One of my favorite events last year was NissanFest. It was the event that replaced Northwest Nissans’ annual Golden Gardens meet after it grew to the point that it was no longer manageable. This year, NWN took things to another level by adding autocross and expanding even further on their current activities. Text by Matt Haugness. Photos by Ellie Marie, Nick Poirier, TK Akiyama, Ryan Cutuli, and Sam Fu.
Author: Matt Haugness
Matt Haugness
Matt created ImportMeet.com in 2011 after noticing a lack of media websites dedicated exclusively to import cars. Although he's employed as an engineer and has no formal training in journalism, his skills continue to develop as the editor for the site. He enjoys writing feature car articles, technical build/project articles, and organizing events. Matt drives a 2023 Honda Civic Type R and a 1990 LS-swapped Mazda RX-7.
Round 1 of Evergreen Drift’s series was held on April 20, 2013 at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington. For those new to the drifting scene this year, Evergreen Drift is host to the local Formula Drift Pro-Am competition as well as the local Grassroots competition.
In the last update, I shared the cooling system and a short video showing the car running. In order to prepare for the first street tuning session, I needed to get the car roadworthy. This meant that I needed to find a way to mount the battery, finish the intake/exhaust and figure out the gauges. LS Swap FC RX-7 – Battery Tray Something that is always a challenge when doing a swap is finding a spot for the battery. Many LSX-swapped FC RX-7 owners end up mounting the battery inside of the car. While this was an option, I needed…
LS Swap FC RX-7 Cooling System It’s no secret that LS engines have been swapped into RX-7’s for years. The benefit of being a fairly common swap is that there is quite a bit of information about how to construct an adequate cooling system. After doing some research, I discovered a company named Jags That Run sells a mount kit that utilizes a stock Corvette radiator. I found a good deal from a private seller of a brand new kit that had never been used. This was a great find since the kit sometimes takes some time to produce if…
I have attended the annual Golden Gardens meet on and off for the last 5 years. In this time period, I’ve seen the meet get too large for Northwest Nissans to handle which forced them to create a replacement event (NissanFest) in 2012. After NWN stopped organizing the meet, nw-built and StanceWars decided to continue the tradition by holding their own version of the meet. This year was by far the largest Golden Gardens meet I have ever been to. Text by Matt Haugness. Photos by Brad Guerrero, Nick Poirier/Wicked West, and Matt Haugness.
Every year in the northwest, a different group organizes an import meet at XXX Rootbeer in Issaquah, WA. This year we decided to give it a shot and apply everything we’ve learned at some of our smaller events to a large scale meet. Text by Matt Haugness. Photos by Brad Guerrero and TK Akiyama.
Taking a trip to the Toyota Automobile Museum has been on my list of things to do while in Japan for most of my stay. Just before heading back to Washington for a break, I decided to make a trip to check out all of pristine Japanese classics. After 2 transfers and 30 minute walk, I arrived at the Toyota Automobile Museum in Yokomichi, Nagakute-city, Aichi Prefecture.
We are producing shirts for our next event and wanted to get some feedback before completing the order. Please take the time to vote for your favorite design. We'll pick one person before the event and they will be the first to win a FREE shirt of the final design. Edit: #2 is now available in our store: http://store.importmeet.com/product/jdm-washington