Air travel provided by: Virgin Atlantic
We love Lufthansa, but we’ve heard more than a couple gearhead friends online say very nice things about Virgin Atlantic so we decided to give them a try. Not only did we speak with a real person when we booked the flights, but she gave us her name and direct extension in case we had any questions at all. If the service on the plane is half as good as it was on the phone, I think we’re in for a treat!  [Disclaimer: We paid full retail price for our plane tickets. Virgin-Atlantic has in no way compensated us.]

UK accommodations provided by: @FastestCat
Our good friend Cat Lund has offered to host us at her cottage in Northampton, about an hour outside London. Would you believe her cottage is on the grounds of a Monestary which was built in the year 1145AD? 1145. That’s over 300 years before “The New World” was discovered and 631 years before the United States of America was founded. On top of that, Cat’s going to play tour guide and show us around so we get a real taste of English country life. Fish and chips and a pint in a real English pub? YES PLEASE.

(And maybe I learn a thing or two about proper afternoon tea parties for after my daughter is born, yeah?)

Ground transportation provided by: Mitsubishi Motors UK!
That’s right! Thanks in part to the good words said on our behalf by a number of our UK friends – namely Darin Frow of the Mitsubishi Lancer Register and Adnan Ebrahim of CarThrottle.com – Mitsubishi UK is providing us with a press car for our time in the UK. We won’t tell you what it is yet, but there’s room for four adults and we’ll be taking a lot of pictures of it while we’re there. As we’re Mitsubishi enthusiasts, we can’t express how excited we about this! If you’re on Twitter, give @MitsubishiPress a shout of thank you, for us.

The Agenda
Our dance card is filling up quickly, but we’re still very much in the planning stages at this point. Of course we want to check out the tourist attractions. The Crown Jewels, Big Ben, Parliament, the Tower of London, these are must-see things on our list. We also want to get out to see Stonehenge. (And I promise, despite my respect and admiration of Clark W. Griswold, no shenanigans at Stonehenge.)

image: John Crouch, New Zealand

Remember this guy?
Like we said, we’re Mitsubishi fans here at GBXM. And Darin has made arrangements for us to tour the facilities at MML Sports! Who is MML Sports, you might ask? Well, they’re only the people who BUILT the WRC Lancer Evolutions which dominated the World Rally Championship in the 90s. Today, they still specialize in Lancer Evolution race prep. Frankly, the only way this could get any better would be if Tommi just happened to show up.

We’re also going to attend an as-yet un-planned meet-n-greet with Lancer Register owners at some point. We’re really looking forward to getting to know some UK Mitsubishi enthusiasts and comparing notes in person instead online for once. Will Andy make it down with his Evo IX GT? Will Karl show with his Evo V RS? We don’t know yet, but we’re stoked!

10 days, 5 countries, 2 cars
Unfortunately, Mitsubishi can’t allow us to leave the UK with the press car, so we’ll have to secure a rental (still on the to-do list). We found a guy in the London area willing to rent his Colt on a site called WhipCar, but they can’t insure foreigners, so we’re going to have to cross our fingers and hope the agency we pick at random will have the odd Colt or Galant available.

In Bruges
As you can see in the map above, we aren’t staying in the UK. On Thursday morning, we’ll take the Chunnel over to France and head immediately east. Hopefully we’ll have time to stop In Bruges, on our way to The Netherlands, where we (Brian & Vanessa) will meet our business partner in GBXM, Dennis, face-to-face. If we don’t crash with Dennis, we’ll at least stay in-town.

ET PHONE HOME
And the event that got this whole ball of wax rolling? Elbetreffen. Friday afternoon, the three of us will roll into Pretzsch-Elbe for the start of the biggest Mitsubishi meet in Germany. We’re expecting somewhere on the order of 400 Mitsubishis to show up from across Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and beyond. I’ve heard guys show from as far away as Finland sometimes. This is HUGE, and we never would have known about it were it not for our Baden-Württemburg Mitsu-Fruende family.

The TODO List
I need to get some custom GBXM “World Tour” shirts made for Dennis, Ingmar, Ralph, Tschippi, and order a set of side markers for Ingmar’s Lancer as well. We still need to choose our car rental for ET, find a hotel near Gatwick for the day before our flight home after ET, and double check out budget for things like the conversion rates between the British Pound Sterling and Euro, the high price of fuel in Europe relative the US, fees for things we want to see or will have to do (Chunnel, anyone), and so on.

There is still much left to do on our list. This is in no way complete. There are still easily half a dozen people we’re trying to coordinate face time with while we’re over there. 30 days from now, the GBXM 2012 World Tour will be nearly complete, for now, we enjoy the thrill of adventure on the horizon.

We hope to see you there.
And if not, we hope our story will give you some ideas for planning your own international gearhead adventures in the future. This really is some of the most fun you can have away from home. It’s a great, big world. Get out and explore it!

In the glovebox:

• 2 Reasons Why You Want to Make International Gearhead Connections
• Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!
• A Gearhead in Need

Thank you for subscribing to Gearbox Magazine.

Most of this article was originally published on my personal blog back in 2010, but considering our recent story on why we buy new cars, I thought it might be good to bring it back here on Gearbox Magazine. SMART goals are a simple, yet powerful way to make sure we get the most out of our projects.

Image: Schoschie, Creative Commons

SMART goals
SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. Notice I said “and.” SMART goals are smart because they are all of the above. There is a great deal of power in SMART goals, but if you omit any part of the formula, you limit potential benefit to yourself (and likely wasted a lot of time trying to come up with a half-assed goal).

Comparing SMART goals to lesser goals
If you’re not familiar with SMART goals, you might like to see an example of how they are better than lesser goals. Stand and deliver! Here you go!

SMART: I will build the most powerful all-motor Mitsubishi Eclipse in North America by the end of the year.

This goal is specific as hell.

This goal is measurable. On December 31st, I will either have the dyno slips to prove my Eclipse is more powerful than Mr. Bullett’s (or any other Manchurian Candidates which might surface toward the end of the year), or I won’t.

This goal is attainable. Well, maybe. Mark has been consistently breaking this record almost monthly for the last few years, but it’s not like he’s got a NASA rocket scientist locked in his garage or owns an Unobtanium mine. He knows his stuff and works hard to keep pushing the limits. Enough homework and elbow grease, and I stand a good chance of besting him.

This goal is realistic. Okay. We’re talking about beating Mark Bullett at his own game, here, so maybe this isn’t the best example, but you get the idea. “First Mitsubishi Eclipse on the Moon” is unrealistic. If a goal isn’t challenging, it’s a lazy-ass cop-out, but while anything truly could be possible, you have to know your limits and set goals which challenge you to raise them a little bit at a time.

Finally, this goal is timely. I will do this by the end of the year.

Now, let’s look at a lesser goal.

Image: Girl in the Black Car

Generic: I will build a ten second Eclipse.

Way to go, Spilner. This is about as useless a goal as you can get. Sure, drag racing is implied (we’ve all seen The Fast and the Furious by now), but that’s about it. Maybe you drag race all the time. Maybe you tow your flat black DSM all over the region during the season and very seriously drag race, in which case breaking into the tens could be a very solid goal. Then again, maybe you drive this car to community college and your part time job at the mall, only getting out to the track a couple times a year.

Look back at the SMART goal, then look at the generic one. A “ten second Eclipse.” How much time have you allotted to make it a reality? Oh, you didn’t set a deadline? Well, then! You better dump truckloads of cash into this thing right away because nothing else matters. So close, no matter how far, right?

Is it attainable? Of course it is! And therein lies part of the problem. We’ve seen hundreds of DSMers cutting 10 second quarter-miles in the last decade, so we all know it’s absolutely possible, but how realistic is a 10 second car for you, in your situation?

(Note: The black Eclipse pictured above is that of Kim Schuenman, She is a real racer with a real race car. Just so we’re clear on that one.)

Image: xmatt, Creative Commons

Your situation
Coming up with SMART goals can be difficult, but if you don’t have a genuine understanding of your unique situation, you’re building upon a flawed foundation. To thine own self be true!

Before you even begin to shop for parts, ask yourself questions like these:

How do I most often use my car?
Where do I most often use my car?
What would make my car the most fun most of the time?

Image: kainr, Creative Commons

Closing
I’ve been working with SMART goals for a couple years or so now and I’ve seen how they work. Being able to track your progress toward your goal helps keep the motivation up to press on regardless. And there is no feeling like knowing – without any doubts – you achieved what you set out to do.

Gearheads United!

Coming up with SMART goals isn’t always easy, but they are well worth your time. What are you current goals? Can you make them SMART? Would you like help? Share a goal in the comments and let’s get you a specific target to aim for!

In the glovebox:

• A Clean Garage is a Sign of a Dirty Mind
• Should Breakdowns be Punished?
• FF: Why We Buy New Cars

Thank you for subscribing to Gearbox Magazine.

Welcome to the family.
Since its inception in 1992, the Lancer Evolution has lived up to its name and done plenty of changing, growing and, well, evolving. Not only are we in the 10^th iteration of the car, but there have been a number of special sub-models along the way, such as the Tommi Mäkinen Edition, the RS Sprint (UK) and the infamous FQ versions (UK). However on March 8, 2012 a very unique new member became part of the Evolution family tree. The 311RS. And seeing as how the special versions are usually reserved for other parts of the world, this time it’s us Yanks who get the cool one. This one is born and bred in the good old US of A. 

The 311RS starts life as an off-the-shelf Evolution X GSR, but then the transformation begins.  The car’s good looks are the brainchild of Jon Sibal, and I have to say that I found the car absolutely stunning in person. The simple livery is enough to give the car its own personality without going over the top, and is set off by a shade of blue unique to the 311RS. The wheels receive the treatment as well, to round off the package. The interior is finished in Etnies E-Suede, the mother of suede-like synthetics.

An additional 120.8 horsepower and 96.2 lb-ft of torque have been realized over the factory spec Evo X, due to some intake and exhaust modifications as well as a careful recalibration of the engine’s computer. A better ride and handling are achieved with a number of high quality suspension components from JRZ. Grip and stance are improved with a set of 18×10.5” wheels from Volk Racing shod with Nitto’s sticky NT05 tires, sized 285/35/18. The car then receives a proven performance alignment setup from the pros at Evasive Motorsports. Slowing this rapid vehicle comes easier thanks to some lightweight two piece rotors from Girodisc, brake pads utilizing a compound specific to the 311RS which are backed by titanium heat shields, and steel braided brake lines. Helping the car stay stuck to ground are a front lip spoiler from JDP Engineering and a Voltex Gurney Flap which adheres to the factory rear wing.

The Whole Package.
All too often with modified cars, you end up improving one area while neglecting another resulting in an unbalanced car. This can leave the user with a vehicle that has become so focused that it is no longer enjoyable on the street. Or maybe the parts were selected without consideration of how they would interact, making the car perform at a lower level than when it was stock. The 311RS on the other hand was designed to excel in all areas, including street performance, which is where I suspect that these cars will spend most of their time. The car’s tagline says it all: “Developed on the track, prepared for the street.”

Another neat fact is that a number of the components, such as the JRZ RS-1 coilovers, were developed on this car, with the intention of being a dual duty part. To take it one step further, the 311RS’s creator, Ryan Gates, has been competing in Time Attack racing with an Evolution X since the car’s US debut in 2008. Suffice to say he knows a thing or two about these vehicles. Being an enthusiast himself, Ryan had the foresight to allow buyers to further tailor the car to their own personal needs. For example, there will be option packages that increase the car’s track capabilities even further, to parallel his championship winning 750whp Time Attack monster. There’s even a “Camera Pack” which includes two GoPro Hero2 cameras, integrated playback system and portable memory so one can record their adventures.

So, does it work? Short answer = yes. And it seems to work quite well, actually. The car clicked off a 1:58.8 at Buttonwillow’s infamous CW13 configuration. This feat was accomplished on the same Nitto NT05 tires that are standard issue on the 311RS, and in this case, that had seen 12,000 miles and countless heat cycles to boot. It is estimated that the car will be able to accelerate to 60 mph in less than 4 seconds, and get through the 1/4 mile in the mid-to-low 12 second range.  Pretty impressive for a warrantied, street-legal car that will transport you and 3 of your friends wherever you’d like in climate controlled comfort.

It’s here.
Gearbox Magazine was of the lucky few invited to the 311RS release party, which took place in Southern California at the Oakley Headquarters. Just going to Oakley is cool, but then throw a party on top of it and you’re in for a good time. First of all, Oakley HQ is an amazing place! If you ever get a chance, be sure to stop by and check it out. It looks like something out of a post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie. The receiving area, for example, features a quartet of vintage Ejection Seats. The event featured DJ’s, beautiful women, an open bar, free 311RS swag, and of course, the 311RS was on display out front, greeting everyone as they arrived. Ryan’s Time Attack car was on display as well. After hanging out for a bit, we moved into Oakley’s 400 seat amphitheater for a Power Point presentation and a short film on the 311RS. The film featured some amazing footage, a lot of which was shot in Sonoma, CA, on and around Infineon Raceway. Film production was quite good, thanks to state of the art equipment and the guys at Film Matters.

Only 11 of these special vehicles will be built. Production is scheduled to begin after the final phase of development, which involves three competition events: The Texas Mile; The Modified Tuner Shootout; and my personal favorite, the One Lap of America 2012. Deliveries could begin as early as Summer ’12. Pricing starts at $49k. Email info@311rs.com for more information and/or visit the website www.311rs.com.

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GEARHEADS UNITED!

What is your definition of “street car”? As gearheads, we may be much more lenient with our requirements for something that can be called a street car. For some of us, our race car may even be a street driven car! On the other hand,  some of us may be very conservative with what we will let fly on the street.

• What characteristics are important for your street car?
• Where do you draw the line between street car and race car?

In the glovebox:

• Toyota Corona MKII on a budget
• Forum Friday #2: Gearhead News from Across the Web
• Junkyard Parts: Introducing Andrew Holloway

Thank you for subscribing to Gearbox Magazine.

image: Stefan Vogt

Backstory
In September 2010, Vanessa and I saved our nickels and dimes and bought two plane tickets to Frankfurt. We figured that would motivate us enough to save up for our hotel, rental car, food, and whatnot while we were in Germany. It did. And, as luck would have it, the Baden-Württemberg chapter of the Mitsu Freunde would be celebrating their first anniversary the day before we flew back to Phoenix.

We attended that event. Wow. You can read the whole story here, but let me just say, this was pretty much one of the most incredible automotive experiences of my life. From the whole group meeting in a gas station parking lot, to the long line of cars driving to Kart-o-Rama in Stuttgart, to the dinner and drinks until the wee hours, this was something I’ll never forget.

ElbeTreffen (ET)
Quick German lesson, Elbe is the name of the town south of Berlin and Treffen is pretty much “meet” auf Deutsch. ET is the biggest Mitsubishi meet in Germany each year. Just over 300 Mitsubishis attended in 2011, and I have it on good account that nearly 400 are already signed up for only 350 spots available in 2012. Here’s the website.

image: Virgin Atlantic

The Plan
ET is the weekend of June 15-17, 2012. I’ve been toying with the idea of going for over a year, manged to save up the cash to buy the plane tickets, and bought them last month. The first thought was to fly into Frankfurt again, but we save nearly US$1000 on airfare by booking into London, England. As much as I love Lufthansa, I’ve heard really good things about Virgin Atlantic, so we’re going to give them a try.

I’ve never been to the UK, but there are several gearheads over there I’d really like to meet in person, so it became an easy decision. Our plane tickets cost more than I’ve paid for three of my last four daily drivers – US$2300 for two people Phoenix to London and back (in the nice, summer season) in coach - which is easily half the amount it would take me to finish my rally car project, but I know this trip will be totally worth it.

image: Christoph Burgdorfer

The UK
We’re going to land in London on June 10th. I’ve already got a thread going on the Lancer Register to see if anyone might want to do a meet-n-greet with Vanessa and I while we’re there.  Speaking of MLR, Darin Frow has already started working on getting a meet-n-greet organized while we’re there.

Cat Lund, who co-drives for Andy Rowe in an Evo III across northern Europe and works at a recognized UK race property is going to meet up with Vanessa and I too. In fact, Cat is even going to host us in her guest bedroom. Have you ever crashed on a local gearhead’s couch? Why not a gearhead on the other side of the planet?

We’re also going to meet up with my buddy Adnan Ebrahim, who runs Car Throttle, a great site for automotive news and information. Because we’re die hard Mitsubishi enthusiasts, going to visit with Mitsubishi enthusiasts, on our way to the biggest Mitsubishi meet in Germany, Adnan tried to get us a press car from Mitsubishi Press in the UK. (The man has connections!)

Unfortunately, since we’ve never worked with Mitsubishi Press UK and will be traveling outside their market, they declined to let us borrow a car. I can understand the decision, although I was really excited about the prospects of driving a Mitsubishi around to visit with so many EU Mitsubishi enthusiasts.

If anyone knows of rental outfits in the London area which rent Mitsubishi vehicles, please let me know. I’m not opposed to driving a BMW again (loved the 118d Efficient Dynamics we had in 2010), but it sure would be nice to be in a Mitsubishi.

The Netherlands
You know I live in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, but here’s something else very cool about this automotive adventure. I co-own Gearbox with my partner Dennis DeJong, who lives in The Netherlands, and whom I’ve never actually met. We talk on Skype most weekends, but on or around June 14th of this year, we’re going to meet face-to-face for the first time.

image: Bodo Engemann

On to ElbeTreffen!
Once we’ve met up with Dennis, the three of us will continue on to Elbe for three days partying with almost 400 of our closest Mitsubishi friends.  It’s going to be a great time. We’ll miss the DSM Shootout this year, and my rally car will go another year without being completed, but it’s totally worth it to experience gearhead life on another continent.

As we get closer to the travel date, I’ll share more about some of the things we’ve had to plan for in advance so if you ever find yourself looking to get out of the country as a gearhead tourist, you’ll be better prepared. I’d also appreciate hearing your travel tips in the comments below.

Gearheads United!

• Have you ever planned an international trip around automotive events? Which ones?
• What do you think is the most difficult part of planning a trip like this?

In the glovebox:

• 2012 Summer Gearhead Games
• Being a Car Guy Dad
• Making Room for the New Vehicle

Thank you for subscribing to Gearbox Magazine.

Sort of.

We’ll get into that later, but first, we wanted to get to know the now infamous Bill Caswell a little better.

Who are you, Bill Caswell? Where are you from, what do you do, and why might your name sound familiar?
I am a guy who followed his dreams and got really lucky.  I did some weird stuff with cars and entered some of my favorite races on the planet. I got to meet and become friends with my heroes, signed a movie deal, and am now fortunate enough to do amazing things and share them with more people than I can count on a regular basis. I might be the luckiest guy on the planet.

I’m from Chicago, but live in San Diego now.  I’m not entirely sure what I do.  I used to be an investment banker working in securitization – those MBS [Mortgage-Backed Securities], CDOs [Collateralized Debt Obligations] and other structured bond deals that destroyed the world economy.  I now spend most of my time in the garage building cars and other strange stuff and then racing them.

My name might sound familiar because of an adventure I took down to WRC Mexico that was written up on Jalopnik. I somehow entered my 1991 BMW 318i that I bought for $500 off craigslist in the Rally America (not the same as the US sanctioning body) class of the 2010 WRC Mexico event.

Sure I wasn’t classified with the WRC cars but I ran the exact same stages, used their rules and time controls, participated in the open ceremonies and the afterparty set up just for the rally teams, crews and organizers.  And we finished the three day rally with no team or crew. Just Ben Slocum and I to wrench on the car and keep it running. And if you’re more of a desert racer, then you might know of me from my 14 day Baja 1000 build starting on the floor of SEMA (more info at wired).

image: Alex Hernandez

“Those MBS, CDOs and other structured bond deals that destroyed the world economy?” Not exactly the sort of thing we can just gloss over, Bill. With so many gearheads out there hurting as a result of the economic breakdown, can you tell us how you came to be involved in that sort of thing? 
I started in securitization (the industry name for creating these instruments) in 2004 after graduating with an MBA from the University of Chicago.  At the time, it was no different than joining any debt products group at any investment bank except that our deals were backed by hard assets that one could take possession of and sell if the bond started to underperform – as opposed to being secured by general cash flow and corporate assets which is a mess in a bankruptcy.

Securitization has always been a giant industry. It’s how the world finances mortgages, auto loans, commercial property leases, really just about every asset class.  I truly believe it’s the best way to finance pools of cashflowing, diversified assets.

Why did those instruments come to be as popular as they were?
I think it became really popular for a lot of reasons, but mainly because of how much liquidity was injected into our world economy combined with the accounting banks used to reserve capital against these programs.  As a result, there was a need for a product and an incentive to provide it – I believe our group had one of the highest returns on equity in the bank.

image: Jordi Vidauri Sáiz

 The problem started, in my opinion, when securitizations were done solely for profit instead of as an efficient tool for risk isolation and financing.

As the world relaxed its debt standards and the economy grew like mad, so did the industry that supported it.  The more mortgages written, the more securitizations needed to finance them.  The problem started, in my opinion, when securitizations were done solely for profit instead of as an efficient tool for risk isolation and financing.

Groups started selling synthetic transactions and transactions based on existing transactions. Well, all of sudden, you are no longer securitizing hard assets, but rather the risk itself.  Combine this with the massive and rapid devaluation of the underlying assets on the real deals, and the whole industry fell apart. Home prices drop, putting the mortgage underwater, putting the deal underwater, and all of a sudden your bond is no longer overcollateralized and the whole thing comes down.

When you invest in your own work, everyone’s interests are aligned.  You want the deal to do well as its yours.

But here’s where my job differed from some of the guys on wall street that pumped bad deals to middle America.  We bought every deal we ever did for our own account.  By the time the market blew up, our portfolio was around US$13 billion.  When you invest in your own work, everyone’s interests are aligned.  You want the deal to do well as it’s yours.  You want it to be profitable for the client so they come back, and you want it to be a good return for the investor because it’s going to be you.  We never sold the bonds to outside investors and we certainly never bet against them.  I like to think we were the good guys.

Why did you get out?
I got out because the bank took our capital away.  My friends that stayed at the bank sat at their desks without doing one new deal for like three years.  I couldn’t sit there and pretend to work.  Plus we went through three or four rounds of layoffs and most of my friends were gone.  There isn’t one person from my original deal team left in the group.

I went rallying because it was a dream of mine for a long long time; ever since I remember Prodrive running E30 M3s. So I proposed to my girlfriend and asked for a year to go do everything I never got to do. First thing I did was buy a plane ticket to Turkey to see the F1 race, then flew to Amsterdam to party, then drove down to the Nurburgring for a few laps, and then drove to the 24 hrs of LeMans. Not bad for the first week with no job. I then came home and bought the $500 BMW off Craigslist the following week.  This year was for living my dreams.  Luckily that year started in June of 2009 and it’s still underway two and half years later!

Side note: Securitization generally provides a far cheaper form of financing to companies.  Let’s say a company isn’t rated real well, like its credit sucks (the equivalent of a bad FICO score for a person), and you dont want to loan it money.  Let’s say this same bad company owns some of the best, highest rated assets around.  Well, if you could legally isolate the performance of those assets from the bankruptcy risk of the company, you could provide them debt at a much cheaper rate, as the loan is so much more likely to be repaid, and if it’s not, you can sell the high quality assets to repay the debt yourself.  Typically the bonds are overcollateralized, meaning there are more assets than debt, so if you experience losses, you still have enough assets to over bond.  Way over simplified, but you get the idea.

It strikes me the investment banker managing US$13B in assets who gets out at the peak and spends his first week out-of-work attending F1 events in Turkey, partying in Amsterdam, lapping the Nürburgring, and cruising on over to LeMans is maybe, just maybe, the kind of guy who can afford one of those no-expenses-spared race car builds we all know and love, yet you scooped up a $500 beater and seem to have cobbled it together in your own driveway, learning as you go. Why is that? 
I definitely could have built a really nice rally car, but why?  I wasn’t trying to win anything.  I had a year to go do everything I wanted before going back to the cubicle.  I had a no-expense-spared track car that I built over the years entered into my first rally, Rally Tennessee, and nearly destroyed it.

I realized I had a lot of learning to do and went and found the cheapest E30 (chassis designation for the body style of BMW I race) that I could.  I didn’t want to wait all summer for a proper build, so I added a cage and safety gear and showed up at the next rally.  I was there to have fun with my friends before going back to work. The results were irrelevant.

I was there to have fun with my friends before going back to work. The results were irrelevant.

Why did you go this route?
To me, it was like going to a track day or drivers school with your car friends, except we paid a registration fee and raced. It was about working in the garage with my friends, road trips in random panel vans telling stories about all the fun we’ve had with cars and dreaming of the cars we might get to race some day. It was about celebrating life in Small Town, America, before putting a suit back on and riding the subway to work again every morning in a concrete jungle.

It wasnt about winning, getting noticed, or trying to take things to the next level.  It was about having fun with my car friends before all this comes to and end.  I wouldn’t trade any of the adventures for anything, not even a ride in a proper WRC car.  Those times with my friends are the key to this whole thing – they cant be bought, fabricated, or borrowed.

It only happens when you let it, and I get the feeling those days become rarer and rarer as you get older and start a family and all that good stuff.  Don’t get me wrong, I love driving and love racing even more.  But I’ll get to race my whole life.  Road tripping around North America with your friends in a cargo van with a race car in tow might not happen for ever.

Rumor: The “$500 Craigslist BMW” that “won” at WRC Mexico happened to have a $10,000 M3 motor under the hood, and you were the only car entered in your class. True or False? Would you be so gracious as to shed a little light on your car and how it’s progressed over time? 
The  $500 car that I took to WRC Mexico had a stock 2.3L engine from an E30 M3 (known as the S14).  I paid $3500 for the engine, trans, exhaust, and everything needed to complete the swap. I installed it because that engine feels different than all the other BMW engines and it sounds way different.  My dream of running the WRC was in the Prodrive E30 M3 and, while I couldnt run that car, at least mine felt slightly similar and sounded really really close.  I was short a 1,000 or so RPMS and about 160 horsepower, but it was the best I could do.

Up until then, the car ran totally stock with the 1.8L M42 engine.  Maybe 140HP?  I only swapped it because it was part of the dream and supposedly my last race before going back to work.  I did have to add other gear like an FIA fire system which cost me nearly $800 after shipping and everything.  And I needed three sets of wheels and tires which added $3600 to the bill for Mexico alone.

Grassroots Motorsport Magazine threw it into the build cost, but I consider tires to be wear and tear, but it helped create the illusion that the car is more expensive than it is.  It is certainly more than $500.  There are a bunch of haters out there that feel the story is misleading because they think the article says the car is worth $500 or can be built for $500.  Those haters have obviously never been to a race or track day in their entire life.  It was the purchase price of the running car of Craigslist. The steel for the rollcage cost about $500, the seatbelts were more than $500.  Safety gear adds up, even if you borrow most of it from a previous track car.

My car does have some nice parts on it, though.  I do run a sweet rear differential that I bought used for $1,200 and I run nice Recaro seats and top of the line belts from Schroth.  Sure, I borrowed them from my track car, so it was not cash out of my pocket, but when I was working, I paid $3-4k for the seats and belts brand new.  You can run cheaper stuff that’s legal, but I was working and had cash and bought the nicest safety gear I could afford.

I do run stock suspension, with 250LB front springs and some random stock BMW rear spring.  I’m still racing on the Bilsteins I bought the car with.  I think I bought a new front left strut after the off at New England, but otherwise it’s a relatively inexpensive build compared to a lot of the rally cars I see.

After that first WRC event, I swapped in a 1995 3.0L 5- cylinder from the 1995 M3.  $3k for everything I needed, another $500 for swapping parts to make it fit.  Way more torque and fun.  Horrible off jumps due to the weight.

image: Jordi Vidauri Sáiz

And, as for the number of entries in your class at WRC Mexico that year, why were there so few?
I’m not sure how many entries there were. Maybe 14?  Over a dozen for sure.  Not that many finished, but this is normal in rally,  It’s like asking how many cars finished the 100 Acre Wood Rally.  A quick glance shows 16 finished.  I think others finished, but they must have been in the regional and not shown?  The entry list shows 63 cars.

So more than 2/3rds crashed or broke.  I know last year, only 4 cars finished the Mexico event.  So, while we were 4th and last, I was more proud of my ability to finish a 3-day event with no crew, than I was of my speed.  I’m not sure why so few enter.  It’s been open to US cometitors for the past two years and less than 10 have made it.  I would ask all the guys with racecars that didn’t show up why the number entry number is so low.

Rumor: You also procrastinate, wait to the last minute to prepare for your events, and don’t take rally or any other form of motorsport seriously. True or false? How important is motorsport in your life? Why do you approach these things the way you do? What’s your philosophy when it comes to motorsport at this level?
Yeah, it’s totally true.  But it’s not because I sit around waiting or procrastinating.  I just jam too much into too short a period of time.  I would have been ready for 100 Acre Woods if I didnt go to Hawaii for two weeks with Melanie.  I also would have been ready for the Mint 400 if I didn’t enter 100AW or WRC Mexico.  But the car was in running condition and the race was only five hours away, so why not run it?

image: Matthew Young

Dont forget, this was never meant to go this long and was about learning.  You learn a ton about racing and what fails on your car when you roll out unprepared.  It brings out all the problems.  So I’ve learned a ton in the past two years about how to get by when the plan doesn’t go right.  And I’ve had a blast fixing my car with unconventional solutions that my friends and I come up with; like trailer straps to hold an engine in the bay when the two engine arm mounts snap off.  Sure, the motor swung around and I to be careful shifting and wait for it to settle before grabbing the next gear, but we finished.  And because other faster cars didn’t, we took first overall in National 2WD at LSPR with a motor dangling from the shock towers.  It was fun.  But it’s also time for a change.

You learn a ton about racing and what fails on your car when you roll out unprepared.  It brings out all the problems.

Now it’s time to put together a good plan and, if anything ever goes wrong, I know exactly what to do. And it’s a cash thing.  It costs a fortune to do things right.  We entered the Baja 1000 for less than $1000 after paying the entry fee.  If you attempt the 1000 with a proper effort, you need to multiply that number by factors of 10.  It’s just how racing goes.  I trade some prep for cash and the fun of trying to solve problems with my friends.  But I’ve done that and now its time to roll out a real program.

There will always be someone with a better machine, better prepared, than us, who can afford to run the entire series and take home the Towing Championship. First place is absolutely worth pursuing. By all means, we should focus on planning and preparation, we should seek victory as a reward for our efforts, but we should not lose sight of what is most important about motorsport – the way it brings us together on a global scale as gearheads. 

Consider this a reminder: There is nothing wrong with seeking perfection – just don’t wait for it. Get out there, get behind the wheel, and go for it. Bring your friends with you. Keep each other in the race. Go fast with class. Never, ever, ever, give up. Press on regardless.

Time will tell what Bill Caswell’s “real program” looks like. Will having fun with friends take a backseat to rigid structure and the pursuit of victory? We sure hope not, but here’s to hoping Caswell Motorsport applies lessons learned the hard way, steps up their game, and really starts to bring home some well-earned results.

Gearheads United

• What’s keeping you from doing more with your vehicle?
• How are you and your friends making things happen?

In the glovebox:

• Back to the Past: Essen Motorshow 2010
• Back to the Past: Essen Motorshow 2006
• EV Owners are Gearheads Too.

Thank you for subscribing to Gearbox Magazine.

We came across this video and had to find out more about Nick and Joanne.

In the Nubian Desert, Sudan

Please introduce yourself. What’s your name? Where do you live?
Nick and Joanne Yu, we are two Canadians currently live in the Southwest of England, in Gloucestershire.

What do you do for a living?
[Nick]: Project Manager – Renewables, Projects recovering PGM (platinum group metals)

[Joanne]: Programme Leader – Aerospace industry

And what do you drive?
[Nick]: First Generation Citroen C4 VTS – 2.0L 16v Hdi

[Joanne]: All I’ll say is its Korean and 1L, not very exciting!

Desert Camping

You’ve been all over the world. And not always by car. Here’s the big question: Why?
[Nick]: I’m very fascinated by other cultures and seeing how other people on this planet live their lives. In addition to being a bit of a gearhead, I like photography and what better excuse to buy camera equipment!

We have done a variety of travelling, sometimes by car and others not. It really comes down to the logistical practicality. For instance, when doing a ‘sun and sand’ holiday, it’s not practical to bring a car island hopping, other times getting a vehicle into a country is just too much of a hassle.

This is true for China as its very bureaucratic and expensive to bring a car in, plus it’s not the easiest to drive from your house to China. (Although we are working on it!) We always try for road trip holidays because they are the most fun to us.

[Joanne]: I travel to get outside of my comfort zone and to experience something bigger than my own life.

African traffic jam?

In 2010, you and your wife Joanne bought a used truck in South Africa – and then drove it home to the UK. Why Africa?
[Nick]: Admittedly this was my bright idea and I spent a lot of time convincing Joanne to do the trip; safety was one of the biggest issues. There is a lot of pre-conception of what a country or continent is like without really knowing the full truth. The main reason I wanted to go to Africa is its one of the last wild places on the planet.

[Joanne]: Nick can be a good salesman. Plus I get to pick every holiday from now until… forever!

Which truck did you choose for this adventure?
A 1987 Toyota Hilux 2.2Y – Petrol. Known for its reliability and ruggedness with solid front axle for off road ability!

RTT FTW

Why not a Land Rover?
[Nick]: There is a huge debate in Africa as to which is better, Land Rover or Toyota. There are good arguments to both in terms of availability of spares. However the main reason I selected the Toyota was because most of the blogs I read that involved a Land Rover they always seem to be fixing them! Not to say Toyota never break down, but we never had any major issues and in almost every town I saw a Toyota dealer. There is a reason why it is the most popular truck on the African Continent.

Why did you buy your overland vehicle rather than build it? Pros and Cons?
This is an easy answer, cost. At the time, it was much cheaper to buy a pre-built truck then to source a truck and put the kit on yourself. We were also very lucky; the couple we bought the truck from took very good care of the truck until we got there to pick it up.

Pros: Cost, due to currency exchange differences between buying and selling months later, we actually made a profit on our truck when we were finished with it. (This is rare, but it does happen).

Cons: You don’t know the condition of everything, and it takes a good couple of weeks to shake down the vehicle. We planned a short ‘tester’ trip up the coast and back in South Africa to hopefully expose any weaknesses. The other downside is things are not exactly how you might like them; you have to live with someone else’s system, which could be very different from your own.

In Ethiopia

Can you tell us about a time when something went very wrong in Africa and how you managed to overcome?
[Nick]: “Very Wrong” in Africa usually means I wouldn’t be responding here today. So in that respect, we were fortunate to have nothing serious happen in Africa. But we did have two major inconveniences, which sum Africa up completely. In the end patience is the best quality, which goes a long way.

Political Change: Things can change in Africa very fast. This was evident when the border procedures between Kenya and Ethiopia had changed in a matter of days, meaning there were a whole new set of requirements to get across. We were one of the first who encountered this problem. With no access through Ethiopia, our trip would have ended. The only alternate options at the time were just too dangerous. These were Southern Sudan, which was not a formed country at the time or Somalia, which is a failed state. We ended up shipping our passports to friends back in Canada to sort out at the embassies there.

Never take anything for granted and check everything yourself in Africa, make sure its done right. For example, after one particularly long day, I did not check the fuel (smell for gasoline) and only looked at the pump ‘marked’ unleaded. I assumed we got the right stuff, however 1 kilometre down the road we ended up with a stalled truck and a tank FULL of diesel. It took 5 hours to drop the tank drain it and fill it back up with gasoline from the reserve tanks. Although, it wasn’t all that bad. Other than my time, only cost me 12 cokes and the tank of diesel, which I gave to my ‘pit crew’.

Pit Crew

[Joanne]: Sometimes your worst enemy is yourself – I spent months being ultra-vigilant, in regards to safety and valuables. Only to let my guard down when we got back to the ‘civilised’ Europe and forgot our Passports in a McDonald’s bathroom!

How about a time when everything seemed to come together perfectly and you thought, “This is what life is all about!”
[Nick]: There are too many to list! But if I only could do one thing again it would be us sitting alone on top of the Sossusvlei dunes watching the sunset. (Namibia)

[Joanne]: Having a 10m long Whale Shark swim so close you could touch it. (Mozambique)

Namibian dunes

On your site, you make it clear that you fund your globetrotting through living beneath your means. We know why you do this, but could you share some examples of how? Where do you draw the line?
[Nick]: I must give Joanne a lot of credit here. She keeps my spending in-line as much as possible! As much as I’d really like to drive a brand new car with 300+hp. But we tend to drive a lot, so buying second hand cars and diesel where possible, really helps the budget. This really helps in the EU where the cost of cars and fuel is very high.

[Joanne]: On the home front, we tend not to eat out and just enjoy cooking in our home. Also when purchasing something, we really ask ourselves ‘do we really need it?’ or ‘Can it serve dual purpose?’ 7 out of 10 times, we figure we can live without.

[Nick & Joanne]: We draw the line at never letting our budget get in the way of spending time with our family and friends.

Eat your heart out, Clark W. Griswold.

You’ve also mentioned you’re in the process of designing your own expedition rig. What can you tell us about it at this stage of development?
[Nick]: Mostly my responsibility here, currently designing an overland expedition vehicle out of an ex-British military truck. It’s very much still in the design stage. Not much to say yet, except it will be 4WD with a trusty 5.9L Cummins Turbo Diesel and have 20” of ground clearance! It’s a big project that I expect to complete in the next 3 years.

Can you share any lessons learned from your Africa trip you’ll be applying to the new machine?
[Nick]: Bring less stuff! The biggest danger of building a bigger vehicle is you will carry more junk around.

[Joanne]: Bigger fridge!

Decisions, decisions...

Finally, where can our readers find you online if they’d like more information or just to keep up with you and Joanne in the future?
Over a decade ago, before the whole social media movement, we created a site to keep our family and friends informed, it has now become more of an online diary of our travels, mostly photos and videos. www.nickandjoanne.com

Gearheads United!

We’d like to thank Nick and Joanne for taking the time to share a glimpse into their adventures with us. If you’d like to know more about what it’s like to drive across Africa, you don’t want to miss their website! While they were travelling, they posted almost daily updates from the road. It’s really cool.

• Which continent would YOU drive across?
• Which vehicle would you use to do so?

In the glovebox:

• 2 Reasons Why You Want to Make International Gearhead Connections
• Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!
• Preparing for a Gearhead World Tour: One Month Before Take-Off

Thank you for subscribing to Gearbox Magazine.

[1] Access to Exotic, Foreign Parts
Those mad tyte JDM bits you find on Ebay or your local forum’s classifieds section had to come from somewhere. Someone in Japan or the Pacific Rim had to have a reason for packing up stuff they found at the junkyard and shipping it to the other side of the planet. Chances are, someone in another country asked them for it, but how did they know who to ask? International Gearhead Connections.

Image: KDMrally.be, Koen De Meyere

[2] Access to Exotic, Foreign Destinations
There are few things as exciting as taking off on an international adventure. Not stepping into the country next door, but crossing an ocean and visiting another continent. It’s SO expensive, though! Yes, but what if you had friends to stay with who would take you out and show you around in exchange for splitting food and fuel costs?

This is the big one. It’s nice to be able to drop an email to someone on the other side of the planet and ask them to keep an eye out for those rare fender badges, and it’s nice to stand in line at the post office and be “that guy” who has something to ship to some exotic, far-off destination, but it’s a crazy awesome feeling to know you’re part of a truly global community.

Foreign Exchange Gearheads
This idea works both ways. Maybe it will be a while before you can spend the money on international airfare to go visit your brothers and sisters abroad, but how difficult would it be to host an international gearhead guest for a few days at your place? Are there any big events you attend every year that you could invite someone from another country to attend with you?

Gearheads United!

• How many gearheads do you know overseas?
• What events would you like to attend in other countries?
• Which events do you think international gearheads might like to attend near you? 

In the glovebox:

• Crossing the Dark Continent in a Light Truck
• Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!
• Preparing for a Gearhead World Tour: One Month Before Take-Off

Thank you for subscribing to Gearbox Magazine.

Change #1: New Project!
Real gearheads appreciate all kinds of vehicles. From time to time, we change things up. When we do, we have to apply all the things we learned to new situations. I just sold my 1992 Mitsubishi Galant VR4 (the second of two) in order to make room for a 1989 Dodge Raider (aka: Gen I Mitsubishi Montero/Pajero). I’m making the move from stage-rally-inspired car to rally RAID-inspired truck.

What do you mean “crawler gears?”

Change #2: New Gearhead!
I just found out this week that I’m going to be a father. Will the would-be rally car in the garage ever be finished? How will I continue to play with cars with another mouth to feed in the house? What if it’s a girl? (Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but being a guy, it’s only natural to wonder if a little girl will want to play cars with her dad one day.)

Can children be modified?

Change #3: GBXM European Tour 2012
In June, Vanessa and I will be spending a week and a half in Europe. We’ve been saving for this trip for some time and it’s going to be thick with international gearhead stuff. We’re organizing a number of meet-n-greets in the London area, driving to The Netherlands to meet GBXM co-owner, Dennis DeJong, in person for the first time, and wrapping up our trip camping near Berlin at the largest Mitsubishi meets in Germany.

Where can I rent Mitsubishis in the UK?

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. All of this was, to some extent, planned, but there was no certainty any of it would happen – let alone all at once like this. I’m still trying to wrap my head around all of it, but in the coming months, I’m going to be sharing my experiences with all of this; from figuring out how to maintain and modify a new vehicle, to how to prepare for a Mini Me around the house, to planning car meets and such on the other side of the planet.

Hope you’ll come along for the ride. I can’t be the only one out there in this situation right now.

Gearheads United!

• Any advice for a car guy getting into off-roading, eventually looking at overland expeditions?
• How does the car hobby change when you have your first kid?
• Seriously. Where can I get a Mitsubishi to drive for 10 days in the UK in June?

In the glovebox:

• Making Room for the New Vehicle
• 2 Reasons Why You Want to Make International Gearhead Connections
• A Clean Garage is a Sign of a Dirty Mind

Thank you for subscribing to Gearbox Magazine.

How would you introduce yourself to the global gearhead community?
What do you drive, why do you have it/them, and how do you use it/them?
Marty Sederberg, native Washingtonian born in the capital city of Olympia. Forty one years old, brought up on Olympia beer with occasional forays with Hamm’s, Pabst and Makers Mark. [I'm a] semi-retired contractor, home inspector, bus driver and vehicle junkie.

I was raised by a messed up family.
Namely, a Republican father and a Democrat mother. My father owned/owns an auto body repair facility, and was a car nut. Needless to say, this rubbed off. Between American iron, drag boats and airplanes, I got the itch early on. As any good, rebellious, liberal offspring should do, I revolted against my father (mom is so proud) and took up interest in things foreign and esoteric.

A desire for oddball cars has led me down the path of constant change.
Although I have had my share of domestic, high cubic inch rolling stock, foreign, small displacement vehicles are the socially responsible way to approach life. My first odd ball was a 1959 Mercedes 220, four on the column, straight six… what a dog. Next most memorable vehicle was a 1980 RHD/JDM Fairlady Z 2+2.

As I have issues with my fathers business practices, I sent the car into his shop for a complete re-paint under the name of Kaiser Sose. It ended badly… however the car turned out great. Got bored with that…

Monstero!
More recently, I started attending an event called Burningman. The arts group I belong to had a vehicle that was built upon a Montero chassis, it was a metal skull that you could drive around the desert and it was called MONSTERO! Very cool rig. Anyway, I took responsibility for the vehicle after it was lit on fire by drunkards (imagine that!) and that was how I fell in love with older Mitsubishi products.

The turbo diesel Starion
Since that time, I have owned, modified, imported, sold, wrecked, cut up, detsroyed, bought and forgotten more that twenty of them. Currently I have a 1990 RHD JDM turbo diesel Pajero, a 1992 RHD JDM turbo diesel Delica, two LHD turbo diesel converted Monteros with five speeds, two Starion/Conquests which will become one turbo diesel Sports car. Also I see a 1987 Mitsubishi Panel van in the yard, and I cannot remember the motivation for buying that.

Just now I remember buying my ex wife a Dodge Colt back a million years ago! Blue, she rolled it. And  another friend had a Starion back in high school… ah the memories come flooding back. Anyway…

Daily Drivers
I drive my Pajero and the LHD Montero as daily drivers. I figure this is my Alzheimer prevention regimen, as the synapses have to keep up when you switch between LHD and RHD several times each day.  The biggest issue to this is the windshield wipers and blinkers…  Primarily the only driving I do is around town, freeway, and towing other cars home. The 2.3 liter turbo diesel with the bigger turbo and five speed work well for my towing needs. Rarely do I need a bigger rig, as we primarily deal with the smaller Mitsubushis.

This weekend I will be borrowing a Dodge Cummins truck to bring a four door RHD diesel down from Canada for a customer. We will be performing a swap with the larger displacement engine into his LHD four door, and it turns out to be cheaper to buy a wrecked car from Canada for the swap as opposed to fabricating parts to make the engine fit. This particular vehicle has disk brakes on the tail end, so it will be a nice upgrade for him.

Turbo Diesel Drop Top Monty
I love the oddball cars, and diesel engines are way cool in my opinion. One of these days (soon), I will cut the top off of the tow Montero and make a summer cruiser for myself, as no convertible Mitsubishi products were made in that era. Perhaps I will get bored and cut the top off of a Starion… sounds like work.

The Secret is in the Wheelbase!
[At this point, Marty took a break to, as he put it, "go drive a forty five foot bus arouns Seattle for a few hours."] Remind me to tell you about drifting forty five foot MCI buses some time. It takes a knack, wide open snow and ice covered parking lots, and once you get them sideways, it is a serene experience compared to Starions and Monteros, the secret is in the wheel base!

How has the market for small displacement diesel conversions changed in recent years? Why do you think that is?
How difficult are these conversions, generally speaking? What should people know before striking out on this path?
Well, hmm… I dunno. The market for conversions is big and small. Most people (NW hippies and frugal rednecks) want the diesel engines either for economy or redneck/cool factor, however most don’t want to pay for or cannot pay for a decent set up. The conversions we have been doing used decent runner mid mileage engines, and we were selling them in the Montero chassis for forty five hundred bucks (US$4500). Some people thought that was a high price, but a rebuilt engine long block is US$2500. Labor for the conversion is US$1500. Chassis, fluids, miscellaneous conversion parts are another five to seven hundred dollars (US$500-$700). A decent, used runner [running, platform to receive the diesel - Ed.] is US$1000-$1300 in our area.

People are People
A US$4500 runner and driver is pretty rock bottom price. People want a pristine, low mileage or rebuilt rig that they can run WVO in, and they want to pay 1500 bucks for one. I dont really get people sometimes… but that’s the way it goes. A nice RHD diesel can be had in Canada for forty five hundred, but getting them licensed is a bit tricky. That price will get you a 115-195,000 KM vehicle ( 90-120,000 miles). They usually have maintenance needs, but for six grand you can get a cool factory rig in good shape with all proper and necessary updates.

The Coolest Part
The coolest part about the Mitsubishi product is that the older engines are a one wire engine – very simple – and the parts are relatively easy to get. You can hang bigger turbos on them, crank up the injection pumps, replace the exhaust, and they are quite fun… and you can run BIO/WVO in them easily.

Now, I think Small Displacement Diesels (SDD) have become more desirable due to the cost of fuel, the cost of war, and the interest in bio fuels and the environment. The down side is that they require a certain understanding and knack! I’m not gonna write what I want to say, but I will say that I have sold several of the converted rigs to members of the opposite sex, and let me just say, I wish I had never done that!

Once a diesel is running and warm, they are the best darn things ever. Getting them going, especially in the cold, can be an uncertain experience – even for those people that are knowledgeable. A factory diesel vehicle with automated glow plugs and fuel heaters is easier, but still needs a touch. Our conversions use a simple glow plug actuator, so you have to warm them up properly!

The Importance of OEM Equipment
If you choose to do a conversion, and specifically with a Mitsubishi, Toyota, or Nissan product, check your make and model! If it was made elsewhere in a different configuration (ie: RHD, Four door, coupe, etc…) in diesel, then you will want to get the correct parts from overseas or from a wrecked rig up north. As an example, I order the proper oil pick up tube, crank cap bolt and proper nut from over seas for our conversion. We modify an oil pan and put it all together for a factory fit and service durability.

Re-engineering something is a pain in the posterior… and not generally as durable as the correct part. If you can buy a low KM total loss from our brothers and sisters up north [Canada - Ed.], you can generally get it cheap, have all the proper mounts, brackets, and hardware for a swap. I would never recommend getting a “good deal” on an out of vehicle engine, because as I have witnessed (guys call me for an engine, I tell them what I want for a complete swap set up, they freak, find one elsewhere, and then end up calling me, begging for all the parts they need to do their project) those good deals cost more time and energy that just biting the bullet and getting the right stuff.

Not to beat a dead horse, but finding a guy or gal who knows his stuff and specifically the tricks for a particular make is SO IMPORTANT! There are so many little things that make all the difference in a project. Trying to drop a Cummins into a Mercedes is a STUPID idea (but darn cool if it ever gets completed). If you want a Toyota, stick with Toyota parts. As an example, we only deal with mid- to late-eighties Mitsubishi products.

The Best Approach
If I were to dabble in other makes, the only way I would even attempt it would be to select a make and model that was available from Canada for the reasons mentioned above. Buying a car here and deciding to make the swap would be backwards in my opinion. Finding the donor vehicle and parts first and then the domestic equivalent here with a blown engine would be a way better approach in my opinion. Once you have all the proper parts, then even an idiot like myself can perform a conversion with relative ease…

SDD cars are fun, unique, and great conversation starters. The parts are easy to get if you do some research, and they are fun to drive. Like I mentioned before, My next project will be a diesel sports car. Those particular cars (diesel Starions) get like 47 MPG! And how many Starions do you see around, much less diesel ones? And total cost for a weird car like that will be under five grand for a super nice one. How bizzare would a Starion WVO conversion car be? Or a Galant Estate wagon? The weirder the better in my opinion!

3 conversions: One you will never attempt again, one you would love to do more often, and one you dream about doing. Go.
Ok, well, the 1987 Ford Ranger was built using a Mitsubishi 2.3 liter turbo diesel, however in typical American arrogant engineering, Ford decided to make some changes to an otherwise fine power plant. The basics stayed the same, but all accessory systems were modified including alternator, drive pulleys, power steering set up, coolant routing, and the like.

I got a good deal on an out of vehicle engine, forty thousand miles on a re-manufactured Ford version engine. It took an extra ten hours to de-Ford the engine, and then we had to make brackets and re-Mitsubishi the engine to the best of our abilities. What a mess. The engine is in one of my Monteros – and runs and works fine – but it is now the odd duck in an otherwise consistent fleet.

I would not be motivated to go through that process again if I could help it. Another acquaintance converted a Mazda pick up truck that utilized the Mitsubishi 2.6 gas engine. He went from the 2.6 petrol to a 2.3 diesel, and had a heck of a time with mounts, pans, linkage and the like. He was a guy who wanted to buy an engine from me, and when told the price, went and found one elsewhere out of car. He has been to visit me countless times for misc. parts to make it work.

Conversions I want to do? Well, the dream project I have right now does not really involve doing an engine conversion, as we have those down already. What I really want to do is to aquire a 1988 JDM Mitsubishi Canter 2-ton stake bed truck (I know where this is parked, in my area, but the owner and I have a language barrier that is hindering the negotiations) and make a SDD motorhome out of it for my Burningman and camping excursions. It would be super cool to have a RHD diesel custom camper!

How long before your city bus gymkhana video goes viral on the YouTubes? (Tell me you’ve got pictures/video.)
I do not drive city busses (nose turned up in the air), I work for a private charter company, and we roll MCI (Motor Coach Industries) coaches that cost about 750 grand each. We recently hauled some presidential candidates to their NW events, so no low brow stuff for us, thank you very much!

Within the Motorcoach industry, we have what is called the Motorcoach Rodeo, which would be similar to the sport defined on Wikipedia as gymkhana. Drifting is not encouraged in that sanctioned event, and my coach drifting experiences in compact snow and ice covered parking lots was NOT VIDEO RECORDED! I will neither confirm nor deny I did such a thing, and any witnesses would have their credibility and sobriety called into question by my employment attorney during any court proceedings that may ensue due to publication of your article.

Where can people connect with you online beside NW Mitsubishi Diesel?
I enjoy 4x4wire.com, as it is a great forum for enthusiasts of different makes and models of off road capable vehicles. I have recently been enjoying an online magazine called gearboxmagazine.com, and I like the Delica Owners Club of Canada as well. You can of course see my pretty smiling face at urbandwelling.com, and you can enjoy more of my sarcastic humor at nwmitsubishidiesel.com. I’m always happy to shoot the breeze with people who need information that may be lodged in my head. If I don’t know the answer, I’m willing to make up an answer or even send people to the resources who may actually know the correct answer to the question.

Gearheads United!

• What do YOU think about small displacement turbo diesels?
• What makes/models do you wish you could get where you live with a diesel?

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• Junkyard Parts: Introducing Andrew Holloway
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image: LancerRegister.com

Summer Olympic Sport: Weightlifting
Summer Gearhead Games Equivalent: Drag Racing & 30-130
At the Olympics, there will be two types of weightlifting – snatch and clean-and-jerk. The snatch involves lifting the bar from the floor to above the head in a single motion, while the clean-and-jerk means first lifting the bar to the shoulders before hulking it up overhead. Drag racers will get three chances to “lift” the weight of their machines a distance of a quarter-mile in a single motion. 30-130 competitors will cleanly get their machines to 30mph and then accelerate to 130mph as quickly as possible. Fastest times win.

image: 4x4wire.com

Summer Olympic Sport: Wrestling
Summer Gearhead Games Equivalent: Rock Crawling/4WD Obstacle Course
One of the world’s oldest sports, wrestling is a combat sport; a battle of wits, strength, and skill. Each opponent is an obstacle between you and the gold medal. Since motor vehicles predate paved roads, one of the oldest automotive sports has to be off-roading. We’ll setup a serious obstacle course which will challenge the rock-crawling crowd. Like wrestling, this will be a battle of wits, strength, and skill. Three runs, fastest time wins.

image: phatdish.org

Summer Olympic Sport: Gymnastics
Summer Gearhead Games Equivalent: “Gymkhana”
One of the more difficult sports to master is gymnastics. These athletes twist, turn, flip, spin, and seemingly defy gravity. Gearheads do something similar. If not gymkhana (due to copyright issues), what do you call it? A huge, extremely technical course is laid out. Drivers each get one chance to run through as quickly as possible. Contact with a cone or barrier mean instant disqualification. Fastest time wins.

image: daveyugo.com

Summer Olympic Sport: Fencing
Summer Gearhead Games Equivalent: SCCA Solo 2
In Fencing, two competitors in special uniforms duel the old fashioned way – with swords (technically, foils). A classic battle of wits and style, Fencing is one of the few events to have been held at every modern Summer Olympic Games. Our Summer Gearhead Games will pit two similarly-classed competitors against one another, racing a mirrored autocross course. Cone contact is instant disqualification and lowest time wins.

image: desertdingo.com

Summer Olympic Sport: Athletics – Triple Jump
Summer Gearhead Games Equivalent: Triple Jump
The object of the Triple Jump is to jump further than anyone else. After a short sprint, competitors leap from a mark on the track (first jump), bounce midway to the sandpit (second jump), and go for the gold on a third, measurd, jump into a sandpit. We’ll set up a dirt course with a series of two smaller tabletop-style jumps leading up to a single, larger jump. Longest distance (without destroying the vehicle) wins. Classes for rally cars and baja racers alike.

image: Paul Green, projectonethirty.com

Summer Olympic Sport: Triathlon
Summer Gearhead Games Equivalent: Triathlon
Triathlon is a competition wherein individuals swim 1500M, ride bicycles 40KM, and run 10KM. Lowest total time wins. We’ve come up with Gearhead Triathlon. First, competitors rotate/install race tires, change their oil and air filters, and remove a standardized assortment of items from their trunks/boots. Next, they run 40 laps around a road course. Finally, they make 10 runs down a quarter-mile drag strip. Lowest total time brings home the gold.

image: RallyTeamForDreams.org

We’re thinking the gearheads of the world deserve an event like this.
You can check out the full list of 2012 Summer Olympic Games on the London 2012 site. There might be sports for bikes, boats,  jetskis, and more. It’s fun to look at one thing in terms of something else; in this case – the Summer Olympic Games in terms of Gearhead Sports. Hope you’ve enjoyed this flight of fancy. Maybe, with your help, we can actually organize this event one day…

Gearheads United

• What other Summer Gearhead Games equivalents can you think of? 
• Would you enter an event like this? Would you attend even if you couldn’t enter? 

In the glovebox:

• GBXM European Tour 2012
• The Most Popular Threads on Your Forum
• Making Room for the New Vehicle

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