It was the year of the swap at the fifth annual Japanese Classic Car Show (JCCS), or at least it seemed that way to us. In previous years we've come to the show, we're pretty sure there wasn't as much power plant poaching as we saw this year, across not just lines and eras but also makes.
America's first large-scale show to celebrate the emergence of old-school Japanese cars returned to Hidden Valley Park in Long Irvine, Calif., on October 3 this year, and again was open to most pre-1985 JDM makes and models, including but not limited to all manner of Datsun/Nissan, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi and Toyota. The show usually has something for everyone, offering a mix of factory-original, modernized modifieds and all-out race cars, with both US- and Japanese-market cues.
Among the popular mills being shoehorned into non-native chassis, the Nissan SR20DET showed up in some fairly potent old-school carriages, like Mark Ritchie's 1972 510 and James Standridge's 1967 Fairlady Roadster. Ritchie's combo puts out a reported 390 horses and 350 lb-ft of torque, while Standridge's SR came out of an S15 and boasts a six-speed gearbox, Ford eight-inch rear end with LSD, and a 3.89:1 final drive.
Toyota's Blacktop 4A-GE was also fodder for swappin', as found in Victor Rivilla's 1982 Starlet and Ramon De La Cruz's 1972 Corolla. The fifth and final gen. of the engine was coveted because it rocks an 11:1 compression ratio, a MAP sensor to replace the MAF of previous generations, improved flow on both sides of the head and a different intake cam. Both owners also upgraded with TRD grip, Rivilla running the Toyota suspension and flared N2 body kit, and De La Cruz rolling with a TRD LSD, seats and wheels.
While drifters are kicking their KA engines to the curb, 510 owners seem to be picking up the 240SX bullets for their own ends. Both Aole Espy and John-Paul Dagsaan had dimes with KA24DETs under the hood, Espy building his up with CP pistons, AMS sportsman rods, a custom crank, T3/T4 Garrett turbo, Cometic MLS head gasket, ported and polished head, and Brian Crower stage-2 cams. Dagsaan's KA is part of an ensemble of rare bits that includes a 1973 JDM Bluebird grill, 1968 rear bumper, and custom rollcage.
We found a couple of builds in the category of innovative use of unconventional motors, like Jojo Rumbaoa's 2T-G 1969 Corolla Sprinter and Ricardo Ramirez's L20B 1970 510. The 2T-G was Toyota's 1.6L champ before the newer 4A-GE bumped it from its throne, while the 2.0L L20B was one of Datsun's workhorses in a number of platforms between model years 1975 and 1985. Rumbaoa in particular sharpened up his swap candidate by stroking it and raising compression to 13.5:1, installing TRD cams and big valves, and bulletproofing the driveline with a 10,000rpm clutch, TRD LSD and Mark Williams high-torque axles.
Then there were the swaps that no one could ignore. Honda's F20C wound up in a couple of platforms that weren't S2000s, like Ray Santos' 1971 Celica, while Scott and Aggie Mount's 1971 240Z somehow got mixed up with a Chevy small block motor.
OEMs like Toyota and Mazda produced some historic motorsports machines and forgotten classics for exhibition. Again this year a couple of old Mazda IMSA racers made appearances, while Toyota dusted off a Formula Atlantic open-wheel racer from back when the series was backed by the automaker and the cars ran 4A-GE power. From the sublime to the bizarre, we also spotted one of Mazda's first real cars, the R360, and a devoted patron rolled out his personal Sports 800, Toyota's first production sports car.
So what were our favorites? There were so many to choose from – like Mikey Castillo's restored 1971 Skyline, and the plethora of Fairlady Roadsters.
In the end, though, we came out a bit partial to the AE86. Whether it was Christopher Lloyd Anderson's insanely clean '86 GTS, with its bevy of bolt-ons, or Abdul-Rashid Bholat's lizard-festooned '85 hatchback, Bholat the original owner of the car, we liked how the scene has gravitated to the platform and given many of them a second chance to deliver some four-wheeled happiness.
www.japaneseclassiccarshow.com
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