Blast From The Past – Our Sema XA Turbo

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The other day I got to wondering what happened to our XA we built back in the day for the Scion Tuner Challenge. I have emailed Scion in the past trying to locate it but I never really got an answer. Unfortunately this time when I emailed I got an answer. Apparently our cars were not vinned for US and had to be shipped back to Japan. So the car is either crushed or stored in some warehouse with the Arc of the Covenant.

So since we can’t have the car I thought it would be fun to relive the past through the pictures we took to document the build. This build is probably one of my fondest memories of being in Jade. This was the very first time that Scion held the team challenge. The basics of the contest were that 3 crews would get the same Scion and $15,000 cash to modify it. You could use any sponsors you had or could get and other than that there were no other rules.

To maximize what we could do to it we did most of the work ourselves. The main highlights of the build were a the first in the US TF Racing Body kit, House of kolor candy red paint, a greddy turbo kit and a ton of products from ARC, Project U, Tein and GTSPEC.

This build took tons of long nights, many phone calls and tons of hard work. The car came out fantastic and I wish we could have kept it.

Opening the Parts:

Installing the Parts:

Body Kit and Paint:

Interior Parts:

Finishing the Build Up:

The Finished Product:

 

 

Whiteline Parts for Project86, Oh Yeah!!!

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Some days are better than others, they just are. This is one of the those days. Thanks to my newest sponsor, whiteline and UPS there was a package outside my office door when I returned from lunch. New parts makes me a happy boy.

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What’s in the box? The goal for the car is to build a great daily driver that can perform at some autocross and the occasional track day. I did not want anything way too harsh Continue reading

Hot Import Nights Orlando is almost here!

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We have a long history with Hot Import Nights. They were a huge part of our history and us helping build our reputation. Thankfully Hot Import Nights is back in the hands of the people who really made it what it was back in the day. With us making our resurgence what better place than to show it off than Hot Import Nights. This year the show will be held on Saturday Continue reading

Custom Recaro Evo X Seats in FR-S…

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In addition to the custom big brake kit East Coast Garage and I did last weekend we also fitted a set of Evo X Recaro seats into Project86.

Of course you can’t just take the Evo X seats and throw them into a FR-S. There is a great deal of modification that needs to be done Continue reading

Stop, like right now….

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This all started with Andy and the STI brake swap he did on his GTSPEC BRZ. It turns out that as others have also found out the STI Brembo brakes are a direct bolt up fit (well almost bolt on, but we will get to that later) on the FR-S and BRZ. If you get rotors and calipers from a 2004 STI you can basically bolt Continue reading

Project 86 Modding Weekend…

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This weekend I took a trip down to see my friend Doug at East Coast Garage to install the latest batch of parts on Project86 and boy what a crazy weekend of modding. We had a total of 3 projects to tackle, that does not sound too bad now does it? We it wouldn’t be if we were using straight up bolt Continue reading

Import Alliance Spring Meet

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Each year the Import Alliance Spring Meet gets bigger and bigger, with thousands of cars attending. This annual event was held at the Atlanta Motor Speedway for the first time. It was pretty impossible to see every car, but it is good to know that the scene is alive and strong in the Southeast. Continue reading

Import Alliance Spring Meet Favorites

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With thousands of cars at the Import Alliance Spring Meet, it is easy for one to overlook or not even see a car that was at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. I took a few laps around the event, and snapped a few favorites and hunted down some unique modifications. Continue reading

Need more Toyota…

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I already got rid off all traces of Scion on the outside of Project 86 but staring me in the eye everyday is a big fat Scion logo on the steering wheel. There is a JDM version of the airbag with a nice simple embossed 86 in the middle but that costs about $800 and you have to swap the “bomb” that sets it off from your airbag. For me I would rather spend $800 on something like a header. Continue reading