Hello all. Its been awhile since my last update. Been very busy and getting harder for me to go online.
I was going around the net recently and stumble across this video. Now it is one of my favorite video for Hiace.
Made me really wish that i was in this video and at the place where this video was taken.
I really want to make this happen in Malaysia or die trying. Many thanks to the owner of this video for letting us experience this wonderful event.
Hiace gathering Japan
Monday, October 11, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Reliving 90's Motorsport In Malaysia
Curiosity was the real reason i took interest in cars, this was back in the early 90's. It all happened when one faithful morning on my way to school. The car my dad drove was side swiped with me and my dad inside. We walked away without without a scratch.
The very next day when i got home there was a car parked in the drive way. It was a Toyota Starlet EP70, little did i know what was to become of me after that. It was a sluggish little thing, not the kind of car a teenager would be interested in. The ideal car at the time would be something like Knight Industries Two Thousand or better know as "Kinghtrider's Car"...or KITT.
When my dad got his car back from the workshop, the Toyota was left under the hot sun and rain to rust. I would occasionally take it for a cruise around the neighborhood until one afternoon i realize the exhaust has broken off eaten away by rust. So i thought if the car is moving forward the exhaust gas would get left behind in the wind, so there was no need to have an exhaust pipe running all the way to the back of the car.
Being ahead of my time so i thought, i broke off the now hanging rear end of the pipe and was left with only a few meters of exhaust pipe left from the middle of the car to the exhaust manifold. To my surprise the car was a little bit faster with the shorter exhaust. I've discovered something new! so i thought. But that wasn't the end of the story.
The ultimate performance mod back then was engine swap. No respectful weekend warrior race boy would dare brag about their ride if they have not done it or at least have plans to do it. Engine swap would transform any John Doe to Tom Jones in an instant. That was the story back than.
The question now is, why did i brought up old forgotten story now that Toyota Hiace is the only relevant topic here. Customizing has always worked for me. Being an average Joe, buying the ideal car that would suite my every need is out of the question. Customizing has always been the way and the backbone of motorsport in Malaysia and many other part of the world ever since cars where invented.
The invasion of bolt on performance parts in the late 90's has made horse power easily available. People can gain Hp without thinking. They just need to spend more and bolt on everything. More and more local tuners welcome this concept with open arm hoping to strike gold.
Over the years this has transformed many of local tuners to performance part traders and they have little or no actual knowledge of their own. Since they didn't discover the knowledge and relied mainly on 2nd hand knowledge discovered by others, they will for ever be a few steps behind the people who actually discovered the knowledge or the creator of this knowledge and will for ever be followers.
Without leading knowledge they are unable to lead the market by not give the consumers leading product. They eventually or perhaps for ever will be market followers until they change their mindset.
The video i found on Youtube celebrates the true spirit of innovation, creativity. Next time you see a local custom built drag car down the quarter strip remember that its not just the car and the driver, but the pride of the entire team, the true spirit of racing.
The very next day when i got home there was a car parked in the drive way. It was a Toyota Starlet EP70, little did i know what was to become of me after that. It was a sluggish little thing, not the kind of car a teenager would be interested in. The ideal car at the time would be something like Knight Industries Two Thousand or better know as "Kinghtrider's Car"...or KITT.
When my dad got his car back from the workshop, the Toyota was left under the hot sun and rain to rust. I would occasionally take it for a cruise around the neighborhood until one afternoon i realize the exhaust has broken off eaten away by rust. So i thought if the car is moving forward the exhaust gas would get left behind in the wind, so there was no need to have an exhaust pipe running all the way to the back of the car.
Being ahead of my time so i thought, i broke off the now hanging rear end of the pipe and was left with only a few meters of exhaust pipe left from the middle of the car to the exhaust manifold. To my surprise the car was a little bit faster with the shorter exhaust. I've discovered something new! so i thought. But that wasn't the end of the story.
The ultimate performance mod back then was engine swap. No respectful weekend warrior race boy would dare brag about their ride if they have not done it or at least have plans to do it. Engine swap would transform any John Doe to Tom Jones in an instant. That was the story back than.
The question now is, why did i brought up old forgotten story now that Toyota Hiace is the only relevant topic here. Customizing has always worked for me. Being an average Joe, buying the ideal car that would suite my every need is out of the question. Customizing has always been the way and the backbone of motorsport in Malaysia and many other part of the world ever since cars where invented.
The invasion of bolt on performance parts in the late 90's has made horse power easily available. People can gain Hp without thinking. They just need to spend more and bolt on everything. More and more local tuners welcome this concept with open arm hoping to strike gold.
Over the years this has transformed many of local tuners to performance part traders and they have little or no actual knowledge of their own. Since they didn't discover the knowledge and relied mainly on 2nd hand knowledge discovered by others, they will for ever be a few steps behind the people who actually discovered the knowledge or the creator of this knowledge and will for ever be followers.
Without leading knowledge they are unable to lead the market by not give the consumers leading product. They eventually or perhaps for ever will be market followers until they change their mindset.
The video i found on Youtube celebrates the true spirit of innovation, creativity. Next time you see a local custom built drag car down the quarter strip remember that its not just the car and the driver, but the pride of the entire team, the true spirit of racing.
4th generation Toyota Hiace (1989–2005)
3rd generation Toyota Hiace (1982-1989)
Sunday, September 26, 2010
CRS Hiace Drift Vehicle
This is a follow up to the video added by The Mechanic on CRS Drifting. Here are some photos of that particular car at CRS parking lot in Osaka.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Low roof or Baluga......
Here i am again writing on the basics of Toyota Hiace. Locally Toyota Hiace is limited to 2 models.
The first is the low roof panel van. That's the van your friendly Pos Malaysia, Tenaga Nasional and just about every other service van in this country. It is undoubtedly the work house, the backbone of this nations economy as far as durability and reliability is concern. The low roof does not come with glass rear window. There are low roof Hiace with rear glass window running around, but they are either custom fitted with rear glass window or fully imported with glass window like the one we have. But being a simple van, it can be custom built to anything.
The second is the high roof. This model is made for passengers. It comes with rear air-condition, rear seats and glass rear windows. It can be ordered without rear seats. To me this is the ugly duckling of the two. I call this the "Beluga" after the unmistakable Beluga whale. It will be a challenge to pimp this model.
The first is the low roof panel van. That's the van your friendly Pos Malaysia, Tenaga Nasional and just about every other service van in this country. It is undoubtedly the work house, the backbone of this nations economy as far as durability and reliability is concern. The low roof does not come with glass rear window. There are low roof Hiace with rear glass window running around, but they are either custom fitted with rear glass window or fully imported with glass window like the one we have. But being a simple van, it can be custom built to anything.
The second is the high roof. This model is made for passengers. It comes with rear air-condition, rear seats and glass rear windows. It can be ordered without rear seats. To me this is the ugly duckling of the two. I call this the "Beluga" after the unmistakable Beluga whale. It will be a challenge to pimp this model.
The Beluga Whale picture taken by Alison Reese.The rest of the Hiace family such as Commuter, Super GL and Regius Ace is not available locally through local Toyota dealers, but the good news is it can be imported.
Low roof panel van (Front), High roof passenger van (Middle) the two models available locally. Picture courtesy of rightcar.govt.nz
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
The Mechenic
"The Mechanic" is the philosophical voice of Optimoprojets. I will discuss more on the technical side of fabrication and the course of Optimoprojects.
Optimoprojects represent a new flavor for an old already existing market. As with all things i came to realize a large void for improvement in the fabrication industry here. The details of this void remain to be explored.
Quick and easy has been has been taken over by efficient and practical. The "quick and easy" method in the manufacturing industry in Malaysia has left most of our local product in the dark due to lack of quality. This explains why some of our home grown tuners leave their fiberglass body parts unattended to at night when they close down for the day.
The lack of know how and the fundamental of the whole fiberglass laying process.
But there is still hope as some fabricators still do a good job, this was highlighted by our Japanese tuners during their recent visit.
Our aim is to establish Optimoprojects not only as Hiace tuners but synonymous with quality fabrication.
Optimoprojects represent a new flavor for an old already existing market. As with all things i came to realize a large void for improvement in the fabrication industry here. The details of this void remain to be explored.
Quick and easy has been has been taken over by efficient and practical. The "quick and easy" method in the manufacturing industry in Malaysia has left most of our local product in the dark due to lack of quality. This explains why some of our home grown tuners leave their fiberglass body parts unattended to at night when they close down for the day.
The lack of know how and the fundamental of the whole fiberglass laying process.
But there is still hope as some fabricators still do a good job, this was highlighted by our Japanese tuners during their recent visit.
Our aim is to establish Optimoprojects not only as Hiace tuners but synonymous with quality fabrication.
I present to you Toyota Hiace CRS Style....
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Outdoor friendly Hi-ace development
These are a few photos of the 3rd row seat that can be taken out and turned into a picnic table with 2 stool.
Demo was done before seat installation works to the vehicle.
Please refer to older post for view of the seats which has been installed.
Many thanks to Bridge Japan for their hard work.
Demo was done before seat installation works to the vehicle.
Please refer to older post for view of the seats which has been installed.
Many thanks to Bridge Japan for their hard work.
Modification works by Bridge Japan
Below is a few photos of the works that was done in Osaka by Bridge Japan.
These was taken during final phase of development before installation to demo car.
Much of the modifications is a first time ever develop as most of the Hi-ace in Japan has gone to different direction in interior modification.
Designs were done taking into consideration:
- Long distance traveling
- family of 6 with luggage
- outdoor friendly
- interior flexibility
 |
| Custom made sliding seat rail for 2 row seating |
 | ||||
| Dismantling of rear pillar cover to install custom made cover with Carrozzeria speaker system |
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Optimo Projects Logo and Sticker installation
This day we went for installation of our logo and sticker. Thank you to Top Racing@batu caves for the printout and installation.
A big heartfelt thank you to Nan for the Logo design.
A big heartfelt thank you to Nan for the Logo design.
Monday, August 9, 2010
M.I.O +81 Antenna Replacement
 |
| Original Hi-ace antenna unit before replacement |
 |
| M.I.O +81 Original antenna cover |
 |
Really looks good with original body color |
Many thanks to Bridge Japan for the M.I.O +81 Hi-Ace Antenna cover.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)