The man's inspiration came from the Kanjo racers in Japan who race and work on cars as a lifestyle.
Nathaniel, the owner, did a little interview for us so I hope you guys enjoy it. He built the car himself, starting with none or little knowledge of cars. He wanted to challenge himself, he said, and I respect that completely.
Remember, half of the reason I got the first LS400, the black one, was to learn. I identify with this man a lot. Cool dude too. Unfortunately, being broke, I haven't been able to learn to rebuild a motor or swap one. Which is what he did. That's very impressive, sir.
"I use this car [now] to test tunes and components."
He bought the car as a test mule originally. Like I said, he wanted to learn to work on cars. He put this to me like he was talking about the weather; he said he was messing around so he took out the original B18 LS motor and threw in a JDM B20 paired with an LS transmission. The tranny gave the car longer gear ratios and more torque. This is Japanese to me because I was just never a big fan of Hondas even though I like them. I'm starting to like them more and more, actually, the more I see builds like this.
Next, Nathaniel threw on (if it was that easy...) an exhaust he found that fit perfect and gave a little extra Oomph! He is using a K&N air intake, of course (Hondas...). He also added a bolt-on 70mm throttle body which I imagine is a good amount bigger (that's Mustang size) than stock.
This mechanic has it in his blood. I did mention it took him two years to learn this?
Next was obviously the suspension. I really didn't get any details on it but you can tell it's not stock. I love the way the wheels are spaced and I gotta say, those rims fit perfect. The car also has a sway bar and with these two things, the chassis is a lot more rigid.
Wait, are those gauges?
If everything he had done so far wasn't enough, the turbo is. Unfortunately I didn't get any info on that because I think a friendship was blooming. He says he got the gauges so he can monitor what's going on in different weather conditions which is important here in Florida.
I'm pretty sure at least half of you are waiting for the part where I explain what's up with the paintjob (can I call it that?). I'll tell you why. Because unlike most people zooming around the street with cars that look the same with the same mods, rims, and bodykits.
What do I always say? You want a unique car. Well, maybe you don't, but some of us do. What really got me, though, is that one of the reasons he went with this look is because of the stigma that JDM cars can't be rat-rods or whatever. Says who? Not me or my friend here.
Do what YOU WANT TO YOUR CAR! That's a big theme of this website and I encourage you to do whatever as long as you like it. Don't worry about people. The guy hating on your car is probably in an old Kia anyway.
If you don't know, rad-rodding is a style of modifying cars - usually much older ones - to actually look older, more rusted, etc. They will typically have something you can eat off under the hood but the outside looks like Dracula drives it. One thing that is important to rat-rodders is something called patina. It occurs naturally when an old, I mean very old, car's body gets all rusty in different patterns and the paint flakes or whatever. Some people artificially create patina by pouring acid on a steel body, causing it to rust extremely fast. That's the gist. A lot of rat rods are from the 1940s.
Thank you Nathaniel and thank you, my readers. I hope this was a little inspiration you needed to work on your project. Come back every few days for new articles.
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