You can read the whole article HERE

- Scottie

F 17×8.5J +23
R 17×9.5J +23

camber, -1F -?R (I think it is close to -3 but haven’t measured, just made it fit the fenders.)

I made a trendy watermark to use now as well.

A sleepy Saturday morning in Florida. With a dreadful overcast sky, Florida gave us what it is known for – rain, and a whole lot of it. It did not stop until late afternoon, with dismal skies and a light rain mist hanging overhead even after the downpour stopped. Even with the weather in doom and gloom mode, when I saw David Hayes‘ black Mazda RX7, I was simply stunned. As it drove through the city streets, you could just see all the heads turning to watch it weave through traffic.

The story of David’s FD3S RX7 starts way back in 1994. He is the original owner of this black beauty; he took it right off the showroom floor… and being the only owner of this car, he actually knows everything that has gone into the car, and everything it has been through. Want me to blow your mind? With the exception of the Pettit rear flares and 99 spec front end, the car’s paint is completely original as well.

I was no stranger to the story of David’s epic tale, as I have been following it since the beginning. All the details of his journey are logged in the RX7club.com forum. If you look it up, be prepared to read for a few days if you want to read it word for word, haha! His story seems even more surreal when he actually tells it, rather then reading his daily updates in the 7club forum thread.

So let’s start off in July 2004 (remember this start date), which is when David took the car to Pettit Racing in Florida to begin his 20B three rotor swap. Pettit did the 20B conversion rather quickly and had issues fully tuning the EMS on a twin turbo setup. He was promised 15lbs of boost, he ended up with 12lbs running 400 RWHP and ended up blowing the secondary turbo while still trying to break the motor in. This gave David the idea to scrap the twins and go for a big single turbo. He decided to let Gotham Racing (who no longer exists by the way) have a go at completing his car. Before he shipped it to them he was contacted by Wolf EMS USA who wanted to finish his swap, tune on their EMS system, use the car as a project for their own company and do it all for a low low price he could not refuse. So, off goes the FD to California in August of 2005. Remember how I said Pettit started the swap in July of 2004!!!

The plan was now a big GT42R single turbo and all the associated parts to upgrade the car which would be fabricated by ASE Engineering in Australia. They told him roughly two months of work time to finish the whole project. Which sounded great, David even planned to drive the car cross country back home with his wife in the passenger seat. This plan was short lived at best, while Wolf kept in contact with David, the turbo kit did not arrive till late January 2006. (Wait, wait, what happened to two months?) Let’s just say David had some issues with Wolf and in May 2006 he gave them thirty more days to finish the project. David arranged for a transporter to pick up the car at the end of this time frame. On pick up day the transporter (no not Jason Statham) called to notify him it would be impossible to take the FD. It was apparently in “a million pieces” spread all about the shop! With no other options David agreed to give Wolf thirty more days to wrap it up. Right now you are probably thinking: “I hope to God he has not paid for any of this mess.” Oh boy, so do I, but someone had to keep these shops afloat. And I bet you can guess who that someone was, because it sure wasn’t a small business tax cut, LOL. So, carrying on, Wolf still has the car. Unfortunately, David is unable to reach anyone at the shop and decides it is time to send the transporter again. This time the transporter tells David he really needs to get the car out of the shop. With the help of some local 7club members staking out Wolf to check on the FD and give David some peace of mind that his car was not in boxes headed for the borders. They finally packed the car up and it was sent off to Gotham Racing in August 2006 (there is another date).

With Gotham Racing now in control they had a two month back load before they could begin to look over David’s FD. When work began it was nothing but a list of shoddy workmanship. Bad wiring, missing fuel lines and clips, wrong injectors, his supposed HKS GT42R turbo was in fact a dual ball bearing T51R. Lastly, they discovered brass shavings during a simple oil change. This is just a small glimpse of what was wrong with his original built motor. Thankfully he was never able to get the car home, drive it for a week then have everything fail on him. I think my head would have literally exploded if that happened. (I hope you are asking yourself right now, “HOLY SHIT, DOES IT EVER END!!!!” because I will simply shake my head no.) Here we are, with what should be a concluding story. But oh the misery, issues arise at Gotham. Theft and landlord issues being key items to the companies demise. Winter 2008 (uh oh, there is another date) David jumped through hoops to have the car pulled from Gotham and sent to Jotech, a non rotary tuning shop for safe guarding till he can pick it up with a final dyno tune. With a rebuilt motor and now running a Precision Dynamics T76 dual ball bearing turbo, David waited outside as his car was dyno tuned. First run car makes 650 RWHP and 475 ft.lbs. of torque, not to shabby after his long journey. There were issues with this so they backed it off to the around 550 for their next run. On run three the 20B climbed to 7k RPM then, pow!, the motor goes. (oh gawd, I can’t take this any more)

At this point David decides he has come this far and he refuses to back down. He packs up the car and trailers it to Jesus Padilla at Kilo Racing, a rotary shop in Orlando, FL. Jesus rips through the car, rewires everything that is shoddy, rebuilds the motor with a Precision PT 78mm GTS turbo and gives it a solid tune. We can almost conclude his Lord of the Rings esque 10,000 page novel in mid 2009. (yeah, that’s right, 5 years later from when it started)

As of today, Jesus is pretty much finalizing the little things David has left and will give him a final maximum tune in the next couple weeks. He will be looking for another solid run, at around 650 horsepower. Even at his current 555whp and 476 foot pounds of torque, the car is incredibly fast and somehow tame at lower speeds… nothing like you would expect from a big power rotary. I was expecting a bucking bronco, but I got a nice, comfortable ride through some back streets.

Amazing how these 3pc Forgeline wheels traveled with the car through all the years of its epic journey and still remained in perfect shape. The polished lip looks great with the silver center. In case you were wondering how wide the wheels under the huge Pettit Racing rear flares are, they’re 18×12.5 (+7.5), wrapped in 335/30/18 tires.

Let us all bow to the final product which Kilo racing made possible!!! There is a whole lot packed into that engine bay, but would you expect anything less from a 650hp capable motor? I can’t imagine the headache if he decided to wire tuck that bay. Frankly, I would be scared to even try it after everything he has gone through.

One of our last points of attack was the Dames Point Bridge in Jacksonville. As the sunlight was disappearing the clouds dispersed enough for the sky to peak through.

To close out, this was the last shot I was able to grab before the sun completely disappeared. I plan to revisit with David in the coming months to reshoot the car on a no gloomy day. I know the sunset will make this car pop like it should.

– Scottie

Simply Clean stickers are available for purchase.
* Buy 1 Sticker for $4 shipped
* Buy 2 Stickers for $6 shipped
* Buy 3 Stickers for $8 shipped

They come in Silver, Gold and White. They are roughly 1.5″ x 8″ in size.

Silver is Dope, I will rock a few of these.

Gold for the classy folks.

and White for the ultra clean look.

Place your order here

– Scottie

Simply Clean from Bluemotion on Vimeo.

Back in January I covered the Simply Clean + Stance event in Orlando Florida, which was completely awesome. I am saddened to hear that the next event may not be till November of this year… sad face!! I wish these guys would do a rotating event every 4-5 months or so to help promote proper car building. Cars with sunken wheels are 8 years ago people; change with the times! Flush wheels and no drop don’t count either!

Anyway, the video is awesome and so is the sound track. Quan Vu at Bluemotion did an awesome job, and from the looks of it, it involved a Canon 5D Mark II. Rock on man – for his first car meet video, I am simply stunned. The song “More More More” is from the upcoming LP by SOY Is Real… so if you think it’s dope like I do, just watch the video over and over again.

Lastly, BIG THANKS to Simply Clean’s Nickoli for giving us the first shout out at the end of the video. You know I will be at the next one!!

If you want to view pictures of the cars that did not make it on the video and my coverage check out Nickoli’s link.

– Scottie Scheetz

I personally love the look SSR SP1′s offer. I have yet to find a car they look horrid on and in my opinion that is a very hard feat for a wheel to accomplish. Sorry RS’s but you just cant fit every car like some people believe. Just look at the overall stance on this hatch, not to mention the sexy paint color they chose.

The black on polished step lip to me is an unbeatable choice. Specially when the wheel fitment and clean fender work are added in. I truly wish I had the cash to rock some three piece SP1′s on my DD (drool).

–Scottie

On Saturday February 6th, Full Auto Motorsports put on one of the best driver oriented events possible.  Two courses, one drift and one grip were prepared at Tropicana Field in their huge parking lots.  With both courses running all day drivers were running out of gas before they knew it.  My biggest gripe of the day: The fact that I was behind the camera and not out in my  own car running the courses.

I am 90% sure this 99 spec red FD was running a V8 LS motor swap. It sure sounded amazing running the grip course, specially on the front straight away.

This silver E46 M3 was one of two M’s running the grip course all day. Both of them were running solid lines and quick lap times.

This red S14 had an amazing stance for a grip car. He looked solid in his course lines as well.

The grey Cressida was tearing up the drift course all day.

Not to mention the 1UZ sounded like a pissed off bull raging down the track.

When you carry a big lens it is not hard to find a driver ready to strike a pose.

Specially when he knows how to properly drift.

Leaving off, the driver of this 180 was incredibly consistent and laid down constant smoke trails.

At the end of the day, I really can’t think of any better way for drivers to practice. With something close to or if not more than 80 runs for the drift guys, there is no way a driver left without any improvement. I seriously need to get my own car running so I can take advantage of what Full Auto Motorsports has created.

–Scottie

I have had these images saved for a bit on my computer but figured I need to put them all in one place. Nothing more dope than having furniture made from car parts, let alone a set of 9.5 wide BBS’s.

Or a 14 wide for your coffee table.

LT5 motors make great end tables too.

I would definitely be happy with a full set of 4 of these bar stools in my house. Maybe another set of 4 in my garage.

4 cylinders can be handy as well.

But does not quite hold the same grace as a V8 holding wine bottles.

Sitting upright or in their natural position.

I dig what was done with this end table. The mounted pistons add a nice touch and give a full balanced appearance to the stand creation.

Who needs a “man cave” when you can litter your house with quality auto furniture. Who knows, maybe you can complete the look with a Jetta car sofa and chairs.

-Scottie

Check out Nickoli’s dope Scion xB and all the others from one of the dopest meets I have been to.

You can read the whole article HERE

AWOL – The Teaser from wagenwerks on Vimeo.

AWOL – The Teaser from wagenwerks on Vimeo.

First off, I recently realized something. Just because I may have seen a video, it doesn’t mean everyone else has. This being said, my New Year’s Resolution will be to pass on video links to every bad ass video I have seen.

So, I bring you a Wagenwerks and DubKorps video from 3 months back. This was the first time I had heard of DubKorps, so you Euro guys hold your horses!! I am incredibly familiar with the Wagenwerks videos and the guys who make them. Hey! They are from my home state of Virginia! After watching this video I suggest you check out their website Wagenwerks.net (their DVD is beast by the way) then hop on their Vimeo channel and watch everything you have not yet seen.

These guys produce legit videos. Their film and editing style are top notch in my opinion. If anyone actually could muster up the ability to claim their videos suck and back it up with a proper argument, send an email my way! I have a knuckle sandwich my mom made me a few years ago that has been waiting to be gobbled up. HAHA!!!

And one more thing… Our readers will begin to learn a few things about me… I don’t just stick to one car scene, I love them all (in a manly kind of way). While I do have a passion for rotaries, I follow the Euro, Honda, and Toyota scenes just as much. I even ride a fixed gear bike, (that would be a fixie for those of you want to call it that!) Bet you might never have guessed that!

(In case you are wondering: First song: Hollywood Undead_ City , Second song: Innerpartysystem_ Don’t Stop ) Both of which are amazing bands.

– Scottie Scheetz