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I was very happy to see this one pop into my inbox, not just because it’s been a while since the last electric build, but because an S2000 is a very unlikely candidate for an electric engine conversion.
Thanks to Tito for submitting. Click here for more electric builds.
Here’s Part 2 of my insight into some of my favourite builds from the JDM Style Tuning forums.
For Part 1, click here.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I love seeing pictures of cars that are in various stages of assembly, even more than the finished item. I just love seeing that raw metal, with missing panels showing off the mechanical underpinnings, the car sitting low to the ground with an abundance of tyre tread on display due to lack of guards/fenders, and the combination of factory parts with hand-made additions. It’s that very love of tough-looking yet incomplete cars that drew me to this build, with it’s “minimal metal/maximum tyre” appearance. The builder of this AMX has actually graced these pages before, being the man behind the $5,000 budget Mustang (another great thread for those of you who’ve never seen it).
Click here for more Pro Touring builds.
I’ll admit it, when I first received a link to this thread, I thought “oh no, I can’t feature a car whose main purpose is to get as low as possible, the fans will destroy me in the comments!”, but then I dug a little deeper. As build thread aficionados, I think we all agree that the journey is more important than the destination, and this car takes one hell of a journey, regardless of it’s intended purpose. Among the many modifications, the owner/builder installs a front subframe into the rear of the car to achieve his ride height goals, and then custom fabricates a set of hydraulically controlled adjustable spring perches for his coilovers. There’s also plenty of milling, lathing, welding, general fabrication, bodywork, spray painting, lots of tool porn (I hope you like hammers!), and plenty of high quality details, like the ARP bolts being used for engine accessories. I mean, the guy even hammers out his own damn shoe-horn from a piece of 16ga stainless steel! Once the suspension is finalised, the car is torn down and it’s rebuild is currently in progress. This build has held my attention on-and-off for over a week now, and I’ve loved every page of it, plus the name of his blog is Wrinkle Red, and we all know I’m a fan of wrinkle red paint!
Submitted by one of the owners friends who wishes to remain anonymous. Click here for more MKIII builds.
Continue reading “4 struts, 17 inches, 2 switches: MKIII Jetta”
I’m a member of many different forums, but I’m not much of a poster. JDM Style Tuning was one of the first forums that I really got involved in, posting regularly and attending meets. While I don’t post there much these days, I still like to read the forum almost daily and make the odd post every now and then. There are a number of great builds on the forum, so I thought I’d do a little spotlight on some of my favourites in no particular order. Please note, this is not a “best of”, it’s just the ones that tickle my fancy. There’s a few builds to get through, so I’ll split them up over a few different posts over the next couple of months in between regular build features.
Residing amongst the sea of first-gen Camaro’s on the Pro Touring forum lies this very special bug, one that I’ve had my eye on for a few years. After owning an assortment of muscle cars, the owner realises his childhood dream of owning a V8-powered VW Beetle by buying one already complete. Once he takes a closer look, though, he decides the circa-1980s construction methods weren’t up to his standards, so begins the tear-down and rebuild in a more modern Pro-Touring style.
Thanks to Martijn for reminding me about it. Click here for more Beetle builds.
This next build was found via Instagram of all places. I noticed a new follower pop up in my feed, clicked on his profile and I was greeted with images of this Pro Street ute build. After a few comments back-and-forth I located the build thread online and now I want to share it with you. The car in question is a 1966 HR Holden – an Australian car manufactured under our local GM banner – being transformed to a full chassis drag car in the owners garage. By the way, there is no official Build Threads Instagram account, but feel free to tag your projects with #buildthreads to share and connect with other readers.
Click here for more ute builds.
This build is only in it’s early stages, but it is of such an extreme nature that I just had to feature it straight away. I think it’s one of those projects that will get a lot of exposure very quickly, and then I’d be all butt hurt about the fact I didn’t feature it sooner (as has happened in the past), so here it is. It’s quite simple really, the car is a Triumph Spitfire, and the engine is from a helicopter. Yep, nothing to it…
For this build you’ll need to take a step outside of the scene we’re all entrenched in, and see things from a different perspective. Shawn Hibmacronan isn’t your typical hardparking scene-kid, out to get a magazine cover and a tyre sponsorship, far from it. Shawn is an artist, and I’m talking about an actual artist here, not just a guy who doodles in his spare time, but someone who lives his life creating mechanically-influenced sculptures. His latest project, however, finds him crossing over into our world; an aired-out ’63 Ford Econoline with a VW TDI engine swap. Shawn’s philosophy for the car is a bit different from what we’re used to, and that’s what I love about it. It’s refreshing to hear someone from a different subculture talking about a process we’ve become so accustomed to. Another interesting element of this build is that Shawn has started a Kickstarter campaign to help funding, now why didn’t I think of that?!
Let’s wrap this up, shall we? This fourth (and final!) segment will be all of the satisfying stuff. Now that all of the fabrication and test-fitting had been completed, I could move on to the fun stuff; making everything pretty and bolting it all back onto the car.
