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Option

Posted in Automotive, JDM on February 7th, 2010 by Eric

While in Little Tokyo, Dat picked me up the latest copy of Option. It came with one of those dashboard sticky pads.

Spotted High End’s Kazama widebodied FD in Option’s SEMA 2009 coverage. Congrats Brian! For those curious, that FD is on sale right now.

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Mushroom Problems

Posted in Automotive on February 7th, 2010 by Dat WRX

Mushrooming of the strut tower on the Mini Cooper seems to be a big problem. The one fix that I found was made by Craven Speed. This item is called the Strut Top Defender. Craven Speed makes a plate that mounts on top of the strut tower.

Quote from Craven Speed:

Infectious G Spots

Whether you are competing at an autocross or driving on a Sunday afternoon your MINI is at risk. Unless you already have some STD’s, you ought to catch a few just to be safe. Because around every corner, in the very depths of every pothole, and the pinnacle of every bump G forces lie in wait. The occasional G may seem harmless by itself, but at times there may be several lurking in one rut and once they have done their damage to the sheet metal atop your tightly sprung strut towers, it will be difficult to resume normal activity.

Mushrooming

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but you may not be able to detect the mushroomed strut towers if you looked at a thousand photos. Less than one inch of tower deformation can be extremely detrimental to your MINI’s alignment. This has been a common issue that MINI owners have had to face. It is a compromise in the design of the vehicle, where the tight springs allow for the griptastic handling that we love on the twisties, but are the main reason that our MINI’s have a unique disposition for sheet metal deformation.

STDs (Strut Tower Defenders)

Craven Speed STDs are a preventative measure. Instead of suffering the consequences of a lack of protection, using STD’s to your advantage will strengthen your MINI’s strut towers before deformation can occur. By sandwiching the sheet metal between the strut and our 1/2 inch thick aircraft aluminum plate, it is strengthened ten-fold. STDs come in pairs, one for the right tower and one for the left. Craven Speed STDs retain a 1/2 inch thickness throughout ensuring that there are no weak spots. Installation is easy, using the included instructions, it will take about 10 minutes to ensure that you do not have to go through a lengthy and expensive alignment repair. You do not need to lift the car, and the only tool needed is a torque wrench.

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Mini antenna

Posted in Automotive on February 6th, 2010 by Dat WRX

The Mini OEM antenna just makes it look like an RC car. Had to get rid of the OEM antenna with an shorty Out Motoring antenna. One of the easy install I’ve had ever done.

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Colt-Speed

Posted in Automotive, JDM on February 4th, 2010 by Dat WRX

Mr. Tomei sure loves Colt-Speed parts. He recently picked up the Colt-Speed GT shifter.

Direct quote from Colt-Speed:

Lancer Evolution X, RA Galant Fortis Twin Clutch SST employed to shift operations to improve things when driving in sport mode to shift part of the extension. Aipatanshifuto agile operations can enjoy the WRC and GT machines of the same Shikensharumisshonshifuto Supotsuraiku operation similar to the machine. Smooth operation and allows the formula to change the trigger pull from genuine expressions change when you shift into reverse position of parking position and has adopted the innovative design and visually.

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Driven@UCLA Meet

Posted in Automotive on February 4th, 2010 by Eric

I was in West Los Angeles last night so I dropped by the Driven@UCLA (part of the Imports@University car clubs) meet. They got some pretty ballin’ cars for college students.