Auto Otaku: Car and Life

C&Y Sports 2JZ-Powered Hakosuka Project

C&Y Sports is no stranger to wild engine swap projects. Some of their past jobs include jamming RB26DETT's into both an SXE10 Altezza and an AE86 Levin. Their latest project is even crazier. In a move that is sure to get some flak from the "purists", C&Y is outfitting a Toyota 2JZGTE engine into a customer's KGC10 Skyline.

Don't think that this is just a simple swap with a mostly-stock engine for reliability purposes. Both the firewall and the transmission tunnel have been extensively modified to fit the 2JZ and its Getrag transmission in a front-midship configuration. The engine is being fed by a massive T88-38GK turbine. C&Y estimates that power levels will be north of 800ps when the car s completed, making this one of the most powerful C10 Skylines ever. The suspension is also receiving a complete overhaul and will use both S13 Silvia and R33 Skyline GTR components. It also looks like the car will be outfitted with a set of Work Meister S1 wheels as well as eye catching green paintwork.

These pictures were taken earlier in the build and much progress has been made since then. The February issue of Option2 has a nice update that shows some photos of the engine and work to the firewall/transmission tunnel. C&Y is planning to debut the finished product at the Exciting Car Showdown this April. Should be quite an amazing machine when it is done. I'm looking forward to see how the finished product turns out.

Plans

I must say that after my earlier post , the feedback I have received from readers has been tremendous. I have read all of the emails and comments and I think I have come up with a plan for the future of this site. A lot of people have asked to see more about daily life and other non-car related aspects of Japan,while others have suggested that this site remain true to its original car-related focus. I have decided that I will start a new blog that will cover more of my daily life, Japanese stuff,  and other random things I find worth posting. I cannot gurantee it will be very interesting, but I also have friends and family back in the United States that are interested to see what is going on here. Hopefully it will be up within the next week. My main focus,however, will continue to be improving this site and delivering more and better car-related content as well as continuing to collaborate and work with other publications from around the world. Here are few of the ideas I am working on for this site's content-

Car Movies, Comics, Games,Toys - In Japan there are a lot of car related comic books (like I have posted about before), TV shows, movies, and video games and many of them were never released outside of Japan. I am stumbling across new ones everyday so expect to see more about this sort of thing.

Feature Cars- I am working on doing some feature cars in the future. I plan on focusing on the privateer-owned vehicles and the grassroots motorsport movement. As much as I like the high-tech, big dollar stuff, I know people can relate to the "little guys".

Shops and Garages- There are so many small tuning shops in Japan and all of them have something interesting about them. I plan on showcasing some of these shops on the site. Some specialize in classic car restoration. some focus on drifting, and others only specialize in one type of car (IE Garage FK and their Hondas)

Video Content- This will probably be one of the biggest new additions to the site. In the future I will begin recording unique video content at various events and races I cover. Pictures are great, but I can't recall how many times I have posted a picture and thought to myself. "If you could only hear or see this in action." The photo content will remain as well, I will just be that much busier when I cover events. The videos will not be Hollywood-quality but hopefully they will help bring the cars to life.

Again, I really appreciate all of the feedback. It has really made me happy knowing that you guys enjoy reading this site as much as I do putting it together. Thanks for taking the time to tell me your thoughts. Please continue to let me know what you would like to see or what I can do to make the site better.

New Year Meeting Part Two: Parking Lot Boogie

As I mentioned in the previous post, the JCCA New Year Meeting draws classic cars and classic car enthusiasts from all over Japan. The majority of the cars that make the trek, however, did not come to be displayed in the show itself. From early morning until late afternoon, the streets were filled with the sounds of Solex-equipped L28's echoing off the nearby skyscrapers. While the cars in the show itself were mostly of the restored, collectible, variety, the parking lots were filled with a variety of machines ranging from from the mild, to the wild, to the downright strange.

While I was walking around with my camera, I wondered if I would look funny wandering the parking lot taking photos. Luckily, my worries soon evaporated when I saw many other people walking around the parking lots taking photos and enjoying the cars. The parking areas were literally another show in themselves. There were even people selling parts out of their trunks and "tailgating". Although the cars in the actual show were limited to being older than about 1979, the machines in the parking lots spanned far beyond that. Walking around ,I noticed many cars that I recognized from Japanese magazines. The cool thing was that the cars were coming and going all day long, so you could see them in action. As the uniform-wearing traffic guards would direct cars out of the parking lot, in true-boso fashion many the drivers would dump the clutch and scream out into the street ,blowing their signature musical horns. The crowd absolutely loved it and even the traffic guards didn't seem to care.

At first it was a little intimidating being around these wild-machines, I was kind of scared that some angry Yankees might not like a tall American guy taking pictures of their rides. It turns out that everyone was really cool, and they loved the attention. All the dudes were really easy-going. I even struck up a few conversations with some other enthusiasts/car owners. It was a great time.

Now on with the photos-

 

Toyota GX71's like this one have been a long time favorite of this crowd.

Not all of the cars were so extreme. Here is a very simple, yet tasteful S30Z.

yon-meri (Japanese for "4 door C110")

Painted like a Japanese fire truck, this wagon is packing 3SGE power, notice the roll cage.

The 70 chassis Corolla has been a long-time favorite of privateers in Japan.

F31 Nissan Leopard AKA Infiniti M30 in the United States.

Shakotan kenmeri.

Cherry PL510 Bluebird sedan. Awesome work on the ride height and wheel fitment of the Watanabe's.

This 911 looks like it is ready to go prowling for GTR's on the Wangan.

One of my favorite S30Z's of the day.

More GX71 coolness.

Sharknosed GZ10 Soarer. The paint job is so cool.

GC210 "Japan" Skyline.

More kenmeri.

This one may upset the purists a little.

If only this picture had sound...

Three 110 Sunny's.

I loved this Laurel SGX.

Three nearly-stock GC110 Skylines.

Not so stock GC110.

SSR Mk. 1's, oni-camu, ground-scraping GX71.

240ZG and friends.

AE86, check out the over-fenders.

Early Mark II/Chase goodness.

Z31

Ultra-low Sunny Truck.

"Just another" C10 Skyline.

More? Why not.

Aero-equipped S130Z with panasports. Someone in the US, buy one of these cheap and build it.

Kyuu-sha heaven.

More 70-chassis. So simple, yet so aggressive. Most of these cars had an attention to detail that you need to see in real life to appreciate.

TE27

DR30 Skyline RS-Turbo.

Another 510.

C110 Skyline Ambulance. Skyline Ambulance!!?

Sci-fi Chrysler Imperial. This one was a fan-favorite.

Celica XX.

Kenmeri Skyline with ultra-rare and ultra-expensive Sakura wheels.

I'll let you guys go through the rest of the photos on your own. The full gallery is right HERE . I hope you enjoy looking at the photos as much as I did taking them. That ends the New Year Meeting coverage for now. I am already excited for the '09 NYM. By the way, I have been reading all of your feedback about the site and I really appreciate it. I am coming up with some ideas and I will post them very soon. Stay tuned and as always thanks for reading.

Coverage:JCCA New Year Meeting In Tokyo Part One

Madness. That is the only word that can describe yesterday's Japanese Classic Car Association New Year Meeting in Odaiba, Tokyo. For a Japanese classic car enthusiast or even just a fan of cars in general, this event is a rite of passage. It is a tradition for enthusiasts go gather in their home areas and make the predawn-dawn cruise down to Odaiba for the meeting. Unfortunately my trip was not quite so exciting. After waking up at 6am, we headed south at 80mph through the countryside on the Tsukuba Express. In the early morning sun Mt. Fuji was visible, which is a good sign as it is rare to be able to see Fuji-san from Ibaraki. After changing trains a couple times in Tokyo, we finally reached the event site on the man-made super island of Odaiba. The streets were lined with vintage cars of all types, waiting to get into the show or the spectator parking lots. While about 400 cars were in the show itself, that actual number of classic cars in Odaiba was probably closer to 1000.

For this year's meet, Toyota was the featured mark. Virtually every Toyota model was present. Including the Sports 800, 2000GT, KP Starlet, various generations of the Crown, Mark II, Celica, and what had to be the biggest gathering of TE27's that I have ever seen in one place. Here's a few of the Toyota's from the show.

Some of the many TE27's in the show, check out the rally-style fog lights on the left car.

Nearly all of the TE27's were either this Orange color or the British Racing Green-esque color seen above.

These two Hayashi Street-equipped Celicas were nearly identical, with the exception of one being a coupe and the other being a lift-back.

More vintage Toyota compacts just outside the main gate.

Two Starlets with TRD flare kits.

This left -hand drive Cressida Wagon was imported from the United States. Note that it still has a California blue plate. This car was one of many left hand drive Japanese cars at the show that were "re-imported" back from the United States. Some of the others included another Cressida sedan, a 2-door Datsun 510, a Datsun 620 Pick-up truck and a couple 240Z's.

Low Crown Wagon on whitewalls = cool. Note the custom number plate "1966", the year of the car.

Rare Crown 2-door hard top.

The 2000GT looks great in gold. This example is from Tsukuba city, where I am living now.

Toyota Publica Roadster.

Mitsubishi was the featured mark at last year's show, but even this year I was surprised by the number of classic cars from the three diamond boys.

Part of the day's festivities included parades where the entrants would cruise around the area. This provided a great opportunity to see and hear the cars action. Though to really see them in action we will have to wait until the JCCA racing festivals later in the year. Here is a Galant during one of the parade runs.

The classic Mitsu guys are a small, but dedicated bunch.

The Honda enthusiasts were also out in force with a number of Z's, N360's and S roadsters.

All original Honda Z.

You don't hear a lot about early Honda's being street-modified like the other makes, but check out this N360 with SSR Mk.2's and bolt-on flares, among other modifications. This was one of my favorite cars at the show.

I love how the exhaust comes out of the grill.

Check out the Advan rubber, so cool.

Honda S800 coupe.

Isuzu is a pointless brand in the United States now, selling only re-badged Chevy SUV's, but they used to make some really cool stuff in Japan, like the Bellett GT.

Bellett's get wicked negative camber in the rear when they are lowered.

The owner of this Red Bellett came all the way out from Shizuoka Prefecture.

Now for the vintage Nissan's, which have the biggest following and appeared in the greatest numbers. By the end of the day I was almost "sick" of seeing of Hakosuka's, Kenmeri's and S30Z's. That is a good thing.

240ZG.

Hakosuka sedan.

Although most C10's are usually silver or white, they also look quite good in bright red, like this 4 door.

Timeless.

Laurel SGX.

110 Sunny GX.

More Hakosuka craziness.

S20 under the hood of a genuine Z432.

C10 Skyline Van (wagon) in the parking lot.

Although not ultra-well embraced by Z fans in the US and abroad, the S130 has a strong following Japan. It was a very important car in the early days of the Japanese tuning scene.

Nissan Cedric in taxi form. Looks straight out of Seibu Keisatsu.

Datsun Roadster Club display.

Extremeley rare KPGC110 Skyline GTR, genuine.

Here are a few of some other unique vintage Japanese vehicles from the show-

These early "san rin-sha" (three wheeled vehicle) are the predecessors to the current kei trucks that fill the roads of Japan.

Early Toyota Vans.

These early Subaru vans and pick-ups were sold in the United States as well, just not the ultra-fast STI version. (That was a not very funny joke.)

This is awesome. It's like a mother san-rin truck carrying it's child.

Before there was the Titan and Tundra, there was this. I love the wide whites.

This guy was giving demonstrations and cruising around all day, he kind of looks like Gen. Kuribayashi from Letters From Iwo Jima.

Most Japanese people known Hino as the maker of large commercial trucks, but they used to make passenger cars as well. You can see a lot of Chevy Corvair influence in this Contessa Coupe.

This beast was in the swap meet area.

Besides all of the classic Japanese machinery, the New Year Meeting also includes foreign cars of all types, from American low riders and muscle cars to VW's, Jags, and many other European cars. The quality of these cars was absolutely amazing.

This 'Cuda can be found at drag strips all over Japan.

Ridin' solo.

You don't buy a car like this and then complain about people giving you weird looks when you are driving down the road.

Huge gathering of Lotus Europa's.

A 1957 Plymouth, very similar to the car from the movie Christine. I was brought up around old American cars so I will always have a soft spot for cars like this. This is one of my favorites.

Alfa time.

For a moment I thought I was in East LA or the LBC. Dre and Snoop would be proud.

Lastly, a few shots from the swap meet/auto jumble area. For those with money to spend, there were a million different ways to spend it at the New Year Meeting. Vendors sold everything from parts and wheels to toys, models, magazines, and stickers. You could even purchase whole cars. Next year I am going to drive to this event so I will have a way to get stuff home. I don't think it would be too fun carrying a set of wheels home on the train.

Take your pick!

Sticker city.

I need to stay away from places like this.

S30Z sus.

Check out the S20 cam cover.

Nothing is cooler than selling the parts from the back of a Skyline van.

That wraps up the coverage of the show itself. I think this probably the longest single post I have made since I started this site. Check out the full photo album with 370+ photos right HERE. If that is not enough, don't worry. This post is just half of the action from the New Year Meeting. The surrounding parking lots and streets were just as, if not more exciting the show itself. If you want to see more, or think that these cars are a little to "mild" for you, wait until you see the next post. Look for it soon.

What's Next? You tell me.

Lately I have been thinking a little bit about the future direction of this site. Since relocating to Japan, traffic has been way up and I'm happy about that but I'm trying to think of ways to improve content (and to post more frequently). Basically I wanted to ask readers what kind of stuff they would like to see here. Do you want to see this site stay exactly the same as it is now? Do you want to see more of my daily life and other tidbits from Japan even if they may not all be car-related (Music, Food, Movies, Video Games, Traveling etc.) Also, as far as car stuff goes, what do you want to see more of? Vintage Japanese cars? drifting stuff? circuit cars? vanning/kei cars/VIP stuff? foreign cars in Japan? Tell me what you kind of stuff you would like to see. If you have any other ideas or feedback ,please let me know via comment, email, Myspace etc.

One more thing, check out this awesome R35 from TAS.

..and I thought we would have to wait until SEMA '08 to see stuff like this.

TC2000 Drift

Tsukuba Circuit is one of the most well known race tracks in Japan. Despite the fact that it is too small to host big racing series like Super GT and Formula Nippon, the track is still recognized by enthusiasts worldwide. Tsukuba is a tuner's track. It is the proving ground for all of Japan's biggest time attack players as well as the OEM manufacturers. Tsukuba also used to play a prominent role in the drift scene. For a few years, Tsukuba was the site of the D1GP championship round as well as other large scale drift events like the Advan Drift Meeting. A couple years ago, however, D1 took Tsukuba off the schedule as they expanded to larger courses like FISCO and Suzuka. Tsukuba was still host to an occasional event, though most of them were held on the gymkhana course and not on the main 2000 course.

It looks like in 2008 Tsukuba will be getting back some of its lost drift action. Although Tsukuba is not on the main D1 schedule for 2008, D1 Street Legal will be holding its final round at Tsukuba in December. In addition there are several other large-scale drift events scheduled to take place at Tsukuba this year. As I mentioned in the previous post, TK club includes both grip and drift run groups at its events. The drift group included about 50 cars. most of them belonging to privateers from the Kanto area.

This event had a partiularly strong AE86 showing. Most of the 86's were privateer-owned street cars, sans graphics, aero parts, and wild paint. The pit areas looked like vintage wheel museums, with piles of Longchamp, SSR Formula Mesh, Watanabe, and Hayashi Street CR wheels - all in negative offset and small diameter.

Making 2008 look like 1998.

Another AE86 Trueno from Ukiya Shoukai .

Of course there were Silvia's also, like this pink S15 and sparkly-terrific S14 from Garage Miralda in Chiba.

This Ibaraki-based JZX100 Chaser was throwing down some of the most aggressive angle of the day.

Now for some action shots-

Also having some of the day's most impressive moves was this ground-scraping 180SX.

S15 and FD tandem. This was one of my favorite shots of the day.

Few things sound better than shredding tires and a naturally aspirated 4AGE screaming at 8000 rpm.

Immense angle from the JZX100 going into the first hairpin.

I can't wait to see what the rest of 2008 has in store for drifting at Tsukuba. Check out the complete photo album here .

TK Club Tsukuba Part One: Grip

On the 13th of this month following the second round of the BE-Circuit Time Attack at Tsukuba Circuit, I decided to stick around for the afternoon event, a driving meeting hosted by TK Club. What is interesting about the TK Club events is that they combine both grip and drift racing. The field was  divided into three run groups with two for grip and one for drift. For this post I will be taking a look at the grip portion of the event.

Here are few shots from the grid area-

Championship White brothers, DC2 Integra Type R and an EK9 Civic Type R.

On busy, multi-event days like this one, the pit area at Tsukuba becomes a packed parking lot of circuit-going cars. On this day, the afternoon event participants staged outside of the track during the morning to provide a smooth transition between events.

As usual, several FD's were among the participants. It has been strange for me getting used to seeing so many FD RX7's both on the street and on the track. Of course the car continued to be sold here for about six years after Mazda stopped importing it to the United States.

What's cooler than seeing a Nissan Stagea ripping around the track? I don't know, but this was one of two at the track.

This JZX100 Mark II ran in both the grip and drift sessions.

Caged AE86 Trueno, +0 ET TE37's.

FD2 Civic Type R chasing an S15.

BNR34 with Maziora-type paint, Nismo Aero and LM　GT4's. One of the fastest cars of the day.

While the R34's were quite impressive, I have been having somewhat of an infatuation with R33's recently. I think this car is part of the reason why-

I thought it was a GTR at first, but I have been it has been brought to my attention that it lacks the GTR flares. Upon closer inspection it does appear to be an ECR33 coupe. Coolest Rver? If not, it's right up there. I love the fender flares+ low ET TE37's with an even more aggressive concave face than normal GTR sizing. This car absolutely ripped around the course.

You are looking at R33 perfection.

If that wasn't enough, how about this bitchin' 33GTR?

All of that was just half of the event. Check out the rest of the photos here. Tomorrow I will cover some of the much-anticipated Tsukuba 2000 course drift action.

Hokkaido Ramen and a KPGC110

Today we headed to Odaiba in Tokyo for some shopping and to check out the ramen theme park at Aqua City. The weather in Tokyo today was ugly today with snow in the morning that later turned into a cold, windy rain. Luckily our destination was indoors and the massive bowl of Hokkaido style ramen did wonders on a cold day. While I was there today, I noticed that the grounds for this Sunday's Japanese Classic Car Association New Year Meeting are already being prepared. I felt bad for the people out there setting everything up, but Sunday's weather is calling for "abundant sunshine" and warmer temps. Honestly, I am more excited for this event than I was for Tokyo Auto Salon. Of course I will post up  coverage here so keep an eye out for it this weekend.

When we were shopping today I stopped by the Toys R' Us to have a look at the toy car section. This is a a habit that I have carried with me since childhood and I like it even better here in Japan. Next time I will take a camera to show some of the cool stuff available at any Toys R' Us in Japan. For now I'll just share what I bought today.

It's a roughly 1/24 scale radio control version of a KPGC110 Ken and Mary Skyline GTR. It is made by Taiyo R/C and is part of their new Nostalgic Car series.The price was not bad and the car is actually quite detailed for its size. The wheels are RS Watanabe with the rears being wider than the front, which I thought was a nice touch. I haven't had a chance to "play" with yet but I guess the headlights light up when you drive it. Hopefully it will sound just like the real-S20 powered GTR but I somehow doubt it. When the wife tells me to stop playing with it, I guess I will have to retire it to the top of my desk.

According to Taiyo's web site, the Nostalgic Car Series came out recently. The other two available models are a KPGC10 Hakosuka GTR and a BNR32 GTR. For me, it was tough choice between the Hakosuka and the Kenmeri, but the the sexy tail panel (even in minature) of the KPGC110 won me over.

Here is the Hakosuka version-

I guess I will pick up this one next time. Just looking at this radio control car sitting on the table is getting me fired up for the JCCA event this weekend. Check out more info on the Taiyo Nostalgic Car Collection right here .

Garage FK at Tsukuba

A few weeks ago when I was at Tsukuba for the Power House Amuse Time Attack SPL, I headed over the smaller Tsukuba 1000 course where Honda specialist, Garage FK, was holding a small driving meeting. While most people are familiar with the well-known Tsukuba 2000 course, the 1000 course offers a different kind of driving experience. This course is well-suited for smaller NA cars like Honda's, Mazda Roadsters, and AE86's.

Garage FK lives and breathes Honda. One of their most well known projects is their K20 powered GT2000 Fit. Unfortunately the Fit wasn't at Tsukuba that day, but here are a few photos from FK's site.

The FK fit uses Bomex aero and it actually works quite well on this car.

Engine is fairly mild with the additions of one-off Garage FK ECU, air cleaner, and muffler.

I hope to go check out FK's facility in Saitama soon. One of their current projects is K20 swap into the new style Fit RS that just debuted in Japan. Should be an interesting project.

Now for a few more pics from the FK track day-

Early model DC5 Integra Type R. This one was using a combination of 16" front and 17" rear SSR Type C wheels.

This CRX was one of several older model Hondas on hand.

FK's EG6.

EK9 Civic Type R, set up like many of the track-going Hondas in Japan.

It's hard to imagine, but the EF9 Civic is now 20 years old. They are fairly rare to see here so I was quite surprised to see this pristine example out on the track.

I have a few more pics uploaded here. Also take a look at Garage FK's site here .

Kei Sports

Nothing of much substance here, I just thought this was kind of cool. Today I checked out this used car dealer called Isomasa Auto that specializes in kei cars, namely sports type kei cars.

The Red car is a rare Mazda Autozam AZ1, the other are Honda Beats. Beats are somewhat common but this is the first time I have seen an AZ1 since I have been here.

They also had a couple Suzuki Cappuccino's. I like the silver one. Due to the rarity and demand, these cars are actually fairly expensive on the used car market. Buying a kei car gives the owner bigger tax breaks than larger cars. After seeing some of the roads here I it's also easy to see how their narrowness can be a good thing. I doubt I could fit in one, but I'm sure one of these would be a blast to drive around the winding back roads here.