Beat Ass EVO X Intercooler

What happens to a stock Mitsu EVO X front mount intercooler after 4000 racing miles? It gets beat. The super thin fins of the stock intercooler cannot handle the debris that attacks it at the front of a car even through a grille. Mitsu attempts to crank up the cooling efficiency and reduce cost by making the fins thin, but durability goes down. This isn't a problem because stock intercooler cores generally aren't very good anyway so you'll want to upgrade when you decide to get serious about power. Stock units are mass produced and are made of lower costing materials in an attempt to reduce cost. They cool decent, but they have pretty massive pressure drop. Sure a stock front mount is be...

R35 GT-R isn't Money

The R35 GT-R made the front page of the money section in last Friday the 13th's USA Today. I wouldn't say the USA Today readership is the GT-R's target audience, but to summarize the author didn't think the GT-R was very money at all. He basically said the car was fast, has a crazy dash like a video game, rides like shit, and isn't worth the $77k because it isn't "perfect". My guess is that the author drives a 2004 Cadillac DTS and is probably ignorant toward a Japanese supercar. The GT-R is worth every penny for $77k in my opinion.

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Some EVO Xs at TAS 2009

Unfortunately for Mitsubishi the R35 GT-R pretty much stole the show at TAS. Personally I think the EVO X is a bit more exciting for a couple reasons. 1) It is within reach of the masses, 2) I believe it has the potential for better than stock R35 like performance when properly modified/built, 3) it is more nimble (-300 pounds and the laws of physics: try it, you'll like it). The styling of the EVO X is very aggressive too. It looks mean. In many ways it's like a baby R35 with it's aggressive stance, lighter curb weight, lower cost, turbo AWD, gaping mouth front bumper opening, and questionable strength twin clutch transmission. Anyhow, I didn't take shots of all the EVO Xs at TAS, but h...

My GS300

My GS300 is currently awaiting its conversion back to a stock body. In its heyday (I bought it new in 1999), it was what I thought to be the ideal street car. It was wide, low, big wheels (20x11.5 rear), turbo (420whp), big stereo (5500 watts rms) and was clean when it had new paint (BMW Brilliant Black). Power to keep up with a V8 M5, the chicks used to dig it, and it was comfortable. What's the difference between fiberglass aero parts and high maintenance girlfriends? Nothing: they both need constant attention, maintenance, and money to keep them happy. I hate taking care of my cars (outside of the mechanical realm) so...

ESPN2 Import Racers

by Eric Hsu

Here's an old school cable TV show (yeah I know: gay name) that Merritt posted up on YouTube. I never did catch it on ESPN2, but I do remember that day we filmed it.

Showing Stock Cars...

What's the point? I totally understand wanting to meet up with your on-line buddies to shoot the shit and hang out, but leave that to the local mid-week Blockbuster/Starbucks meets. Meets are a big part of Southern California's car culture even long before the advent of the forum. Before the forum, there were classic car meets, muscle car meets, hot rod meets, rat rod meets, etc. The point is that all of the meets existed because people wanted to show their cars which were cool, original, and neat looking cars to check out both to peers and normal non-enthusiasts.

I have been to the Mitsubishi Owner's Day a couple times only to witness 20% modified EVOs and 80% stock EVOs. I can u...

Silicone Radiator Hoses: Not for the Street

I noticed that there are more and more "manufacturers" of silicone radiator hoses. We can thank China for finally figuring out a silicone formula that is similar to Samco's silicone turbo and radiator hoses. I say similar because I am pretty damn sure any silicone hose from China is inferior to Samco's. If you look on eBay, there are about 7+ pages of shit brand silicone radiator hoses and probably 1 page of genuine Samco radiator hoses. Who knows how many of those "Samco" hoses are actually genuine? China is really hard at work these days with the counterfeit shit recently. More on cou...

XS BNR32 GT-R Left Front Wheel in the Air

Sean the living GT-R database, posted a pic of the XS BNR32 lifting the front left wheel after I shifted into 2nd gear.

Import Auto Salon 2009

In America, SEMA used to throw a half ass attempt at a show called the Import Auto Salon. I went to the first two or three years in Long Beach, but after that it was pretty much a joke so I never went afterwards. IAS was basically an Import Showoff with east coast vendors. This year at the Tokyo Auto Salon they also had an Import Auto Salon. However, "import" in Japan generally means European.

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Red Dragon 1000 Miles

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