A professional pastry chef by trade, 24-year-old Antony Kim is a member of the illustrious American Culinary Federation and among the nation's best chefs. He is also a partner with RJ DeVera, one of today's icons of the youth import performance arena, and Rakesh Patel in a company called RE Works. This is the story behind one of the most recognized performance show vehicles this side of the Atlantic Ocean, the 2001 VeilSide Toyota Project MR2 Spyder.
In January of 2001 Antony and RJ flew to Japan to attend the Tokyo Auto Salon. There they met up with long time friend Mr. Yokomaku Hiranao, the President of VeilSide Japan, one of the leading names in the aftermarket world. On display for the first time was a brand new Toyota MR2 Spyder, done up properly in true VeilSide fashion."Mr. Hiranao suggested we build a VeilSide Project MR2," says Antony. "He would supply us with everything needed to make it a VeilSide car." Antony purchased a 2001 Toyota MR2 Spyder two months later. "Soon after, we had boxes and boxes of stuff being dropped off at our door, straight from Japan." The next seven months would be spent getting the car ready to debut at SEMA in Las Vegas, NV.
The car and the VeilSide aerodynamics kit were taken to Body Pros in Garden Grove, CA. Derek and his auto body experts there got to work. Almost every body panel of the Project MR2 was fitted with a VeilSide part. "Everything got modified, except for the roof," says Antony. After the kit was installed, the entire car was painted a special yellow pearl. This particular pearl holds within it a subtle orange iridescence that is especially pronounced at sunset.
Kit and paint in place, Antony took the Project MR2 to Audio Options in Torrance, CA. He sat down with Steve Kamada and Duane Uyeda, the partners of the shop, to let them in on the project. Antony, who is into audio systems as much as cars themselves, was used to the big sound from his previous car that Steve and Duane designed for him, and was expecting the same for the Spyder. "We thought he [Antony] had jumped off the deep end," says Steve."The MR2 is not the most spacious vehicle on the street, and to squeeze a show quality sound system in it would require some effort on our part." But once the guys took a look they knew what to do, and they quickly came up with a plan.
Front Stage
The front stage speakers consist of Image Dynamics' CD2MH horn-loaded compression drivers and Chameleon CX62 6.5" midbass drivers. "This package really matches well, and with a little bit of work you can obtain pronounced imaging and a high soundstage," comments Steve. Additionally, the compression drivers have higher efficiency and wider bandwidth by nature compared to conventional speakers, being almost twice as loud with the same amount of power fueling both.
The CD2MH utilizes a reduced size horn, or lens, but has the same sound dispersion characteristics of its predecessor. Duane's job was to fit these horns under the dash of the Project MR2. He placed the speakers in temporary locations, then piped audio signal to them from the Audio Options test bench. This was done so that Duane could see the optimal place for the horns to be located before the final installation. Once placement had been determined, and both he and Steve agreed upon the sound, the horns were ready to be installed. Duane used 1-inch-wide, 1/8-inch-thick strip steel material to fashion brackets that attach the horns to solid structure under the dash. Not only are the horns themselves bracketed, but a mount also supports the weight of the compression driver at the back end. "If you don't support the compression driver," says Duane," the mount you make for the front of the horn acts like a hinge when the car's in motion." After both CD2MH's were mounted, acoustically transparent black grille cloth was used to cover the mouth of the horns.
Reviving the Doors
While Duane was finishing up under the dash, Steve already had the door panels removed to study the best mounting for the 6.5" midbass drivers. Knowing the Image Dynamics product well, he knew that their midbass drivers are capable of high levels of energy output. "I was confident that we could get good sound by having them mounted in the factory door locations because they are relatively close to the listener." However, the Chameleon component set was a great deal larger and deeper than the factory-supplied speaker in the door, so baffles had to be made in order to mount them. Starting with the MDF, a plate was made to accommodate the area where the factory speaker once called home. Next, the plate was relieved on a router in all the right places to make a solid mount for the midbass driver. Once placed on the door, the fabricated plate not only offered the driver a home, but also reinforced the sheet metal door panel so as to inhibit any sound-robbing vibrations. A layer of sound-deadening material was then applied over the entire unit, creating somewhat of an enclosure of the doors. Kickpanels were not incorporated into the system due to limited leg space and the time constraint of preparing the car for SEMA.
Video Vanity
Originally, Antony was only interested in quality sound reproduction. Late in the game, the agenda was changed to add video to the system. "It's almost strange to see a top notch show vehicle not having some sort of video system in it," says Steve. He also pointed out to Antony that as long as he selected products from a quality manufacturer, sound reproduction would be as good, if not even better, than his last system. Antony selected Pioneer's DEH-P6400 AM/FM/CD player and an AVX-P7300DVD in-dash, 7-inch, flip-out monitor and DVD player for the source units. This is the point where the installation reached the first "tricky" part. The double-DIN sized radio that Toyota provides from the factory resides in the lower part of the center dash area, just above a small storage pocket. Steve noted that if the replacement Pioneer units took the place of the factory radio, not only would the viewing of the 7300DVD's flip-out monitor be at a poor visual angle, but the action of the monitor could possibly conflict with the operation of the gearshift lever. Steve called up Darwin Tanabe from the Audio Options bullpen to create the layout in the dash for the Pioneer units.
Sometimes referred to as the king of dashboard reconstruction around the shop, Darwin's first task at hand was to find an area where the 7300DVD could be mounted for optimal viewing while at the same time not getting in the way of the ergonomics of operating the vehicle. The Project MR2 had a small pocket at the very top and center of the dash that would make an ideal location for the monitor. A good portion of the pocket's back wall would have to be removed in order for the 7300DVD to slide back far enough so a mounting area could be made to secure the unit. After removing the plastic area, Darwin got to work on the secure mount. Using the same steel material that was used to hang the horns under the dash, he fabricated brackets that hold the unit to specially reinforced areas just underneath the unit. To make the cover Darwin fabricated a trim ring to fit the Pioneer DVD player out of acrylic sheet from a router template in the Audio Options' archives of jigs. Next, using MDF, he fabricated a top plate for the cover that would nicely blend the pocket area with the shape of the dash. Using this as a jig, Darwin then routed a part out of acrylic from the MDF template and affixed this to the acrylic trim ring using a special CA adhesive. Once the parts had cured together, it was removed from the dash and treated to a wrapping of a thin, stretchy polyester material to give it a unique shape. After fiberglassing, sanding and vinyl wrapping, the cover looks as if it were meant to be there.
Darwin next faced the task of placing the DEH-P6400 in the factory radio location. With no install kits available Darwin had to mount the radio the old fashioned way, by making his own kit. It was apparent that the simplest way to mount the Pioneer CD player would be to utilize the factory radio brackets. They were removed from the unit and modified to accommodate the P6400, placing the unit almost center of the factory allocation. Once the radio was in place, a front bezel was fabricated from 1/8-inch-thick ABS plastic. Next, off the factory brackets above and below the Pioneer unit, Darwin made another set of brackets to which the ABS trim plate would secure. While in the area, Darwin even fabricated new side panels for the lower dash to finish off the console to the floor of the vehicle.
Subplot
As Darwin was working away on the front portion of the cabin, Duane had begun taking apart the storage area just behind the driver and passenger seats, underneath the convertible top holding area. "Once the panels were removed, I found a great deal of room that I could use for enclosure space if I got a bit creative," recalls Duane. He informed Steve that the enclosure would have to be made from fiberglass in order to obtain as much airspace the little car could spare. Doing preliminary calculations, Duane concluded that there was enough space for a pair of 10" subwoofers, as long as they worked in a very small enclosure. Additionally, this would mean that the subs would have to be fueled by a decent amount of power in order to sound just right. Steve chose to use a pair of Image Dynamics IDQ10DVC subwoofers and an Arc Audio ARC5150-CXLR five-channel amplifier to power the system. The ARC5150 provides a clean 75 watts into four channels, while the sub output generates just shy of a whopping 200 watts. Steve adds,"The 5150 is also one of the more flexible amplifiers to design a system around due to the way its built-in variable crossover circuitry is designed."
Knowing that the sub enclosure would be the most challenging part of the design, Duane began designing different layouts to accommodate both it as well as the amplifier rack in the rear storage area. "The car just looks outlandish, so I wanted to create something equally pleasing inside the car to complement the outside," says Duane. He settled on a design that put the enclosure behind the passenger seat and the amplifier rack behind the driver seat. Because the fuel tank inlet is located on the driver's side of the car, pockets of more workable space could be utilized on the passenger side for the enclosure. The convertible top, however, conflicted with any plan of positioning the enclosure within that area. The entire convertible top mechanism would have to be dismounted and removed in order to get the enclosure into proper position behind the seat. In order to gain as much airspace as possible, the walls of the enclosure would have to be thin, while maintaining structural rigidity. Duane fabricated a boundary framework using strips of MDF. Once he was confident the framework would fit into the area, he removed the convertible top mechanism from its structural support mounts, lifting the enclosure framework out of the vehicle. Polyester material was stapled along the inner areas of the framework, forming the walls within the MDF skeleton. Once all surrounding walls were in place, it was time to create the basic form using catalyzed fiberglass resin. After the walls of the enclosure took shape, Duane then began creating the front baffle, to which the pair of subwoofers would eventually mount. Mounting rings were routed from MDF for each subwoofer. Polyester material was once again used, stretched over the rings and eventually secured with staples to the enclosure, now taking shape. Layers of woven fiberglass mat were laid along the inner polyester walls to create the strength necessary to withstand pressure from the subwoofers. When convinced that the resin had completely cured, Duane removed the MDF framework from the enclosure unit and test fitted it in the car. Snug like a glove, the enclosure was removed and the front baffle was filled and shaped with fiberglass-reinforced body filler and putty.
Placing the enclosure back in the vehicle, it was now time to make the amplifier rack to mount the ARC5150. Knowing that the amplifier would have to be mounted facing outward, Duane needed to create a solid floor from which to build. A panel of MDF was cut and mounted to the car with aluminum brackets so as to not screw directly into the fuel tank below. Duane then routed two vertically angled pedestals from MDF and secured them to the floor. A panel of MDF was then secured to the two pedestals, used to mount the amplifier. In order to continue the shaped theme of the enclosure, he designed a shroud that would surround the amplifier. This was constructed using two separate rings of MDF, one fitting exactly the outer dimensions of the amplifier, and a larger one to take up the surrounding space extending to the factory interior panels. The same polyester material used to create the enclosure was used to mold the two rings in a shapely fashion. Once again, the surface of the shroud was treated with filler, and then both the enclosure and shroud were shot with a sealing primer. Both units were sent to Body Pros to be painted the same pearl yellow color as the exterior. As wild as it looked, it didn't quite seem finished to Duane and Steve. Using MDF, they decided to fabricate a trim panel which not only accentuated the curves of both the subwoofer enclosure and amplifier shroud, but also extended up to the edges of the factory panels. This panel was upholstered in a factory-matching black vinyl.
Giddyup Horsey!
The powerplant modifications were done at RE Works. The 1.8-liter four-banger motor received breathing support from an HKS GT2540 ball bearing turbocharger, intercooler and intake system. "This is all part of the VeilSide kit and makes the car just as aggressive as it looks," says Antony. In order to support the increase in horsepower, other components were installed, including an HKS F-CON V Pro computer, EVC controller, blow-off valve, and temperature and boost sensors. VeilSide even added its stainless exhaust manifold and exhaust system. Bill from AEBS and David from Jusko Engineering are credited for fine-tuning and upgrading the stock powerplant. With all that power and a factory transmission, a Centerforce dual friction clutch was installed to ensure that the power would get to the rear wheels. At the same time, the factory suspension and braking system was replaced to accommodate the performance upgrades to the car. Tein HA coilovers took the place of the factory dampers, and StopTech rotors and calipers are now in charge of stopping the Project MR2. Because of the wide body structure of the VeilSide Fortune kit, special wheels were ordered up from Ro_Ja. The front wheels were changed to a set of 19x8 Formula XO alloys wearing 245 30-19 Pirelli P-Zeros, while the rears -- yes, check the numbers -- stand with 19x10 Formula XO's with 295 30-19 Pirelli P-Zeros. The factory Toyota seats, seat belts, and steering wheel were all replaced with ones from Momo, and a VeilSide gearshift knob now makes grabbing gears much more comfortable. Hung and crew at Kreative then installed a unique carbon leather interior kit. Even the factory headlights were changed out for higher performance models, true Stage 3 HID units from HIDS4Less.
At the 2001 SEMA, the car received "Best Custom Car of the Show." "The award really is a testimony to everyone involved with making this project happen," says Antony. "Without everyone's participation, it would have never been possible to complete it within such a small time frame." Besides Steve and Duane at Audio Options, his list of props includes Ted at Pioneer Electronics; Eric and RJ at Image Dynamics; Arc Audio; Chris at Ro_Ja Wheels; Bill (who needs to shave) at AEBS; and Mark, Brent and Rene at RE Works. Antony adds, "The whole project would not have even been a reality if it weren't for Mr. Hiranao and VeilSide, and the entire crew at Audio Options behind Steve and Duane. It really was remarkable the way they were able to make things happen in the time we had. I had no idea just what went on behind the scenes in building an award winning system."
For now, Antony is enjoying the fruits of his labor, showing the VeilSide Fortune MR2 off at events across this wonderful country. He still continues his duties as a pastry chef and enjoys the wonderful Southern California weather and great tunes while on the way to work. After such a success, what could he possibly be considering for his next project car? Antony laughs, "I had been thinking about something along the lines of a twin turbo roach coach with a loud stereo system in it; but that might get the other roach coaches mad as I pass them by." Now wouldn't that be like icing on the cake. v
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