The past three weeks have been a whirlwind of chaos and awesome. Round 2 of Formula Drift has come and gone… and with it came some SERIOUS life memories. At one point I think we had 13 people staying at my house. Every night it seemed like someone new. While I am glad things have returned to normal… I can honestly say it has left me slightly depressed! So many good times, I don’t even know where to begin. Race week started a bit early… when my good friends Will Roegge and Joshua Herron made an S.O.S. call to me. Their 1974 Volkswagen van had broken down a few hours south of Atlanta in LaGrange. The ‘Westy’ is their home-on-the-road during primary photography for their cross-country documentary, “KEEP DRIFTING FUN”.
After procuring Tyler’s trailer at midnight, Wes and Lieze and I rocketed southbound for a rescue mission. Halfway there we got a call that the van started… so we met up with them on the highway just to be safe.
The Westy wasn’t running well at all… so with cue from Eugene, we took it to Barry Palmer Auto for a diagnostic eval from an air-cooled guru. The van’s motor had no compression, and was in need of a transplant.
I picked up a new roof spoiler from paint at Jeff’s Auto Restoration to replace the one that flew off in-tow last year.
My tow-hooks came back from KILLIN’ EM. Fresh hit of satin black to hide the ol’ red. Thanks Scott!!!
Picked up a few miscellaneous parts for the car. Water temp sensor adapter from TRM and a new cabin AC filter. I also snagged a new OE radiator, spark plugs, and wiper blades (not pictured).
I re-worked the wiring for the back of my gauges… including some quick-disconnects for easier maintenance.
I got frisky with The Destroyer™ and pulled the front end apart.
So I could bake the lower light housings and hit the reflectors yellow. While the grill was off, I had Jeff hit the chrome bits with paint to match the body color… and I re-wrapped the Chevy emblem with black vinyl. I also installed a 3000K HID kit from DDM Tuning.
We adopted an awesome (outside) cat. Lieze named him Meow Meow.
I had Pho for the first time.
I gave the e46 a much-needed wash before taking her to the track…
and the next thing I knew I was being bombarded with water balloons by kids in the neighborhood.
Luckily my friends Drew Fishbein and Ross Fairfield were there to catch the action for their site OMGDRIFT!
Then Formula Drift came crashing back into my life full-force for FD Pro Am. I put my game face beard on for an amazing weekend… which I will leave for another post.
The day after FD was a Southeast Drift event at Turner (more on this later). Tons of FD dudes came out to shred with us local-folk.
Then the new 2.0L motor for the Westy arrived via freight.
We took the van back to Palmer Auto where Barry and Mikey took the reigns from there to get the van back running in tip-top shape. The larger motor with mechanical lifters will make the rest of Will and Josh’s voyage on the high-seas of FUN much better.
Slowly… all my house guests began departing to their corners of the globe… leaving behind some amazing memories and awesome times. Will and Josh were the last to return to the road in the Westy… headed north to Jersey by way of Charlotte, Richmond, Baltimore and Philly. With everyone gone, and my house back it’s quiet state, I’m left to reflect on how lucky I am. Not only has this crazy motorsport taken me places I never thought possible… it has also introduced me to some of the most creative, talented, and overall BADASS DUDES on the planet. And for that… I am truly honored and extremely grateful.
<3
I’ve been sick… so I’m late posting this. PRETTY. WILD
Now… someone from BBC fly all of us over for a show cameo.TopGear.com
I had a great opportunity to design Ryan Tuerck’s hero card for Gardella Racing. In addition to the card, I was also tasked with redesigning the Gardella Racing logo. Overall I am pretty stoked with the result!
I would definitely love to wrench on more projects like these… so any of you FD teams in need… HOLLER.
This project started out as a way to help the Forza community in their painting efforts. I have received many requests for high-res graphics to use as reference in the painting process. I then used that as an excuse to get better acclimated with Adobe Illustrator, and create a comprehensive guide to the vehicle’s 2007 livery. I have always enjoyed technical drawings in their precise structure and perfection. One thing led to another, and the next thing I know… I spent an insane amount of countless hours creating this. I learned a lot about Illustrator in the process, and it is my hope that this will help any aspiring Forza painters re-create the car’s likeness.
I have a ton of respect for everyone painting Forza replicas. I (still) don’t have a 360 to be familiar with the process, but as far as I know… the tools available are very crude and difficult to use. This painter’s pack took me FOREVER, and I already had most of the graphics on file! I cannot fathom how long it takes to create some of these replicas. Hats off to all you Forza painters for your hard work and attention to detail!
Click here to download the Painter’s Pack. (7.4mb – 5400x3600px)
12×18″ posters are available on Slide Style™.
Got down and dirty with the foglight reflectors as well.Cracked these things open.
Hit’m with the ol’ 1-2.
Picked up a restoration kit from 3M.
This is what I started with…
This is what I ended up with. It ain’t perfect… but it is a lot better. I think I could have repeated some of the steps and got better results. I can always save that for a rainy day.
Snapped’m back together and got’m back on the car.
The sun went down so I didn’t get a good photo of the car with the fogs on. I’ll post up a full frontal shot of the car once I can source the shattered foglight bezel for the driver side.
FINALLY. A project that doesn’t turn into some kinda of vehicular-disabling, distastrous headache.Popped the ol’ yeller lenses off… removed the trim, and masked errythang off.
This stuff is AWESOME.
Hit ’em, left and right.
The color is hella vibrant… even with one coat. I did two coats for added ocular punch.
I decided to hit the back of the angel eyes that surround the high beam for good measure.
But I didn’t like how the face of the angel eyes stood out against the yellow.
So I hit them from every angle.
MUCH better.
Popped the new clear lenses back into place, along with the corner lenses and lower trim.
Headlights and high-beams on.
It looks INSANELY sick in person. I’m amazed at what a difference this makes on the car. Getting those crusty ol’ beat up yellow lenses off there probably made the biggest difference. I’m super-stoked how this turned out… even if I did just find a thread filled with e46 folks doing the same thing. This paint from Vans definitely made a huge difference, and was worth every cent!
It is that time of year again. Where I get the urge to ‘spring clean’ the car and freshen her up with some new parts. Where last year’s parts bonanza was focused on function… this year’s fiesta is looking more towards form.I picked up a fresh set of headlight lenses. 5+ years of running the yellow lamin-x film… and it is time for a change. My ‘old yellers’ are pretty haggard. They have taken beatings from cones and cars alike… have been epoxied back together several times, and the yellow film is looking more like a muddy brown these days. It will be nice to get a clean set on there.
New bulbs for the Xenons from DDM Tuning. The old set were dying, shifting the light output to a brownish green color.
In lieu of going with clear lenses… I want to hit the highbeam reflectors with clear yellow. A popular method is to use Krylon Stained Glass spray paint… but I couldn’t find it ANYWHERE. After reading some positive reviews… I decided to order some Vans paint instead. I felt better about this product… since it is designed for this very purpose.
Used set of fogs so I can finally replace the one I shattered in ’06. I need to polish the lenses up on these, and I may try and hit the reflectors with yellow as well. I still need to find a driver-side foglight bezel.
Picked up a Hamann knockoff window spoiler for an amazing price. I think it is going to look sick once it is all painted. It has way more contact with the car… so I don’t think this one will fly off the car like the last one.
I got fed up with trying to work on the car in pitch darkness, so I put up a couple fluorescent light fixtures. The difference is remarkable. Next on my list for the garage is to get some more shelving up and re-arrange the space better so working on the car is less of a hassle. This garage is much smaller than my last one, so every inch of space counts. I still have a TON of wall decor to go up… but that will make its way to the walls in good time.
A couple weeks back, my buddy Clint Davis gave me a shout about a feature he wanted to do for the Longshots section of Import Tuner. This section is normally reserved for automotive photography, but Clint wanted to switch things up a bit, and feature some video content.It is VERY flattering to be featured in a tuner magazine for my endeavors behind the keyboard instead of behind the wheel.
It is even more of an honor to be paired up on the same page with my ‘Keep Drifting Fun’ buddy, Will Roegge!This feature really turned out cool, and is available on newstands nationwide. Thanks Clint!!!
photo c/o Sir Shawn the SmithThe private DM test-session on the road course at Atlanta Motor Speedway was SICK. Insane high-speed entries, and equally as fast course-exits. I remember looking down as I was apexing the last clip and the speedo was at 85mph.
I finally got around to installing this piece. I think I ordered this in late 2004… and it has been by the wayside on my install list ever since. Truth be told, it would up in a toolbox, and I forgot about it. Matt had to drill out the existing hole and re-tap it for the VDO temp sender, because for some reason it didn’t fit right out of the box.
Install was SUPER easy, and now my oil-temp gauge works!
Matt Foerst stopped by and helped me fix my stripped oil pan. He came armed with a HeliCoil set and had it knocked out in no time. Have I ever mentioned how much of a badass this dude is? Well… HE IS. I watched him change a clutch in my car in 45 minutes once… and he wasn’t even rushing. That same task took me and a friend 6 hours to do. Matt did it in 1/8th the time. BAD. ASS.
On a totally unrelated note… I love the HeliCoil logo. It is so stylized in its simplicity. The intersecting elements representative of the thread coils are a great element that really makes it what it is.
I just finished up a four-page piece for S3 Magazine. This gully SC400 just screamed heavy metal to me, so I went for a darker approach. Within the article, Wooley mentions how people are afraid of it, and seeing it drive down the street is like seeing the shadows of death… so “Creeping Death” seemed all-too-fitting for the title. The second two pages are not actually a double-truck, they are separated by full-page ads. I’m still on the fence about the overall layout. I like it, but I don’t love it. I guess time-crunches can do that sometimes.
Regardless, it was definitely a fun bit to put together!
If you didn’t know… this Hobo ain’t your average hobo. He ith a cultivator of fine beards, exquisite cinematography, and wondrous colour grades. Joshua “Hobo” Herron just dropped his ’09 demo reel on the world… and no, he didn’t upload it from a freeway off-ramp holding a sign that says “Why lie? I need a beer”.Bask in the omnipresent talent exuded in this three-minute sampling of work. Then, when you are done… hire this man so I can enjoy more visuals of this caliber.
