Monthly Archives: July 2012

Back to Back Wins for Vaughn Gittin Jr.!!!

Posted on by

Needless to say, we are very happy to see Mr. Gittin grace the Formula D podium once again! THAT’S TWO IN A ROW!!! Great work, Vaughn. And great job, Autosport Dynamics.

Obivously, we think that pairing is one of the best on the Formula D grid. We’re very fortunate to have our association with both Autosport Dynamics and Vaughn Gittin Jr., as well as Justin Pawlak- part of the Falken Tires-backed drivers using a custom set of our very own Super Racing dampers!

It’s been a series of ups and downs for the Falken boys. As you can imagine, the field is getting tougher, setups getting crazier, and the amount of dedication to handle the horsepower levels this generation of Formula D puts out (average of about 600 hp) getting more demanding than ever, and you’ll know that these guys don’t have it so easy. That being said, it is great to see how level the playing field is. It makes for an exciting race season, and it also gives fans the opportunity to see their favorite drivers take some of the top spots of the podium. I’ll tell you this- it’s much more exciting than seeing one driver continually win, event after event. Kinda like watching Sebastien Loeb win WRC events, or even Michael Schumacher win his 7 Formula One championship titles. No offense to those guys. They are awesome! Quite obviously, it’s every race team and driver’s intention to bring home the victories. But it just.gets.so.boring……

Seeing different drivers take the top steps just lets you know that everyone has a chance at winning, and that’s how evenly matched the teams are becoming year after year.

But, to be honest, I’d like to see Vaughn’s car take win after win. For one, his Mustang is rad. 2) the Mustang has more than a few hints of green (my favorite color), 3) it’s backed by Monster Energy drinks (an energy drink that tastes awesome), and 4) his car number is 25 (one of my favorite/lucky numbers)!!! It’s like this car is meant to be mine one day!!!! Yeah right. I’m sure Vaughn would never part from this car. It’s too nice to give away! Oh, let’s not forget that Vaughn is clearly a great driver. We can’t leave that last element out of the winning equation.

Also, it’s a lot of fun getting to work with the Autosport Dynamics (ASD) guys in getting the Falken Mustangs set up. They’ve been a group that is easy to work with. They clearly know what they’re doing, and they have an outstanding record in motorsports.

So with The Wall and Evergreen Speedway 2012 in the books, Vaughn and his crew look towards another great victory at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

As this Formula D season gets close to closing out, we wish the best for both Vaughn and Justin, as well as the crew at Autosport Dynamics. They’ve made another year even more exciting than the last. Best of luck for this season! Let’s see the last two races as podium finishes!

Pics sourced from Formula D (www.formulad.com) and Speedhunters (www.speedhunters.com)

One Hot Day and One Big Container!!

Posted on by

‘Sup Guys?! As most of you know we get at least one container full of our wonderful products delivered each month straight from TEIN Headquarters in Japan. We have had as many as three containers come in just one month alone. That’s a lot of product! We received this month’s container this past Friday, July 20, 2012 and man, was it hot!

Luckily our dock does have some shade from the sun, for the most part. So it helps the container stay way cooler than if the sun would hit it directly.

Here we have Jon (also known as “THE FOOT”) posing for the picture. Jon works in a different department here at TEIN but still gives us a hand from time to time.

The pictures above and below show our warehouse aisles right before we start unloading the container but as the day goes on, the aisles get more and more crowded with product..

Once the container is safely unloaded our job is not yet completely finished. During and after the offload process we use a product scanner to track the product quantities being received on the container. We then download this data onto a PC using our proprietary software to detail all items scanned. This is then checked with the order list to make sure we received the right quantity as we ordered. If everything checks out fine, we are finally done! We tend to ship most of these newly received items right back out to our dealers well before we get to restock our shelves. Only after we fulfill customer orders can we then put away some remaining items and get our warehouse cleaned in time for the next inbound shipment from Japan!

 

 

 

FR-S or BRZ?

Posted on by

It has been almost over a month since this years hottest sports car, Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ came out to the market.

TEIN USA has been developing products for these two cars to deliver our products to the customer as soon as possible.

I have been wondering what is the difference between FR-S and BRZ?

Exterior dimension, interior, engine, transmission, chassis and tire sizes are the same in between these cars.

But, when I drove BRZ that came in for development,  I felt a big difference!

BRZ’s suspension are set as a mild setup, if you push harder it simply understeers and will not take you to oversteer motion.

But, the FR-S has an opposite character than the BRZ. 

The FR-S has stiffer damper with softer spring. And if you know how to push hard, this simple, less electronically controlled device (compare to newer higher performance car) and fun to drive machine, it’s just pure fun to drive!

My conclusion is FR-S and BRZ are totally diffent set-ups

If you want to get pure driving pleasure go with FR-S, and if you want affordable yet nice, well-designed coupe go with BRZ.

And I will leave damper dyno chart (in .pdf format) for FR-S and BRZ for comparison.

 

OEM BRZ & FRS Front

OEM BRZ & FRS Rear

Back In The Game

Posted on by

Last month we had reported that the Rally xD had run into some…complications.

With the hard work of the Rally xD Team and all others involved the xD was up and running and ready to race in no time at all.

The latest race took the Rally xD Team to the New England Forest Rally, where after much effort they were able to finish in 3rd place, despite some initial set backs.

The Rally xD Team’s next challenge will be the upcoming Pikes Peak Hill Climb. Look forward to more on the Rally xD’s exploits.

One Roaring S13

Posted on by

Well hello there world. This month I want the spotlight to focus on Rob Symonds’ S13.

Rob contacted us around mid May for an overhaul + revalving for his TEIN HE dampers. We got the job done and satisfied our customers expectation.  After everything was said and done he shoots us an email that makes me fall out of my seat! Yeah I’ve seen s13’s driving around and in car shows  but this one I must say is at the top of my list.

His request sounded easy enough. But Rob was also pretty specific with what he wanted. This didn’t turn out to be a standard damper rebuild for us. Then again, Rob isn’t your regular ‘ol car guy. He knows exactly what he wants. To get the most out of a damper revalve, we ask a gamut of questions about the car, the setup, the types of road courses it races on, etc. Sometimes we get more information than we need, but Rob didn’t talk up a storm about his engine modifications- in fact, his motor is a stock, naturally aspirated KA24. It was previously a turbocharged motor, detuned for simplicity and reliability’s sake (did we mention that Rob is an engineer at Garrett? He definitely knows his way around a motor!),  Roll cage, or vented fiber glass hood. Not once did he mentioned his 17 inch Enkei RPF1 wheels, Hoosier A6 slick tires, or HAWK DTC-60 brake pads. He also did not tell us about his long list of sponsors or 5 minutes of fame on this years January edition of Modified Magazine. Then again, some details are better left unsaid. Maybe not! We wanted to hear more!

Rob is simply a race enthusiast. He spends time building his car to get the setup right, just like many of you out there, all in a quest for the quickest time around the track! We appreciate guys just like Rob!

Check out the images and video below to get the corner panels point of view of this 240 on the track.

  [vsw id=”28997157″ source=”vimeo” width=”425″ height=”344″ autoplay=”yes”]

EDFC Fitment Check

Posted on by

Back again with some more useful tech info this time for EDFC fitment verification.

We are always receiving calls regarding EDFC fitment on older kits or kits which may not have any details of EDFC compatibility. I was able to obtain some info on some specific areas ,clearances, and measurements that should be focused on when checking for compatibility.

 

Checking piston shaft compatibility

Inspect the top threaded portion of the of the dampers piston shaft making sure that the shaft is threaded all the way to the top of the shaft. Some shafts may have the flat machined edges, but the threads continue on the other rounded sides. Those can still work. The other type as shown below would have an area around the top of the piston shaft with no threads which not allow the EDFC motor to mount up.

 

 

Measuring piston shaft thread amount

Taking a measurement of the same area which protrudes out from the mount, measuring from the edge of the nut to the tip of the shaft. If the measurement is more than 7mm in length, then the EDFC would have enough space to bolt on. Any less and there would not be sufficient space for the motor.

 

 

Checking compartment space for EDFC motor

 Taking a measurement from the top of the click assembly a vertical measurement of over 24mm as well as a 50mm horizontal measurement using the center of the piston shaft as the center point. Any clearances less than those detailed would interfere with either the hood or other engine compartment components and/or interior.

 

 

Caution! When checking these areas please note that the measurements provided above are the minimum required clearances for the EDFC motor installation. Please keep in mind that depending on the mount type used on the damper kit, the motor might move vertically which may require further clearance. Modifications and/or removal of supportive device around piston shaft top, insulator and/or interior might be required to allow for fitment. EDFC, in conjunction with any tower bars/strut bars may not allow enough clearance across the piston shaft for certain applications. Installation of the EDFC on any vehicles/ dampers on which TEIN had not confirmed fitment compatibility should be done at your own discretion. TEIN assumes no responsibility for any damaged and warranty void for such installations.

 Always exercise caution when trying to install the EDFC units on your application whether the kit has been confirmed for fitment or the guide detailed above is being used to determine fitment. Uncertain of the installation? You can always take a look back at an early post for the EDFC installation for help.

http://teinusa-blog.com/edfc-motor-install/

Toyota 86 & Scion FR-S, Brothers from other Mothers!

Posted on by

 

Hey Everyone! Japan’s 86 and the U.S.’s FR-S do look similar in design but would have some subtle differences. Let’s take a look at some of the differences Toyota 86 and Scion FR-S .

Toyota 86 Front View

 You can see the differences on the headlights and bumper lights. The headlights of the 86 have a Daytime Running light LED strip on the top section of the headlight while the FR-S does not offer that option as shown on the picture below. The bumper lamp design also is different having two set on the 86 where as the FR-S only has one set.

Scion FR-S Front View

 

Let’s move to the rear of the cars.

Toyota 86 Rear View

 Taking a look at the rear of the vehicle, you can see that the exhausts are different in size from one another. The tail lights also are slightly different in that the 86 doesn’t use the side reflector where as the FR-S does.

Scion FR-S Rear View

 

Let’s check out what the side view shows us.

The side badge and side markers are both slightly different in color.

 A closer look at the badge you can see they kept the same overall style of the badge for both just a small color change on the 86 model.

 

Those are the common differences between the Japanese 86 and U.S. FR-S model. Of course there is the differences of the vehicles being either left hand drive or right hand drive, but that’s more interior related which I will hopefully follow up with in the near future.

 

Since the Toyota 86/ Scion FR-S is the current topic, we do now offer product for the for both applications. For those of you looking for suspension kits, we do currently offer the Type Flex and High Tech lowering springs, please see some details below. In the near future we are looking to release the S.Tech, Monoflex, Street Basis, and Street Advance kits.

Part Number – DSQ54-61SS1

MSRP – $1790

Part Number – SKSA0-G1B00

MSRP $310

For further details of these products please visit our website Model and Price page.

http://www.tein.com/price/scion.html