Bottom Of The Food Chain

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Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motorsport

Over the long weekend here in Melbourne I made the trip down to Phillip Island to cover the Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motorsport, the biggest event of it’s kind in the southern hemisphere. With over 500 cars racing over three days it was a barrage of sights, sounds, and smells that would put any car lover into a blissful state of euphoria. Here are some of my highlights from my time on the island.

I’d quicky like to say a huge thank you to Jervis Ward for inviting me down, letting me be involved in the pits all weekend, and giving me the chance to help out with such a historic car. His ex JPS Team, Bathurst winning E30 M3 is currently for sale, you can find more information here.

I left Melbourne at 5am and made the nearly two hour trip down to the Phillip Island circuit on Friday morning. Being my first time to the track it was an amazing experience to get there early and be able to wander around before it all kicked off. 

The amount of different cars was staggering, and everywhere you looked there were cars from different countries, times, and styles. From Mille Miglia originals to Aussie V8 powered Formula 5000 race cars.The variety also extended to the owners, with people traveling from nearly every single state as well as from overseas to attend this event. I even chatted to a couple of guys from my local town of Bunbury in Western Australia, who had made the trip over with a Mini and an Alfa Romeo.The event is organised each year by the Victorian Historic Racing Register, along side amazing major sponsors like Shannons, Penrite and Just Cars – and of course the Phillip Island Circuit. Each year it lives up to it’s reputation and gives crowds exactly what they’re there for. Pure automotive pleasure.For a BMW fanatic like myself, this year was the best possible year to attend, with the festival celebrating 100 years of one of the most iconic brands in the world. With a huge turn out of cars both in competition as well as on display, I was in Bavarian heaven. Something that I’ll never forget will be getting up close to the BMW M1 Procar. To be able to reach out and touch one of my favourite cars was a dream come true, and to see it scream around a race track was definitely the highlight of my weekend. Another reason for BMW lovers to be excited was this historic moment, the most ex John Player Special team race cars in the same place and the same time. The white Mobil car left the JPS team after a change in ownership forced a sponsorship move.

Over the weekend I also had my GoPro running to capture some raw footage of the atmosphere of the event, so make sure you watch in hi quality and turn up your speakers and enjoy!

Check out the gallery below for more images, and if you would like to purchase any of the photos from the weekend please get in via facebook or mail.

  Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motorsport was originally published on Bottom Of The Food Chain

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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oBVnE3h4b4)

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Big Zee: Zac's VIP Lexus

I met up with Zac on a Wednesday afternoon, and after he told me that we were quickly stopping at the bottle shop to buy a bottle of champagne to put in his car for the shoot, I knew how dedicated this guy was to his car. We decided to go with Sake to keep with the Japanese style, and after I saw the VIP bottle and glass holder in his back seat I knew we’d made the right choice. 

After Zac had picked me up in his work van we headed back to his place to wait for the 40° Perth heat to die down. Once he opened his garage I was met with a very clean looking Lexus LS400, which had only been freshly sprayed a few weeks before. Sprayed in a Midnight Purple which was originally put down on Honda Odyssey’s, the car looks subtle and classy in the shade. Although once you see it from the right angle you can catch the added gold flake done amazingly well by Dylan from Committed Refinish. Zac bought the car in 2014 and since then it’s gone through quite a few changes. Naturally the first thing was the drop, with K-Sport coilovers all round. The next thing on the list was a custom boot install, all done by Zac at home. Custom jarrah flooring and a classy black carpeted sub box which add a unique touch. The interior didn’t miss out on some unique touches either, with Zac adding VIP goods throughout the whole car. From the drinks table in the back seat… To the JP Neck pillows up front. Other Junction Produce bits include pillows on the rear seats, a cushion on the rear parcel shelf, and a Fusa Knot hanging from the rear view mirror. Now on it’s fourth set of wheels, Zac had gone through various wheel and ride height setups until he landed on a set of deep dish Amistad wheels, with 18×9.5 up front and a wider 18×10.5 in the rears. This setup is topped off by the serious camber angles more noticeably so in the back – which combined with the dual tipped exhaust protruding from the rear – make this an interesting car to drive behind in traffic.Around the car are some other simple yet effective modifications worth noting, like the aerial delete, shaved headlight washers, added boot lip, and a set of head light eyelids This is without a doubt one of the cleanest VIP cars rolling around Perth right now, and it’s deservedly so after the amount of effort that Zac has put into this build. I’m always amazed at how diverse the car scene is here in W.A despite it’s relatively small size. It’s a pleasure coming back every once in a while to find new and exciting builds.

1994 Lexus LS400

Engine –

4L 1UZ-FE V8

Exhaust-

2.5″ cat back exhaust with quad tips

Wheels –

Amistad Deep Dish Wheels

Fronts – 18×9.5 +27 – 215/45zr18

Rears – 18×10.5 +19 – 235/40zr18

Suspension –

K-Sport Adjustable Suspension

Standard rear camber arms maxed out at -4.5 degrees

Standard front camber arms maxed out at -2.5 degrees

Body –

Respray in Honda Odyssey Mightnight Purple

Shaved Aerial

Shaved headlight washers

Boot Lip

Head light eyelids

LED Puddle lights on side skirts

Interior –

Standard Cream Leather

VIP rear table

Junction Produce cushions & neck rests

Junction Produce Fusa knot

Custom boot floor and sub install

  Zac would like to thank “Dylan Gibbs at Committed Refinish for the panel and paint, Axyl Wheeler at Vision Vinyls for the windscreen banner and stickers, and Daniel Mika for hooking me up with the car! ”

  Zac Slater – @big_zee_86

Words and photos by Sam Forsyth-Gray Instagram – @sfgphotography [email protected] samfgphotography.com

Big Zee: Zac’s VIP Lexus was originally published on Bottom Of The Food Chain

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Ramen Alley - Sapporo

One of the best things about Japan is the food, and it is widely celebrated. There are often entire areas famous for a particular type of dish and Sapporo has one such place known as “Ramen Alley”. It is literally a tiny alley way lined with many many ramen shops. Keep being awesome Japan!

Ramen Alley Lights

A stranger walking through the alley

Ramen Chef

  Ramen Alley – Sapporo was originally published on Bottom Of The Food Chain

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Easy on the Eye: Lew's Bagged Mazda MPS

When I first met Lewis around five years ago, he was driving a Toyota Soarer that was probably one of the quickest of it’s kind in the country, a car that he had poured countless hours and dollars into building. Now after moving on from high powered and heavily engine based modifications, he’s chosen to build a car that he’s starting to really modify visually. Keeping with his one of a kind tradition, he’s now the owner of the only bagged Mazda MPS in the country.

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  2004 Mazda MPS

Engine –

Mazda MZR 2.3 turbo

Exhaust-

2.5″ stainless straight pipe

GFB BOV

Wheels –

Avant Garde M220 18x8J+40

Pirelli P Zero R18 215/45

Suspension –

BC struts using Firestone UAS Bags

Autopolit Airlift V2 controller/manifold

Custom made aluminium bag seats and strut tops

Interior –

Factory Bose stereo with a second active sub

Junction Produce pillows and arm rests throughout

  Lewis would like to thank Corey at Australind Automatics

  Words and photos by Sam Forsyth-Gray Instagram – @sfgphotography [email protected] samfgphotography.com

Easy on the Eye: Lew’s Bagged Mazda MPS was originally published on Bottom Of The Food Chain

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Be in competition with yourself, not others.

I’m a man with many pursuits but I’m a designer by trade, more specifically, a web designer. I was around during the dot com boom and have been building custom sites since the 90’s. At some point WordPress took over and web budgets came down as ‘off the shelf’ products just made building web sites so much easier.

When we launched Zen in 2011 I used WordPress to build our site as we had no time before launch to build something custom, we had to hit the ground running so a WordPress site was put into place, we bought a theme that did all the things we needed it to do and voila, we were running. Thing is I hated the site and have hated it ever since! At some stage tuned. also installed the same theme as us, this gave me the motivation I needed to tweak our theme to make it “our own”, but even then I still wasn’t happy with it.

I’ve always been meaning to re-design the site to have much bigger impact images and a much cleaner design and tighter layout, 4 years in I’ve finally made the move to re-design the site by starting with a new theme. I had my developer James Linney install the theme for us and I didn’t sleep much for a week playing with it until it all started to look and feel right, then Sydney based Photographer Sam Law (a BOTFC and Zen blog contributor) messaged me to say that we’re using the same theme as BOTC…

Oh shit!

I’m excellent at putting myself in other people’s shoes. When you’ve experienced as much stuff as I have (I’m 40 and I’ve been at it for some time now!) you tend to get good at taking a step back and seeing things from a bigger perspective. I knew, instantly, that the BOTFC guys would be upset that Zen, a brand bigger than theirs, could be stealing their web site design. I note that BOTFC is a grass roots thing, much like all the stuff I run, it’s run on passion and mostly “just for the fun of it”. That obviously makes BOTFC precious to whoever owns and runs it. I knew I was going to cop heat, but I sincerely never saw that BOTFC were using the same WordPress theme, which mind you is publicly available for purchase by anyone out there.

I made the call to go ahead and continue with the theme knowing that the BOTFC guys would be upset, and also that at any time anyone else can purchase the same theme and have their site look and work just like ours. I have all intentions to lean on my design experience though and with James’ help I’m positive we can really heavily tweak this theme to make it our own over the next few months.

One can choose to fight in public, or one can take it to private messaging where you have a much better chance at reaching resolutions. I ended up having a chat with BOTFC founder Nicholas Cole over Facebook Messenger, and once we got through the site design issues I think we both realised that there was no point in fighting, especially since we’re both just doing the same thing, and that’s creating content, for the fun of it, in an aim to inspire others.

Be in competition with yourself, and not others.

Nicholas went a step further and asked if I’d like to contribute a piece for BOTFC. That’s a champ move which I couldn’t refuse! A sincere thanks to Nicholas and the team here at BOTFC for taking the higher road. Much respect! I’m looking forward to sharing more BOTFC content on my network, who knows, maybe a BOTFC x ZEN collab of some sort will eventuate at some point too!

  Be in competition with yourself, not others. was originally published on Bottom Of The Food Chain

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Burnout Outlaws Sydney newest skid event.

Burnout Outlaws – When Phil Kerjean owner of the car TUFFST decides to run a burnout event you know some of the big name cars are bound to show up! Only weeks past Summernats cars from all over Australia attended. ALCOTRAZ (Holden 1 tonner ) from South Australia was one my favourite cars and one of the Summernats winners from Queensland, IBLOWN even did a skid. Plenty of fires and wall taps happened and that was just the start, there was a show and shine with plenty to look at from a immaculate candy apple red Harley to KNG400 Holden which was debuted at summernats.

candy apple red Harley v rod

all the way from QLD was axe383

the owner of this ride was going well till the blower belt broke.

BLOWNVC

BLOWNVC sufferd with a broken strut wich put an end to his skid.

MELTM carolla

all the way from South Australia was ALCOTRAZ

all the way from South Australia was ALCOTRAZ

damage affter the wall was tapped these tyres where wide

Cutsik just before he caught on fire

Cutsik as per usual caught on fire

end result of fire in previous pic.

Iblown

Jake Myres new paintjob

Steve Loaders new blown aspirated RELOAD

pistons through side of engine put this car out mid skid

Burnout Outlaws Sydney newest skid event. was originally published on Bottom Of The Food Chain

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Supercar d'Elegance [January]

The new year brought out a tonne of cars to Le Montage in Lilyfield for Supdercar d’Elegances Supercar Sunday.  There were a number of rare sightings, with an 82 de Tomaso Pantera, a 63 Mk2 Jaguar, a Diablo, a Spada, and then some newer cars like a GT4 Porsche, McLaren 570s and a Ferrari 488.

Rumor has it that the event will no longer be hosted at Le Montage and is in search of a new venue.  If you’re keen to see more of these cars, get down to Doltone House, Pyrmont on Australia Day, and/or to Cars and Coffee at Woolwich Pier on the 31st from 9am.

Supercar d’Elegance [January] was originally published on Bottom Of The Food Chain

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JDM Volkswagen MK2 Golf GTI in Melbourne

JDM Volkswagen MK2 Golf GTI in Melbourne was originally published on Bottom Of The Food Chain

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Salted Caramel Fudge

    Alright, so this isn’t the healthiest thing in the world – but none of my recipes are! Besides, it’s Christmas. These make great gifts if you can bear to share them, and it’s difficult to stop at just one piece. It took me a few goes to get the consistency right, but using this method I got a great batch each time.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 a block of chopped unsalted butter

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 can sweetened condensed milk

150g chopped white chocolate

3-4 tablespoons of golden syrup

2 tablespoons of glucose syrup

First, line a brownie tin with baking paper. Then chop your white chocolate finely. I liked using Cadbury Dream white chocolate because it’s delicately soft and melts easily. For convenience, use white chocolate chips – although I found these didn’t melt as easily.        Place all the ingredients EXCEPT the white chocolate into a large pot. I feel a large pot is better to provide more surface area of heat. Stir over low heat until everything is melted and dissolved.Get those muscles working because you must stir constantly during the 10 minutes! No need to be precise, just keep the caramel moving so that it doesn’t burn at the bottom of the pan. During this time it will gradually thicken. The texture is right when you can briefly (like 2 seconds) scrape the caramel from the sides of the pot like in this picture. This is where you’ll need to work fast. Immediately remove the pot from the heat then throw in the white chocolate. Beat it in with all your might! Your aim is to melt all the white chocolate. This can be difficult as the fudge will cool down quickly and start to set. This is why chopping the white chocolate is important! Quickly scrape the contents into your lined brownie tin. The quicker you work, the easier it will be to spread the fudge into the tin before it becomes too stiff. After a few minutes, grind some sea salt over the surface. Pop into the fridge overnight to set the fudge. I left it uncovered to help dry it out. Slice into squares. You should get about 60, depending on how big you slice.

  Salted Caramel Fudge was originally published on Bottom Of The Food Chain

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Rocket Bunny RX7 by 2SUS Customs

Words by Klaire Cole

Anyone that knows me well enough, knows that I’m a rotary fiend, I dream of phat belly rumbling bridgeports, 13BTs, quad rotors and everything in between. My dreams are braps and buzzas.

While all of my friends in my teenage years were sticking posters of blown commodores on their walls, I was busy drooling over the rotary side of things.

When we got the chance from the guys at 2Sus to shoot this beauty, it absolutely made my day.

If you’ve been out to a car related event in the last few months, chances are you’ve seen this gorgeous piece of workmanship yourself. When you see this car, the first word that comes to mind is PHAT, yes with a “PH”

The Rocket Bunny kit – First of its kind on the FD in Australia, takes this 90’s legend’s curves into overdrive.

The teal paintwork that has been lovingly applied by 2Sus Custom Resprays is amazing, there aren’t words that can explain the colour to it’s full potential. You need to see this in person to truly appreciate it. The depth is beautiful, it hugs every line and curve on the car to bring out a certain sexiness that you haven’t seen before on a car like this. The 19 inch RSV Sportline wheels in rose gold are also a first in Australia. These wheels complement the paint and panel choices, just like the right pair of stilettos sets off the perfect outfit on a beautiful woman; Because honestly, This car CAN be compared – She’s got the looks, the curves and the mystery to rival even a Victoria’s Secret Supermodel. To match with the wheels, BC Coilovers have been fitted to keep the ride height perfect.

Under the bonnet sits a 13BT – T04Z Bridgeport with a Microtech to suit. Running a 3 inch exhaust with MaZsport resonator and Varex muffler to keep the beast at its loudest (or quietest) when needed.

Being a daily driven car to every meet, show and even daily to work;  Accessories and comfort are always an important feature. The FD features a suede retrim with Bride seats and Takata harness, EBoost2 and Cusco roll cage to take her from the streets to the track with no problem.

Kids love it, Dad’s love it hell, even your Mum will probably love this car! Seeing it in the flesh is always a treat, So if you get a chance to have a close up at the next show or event – make sure you do! Big thanks goes out to Corey, Basa and the rest of the 2SUS Custom Resprays crew for letting us shoot this gorgeous ride!

For any custom work – Make sure you give these guys a call, You won’t be disappointed! Who knows what they might reveal next! http://2suscustomresprays.com

http://facebook.com/2suscustomresprays

https://instagram.com/2suscustomresprays

Photography By BOTFC.COM & Kato Images.

Rocket Bunny RX7 by 2SUS Customs was originally published on Bottom Of The Food Chain

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Lucky's Speed Shop Xmas party

Well being that time of the year already, we received an invite to Lucky’s Speed Shop annual Christmas party. The main attraction being the chopping of a 1951 Ford Spinner roof with a total of 4 inches out of the A-pillar and then the back was by eye.

They had organized heaps of entertainment including live music by Deadwood 76, a drive in car and bike show, food and beverages, pin striping by Ryan Ford plus the chance to check out their shop and some of their projects.

Below is a selection of shots from the day, there will be more images on our website and facebook pages and be sure to also check out “Lucky’s Speed Shop” online (links below).

  Offical Luckys Speed Shop

Firme photography facebook

Firme photography website

    Lucky’s Speed Shop Xmas party was originally published on Bottom Of The Food Chain

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Life's Better on Air: Mike's E30 Touring

I first came across Mike and his ever changing touring a few years ago. It was around that time that I got my first E30 and began franticly searching for groups and pages to follow for inspiration. That was when I found E30 Squad, a page that Mike had just started, which now has thousands of followers from around the world. After his latest and biggest update on the car I knew I wanted to see it up close and capture it for everyone to see.

Chapters:  1. Saving a Classic    2. Not Your Average Wagon    3. Breath of Fresh Air    4. Gallery Mike has been part of the Melbourne car scene for years, and before he caught the BMW bug he was big on modifying Hondas, owning a daily/track civic which was eventually defected. After the defect he decided to move to Euro’s and bought a 318is E30 which he had planned to keep stock, and unsurprisingly it didn’t stay stock for long. Then after two years he found a recently imported 325i E30 touring for sale in New South Wales, and before long he flew to Sydney and drove the touring back to Melbourne.The car was in good condition with all the factory extras, and most importantly it was in Mike’s favoured Alpine white. When time came to register it in Victoria, a small but costly problem was found hiding in the doors.The workshop Mike had purchased the car from had added side intrusion bars to meet Australian standards, the only problem was that they had chosen to Sikaflex them in rather than weld them. Mike was then left with the task of getting them properly fitted and welded before the car could be licensed.Once the car was registered and drivable, the modifications began. With the coilovers from the 318is going in for a nice drop, and a set of 16″ Schmidt TH Lines, which were purchased before the car was on the road.For the few years that the car stayed subtly modified, Mike had been planning some big changes and decided to get stuck into making some serious modifications.

Chapter Two

Not Your Average Wagon

After owning and modifying Hondas for 8 years Mike had become a fan of wire tucked bays and set out to achieve this on the touring. Doing the job himself was both time consuming and challenging work, but the extra time he took turned out to be worth it with the car starting first time after he’d finished.After getting the bay looking right, more power was next on the list of upgrades. Most E30 owners will tell you an engine swap or turbo is the best way to go for a power upgrade, however Mike didn’t want to go with the cheap or easy option, and decided to make his build unique.ITB’s were chosen as the way to go, a “hangover” from Mike’s previous ITB B20VTEC powered civic race car. The distinct sound isn’t something you get tired of hearing. To get the most out of the setup, a Varex variable exhaust was added. At full volume the car sounds aggressive and throaty, however turn it down and you can really hear the ITB’s scream. The car spent well over a year in the workshop getting head work, ITBs, and ECU work completed.To control everything under the hood, a Microtech LT16c was chosen with readouts coming from the vent mounted Microtech DASH display unit.Another unique feature is the Microtech/Bosch individual coil pack conversion, mounted on a custom built plate, powered by a Microtech 6Xigbt ignition module.To get easy access to display all his hard work, Mike fabricated a DIY hood pin conversion to make bonnet removal super simple for car shows/engine work.  The Ram Air ITB covers are essential for this street driven build, allowing it to be driven without fear of unwanted contaminants in the engine, whilst being removable for showing off those stacks.

Chapter Three

A Breath of Fresh Air 

In the six months since the car has been back from the workshop, Mike has completed a full Air Lift performance series suspension install in place of the coilovers, to sit the car perfectly on the new Work Emitz wheels. Since Mike has owned the touring, the car has had four different sets of wheels, beginning with the TH Line’s, then for a short time on 16″ Alpina’s, and for years it ran Compomotive TH1780’s. Just as Mike was getting the urge for a new look, a rare set of 4×100 17″ Work Emitz surfaced on Yahoo Japan, and it wasn’t long before the Compomotive’s were sold and the new Work’s were on their way to Australia.When it comes to air bag setups I’m a sucker for stealthy looking installs, and the custom work sitting in the back definitely ticks all the boxes for me. The whole housing unit is custom built with parts from Bunnings, down to the cooling fans that are wired to run in sync with the compressors. Underneath it sits a five gallon Air Ride tank fed by twin VIAIR 444c compressors, running through a VU4 Valve block, all mounted on an Air Ride tank plate.The brains behind it all is an AccuAir E-Level system, with a remote mounted in the centre console next to the Varex exhaust remote.Having the car for mainly street and show use, the air bag system is perfect for Mike’s needs. It allows him to drive around at a height that is sump/police friendly, yet also let’s him lay the car out at meets and shows.The interior is just as visually pleasing, with the Recaro LS front seats, Alpina wheel, and Condor Speed Shop gear knob being standout aditions. Another interesting customisation that may be noticed by die hard E30 fans is the relocated washer and horn buttons added to the centre console, which look perfectly OEM, down to the individual decals.Currently the car is running a little rough and in need of a retune. Mike plans to replace the Microtech ECU for a newer Haltech system and add a cam sensor for a more accurate tune and a smoother running engine.

Getting to see this build up close was an awesome experience, and the amount of hard work Mike has put in is amazing, with most of the modifications around the car featuring something hand built or personally designed. This touring has been changing regularly since moving to Melbourne, and I get the feeling it will be a constantly evolving build that will always push boundaries and set the bar high for the Australian E30 scene.

1988 BMW E30 325i Touring

Engine –

M20B25

284 Schrick cam

Nuke performance cam gear

RHD Engineering lightweight flywheel

SACHS HD Clutch

UUC Evo3 short shifter

UUC DSSR selecter rod

Nuke performance fuel rail

AN6 fuel lines

Hybrid Racing Fuel Pressure Regulator

40mm RHD Engineering individual throttle bodies

EFI performance 40mm DCOE black velocity stacks

Microtech/Bosch individual coil pack conversion

DIY wiretuck

Bimmerheads distributor delete plate

MSD ignition leads

Samco silicon radiator hoses

M42 Radiator swap

Electric fan conversion

Fusebox relocated to under glove box

Battery relocated to bootspace

ABS deleted

Power steering deleted

Microtech LT16c ECU

Microtech 6Xigbt ignition module

DIY hood quick release pins

DIY coil-pack mounting plate

Exhaust-

Raceland headers

Custom 2.5” exhaust

Xforce Varex adjustable muffler

Wheels –

Work Emitz 4×100, 17×8.5 et23, 17×8 et22

Kumho KU31 215/40/17

12mm ECS spacers all round

DBA T2 brake disks front and rear

EBC greenstuff pads all round

Suspension –

Airlift performance series airbag suspension

Kong sports shocks at the rear

Twin VIAAIR 444c compressors

AIRIDE 5Gal tank, AIRIDE tank top,ACCUAIR E-Level management system, Accuser VU4 Valve block

Treehouse Racing lower control arm bushings

Bodywork –

Mtech 2 bodykit

Formuling wind splitters

Interior –

Recaro LS front seats

Microtech DASH display unit

Condor speedshop gear knob

NRG short steering wheel hub + NRG quick release + NRG hub Lock

Alpina Steering wheel

Alpine IDA-X305S head unit

Alpine S speakers all round

    Michael Hack

Instagram – @mike_hack

  Words and photos by Sam Forsyth-Gray

Instagram – @sfgphotography [email protected]

Chapter Four

Gallery

Life’s Better on Air: Mike’s E30 Touring was originally published on Bottom Of The Food Chain

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Vanilla Cupcakes

This is a good staple recipe that caters to most people. Yes, there are some weirdos who don’t like chocolate! And if there are those who don’t like these, then more for you!

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First, beat together 1/2 a block unsalted butter with 1 cup caster sugar.

Add 2 eggs and 1 tbsp vanilla. Alternate adding 1 and 3/4 cups self-raising flour and 1 cup milk.

Spoon into cupcake cases 2/3 full and bake at 160 C for about 25 minutes (when a skewer comes out clean).

Allow cakes to cool then trim off any muffin-tops before icing.

For the icing – beat together 1/2 block unsalted butter, 1/2 block cream cheese and 500g icing sugar. Add 1 tbsp vanilla and milk if the icing is too stiff.

Vanilla Cupcakes was originally published on Bottom Of The Food Chain

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Supercar d'Elegance [November]

It was most probably the heavy rains and storms that pounded Sydney over the last few days that left Supercar Sunday with a small showing this month, but that didn’t stop the quality of cars from turning up.

The first 2015 C7 Corvette in Sydney (1 of 4 in Australia) turned up, after a recent left to right hand drive conversion, and caught the attention of most of the punters, even when the McLaren 12C-MP4 turned up.

  Supercar d’Elegance [November] was originally published on Bottom Of The Food Chain

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Tassie Touch: E28 Brought Back From the Dead

I had been seeing Eden’s E28 around on social media a lot these past few months, and coincidently I was heading to Launceston in Tasmania for a holiday. I checked in with him and was excited to find out he was located in Launceston. So I organised to meet up and shoot his amazing BMW.

Chapters:  1. Saving a Classic    2. Obsession Begins    3. Things Get Going    4. Gallery Back in 2011 Eden Pearce started his mechanic’s apprenticeship at BMW in Launceston, Tasmania. Being exposed to both classic and contemporary euros all day started to pique his interest and soon enough he went searching for one of his own.Although that soon turned into three of his own after finding a local seller who had two non running and one running E28 for sale near by, and decided to go with the 5 series as his first BMW. The interest in the model came from a friend who had owned a few over the years, as well as his growing involvement in the modified car scene, sparked from sites like the StanceWorks forum.The car Eden started off with 3 years ago was a vastly different car than it is today. With a crash damaged grille, front quarter panel, and passenger door it looked destined for scrap. The only running model he bought was luckily the only manual one which inspired him to restore it to its former glory. He had originally planned to fix it up for a rough run about daily, however plans soon changed. Fast forward 3 years and this once battered E28 is a totally different car. With an upgraded power plant, lowered on a clean set of RS, aftermarket front lip, 80s Momo steering wheel and a shifter setup pieced together from a couple of BMW’s more modern sports cars.

Chapter Two

Obsession Begins

During his first year of owning the car Eden slowly got everything looking and driving the way it should. After driving it for a while he became more and more interested in the car and the possibilities seemed endless. Constantly following forums and build threads for inspiration, he realised the potential for the car, and soon began to get to work.The stock M30B28 was on its last legs and not really much fun to drive, so Eden decided to put his trade to good use and went with a rebuild. Using the intake and head from a scrapped E23 735i, he converted the sluggish 2.8 litre engine into BMW’s famed 3.5L big 6.To get the best out the newly found power, Eden went with some aftermarket headers and a custom-built exhaust system. To finish it off and give it a unique look, two turned up tips were added in subtle black.While the engine was out Eden left no part of the bay overlooked and everything was resprayed and cleaned up. I was shocked at how well the bay looked and was surprised when I found out the everything was original. The fuse box and washer bottle looked almost brand new, with Eden borrowing and swapping all the best bits from his other two donor cars.After his engine upgrade he got to work on the visual side of the build and purchased a set of Ultra Low BC coilovers, with the front strut housing needing to be modified to fit the coils. Happy with the drop, but unhappy with the look of stock wheels, Eden went searching for a set of his favourite wheels, the classic BBS RS.After finding a set on Ebay for a good price he made them his. The 16×9.5 ET-20 rears and 16×7 ET11 fronts arrived in Tassie and were test fitted. The rears struggled to fit under the guards and not wanting to add over fenders Eden followed his stance taste and went with an aggressive -7° camber to tuck them in.  

Chapter Three

Things Get Going

To achieve the level of rear camber that was needed, Eden had no other option but to completely rebuild one of his spare rear subframes to create something fully adjustable. Control arm mounting points were changed and adjustment brackets were cut and welded on to allow complete control over camber. Eden now had the rear sorted and rubber was chosen, 205/45 tyres were stretched onto the rear, and 215/55 up front. As per usual the tyres where fitted and aligned by Eden himself. This setup lasted about six months until he became sick of how the front sat fitment wise. During this six month period, Eden sourced a genuine early model Pfeba front lip which he restored and fitted to help add a bit more aggression to the build. To fix his lack of front fitment, a set of 4″ aluminium lips were shipped over from Germany with matching stainless hardware. Once the new lips arrived Eden got started on his first three-piece wheel rebuild. Everything was polished to a mirror finish and soon enough he had a full set of matching 16×9.5 ET-20 wheels front and back. To fit the newly built front wheels in, the camber tops had to be further machined to allow for more camber, and 195/45 rubber was chosen.Experiencing this car first hand was an awesome experience, it may not be the cleanest E28 around but the pride he has in this car makes it such a thrill to be around. Driving something that you’ve built yourself is such a fantastic feeling, and Eden has much more planned for this once forgotten BMW in the future.All this work is a great testament to Eden who decided to save a tired old BMW and turn it into a whole new beast. Looking back to where the car started just shows the work that has gone into the car, 99% of that done in his shed at home.

Image supplied by Eden Pearce

1982 BMW E28 528i

Engine –

Fully rebuilt M30B28 converted to an M30B35 using a 735i head and intake

Aftermarket Headers

Wheels –

BBS RS rebuilt with stainless steel hardware

Front: 16×9.5 ET-20 running 195/45 tyres 

Rear: 16×9.5 ET-20 running 205/45 tyres

Suspension –

Ultra Low BC Coilovers with modified front strut housings and front camber plates

Complete custom rebuild of rear subframe to create a fully adjustable rear suspension setup. 

Bodywork –

Opal Grun Metallic Paint

Pfeba Front Lip

Rolled guards

Interior –

BMW Z3 Short Shifter

E46 M Sport Gear knob

1989 Momo Indy Wheel

Innovate Water Temp & Wideband Gauges

    Eden Pearce

Instagram – @eden_pearce

  Words and photos by Sam Forsyth-Gray Instagram – @sfgphotography [email protected]

  Chapter Four

Gallery

  Tassie Touch: E28 Brought Back From the Dead was originally published on Bottom Of The Food Chain

[enbas-blog]

Rolling Stock Presents Motors & Meatballs II

Sunday morning in the streets of suburbia is not often the time and place you’d expect to hear that beloved high pitched scream of a Ferrari Engine, or that beastly rumble of a muscle car, but Rolling Stock made sure that Glen Alpine was up and at em to grab their milk and paper from the General Store with their second instalment of Motors and Meatballs at Enzo’s Cucina.  As you can see there’s a nice mix of cars, and definitely some nice wheels their rolling on.

Rolling Stock Presents Motors & Meatballs II was originally published on Bottom Of The Food Chain