Tried my hand at writing

"MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig" (MR2_FTW)
01/15/2015 at 08:47 • Filed to: None

I wrote this article for my club's site. It's pretty much my first attempt at an editorial. Let me know what you think!

http://www.freecandycarclub.com/2015/01/15/gre…

I love the Internet. The way it brings people together from all over the world to combine their experiences and knowledge is just as vital a tool to the modern car enthusiast as their best 3/8" ratchet. I cannot imagine being a car guy in a pre-internet era. Today if we have a problem, we can snap a few pictures or take a video on our phones, upload it to the forums of our choice and have hundreds of people giving advice! If you are looking for a particular direction for your build, you can find build threads and features all over the web for inspiration. However there is one side effect of all of this open access that really grinds my gears.

Because of the ease of access to all of this information, automotive sites seem to be constantly looking for the biggest, craziest cars to feature as the subject of their articles in order to maintain readership. It seems as though we are constantly being bombarded by what these media outlets consider "real" or "worth-while" builds that are completely out of reach for your average every day enthusiast. This, in turn, causes everyone's expectations to be artificially inflated to think that every car needs a huge modern engine swap and one or two (or four) turbochargers to be even worth their attention. These days it seems if your car has less than 8 cylinders, a turbo, or 4 throttle bodies, it's not worth looking at. Four-figure power numbers are becoming the expected norm, not a crazy achievement.

Seriously? I mean……seriously!?

Much like how modern cars have become bloated with crazy technology everyone expects to come standard, we (the gear head community) have come to expect every car we see in a feature article to be a thousand-horsepower, motor-swapped monster. I believe this is why the YouTube channels Regular Car Reviews (RCR) and Mighty Car Mods (MCM) have become so popular with the grassroots enthusiast community. RCR and MCM showcase normal cars, DIY projects, and builds that your average gear head could identify with. While it is interesting, in an abstract sort of way, to watch Ken Block hoon around LA in an AWD, 800hp, tube-frame Mustang, listening to Mr. Regular nerd out over the "headlights go up, headlights go down" button in a 25-year old Mazda resonates louder with those of us that can't afford to build a pro-level drift car.

What ever happened to just wrenching with your friends?

This bleeds over into real-life conversations with friends at local car events you may attend. For example, everywhere I take my Toyota Cressida station wagon, I'm constantly told that I should to swap in a 2JZ, 1UZ or (God help me) a LS motor. Similarly, a good friend of mine has an awesome right-hand-drive AE86 that he painstakingly brought back from Okinawa when he got out of the military. In today's drifting community, anything less than 250 horsepower is considered pretty weak. Despite the wail of the side draft carburetors screaming at 8,500rpm, this car would probably be overlooked by most publications in favor of some shiny, shop-built turbo machine.

Making memories and having fun. The way it should be.

I suppose my point in all of this is that home-built, street-driven cars that have had the owner's blood, sweat, tears, and money poured into them deserve more respect. Not every car needs a 2JZ or LS engine, folks. Learn to appreciate the backyard budget build. In the end, it all comes down to building something that is a reflection of the owner, having fun, and learning something in the process, improving both your car and yourself.

A whopping 150 horsepower, rusty arches, and a Krylon paint job. Not exactly magazine material, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

DISCUSSION (28)

ttyymmnn > MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig
01/15/2015 at 09:06

Kinja'd!!!

Good sentiment. I like it. Writing is pretty solid, too.

Penultimate paragraph: "I supposed" should be "I suppose"?

MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig > ttyymmnn
01/15/2015 at 09:08

Derp. Yep. I had people proofread it too >.<

Sn210 > MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig
01/15/2015 at 09:08

I like it! It's a battle cry for the everyday car enthusiast. It's similar to why I like Oppo so much. Somebody writes about the mkiv Lincoln they just bought and we all nerd out about it for a whike. Nobody boasts about the size of their turbo or their order sheet for a new C7.

Imirrelephant > MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig
01/15/2015 at 09:08

Good article! I agree on the using memes incorrectly thing. It's triggers my OCD every time.

I remember growing up with Hot Rod magazine in the 90's when 500 hp was a crazy number. It's amazing that we can get cars from the factory with 500+ hp every day. The ease of making horsepower now is just crazy.

Unfortunately, that overshadows the builds guys like us with very limited budgets and resources do. Don't listen to the haters and do what you like. To me, it's much cooler to do something different than the obligatory 2JZ/1UZ/LS swap anyway!

ttyymmnn > MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig
01/15/2015 at 09:11

Here's a tip: When you want to proofread something, change the font. It makes you read more carefully and notice typos you might have otherwise missed through familiarity with the look of the piece.

Also, you may wish to say "pre-Internet", since technically, "Internet" should be capitalized, as you did earlier in the paragraph.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig
01/15/2015 at 09:15

I recommend adding in a line from MCM, when they did the budget street cred episode. "I'd rather lose by a mile in a car I built myself, than win by an inch because someone else built it for me. Your car is your story, so don't let someone else write the book ". And here's the jetta that I built after seeing that episode. Beer labels for extra style.

Kinja'd!!!

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig
01/15/2015 at 09:16

Kinja'd!!!

There it is! 1600 cc of tortured fury!

MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
01/15/2015 at 09:20

Maaaaaaaaaddd

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig
01/15/2015 at 09:20

150 rwhp? Wow, that's pretty nuts for an a-dub. Is yours a SC model, 20v swap, or did you just go nuts with the original 4AGE? If the latter, I'm very interested in what you did to get it there.

MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
01/15/2015 at 09:35

Original 4A-GZE. Only power mods are intake/exhaust (but those don't do anything for power, just sound/weight) and a 10psi pulley (up from stock 8) with Gruntbox to fix low-RPM lean out. I also smoothed out the casting on all the metal pipe bends/manifold/etc and added a bunch of heat-reflective gold tape on intake piping, intercooler ends, distributor heat shield, and the oil/water cooler tube thing.

Sam > MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig
01/15/2015 at 09:39

Good article. And as far as your point, I hate it too. I have a 1978 Porsche 924 that I am painstakingly bringing up to a street able level. Unfortunately, everyone is going to overlook that and say "when are you gonna LS swap it?" Fuck you and you fucking lame V8 swap. If I did that, I'd have to park next to the LS swap Miata, LS swap S10, LS swap 240sx, LS swap Blazer, and the LS swap S2000. Yippee, so cool and unique.

03mach1 - Now has a Fiesta ST > MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig
01/15/2015 at 09:47

That was a really good article and I agree with you all the way. I am kind of tired of hearing everything should be an LS swap. That second to last paragraph is great to.

Racescort666 > MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig
01/15/2015 at 10:01

This deserves a slow clap if ever an article deserved one. Bravo! When I first realized that Speedhunters was a thing I was impressed for about 20 minutes then realized how much more I love racing than building something complex for the sake of complexity.

RightFootDown > MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig
01/15/2015 at 10:06

Thumbs up, dude. If you'd ever like to write for RFD send me an email - jtaylor (at) rightfootdown.com

MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig > Racescort666
01/15/2015 at 10:11

The thing is, I love SpeedHunters. The photos and stories and general quality is something that inspires me. I just get tired of mega-builds is all.

Racescort666 > MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig
01/15/2015 at 10:16

I was going to write more about that but I'm at work and I lost my train is thought. Their stuff is cool and all, maybe it is the right forum for inspiration, but the things on there just rub me the wrong way for some reason.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig
01/15/2015 at 10:19

Cool! I want to do a crazy NA build on mine. I'm not looking for stupid power gains, but I want it to rev even higher. The goal is 8500-9000 safely.

uofime > MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig
01/15/2015 at 10:26

put a regular title on this and send it to tips at jalopnik, this is FP material!

MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
01/15/2015 at 10:28

To rev that high is going to require some block reinforcement. This is the best detailed NA build I've seen.

Part 1:

http://www.motoiq.com/MagazineArticl…

Part 2:

http://www.motoiq.com/MagazineArticl…

Part 3:

http://www.motoiq.com/MagazineArticl…

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig
01/15/2015 at 10:50

Oh wow, great articles. Thanks! I think that I can get away with skipping the block reinforcement since I'm not going quite as extreme as these guys are. They're getting over 200 whp out of theirs. I'll be more than happy enough with an extra 20-30 at the wheels. I'm more interested in the way it delivers power than how much it delivers, which is why I'm looking at RPM figures more than anything (I'm kind of sick of having to shift to third at autoX). I know a guy who used to race tuned A-Dubs in the 80s and 90s. He was putting about 180 down at the wheels with a 9k red line. I'll have to double check with him, but I'm pretty sure he said that he was using the '87 block (three rib design) on the stock crank and that the only engine failure he ever had was a race where he tried to let it go to 9500.

MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig > uofime
01/15/2015 at 10:53

I really appreciate the thought, and others are welcome to do so, but I feel like submitting my own stuff to the FP is a little too much tooting my own horn, per se.

MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
01/15/2015 at 10:56

The 3 rib block is much less rigid than the 7 rib. Anything over 8-8500 I would probably look into reinforcement.