Chances are, if you're reading Import Tuner, the thought of turning your car into The Ultimate Street Machine has crossed your mind once or twice. You may have even tried to live vicariously through video games that let you build your own supercar, winning races and collecting virtual ducats to fill your bucket. But, if you truly want the respect of your peers, you have to actually be driving your dream car on the streets, not piloting it from your mom's leather couch. Mario Crisantos of Anaheim, Calif., took this to heart and then brought it up to the next level of the game. When Super Mario said that he would build his own car, he actually built his own car--in his garage.
The actual steps that Mario used to build the car, from start to finish, are unknown. He may have started by taking the car to Body Pros for 3 coats of PPG Milano Red (that's a Honda OEM color, you know) before he got to work on his super kart. Maybe he ripped the whole interior apart and wired the custom stereo and alarm system and then just stared at the naked chassis for weeks at a time. Maybe he started by taking a toothbrush and some scouring powder and scrubbing at all the metal parts under the hood until they got nice and shiny. We don't know, and frankly, we don't care. What I want to know, and what you probably want to know is--what are the codes we need to enter to get this stuff done to our karts? Fear not, thumb warriors, we have listed the codes here.
SUPER KART INTERIOR CODE: up, down, left, right, A, B, A, B. Enter this code at startup and watch your factory steering wheel change to a Momo Top Power tiller. The seats will change from the drab gray velour to the ultra-prestigious gray leather similar to those found in the Acura Integra. Carbon-fiber trim will adorn the interior at various strategic locations, while numerous AutoMeter gauges take residence in the custom leather-wrapped pod mounts. The analog instrument cluster converts to Clear Mode, while an Ignited start button will magically replace the OEM cruise control button (relocated elsewhere). Plug-and-play ports for the Sony Playstation 2 controllers will appear in the center armrest console. Just ahead of that, Alpine's 7829 CD Receiver and ERE-3180 Sound Processor will magically appear to control the multimedia frenzy caused by the dual Alpine television sets grafted into the dashboard. All cockpit sounds will be provided courtesy of Alpine's Titanium Cup Touring satellite speakers.
The Super Interior Code also gets you a custom fiberglass enclosure in the trunk that houses the 1-farad Lightning Caps capacitors, two 15-in. Rockford Fosgate boomers, and several Alpine V12 amplifiers. The custom red enclosure will highlight the CNC-machined and polished bracket that mounts the chromed-out Sony DVD player and the Vortex 10-in. LCD in the trunk space.
SUPER KART EXTERIOR CODE: left, left, right, right, up, down, X, Y, Z. Entering this code adds three glorious coats of PPG Milano Red paint (expertly applied by the folks at Body Pros) to showcase your exterior goods. A carbon-fiber hood replaces the factory red bonnet and carbon-fiber headlight accents adorn the clear projector headlamps. The OEM front fascia transforms into a prototype Carisma Top Gun bumper, while Black Widow skirts and a rear bumper also find their way onto your kart. An APR wing adorns the rear trunk lid just above the shaved clear taillights, a definite step up from the factory units that they replace. Factory badging also disappears under the Milano Red coat.
SUPER KART SUSPENSION CODE: up, down, left, right, CTRL, ALT, DEL. Replace your car's factory suspension with the Super Mario suspension setup. Enter this code for Eibach springs mated to Tokico shocks wrapped in Weapon R collars. Follow it up with beefy Suspension Techniques swaybars to ease your way around banana peels on the track. Your footprint will increase with Velox's VX6 wheels surrounded by Toyo Proxes ZRs of the 215/35/18 variety. And, ensuring maximum contact patch at all four corners, Ingalls adjustable camber kits.
For a super-low setup, enter the Super Kart Suspension Code twice, like Super Mario did, and your car drops to the floor. Suspension Techniques drop forks and rear pro-arms lower your chassis to true go-kart height, while Rayne Motorsports rear trailing arm links, APR Flex Control arms, and Neuspeed tiebars keep your suspension geometry intact under any driving condition, even when you're getting bombarded with Koopa shells.
SUPER KART 260-HP CODE: right foot in, right foot out, right foot in, shake it all about. This is the mother of all codes for the Super Mario Kart Conversion. It starts by adding a modified GReddy turbo kit with a turbine from the TD04H family, intercooled by a custom air-to-air cooler prominently displayed in the new front bumper. Fuel injection duties are handled by a modified ECU, a Stillen fuel pressure regulator, and a Stillen fuel pump. The electrical boogie-woogie upgrades to a Crane Hi6 amplifier, PS94 coil, Nology wires, and NGK spark plugs. Engine revolutions are limited to 7000rpm thanks to the new ignition unit. The valvetrain remains relatively stock, while inhalation duties get a dose of the JG treatment, a throttle body and ported intake manifold, to be exact. Exhaust duties run from the GReddy exhaust manifold to the high-flow cat, through HKS Dragger exhaust piping, and out through the muffler, capped off with SSR-Spec Banzai Sports tips. Additional boost relief duties are handled by a GReddy blow-off valve. In addition to the super speed parts, the 260hp Code will also give you a GReddy boost controller (for adjusting power according to which Marioland track you're competing in) and a GReddy turbo timer.
Now that you have all the codes, you can just enter them in and end up with a Super Mario Kart just like Mr. Cristanos. However, for those of you that don't play video games (or are stuck with a hand-me-down version of Atari's 2600 game console), don't fret. You too can still have a Super Mario Kart. Just drive your car into your garage, roll up your sleeves, grab your tools, chug a can of Red Bull, and get your thumbs working. While you're at it, you can give Super Mario himself two thumbs up for taking the controller in his own hands and building his own Super Kart--from the ground up.