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MODIFIED HONDA NSX: HYPEBEAST

You all know the reputation the NSX has – it’s a rare beast, and requires a tuner with serious chutzpah to take it on. And with a colourful background in Honda modding, Shaun Quinn was just the man for making the ultimate modified Honda NSX.

Feature first appeared in Fast Car magazine. Words: Dan Bevis. Photos: Original Persona

Reputations are made or broken on rumours and hearsay. This is truer today than it’s ever been, in the era of immediate social media smack-downs and speak-before-you-think scatter gun opinion showers. But sometimes, just sometimes, the rumours are true. And the Honda NSX is one of those rare examples where you can believe the hype. Yes, it genuinely did annoy Ferrari when it was launched, because the world suddenly saw that it was possible to have supercar performance in a reliable daily-driver package, meaning that the old-guard Italians would have to try a bit harder. Yes, Ayrton Senna was involved in the development of the Honda NSX, and yes, Gordon Murray, Eddie Jordan, Tom Cruise, Alex Zanardi, Scottie Pippen and Chuck Yeager all owned NSXs. They’re that good. Believe what you’ve heard.

It’s no surprise that these fabulous mid-engined sports cars have passed into the pantheon of modern legend. When the Honda NSX was unveiled at the 1989 Chicago Auto Show, it was met with genuine confusion: a supposed supercar with a Honda badge? Just what were these Japanese upstarts up to, exactly? But Honda was deadly serious – the NSX may have shared a badge with your mum’s Civic, but it had a few tricks up its exquisitely tailored sleeve. The all-aluminium quad-cam VTEC V6 mounted behind the seats produced an urgent 270bhp at 7,300rpm, which was more than enough to overwhelm the rear tyres in an aluminium silhouette weighing just 1,340kg wet. The chassis was specifically designed to offer a sublime duality for the driver: supercar tactility with Civic-esque ease of use, making a hero of the average Joe. Unfortunately for Honda, cachet is a significant element in the supercar matrix and they were never likely to coax too many people from Ferrari showrooms, no matter how capable the offering; in a surprisingly lengthy sixteen-year production run, fewer than 20,000 examples were sold. But today people have started to realise that the NSX is far superior to its contemporary supercar rivals – while the likes of the Ferrari 348 are all piddling oil in their heated garages, NSXs are still usable daily drivers.

Let’s not pretend that the modified Honda NSX we’ve got in front of the camera today is totally sensible, though. Honda’s formula has always stirred a little lunacy into the scientific ingredients, and Shaun Quinn’s approach here has been to amplify the lunatic side rather than focusing on such trivialities as day-to-day practicality or mpg figures. That stuff’s all baked into a Honda anyway, so why not go a bit nuts with it?

It’s worth pointing out here that Shaun’s got form with this sort of thing. Regular readers may be familiar with his EK Civic, a car so beautifully crafted and keen to evolve that it’s had no less than four features in the mag over the years. And that says a lot about how he operates, because getting two features out of one car is pretty much unheard of. Four never happens. Cast your mind back to 2016, and we see a ninja-purple EK with S2000 styling, a built H22 motor, staggered OZ Futuras and carbon Bride recliners; fast-forward to its latest feature and the Civic is bright AMG green with custom wide arches, an almighty carbon wing and unique double-stepped SSR wheels. The evidence is abundant that when this dude gets his hands on a Honda, things are getting hectic. And with the NSX, he wasn’t going to deviate from this deviant behaviour.

“The Civic was my first car, and I guess most people know me for that one,” says Shaun. “I’ve been modifying the EK for fourteen years now; it’s been to shows all over the UK, and the latest reincarnation of it was to be its last, simply because I don’t see how it could get any better.” Fair enough, but it’s quite a step up from a hatchback to a supercar, isn’t it? How on earth did the NSX plan come about?

“Well, ever since I was a wee guy, the NSX was my poster car, I just always thought it was a mega looking supercar,” he smiles, “and the fact that I’ve always loved Hondas means that it ticked all of my boxes. So at this point I found myself looking at NSXs constantly, daydreaming of owning one and planning all the things I’d do to it if I was ever lucky enough to get one of my own. But the more I looked, the more I realised it was becoming an unreachable dream, as the prices were getting ridiculous. I began to look at smashed ones, but even then they were very pricey… so, slightly disheartened, I started to give up on my dream.” Thankfully, before our hero’s head began to hang too low, fate extended an olive branch.

“A few weeks later, I was chatting to my best mate Baz at work and he said ‘so, what did you think of that NSX I sent you?’,” Shaun recalls. “Unbeknownst to him, he hadn’t actually sent me anything, so then he was frantically trying to get the ad up on his phone to show me… and there it was: my NSX. I knew I had to have it as soon as I saw it. After a few phone calls to the seller later that night, a plan was made to take a trip to Newcastle to see it as soon as I could.”

The car had been imported from Japan back in 2014, and it was already wearing a few modifications when it made its journey across the globe. It was a bit rough and ready, with some bodywork damage, faded paint, missing interior trim and so on, but none of that mattered. Firstly, it was at a price that Shaun could afford; secondly, he was planning to replace and upgrade all of that stuff anyway; thirdly, and most importantly, it was a goddamn NSX. The dream was coming true!

“I drove the car home, then went out for a blast to go show my mates,” he says. “The NSX got a wee trip the following week into work to show the lads, then it was time to get my teeth into it. We bagged the car the following week, then started to strip it – full body strip-down, full interior strip-out. Time to make this my car…”

The air-ride is a real statement of intent here, although the purists can suck it up as this was hardly a concours example to begin with. Originally red, it had been repainted white in Japan, along with having various parts swapped out – in essence, it was always the car’s destiny to be turned into something unusual, and what better artisan than Shaun to help it fulfil its potential?

“All the work was carried out by myself and a few good mates,” he assures us. “I’ve always wanted to paint my own car, as I helped out with the Civic’s last three paint jobs, working weekends in a bodyshop to learn the skills. And I thought now was the time to do it; I’d decided on the way home from collecting the NSX that it was going yellow – Lexus Naples Yellow Pearl, to be exact – so maybe it wasn’t the best decision to learn to paint on a super-rare car… but everything can be fixed if I fuck it up! And being a bit mental I thought ‘well, let’s just do a three-stage pearl paint job for my first time’.”

You’ve got to admire the confidence, and it’s clear that when this fella puts his mind to something, he’s damn sure going to succeed. This is just as well, as you can’t really pick a harder base car to start with for a modding project than an NSX. It’s not as if aftermarket parts are available on the shelf in your local Halfords. Pretty much everything on this build has had to be either custom-made or severely modified. The Zero Force carbon widebody is a savage bit of kit, and this has been heavily reworked by Shaun and his mates to give it some brutal custom flares. There are custom carbon bits everywhere, and you can see by the fitment of all the body upgrades, as well as the quality of that flawless pearl paint, that nothing has been done by halves here. The rear hatch, the roof scoop, the exhaust system, these are all custom pieces, all one-offs, and perhaps the wheels sum up the over-arching approach best: Shaun started with a set of staggered-diameter one-piece cast wheels, 8×18-inch at the front and 10×19-inch at the rear – these were then redesigned, cut apart, machined and rebuilt to turn them into unique three-piece split rims, measuring 9.5×20 at the front and 11.5×21 out back.

“There’s no rule book, no how-to guides for this sort of thing,” he says. “I just do it all with a ‘f*** it, let’s try it’ attitude. NSX parts are very hard to come by and very pricey, so most things on the car are custom; again, it’s all carried out in-house by myself and a few mates. This is definitely the only NSX running these kind of specs!”

He’s not kidding. You’ve never seen a modified Honda NSX like this before; Honda’s supercar earned its reputation on merit, and the same can be said for Shaun Quinn’s custom skills. Believe the hype.

Source

February 11, 2021
PANDEM 335i E93: VISION AND EXECUTION

Idea, vision and execution. The most overlooked part of many builds and it doesn’t even cost a thing… not in the case of this Pandem 335i E93, though.

Feature first appeared in Fast Car magazine. Words and Photos: Paddy McGrath

It has become such a regular occurrence, that I sometimes think we either don’t notice it any more or purposely choose to overlook it.

I’m talking about cars which suffer with an identity crisis, cars which don’t really know what they’re trying to be. Show cars pretending to be track cars, or track cars built to such a high standard that their owners are frightened to take them out on track. Often this comes about due to improper planning and foresight; when we don’t look far enough down the road to try and see what we really want to build for ourselves.

What normally happens is that we start out excited and eager to put our mark on a new project. Our intentions are always good, but somewhere along the way we get distracted. Sometimes, we do things because we just fancy a change. Other times, we’re sold on a new product that while it doesn’t actually suit our own builds we just want that endorphin kick from buying new parts. I think we would struggle to find anyone who hasn’t been guilty of this at some stage, present company included.

None of this is particularly bad in the grand scale of things, but it’s a defining factor in what separates a good build from a great one. That ability to know from the very start what the long term plan is, and to stick with it religiously until it’s achieved. It takes discipline, for sure, including a lot of self restraint to ensure that you don’t veer off course. Knowing when to stop, is another underrated skill.

BMW 335i E93: The Journey

I don’t think any of this is a problem that Darren Coleman has ever had. He’s a man with a history of great builds behind him, and always knows exactly what he wants to achieve, often before he has even taken ownership of his next project.

BMW’s E93 3-Series convertible might not be the obvious choice in a model range which offers every variant you could ever want; be it coupe, convertible, saloon or estate. It was however the perfect base for what Darren had in mind. For him, he gets his car joy not just from attending and displaying at shows, but the road trip there with friends and family. It doesn’t matter if it’s a show in his home country in Ireland, or if he as to take a ferry across to the UK, half the fun is the
drive there.

Ultimately, this was a car that couldn’t just look the part, but it had to be fun to drive along with being usable on long journeys. Further to all of this, it had to be uniquely Darren’s as well. It’s a pretty long list of requirements, which only served to sharpen his focus.

Your first thought might be that this BMW has a heavy JDM influence, and you would be correct. Darren’s previous project was a Toyota Supra, and he’s surrounded by the Japanese cars of his friends and family. By integrating Japanese touches onto a German car, he has already taken this build in a different direction to most.

To best appreciate this car, I think we should start from the ground up with the 19-inch WORK VSXX which measure in at 14.5-inches at the rear, and 12.5-inches up front. The satin black centres with gloss lips almost disguise their incredible width. Almost. Still, I wouldn’t exactly call them subtle.

There would be zero hope of fitting these under factory bodywork, so Japanese legend Kei Miura (AKA Mr. Rocket Bunny) was called in to supply his full Pandem kit. This kit features exaggerated box-arches, which perfectly complement the E93’s factory lines, as opposed to the more typical rounded arch extensions. To add further aggression to the exterior, an M3 bonnet and rear bumper have been used. The paint, is a custom shade of blue.

Even with the right wheels and bodywork in place, ride height is key to pulling these elements together. As someone who wants to regularly drive his car to obscure places, a static setup would never have worked. Never mind the poor roads around these parts, but best of luck trying to crab your way onto a ferry at low-tide without removing your entire bodykit beforehand.

Thankfully, it’s 2020 (words I don’t believe anyone has written so far this year) and we have been blessed with companies like Air Lift Performance, who will allow you to have your cake and eat it, too. In other words, an air suspension system which offers the perfect static height for shows, a usable driving height for getting there and even the option to raise the car further to clear obstacles or board a ferry, all at the press of a button. What a time to be alive.

On the subject of driving, you might have noticed this isn’t an M3. There’s a good reason for that, which I’ll explain elsewhere, but this Pandem 335i E93 isn’t lacking in power. Some mild upgrades see the 3.0-litre twin-turbo motor produce 450hp, including the subtle addition of twin-HKS mushroom filters. Most impressive is that this car was originally automatic, but has been converted to a six-speed manual.

Inside Job

Inside, things remain deceptively subtle. The standard BMW front seats have been swapped for a pair of lower Recaro seats, sourced from a Honda and appropriately re-trimmed to match the interior. There’s a Nardi steering wheel, some custom carbon fibre trim and a not-so-subtle yellow half-cage.

This last piece is purely functional, and not a ‘show cage’. Otherwise, the first thing to meet the road in case of a rollover with the roof down, would be the top of Darren’s head. Let’s be honest, that doesn’t sound like a good time.

It’s not a huge spec list, but it’s a perfect example that more isn’t always better. The car features absolutely everything it needs to make it special, and not a nut or bolt more. It’s a car which is as comfortable aired out centre stage at any show, as it is on a Sunday drive.

While I’m sure that there are BMW enthusiasts who are thinking it’s sacrilege to go down the JDM route, and Japanese car fans who are probably thinking why didn’t he just start with a Japanese car in the first place, I think that bringing these two worlds together has produced a much more interesting result. It’s not the first time this has been done, but it’s something I hope we see more of in the future.

Above all else, it’s a car which is the result of having a vision. I’m certain that before Darren even drove the car for the first time, he knew that at some stage it would look exactly like this. It didn’t happen overnight – it took him a couple of years – but by plugging away at it, and resisting the temptation to veer off course, he has produced something truly memorable with his Pandem 335i E93.

Tech Spec: Pandem 335i E93

Styling:

Custom blue paint work, full original Pandem wide-body kit, M3 bonnet, M3 rear bumper, Pandem rear spoiler.

Tuning:

N54 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged inline-six, six-speed manual gearbox conversion, HKS intercooler with custom pipework, cat-less downpipes, custom exhaust system, R8 coilpacks with custom made loom, colour coded engine covers, HKS air filters, custom engine mapping by MHD, 450hp.

Chassis:

19×12.5-inch (front) and 19×14.5-inch (rear) WORK VSXX, Air Lift Performance suspension with 3P management, K Sport 8-piston (front) and 6-piston (rear) brakes

Interior:

Custom re-trimmed Recaro front seats, Nardi steering wheel, custom carbon fibre interior trim, custom half-cage, fire extinguisher.

Source

February 10, 2021
1UZ TOYOTA CELICA MK1: BONSAI MUSTANG

With its junior muscle car looks, the Mk1 Celica has always been a fan favourite. But thanks to a brawny V8 and a colossal amount of horsepower, there’s nothing ‘junior’ about this 1UZ Toyota Celica.

Feature first appeared in Fast Car magazine. Words: Joe Partridge. Photos: Matt Richardson

Japanese car manufacturers were pursuing quite an obvious strategy in the early 1970s. With the intention of breaking into the North American market (and thereby opening the door to other global opportunities), they had a bit of rethink among their various design studios and hit upon an ingenious line of thinking. American buyers were notoriously patriotic, at a time when Detroit was hysterically prolific. So if Japanese brands were to convince American consumers to buy their cars, they needed to design them to look a bit more American. And it kinda worked – take the first-generation Toyota Celica, for example. Here was a car which took the proven Carina sedan platform, and clothed it in a body that was clearly cribbing from the Ford Mustang’s lecture notes. The liftback model, which arrived in 1973 for the Japanese market and ’74 elsewhere, was particularly shameless: it stole the vertical-bar taillights, the C-pillar louvres, the up-and-at-’em proportions… but all shrunken down to Japanese dimensions. Instead of a hulking V8 under the bonnet, Toyota offered a range of buzzy little four-pots. It’s a miniaturised bonsai interpretation of the full-fat muscle car formula.

Toyota was aiming to poach US consumers with Americanised styling, but what Americans really love is V8 engines. So that’s what this one has. It is, in essence, the ultimate Celica liftback.

American Dream

All of this began as the brainchild of an Illinois-based enthusiast by the name of Mike Gesselle. Back in 2013, he’d spotted the shell rotting away in a field, and had dragged the non-runner out for the princely sum of $1,000. The plan from the start was to shove a V8 in it, but he had quite an oblique solution to apply here: while an era-appropriate notion might have been to stick a 1970s Ford V8 in there, Mike wanted modern reliability and, more importantly, massive, massive horsepower. So he decided to go Japanese, as befits a hair-raising Toyota build. He bought himself a 1997 Lexus SC400, hoiked out the 4.0-litre 1UZ-FE motor and all the wiring, and spent the next couple of years figuring out how to make it all work happily in the old-school Celica. A modern manual gearbox was drafted in, working with a custom prop back to a narrowed Ford axle (complete with LSD), hanging off a gorgeous one-off billet 4-link setup with Panhard rod. Oh yes, and there’s the small matter of the turbo… the engine runs a Turbo Technics snail with Turbosmart wastegate, to turn that bent-eight from cruiser to bruiser. With that all hooked up neatly, he then spent a year perfecting the bodywork and getting it to a state where it was as much about the show as the go. The car became quite well-known on the Stateside show circuit as a relentless trophy winner, and Mike put around 9,000 miles on it on the road as well as smashing in some 11-second quarters on the strip. The Celica had fulfilled its American dream.

However, as is so often the case, the project needed to be moved on in order to make garage space for the next big thing. Mike ended up selling the car to a young guy who imported it to England. Unfortunately the project proved to be a little too much for this eager buyer, as the list of jobs that still needed doing and elements which required refreshing meant that he was a little out of his depth, and so he ended up putting it up for sale on an auction site. Being such a niche proposition, it was tough to find a buyer, and the car languished in the classifieds for a while, the price lowered and lowered again… at which point Trevor Cowell sidles into our story. Here was a man built of the right stuff to take the Celica forward. As boss-man at TJ Motors in Surrey, his skills are assured, and his credentials are impeccable: “I’ve been modifying and playing with cars my whole life,” he smiles. “I have a collection of classic American cars, including a 900bhp supercharged Camaro and a tricked-out 1970 Pontiac GTO Judge. Why did I fancy a Celica this time? Well, I’d always liked the shape.”

The seller had brought the V8 Celica to TJ Motors to see if he could get it running right, and Trevor liked what he saw. Curiosity got the better of him and he started digging deeper through the car – and the more he looked, the more excited he grew. The overall quality of the work was impressive, and details like the billet 4-link and bespoke billet intercooler were works of art. He simply couldn’t resist making an offer. And just like that, a new chapter in the car’s story began.

“There were a lot of details I thought could be improved upon,” he recalls. “This started with lowering the rear and raising the front, dialling out lots of negative camber, and removing the wheel spacers for a more classic look. I also fitted a couple of mufflers to the 3.5-inch exhaust system as it was way too loud!

1UZ V8: Inside Job

The modern aftermarket steering wheel was replaced with a wood-rim item for a more retro vibe, with the column raised to further improve legroom, and Trevor set about casting a wide net to track down the various interior trim pieces that were absent. He also busied himself ripping out all the crumbly old sound deadening and replacing it with 21st-century materials, and following that there was a lot of wiring to do: various things weren’t working properly, including the horn, front sidelights, reverse lights, interior lights, washers, and assorted warning lamps.

“I have everything working as it should now,” he says. “Another thing to address was the fact that there was no handbrake, so I’ve fitted a hydro unit to the original lever. And there’s been a ton of little jobs to keep busy with – sorting water leaks, perfecting and improving as I go.”

The most significant change Trevor has made is to fit a whole new engine. It’s still a Lexus 1UZ-FE, but this one’s an early 1994-spec thick-rod motor, and he’s mated it to a stronger W58 Supra manual ’box. The full turbo gear was swapped over, and is joined by AEM water-meth injection – it’s good for 500bhp, which is a hell of a lot of grunt for a car that weighs in around 1,200kg. “This setup should be good for 750bhp one day, when the demons come calling,” Trevor grins, somewhat scarily.

The whole car is a feast of fancy details, with one particular favourite being the super-obscure taillights. These are as rare as rocking horse dung, being JDM units only issued from 1973-75 – the previous owner fitted these, and Trevor’s tinted them to match the menace of the rest of the car. This provides a proper muscle car vibe, something neatly accentuated by the Dodge Viper paint. Of course, the most fun thing about this bonsai Mustang is that most people have no idea what it is. “No-one seems to have a clue what they’re looking at when I’m out and about in it,” he laughs. Although Trevor’s doing his best to remedy this: having been put in touch with the car’s original builder, Mike, the two are now in regular contact. Mike had set up a Facebook page for the car – search for ‘GT77’ – and Trevor is now the page admin, sharing regular updates and information to educate a new generation about this spectacular old-school curio. This 1UZ Toyota Celica is essentially an ambassador for Toyota’s original concept: global proliferation was the aim and, with a lengthy stint in the States being colourfully followed by a new life in the UK, that’s precisely what it’s achieved. A baby muscle car with a Japanese flavour.

Tech Spec: 1UZ Toyota Celica Mk1

Styling:

Dodge Viper Snakeskin Green paint, period aluminium rear window louvres, shaved marker lights, shaved trim, ultra-rare JDM banana taillights (tinted), Toyosport arch flares, Toyosport front spoiler, custom bonnet striping, fibreglass bumpers on billet mounts

Tuning:

1UZ-FE 4.0-litre 32-valve V8 – 1994-spec thick-rod, ARP head studs, Cometic head gaskets, 76mm Turbo Technics turbo (running 12psi), Turbosmart external wastegate, AEM water/meth kit, rising-rate fuel pressure regulator, stock ECU, one-off billet intercooler, custom alloy 20-gallon fuel cell, W58 Supra steel-band 5-speed gearbox, short-shift, MR2 Turbo Stage 4 paddle clutch and concentric slave cylinder, custom propshaft, 8.8” narrowed Ford axle, 3.55 gears, LSD

Power:

500bhp

Chassis:

7.5x15in (front) and 8.5x15in (rear) Watanabe wheels, 185/55 (f) and 225/45 (r) tyres, 1985 Celica front crossmember and steering rack conversion, adjustable front coilovers, subframe connectors underneath, one-off billet 4-link setup with Panhard rod, disc brakes all round, hydro handbrake

Interior:

6-point chromoly rollcage, low-mounted bucket seats with harnesses, full Speed Hut gauge set, wideband gauge, carbon fibre dash panel and centre console

Source

February 9, 2021