Fair Ladys Fire

Looking forward to spending as much time as possible enjoying her car from the inside, Wendy turned her attention to the car's interior appointments, making sure driver comfort and convenience were the priority. A pair of red Recaro SRDs replaces the stock seats, and coupled with Takata harnesses, is sure to keep the driver firmly connected to car. Matching the Recaros nicely is a Nardi Deep Corn 330mm steering wheel, complete with a host of Worksbell goodies, including the U-turn Airbag Harness, which allows the steering wheel to flip up for easier movement into and out of the captain's chair. Planning to eventually boost the power production of her Z, Wendy knew in advance the benefits of monitoring engine vitals and installed a full Defi-Link System, consisting of white-faced Defi 60mm: boost, oil pressure and temperature gauges, and 52mm water temperature and fuel pressure gauges synched to the Defi Link Control Unit II. A gold, four-point Autopower rollcage stiffens the chassis, while providing additional safety and sets off a black and gold theme that would continue throughout other phases of the car's build. Finally, a little personal steeze was thrown into the mix by way of a JDM "flower" shift knob. Laugh at it if you like, or call it big and ugly. Wendy says its not going anywhere!

Inching ever closer toward improving the performance of her Z, but still hesitant to impact its daily driveability, Wendy decided giving a little attention to the footwork of the car could do it no harm and replaced the Tanabe lowering springs she added months back with a full Tein Flex setup to each corner coupled with the Tein EDFC. Selected because of its design that accommodated the stock brake reservoir, a Carbing front strut tower bar was added to further taper chassis flex and give the engine bay a little extra style.

Almost every stateside tuner striving to build a car with JDM flair encounters long months spent waiting for ultra-rare parts to arrive from overseas. While the amount of time spent waiting for these parts continues to shorten, it is nonetheless an inescapable burden in most cases, and Wendy's was no different. "I knew which wheels I wanted the moment I saw them," she explains of her Work VSXXs, staggered at 19x8.5 front and 19x9.5 rear wrapped in Falken FK-451 rubber. "I knew I'd have to wait for them. I didn't let it bother me, I knew it would be worth it in the end."

Taking notice of the progress her car had been making over the preceding few months of its build, Endless USA offered to help put a stop to the car, so to speak, and donated a set of custom 335mm brakes with gold calipers and stainless steel lines. Foreseeing the downtime her car would suffer while waiting for its wheels to arrive, Wendy and Elson got started on the first-of-its-kind install at once.

Now, with her car looking, sitting, and feeling like a true performer, it was time for Wendy to "cowgirl" up, throw hesitation to the wind and tackle the engine bay; to complete the process of turning her Z into the monster it was destined to be. In the nearly two-year time she had been modifying the car, Wendy's collection of tools had grown proportionately with her knowledge of how to put them to proper use; any reservations she once had about reliably boosting the performance of her Z's engine had disappeared long ago, and the decision was made to order up a Turbonetics single turbo kit. Together, Wendy and Elson spent days wrenching on each component of the kit in Wendy's garage. Slight modifications to the engine bay and bumper were made for proper fitment of the FMIC and piping. The turbo, wastegate and downpipe were bolted onto the manifold and inline with a newly acquired Agency Power titanium cat-back exhaust, respectively. Stock injectors were swapped out for 380 cc/min Denso's, fed by a Walbro 255lph fuel pump, and managed by an A'pexi AFC NEO. At the end of it all, after a slightly more aggressive tune, Wendy's newly turbo'd VQ was singing to the tune of about 425 wheel hp and 410 lb-ft of torque.

With Wendy's Z now representing an ideal "total package" tuner car, admirers must remember to take careful consideration of how it became this way. This car wasn't built by simply writing checks and arranging for seasoned professionals to perform installs within accommodating facilities. There was never any "big money" behind this car, no big corporate sponsorship deals, shop incentives, or team influence; rather, hours spent researching parts, learning "on the fly" how to correctly perform each aspect of the build, and troubleshooting problems as they arose. Long hours spent at work each day earned the money and staying home each night made sure she could be devoted to the cause. Some might call this "sacrifice," though we feel tuners like Wendy would rather call it a "passion."

Name.Wendy T. Cheng

Age.Twenty One

Hometown.Cerritos, So Cal

Occupation.Marketing DirectorAccountant

Hobbies. Going On Trips, Spending Time W/ Friends & Family, Shopping, Fixing Up My Z

Build Time. One Year Ten Months