Tag Archives: Import Tuner magazine

Revalving dampers for competition

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Scott Tsuneishi, senior editor for Import Tuner magazine is here today. He is taking photos and collecting data as we revalve a set of Mono FLEX dampers for a street/track Honda S2000. This particular S2000 is being built to display at SEMA in the DC Sports booth and then compete in the 2010 Super Lap Battle Finals at Buttonwillow Raceway on Nov. 10th.

Scott taking pics of R&D Assistant Jon who is hard at work

This vehicle build features C-West body kit, i-VTEC upgrade from Design Craft, DC sports exhaust and a plethora of other high quality parts. Evasive Motorsports is helping with aero and tuning so you know this car will be quick around the 2.6 mile course. Target time is 1:57 on street tires.

Jon performing the actual revalving

R&D Manager Mr Takizawa reviewing the damping force graphs for the newly revalved shocks

We will be doing our part to make sure the suspension is competitive at the track and comfortable enough for daily driving.

Check out future issues of Import Tuner magazine for the complete story and to see how this project S2000 does at the track.

Future Import Tuner magazine feature

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Luke Munnell of Import Tuner magazine was at TEIN yesterday shooting the Lexus ISF for a future feature. The ISF is an Import Tuner project car which TEIN USA sponsors. We have helped with the build and maintenance ever since the beginning of this project. The car was displayed at SEMA, CES and has competed at Super Lap Battle finals. It is the only newer body style IS to compete in SLB that I can remember. Tanner Foust drove the car to a 2:02 in the 2008 finals. I think the car can definitely break 2 minutes with the current NOS setup, wider tires and some aero upgrades.

Although Luke’s title is Technical Editor for Import Tuner magazine he along with all the editors do multiple tasks. One of Luke’s favs seems to be shooting feature vehicles.

Setting up the lights for one of many pics. Each shot takes at least 10-15mins to setup and then constant tweaking until everything is perfect.

Our warehouse is not ideal due to sky lights, tons of reflections, etc… so the right lighting is key to getting a good clean shot.

With everything in place it is time to shoot.

Luke will come back to shoot the exterior pics at one of his secret locations. Nah jk, just a spot nearby that he found on the way to TEIN. Pickup Import Tuner to see the full feature.

Employee owned: EVO 9

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This car has been in a few previous posts. It is owned by one of the staff here at TEIN USA. Originally bought brand new to be a fun daily driver / occasional track toy but soon took on a life of its own. Since we are the exclusive distributor for a variety of top brands (Carbing, Fujitsubo, Defi, SuperPro, and Takata) it was easy to build a quality car, plus employee discounts never hurt.

The exterior is comprised of Voltex bodykit and wing. Volk TE-37 18×9.5+12 with 8mm of spacers on front and rear wrapped with 275/35/18 tires.

Sitting on Super Racing coilovers with 14kg front springs and 12kg rear springs. The dampers have also been revalved with a few “special” parts to test out. Could be lower for appearance sake but this ride height works well for performance reasons.

Power is provided by Tomei ARMS turbo, Cosworth head and top end internals, plus a few HKS parts. You can find out HP/TQ and power curve in the current issue of Import Tuner magazine (July 2010) which go into detail about the Tomei Arms M7960 turbo, Cosworth 272 cams, and Okada Projects Quad Pac ignition coils. Drivetrain is comprised of Carbonetic carbon fiber clutch and carbon differentials.

Interior is filled with DEFI meters, Bride GIAS seats, Greddy boost controller, Alpine headunit, and of course dual EDFCs.

Having fun and testing at Willow Springs raceway in 2009.

2008 EVO vs STI Shootout at Buttonwillow raceway. Ran a 1:59 on config. CW13 with Rob Walker driving on Hankook RS-2 street tires.

Car on the cover of Modified magazine back in August 2008.

Photo credit for the action shot to Larry Chen at driftfotos.com