Blowing Off Some Steam 120

1985 Nissan 200SX Turbo - Heart Breaker

It's All About Enjoying Car Life!

From the June, 2010 issue of Super Street

By Sean Klingelhoefer

Photography by Sean Klingelhoefer

 

 

I'm going to go out on a whim and guess that most of you don't even know what kind of car you're looking at right now. I'll save you the trip to the spec box and spill the beans now: it's an S12 Nissan 200SX, the precursor to the venerable 240SX that has become synonymous with our scene. With all the improvements and parts available for S13/14 chassis it has become extremely rare to see anyone with the balls to mess with a 200SX. I've seen a fair share of modified examples on the Web, but when I came across Henry Nguyen's car I knew instantly that it was the best S12 I had ever seen.

While in San Francisco to cover the Wekfest show, I decided it was worth the hour-and-a-half trek south to Gilroy to get the inside scoop. I was almost immediately greeted by a skinny Asian kid with a grin from ear to ear. He politely introduced himself as Henry and extended a grease-covered hand for me to shake. Henry explained to me that he had literally just finished working on the car to get it ready for me to shoot, an affair that left him sleepless the night before.

I had caught Henry right before lunch so I insisted that he finish his McDonald's burger while I examined the car in the driveway. The first thing you'll notice about the car is that it is insanely low. We're talking shakotan street scraper low (that means "low car" literally). The tire-to-fender clearance rivals that of valve lash tolerances. I thought to myself "Jesus, how does this kid drive the car without the fenders eating the tires?" and when I went in for a closer inspection I realized he can't. Perched less than a millimeter above the tire, the front fenders have been thoroughly burned by the tires and have become a beautiful brownish color with bits of rubber decorating the very edge.

 

Just getting an S12 this low is a feat in and of itself. It takes more than a credit card and a trip to an online parts store to put one of these in the weeds. As Henry confirmed "there's absolutely no aftermarket for the S12" so he had to pave his own path. Using an array of S13 parts Henry began to piece the car together hacking, cutting and welding his way to a lower car. As a matter of fact it was suspension work that had kept Henry up the night before. He was installing a set of SPL tension rods for an S13 onto his car; problem is the S12 tension rod has a stud on the end that secures through the bracket with a nut while the S13 tension rod is an eye-type connection with a bolt and nut combo to secure it. About halfway through the explanation of his troubles he disappeared into his garage and immerged smiling and holding a jagged piece of metal that he had cut off only hours before.

The coolest part about this car is that the owner didn't give up in spite of all the odds against this car. When the stock motor died Henry decided to swap in a KA24 from an S13, a motor most 240 owners would gladly throw away. But as the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure. Making custom mounts using hockey pucks for bushings, Henry was able to shoehorn the KA into the S12. In order to utilize the 5-speed transmission from the KA without making a custom driveshaft he mated the front half of an S13 driveshaft to an S12 tailshaft. This inventive thinking continues throughout the car.

While the inside looks fairly spartan there was a lot of work involved to get the car where it is. Take the Bride seat fixed in the cockpit that's worth more than the car itself. Since no aftermarket unit was available Henry had to modify the stock seat rails to get the bucket in the car. The steering wheel with its NAMCO horn button and distinct five-bolt pattern are a dead giveaway that someone jacked it straight off an Initial D arcade game. Rounding out the interior is a funny-looking ghost hanging off the oh-shit handle in the back.

 

 

When I questioned Henry about the ghost I was very surprised to find out it wasn't a meaningless accoutrement. As it turns out the ghost is what the Japanese refer to as a teru-teru-bozu and it's an interesting tool used for superstition. The amulet is thought to have special powers that bring good weather and are particularly useful for stopping rain. I couldn't help but smile at the appropriateness of this decoration given Norcal's climate where the weather can change in the blink of an eye. Literally no more than twenty minutes before I shot a photo of the ghost the rain was coming down in sheets and I thought I'd have to call the shoot off altogether.

When it came time to wrap up the shoot I told Henry that I wanted to get a couple photos of him with the car since his personality was bleeding from it. I asked him how he wanted to be photographed and he looked at me puzzled and said "I don't know, what do people normally do?" I told him to just do whatever he felt comfortable doing and after a minute of thinking he asked "how about I get in the back seat?" I laughed because it was ingenious, it was different and creative and the answer was there the whole time - yet in the seven some odd years I've never once had someone think of the idea. It was almost a metaphor for the car in a single photo.

Shooting Henry's car and seeing the enthusiasm he has for tuning was really a great experience. It has inspired me to get back to having fun and enjoying my car and working on it. While in San Francisco I was fortunate enough to meet some of the other guys in Heartbreaker, his "club" if you will, and they all live by the same mindset, "having good friends, looking good and having fun!" If that's not a motto to live by I don't know what is.

Tuning Menu

1985 Nissan 200SX Turbo
Owner Henry Nguyen
Hometown Gilroy, CA
Occupation Student

Engine 2.4L naturally-aspirated KA24DE; Walbro 255lph fuel pump; custom intake, exhaust with Aspec blast pipes tip, oil catch tank; T.Pro's header; NGK plugs and wires; Mishimoto S13 radiator; hockey puck motor mounts; Top Speed aluminum crank pulley

Drivetrain Nissan 71C 5-speed transmission; ACT stage 2 clutch; solid construction urethane filled transmission and differential mounts; S13 front drive shaft mated to S12 tailshaft

Footwork & Chassis Powered by Max S13 coilovers; 10kg/mm spring front, 450lb spring rear; Day Motorsports weld-on threaded perch for rear spring; S13/Z31 Energy Suspension and Prothane urethane bushings throughout; S13 SPL tension rods; S13 front lower control arms, S13 front knuckle and hub; A1 S13 conversion tie rod ends; PBM steering rack spacer; ARP wheel studs

Brakes Infiniti Q45 2 piston front calipers; Hawk pads

Wheels & Tires
15X7'' -1 (front) 15X9'' -27 (rear) SSR Longchamp XR4 wheels; 195/55/15 BF-Goodrich G-Force Sport tires (front); 205/50/15 Falken Ziex 512 tires (rear); 8mm spacer for front wheels

Exterior OEM paint, Turbo model side skirts and rear wing, SE V6 lip; rolled and pulled fenders

Interior Bride Vios 3 seat; modified stock seat rail to accept Bride seat; HKS mechanical water temp and oil pressure gauges; SEGA/NAMCO arcade steering wheel; NISMO ball shift knob; battleship grey paint; S13 rearview mirror; Razor scooter grip covered e-brake handle

Thanks you Cecilia Vo, my Mom for letting me ruin the garage, Trinh Phan for reluctantly letting me work on my car instead of taking her out, Yuta Akaishi, Sterling Picton, Hung Pham, Gabe Nguyen, Francis Estrada, Grayson Yokota, Matt Garrisson, Joe Mendes, HEARTBREAKER! If I forgot you, then you too!

www ssr-wheels.com; tees-usa.com (Bride); gtfactory.jp (Powered by Max); http://jumbosandbox.blogspot.com (Henry's blog)

http://www.superstreetonline.com/featuredvehicles/sstp_1006_1985_nissan_200_sx_turbo/index.html

 

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1998 Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) "Hurricane 7"

RE Amemiya’s Latest RX-7 Is Ready to Rock You Like a Hurricane

From the August, 2011 issue of Super Street

By Dino Dalle Carbonare

With a lifetime’s worth of experience in pushing the rotary engine to its max, Isami Amemiya has set himself an all-new challenge for 2011. Over the years, his tuning shop, RE Amemiya has dominated nearly every motorsport they’ve competed in, from Super GT to D1, not to mention the blistering fast street machines that we’ve featured many times over. They have shown they are capable of building powerful yet responsive cars while always maintaining overall balance, but now it’s time to step their game up and show the Time Attack crowd what they are truly capable of. It took all of 2010 and many hours of hard work but Amemiya-san got there in the end, unveiling his latest creation at this year’s Tokyo Auto Salon. The Hurricane 7 is the most extreme FD3S RX-7 he has ever created and it’s built only for one thing, braking records!

You won’t find the Hurricane 7 lapping circuits like Tsukuba; that’s because they’ve "been there" and "done that", and what’s more exciting than moving up to more challenging venues? While shooting the car at Amemiya’s Tokyo workshop, we had a quick chat with the man himself, where he explained in his colorful and unmistakable Chiba-ben, or Chiba accent, that this RX-7 has been specifically set up to challenge international circuits within Japan, places like Fuji Speedway, Suzuka and Okayama. Ama-san, as he is know in the JDM world, goes on to explain that these sorts of layouts not only put a car through its paces from a handling point of view, but they also demand power and balance to achieve special times. This is precisely what he is shooting for; he wants the Hurricane 7 to be able to reach Super GT qualifying times. It’s quite the goal, but one we are sure he can achieve. Let’s take a closer look at what makes this widebody RX-7 so special.


Ama-san got to work on the stripped-out shell right after the 2010 Tokyo Auto Salon. He approached the whole build much like he would have with one of his race cars, by reinforcing the weakest areas of the chassis; this meant fabricating a custom rollcage, that braces at A-pillars and countless other strategic points. Air jacks were also fitted, since time attack cars spend a lot of time in the pits having tires changed and suspension settings varied, they would simplify the process while saving precious time. Small stiffening bars in the engine bay add stiffness around the firewall while the front half of the wheel tubs were cut, allowing access to the suspension components. With the chassis prep finished, the shell was sent off to the paint booth to have a few coats of sky-blue sprayed on, a color that we’ve seen used regularly on RE builds—a signature move, if you will.

With the overall theme set to top new extremes, the body had to look pretty special, more so than the usual Amemiya flair, which is why it was fitted with a modified version of their Super GT GT-300 kit. The wider dimensions add plenty of aggression, allowing the front and rear tracks to be increased for improved handling. The simple and functional design starts at the front with the bumper, which now has a protruding lip spoiler to help generate more downforce. The V-mounted radiator and intercooler are supplied with plenty of air through the gaping front opening while the side intakes help cool a pair of oil coolers. A menacing look is achieved thanks to the front-fixed IPF projectors and the slab-sided wider fenders, hinting that this car means serious business—like Sam Du’s new hairdo. The lower part of the rear bumper was cut and modified so the massive diffuser could be mounted, and air outlets on the fenders help pull air out from under the car. The adjustable GT-wing has been set higher to take advantage of the air coming over the roof of the car. To help further reduce weight on the body, the factory rear hatch was replaced with a fiberglass piece that’s also been outfitted with Lexan windows. Ama-san has imposed himself a rather conservative tire size of 265/35/18, which is the most commonly-used spec on his customer’s street cars. The semi-slick ADVAN A050s are fitted to lightweight 18x10" Enkei GTC01 wheels. Ride height might look a little on the high side, but the suspension had been set like this while the car was in its build process. Expect slammage by the time you read this.

Minimalism is the theme for the interior, a stark contrast to the crazy exterior work. Amemiya bolted in his special-edition Bride buckets for the lucky two who get to take this for a spin. The carbon-look dashboard adds an additional touch of blue and is equipped with a MoTeC LCD data logger, custom switches and M7 gauges. The transmission tunnel hints that something special lurks within, the billet aluminum lever is there to actuate the lightning-fast Hewland sequential gearbox, the same one used on an older GT-300 racecar, with a few other levers and controllers to adjust things like brake balance or placing the car into reverse. Koseki-san of Scoot, an ex-F1 engineer and creator of the mighty 4-rotor Scoot RX-7, was called in to assist with the suspension and suggested Ama-san to go with a set of 3-way adjustable Quantum race dampers matched to a set of Swift springs. Koseki-san then set up the Scoot Ride Height Control (RHC), a leveling system that helps keep the car completely flat through turns, cornering and exiting so it can maximize grip at all times. Brakes were the next step, so 6-pot AP Racing calipers were placed up front while the new RE Amemiya 4-pots take control of the rear; all of the brake discs are slotted 2-piece rotors with a floating bell, which is cooled by custom brake ducting.

With the goals of optimal balance between torque and outright power Ama-san had in mind, he knew that a 13B just wasn’t going to be enough; instead, this needed something funkier, something to the sweet groove of a triple-rotor 20B. But this ain’t your ordinary 20B (as if we can call a 20B ordinary?); this engine was built with three 13B rotor housings, each one specially side-ported in order to extract a balanced amount of power and mid-range grunt. 13B rotors were then thrown in and the engine was sealed up with 20B intermediate and side housings, as well as the 20B eccentric shaft. A custom exhaust manifold was fabricated, and mated to the Trust T88-34D turbine that was chosen for the project. A full 90mm front pipe and titanium race exhaust not only help reduce weight but also allow the Hurricane 7 to growl at full blast. With the Trust intercooler lying flat in the engine bay, its piping was kept as short as possible to help its throttle response. Ama-san plans to map out the MoTeC M800 so it can make peak power around the 600hp mark, concentrating also on making it very responsive in the midrange so the car can be as street driveable as possible.


The RE Amemiya Hurricane 7 is set to run a series of shakedown tests at Fuji Speedway so the suspension and ECU mapping can be dialed in, all of which should have been completed well before you’ve read this story. Then, as we’ve heard on Bravo, it’s all "oh, here go hell come", which means, let’s see how fast this mother is going to be. With cars clocking in 1:42 laptimes currently at Fuji, the Hurricane 7 has plenty of work to do. The JDM tuning world is anxiously awaiting to see if it will be able to match Super GT times. Can it? Only time will tell…

Read more: http://www.superstreetonline.com/featuredvehicles/sstp_1109_1998_mazda_rx_7_fd3s_hurricane_7/viewall.html#ixzz1bRnyjB3k

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Nissan Skylines from way back

1974 Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-X and 1972 Nissan Skyline 2000 GT - Low And Slow

For this edition of Back In The Day, we bring you a special pair of Skylines. Since this issue is geared towards the stance craze, it only seemed right to show some love for some of the foremost purveyors of the style—Fatlace. Since coining the term "Hellaflush" these guys from the Bay Area have done a lot to advance the scene and broadcast dumped cars all across the Internet.

In the left corner, wearing bronze Volks, we have Mark Arcenal’s Hakosuka. One of the most popular bodystyles of the Skyline and the first generation ever to wear the GT-R badge, the Hakosuka, or "box Skyline" is a legendary car. Rather than trying to update the vintage KGC10 Mark decided to embrace its roots and keep the car classic. The first order of business was to get the car as low as possible and throw on some stylish rollers.

Mark picked up the car as a stock GT-R clone from the guys at Right Hand Drive Japan. Within one week’s time he had the car torn down for some modifications to make the car a little more unique. Although he could have focused on generating more power, Mark opted to focus on aesthetics as he found performance to be a vain effort. "Sure you can go faster, but it [still] won’t keep up with a newer car," Mark explains.

In order to get the car a little closer to the ground, Mark was able to source some Eibach coilovers for the front and coupled them with a pair of JDM Toyoshima Lowered rear shocks and springs. The noticeable drop in height adds to the allure of the skyline and the recently offered TE37V wheels from Volk help the Hakosuka look the part of a vintage racer. In order to accommodate the wider footwear, Arcenal added some GT-R style fender flares that sit nicely atop the Toyo rubber.

　

To complete the race car demeanor Mark added a GT-R front lip and racing headlight covers—pieces that he gathered while on a business trip in Japan. The final step on the exterior was removal of the factory chrome bumpers, a popular weight reduction modification in Japan. The result is a simple sled that looks downright sinister while cruising the streets of San Francisco. There’s no denying the street cred that accompanies a slammed RHD JDM classic.

In the right corner, wearing gunmetal Wats, we have Felix Marcelino’s Kenmeri. Although not as popular (or common) as the Hakosuka, the Kenmeri has a cult following of its own. Due to the gas crisis in the ‘70s, less than 200 GT-R versions of the Kenmeri were built, making it an extremely rare and valuable car. However lower-end models aren’t too difficult to track down and Nissan even produced a Datsun version of the car for foreign markets—a first for the Skyline chassis.

 Also on the agenda was a low ride and a sick set of wheels. Felix opted to run Toyoshima Lowered suspension on all four corners to achieve a lower ride, but in retrospect Marcelino would recommend coilovers stating, "the ride is pretty bouncy." Once hunkered-down, Felix popped a set of timeless RS Watanabe wheels on the Kenmeri, housed by a set of GT-R style flares. The deep barrels and low-key flavor match up perfectly with the styling of the body, creating a classy look.

"You could do a lot more to [these cars], but why?" Mark asks, "Keeping it classy and classic is the way to go." We definitely couldn’t agree more. When you have a piece of JDM history at your disposal why wouldn’t you embrace it? We love these Skylines for what they are, and what they represent. The Beastie Boys probably said it best—"low and slow, that is the tempo."

From the October, 2011 issue of Super Street

By Sean Klingelhoefer

Read more: http://www.superstreetonline.com/featuredvehicles/sstp_1110_1974_nissan_skyline_2000_gt_x_1972_nissan_skyline_2000_gt/viewall.html#ixzz1aQTJycWH

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Casino offers plastic surgery jackpot By REUTERS

Rolling the dice and playing the slots at one Atlantic City casino may have gamblers in New Jersey cashing in on an unexpected jackpot: botox, cheek implants or liposuction.

One winner of the Trump Taj Mahal Nip, Tuck and Lift Sweepstakes could walk away with $25,000 toward an array of plastic surgery procedures, according to the casino.

Players earn chances to win the lucrative makeover throughout the month of October, with a drawing for the winner held on Oct. 29 at the casino.

“We wanted to change the face of a typical casino promotion and with this one we are literally doing it,” Trump Entertainment Resorts Senior Vice President of Marketing Kathleen McSweeney said.

“Many people have something they want to change; a nip and tuck here, a lift there, but the cost of these procedures can be quite costly,” she said in a statement.

The estimated cost of a breast augmentation is between $5,000 and $8,000 with an upper and lower eyelid tuck costing roughly $5,000, according to infoplasticsurgery.com pricing cited by the casino.

Botox injections run a couple hundred dollars while liposuction could cost between $2,500 and $10,000, according to the estimates.

The sweepstakes are open to Trump One Card holders who earn a certain number of points and then must be playing at the time of the drawing for a chance to win, the casino said.

The prize money will be awarded in cash, it said.

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