This is yet another build I’ve had stashed away for a while, one that I keep checking on for updates, hoping to see a bit more progress before I feature it. But with these builds there always comes a time when I realise that enough is enough, you all need to see it, no matter if it’s finished or not. The essentials are: 1978 Mini Clubman Estate (wag0n), rear mounted 20V turbo Passat VW engine, flat floor and raised suspension mounting points.
Category: Build Threads
Thai Kombi Restoration
Have you heard the one about the Thai guy who makes his own replacement metal panels for air-cooled VW’s? Well you have now! This build has been doing the rounds for a while, I always see it pop up on forums within various “best builds” style threads, and for good reason. The man with all the skill is Pat, a metal magician from Thailand who works in a very humble shop, bringing classic VW’s back to life, one hand-formed piece of metal at a time. Come and see for yourself how he restores his brothers very rusty 67 split-window Kombi ute, you won’t believe your eyes.
Oh, you like Datsuns?
Spriso Motorsports are truly living the Datsun life, now being in the game for over 10 years churning out nostalgic drop-top rides with modern Nissan running gear. Leigh, the man behind the Spriso website, emailed me to let me know that the team have documented 7 of their Datsun Roadster builds online. I love companies who take the time to do this sort of thing, it’s one thing for an individual to do it on a forum, but when a company does it, you know they go straight into our good-books. Check the links below to see more…
SR20 RWD Toyota Platz
I’ll admit, when I first saw an online image of this car in a Drift Tengoku magazine spread, I automatically assumed it was one of those weird front wheel drive ass-dragging drifters from Japan. But that was far from the case, you see this is little Toyota Platz (Echo/Yaris sedan) is actually powered by a black-top SR20DET, driving the rear wheels through an S13 diff/subframe.
Of course my friend Mike (resident Echo and general obscure small car guru) would be the guy to come up with a link to the build process, thanks Mike!
Fiat 126 Supercharged 1100cc
This little Fiat had no idea what it was in for when it left the factory. Produced in Italy for 8 years and Poland for a staggering 27 years, this lucky example of a 126 was plucked from its mundane life of basic transportation and blessed with a second chance. The team at RetroPower stripped it down until it was merely a bare shell, then fabricated a new tube frame chassis to sit beneath it. A 330bhp Rotrex supercharged Honda Blackbird motor was mounted in the rear, ensuring that the appearance of this car is all that remains of the original DNA.
Thanks to Kai from Motoraver for submitting, all the way from Berlin.
Official Porsche Restoration Update
Towards the end of last year I made a post about the restoration of a 911 being undertaken by Porsche Classic. Since then, there has been plenty of progress and many updates to their website, with the body now being past the primer stage and into the body shop awaiting it’s coat of colour, it won’t be long until the refurbished engine makes it’s way back into this restored classic and the finishing stages can commence. See below for some of Porsche’s stunning photo-documentation of the process.
Turbo ’77 XS650
Time for another bike build. This one is located on a Honda car forum of all places, but there’s nothing Honda-related about this DIY fabricated classic Yamaha. In fact, the bare engine and a small percentage of the frame is all that’s left of the original bike, with the rest being hand-crafted by the owner, resulting in one very unique looking two-wheeled monster. The 650cc engine is converted to fuel injection, and an intercooled turbo setup is somehow squeezed into the very custom frame. With so much intake and exhaust pipework snaking its way around the bike and a rocker-arm rear damper setup, it takes on an almost robotic appearance and begins to resemble something a comic book superhero would ride. Well, that’s my opinion anyway! Come and see how it was done…
Thanks to Daniel for submitting.
Hayabusa powered MRS
Apologies for the lack of updates this week. Here’s a quick one courtesy of Todd from NZV8 Magazine, a fiberglass-paneled ZZW30 MRS with a turbo’d Hayabusa motor replacing the standard Toyota donk.
For a previous ‘busa powered feature, click here.
’69 FJ40 Rock Crawler
Keeping things off paved roads just like the last post, we’ll now turning our attention to an FJ40 Landcruiser build. Born out of necessity after his last FJ was written-off in an accident, Jon took the opportunity to build the dedicated rock-crawler that he’d always wanted, complete with LS1 power. This is a great build for those of you who like a lot of detail and enjoy a good read.
I’ve featured a modern FJ cruiser build from the same forum, back when Build Threads first started, you can read about that one here.
Thanks to Dickson for submitting.
Extreme Camper Build
Every now and then I like to change it up completely on you guys, just to break the chain of the drift/race cars, engine conversions, and uber cool tig welding shots that we all love so much. Whether it be a left-of-field car, a trike, or even something electric powered, a bit of variety keeps things fresh. Well, today I’m really gonna change it up! Jake emailed me a link to this build a while back, and to be honest I didn’t know what to expect when I saw the title, but a quick browse of the first page had me hooked.
An ex-military truck converted into a camper van? Yeah, I think that qualifies as “different”.