NZPC 257 20180402 preview

BUILDING

A

R ACE - READY

HONDA

B16A

MAY 2018

$10.99

INCL. GST

416803 800821 9

ISSUE

257

CT E J O R P 00 3 1 A D Z MA R O T O R IPLE R T R A E TEN-Y

MUSCLE GARAGE

K A N J O N I G H T R A I D E R S

CONTENTS

“AS SOON AS THE 20B SHOWED UP, I KNEW I WANTED TO GO NA, AS IT’S JUST SO MUCH MORE RAW” 04 ED

22 34

MASTER BLASTER

EPIC 10-YEAR 20B PP MAZDA 1300 BUILD

MAYHEM AT MIDNIGHT RUNNING THE STREETS WITH A KANJO DUO

STRIKING GOLD 13B PP MAZDA RX-3

46

RIP’N ROAR

1300CC HISTORIC RALLY STARLET

64

themotorhood.com

1

CONTENTS

58

84

004 EDITORIAL 006 ED TEAM CHATTER 008 NEWS 014 GIG GUIDE 016 POWER PLANT 018 TRACK BREAKDOWN 020 QUARTER-MILE WARRIORS 032 SUBSCRIBE AND RECEIVE 078 CONCEPT WE FORGOT 080 P’CAR BABE 090 WEEKEND WARRIOR 092 NEW PRODUCTS 094 CRUISE MODE 096 UNDER CONSTRUCTION 098 DRAG TIMES 100 DAILY DRIVEN 102 LOCAL SPECIALISTS 104 WHAT’S COMING NEXT MONTH

72

058 N1 SCREAMER 072 PUTTING IT DOWN 084 SISU ON ICE BUILDING A HONDA CUP B16A N1 ENGINE

INSIDE THE POWER TRAINS OF THE LINK ECU D1NZ CARS

WRC HITS SWEDEN

52 SETTING

STANDARDS AUTOFEST 2018

2

themotorhood.com

80

A DECADE OF CRAFTING HAS TRANSFORMED THIS ONCEFORGOTTEN MAZDA INTO A RAW, TYRE-SHREDDING 1300 — SOLID PROOF THAT GOOD THINGS ARE WORTH THE WAIT WORDS: MARCUS GIBSON PHOTOS: CHIM PATEL

22

themotorhood.com

et’s be honest here, no one ever sets out thinking their build will take them the better part of a decade to complete. That’s especially so if you’re in your early 20s, a time when you’re filled with blind optimism and youthful enthusiasm, and you generally won’t have had enough build setbacks to know any better.

It would seem that most of these eager buggers reckon that their build will take no longer than two years, no matter how daunting the task that lies ahead. That’s the exact goal a

much younger Simon Andrews Macleod set himself, but there he was, pulling out of his driveway for the maiden test run of his 1300, some 10 years after rolling the moss-covered and muchneglected Mazda into his workshop for the first time. Sure that trip was eight years behind schedule, but does he care? No! The car is 10 times the vehicle he expected to build, but this is no fluke, as Simon is clearly a car builder with an eye for detail and who is not afraid to take the grinder to anything that doesn’t quite work out the first time around. But more on all that a bit later.

34

themotorhood.com

WORDS: JADEN MARTIN PHOTOS: ADAM CROY

1992 HONDA CIVIC(EG) // 1998 HONDA CIVIC TYPE R (EK9)

MAKING THE LOCAL ROADWAYS YOUR PERSONAL PLAYGROUND IS RISKY BUSINESS, BUT IT’S ALL IN A NIGHT’S WORK FOR THESE KANJO-INSPIRED CIVICS

46

themotorhood.com

BUILDING ON WHAT ANOTHER HAS LABOURED OVER CAN OFTEN BE THE SHORTEST WAY TO ACHIEVE YOUR DREAM MACHINE or a long time, the desolate red dust plains of the Australian outback served as the land of milk and honey for young Kiwis looking to make some serious coin if they could hack the searing sun and the isolation from all that we love. For many, it’s not the kind of place they plan to stay forever, and a return to the motherland is always in the back of their minds. For Andrew Dremler, in setting his return date a few years in advance, he wanted to make sure he damn well had something worth returning for. No, we’re not talking about the love of a good woman; we’re talking about his dream machine: an RX-3 sedan.

Despite having owned a long list of modified vehicles, an RX-3 still eluded him. Although he was still a few years away from his return

WORDS: MARCUS GIBSON PHOTOS: ADAM CROY

D PS AN IN LEAON’T FIX IT’ N W O OKE, D AS GR R FEST ‘IHF IT AIN’T B O T U A , L E A G U A N D N A NT’S ATHAT OLD WELL G AINME T IN UY MAX R G IZ E : S T M O N O OT E H IT P E P E E C NTIM FECTLY AL GRA DOWS : CONN R WORDS D , PE N U O B

52

themotorhood.com

This hectic VL Commodore featured a big Holset HRC40RS turbo, and Sinco manifold, with a trick intake plenum and piping also fabricated to suit the RB30 set-up. And, while that engine may be a beautiful work of art for a once-dirty E-banger, it’s the only standard befitting this car, which has been thoroughly detailed through and through

ou’ll be hard-pressed to catch Alan and Paretauira Togia saying it, but the brains behind event-promotion outfit Downtime Entertainment have got to be very pleased with the way their annual AutoFest event has grown into the monster it is now — an automotive festival that can genuinely be classed as among the biggest in New Zealand.

From the first AutoFest in February 2016 through to the third iteration just gone, held on March 3, the growth and refinement of the show’s formula have been discernible despite the fact that, at a surface level, things have remained largely as they always have been.

The Waikato venue of Mystery Creek Events Centre has remained, and the main attractions of a massive show hall and epic burnout competition remain at the fore. It’s all just been polished and perfected, adding to existing strengths and addressing shortfalls experienced in the past.

Wiremu Burkhardt’s B2K features a blend of new meets old, hence the super ’80s aesthetic theme, which has been brought into the current era with 17-inch Hilux steelies and frame-scraping stance through a C-notched rear and full suite of Slam Specialties bags. Power is made the old fashioned way, with a naturally aspirated 13B, although it gets help from two EFI Hardware IDA-style throttle bodies and a NOS nitrous kit slapped on for good measure

Is it really a burnout competition worth covering if Steve Ellicott’s ‘L0R0TA’ Mazda 808 wagon isn’t included?

Steve proved to the crowd just how loose he gets behind the wheel, spinning the turbo 13B right up into the danger zone and blowing tyres left, right, and centre. He was rewarded for his efforts, scooping the top award in the Rotary Class and a cheque for $500 — that should cover the E85 bill for a full day of skids!

Chris Burrett’s iconic ‘AL4SPN’ Mazda Familia GT-Ae (BFMR) has been kicking around for over five years in its current state, and it still looks good enough to eat off.

But it isn’t just good looks, with 10-second quarter-miles under its belt, thanks to the wicked BPT motor sitting in a smoothed-andfinessed engine bay. This was all acknowledged, as Chris was given an unexpected leg day, being called up on stage multiple times to amass a huge trophy haul

54

themotorhood.com

While the queues of entrants and show-goers snaking up the entry road and onto the main Mystery Creek Road this year would have given a fair indication of just what to expect, to have experienced the show in full effect would have been the only way to really get how big it is.

A look within the enormous show hall presented a remarkably high-calibre spectrum of cars on show, arranged with plenty of breathing room making it easy to check the cars out, photograph them, and by keeping quality to a certain standard

there was plenty of space to showcase standout entrants. There were plenty of those, which you can see more of in the photos throughout this article, arranged in a decent mix. That is one of the more noteworthy features of Downtime Entertainment events: the lack of preferential treatment of different automotive scenes — if you’re into your cars, there’s a place for you.

Perhaps the most telling indicator of this was within the NZ Lowrider Super Show — a separate show hall dedicated to some of the finest low-riders in the country, courtesy of clubs like