I really thought I would have had this second part up early this week but with so much going on lately, it’s been difficult to sit down and type out the rest of this post. I had to squeeze in a few hours the last couple of nights just to finish. One of the first things I had to do this week was find a new daily driver. The Honda Pilot I have started giving me some transmission issues lately and I just don’t trust driving it around anymore because I don’t want to get stranded on the highway in this heat. Ironically, I was heading to a gig for Honda when it happened and I wasn’t exactly close to home so I took it as a sign to get another car. After that I had the grand unveiling of the brand new FL5 Honda Civic Type R event to attend and I’m glad I found a car rather quickly because the reveal happened in a completely different part of Los Angeles. While all that was going on, Kristian and I have been busy putting the Battlecraft GR86 together because our plan was to get the car to Wekfest San Jose next week…

So yeah, it’s been hectic here. I literally just sat down to wrap-up this coverage after driving to another part of Los Angeles county to grab brand new Yokohama tires for our build. Some time during the day, I’m gonna have to find some time to grab a snack. Until then, let me put a stamp on Part 2 of the Wekfest Seattle coverage. I guess what most people want to learn more about other than the cars themselves was the new venue. This place was one wall color away from being a great venue. The lighted ceiling added such a great dynamic to the show. The light grid was super bright and the cars looked fantastic… but…the fatal flaw of the Seattle Convention Center is the yellow walls. It kinda fucked-up everything about the photos because the combination of the two made for some weird white balancing issues. Everything just looked like it had a yellow tinge to it. If the walls were just painted white, the whole convention hall would have been perfectly suited for a car show and to make these cars look even better than they already do. But, like most convention halls we’ve been to throughout the country, the wall is usually painted an unnecessary color. New Jersey is probably the worst with its completely black walls and curtains. It just makes everything look dark and muted. Fortunately for us, there is a brand new Convention Center opening up next door to this current one. That new location will be the home for Wekfest Seattle for the foreseeable future. So let’s hope the walls aren’t some weird color and we get a similar lighting structure above us. The previous venue we used in the past was great, particularly for the roll-in photos but, alas, they didn’t really want to work with us on the pricing, which has skyrocketed. It’d be nice to figure out a good location on the street to shoot these cars as they enter the new venue. No matter the location, the Pacific Northwest seems to always deliver with the car quality, so I always look forward to going back to see friends and meet new ones…

Enjoy the photos and thanks to everyone from that area for always bringing great custom car builds for us to see….

Khamren’s gold Civic hatchback with some serious late ’90s era aesthetics running a Fujimura Auto Rocket Dancer front lip, paired with a Sergeant front bumper, Chargespeed wide front fenders, Chargespeed sideskirts, Live Sports rear wing, and 16-inch Desmond Regamaster EVO wheels…

Inside the engine bay is a B18B swap that’s been converted to coil-over-plug, running a cold-air intake, tucked radiator, and 4-2-1 header…

No JDM EF9 front conversion on this Civic hatchback. Just some OsakaJDM mirrors, rear wing, 15-inch Advan RG wheels, and a set of headlight covers…

Junior Infante’s Z32 slammed on Work Emotion T7R 2P wheels wearing what looks to be a GReddy front bumper and Stillen Type III sides…

Jesus Aguilar’s silver EK Civic is one of my favorite current PNW builds. His car sits just right on those bronze CEs, slightly rubbing the front fenders as he turns in, sporting a J’s Racing GT wing, Vision mirrors, and OEM CTR rear lip, and carbon front lip…

Carlos Garcia’s EG6 Civic looked great in black with the rare EG6 SiR yellow interior, First Molding front lip, Volk RE30, Spoon Sports brakes, and BackYard Special wing…

Salvador Estrada’s GPW AP1 S2000 on staggered bronze Volk TEs running a RSG Gears front lip…

Nikolay Konstantinov’s RPS13 240SX is another favorite of mine from the Pacific Northwest. This entire build is a tribute to the legendary drifter Yoshinori Koguchi, of Koguchi Power fame, sporting the iconic livery that Koguchi adorned on his very own 180SX…

Under the Koguchi Power Max hood is a built SR20DET that makes 340whp while the Sonoma Green exterior features Ikeya Formula aero, Koguchi Power front/rear fenders, Koguchi Power Emperor rear wing, ABFlug headlights, and Nismo LMGT4 wheels in white…

Some more photos of the impressive S15 Silvia built by Jeff Woodruff from Get Nuts Lab. In case you missed Part 1, his black S15 wears Super Doof aero, Origin Lab fenders, Craftsquare mirrors, and Nismo 57CR Clubsport wheels…

Inside the custom green painted engine bay is a Toyota 2JZ-GTE swap using Hypertune billet valve covers, a modified GReddy intake manifold, and custom turbo manifold…

Just a great-looking purposeful drift car build that also wins awards at car shows…

Jeff’s S15 may be incredible but his new GR86 project might be even better. He literally purchased the car, put 4 miles on the odometer and then proceeded to cut the car up to install a TRA Kyoto Pandem widebody kit—and oh, I should mention that he pulled the Subaru Boxer engine right out of it too…

Instead of investing time into the naturally-aspirated flat-4 engine, he went back to what he knows best, the 2JZ-GTE…

Toyota 86 rocking a complete Liberty Walk widebody kit, wrapped in a traditional Toyota colorway, bagged on Airlift suspension, and custom designed Savini wheels. The Vortech Supercharged 86 was originally built in Southern California by LTMW but now resides in Washington…

2021 Wekfest Seattle “Car of the Festival” award-winner Eric Anderson brought-out his Hiro’s Hotrods-built AT Civic to defend their title. Nothing much has changed on the car since last year, but until someone dethrones him in the PNW, is there really any reason to?…

The competition was fierce, but all you have to do to remind yourself why this Civic won top honors was look inside the beautifully-executed engine bay. The B18C fits inside nice and tight with Kinsler individual throttle bodies. A Rywire Mil-Spec engine harness can be seen mounted to the firewall, the radiator has been hidden under the core support, and the oil breather box sits flush against the body of the Wonder Civic…

The engine is spotless even from the backside, with every area addressed and cleaned-up…

Austin Hironaka was involved in a pretty bad biking accident just days before the Wekfest event so he had to phone a friend to drive his K24-swapped Honda del Sol to the show…

The Rotrex supercharged K24 looks just as immaculate as it has in year’s past with a myriad of products from Speed Factory and the signature UNDR PRSSR oil breather sitting right behind the polished intake pipe…

Wekfest Seattle ’22 marked the official debut of Auston Corbett’s JDM EF8 CR-X SiR on 16-inch Volk TE37 wheels. The exterior retains its factory appearance but the good stuff is all happening inside the engine bay…

Austin Hironaka from Hiro’s Hotrods dedicated a good amount of time completely re-inventing the engine set-up and bay for Corbett’s CR-X. The B16A is turbocharged utilizing a traditional ram-horn style turbo manifold from SpeedFactory as well as some period-correct accessories from Golden Eagle and HKS…

The bay itself has been carefully shaved smooth and resprayed with all the wiring cleaned-up thanks to a Mil-spec engine harness from Rywire Motorsport Electronics….

I don’t see these style of turbo manifolds very often anymore so I wanted to get a closer photo of it since the equal length tubes make for good symmetry against the B-series valve cover…

Mike Vogel’s time-attack Civic build with a custom front splitter, PCI sides, PCI wing, Rays Gram Lights wheels, and Hiro’s Hotrods livery…

Though its intended purpose is for race duty, that doesn’t mean the engine bay should be neglected so it has also been shaved and resprayed. Mounted via black Hasport mounts is a B18-swap with intake and header upgrades…

Mike Leckie finally finished-up his Civic sedan build in time to properly display it at a Wekfest event. The 4-door is set-up to resemble a Zenki JDM Ferio Vi-RS with the addition of a First Molding front lip, Mugen Ferio wing and 16-inch Volk TE37…

Alex Thach’s Honda Civic SI running a J*Blood front bumper, J’s Racing Type-S hood, and 16-inch Regamaster EVOs in silver…

Thach’s EM1 is now K-swapped using a polished RBC intake manifold paired with a 72mm K-Tuned throttle body, a Richtuned intake, Drag Cartel valve cover, and tucked radiator set-up…

Here are more photos of Daniel Yeh’s super cool GD Fit with J’s Racing wide fenders and a massive front splitter…

There’s quite a bit going on under the hood with the factory L15 engine but what you need to know once you get passed the plethora of colors is that this Fit has a legit HKS turbo kit. The only thing that has changed is the custom turbo manifold since the HKS cast manifold tends to crack quite often…

With most of the cars staged and cleaned-up, I was finally able to get a more detailed look at the Garage Saurus-built Ferrari 550 Maranello…

If you thought the outside was crazy, wait until you see the 5.5-liter F133A V12 engine. The 48-valve engine features a Garage Saurus individual throttle body kit, header, and titanium side-exit exhaust…

It’s tucked under a shroud but the radiator is an ARC core with a ARC oil cooler added as well…

There’s something so cool about seeing twelve individual throttle bodies just pointing straight-up on a V12 motor…

You can’t really hear the engine in photos but best believe that this thing absolutely SCREAMS….

18×12 Advan Racing GT wheels paired with AP Racing GT 6-piston front brakes and Garage Saurus rear brakes…

The factory wrinkle red valve covers have been redone and have this bright orange anodized finish. Just an unbelievable build overall…

Jesus Aguilar’s Civic on display after he wiped away the rain and debris from outside…

Underr the hood is a LS-VTEC B-series set-up utilizing a B18A1 block and B18C1 head. The header is a Six Sigma Racing Street Sweeper header and the intake set-up is an AEBS manifold paired with an ARC Intake and Induction Box…

Raul Rodriguez took off his Mugen EK4 body kit and went with a much more simple aesthetic for this year’s Wekfest Seattle. Instead of the full kit, he now has JDM Zenki EK4 SiR bumpers with a carbon fiber Spoon Sports front lip. With the Mugen stuff off the car, the Mugen wheels went as well and in there place now are polished Volk Racing TE37 wheels…

I don’t know who owns this Onevia but I stopped immediately when I saw it. It looks fantastic just hammered to the ground on bronze TEs with the rear blister fenders hugging the rear tires…

Thomas Hatcher has one of the best Trailblazer SS builds around, sitting on Volk ZE40s with a massive front-mount intercooler clearly visible through the front bumper…

The Trailblazer SS has a huge front-mount intercooler because its actually turbocharged with a dump tube exiting right up top. The turbo housing, piping, manifold, and Holley 427 Copo intake manifold also look to be Cerakoted…

Once the show was underway, we were finally able to get a look inside Thomas Strom’s engine bay…

His recently tuned K24-swap with Hayward Performance individual throttle bodies make a hefty 305whp. The engine bay is smoothed-out and repainted, with the most attention detail touches paid to the valve cover. The dipstick hole has been reshaped and the casting marks on the valve cover have been shaved smooth to give the valve cover a true one-off appearance. Those who don’t know Hondas won’t think much of it but there is quite a bit of work dedicated to just the valve cover alone…

A close-up of the trumpets on the Hayward throttle bodies…

Rare Mugen headlight covers to pair with his Mugen front spoiler……

Volk CE28 wheels with titanium lug nuts, custom titanium center caps, and the classic Mugen Active Gate front brakes…

Thomas Strom ended the day winning the “Acura of the Festival” award, top honors in his category, and totally deserving. It’s a traditionally styled Mugen-themed Integra with a lot of detail paid to the overall condition of the entire car along with custom alternations to specific sections of the car that most wouldn’t catch with the naked eye…

Dave’s Aimgain VIP GT Lexus LS460 sitting on Airrunner suspension and 20-inch Trafficstar DTX wheels…

“BMW of the Festival” went to Danny and his turbocharged BMW E46 wagon which has been re-imagined to look like an M3 with full front end conversion and reshaped rear quarters to give it that M3 girth. Wheels look to be refinished, rare, VeilSide Andrew Racing Evolution V…

The signature tilt of the S54 M3 engine now with a custom turbo set-up using a Fuse Fabrication-made manifold. Look at the intake-side as well with the custom piping, intake manifold, and Vibrant Performance clamps…

A better look at the VeilSide Andrew Racing Evolution V…

I had to put my camera gear away after that so I could announce the awards and close-out the show. Once the show hours ended I was able to go outside to catch some of the cars leaving the building…

Rheena’s Nardo Grey-painted Porsche 997 with GT3 RS front, rear bumpers on BBS wheels with a custom-built exhaust…

Her Porsche actually closed-out the afternoon winning “Porsche of the Festival”…

Not the safest mode of transportation but hopefully they were going somewhere close…

Thomas Strom and his Mugen ’97 Integra Type R exiting the building…

Charles Wong and his R34 Skyline GT-R V-Spec…

Beefthigh’s Spoon Sports-styled Honda S2000 in orange with a J’s Racing GT wing and bronze TEs…

Junior’s 300ZX once again…

I wish I shot some photos of this Integra Type R when it was inside because it was actually displayed on four wheel crib displays so showgoers could look underneath the car. The underside of the car was on display to show-off the all-wheel drive set-up…

This Integra Type R is actually turbocharged as well with four beefy slicks since the DC2 was set-up for drag racing duty…

First time seeing an STI dry carbon rear wing for the BRZ. This one was mounted on a GR86 however….

BJ Ta’s Honda Civic coupe which he has owned since it was purchased brand new. Normally he has a set of Mugen M7 wheels on but he finally switched it up after all these years…

Jer peeking out of his Civic as he drove away, probably realizing I was trying to get a photo as he was leaving…

Upon closer inspection I also noticed that the GR86 has HKS side skirts, front spoiler, the little front carbon fiber canards, and the ducktail wing…

Mark Wang and the Garage Saurus Ferrari 550 leaving in style…

I walked in after most of the cars left to see some guys still tearing down including Vinnie Nguyen and his black NA1 NSX…

I didn’t stay much longer after that. We packed-up and headed-off to our traditional Vietnamese dinner at Rainier BBQ in Seattle…

The following day was the 4th of July holiday so we hung-out at the Airbnb house and cooked-up a feast! That’s all for this one. See you guys again at the next Wekfest Seattle event. Next-up, San Jose! It’s gonna be a good one. Thanks for looking!!…