"Its about that time." the first run of 3.2 VR6 spacers are done and ready..

Its about that time. The first run of "new revision" R32 3.2 VR6 head spacers will be shipping out today. 304 Stainless steel spacer, bringing the compression ratio of your VR6 down to 9:1 for boosted high horsepower applications. With the help of Jeff Atwood @ United Motorsport, we had developed these.....



for more information, check out or shop blog as well....

some in process work on the spacers...

from this....
to this, after some prep work. 304 is a bitch to clean up haha....

"Modern Warfare!" Eurotuner -January 2011

just caught wind of this? I knew there was something in the works, but didnt expect something this quickly. Sam Du shot it at the end of the day, Saturday, at H2Oi this year. And low and behold, this...

I feel honored to be labeled one of the "best of H2oi". and yes, I will get better images as soon as I can find my own copy lol...

Vinyl wrap (digital camo)

so i finally found the pictured from when we wrapped the car back in july. had been meaning to have it done before June 1st, so it would be all set for the Eurowerks4 show. but timing isnt my strong suite. as you can see, we took a little more care then the typical wrap might, taking off the door handles, mirrors, and front bumper to get it all laid out perfect. one piece taillight to headlight, one each for the bumpers, hatch, and hood respectively. between Jeff@AAC and myself, we had a good 20+ hours into it to make it look like it does. and well worth the time and effort, always fun to watch people search for seems that dont exist :)

Jeff does all the local Army/ National Guard display vehicles for football games, promotions, etc. so we took the standard BDU print, changed the hue a bit, and sent it off to be printed. then, just to stay in theme with the rest of the car, it was all laminated after printing to give it a matte finish, versus a glossy one...


-Mike

relaxation device..

finally a chance to get some pics up of the new relaxation device. had it for a bit now, just havent had time to get to the camera until the last few days. forgot that i had even pics of it..

so cool, i just had to stop...

usually most of the graffiti i see around the shop is borderline gang related, or the mindless scribbles of some high teenager, looking for attention. a few weeks ago, i had seen a similar design to this on one of the buildings in passing, but by the time i had a chance to return for some pics, it was gone? painted over by the building owner i imagine.

well, a few weeks later, and its back lol. same doors and all. so i had to get pics this time. and believe it or not, this is sidewalk chalk? so it did make me laugh to picture the owner painting over it, when he could easily just scrub it off.

now if only he would come do our building, i think we would let him have at it all he/ she wants..

kool surprise on a sunday afternoon..

stopped off at B&N today when out for some supplies, figuring i would grab the new PVW. came across this when i did?..



opened it up, and paged through it, coming upon my own feature! holy hell, i didnt even know they were putting this out? nice little surprise after a long week, to say the least..

here we go again, round whatever at this point...

so a productive day on sunday, if i dont say. made it out to Welle Auto Supply to pick up some things, and cant ever seem to make it out of there without spending money. i was there maybe 10 minutes, and $85 dollars later, i was walking out the door. like a kid in a candy store, i could get in so much trouble in there given the time. so that sorted, and the garage somewhat clean..

and talk about a cramped space? yes, this is what i am used to having for room most times anyhow :)


but anyhow, before i can get started with my new goodies, i need to get the underside of the car torn down. yes, you heard that right. i am cleaning up, and redoing the underside of the car.



and as most know, i have to clean things as i tear them apart. the secret to how this car has stayed so damn clean over the years. yup, i am that nuts i guess...

and i got the rear beam out as well. that will be heading off to be sandblasted, and then who knows from there ;)

talk about funny looking..

-later

and the car is back under the knife, so to speak...

winter has set in around here the last few weeks. went from 70 degrees and sunny, to sub freezing temps, snow, and ice. so needless to say, the car is back and tucked away in the garage for the season. and as always, i cant just sit back and let it be. so i have already started some plans into motion for the coming summer...



some of you might remember the LM's i had a few seasons back. well, they never really left, in true wheel whore fashion. pulled em out of the dust bin, and they are now apart and off to their respective service shops. barrels off for polishing, hardware off for plating, and the centers still up in the air? might paint match them to the car. but that entails painting the car again? what to do...

its getting closer! tattoo artwork done..

so its getting closer and closer every day. been waiting to get a start on this new piece for a good 5 years now. and have had cash down for the appointment for almost as many years now. so my first appointment is set for January. excited, but nervous at the same time? never had 2 people work on me at the same time, so that will be a bit of a trip. only have to do that for the outline portion, and get it all sorted in one sitting. going to have to prepare for that one a little i think..

but anyhow, heres the sketch of the art work. anime meets traditional japanese, being done by Dan Dittmer, and Thad Paskey @ Electric Dragonland Tattoo Studio in Hopkins Mn..

more to come, regarding the ink side of things..

you know you have a problem, when your setting up tattoo appointments, six at a time? got a pal to get me into his schedule (finally) after having the initial consult over 2 years ago. so i should be able to check out teh final sketches around thanksgiving, and am set for the start of the outline Jan 20th. cant wait, no more jokes about having my back still wide open after all these years...

some traditional Japanese, mixed with more modern Anime style and color..

and feel free to check out there other work, Dan Dittmer, and Thad Paskey from Electric Dragonland are the men tasked with this project. cant wait to see what they team up to come up with.

-Mike

just a quick plug!

so i have noticed a jump in traffic to this here little blog as of late, and just wanted to drop word of thanks for checking it out. its nothing like any of the sites out there, and just a place for me to keep track of the stuff i do for work or fun. so like i said, thanks for taking an interest. it helps to motivate me to keep thing up to date as much as possible.

and for those of you that are, i also try and keep the shop blog updated over at furtherperformance.com as well. so the more technical, work related stuff is usually posted up over there. so check that out as well. and by all means, let me know what you think.

and for the local people that havent checked out the shop yet, feel free to come by any time we are open. we always welcome people just coming in to hang out, and watch whats going, or to ask questions, etc. like i tell alot of people that come in for the first time, i would rather have a customer leave with a better understanding of what it is they are trying to accomplish, vs an invoice?

ok, ok, enough shameless promotion. back to work..

Midwest Treffen 14, chicago 8/22/10

spent the weekend outside Chicago for the 14th iteration of Midwest Treffen. CVO has been outing this on for a long time now, and i always try to make it down for the event, though i haven't been down in a few years due to conflicting schedules, etc. but this year i made it down. me and pancakes crashed with my pal Steve in Kenosha Wi, and had a pretty uneventful drive down Friday afternoon. that is, if you don't count the combination of Milwaukee rush hour traffic, and a hell of a thunderstorm. not usually a bad deal, but with no a/c anymore, that also means that the defrost function sucks as well. but we made it, and all was well, if just a tad damp.

spent saturday afternoon washing all the grime off the car, then off to some of the gtg's planned for the night..
what happens when you come back from dinner, and just about everyone is gone already lol.

then it was the show on Saturday. had to roll in late, due to having blown off the throttle body hose racing a Charger on the Tollway coming back from Illinois (everyone wants to race in that state I tell you?) so late, but still in time, we rolled into the show.

and by far, one of the coolest awards i have ever received, a billet beer stein, from Mike and the folks at Forge Motorsport! and even came with a beer to drink out of it, no less!


ended up taking home 3rd in class, Best in Show, and the above mentioned Forge pick of the show. made our way back to Steves place, and chilled out and bbq'ed with some good folks, while helping to feed little Gavins (Rich and Katie from Dubwerks oldest child) mind on cars a little more so.

enough for now, hope you enjoy. thanks to pancakegrl for most of the pics, and everyone else on vortex that i sniped others from ;)

a quick blurb on Dubs in the Valley

so i went and changed the look of the car just a tad! literally finished it up right before heading out to OshKosh Wi, for the Dubs in the Valley show. always a good time to be had by all, so we road tripped out there with decent group of locals.
it was fun watching all the people just stare at the car in traffic. i am sure i made more than a few good ole boys days along the way to the show..

the dyno video...

olsons mkIV dyno from Kristopher Clewell on Vimeo.

Random working shots..

as funny as it sounds, quite often i forget to get pictures of alot of the stuff I/we work on around the shop. sometimes, i am really good about it, others not so much. but from time to time, Lawrence, or Talon, or who knows will be milling about, and i will toss them the camera to get some pics. and just about always, i end up coming across alot of pics of myself in action. always looks funny seeing myself in a picture, cant say why though. i am a little more used to the car getting the lense time, not me lol..