With his mind set, he went out in search of a candidate for his supreme buildup, and anyone who's ever gone fishing for a decent 25-plus-year-old car knows what it can entail. If rust or simple neglect hasn't already destroyed it, two decades of abuse and fender benders have often rendered them worthless piles of crap that are hardly worth the rusted steel they are made of. Asprer, apparently, got lucky and found himself a perfect platform. The car was basically stock, with the only aftermarket mods consisting of JDM bumpers, a rear wing, a carbon-fiber hood, TRD dampers and a fresh coat of paint. But things wouldn't stay that way for long.
"Being out of the scene for over eight years and being very meticulous, I knew it would be a challenge to build the car to my liking," he says, "my goal was simple-K.I.S.S (keep it simple, stupid)... I told myself to 'build a car for tomorrow, not today.' I wanted a streetcar-no more, no less."
With a vision, he went to work. The first thing to receive attention was the exterior. The proud owner of a 993S, he says he finds the Porsche's OEM widebody irresistible, and set out to get that same mean look with his Hachiroku. To that end, he slapped on a set of Crystal Body Yokohama fender flares. The flares in themselves weren't nearly enough to get he car to where he wanted it aesthetically, and so the beautification continued.
Off came the JDM bumpers that came with the car and on went a Run-Free front, sides and back. In homage to his anal obsession with perfection, he even replaced every single piece of molding in the car, including all the rubber and weather stripping. With the bodywork done and the Hachi prepped for paint, he moved onto the engine bay. Again, his goal was to keep things clean and simple.
The KISS plan applied to the engine build as well. Asprer says although he could have easily gone with an engine swap or some sort of forced-induction, he chose not to, instead sticking with the stock 4AGE mill. We're glad he did, because that engine and individual throttle bodies are nothing short of breathtaking. That's not to say the engine didn't receive any love, though.
While the car was waiting for paint, the engine was yanked from its home between the car's fenders and was carted off to Mike Lizardi/Competition in Eagle Rock, Calif., for a refresh and a bump in horsepower. Upon it's arrival at the engine shop, the mill was torn down and built back up, with style. The stock inline-4 now sports the stock bore and stroke of 81mm and 77mm, respectively, and features shot-peened rods and chamfered crank journals. Other mods include tighter-than-stock bearing clearances for better high RPM reliability, and forged 11:1 Arias pistons and rings. The whole assembly is held together thanks, in part, to ARP rod bolts and the oiling system retrofitted from an OEM 4AGZE engine.
With the engine apart, Asprer had a chance to massage the Hachi's cylinder head, and that's just what he did, again turning to Mike Lizardi/Competition for a port/polish and a 3-angle valve job. The top-end mods continued with the installation of a set of HKS intake and exhaust cams, with 8mm of lift and 264 duration and 9mm of lift and 256 duration, respectively. Keeping the valves pressed firmly against the camshafts is a set of TODA single valvesprings.