JDM Fad

[sccacuda]

Agreed on that Justin, the import scene in my province is totally flip flop. You have the dedicated tuner guys, and then you have the ricers, and of course the trend/ fad followers. Friend of mine has an R33 GTR V-Spec he's looking to sell. Solid twin turbo RB26 in it. Also have another friend in Calgary, Alberta looking to sell his R33 GTST, its clean and fast, driven it many times. He'd probably trade plus cash for your S14.

Canada is full of R33 selling for cheap, especially the RB20 through RB26 engines. Great for swaps into the S-Chassis.

I now understand the look on my wife's face when I start talking about something and she has no clue what the hell I'm talking about.... "I'm sure those numbers and letters are important, but I don't know what your talking about...."

[HPIcustoms]

I now understand the look on my wife's face when I start talking about something and she has no clue what the hell I'm talking about.... "I'm sure those numbers and letters are important, but I don't know what your talking about...."

Hahaha, mu girlfriend is the same way when I start talking about cars, especially import ones.

Education lesson:
All Nissan 240sx cars are designated by a chassis code, much likes domestics. These being S12, (1988 and older), S13 (1989-1994), S14 (1995-1998) and S15 (1999 and up).
The Nissan 240sx is called a 240sx due to its KA24DE/ KA24E engine which is a 2.4L dual overhead or single overhead cam.
Also, in Japan they have a 180sx variant called this because of their CA18DET engines which are 1.8 litre dual overhead cam.
Also available are the SR20DET engine which are 2.0L and dual overhead.
JDM S13, S14 and S15 models are commonly known as Nissan Silvia

Then you have the Nissan Skyline, otherwise known as "Godzilla" in its GTR form.
All Skylines are designated by R chassis codes. These being R30, R31, R32, R33, R34
These cars have any of the following engines, RB20DET, RB25DET and RB26DETT. There's several variations of all these engines for certain internals, race spec engines, non-turbo and etc. These cars are also known by their trims of "GT", "GT-S", "GTST", "GTR". There is also several other sub-trim codes to those mentioned depending on aero package, suspensions etc.
The GTR being the monster of them all, all whee drive, manual, twin turbo 2.6L and a ton of factory option race goodies like bigger brakes, lightweight wheels, exhausts, clutch systems, driver controlled differentials etc. The Skyline is also offered in RWD and AWD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Skyline

[ICrombie]

There are some pretty cool trends in JDM like using some unique matte colors like olive drab, splitters & air dams, etc. And then of course there is the bad: widebody kits, large exhaust tips, tow hooks, insane camber and others.

[rickierockit92]

Philly is deep with real nice VIP cars as well...the Liberty guys have clean stuff. As far as the car models go, they are only "hot" when you put them next to cars,they are like a 10-footer build on a car...get up close and it's rough. Many of them have a body that could stop a truck, but a face that got hit by one

As a reformed Ricer myself..I cannot stand the "Stance, bro" setup..and would appreciate the effort, but these kids often buy the cheapest, most dangerous parts, then drop 3k on wheels(with way too small tires), then kill their fenders..and go for internet fame

It's spreading to diesel-douche trucks too..."stretched tires" on F250/F350..and they get "squatted' in the rear

End of sermon...sorry

hahaha! guess thats why my girl is from boston ...

on a trendy note.. sadly my buddies are going for the big lifted diesels and it makes me crazy. they dont even live near an area they can offroad .. they drive like s*** on the highway .. idk maybe we are the ones that are foolish with the upgradede suspension, braking, engine??? hahaha!

[Buryingthesun]

hahaha! guess thats why my girl is from boston ...

on a trendy note.. sadly my buddies are going for the big lifted diesels and it makes me crazy. they dont even live near an area they can offroad .. they drive like s*** on the highway .. idk maybe we are the ones that are foolish with the upgradede suspension, braking, engine??? hahaha!

Thats the new trend for all the kids out my way. Cummins stickers and stacks, God its obnoxious because none of them use the trucks. It newer F350's and Dodges to boot. . . no ones going to take them into the woods and use thos 36's

I didn't come from imports my roots are planted in american muscle and gassers, but ive been known to whip up some fast imports. One being a 2002 Acura RSX drag car running high 9's (very impressive for a FWD car like that) a few honda S2000 track cars and a few nissan 240sx cars. I can not stand the wild off set and stretched tires, but like all things kids have the new trends then they die off. . . no biggie I suppose.

[Nothingface5384]

Trucks that are lifted with big winches or rock sliders
.that never see anything but pavement is dubbed mall crawlers

Gas trucks with stacks or diesel with like an 8in plus single stack is lame
so is diesel smoking a car next.to you

I used to be big into 79-95 toyota scene

Yep the import scene is pretty diverse
I only respect the tuner portion
Not the idiot ricers or jdm wannabes

Ill get me a real import oneday
Thinking rx4 since i used to have an rx7 briefly

I guess the point is theirs as much tastless **** in various auto scenes their are tasteful amd we just have to accept it and hope it fades away...

[Justin@EntropyRad]

It's evolutionary indeed. Preferences change, but so may of the new fads are half-assed and unsafe, it makes me cringe.

I've had 67 cars/trucks/motorcycles in my now 17 years of driving life..no two were exactly the same, and still lust for more.

Only 1 car has ever scared the tootsie roll out of me...a near 680whp '03 Porsche 996 TT car...accelerated faster than my current bike, still hung corners, and stopped hard enough to detach a retina...that's probably a $55k car right now

My next car will be old, domestic/import hybrid, and be on a budget build thread on here...it will tick off some of the purists, but isn't that the point of doing what you like, instead of what "they" say to do?

[CamaroMike]

There is a difference between import enthusiast and stance guys. When I hear JDM I think of anything made in Japan that we couldn't get in the States so you have to ship it over. It has always appealed to me because its something you don't see every day and its not easy to get a hold of. I enjoy tracking all my junk but some people just like to hang out in parking lots, but hey whatever floats your boat!

These are some of my old cars that I consider "JDM"

Surprisingly this got a lot of attention a few years ago when i had it



1G-GTE Soarer/Supra engine swapped into a US spec AE86 chassis:



And this RB26DET (skyline GTR) I swapped into a US spec S14:



This was just a US spec s13 but it was cool




They function (ish) too!




I got rid of all of them and got some more old Camaros lol

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

^ you made a good choice to do so... lol

[mmosley]

Only 1 car has ever scared the tootsie roll out of me...a near 680whp '03 Porsche 996 TT car...accelerated faster than my current bike, still hung corners, and stopped hard enough to detach a retina...that's probably a $55k car right now

All this talk of JDM cars... and a Porsche gave me a flashback. I used to be a design engineer for a Japanese company. I was their only non-Japanese system design engineer. When the expats would come visit they were sometimes put up to a "challenge", Japanese speak for a triple dog dare, to go for a ride in the old car I had in the parking lot. My 1968 Barracuda with a 7.3L 550hp engine. Most of these guys drove "kei" cars back home. The little 1000Kg 550cc cars that fit in the lowest tax group. In some areas you have to own a parking space before you can buy a car, and, in some of those areas the "kei" cars are the only cars exempt from the rule. Most of them had never been in a car with more than 2.0L, and if they had it was a large sedan. When I told them 7.3L they shook their heads in disbelief. Surely their English translation was not registering correctly - so I would spell it out for them in Japanese. A ride in the car would clear things up. Some you could tell did not care for it, others loved it.

So, on one of my trips to Kumamoto I got set up. We went to visit a sub-contractor in the Kikuyo area (suburb of Kumamoto, Kyushu). At the end of our factory tour the owner invited us to lunch. He pulled me aside - "I hear you like fast car"... "Hai, so desu" (of course)... "Good, you ride with me" and points a thumb at himself, "I have fast car"... So, I am thinking what, maybe a nice Skyline, or something else appropriate to the local. We walk out back and there sits a Ruff TT Porsche. Big flares, whale tail, full cage, race seats, 5 pt harnesses, huge rims and tires - and the kicker, it is left hand drive. We got in and he fired that thing up - whoa, what a beast. We took the long way to the restaurant and still got there first. On the way back he let me drive. I did not go all in, but I did push the pedal to the floor a few times and let it get a little loose on a few corner exits. This was the older variety of Porsche before they tamed the rear suspension, you have to be careful or you will end up facing the wrong direction pretty fast.

When we got back my co-workers were curious as to my impression. I told them it was an excellent machine. The owner had a good laugh.

[shmoov69]

Too cool!

[HPIcustoms]

Those are some nice toys CamaroMike. Always loved the 86 also, can't find clean ones over here worth buying, and the ones that are, cost a fortune because of the inflation. Same thing goes for 240sx cars up here, we call it "drift tax", not uncommon to see Joe Blow selling is 240sx that's completely stock, has 200,000kms, auto or a beat up manual, horrible paint etc for $7,000 to $10,000 all just because of the JDM fad craze that's fired up, especially the whole drift craze.

I remember back in 2009 when I had my 240sx swapped with a Skyline RB20DET and modified to hell, that it was "ugly" from everyone... Now they're worth oh so much and the "cool" thing to have because people caught on, yet I was years ahead of the game haha, makes me shake my head.

And agree majority of the modifications they do is unsafe and done very half-assed. Hence why our local Police department has looked to cash in on the whole JDM fad. They started a seperate Vehicle Inspection Unit (VIU) that specifically looks for modified cars, right hand drive cars etc and tickets them. You get an automatic $297 ticket PLUS whatever else they ding you for (wheel camber, aftermarket exhaust, tint, wheel width, tire condition, ride height, etc), the kicker is they leave all the huge over lifted trucks alone which is pretty annoying since there's so many pavement queens where I am.

[CamaroMike]

Thanks Evan!

You are right, not long ago the schassis were just ricers but now everyone wants them. I still have one left, it's an all original s14 that still has the original CD player, not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. Even down in Alabama a spray painted dented schassis with a laundry list of problems are $5k. Cash for clunkers driving used car prices higher didn't help either...

It's cool seeing other import guys on protouring forums though!

[Justin@EntropyRad]

Thanks Evan!

You are right, not long ago the schassis were just ricers but now everyone wants them. I still have one left, it's an all original s14 that still has the original CD player, not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. Even down in Alabama a spray painted dented schassis with a laundry list of problems are $5k. Cash for clunkers driving used car prices higher didn't help either...

It's cool seeing other import guys on protouring forums though!

My bretheren...still keeping my S14 NOT DRIFTED..just a street car that's clean