It has been a while sine I have written on High Performance JDM Engines, but that is about to end. Since I actually live here in Japan, I will be posting about various tuned cars I find. When possible, I will be interviewing the driver/tuner and giving all the details of each car.

The first post will be of a Toyota Starlet Glanza. For those who don’t know, the Starlet was a car that was popular for it’s small size and turbo charged engine.

We are in rainy season here in Japan, so I need to wait for a sunny day to take some good pictures.

Remember the days when the Honda civic was a small, inexpensive hatchback. I know it has been a while. Well, luckily Honda does. According to Autoblog, Honda is redesigning the civic to make it smaller, lighter, and more fuel efficient.

The new civic will most likely be released to the Japanese market first. Japan, didn’t didn’t update to the last model line containing the “si” and instead is still selling the “Type R” from the previous model line.

It looks like the owner was going for the same color pattern as Initial D’s 86 with the black hood. The car was gone when I came back out of the store, so I didn’t get to find out what type of work he had done to it or what it sounded like. Anyways, here are the pics. Let me know what you think.

Subaru Fun – Awesome video clips here

Those of us who love cars have been having the feeling that the whole tuning thing my becoming to an end. With ever shrinking gas supplies and ever increasing pollution, manufactuers are looking away from cars powered by combustions and looking at alternative means. The cars that are being produced are focused more heavily on clean emissions and good gas mileage than performance. Necessary, but by no means every tuners dream. But I think that there may actually be a benefit to this senario. It will be the clean cars on the road that allow tuners to keep driving their sports cars. Kind of simlar to the way someone drives their Honda Accord most of the time, but tke out their classic car during the weekends with good weather.

Up until now however, there hasn’t really been much promise in the way of clean car technology. Gas Hybrids, no matter how great, are still running on gas and so are only a temporary option. Not to mention there are a number of reports out saying that manufacturing a car like a Toyota Prius may actually do more damage than good. Electric cars don’t need any gas, but need large amounts of batteries, have limited range and a long charge time. Hydrogen cars seem to be a step in the direction, but are quite complex. Que, the Honda FCX Clarity.

The Honda FCX Clarity is also a hybrid, but not in the traditional sense. The Clarity uses an on-board hydrogen generator to power an electric engine. The Clarity has 136hp and 198 pounds of torque and can travel up to 280 miles before needing to be refueled. The car is already being offered to residents in Southern California.

What this means is that we may have a way to get out of the gas crunch soon while putting cleaner cars on the road. This will leave more for your JDM Engines and may even slightly reduce the restrictions (though I wouldn’t count on it). With their first model being at 136hp, they may even make good tuning cars.

You can see the the top gear video here:

Car Mods: HKS GT570 Kit w/ ECU tweaks. This car dyno’d at 633.9hp and 746.3 torque.

1993 Subaru Impreza Oil Change

Part 1

Part 2

2006-2007 Subaru Impreza 2.5i Oil Change

We all have different purposes for tuning our cars. For those of us who tune for performance, it is very important to plan ahead the overall purpose of your tuning. For instance, if you plan to compete in drag racing, then your focus should be on generating large amounts of power and getting that power to the ground. If you plan to compete in course races or autocross, then you you need to focus on over all balance of your car and engine.Planning ahead will not only allow you to create a better car for your purpose, but also save a lot of money in the process.

If you are considering a JDM engine swap, then planning your overall purpose is especially important. Since many of the car platforms are similar, there are a number of options for engine swaps. However, swapping for just pure power alone may not be the best way to improve your car. For instance, swapping a k20 JDM engine into your Honda fit might be great for drag racing with the extra power, but the extra weight of the engine, may also throw off the balance of the car. If you are running on a track, then the extra power of the engine, may be offset by extended braking times and wider turns on the track due to the extra wight in the front.

Now I am not saying that the k20 engine would not be a good swap engine for course racing or autocross. As the Fit is under-powered, the extra HP will definitely help. But deciding the function of your car before hand will help you choose the best options.

Planning the purpose of your car will also help you in choosing whether to go all motor, turbo, etc. Therefore helping you decide what parts to purchase and save money in the long run. Seeing the big picture will help purchase the parts that you need and not just purchase the ones you can get first. If you are planning for to create an all motor car with high HP, then a JDM engine swap can save you money in the long run.

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If you have a Japanese car and are interested in performance, then the thought of swapping in a JDM engine and other JDM accessories has probably crossed you mind. JDM Engines generally outperform their US counterparts in both output and reliability. Due to a much more competitive market, there are also a number of engines that were only offered in Japan. In addition to the performance and quality, JDM Engines also generally receive much less wear because of strict pollution and driving laws. After living in Japan for over 3 years, and owning a car in Japan myself, I can definitely say that this is the case.

First of all, the average speed limit in Japan is lower than in the US. Freeway speeds are comparable, though a little less than what is driven in the US, but many roads have speeds of 20-30mph. Since the cars speed is limited, the engine is a lot less likely to be pushed to it’s limits. It is much less common to see someone zip past you because they are late for work.

Another reason that JDM engines are generally in better shape is due to the cost of owning a car in Japan. Especially in the cities, there is very little space. To even purchase a car, you must be able to show proof of a designated parking spot. parking spots in a city like Japan can cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars a month to over a thousand. Since Japan has a very efficient public transport system i(f a train arrives a few seconds after it is supposed to, it is quite rare), in many cases cars are considered as luxury items. This means that JDM motors don’t see the abuse that they would see by young drivers in the US.

Cars in Japan must also pass “shaken”, a Japanese maintenance and smog test every after three years for a new car and then every two years after that. Since the fees for this certification can run quite high, many opt to purchase a new car rather than pay the shaken. This means that there are a number of used cars available that have very low miles on them. Since the average distance traveled in Japan is much shorter  than in the US, it is easy to find JDM engines with 20,000 or 30,000 miles on them.

So if your engine is wearing down or you are looking for an upgrade, then a JDM engine is a good option. In most cases the JDM engine is better made and will outperform it’s not JDM counterpart, will have less miles, and less wear. It is important to know how to choose the right motor and the right seller and I will be covering exactly how to do that in future posts.

Other helpful links

• World Of Article – All the Info on the 2005 Nissan Maxima
• World Of Article » Used Engines for Nissan’s