

mini_moto_lab_grand_opening_14 — Those flyers featured Carolina and Aidan’s project Jazz/Ruckus

mini_moto_lab_grand_opening_2 — I am going to go ahead and say on the record that more events need tacos, or rather all events need tacos

mini_moto_lab_grand_opening_4 — To remember their opening forever the Mini Moto Lab team allowed people to sticker bomb and tag this table which will be lacquered and sealed

mini_moto_lab_grand_opening_7 — When I was a young snot nosed kid some older guys on my street had a Honda trail 80 I wanted REAL bad, upon seeing this one those feelings came right back

mini_moto_lab_grand_opening_10 — Tried something a little different with this shot, normally don’t get much chance to mess with reflective lenses

mini_moto_lab_grand_opening_3 — Rat Fink popped by for a bit

mini_moto_lab_grand_opening_8 — Super clean example of step lipped RMs on an e46

mini_moto_lab_grand_opening_15 — A few people from across the boarder showed up with their rides

mini_moto_lab_grand_opening_9 — It’s actually a little wild just how much detail can go into these little bikes, this one even had Bride seating

mini_moto_lab_grand_opening_17 — No two bikes looked exactly a like

mini_moto_lab_grand_opening_16 — I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of these bikes rivaled what I have in my car

mini_moto_lab_grand_opening_12 — This bike looked to be Mini Moto Lab’s ‘Pièce de résistance’

mini_moto_lab_grand_opening_13 — Stretched tires are as important here as they are in the car world

mini_moto_lab_grand_opening_6 — This bike featured a Hot Lap Exhaust which Mini Moto Lab is the exclusive North American Distributor of

mini_moto_lab_grand_opening_11 — If this bike peak’s your interest it is actually for sale

If mini motos are your thing I definitely recommend checking out minimotolab.com and following them on facebook. When it comes to growing the scene here in Toronto and aborad there really couldn’t be two better people to do it.

Event Coverage: CSCS 2014 Round 1 – Pt. 2

By

DaveT

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Jun 5, 2014

0

By the time I got to the 2014 CSCS season opener the event was well under way and they venue was absolutely packed to the point where all of the cars were essentially lost in a sea of people.

Drake on the other hand camped at the venue and was therefore able to fire off a few photos before things got really hectic, check out his coverage of the show and shine and pits below!