AEM Induction Systems featured this S550 Ecoboost Mustang in their booth in order to showcase a couple of new hard parts they’ve developed for it.
As you’d expect, they’ve unveiled this highly effective cold-air intake system, which appears to make some pretty serious jam above 4k rpm.
Plus they’ve developed an intercooler piping kit as well, which we’re told frees up an addition 8-whp or thereabouts. Impressive gains, making this turbo-4 Mustang all the more tempting to us as a future project car.
As a couple of hardcore Japanese sports car fanboys, two of our absolute favourite cars at the show were out in the hallway near the Mackin Industries booth. Pete was particularly enamoured with the cleanliness and classic JDMness of the Project mU S14.
I’m personally obcessed with the Mackin FR-S, which has just received a stroked (to 3.4L) 2JZ engine swap, which should make it significantly faster up the hill at Pikes Peak next year.
The Mackin FR-S is built to a very high standard, so we’re pretty sure the steering wheel and shift knob were removed so nobody at the show would steal them. We love everything about this beast and it certainly gave us a lot of new ideas about what to do with our FR-S next year.
Rocket Bunny, Liberty Walk and RWB over fenders continued to be a massive trend at SEMA again this year, and although we’re not always sold on the look, there’s just something cool about the Boss front end conversion Rocket Bunny cooked up for the S14 chassis. The bumperless look on the rear is totally not our thing, though.
Toyota had their Camaro SS beating (around Willow Springs Raceway) Sienna R-Tuned concept on display. We’re talking fully gutted and caged minivan on double adjustable shocks, Nitto NT01 track tires, and even an OS Giken LSD. Pretty fun idea, and very well executed.
Tein had this Evasive-built R35 GT-R on display in their booth, a machine Pete had a very hard time taking his eyes off of, but for me the star of the booth was this Defi Sports Display F digital dash. This thing has a really sleek profile and attractive form factor to it, and I loved the PlayStation Gran Tourismo style graphics it uses.
Before our feet gave out we took a tour of the DBA booth, where they had their new big brake kits on display. These kits, due to hit the market in a few months time, will be a true turnkey upgrade, meaning they’ll include calipers, pads, rotors, stainless brake lines, and brake fluid. As Yoni from DBA USA described it, “It’s like your weekend in a box.”
DBA’s also going to be offering a wide range of replacement discs that are compatible with just about any two-piece rotor on the market, meaning you can now replace the rotor ring on your Brembo, AP Racing, StopTech etc BBK with high quality DBA rings.
As we stumbled out of the Performance Hall at the end of another gruelling day at the world’s biggest car show, we had a fascinating chat with the chaps from CTEK. This new Battery Sense unit caught our eye, as it’s a standalone device that wirelessly interfaces with your smartphone so you can keep track of the condition of your battery between Candy Crush Saga sessions. Pretty slick!
We had no idea just how advanced battery chargers/tenders have become, but as one of their engineers explained this 8 step Test&Charge model literally goes through an 8 step process to evaluate the condition of your battery and then takes steps to improve its performance and lengthen its lifespan. We were so intrigued by what we learned, I’m going to do a full tech story on automotive batteries and CTEK’s approach to charging and maintaining them in the coming months.
Alright, that wraps up our Day 2 coverage, but be sure to check out our Day 2 video if you haven’t already.
I have heard a lot about Japanese technology in car
making, so I preferred to inquire about availability of Toyota people
carrier in my locality, and I was pleased to know that alljapanesemotors.co.uk
sells imported cars in the United Kingdom, so it was not difficult for me to
fulfill my dream under my budget.