Post-script..

Had to add this, but if you garner inspiration from Nagata Kazuhiko (a.k.a. “Smoky” Nagata) or his tuning company Top Secret, then please check out Ben Schaffer’s guest post on Speedhunters. It is very well worth it. Also check out VRT’s updates, C’s Garage, The Real JDM, and WreckedMag. If you are open minded as well, I suggest you check out “The World of Jates” and 40DEADMEN. Neither of them are automotive related, but written by two of my really good friends. Just go to the links section at the bottom of this page and navigate to any of those blogs.

じゃあ また

Good morning, adventurers.

This weekend actually turned out to be the busiest I have had in a while. Friday was pretty easy, went to a birthday party and met some people. Saturday, I woke up really early, did some productive things, hung out with my buddy and fiddled with his NB Roadster (which we actually planned on getting some things done but concentration was not strong and seized bolts and mosquitos kept us from getting stuff done). After that, chilled with a friend who is going away for school soon. Then kicked it from then until I went to sleep. And then yesterday, slept really late and went to the coffee shop afterward. So here are a shit ton of pictures that goes with all of this. Enjoy.

Saturday’s festivities…
So on this Roadster we were going to install a wideband and boost gauge, and possibly clean the header side of the motor since Matt said he was unhappy with the shape of it after he installed the blower. I would like to do a feature on this car once I can get some time set aside for it and possibly a new camera. This is not a good “photoshoot” setting since it is in a carport and there was limited space, but here are some mediocre pictures of what it looks like, what we were messing with, and some goodies he has added to it so far:

 

SPOTTED this AP2 with OE add-ons:

 

 

Yesterday’s shenanigans:

 

And lastly, this is what I made myself for dinner last night…yellow rice with hand-shredded chicken, black beans, crushed tortilla, assorted spices/seasonings, baguette, and a couple beers (yes, that is beer in the mason jar, not piss).

 

 

Welp that is all for now. Uploading the photos was a bitch. WordPress needs to make it a little smoother or something.
Late-

 

Artist: Morrissey
Track: “Speedway”
Album: “Vauxhall and I”

 

EDIT: The gallery setup was not working with the Roadster pics and was deleting a few others some how, so I had to insert them individually. What a pain..

Pretty inspiring videos..

Some really really good videos on youtube that I found a little while back and neglected to update about, until now.

Just meh.

Well, I got to see what the publishing companies have been up to the past month. Went to a bookstore and checked out some of the magazines. Got to say I was not really impressed at all. Most of the cars were nothing special in my opinion. Only thing I found good was Super Street’s article on sizing up turbos and picking out the right size for any given application. Now, I did NOT read every magazine in detail – front to back – but I usually look at the contents and see if there is anything interesting. I thumbed through them but I cannot say I saw that much. The only car features that got my attention were the Evolution GT Wagon and the Amemiya Genki 7 (duh!). Saw an article on PE’s quad charge setup for the GTR, but that is not too terribly new.

It is just my opinion, all of that. I would rather read about a car that the owner/builder spent the amount of time they did on the looks, on the tune and setup instead. Sure building a show-like quality car takes a lot of time and money, etc. But I personally would rather read about cars that the builder put the time and frustration into tuning the car itself – suspension, air/fuel layouts, chassis, tweaking things and making one-off modifications just to get the car that much closer to perfection [in their eyes]. I used to be able to say that it was just Honda Tuning leaning that way (publishing mostly show-like quality cars), but now that virus is just spreading.

By no means am I putting down all the people that create these individualistic, custom vehicles. That is great, for sure. But I suppose in my opinion, the perfect car would have at least 80% function applied to it and the rest for aesthetic. Also I think it is better to have more articles like, for example, the turbo one I mentioned above instead of so many reviews of sci-fi influenced wheels, monster-like audio equipment, or even few less bling-bling car features. That way readers that are relatively new to the car scene (and ultimately are somewhat like a clean slate) are actually being educated on something that will help them and to where they can make up their own mind on what to actually DO with the car, instead of throwing trends in their face. Not sure where I am going with this…more like a rant than anything. I guess I should just read Grassroots mag and get the rest of the BMIs that I do not have. Bleh.

Artist: Mono
Track: “L’America”
Album: “Under The Pipal Tree”

Spotted #1

This one is pretty old, but wanted to go ahead and use this post to start this category. ALSO, since the “Spotted” posts will be categorized, you (the reader), can go to the bottom of the page and click on the “Spotted” link which will show you all the posts that I will have made up until that point that will be under the banner of “Spotted”.
Now, this section/category will be of cars that I see in public that I like or want to discuss. I do not claim to own any of these, or have anything to do with them – unless otherwise stated. With all that out of the way, here is the initial (but aged) entry under the “Spotted” banner. Thinking about possibly using the gallery setup for the picture portion of each post…I will let it marinate and see what I think later on after this one. Enjoy!
PS- sorry for the crappy color, tried to fix it and it does look a lot better than the original. Camera is not too awesome…

 

Artist: American Nightmare
Track: “Your Arsonist”
Album: “Background Music”

Last night, met with the governing officials and discussed movies, a trip of one of their’s to Boston, and other random tidbits.

 

Perfect summer nights.

 

Artist: Give Up The Ghost
Track: “AEIOU”
Album: “We’re Down ‘Til We’re Underground”

おはよう!!

Such a nice morning. Went to bed early last night and woke up about 6:15…

62 degrees at 7:00AM. Felt great!

The sun has not completely woken up but it will be a beautiful day.

Best combination…a Spirit and a hot cup of coffee.

Tasty breakfast.

 

That is it for now…

Artist: Eastern Youth
Track: “Chiisana tomodachi”
Album: “Komo o inuku ga koe”

Cranial meltdown

 

So went out this evening to get some coffee and as I was pulling up through the parking lot, I see a red Ferrari F355 spyder sitting at the drive-thru window. I immediately flipped my shit. Exhaust note at idle sent chills up my spine. Sounded like it possibly had an aftermarket system on it. I told myself  “my night has been made” after seeing it. Then I go downtown later on and end up seeing a red F430 parked next to a midnight blue 348 or 512TR (I could not tell, it was too dark and I did not get the chance to walk close), both backed into the parking spots. I could feel my Italian heritage coming out and weakening me, like a slowly working poison, as I gazed upon all those marvelous vehicles. Again, I did not have my camera and was kicking myself in the ass for the rest of the night.

Lesson learned: Carry camera with me everywhere.

 

The brew I have this evening is Yuengling Black & Tan. It is not too bad. Pretty light for a dark porter. Does not leave me feeling like I had a seven course meal after drinking about three, unlike Guinness (even though they are two different types of beers). But I would drink Guinness over this selection any day.

 

Welp, goodnight all…or an early “good morning” I suppose. Blast my insomniac habits! 

Artist: Joy Division
Track: “Warsaw”
Album: “Substance”

Hung out at the homie’s house last night, relaxing on the porch like some old men. Had some smokes, couple glasses of red wine, and a glass of St. Brendan’s on the rocks.

As soon as I can I am going to get a sampler box of cigars. Been smoking them here and there lately. Really digging Rocky Patel’s brand and Padron is good too. Puffed a Vegas 5 last night that was really good. Man I wish I had a bottle of chocolate stout for the night.

Saw an EVO XIII yesterday afternoon that looked realllly good and I wanted to get a snap of so I could post it, but I did not have my camera. Sucks, because before I left the house I heavily contemplated bringing it. Oh well.

Welp that is it for today I think.

dead souls

Not really into collectibles, but this is something I am going to get. I MUST have this. And I would only put Joy Division material on it too…

 

Artist: Joy Division
Track: “Eternal”
Album: “Closer”