Author: Matt Haugness

On December 10th, we had the opportunity to attend the NWMotiv.com Toy Drive and Winter Meet at Speedware Motorsports in Redmond, WA. It was an early morning for our group (we left Bellingham at 6am) but we arrived just as the event was starting. Various clubs and teams showed up throughout the day and while we were there, Executive Auto Society and LowerClassMen braved the cold with their high quality rides.

Update: Check out our interview with the owner of this car here. Love them or hate them, small fuel efficient cars continue to change the automotive landscape. Scion decided to target this market directly by bringing another model to their growing lineup. Enter the 2012 Scion iQ. I happened to be fortunate enough to privately view one of the first iQ's sold in Washington State. Although the iQ didn't officially launch until today, Wilson Motors provided me the opportunity to take some photos before their first one was delivered to its owner. While some of these images may appear squished,…

When I was considering building an RX-7, I knew that the future powerplant would be a piston engine. While I can appreciate a nicely built rotary, they tend to have reliability issues when they’re abused.  The intent with this track car was to build something that could perform well in autocross, drag racing, and drifting events reliably. All three of these forms of competition require that the drivetrain be able to take abuse and be fixed for a reasonable cost when it does break. In my opinion, to be competitive the car needs to be making at least 350-400 horsepower.…

Once a year, the Seattle Auto Show fills CenturyLink Field Event Center with the latest concepts and production models of cars from just about every manufacturer. Everything from exotics to hybrids are on display for the general public. This year was no exception with cars like the Lamborghini Aventador and the Audi R8 Spyder taking center stage.

Update: Check out our event coverage. On December 10th, 2011, NWMotiv.com will be holding a Toy Drive and Winter Car Meet at Speedware Motorsports in Redmond, WA. With very few events happening during the winter in the Pacific Northwest, this is sure to be a big one! All donations made will go to the Toys for Tots foundation. From November 26th, 2011 until the day of the meet, you can drop off a new, unwrapped toy at Speedware Motorsports. If you can't make the event but still want to donate, you can do so on NWMotiv.com's event page. Location: Speedware…

After cleaning the engine bay thoroughly it was time to move on to the interior. The passenger side engine harness had already been removed so the next step was to determine how to remove the driver side harness and discard any wires that were used for the rotary. Since this side goes to the fuse box, there were quite a few wires that were preventing the harness from being removed through the firewall. I started by removing the dash which was held in with fewer bolts than normal. I’ve taken quite a few dashboards out over the years so this…

This is a guest post from Brian Turner. Brian is interested in all types of cars and he enjoys writing about the inherent toxic hazards in them. He is a staff contributor for the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance Blog on mesothelioma.com where he writes about the cancer risks that toxins like asbestos pose. While regulations in some countries concerning the use of potentially dangerous and lethal chemicals, materials and substances to manufacturer cars is strictly regulated and controlled, in some places of the world there are few standards or laws protecting a consumer against these risks. With growing concern and increasing…

Over the next few weeks, I will be working with Matt (v8rx7guy) to prep the RX-7 for the engine/transmission swap (date of swap TBD). If you missed the project introduction post, be sure to check it out here.