CarDomain Blog » JDM

JDM Fail: Acura Integra Burns Clutch Not Tires

Michael Berenis — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:39:53 +0000

The point of performing a burnout, donut, etc. is to burn the tires and not the clutch. What’s wrong with burning the clutch? For one you look stupid, and two it’s extremely dangerous. Fact: 16 pound clutch spinning at 7,000 RPM around a 12 inch diameter creates 16683.52 G units of force, resulting in clutch debris being propelled through space with 266,936.32 pounds of initial force should the clutch explode from thermal expansion; which is likely I might add. Read more about instant foot removal at Tampa Sports Car Examiner.

Nutso Camber in Action

Speedhunters — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:34:24 +0000

Some of you might have seen this clip already, but we just had to post it here. Taken by our buddy Adam in Japan. Head over to 7Tune.com for more photos of this twisted machine.

By Mike Garrett

Time Capsule JDM Civic In The Netherlands

Jen Dunnaway — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:43:49 +0000

The three-door hatch is my favorite Civic from this era. And this perfectly preserved specimen, a 1990 recently shipped from Malaysia to the Netherlands, has only 7000 kms on the clock–that’s 4350 miles! Up until it was sold, it was even still running its original Bridgestones, a 20-year-old set of tires. Great find for whoever picked that one up. See more pics at VW Vortex.

A Quick JDM Van Fix

Speedhunters — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:33:20 +0000

It’s been some time since a hot looking Japanese van has been posted here, no? Here’s a very tasty looking dark green Odyssey found in the vast Minkara archive. Oh Honda, if you could just import the J-Odyssey to the USA, that’d be swell.

By Mike Garrett

Have Full Carbon Cars Jumped The Shark?

Ben Schaffer — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:37:34 +0000

To me, this picture is the death rattle of full carbon (unpainted) cars loosing their “cool factor”. Speaking for myself here, I have always had a thing for full carbon cars. Whether it was the first time C-West rolled out their full carbon S2000 time attack car, or seeing a Pagani Zonda without paint, full carbon cars were the epitome of a hardcore tuner car. I always loved seeing those testing version Super GT cars with the bright green rims and the raw carbon bodywork much more than the finished cars with the flashy livery. My dream for many years was to have a full carbon car and leave it all raw carbon. But times change…

In the past couple of years I’ve wanted to cover my carbon fiber parts up more. It can be seen on my gold S2000 with just slivers of exposed carbon on the carbon fiber hood or mirrors. It can be seen on the painted carbon of the various GT-Rs that I’ve produced where carbon was used sparingly as an accent. And in the future I’ll surely cover up the carbon fiber more and more on the car’s I’m involved with. Why? Because it has gone from a functional display of tuning prowess into a gaudy display of wealth without any of the underlying meaning for its existence. Nothing defines that point more than a full carbon G-Class Mercedes, one of the heaviest and least aerodynamic road going cars.

The picture below I think defines this point for me, I’m used to seeing carbon fiber mere millimeters away from race rubber and aggressive offset racing wheels. Instead I’m looking at some heavy big luxury wheels and about 6 inches of fender gap with squarish 1970esque body panels. This car is not a functional use of carbon fiber in even the faintest stretch of the imagination. What I mean by that is that Mansory has produced this Mercedes G-Class with full carbon fiber body panels and with matching Mansory women’s hand bags. You’d never get that strategy confused with Amuse’s Carbon R. Now don’t get me wrong, I fully appreciate carbon fiber’s use in fashion and as an exotic material. I’m all for carbon fiber home goods and accessories. Hell I’m the guy who blogged about carbon fiber flowers that shoot flames here! But when I see a full carbon fiber G-Class, something inside me dies. Put your favorite full carbon sports car next to this and suddenly that sports car is not quite as special as it once was.

This car has in my opinion stolen the mojo away from the full carbon tuner car. So to conclude, I’m saying here that I think full carbon (unpainted) tuner cars have jumped the shark.

Rocky Auto’s Latest

Ben Schaffer — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:25:57 +0000

If you’re hardcore into JDM tuning then you cant help but get excited checking out Rocky Auto’s cars. These days there is not much quite as “gangster” as a hardcore tuned old school Fairlady Zs or Skyline. If you agree then most likely you’ll agree that nobody does it better than Rocky Auto.

I’ve been a fan of their blog lately to get my fill of that JDM old school gangsterness. So I thought I’d share with you a few of the highlights for me in the past couple of weeks from Rocky Auto Japan.

Cool JDM Motorhome

Jen Dunnaway — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:34:30 +0000

Now here’s an RV that makes me want to hit the road. Check out the motorized pop-up second story and the bathtub with the panoramic views. The living space is petite, but looks to be pretty complete and functional as mini-campers go. See more at Japanese Nostalgic Car, including video of the roof unfolding into the “Japanese-style room” upstairs.

An R34 GT-R Anniversary Cruise!

Speedhunters — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:30:06 +0000

Anniversaries, even significant ones, can often times come and go unnoticed by husbands and boyfriends the world over—apparently there is something lodged in our brains that makes us forget these dates! In 2009 however, there was one date on the calendar that gave these unlucky lads cause to celebrate.

See, a few months ago, two guys set out to organise a national cruise to honour the vehicles they love and cherish – the R34 GT-R. Terry Tung-yep and Eugene Chan had thought long and hard about how it was going to come to life, and when Terry asked for my assistance with the matter, I was only too happy to help. Along the way we also wrangled Terry’s son, Matt, Shanil, Shehan, Rafael, and Vik to help organise what would truly be a historic event.

As the interest level in the event among forum members on Skylines Australia and various workshops grew, we quickly realised that this couldn’t just be a run-of-the-mill cruise. It would have to be special, one of a kind, unique – more was needed.

Magazines were contacted to cover the event and this is when things started getting big! Jason Round, the editor of Performance Imports Magazine, agreed to send a photographer to cover the event. He then got his good friend and Skyline owner Adrian, from Boost Magazine, involved and he was more than happy to come out to the event. Continue reading at Speedhunters…

—by Nick Galvin

Make Your Own Paper Super GT NSX

Ben Schaffer — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:04:57 +0000

Having been blown away by seeing this thing at Tokyo Auto Salon, I wanted to write another blog post related to it.

By now I think we all know how incredible the cardboard GT500 NSX project turned out. For those of you who saw it in person, it was especially amazing when placed next to other Super GT cars. From a distance it literally fooled me and had me thinking it was a real car that just looked “a little unusual”. For a fan at heart like me, I’d love to one day own a 1:1 cardboard replica like this! But for now, I’ll just dream of having enough space at home to be able to own something like this.

The other day my friend Raul send me a link to Epson Japan’s website. It turns out that you can download 30 or so free PDFs to make your own model car! The PDFs give you the layout you need to create your own 1:24 paper car. They have some pretty awesome cars to choose from I might add!

Here’s an example (sheet 1 of 2):

For the full list of free cars you can download and build at home, check out:

http://www.epson.jp/nakajima/craft/index.htm

It might not be as cool as a 1:1 car but it’s at least something you can do at home if you’re into that sort of thing.

A couple more pictures of the 1:1 GT500 car follow…

The Transition – Discussion Shift From Vintage JDM To Eco JDM

Ben Schaffer — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:09:02 +0000

I came across this picture from our archives and it made me think about the transition…The transition from our last blog post (the flawless old school Z) to what I want to write about next (Eco tuning) is what this picture represents…but also it represents the old and the new of JDM tuning which are both celebrating new heights of popularity at the very same moment in time. Granted the two cars are totally incomparable, but if i had to isolate two prominent themes of Tokyo Auto Salon 2010 it would be nostalgic car tuning and eco tuning. These two massively contrasting mediums of JDM tuning are what made TAS 2010 most different from previous shows.

So what about Eco Tuning? Well, there is one point in particular that I wanted to share. Often I learn profoundly interesting things in meetings with my friends and suppliers over in Japan. Although I wont say the particular company or the person in this case, there was an interesting perspective mentioned in private that I feel is worth mentioning publicly with my source being anonymous. Continue reading at The Real JDM