Around here in Chicago, purple isn’t the color to paint your car. Purple = bad luck around these parts. This stems from the bad luck of my buddies Simba, and Eric. Basically their cars either 1) Blow up or 2) Don’t run….perpetually. Well anyway, down in Australia the guys at JDM Garage have a pair of cool, less cursed it appears, purple cars. First is the sexy R34 GTS 2 door on some clean, well fitting, Work Equips.
- Rb25det
- GreddyT67 Turbo kit
- PWR intercooler and radiator
- Jic Everything – Coilovers-Adjustable Arms etc
- Nismo 2way
- Cusco Cage
- Bride Seats trimmed in butter milk leather
And the other car, this interesting Levin. The wheel wells have had some major work done, allowing the car to sit crazy low. Together with the Longchamps and crazy power the car makes from it SR20, this car is quite interesting.
-Sr20det Engine
-Apexi Power FC ecu
-Sard 850cc injectors
-HKS Turbo
-HKS 256 264 cams
-Tomei cam gears
-Tomei rocker stoppers
-Greddy Intercooler
-Customer Made XR4 wheels 15×9.5s
-E series locked diff
-Equal length rose jointed rear end
Koguchi just made the jump to Dunlop!
I talked a bit about the years tire changes, here, but to recap this year Falken has bowed out of D1 so most of the Falken guys are moving to Dunlop for the 2008 season. KO (and I assume most of the others) will be on Dunlop’s new Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec.
This is Good-Row’s C35 Laurel. So hot! Outside of Haruyama’s car you don’t see many of these around.
I’m not a huge fan of most Final Konnexion aero, with the exception of this kit and the FD stuff. I think the fact that these are so rare, really appeals to me. I wish I saw more of them out. They come with RB25, but as we all know the 26 just pops right in.
Action shots = boner time! I love the color as well on this thing.
Quick spec:
GP Sports Gullflame (18×9.5 +/-0 F & 18×9.5 -8 R)
Tein Super Drift Coilover
Largus Sway Bars
D-Max full pillow arms
ER33 Mission
Nismo GT-Pro LSD
RB26
HKS GT-RS Turbine
Tomei 260 Cams
And the list goes on, but overall a very cool auto!
I’ve been meaning to post this up for a while, as a bunch of people seem interested. Shakken is the bi-yearly vehicle inspection in Japan that entails:
| (1) |
A two year base insurance policy (rate varies a little). In addition to this, you will have to buy a supplemental insurance policy. |
| (2) |
A standard inspection fee of $300 (30,000 yen). |
| (3) |
The cost of any repairs needed to bring the car up to standard. |
The $300 inspection fee is always the same, and the level of repairs and insurance all vary. It is safe to say that they WILL find “repairs”. A typical used car can cost you $1000-$2000 after all these fees. Long story short, owning a car in Japan is not cheap! Many opt to buy new cars, if they can, since new cars have a 3 year waiver on Shakken. Kei car fees are also much lower, hence the push towards such small, sub 550cc cars in the past few years.
After making your appointment, you head the shakken-jyou and then the car is VERY thoroughly inspected.
The inspections checks the following (I’m too lazy to type; thanks Wikipedia):
- 1: An exterior inspection to ensure the vehicle meets Japanese exterior regulations and does not have illegal exterior modifications (ie: extreme body kits).
- 2: A wheel alignment inspection to ensure the vehicle has its wheels in-line and can turn correctly.
- 3: A speedometer inspection to ensure the vehicle’s speedometer is accurate.
- 4: A headlight inspection to ensure that the vehicle’s headlights are correctly placed and aligned so as not to be in-line of other drivers’ sight.
- 5: A brake inspection to ensure the brakes work correctly.
- 6: An exhaust gas/muffler inspection which also includes looking at carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon output along with exhaust noise levels.
- 7: An undercarriage inspection which includes looking at suspension parts.
Here is a shot, showing how crazy this gets. Undercarrige camera!
Engine swaps, although legal, are problematic at Shakken testing. If done correctly however, the car can pass. This is an example of a S13 that had a few changes. SR20 swap (from the original CA18) to name a few. Engine codes that are cast onto the block are often checked, to assure the original engine is in place.
As you can see here, be prepared to wait 
For more detailed info, check these links:
http://www.pref.aomori.lg.jp/kokusai/seikatu/word/page1-e.html
http://www.gaijinpot.com/bb/showthread.php?t=27767&highlight=shaken
I ran across this XD-9 in sick pink digi-camo a few weeks ago. Had it not been close to $900 I would have picked it up for Yuki.
