2023 Recap part 4 in Taiwan and China…

Another post….. This time I went to Taiwan and China in 2023….

blog 2023-390

Landed in Taiwan in 2023 with the family, it was late and the only place that was open was this place selling fried stuff aka “pop corn chicken” the favorite of boba goers in SoCal….

blog 2023-391

I was staying in Xi Men Ding aka the Shibuya of Taipei, to an extent….

blog 2023-392

Fried Chicken With Basil, yeah.

blog 2023-393

Big ass “Fried Chicken Steak”

blog 2023-395

Caught this sweet lexus LM. Easy $100k+ car in Asia

blog 2023-396

Followed by a mid Itasha Civic. At first glance the cars rolling on the streets of taiwan are okayyyy at best in execution.

blog 2023-398

Armed with Jet Lag the next morning I paid about a $1 something and got a Scallion cake thing from this dude. Came with Egg and all.

blog 2023-399

Breakfast spot. Got Soy Milk

blog 2023-402

Toyota Hilux is good

blog 2023-403

Taiwan is heavily influenced by Japanese culture and Gatchapon Machines are all over…. this one had a cool RX7 figure. Familiar stores, like 7-11, Saizeriya, Sushiro, Donki, are all present.

blog 2023-404

I spotted this in a taxi cab. Porsche 996 GT3RS, something we never got in the USA officially…

blog 2023-407

I hitup a night market in Taibei….

blog 2023-408
blog 2023-410

sausage casing stuffed with sticky rice with a glizzy inside. Pretty good

blog 2023-411

I got the stinky tofu too…

blog 2023-412

Freshly made shao bing… these had meat inside

blog 2023-413
blog 2023-414
blog 2023-415

Sweet Suzuki Jimny… They are starting to roll in now, but I wish we had them earlier.

blog 2023-416

Took my wife surfing…. Got this as a rental car. It was okay…

blog 2023-418

The countryside of Taiwan was really beautiful.

blog 2023-420

Taking a picture of the plate because a lot of places require your plate number to pay for parking….

blog 2023-421

Another night market, except this one was in Keelung, if you are to visit Taiwan, go to this nightmarket and skip Shilin.

blog 2023-422

I love the traditional vibes of Taiwan… please don’t change.

blog 2023-424

Next day I was on the freeway and passed this Subaru GC8…. Taiwan did get the turbo Gc8 in LHD unlike the USA. They are usually 4 doors and have this ugly molding on the side. This particular car looks like it must have some work and said advertised components.

blog 2023-425

This face is closer to our USA spec 1998 Subaru 2.5rs…. They got “JDM” clear corners.

blog 2023-426
blog 2023-427
blog 2023-429

It looks like he is rocking some later model STi rims…

blog 2023-430
blog 2023-432

GC8 with Taibei 101 in the background

blog 2023-434
blog 2023-436

Blurry picture of an Toyota Alphard in downtown Taibei

blog 2023-437

Caught this GF wagon pulling into a parking spot near my hotel….

blog 2023-438

Just a middle aged man showing up for work…

blog 2023-439
blog 2023-440

Next Leg of the trip I went to visit Family in Beijing China…..

blog 2023-441

Green plates means EV and they are a lot of them…. I caught this car as an “uber”. they don’t really have uber in China anymore it’s a company called Didi Da Che.

blog 2023-443

“BRIDE” moped

blog 2023-446

fmy “uber” was driving this it felt like a barebones EV

blog 2023-447
blog 2023-449

At the mall near where I was staying there are a ton of Chinese made EVs on display…. not gonna lie they were all pretty nice.

blog 2023-450
blog 2023-451
blog 2023-452

Interior felt better than my Tesla….

blog 2023-453
blog 2023-455
blog 2023-457

Very nice 3 row EV van..

blog 2023-458

This brand is called Nio

blog 2023-460
blog 2023-461

Lidar bump

blog 2023-462

cool purple interior.

blog 2023-463
blog 2023-464
blog 2023-466
blog 2023-468
blog 2023-471
blog 2023-474
blog 2023-476
blog 2023-477

Huawei car

blog 2023-478
blog 2023-483

got some Tea from Heytea… at the time it was super popular…

blog 2023-482
blog 2023-481

There key selling point is using fresh as fruits in their drinks… like a drink full of peeled grapes….

blog 2023-484

across was the moutai flavored ice cream… aka alcohol flavored

blog 2023-485
blog 2023-486

grape drink with with lots of real grape slices…

blog 2023-488

They got a Tim Hortons in China…..

blog 2023-490

This restaurant went for the full jdm theme with rep train ticket machines….

blog 2023-491

This place had good mangosteen drinks…. mangosteen costs a fortune in the USA…

blog 2023-492
blog 2023-493

Hong Qi EV

blog 2023-494

BYD EV

blog 2023-496

a Maxus?

blog 2023-498

China has so many EV Brands it’s hard to keep track, mind you this was 2023… imagine now.

blog 2023-499
blog 2023-500

I went to a mall to kill time. The malls in China are massive, like absolutely massive, and the shear amount of them in tier 1 cities like Beijing is insane…..I went to a cafe that had random ass animals…. like this lama.

blog 2023-502

And this Goat.

blog 2023-504

They got the standard variety cats

blog 2023-505

And this Wesel?

blog 2023-507

Outside of San Li Tun aka the fashion hotspot of Beijing… was this EV car

blog 2023-508

The green plate is for EVs

blog 2023-513

They got the Toytota Velfire in China…. another easy $100k + car…

blog 2023-514
blog 2023-515

Went to Tian Jin.. a quick train ride from Beijing.

blog 2023-516

This place has their famous dumplings

blog 2023-517

Cool land cruiser

blog 2023-518

Man People in Tian Jin love their land cruisers

blog 2023-519

USDM JDM culture reach is far and wide… like this “stance” toyota van with a “no good racing” sticker

blog 2023-520
blog 2023-521

My dinners in China always seem to look like this

blog 2023-522

House Tea

blog 2023-523

got drank

blog 2023-524

The next day I went to get the “alcohol” flavored latte… it was pretty good

blog 2023-525

Family time over.

Myself on the flight to Japan…..

Update: What happened in 2020….

Hey guys long time no post. With today’s Instagram world it’s so hard to sit down and write a complete thought out post. My last post was in June of 2020 and man have things changed in 3 years. in the past 3 years my s2k went from empty shell, to running car, to apart again for revisions, things happen really fast now. I’ve really gone down the car rabbit hole, since we’re getting to a point were the heavy hitter 90s jdm cars are popping off, I had to pick up a few of course. My current stable involves a 90s WRX, E30 M3, of course the shitty eggshell like civic that has parts too nice for it’s own good, numerous Lexus here and there….. and I have access to my friends 90s jdm Type Rs of DC2 and EK9 config.

Alright less talk more pictures.

E30 M3 AC Schnitzer Aforementioned E30 M3 that is in my possession. I'll give a deeper dive into this IMG_6810 My GC8 Daily... I've been working on this thing....I'll go deeper when I got more time. Alright let's get back to business. I'm going to go through 2020 and the events that have occurred that year. We all know what happened in 2020.... IMG_1356 60611071938__4796396E-45B1-46FA-95AC-D81CDA0C1FA5 Grocery stores were looking like this..... IMG_0997 My S2k was looking like this.... Yes that is an ASM Ti 70mm Exhaust just sitting on top of my car... IMG_0709 With my 2003 Lexus LS430. It really all started with these JDM Celsior Window Visors I installed. Sourced by the guys at Formula S in La Habra. IMG_0731 Next came some TOM'S boxes to chill next to the Mugen Boxes... IMG_0762 Then a TOM'S rear Bumper.... IMG_0790 Then a TOM'S front bumper..... IMG_1415 And then one thing led to another and a TOM'S Supercharger for the LS430.... I did as much research as I could and I was 75% sure I can make it work, since these are designed for the JDM market UCF30 aka Celsior... IMG_1486 With the stock manifold out... I found this damn coolant leak on this hard line... Of course I replaced it. This is where I should of just replaced the starter since I was in there.... But I did it years later... IMG_1729 (1) IMG_1731 (1) LS430 TOM's Supercharger I put some videos of this Lexus LS430 TOM'S Supercharger build on my youtube channel you can check out here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpreUjquIVaPHS1tPQS_Njg if you wanna hear the noise! After the install the car felt amazing, I'm realistic and I know the car isn't going to be fast as an Mercedes AMG E55 or a Ferrari, but it really gave it the little bit extra power and gravitas with oem + reliability. The fit and finish is just like oem, each bracket has a place for a harness, everything is extremely well though-out. The system comes with some bosch pumps that run the air to water intercooler. The ECU is just a reflashed OEM ECU with some TOM'S goodness on it. IMG_0761 Said ECU..... Not sure if I have pictures but I do have youtube content... on the channel. I took this time to install the full TOM'S exhaust system with their TOM'S high flow cat and mufflers. The sound is very quiet, very OEM +. Like running Mugen parts on the S2k. DSC00761 (1) Later I installed JDM headlights and wired in the JDM fogs on the bumper IMG_0939 On the S2k Front, I bought some brand new OEM red carpet from Honda for the 2006+ model years since that's all they had... IMG_0985 I picked up this block that was built in Japan with Toda F20c high Comp pistons, fully balanced and blue printed.... I had it shipped in from Japan. IMG_0996 Off went the OEM brand new F22c short block to get sold at Formula S. DSC00770 (1) Around this time, I picked up this beat ass Mugen Gen 1 S2000 Intake. In 2020 Mugen Intakes for the s2k were still being made. I actually sold a brand new in box one to pay for this one. I still have it in this condition waiting to be restored to a more functional state. DSC00773 (1) She has some potential... DSC00775 DSC00777 DSC00779 (1) DSC00782 (1) DSC00784 I love how the intake inlet goes all the way down to the bumper. It's kind of like what RG-O does with their mugen intake kit like this It is perfect for my ITB setup.... more on that in a later post DSC00797 (1) she got good bones. IMG_3798 Of course I had to rock my Toda Racing Apron for proper engine work. DSC01918 (1) DSC01921 (1) DSC01923 (1) Later that year I picked up a TOM'S Strut brace and TOM'S Carbon Fiber Cover that is made for the TOM'S Supercharger. Again back to the S2k..... DSC02144 I wanted to do a proper Ap2 tail light conversion on my Ap1. I picked up an AP2 rear panel from Formula-s years ago.... Off comes the old panel. 200 spot welds later. When you cut the Ap1 Panel for Ap2 tails, the sealing is just never correct. You can also buy a plate that is made by JSP to weld in. DSC02150 On for a test fit. I didn't do a final mount of this till like 2 years later... Yes I was using the S2k to store my crap. IMG_2945 (1) I picked up a full works Toda Racing Cylinder Head from Toda Racing. They did everything they can possibly do on it. Porting, valve guides, equalization, etc. IMG_2946 IMG_2947 (1) Beautiful ports IMG_2948 IMG_2949 (1) IMG_2951 (1) IMG_2953 DSC02336 Of course me being me... I had to WPC all the valves. DSC02338 These ports are a work of art. DSC02352 How I kept it all organized. DSC02395 Around this time I picked up a set of Ganadors for the Is300..... just some hot boy stuff. DSC02392 IMG_6677 Towards the end of the year I copped some TOM'S wheels to complete my look. IMG_7051 Tom's Side Skirts and Tom's VP-1 Wheels in 19" on the LS430...... Sadly the wheels are not in this condition anymore. IMG_7192 Of course I couldn't help picking up other TOM'S goodies. IMG_7540 And a super rare trunk mat for the Is300 IMG_1389 In 2020.... I sold this spoon spark plug cover that ichishima san signed... for really under recent market price.... 86490465_10107775854751575_2922841024361398272_o 84332162_10107775854706665_4426224696316395520_o 86255236_10107775854631815_464567598588100608_o 86695011_10107775854611855_8298984384858423296_o Closing out this post with a Mugen tool kit I put a bid on that year.... but ultimately lost. It sure looks cool. Sorry I was all over the place with this post, but this what happened in 2020! Next post is 2021.