REsuper7のブログ一覧

April 10, 2016

Sorry it's been a while since my last update and i just realized how much i still have to cover so i'm just going to jump right into it. The season opener kicked off this year in fashion at a Rotary event down in Atco Raceway. Since the event was 3 months ago, it's kind of hard to remember who hosted the event, but i do remember why i went...two words: RE-Amemiya RX-7.



That's right, soak it in. This beauty here is owned by my friend Phil (@fortune7nyc). I met Phil on Instagram a couple years ago. Phil found me when i first started posting pictures of my car on IG and has always supported my build since. I also followed his build closely knowing that he was planning to build a really special FD. Given his track record with his previous FD's, i knew it would be worth the wait. Unfortunately, in the end, i completed two builds in the same amount of time it took him to build one, but the end result speaks for itself. Having only seen a few pictures of the completed car i was dying to see it in person, so when i heard that Phil was going to be at Atco, i had to be there. Seeing the car in person made the drive down and paying the entrance fee for the car show all worth it. I've only seen the RE Porsche conversions online, and mostly in Japan. While i really appreciated the uniqueness of this very special RE creation, it wasn't until seeing it in person that i could fully appreciate how special it was. I know it's not for everyone because it blends two very different styles, but i think RE-Amemiya really executed it as good as it can get for this kind of conversion.



Naomi decided she wanted to come with me and she made sure i remembered she was there because she insisted on photobombing all my shots.



After meeting up with Phil and getting the tour of his RE-Amemiya FD, i made my rounds but didn't really see anything that appealing. In hindsight, i was probably too high from seeing Phil's car that i didn't care for anything else there. But one thing i did do was practice my photography.



I admit, i only took the shot, i didn't post process them. I ended up sending them to David (@finalformfd) who worked his magic. I was blown away by his edits because he really transformed them. I also just really like his style of photos too.

To be honest, the highlight of the whole event was the cruise home. Ted and i ended up driving home with the Long Island gang. We even made a brief stop at a gas station which turned into an impromptu photoshoot.





I only managed to get these shots because Naomi was tired and stayed in the car to sleep.

From Minkara FD Blog

From Minkara FD Blog

This event was a great start to the season as well as a taste of whats to come for the summer. I had two main events this summer that i was looking forward to:





Before these two events i had a few things to take care of...

5月14日でみんカラを始めて3年が経ちます！
＜この一年のみんカラでの思い出を振り返ろう＞


これからも、よろしくお願いします！

くるまたのしですね. As much fun as cars are, being able to share your love of cars with others makes it even more fun and interesting. That is why car enthusiasts around the world find all sorts of ways to meet up to enjoy this passion we share with other like-minded individuals, from cars and coffees, to car shows, to track days. Having since met so many new friends that i never would have met if it weren't for my love for RX-7s, i've started to see the joy in opening up more and sharing with others this passion. As such, i've recently made the decision to join a group of guys who, like me, share a great passion for the Japanese tuning culture. Although i'm not quite sure if its a car club or a team or a business, or perhaps a mixture of all of the above, what i do know is they have a great respect for Japanese tuners and are keen to represent them here in the U.S. as accurately and as faithfully as possible. As anyone who's followed my build at one point or another knows, i too have a great respect for Japanese tuners, which is why i've made it a point not to run any replica parts, but always original parts. Luckily for me, after sheepishly sending a message to the guy who started the group, i was warmly welcomed into the family. Right after accepting my request to join, David sent me a nice little care package as a welcoming gift.



David had just gotten back from a trip to Japan where he attended the last Attack - Maximum Challenge - event at Tsukuba, and had picked up a bunch of stickers while there. But the main purpose for the care package was the official team banner that signified my membership to the team.



Team Final Form USA. The picture above was the one i posted on Instagram to announce my membership to the team, along with the following blurb:

"Some people build cars to be unique and to stand out. Others build cars simply because they love them, regardless of what others are doing. In the world of RX-7s, RE-Amemiya is legendary. From street to touge to drift to GT to time attack, RE-Amemiya has dominated in each at one point or another. They've built so many badass RX-7s and inspired so many others to do the same, that RE-Amemiya kitted FD's are no longer unique. But for someone like myself, who has had the legend of RE-Amemiya burned deep into my soul, being part of the RE-Amemiya cult trumped any desire to be unique. #FinalForm. To me, executing your vision, regardless of what other people think, is what it means to achieve your #FinalForm. I had been an admirer of @finalformfd's work since his Mayday Garage days, and when he announced his break from MG to start #FinalForm, I was intrigued. Since then, @finalformfd has shown me that his vision for #FinalForm is similar to my vision for my FD; to represent and support the Japanese tuners who blaze trails and bring to life their visions which inspire the rest of us to achieve our goals. This is why I've decided to team up with @finalformfd and join the #FinalForm crew. Big thanks to the #FinalForm team for welcoming me into their family."

This pretty much sums up my motivation for this alignment. Although i really have no idea what the future holds being part of Final Forms USA, i do know that it'll be more fun than just going it alone.

Although i don't really know any of the guys on Team FInal Form USA very well at this time, since they all live in Texas, i do know they have some pretty badass RX-7s, and anyone who can build an RX-7 this nice has gotta be a pretty cool guy. Check out some pics of their cars:

David's Pro Shop Fukuoh FD




Khiem's 2JZ FD




Clay's RE-Amemiya FD




John's Final Form S14 - Work in Progress (then again, who's car isnt?)




Although i feel a little outclassed in comparison to the Texans, with my crappy paint job, and DIY build, it's nice to be in the company of guys who appreciate not just the cars, but the build process too, as much as i do. The guys are planning to come up to Jersey in October for First Class Fitment, so i'm looking forward to hanging out and meeting them, but first, i need to get my car up to par with theirs or they might not even let me into the show!

Besides building some badass cars, David and Khiem also take some amazing photos as well. He's actually done a few edits for me which i will be sharing in the future. But in the meantime, if you'd like to see some pictures, head over to http://finalformusa.com. The site also happens to be a store for U.S. customers looking for some rare JDM parts.

Winter months are always super slow and super boring. I spend most of my free time playing video games. Normally it's GT6, but this winter i got caught up playing COD Black Ops 3, but i digress. Car related activities were few and far between, so what better way to fill the gap than perform a couple small mods i've been holding off on. It always feels good to be able to check things off the list.

First up, raising the wing height. Although i really liked the way my wing turned out, i couldn't help but feel it was just a tad too short. Ideally, i wanted the front middle part of the wing to be on the same level as my roof, but with my current setup, it was the back of the wing that was level with the roof. Luckily with the way i modded the wing, increasing the height of the wing was as simple as making new mounting plates, which is exactly what i did:



Here's a side angle so you can get a better idea of the wing sits with the new plates:



I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. It's just on the border of being too high but really makes the car look just that bit more aggressive.

Next up, Car Shop Glow 99 spec front combination LED lamps. Everyone knows how CSG has become a household name among JDM fans around the world, and i'm guilty of jumping on the bandwagon as well. So when Ken from CSG offered a special deal on Instagram for a set of their front 99 spec LED combi lamps, i jumped on it. The only caveat to the deal was the housing was chrome with a silver bezel:



I never expected to buy chrome 99 spec lights especially with my car being white, the lack of contrast would make it look pretty bland. Knowing i couldn't install them as is, i came up the idea to paint the silver bezel black, then use a lens film to tint the housing to make them pop. This is what i ended up with:



I know i say this a lot, but i really surprised myself with this one. They came out so much better than i imagined, so much so that if i had the opportunity to choose between the black and the chrome housing, i still would've went with the chrome.

Moving on...as much as i love my RE-Amemiya D-cut steering wheel, i still couldn't help but feel like i wanted a fully round wheel. I still have my Personal Grinta wheel, but having a different bolt pattern to my RE wheel meant i couldn't easily interchange between the two without messing up the angle of the wheel. At first i really wanted to get the R-Magic wheel, but found out later on that it was discontinued. After searching around, i finally came to the Vertex line of wheels, specifically, the deep dish wheels. Soon after, i fell in love with the design and felt like it was different enough from my RE wheel that it was worth buying, so as a birthday present to myself, i pulled the trigger on the Vertex 7 Star 330mm wheel and an R-Magic shift knob (come on, everyone knows you gotta have different shift knobs with each wheel...right??)





I loved the design of the wheel even before i installed it, but after i installed it, i fell in love with it even more...and if i'm being honest with myself, i like it even more than my RE wheel!!! The main reason is that because the steering wheel is deep dish i gain SO much leg room with the Vertex wheel. I was blown away by how nice it was to drive with the new wheel installed, and the R-Magic knob was the perfect companion to the new wheel.

The next mod was probably the most minor of all the mods i've done, but also felt so good to finally have:





As i'm sure you've seen in previous pictures, since i completed the rebuild i haven't had a proper hood prop. At one point, i bought a hood damper but found it made my hood stick up more than i liked when closed, so i ended up going back to the trusty OEM hood prop...except this time in Titanium form thanks to the great folks at Argon Bubble!

The next mod has been a long time coming. I had been meaning to do this upgrade since i installed my Brembo BBK nearly 3 years ago. I even bought the rear caliper brackets that support the larger diameter rear rotor found on +99 spec FDs, i just never got around to buying the Project Mu SCR-Pro rotors i needed to make use of the new brackets. Well back in February, the opportunity presented itself when i found a set of Project Mu SCR-Pro FD rear rotors posted on YAJ for the first time ever since i started looking 3 years ago. Luck was definitely on my side because i ended up scoring them for 50% discount off new and they looked like they had minimal wear on them.

Some pics of the Project Mu rotors next to my original crossed drilled rotors that came with the car:


I decided to go ahead and paint the calipers to clean them up and really make my rear brakes look as good as my fronts. I went with silver because they made the calipers look like new and clean.



In case you were ever curious, here's a pic showing the difference between the pre-99 spec and +99 spec rear caliper brackets:



And here's the finished product after putting it all together:



While not as surprising as my first few mods, i think they came out nice and clean.

And the last mod for this post was one that i've hesitated to do for a long time but knew was inevitable in the end because of the offset of my wheels. If the offsets weren't an issue, i probably would've kept the different colored wheels, but alas it was not meant to be. The worst part about having to powdercoat my wheels was losing the coveted Volk Racing engraving on the spokes, which was my main motivation for getting the RT's to begin with.

One last shot of my precious wheels before they undergo their face lift



As with all cosmetic surgery, keeping the face original and untouched is always the better route, but in this case i just have to chalk it up to being corrective surgery instead.

After going back and forth over and over again over which color to go with, i went the safe route and ended up with a Metallic Black (boring, i know!):



While it came out decent, i'm not really happy with it. Not only is the engraving not really visible, the metallic flakes which i paid an extra $100 for are also barely visible unless you look super closely under bright light. Worst part is i couldn't fit my hub-centric rings because the powdercoat was too thick. Installing the wheels became a huge headache as i tried to make the wheels fit the rings. In the end, i couldn't get the rear rings on so i left them off as i was in a rush to get the car ready for an event.



As soon as i got my wheels back i started missing my red wheels...oh well...live and learn. I ended up making the standard SL sticker to cover the engravings since there was no saving them. I added a couple extra stickers as well just to spice things up a bit since the black can be so bland.

And that's it for now. I have some additional mods coming in the near future that are a little more significant as they checking off boxes on my track prep list. Stay tuned for more updates to come....hopefully sooner than this last one! よろしくお願いします!

In October, a friend of mine that i met at a Club Loose drift event asked me if i'd be interested in doing a photoshoot for the Mayday Garage blog. Having been following the MG crew for a while on social media, i was honored they would ask, so of course i said yes. I think anyone who's followed my blog would know that one of my favorite destinations is Round Valley, so when i was asked about possible locations for the shoot, that's what i suggested, and i'm glad i did, because the pictures came out amazing! Check them out below:



















If you're interested in seeing the Mayday Garage blog, you can check them out here: http://maydaygarage.com/rising-from-the-ashes-phoenix-7/

On a side note, i'm testing out a new photo repository, so feel free to click the pictures for higher resolution shots. I'm still on the fence about making the switch official since i've been auto uploading all of my iphone pics to Google Photos, which is my primary source of pictures for this blog. But in the end, i may not have a choice since Picasa is being retired and Google Photos doesn't give me a very easy way to share my pics on this blog. We'll see.