Sunday, February 17, 2013

Tyler's Stealth RT Twin Turbo to '99 3000GT VR4 Conversion


So if you guys have been following the Facebook page or my Instagram @lexilaron, you would have seen this car.


Even better you may have seen the picture showing the drastic difference between what this car looked like one month ago and what it looks like now.


About two months ago, Tyler was still driving this jolly green giant with two big 'ol centrifugal pumps force-feeding mass amounts of air into the V6 power plant while at the same time looking for a daily driver to use while he was building his car.

Only a couple of weeks into this decision, Tyler came across a Toyota Camry needing only minor work.  He picked it up for only a couple hundred of dollars, did some work to reset the timing and replace some oil pump gaskets, got it registered and inspected, and viola-- his 3000GT was sitting on jack stands in his garage.


So while we work on changing this car over from something like this:


To something more like this:


I'll be documenting his build as best as possible to bring you the best of content on this process.

Tyler drilling out his old headlight buckets' spot welds with a drill.

Until next time, stay tuned to Lexi.Laron.








Thursday, February 14, 2013

The Daily Werks Crew Meet: Chevillac Astrolade and More

Did you ever go out somewhere and see something you didn't want to see?  A lot of you have probably been to the movies or the mall and have seen an ex with her new boyfriend or his new girlfriend.  It probably sucked a lot and you probably went home and cried for days.

But have you ever seen something you thought you wouldn't like but actually liked it anyway?  The latter happened to me at Tuesday's The Daily Werks Crew Meet in Levittown, PA when I came across a couple of pretty sweet cars, as usual, but also some cars which were unique in their own refreshing way.

Check out what I'm talking about:


First car I shot at the meet was Negrete's Auto Sales' Van, a company out of Bensalem PA who a dude named Juan was repping.


I called it the Chevillac Astrolade because it was a mix between a Chevy Astro Van and a Cadillac Escalade, sporting Escalade, pearl white paint, real escalade rims, and a real escalade front end.



Juan and his boy parked the car outside of Sears and everyone started raising their brows-- not in disapproval, but in shock!




Sporting their own custom upholstry for their sound system featuring Rockford Fosgate Amps, JL Subwoofers, and a brand new top of the line Optima Battery to power it all, this car was bumping.


Props to Negrete's Auto Sales out of Bensalem, PA.


Bending over to take a couple of shots is one thing, but keeping your pants up while doing so is another!  As I was shooting this Z I pulled a plumber and my ass crack was showing the whole time.  Needless to say my kind friends were nice enough to tell me to pull my pants up.  Reality: they laughed.  -____-

Check out the gauges on this twin turbo Z33



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Later that same night after the Z33 and some of the other cars rolled out, Josh of N-Spire Performance showed up with some of his boys.  Although the car your about to see isn't finished, you can see that it's pretty serious, tucking some meety tires on a set of Enkei RPF1s under a full widebody.  Check out what this car used to look like.


...Man, uff yo' fitment...


Here's a set of Recaro Seats from an Integra (DC5) Type-R straight out of Japan.


Shot of Josh's car with some cool lighting tricks and an Iraqi Campaign Medal Plate!  God bless our troops!


Stay tuned for my feature of my boy's 3000GT build process later on here at Lexi.Laron.  Thanks for reading, b00yyyss and g@@lzzz


Sunday, February 10, 2013

Gazoo? Don't you mean Kazoo? How Toyota Continues to Become Cool

Hey there fans-- welcome to another news story by Lexi.Laron.  Although it's not coverage of a local car meet, you all should be pretty excited about this one because it's news that Toyota hasn't lost all of their cool...as a matter of fact they've been reviving their cool and I think you'll have to read on to understand.


As always, I've been progressing pretty well in life and doing my usual things like going on Facebook while seeming to come across beauties like this thanks to Grocery Getter Crew!


The car you see pictured above which is holding this wheel captive and covering a massive set of what looks to be at least a four-pot caliper setup with slotted racing disks is the child of Toyota tuning specialist: Gazoo Racing.  The car is called the GRMN (Gazoo Racing Masters of Nurburgring) FR Sports Concept and is based off of a Toyota GT-86.


Unveiled at the Tokyo Auto Salon, the GRMN FR Sports Concept will feature a redone interior with a full roll-cage, racing bucket seats with four-point harnesses, and other racing amenities pictured above.


However, this time (unlike the Subaru BRZ STi I featured later last year) someone has finally decided to make use of the boxer's name by mating a twin-charged setup to the FA-20, thereby producing 325 HP and 318 LB-FT of torque.  These numbers are less than the result of some ass-hat slapping a fan on the car, though as you'll note the OEM-looking components in the bay along with upgraded fittings and anodized components.  Interested yet?

Hopefully you are.  And if you are, then there's a chance that you or someone who's looking at this with you has probably said, "yeah, but if it's a GT-86, then why in the hell does it look like an Opel?"


The reason it looks like a totally different car is because it is actually going to have a totally new body kit with an entirely revised front end, including headlights, bumper, fenders, and hood along with a redone rear end including taillights, diffuser, added wing for extra downforce, and a new deck lid.  Throw in some side skirts and some 18-inch alloys wrapped in 245/40 tires up front and 265/35 tires in back and you've got yourself a very interesting car to say the least.


Putting the power to the ground will be a six-speed manual transmission with a mechanical LSD and modified suspension by Gazoo Racing.

For Toyota, it seems, the limits are endless as to what they could do in the future as they have made a tuning platform worthy of people's time and effort.  Until we see something like this on the street, I'll just leave this picture of a bucket seat from the GRMN FR Sports Concept here!  ^_^


'Til next time, keep it real.  

...Yours truly,

Thursday, February 7, 2013

The Daily Werks Crew: Tuesday Night Meet at Sears


So if you've ever passed by Sears Hardware on a Tuesday night near Oxford Valley Mall, you've probably wondered what all of those kids were doing, right?  Well, being part of that scene for quite a while now, I decided to take some pics of a meet just to show you.


For my boys and me it's always a tradition to go to Wings To Go for some chicken or some ish.  We love hanging out and talking cars or whatever the hell is on our mind before we head out to chill at the meets.


Usually you'll see my boy Edd of The Daily Werks Crew taking pictures.  He's pretty handy with his camera, and he doesn't even use a DSLR like most local photographers.  Check out Tyler's Miata (look up one)!!


Lots of Hondas and Acuras always show up to the meets.  Vdubs are welcome too!  Check out Mike's white Teggy and Blaine's black one.



Matt's Civic repping a couple of decals and an RIP Eddie Brodecki sticker.  Rest in peace DC5 buddy...


My boy Paul showed up with a new Civic on deck as well.  He says that he just ordered fenders to have them fixed and that he's getting curb rash on his wheels taken care of as well.  He owned a pretty clean Chevy S10 before this so my hopes are up for Paul!


And if you're rocking a camera and a strap at these meets, be sure to bring a tripod as well-- being ready to shoot at any time.  You could be asked to snap pics at any moment.  So, when these guys asked me to take a couple of pictures of their heavy duty trucks, I decided "why the hell not."


The Chevy flatbed you see above has a chrome differential casing and is in pretty good condition.  Wonder if this kid uses this as a work truck...who am I kidding, he's got to...


We then lined the trucks up and got some shots after deciding that we wanted pictures of these rear-wheel drive beasts.  Don't worry, you'll see the other one I'm talking about too.


'MURICA.


The other person who asked me to shoot his truck was driving a Ford Turbo-Diesel Powerstroke with a John Deer, Green paint job.  When asked for his buying price, he said he only paid $3500.  Now I know why these boys are driving trucks!  Lots of torque and power for a little price...not to mention they're reliable.


As always, all good things must come to an end guys.  That being said...


...I'm signing out.  Lexi.Laron, represent.







Sunday, February 3, 2013

Old Skool JDM Goodness: Nissan Silvia S12 Photoshoot


Some say that cars are just not cars anymore.  They say that with all of the technology, emissions revisions, and safety elements that cars are just becoming lackluster-- big boxes that transport us to and from our lackluster jobs in a lackluster world where people are lead to settle down and accept what they have as not up to par with their dreams.


Realizations like this are what lead the previous generation to mine to begin building and restoring muscle cars.  It allowed people like my father and my father's friends to relive their glory days, reminiscing on their wonderful teenage years without buying a time machine.  Big engines and light chassis with sexy lines were what turned those guys on.  But what about my generation?

The slew of 20-year-olds out there looking to stir up some of what defined automobiles for themselves while igniting a flame inside of their aging hearts?  What about my generation, looking to escape the ever-approaching reality of escalating responsibilities with four wheels and a motor?  What defines youth for us?


Cars like this: a Nissan Silvia S12, labeled the 200SX in America.  Pop-up headlights, lightweight chassis, all birthed to an era that strived for excessiveness!  Technology was becoming cheaper, but cars weren't being hampered by it!  Cars were being improved with technology, because the chassis remained light, the engines were becoming more powerful, and emissions weren't a huge issue!  


There was no such thing as an auto on-off engine back then with an advanced plant-like control system.  There was less weight and more mechanical efficiency.  Car companies were using THOSE things to improve their cars' efficiency levels all while inducing cool locking buttons on their door handles too!  :3


So when my buddy Ryan posted some blurry cell-phone pictures on Facebook and all of my buddies were going wild over his mystery car with cool 80's technology, I figured I'd head on over to Pottstown to get some sweet pics.



Although it was freezing, we handled the weather like men.  We talked about the car and Ryan gave me some information on it, including what he'd like to do to it, what it is like in its current state, how much he paid for it, and other car guy stuff.


The car is a notchback model with a 2.0 L SOHC engine that only puts out about 100 hp.  It's not much, but despite being such a small number the car still moved fairly well.  And that's how you know a 20+ year old car is bought in good condition!


With a one-piece drive shaft and rear LSD, this was one of the fathers to the S-Chassis Drift Cars that you know today.  Ryan, who went to tech school and college for automotive informed me of this while he was telling me of future plans for the car.  


Along with revamping the whole suspension with S13 parts for lowering and improved handling, Ryan plans on swapping a 3.0 L or four-cylinder turbo model's engine.  After all, it's not going to be easy to modify this old JDM gem.


However, with persistance and love, Ryan plans to make this one unique, cool little car; taking the technology and mechanical efficiency of my generation's younger days' cars and making it cooler than it already is.  I mean, it isn't a racecar...but it sure is something.

Until next time, this is Lexi.Laron signing out.