Wekfest Seattle 2018 Coverage… Part 2…


I don’t know what’s next. I really don’t. I can sit here and tell you what I think might happen based on previous experiences but I’m really not trying to live that way anymore. There’s this whole thing about self-fulfilling prophecies that I believe in where if you speak or voice something out loud, or even think in a particular way believing it to be the outcome, you’ll certainly see it come to fruition. It’s like speaking something into existence whether it be good or bad. It’s like this subconscious thing where you tend to maneuver in a specific way, often unknowingly, based on an idea or belief. In the next few years, it’ll be very interesting to see where this show goes and how much it develops. Right now, I’m thoroughly enjoying it. From year one to two, things have been absolutely amazing. We’ve become an important event to the people of this region and I’m happy to say that we are helping to cultivate their car community. I love it. If I can speak anything into existence, I’d like to say that I hope this continues to grow exponentially. The cars will continue to get better, the enthusiasts will have something to build towards, and the environment will be an overwhelmingly positive one. Competition sometimes can bring the worst out in some people but I’d like to think that people will grasp more onto the community-side of things where camaraderie is important and winning awards will be a by-product of the continued growth of their community. People in Texas are probably gonna hate me for saying this, but I think Seattle has bumped-up to the top three of all the shows on the Wekfest nationwide tour. I mean, I guess I can’t really say that because this year’s event in Houston hasn’t happened yet but man, Seattle is going strong. In terms of quality, I’d like to think that it was right up there with San Jose and Los Angeles. I remember sitting in the war room upstairs of the Seattle event talking to the rest of the judges about how some of these cars would compete and win against many of the top-tier builds down in California. I can name, like, five builds at the show that day that could probably win “Best of Show/Car of the Festival” honors if they came down to our area. The cars are that good. Of course there are some bad ones, and some still in early development but that goes with any car show anywhere in the world…

It’s crazy to think that in its second year, things have already gotten to this point. New stops on the tour usually require so much more development and patience. I like what I am seeing so far. I’m thinking I might even go back before the summer ends to see some of these cars again and host a meet or something like I usually do now annually. Wayne’s CR-X needs to be shot for print too along with Ronald’s and many others. I almost think that I HAVE to go back. I just need to convince myself to drive down to Oregon and visit Wayne so I can shoot his car out in the backwoods of wherever he lives. I think he said there was a fucking lake in front of his house or something. That in itself already sounds like the perfect backdrop for a shoot. Mind you, I haven’t discussed any of this with him yet so maybe he won’t even want me at his house, lol. The most difficult part of hosting a meet is finding a location though. The spot we used last year was nice and all but it was pretty small. I’m pretty sure we can get a much bigger crowd than before, especially since Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather aren’t fighting on the same weekend. Things are pretty busy right now though so I don’t really even want to think about it. We got Wekfest Los Angeles coming up literally this weekend and I even spent the past weekend shooting a car for work so it’s safe to say that I am presently occupied…

Today, I have some more photos for you guys to look at from the early morning. I wish there were two of me that day because I was just running back and forth all morning trying to capture everything and I can almost guarantee you that I missed out on some great moments outside when the cars were coming in. There wasn’t another car fire or anything but I mean, that area of Seattle is just so scenic that it makes for such great photos. I almost thought about condensing the coverage into three posts instead of four, like I said in Part 1, but I think it’s better to spread it out so you guys aren’t overwhelmed with all the photos. I think at some point there are times when you guys just get used to seeing so many photos that you just start scrolling through them without actually looking deeper into the photos to appreciate the details. I got some stuff to take care of since this is a big week for The Chronicles and Wekfest so I better get back to it. If you guys want my to discuss anything in particular in Part 3, please feel free to drop a comment on Instagram or here in the comments section and I’ll be happy to chat about it in the next few posts. I wrote so much in Part 1 that I probably could have spread that whole monologue into four different parts but man, sometimes I just get on a roll and keep typing. Later on for the rest of the posts, I have to spend even more time trying to think of things to talk about from a show that happened a week or two weeks before. So, yeah, if you want to know anything more about the show, don’t hesitate to ask or give me some ideas. For now, enjoy the photos and captions in Part 2 below!!…

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Datsun 510 coupe showing quite a bit of patina from the Pacifici Northwest, flared, sitting on OG SSR MKII wheels…

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Jeff Diaz’s Formula Red NA1 NSX looking great on NSX-spec Mugen M7 wheels. As mentioned in Part 1, great subtle contrast touch on the Spoon Sports mirrors to match the roof…

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Like I said in the previous post, I took a lot of photos of Ronald’s Integra so be prepared for it…

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Rocket Bunny over fenders on a late model Scion FR-S/Toyota 86 and Volk Racing TE37 wheels that fit snuggly under…

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Nice metallic green paint on this PS13 coupe wearing mismatched bronze wheels of the Work and Rays variety….

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Toyota Mark II with widened front fenders and rear blister panels, door included, sitting on a set of WEDS Kranze Rapier wheels….

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Some of the boys chatting it up with Jeff while he waits to get inside the convention hall for set-up…

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Gotta love the Crowhouse front, modified J’s fenders and Airwalker sides on Ron’s JDM-face Integra. Also really cool to see a clean set of Work RSZ-R wheels…

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The Mugen Gen. II wing doesn’t hurt the set-up either…

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Meanwhile, inside Wayne was busy chatting with friends about his journey to get his CR-X to Wekfest…

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I politely told them to get the fuck out of the way so I could get some detail shots in. I’m hoping nobody stole my Nobori flag because I definitely didn’t see it at the end of the day…

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Inside the engine bay of Wayne’s CR-X is the original B20Z engine from his previous CR-Xs. Yup, the same heart as the others, just transplanted into the new shell.  From this angle you can see his coolant reservoir with a custom hard line that connects to the radiator. Sealing the reservoir is a JUN Auto cap, matching the JUN oil cap on the custom coated valve cover, which also has an -AN braided line that runs to a breather canister mounted to the shock tower using a custom bracket…

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On this side you can see the brake booster delete, and new master cylinder which also hosts a custom hard line. You can get a glimpse of the old school AEBS fuel rail from this angle, along with a peek at the Skunk2 Ultra series intake manifold…

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The cut valve cover reveals JUN Stage 3 cam gears and cams. You can see the tucked radiator under the core support from this angle as well…

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I apologize for the interior shot being a little dark but here you can see the OMP steering wheel, his mint ass dashboard he bought from some random dude off of Craigslist and his lack of door panels. Oh and the cage as well, which is color-matched to the chassis…

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Also hosted at The Chronicles booth this year was Terry Suvonnarith’s NA2 NSX on Advan Racing wheels. He needed a good parking spot because I managed to convince him to work my booth that day as well, since I had to run around and work the show. I’ll never be able to afford an NSX but I’m totally okay with having someone that can afford one work for me, lol…

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Right across from us was this red NSX wearing a GruppeM front lip, Spoon mirrors, staggered Volk CE28Ns, StopTech brakes, and a set of Mugen MS-Z seats…

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One of my favorite PNW builds is Slowlane Benny’s Spirit Rei PS13 coupe now sitting on a set of Work Meister M1 wheels, which is a much better look than the previous year’s VIP Modular set-up. I think the Japanese-made wheels just suit the Spirit Rei aero so much better. Ganador side mirrors are a nice touch and the engine bay is definitely something to withhold…

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Nestled tightly in the engine compartment is a Toyota 1JZ-GTE swap hosting quite a bit of custom fabricated plumbing for both the turbo and cooling side…

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Just like the first Wekfest Seattle event the year before, right next to Slowlane Benny was his friend’s E24 BMW 6-series coupe bagged on Autostrada Modena wheels…

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M&M Honda Hyper widebody DC5 RSX from Sunworks car club on Hyper Gold Volk Racing CEs. The K-series engine is also turbocharged with some custom gold-plated components but I guess I just got distracted and missed out on getting a shot of it…

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This EM2 Civic coupe from Sunworks was incredibly impressive with a custom front fender set-up and Volk Racing wheels. The exterior seems relatively simple but what makes it impressive is all the work that went into the engine bay…

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The K-swap was super clean, with most of its parts polished to a mirror like finish and the engine bay has been completely smoothed-out. There was so much work involved with getting this bay to look this clean and I ended up giving it the “Best Engine Bay” award at the end of the day…

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One of the most impressive builds that surprised the hell out of me personally was this Honda Prelude on custom blue Work RSZ-R wheels. I should also mention that this was probably the first car show I’ve been to in a decade that had more than one set of RSZ-Rs by the way… Anyways, this Prelude had like the entire fucking JUN Auto catalog, from the front lip, to hood, header, wire cover, even the carbon fiber rear deck and seat delete were JUN. The owner has the wing too but didn’t have it this time around and opted for a First Molding piece instead, which I imagine is also pretty rare. I have more photos of it but I’ll save it for Part 3. No particular reason why I am not posting it here right now, I just like to show the photos in the order that I shot them in and I came back to get more photos of this car that afternoon…

Pretty awesome to see people that give a shit about this chassis and have all the goodies for it. He even had a Spoon Sports cluster for it which is unheard of…

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K-swapped yellow EH Civic hatchback with a Spoon Sports carbon front lip, matte black Volk Racing TEs, and a rare ARC rear wing…

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Ben from Level One’s Berlina Black NSX running Downforce aero components, Volk TE37SL, an NSX-R rear wing, and I believe a Taitec rear diffuser…

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Jerwin Rumbaua’s NA2 NSX which runs a collection of Spoon Sports parts and a Voltex rear wing, along with a custom set of Mugen MF10 wheels in gold. I love the Spoon theme throughout but honestly feel like these wheels don’t really do the car justice. I think it flowed so much better with the BBS LM wheels last year…

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Jackie Law’s turbocharged Honda S2000 from Level One, which is likely one of the more well-known Honda builds to come out of Canada. Not much has changed since 2017, but with this set-up, maybe nothing has to…

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Supercharged J32-swapped Honda Civic owned and built by Chris from Level One…

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Tomas all set-up at Wekfest with his hood popped and Purple Speed lip mounted…

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Tomas’ B-series set-up with a JUN Auto-style valve cover done by C’s Customizing…

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The man behind C’s Customizing, Cooper Boudia, brought out his incredibly well-executed Integra LS build on Enkei J-Speed III wheels…

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Cooper’s engine bay is one of the best you’ll see up in that area, featuring a cleaned-up but unshaven bay centered around a B18C block/B16A head set-up…

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Supercharged K-swapped DB8 Integra sedan build hosting a Spoon Sports front lip, brakes, and candy red Volk TEs….

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Here you can get a glimpse of the Speedfactory-tuned K-series engine with a J’s Racing blower…

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Handsome Rob Smith’s (I didn’t name him that) Civic was one of the more surprising builds of the show, since I thought I had seen a bulk of the nicest Honda builds from that area. This blue hue is off of a newer CR-V I believe, which sounds boring but translates to a really nice shade of blue and overall, the car was such incredibly clean. You can’t see it from this angle but it has also been converted to right-hand drive and the trunk has a nice audio set-up which tucks away nicely into the spare tire area…

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Mel Diego’s Mugen-themed EP3 Civic SI hatchback from the BHM crew…

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Junction Produce W140 Mercedes S-Class sedan looking bossy as fuck, sitting right behind The Chronicles booth that had no tent because Amazon doesn’t think that Two-Day shipping means that it actually comes in on time. Sorry, I’m rambling, this Benz was super nice. Probably only the second time I’ve ever seen a JP kit in person on this particular chassis…

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Hako_Dave’s Hakosuka Skyline GTX running some pretty wide flares to make room for the even wider SSR Longchamp wheels…

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One of my favorites that day was this beautifully executed Civic hatchback running a First Molding carbon front lip aka Flugel Plate, Vision Type DC mirrors, 16-inch Desmond Regamaster EVOs, and rare JDM EG6 yellow interior, which contrasts so well against the body color. Just a great, timeless set-up that would look good and be equally as relevant in any era of our tuning scene… Just near goddamn perfect…

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Under the hood was a cleaned-up engine bay with a B-series swap utilizing individual throttle bodies…

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Jerimiah Styles’ Mugen-themed DB2 Integra GS-R hosting almost every DA/DB Integra Mugen component you can think of minus the front bumper, which he opted instead to run an OEM bumper and color-matched JDP front lip…

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A more traditional set-up under the hood with a factory-look minus air conditioning and power steering. At the center of it is a Mugen Formula Head Cover…

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Wrapping up Part 2 with a shot of Austin’s M-Sports FD3S RX-7 from Nevercontent.jp. He actually left soon after the show to California where he had a pop-up shop in Venice Beach to celebrate the 4-year anniversary of his brand. Unfortunate that I didn’t get a chance to go see it for myself but the photos looked great…

Thanks for keeping up to date on all the posts. There are a few more to come covering this event so make sure to come back and see the rest! Thank you!…

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