I Admit It: The Civic is a Great 'Quick' Car

I used to really not like all of those ricers* that populated the streets of Orlando, FL. Hate is too strong of a word. These were guys, usually teenagers, putting the loudest straight pipe on an old Honda Civic and calling it a day. Then you hear "Brraaaaaaap" all day if you drive around. Saturdays, you hear it almost all night long because that's street race night. We used to call the cars rice-burners* and the drivers ricers*.

Forget all of that. I don't want to be associated with that. What this post is about is that 1 out of 10 Honda Civics - again, usually an older one - that is built correctly and hauls a**, for a lack of words.

A long time ago (no way I'm gonna be able to find it), I stumbled on a post on a forum where a guy had built a 400whp Honda Civic for just under $4,000. You can easily buy these cars for a grand - they just need work.

I truly recommend finding the time and paying a little more for the least modified or at least the best kept car. Do not buy one of these ricer cars.  You have to think that they have been floored probably hundreds of times, the guy has missed shifts, etc. These are time bombs ticking in your transmission or wherever it might be.

Once you find that decent-to-good Civic for about $2,000, which is what that's gonna cost unless you get a really old one or get lucky, get it.

Now there's a good and bad way to making these cars fast. Putting a K&N air intake and a loud exhaust - man don't even think about it until your engine NEEDS IT. What you want to do is put a bigger head on it. If you can, have it bored out a little although that IS costly. Switching out a head isn't pricy though and that will greatly increase your power.

The other thing you have to do is strip the car. You're at about 200hp but you need to get rid of at least 500 pounds. Take everything out that isn't the driver's seat, not part of the dash or gear shift, a roll cage, and maybe the passenger seat. You're getting rid of door panels and everything. If you want a fast Honda cheap, that's what you're gonna have to do. Otherwise go for a turbo.

You're literally going to ditch the AC, sound deadening... This car is going to be only for going fast and if you're freaking crazy, your daily driver (or if you're broke). But hey, you will actually beat stock Foxbody Mustangs at this early stage.

The $4,000 400whp Civic was built by rebuilding the motor, throwing an Integra head on it if I am correct (bigger head), adding a turbo and intercooler, and boosting it up to 16psi. If you know how to do that, well, I admire your skills and I wish you would teach me.

Anyway, 2-230whp (260bhp) in an N/A Civic is pretty fast. My friend owned a supercharged Civic Si that made slightly more than that and it was a beast. In an NA car, it would be even more godly. People really underestimate horsepower figures because they know the Camaro has like 500 but even though that Camaro will win, it also cost $30,000 more and it didn't win by many car lengths.

Ultimately the fact that it's easy to modify these cars and that there is a huge aftermarket makes them the most popular street racing car, at least where I live. The fact that they're reliable helps a lot, too. See, 250 horsepower or so in a nice package is going to put a lot less stress on, well, everything so it's always going to be more reliable than that 500 horsepower car that is modded to that level (whether that's an old Camaro or whatever).

And that 250-300 horsepower in a light package is quick, fun, and easy to handle. I never thought I would be praising Honda Civics but the fact is that they're good cars. The problem lies in some of their owners.

* The term ricers, although it started out as a somewhat racist word, is not intended to be racist in any way here along with 95% of the car community. It just describes a certain kind of car.

Turbobricks: The Volvo 850

Volvos, to the average person, are old people cars or family cars. They're safe and... Economical? I don't even really know but what I think of when I hear Volvo is the Volvo 850 (along with the 740 and 240). It's a classic luxury car that is known to last forever.

The Volvo 850 was my first car and boy did I feel like a pimp. The inside is covered in very nice, good quality leather. When you sit down, you sink in just a little bit. It's not an LS400 but it did have a decent sound system, good looks (in my opinion), and decent pick-up.

The stock car made only about 185 horsepower from an inline-5 transverse mounted engine. Yes, this car had five cylinders and no one believed it until I showed them. 185 horsepower is not much nowadays (in 1997, it was 'quick'). Having the engine mounted transversely, however, allowed a lot more horsepower to actually get to the wheels. The wheel-horsepower for this car was only a little less than brake-horsepower which is what the engine actually produces.

The engine has to then spin a driveshaft which may have to spin this part that has to spin this one... You lose power at each step. Having the engine mounted transversely where the crankshaft is aligned with the tires helps a lot with this problem because the engine's power goes to the wheels almost completely. That's why most 4-cylinder engines have a transverse mounted engine where the engine sits from side to side and not front to back. An LS motor in a Corvette, for example, is longitudinally mounted meaning it sits parallel to the wheels.

The 850, I believe, would have been a complete hit if they didn't make it front wheel drive like its predecessors. It's still a very sporty car so let's go over it. I want you to ponder a question though - can an 850R beat a Toyota Supra? Both modded, of course. Answer at the bottom.

First of all, you want the T5R trim level. That one came with a turbo and 227 BHP. I had the N/A one and it, still, had very good pickup going up an on-ramp, for example. Add a turbo and you got a sleeper if you leave it looking stock.

The 850 was made between 1991 and 1997. After that, it was replaced by the S70. The previously mentioned T5R model can be had for under 3 grand as well as 850 R's. For the full 3 grand, the car should have a minor problem at worst. You can get one with a couple issues for $2,000 and still be below $3,000 after a boost controller, depending on the problem.

The 850R came out in '96 and some came from the factory manual (not the book, I mean it had a "stick shift" [car slang...]). The car had a re-designed intercooler, reprogrammed ECU, and a bigger clutch. This bumped the power up to 250 bhp. Pretty impressive. Turn up the boost now, buddy.

Volvos are known to be reliable and these are no exception as long as they have been maintained well, like ANY car. They will make it to 400k miles. Also, I repeat, they are dirt cheap.

They're easy to work on (quite a bit of room). To this day it's probably the third most comfortable car that I've driven and OH! I almost forgot. The sound this motor makes is glorious.

Five cylinders, all firing in unison creating an orchestra of sound only heard from a few Audi's and that's about it. With a nice catback exhaust, these cars honestly make one of the best exhaust notes ever. Although you should never straight pipe an NA 850 because it needs back pressure (it is NOT a myth... Some cars DO need back pressure). If it's turbo, do it. Without a turbo, it just drove worse. But I had a 3" straight pipe. Get a 2 and 1/2 catback if you just want sound.

A straight pipe on a turbo Volvo... Chin drops to floor. I saw one shoot fire under a bridge and I almost creamed myself. You know that 5-cylinder sound I mentioned? Ohh boy.

So let's get to the good stuff. What can I expect to get out of this car if I want to mod it? Well here's the honest truth. There is not many aftermarket parts for these cars. However, a boost controller to raise the turbo's PSI and an upgraded intercooler will get you close to 320 bhp or so. A better exhaust (do it first... It sounds so good) will bump that up a little and you know what? For some people, that's plenty of power because it will spin the tires for a long time going from 2nd to 3rd.

I say there isn't a lot of aftermarket parts but yet there's 700 horsepower 850s driving around. Whooping Supra's butts. Check this video out:

I'm a big fan of rear wheel drive nowadays but sometimes I would love to drive what I just described. You point it and it goes there. Now that I think about it, the car handled pretty well.

I'm writing this article and subconsciously thinking how I could afford a 1996 850R and still keep the Lexus...

Truly, it's a nice car. I mean everybody knows it but I drove it. The amount of mechanical issues that came up was so minimal (remember, I had an N/A '97) that I miss it for that reason alone. The odometer was stuck at maybe 240k for years.

Until I killed it being a teenager. The first thing was that I let my friend drive and he promptly crashed it into a parked car going 30mph. Besides that though, I somehow didn't notice that there was no coolant at one point and my engine was overheating until I saw smoke. There goes the head gasket.

Before that, I remember sometimes it would suddenly run on 3-4 cylinders because I had no idea where to start changing spark plugs at the time. Man, that car was neglected! After that one, I always check my oils and watch my gauges.

What's my point? It's really reliable. Turbos, of course, come with their own issues but ultimately it's just another system in the car. There's things you have to consider like maybe idling for 30 seconds when you start the car to get oil to the turbo. Same thing when you park - give it a moment to stop spinning. This will make your turbo last longer. Volvo also makes a lot of turbos giving you the choice of swapping in a bigger one. Most of them bolt on or need little fabrication.

Will a stock turbo make it to 400k with the car? I believe so as long as it's maintained and definitely if it is rebuilt or replaced at 200k or so. You will probably want to do that anyway... Just saying. The turbo, not the motor. Also, I had a '96 turbo Saab 900 with 292k miles and the turbo worked fine. Just saying. It's a different car both they're both Swedish so that makes them the same? No really though, Volvo and Saab are similar in reliability in their 80's and 90's cars.  And like I said, you can swap the turbo!

Overall, this car is good for economical usage. You can even get it in wagon form and it has some of the best crash test safety ratings. That's what you tell your wife. And it also has a bulletproof engine.

A little side note; when Volvo came out with the 240, it was so safe that the government bought 250 cars to crash them to make that the new 5-star safety. They had engine mounts that would break and send the motor underneath your car rather than into your crotch and some other intuitive features. The government made that the standard!

Now in 2018, I believe Volvo has a car that guarantees that you won't die in a crash. So if you buy one and die, you should sue - straight up.

The car is very quick and fast if modified even a little bit. The looks are timeless (not like the 240 or 740... Sorry) and you can keep it a sleeper or turn it into a beautiful car.

If you really need more to convince you, most of the time... Old people drive them. Old people take care of cars. You can find a pristine car being sold by an old person for dirt cheap. Just saying...

If you're going to buy one, you can probably find a decent one with about 150k miles for $2k. You will get a very nice turbo one for $3k (you can still get a turbo with $2k). It's okay if it has more miles if it looks well taken care of. Inspect the turbo. See how it drives and spools up. That's honestly the most important part to check on these cars simply because turbos don't tend to last as long as some other things but Volvo has a good one here. Have it rebuilt one day.

Car Update: Why I'm Here and What Drives Me

I'm here because a stork brought me to Anyksciai, Lithuania and as I grew older and taller but not very much smarter, I noticed that cars speak to a part of me like nothing else.

In the ten years I resided in Lithuania, I spent a lot of time around cars. My father made a living importing cars from France when I was probably five or six. He would go up there with some friends to the car flea markets (exact term... Thousands of cars lined up, sold by owner), buy a few, drive them all back to Lithuania, sell them for a profit, and repeat.

Who wouldn't love to do that? I asked him what was one of the funnest cars he had bought and it was a Renault 5 Turbo.

One thing about Lithuania in the early 90s is that we had broken free of the USSR not long before and 80% of cars were Ladas and Volgas. Every once in a while, usually in the bigger cities, you might see something imported like a Lincoln Town Car which blew my mind at the time. Now in 2018, it's not like that anymore because the nation is prospering but that early 90s car culture (if you can call it that) really inspired me. Seeing BMWs and stuff like that. One time, my father's friend came to visit with a Honda CRX he had bought and let me tell you - the whole neighborhood was looking at it. A CRX! What's hilarious is that I distinctly remember that it had a Firebird flaming chicken on the hood! It's not like anyone knew what a Firebird was anyway so it fit well until I realized what it was years later.

That's a Volga. The design is obviously stolen from some American car but this was the luxury car of the day, despite the fact that it wasn't luxurious at all. I admit they look great but you don't want one! I'm telling you right now.

Now, in Lithuania at the time, almost everyone lived in apartments originally built by the USSR and they had a weird system where each apartment had a garage... 10 miles away.

It was normal to walk to the garage to GET your car if you weren't going to use it for a few days. That was also the place where friends would work on these cars, sometimes all day long. Although at the time I was more interested in burning stuff, I think some of that oil got into my blood.

Matter of fact, it's in there. My grandpa was a championship rally racer and my dad did very well here locally in Florida.

Before I bore you, my point is that I grew up in an environment where my family would be driving down the road and one of us would point out a nice car and we would talk about it. So what drives me? Truly?

Too easy. Yes, that's Lexy 2. It's evolving...

It's the fact that my father always told me to reach for my dreams and not listen to anybody. I'm trying to create a life for myself that I can be proud of. I want to build things with my hands and leave a mark on this world.

I wanna do something unique. I want to open people's eyes to the fact that nobody can tell you what you should do with your life. And damnit, sometimes it looks like you're doing the exact opposite to the people around you but they don't realize the dream you truly envision and strive and sweat and bleed for every day.

It's at this time that times are hard. You're learning your trade, you have to get creative and do side jobs for money, and hope and pray that's enough until you make it! Meanwhile, there's people in your face telling you to forget it and get a real job. It's hard, really.

People. You want to start a business? It's something that's been on your mind for a long time and it involves an interest of yours? No doubt in my mind you should go at it full force. That saying didn't come from nowhere. What is it? A job ain't a job if it's doing what you love.

But if you're on the fence and wouldn't mind just working a normal job, do that instead because you're going to half-a#@ your business, probably give up, and go find a mindnumbing job anyway. If you want to start a business but you don't think it's the right time, well, even though you would get a head start, I would say you should wait until you get really inspired. That way you're not putting out just decent content but good stuff. I just got let go because of health reasons and that coupled with the fact that I LOVE cars and upholstery, that very first day, I was working on my business for a good six hours non-stop.

So why am I here? By God almighty I am here to inspire people, teach people, and help people to think differently. That's something that I hope I get across in my posts. The whole idea of the website is that you can do a lot with little!

So what about the car, Rokas?!

The car has been beautiful to me except for a little problem. It's leaking oil now. Yep, every 3-5 days I have to add a quart. It's better than the quart a day I was doing. The oil filter was so old that IT was leaking.

Changing it helped slow the leak down but there must be another one. For now, I have to save up money to fix that and put in a new water pump and timing belt. Soon.

I think some of the seals are leaking, unfortunately.

Besides that, the car came with a problem where "it needs new bulbs" meaning "it needs a new Brake Light Switch because you have to jam it into reverse and the car never puts the brake lights on." Which is fine. It was an easy fix and worth the money (of buying the part...) to learn. I posted a tutorial on it on this website if you ever come across that problem. It fixed my traction control aswell. Before I did this, the TC light was flashing in my dash. Obviously the Brake Light Switch is part of what that system needs to work.

Before, I had to yank the shifter down and to the right to get out of P but that problem is gone. I hated it. But what was really strange about fixing that problem was that it seemed to let my engine run a little better. It could be in my head or just a coincidence but I swear it idles just a little higher now and just drives really good.

See these come with plungers when your brake poop line gets clogged.

I also was blessed with a nice set of tires. Sadly, they are 18in but they're $150 tires. I'm still on these OEM 16s, reppin... No really, I need bigger rims. I'm probably going to sell these so I have project car money for now.

As a side note, my health - at 29 years of age - is bad enough to where I may have to stop working! Yay! But the good thing is that I've been focusing on cars.

Running this website, practicing upholstery, doing side work related to cars, working on my car. I'm dedicating myself to what I love. I won't be able to help but make some money if I love this so much. But trust me, it's not about the money. But a man doesn't feel right not providing or at least he should if he's a real man!

Everything going well, the car should be fully reupholstered within a month and I will definitely post an article. Most people don't show ANYTHING before it's done but why would I not show you a mock-up? If you like the idea, steal it.

I'm teaching myself upholstery. Besides this website and the business, if I work (I might get disability, sadly), upholstery will be one of my money makers and probably the one that makes the most money, too. I found my passion. Cars in general is a passion but upholstery by itself is, too. There's a certain satisfaction you get when you reupholster the car and see it change completely.

If you're wondering how I came up with this style of interior, it's the Celsior. That car (Toyota's version of an LS400) had a cloth interior and they came with seat covers that covered only the upper half. So this is a bit of a throwback. The cloth piece is finished. The bottom piece is not.

Where the seat cover is now is where the leather is gonna go. In the back, the whole seat is going to be completely covered with the same leather. There's also going to be some trim pieces of another leather. If I revealed that, you guys would have no reason to come back...

Since you're probably thinking "What is he gonna do to make that look good?" You should come back for an update. This is the leather...

I Thought Old VW Beetle Engines Were Easy to Rebuild

I don't know how I got this in my head and also I don't know why so many people agreed when I brought it up in conversation. For some reason, most people think rebuilding an old air-cooled Volkswagen Beetle engine is easy because it's small, doesn't have many parts, and it has a simple design. Bad news.

I thought if you could do like an alternator and maybe the timing belt then as long as you had the right tools, you could take apart one of these small engines and put it back together with a lot of Googling and maybe a few weeks of going back and forth working on it.

Recently I started researching just that and guys, I'm sorry, I gotta tell ya - if you can't rebuild a motor period, you probably can't rebuild this.

Am I serious? See this is where I get confused because how are these hippies keeping their VW vans going at like 380k miles on the odometer without it being easy to work on?!

In all seriousness, you can do it but it's a lot harder because of some very obvious things. First of all, you probably don't have a bunch of weird tools that are used to rebuild an engine so using your wrenches and sockets, you're not only going to be borrowing tools from AutoZone but buying some.

So how do you go about starting? In complete seriousness, I would prepare a workspace with a good amount of space to put parts that are gonna be coming out. I would start with what you know. You can probably get the serpentine belt assembly completely removed. If you need to, write down everything you might need to put everything back together.

I lost the owner's Instagram. Contact me, guy. My friends, mine is Rokask1. 

You're going to come to a point where you have the easy stuff off like the Valve Covers and anything else like that off. It might be worth it to spray the insides with brake cleaner really well to clean the internals. You're going to be cleaning every part before you put the motor back together so might as well get started.

Lay the parts you take off the motor down on the floor and line them up in order. It will help a lot when you start rebuilding it and you can go backwards.

The reason people say these engines are easy to rebuild is not just because they're small but they're air-cooled. Think about it; no radiator, take away a bunch of hoses... Easier.

Another reason is not only the huge aftermarket but the online support as well. As long as you do most of the work yourself, people on forums will happily help you resolve an issue. Just don't go in there with a question that you could've found the answer to on Google because you will get peepee'd and poopoo'd on. Just sayin'.

So I was right. They're actually pretty easy to rebuild. Now don't get me wrong - you're gonna need time and patience and the willingness to learn, continue, and not stop (isn't that the same thing?). If you understand how an engine works, not only will you be able to do this but you're going to learn so much that it's ridiculous.

I would honestly buy one of these engines, rebuild it on a stand, and re-sell it if I had the means. Because the second you tighten that last bolt, think about this. You already knew a good amount to begin with but now you have literally taken apart a motor and handled and installed each little piece. Of course you have a good idea of what's in there but I guarantee you that after rebuilding your first engine you will gain so much skill that it's ridiculous.

You will know exactly how to diagnose a problem with an engine now, for example. You've opened up a motor and they're all similar. The knowledge you gain from this will be priceless.

I like the ones that look like they wanna eat you like the black one above.

Thing is, you're gonna need some money too. Not only do you need an engine but probably the rest of the car? The one above is $2.5k and it's a project car which is about right. So if you have a daily driver and so does your wife or whatever and you can afford to do this, I promise you won't regret it when that engine cranks on.

Like I said, you can also just get the motor for probably $500.

Especially because you're obviously gonna get bigger heads and probably a bunch of aftermarket stuff doing this build... Right?These engines can put out 200hp "kinda" easily. I mean, you're rebuilding an engine so you can do it. And you should because an old Beetle that kills 2002 Camaros and such is a great investment.

Some of the nicer ones sell for more than ten grand but get your project going first, homie. It's something I really think I'm gonna do in the future.

If you're just rebuilding the engine and not putting together a car, I recommend re-using any GOOD part you have and also using OEM stuff. The reason for this is because you're just going to re-sell the motor when you're done.

Tutorial: Installing Brake Light Switch

I'm using my LS400 as an example but most cars have the same setup. All my brake lights went out. I changed a couple bulbs but nothing. Naturally, I came to the conclusion that it was the Brake Light Switch.

The Brake Light Switch controls when your brake lights come on or off. When you start pressing the brake pedal, there is a small plunger that is somewhere close to the rod of the brake pedal. Depending on the design, when you press the brake pedal, the plunger either goes in or out, allowing a flow of electricity to your brake lights, turning them on. You step off the brake, plunger goes back in place, no more circuit, no more brake lights.

Old and new Brake Light Switch.

On my 1996 LS400, the plunger comes out as you push the pedal down. This design makes the most sense so I have a feeling most cars will be like that. When the brake is not depressed, that plunger you see in the above picture (reddish piece at the top) is pushed all the way in. As you press the brake pedal, it starts coming out, allowing electricity to light up the brake lights. Think of it as a cut-off switch. When the lights aren't needed, the circuit is blocked. As soon as you start pressing the brake pedal, the switch (plunger) opens the circuit to light up the lights.

Now that I described the same thing in three different ways, let's get to how to change it out.

I would recommend disconnecting the negative battery terminal whenever you work on electrical components. This job is very easy. However the tight space makes it a lot harder than it could be. If you're a big guy, you can do it but man, you're gonna be cursing.

Right below your cluster, in an LS400, is a black cover (well, it's black in my car). The OBDII port is actually connected to it. What you need to do is take the two screws out and let it hang. This will give you enough room to work. You don't have to take it all the way out.

There's a screw on the left and one on the right. These are the only two you have to take out. It will let your cover hang. When you get the screws out, the cover actually has two clips.

The first clip is right there. Put a screwdriver in between and carefully push the cover down using the screwdriver. It should pop out very easily. Do the same thing about four inches over.

When you go to reinstall this piece, you put the clips in first and it lines it up for the screws.

Next you need to locate the actual Brake Light Switch. It's high up in there right next to the brake pedal rod that goes up into the firewall. Initially I was having a hard time but once you find it, it's obvious. I believe part of it is blue, OEM or not.

This picture above actually shows the new Brake Light Switch installed in the old one's spot. I want to give you guys a better idea of where it is.

Now, removing the old one and putting the new one in is probably easier than messing around on your back in a tight location with a plastic cover hitting you in the head. I digress.

Look at the picture above again. You will see that there is two nuts. One is actually on the switch while one is mounted to the Brake Light Switch mount. Don't touch that one. You need to loosen the nut closest to the sensor.

Plastic cover removed.

What you also need to do before that is mark where the bolt was on the original switch. You need to line up the new one the same way. I used a marker and just stuck it in between the nut and the switch.

Moving on, disconnect the electrical connector. It has a little thing you push in and it comes right out. Then take a 14mm wrench (I don't see how you can use a socket) and just loosen the nut on the switch. About one full turn. At this point, you should be able to turn the whole sensor with your hand - unscrew it completely like that.

Tip: To initially get a wrench on that nut, you might need to press the brake pedal all the way down.

Put your switches side to side. The body of them might be different but the bolt and plunger should be the same. Now remember how I said you should mark where the nut was? It's so you know where the nut on your new switch should go. Honestly, I did it by eye and just made sure it goes in and out by pressing the pedal with my foot.

All you're gonna do is set that nut to the proper location on your new switch and screw that in with your hands. When the nut hits the mount, tighten it. Before you do so, press the brake pedal in and out a couple times to make sure that:

The plunger isn't so far in towards the firewall that it's pressing up against the little plate that releases the plunger. The plunger should be fully in when the brake is not pressed down and it should also start moving as soon as you start pressing the brake pedal (sometimes the pedal will have a little play in it - don't worry if the shaft doesn't even move until you press it like half an inch).

Obvious, really. Play with the pedal before you start working on it to see how it all works. Also like I said, I eyed the distance of my nut and it works fine.

Make sure you remember to plug the electrical connector into the Brake Light Switch before you put the cover back. I forgot and put it back and was left to wonder what is wrong for about two minutes before I realized.

Go ahead and connect your battery. If you followed the steps correctly - and it's not hard, anyone can do it and I encourage you to do so. You know the quote a shop gave me for that? $140. That's why I only go to a mechanic if it's my last resort.

Some of the Best Aesthetic/Bodywork Mods

In a lot of styles, especially eclectic ones like the Japanese bosuzoku, the cars are heavily modified aesthetically. In bosuzoku, the cars look like they're out of a cartoon. With VIP, the cars look like a Russia diplomat is in the back. What I'm trying to say is there is a distinction between styles. A big idea, if I'm not mistaken, behind bosuzoku is making your car unique and stand out. It should attract attention and also have an anime hood (wait, is that a requirement?).

I can dig it. 

It is obvious that aesthetic body mods are the number one thing you can do to change the appearance of your car. A simple lip kit already makes your car look better (depending on the car, of course). In my opinion and many others, though, there has to be a balance.

Nope, can't dig this. Unless I can drive up on the lip kit. I believe the pipes are the exhaust...

Why is it that you look at one modified car and it's completely gorgeous yet there's another one down the street, same model, also modded to all heck, that doesn't do anything for you. You see, that first car has it. It is something that is very hard to get right. Simply put, you cannot put too much! Your car has to be clean.

Now there must already be people disagreeing with me but do you really think the CRX with one different wheel, a huge spoiler, a diffuser, rice-burner exhaust, and a fake hood scoop has it? Isn't it annoying?

I think what it comes down to is class. There's a Miata that drives around where I live that has custom fenders that look like they're bolted on sheet metal, the car has a big spoiler, but you know what? It has nice tires, a nice exhaust, and you can tell it's a quick car. The engine sounds nice. It's flat black and just looks Mad Max-ish. Kudos to people who just go out and do stuff like that. I'm sure in that case, the 'crappy-looking' fenders are there for a reason. I suppose in bosuzoku it would be function over form. As far as I can tell, in that culture, even though the cars are heavily modded on the outside, they don't sacrifice anything but maybe weight. Actually, I take that back. I am so confused with bosuzoku. Look at the car above! It must weigh 1,000 lbs more than it did so maybe someone can explain that culture to me.

In all, the car has to perform good, look good, and be unique. Those are the most important things to me and I strive to achieve that balance.

I'm not writing this article to talk about the common mods, however. I want to talk about some seriously awesome exterior work. Like, for example, a front swap? As in taking the front end of another car and attaching it to a different one? Check out this Miata with a Shelby front end.

I think that is one of the best looking cars I've seen. That's a Mazda MX-5.

That's the top of the aesthetic game but the ones I really dig are a big easier to pull off. In an earlier article, I talked about how Louis Borbon managed to fit a diffuser from a Lexus IS250 onto his LS400.

The man deserves a shout-out so I left the above picture untouched. You can find his YouTube through his Instagram profile: @1classyls_4.

While we're on the subject of swapping out front ends, let's talk about the interior for a second. I'm sure many of you have heard of interior swaps but it's something new to me. I must have glossed over it but I have to say, this is another amazing mod. There is a company out there that is run by Slick. It's called Stitched by Slick. He put a new Pontiac GTO interior into a '69 Chevelle.

This is a different project by Slick. As you can tell, the man is a genius when it comes to upholstery. Beautiful.

Then there's sleepy eyes, another one of my favorite aesthetic mods ever and especially on the LS400! To me, it just truly makes the front look so mean.

I personally like even a little more headlight cover than this but it totally changes the style of the car. If you took the badges off, some may have a little problem identifying it.

Thanks @lexus_club8.

Look at how beautiful the above car is! Notice how it has nothing huge... Just tasteful small things. My five readers should know by now that yellow fog lights is something I've considered but I'm doing my headlights yellow and foglights are gonna be something crazy like purple.

Tasteful things, remember? Like the spoiler pictured above. Now if you slap a huge wing on your car, it better match the rest of it or I hate you. That's sarcasm, of course, but this type of roof spoiler is what inspired today's article. I realized that you can probably find one that you can fit on an LS400 and guys, I'm telling you, this is now my goal. No one has that!  A small, simple spoiler looks good on an LS400, too. Small!

Finally, possibly my favorite body mod - the wide-body fenders. On this car, they have to be very good quality. Don't ghetto-rig some, like the Miata I mentioned.

Personally, if I could, I probably would have a little of everything on this list. Just remember people: make sure your car is running good before you spend money on body mods! I drove my last LS400 for a year and a half trying to fix it completely. The hood and some other things were messed up. It looked like crap, but if it doesn't run then it doesn't matter how good it runs. Have a good day, people. Build a bosuzoku car... Or not.

Project Update: Lexy 2

I think I have moved forward quite a bit with this car in the few months I've had it. I just fixed an oil leak and I could actually re-sell this car and make a thousand dollars. I got real blessed with this one. I'm also really blessed because a fan of this website, @heresjohnnyls400 on Instagram, is sending me a full LED light kit for my interior! How cool is that?

Now the car will really feel like a spaceship. Right now the main light above your head doesn't even work! Speaking of things that don't work, my brake lights don't light up at all because I assume the Brake Light Switch is bad.

I have a new one which I hope to be able to install tomorrow. The problem is that it's somewhere close to the brake pedal rod where it meets the firewall. It's a simple piece - a bolt with a nut and a plunger on the other side along with an electrical connector. Depending on which way it installs (I haven't been able to see it yet), the brake lights go on when the plunger is either pressed down or released by the brake pedal being depressed.

I'm depressed because the position to work in is insanely awkward - like a high level yoga move. I'm hoping it won't be as hard as it looks. As long as the nut comes off easily, I should be fine. I'm going to take off the plastic bottom cover which should allow me to see it and I will probably post a tutorial because I can't even find a picture of the part on the car. Even the diagrams I found are not so great but eh.

Today I fixed a very bad oil leak. I was putting a quart of oil in the car every two days. I was a little worried because the previous owner told me, and provided proof, that she had just got an oil leak fixed. I believe it was the valve cover gasket. Well it looked like it was leaking again so I tightened the bolts down a little (do not overtighten!). Over time these bolts get loose because the gasket shrinks and sometimes you can stop a leak that way.

It didn't work. So I decided to do a little inspection and I found the real oil leak. It was a very old oil filter that was leaking. This thing must have been on the car for 30,000 miles.

Anyways, I fixed it up, cleaned it up, and the car is running extremely well. The misfire, at this point, only shows up if I turn the AC on and I'm at a red light. At that point, I will get random misfires and the car will move a little.

Also, the same problem with the car not getting enough fuel between 40-60 mph is directly related. I know I just need a new fuel pump, that's all. The car misfires less if there's a good amount of gas in the tank and so on.

I made the white on my taillights yellow with yellow tint. I think it looks great. I'm gonna have to buy more because I didn't realize what I was ordering wasn't enough for one headlight. There's a reason for everything.

Oh yeah, and I installed 15mm spacers on the back tires! I suppose it's hard to tell but now the back tires line up with the fender, unlike before which looked horrible. Surprisingly, the spacers also seem to make my car able to turn better. It makes sense considering the back tires are now farther apart than the front. I recommend that anybody that is considering this to do it.

Everything is well with the car. In my personal life, my health hasn't been the best so the articles haven't been coming out as often. But as always I will spring back up. Thanks for reading. 

Feature (Updated): Toyota Soarer and Volkswagen Beetle

I came across two cars that I simply wanted to share, one of which you can buy cheap as a Lexus. I found them both at one mechanic shop, both owned by people that work there. One is very rare and beautiful while the other is also rare in that condition so I wanted to not only share these two cars but rant about the Beetle.

You will probably see more of these articles, especially if you guys enjoy them, simply because I often run into very interesting cars that I know others would like to see aswell. Shout out to Oscar for the help on the LS400!

What is that, a griffin?!

I don't know much about this one except that the Toyota Soarer is obviously imported and I was blown away by the mileage. I'm sorry if I get it wrong, Oscar, but I think the owner (Oscar) said 48k miles. It's just beautiful. To me this is art. I should know - there's an artist in my family that agrees.

Not lying.

The other car is a beautiful and obviously very well maintained Volkswagen Beetle. An old one. I wouldn't post a new one. Did you know they have a flower holders? Yes the new Beetles have a flower holder. To put your frickin rose in. And a little water? Man screw that car. Can I grow something in it?

The pictures. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I'm counting each picture as.... A thousand words. Enjoy

That's three thousand because now that I think about it, I only took three good shots! One reason being the fact that it is TINTED for sure and also you can't see through the windshield. Just don't look. You probably want to steal it. Go away.

Edit: Oscar kindly contacted me to tell me that the tint is no tint... It's tempered glass. I didn't even realize that existed. He also sent me a couple interior pics! Enjoy.

If you're a car enthusiast at all, you will appreciate this car at the very least. It's totally JDM. Did I mention it's imported? Jokes aside, this is a very interesting car and a kind of status symbol. It's right-hand drive, I assume, but as I said... You can't see inside. For what it costs - and I'm not gonna mention that - compared to an SC300, it SHOULD be a status symbol. To Oscar, it's only his dream car (only).

This particular Soarer has the 1UZFE engine and I love that! Everybody wants the 2.2 V6 Supra engine but forget that, put the big V8 from a huge (for the time) sedan into a coupe and let's ride.

See the LS400 in the background? Same engine. I think we bonded, me and Oscar, on some weird primal level. The cars are both white, too!

The Beetle, on the other hand, had so many details that I do have a bunch of pictures for this one. This is one of the better looking Beetles I've seen. There's a lot of them driving around nowadays which is great. That's also why this isn't the best one I've seen - simply cause I've seen so many good ones. It's up there, though, so enjoy Volkswagen people, or air-cooled people, or just people...

It's definitely an iconic car. Very recognizable. That's probably because it's the most mass-produced car in the world. There's been something like more than 60 million cars built. That's 60,000,000 Beetles.

So who designed it and why is it so popular? Also, why are my photography skills so bad? Hitler designed it in Nazi-era Germany. Okay, not Hitler himself but he ordered two car companies to be started: Volkswagen - folk's wagon, the people's car, and Mercedes - the upper class mobile.

The designers set out to build a somewhat-reliable car that is also cheap and boy did they succeed in that. The Bug was a hit because of its simple air-cooled engine and simple design. A mechanic with little experience can rebuild one of these motors and I believe that is why these cars are so prevalent. You don't see as much of any other classic car on the road for a reason.

I've wanted one since I was about eight but that's probably not gonna happen soon. I got a very complex car to deal with...

These cars are timeless, graceful, and will be around when the world ends and only cockaroaches survive. Then they will evolve to rebuild VW engines.

Although I do enjoy this style of Beetle because after all, that's basically what it was built for. To go to the beach. But I would just like to say I prefer the ones with very wide tires in the back... Know what I mean? That sound...

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you like this type of article and if not, which do you prefer?