The Lomotion team have smashed it again with a controversial pairing that took the car scene by storm…
With social media these days everyone has an opinion and wants to share it with the world. Internet experts are lining up to tell us we are doing it wrong and what we should be doing. That can make it tough to stay focused and trust your instincts, but the guys at Lomotion are different.
They get together, talk about ideas and try shit. It’s almost like they seek out impossible modding tasks, let people say it can’t be done, then just do it anyway.
So who are Lomotion? They’ve given us some awesome feature cars going way back. Essentially, they are a close-knit bunch of mates who are obsessive about modifying and take their passion to another level. An immense level, as you can see with both these monster builds.
Yes, that EK Civic may look somewhat familiar. This is Shaun Quinn’s fourth feature with the same car! It takes a helluva lot to be re-featured and four times is unheard of. Just as you think he’s reached the pinnacle he continually finds new heights. The level of detail in this car and the train of thought behind it is mind-blowing!
On the other side of the garage we have Scott Lennon and his bonkers 350z. Scott is also no stranger as we previously featured his smooth, super-clean Civic. This time, he’s ditched the subtle and gone for maximum impact with a mighty-phat Z that really pushes the boundaries.
Both these crazy creations hit the road earlier this year and caused a real stir across the globe. They had adventures, breathed life into shows, received awards and lots of love. The expected dislike followed from the ill-informed and jealous souls. But that just tickles the Lomotion team and encourages them to keep on going. Let’s get up close with their wonderful work…
Shaun’s Civic – The Repeat Offender
“The biggest motivation for the latest transformation was everyone thinking I couldn’t take it any further” laughs Shaun. “Also, people were doing wide-body builds on the likes of Lambos, but never a Civic, so I knew that’s where I had to go.” But, before we explore the latest stage of mods, a quick history lesson is needed to see where Shaun was starting from.
Back in 2006, he began with a stock 1.4 Civic and gradually modified it to a stage where it earned its first feature in 2012. It was white with carbon and graffiti touches, a 2.2 VTEC lump, caged cabin and sitting on Rotas. A year later it was featured again, looking clean and classy in custom purple, sporting wide XXR rims. In January 2016 it returned as our cover car, still purple but with OZ rims, loads of custom bodywork and a gold, smoothed engine bay crammed with a fresh massive-spec 2.2 turbo engine build. By this time it was fully loaded, stunning and one of the best modified cars around. It’s no surprise there were doubts Shaun could raise his game. But he’s only gone and done it, and then some!
Sourcing the right rims was the first challenge and those turned out to be rare Saxon items. By chance these were made in 1988, the same year Shaun was born, so it seemed like fate. Shaun rebuilt them, double-stepping from 15 inches to 17 inches diameter, with widths of 11 inches for the front and 13 inches for the rear. To cater for the awesome wheels universal arches were used as a base but expertly cut and crafted to blend into the bodywork. So much thought went into this process as Shaun was keen to match the flow of existing body lines. He avoided the temptation to merge the custom bumpers with the arches but for good reason. “The bumpers are attached using floating anchor bolts so they can be easily removed if damaged.” He tells us. Seems Shaun has learned from past experiences with static suspension and low bodywork. For the same practicality reasons he switched to a bag-over-coils setup too. Sensible stuff.
To balance out the wide body, Shaun felt the car needed to bulk out elsewhere and it’s incredible what he came up with. “Bigger skirts were needed, so I drove around looking at other cars for inspiration,” Shaun smiles. “Believe it or not a Vectra C was the solution!” Each side has 2 Civic skirts and one from a Vectra, all blended together for the right combination. Another clever combo is the rear wing, which comprises of parts from four spoilers, and not just cars. The adjustable winglet is part of a Boeing 777 spoiler. Yes, seriously! It may be 6m in length, but it’s carefully scaled with the car, so it stays within the confines and lines up perfectly with the camber angle of the rims.
The fuel cap is another trick piece and Shaun got the idea from his work in aero systems. He has an emergency button near him at all times and it works with a ‘push and turn’ to release the mechanism. Amazingly, he’s managed to adapt this to his fuel filler and get rid of the ugly flap. It’s these little details that make all the difference, just like the door handles. Shaun picked up two spare doors and experimented with FN2 Civic handles, but the glass wouldn’t clear them. Instead, he installed door poppers and improvised by fitting the handles along the line of the door, but just as a cosmetic touch. The result works visually, plus it’s fun when people try to open the doors!
It doesn’t stop there either. Attention to detail is everywhere. Custom tracer-style indicators, pedals made from the soles of tiny sneakers belonging to Shaun’s nephew, Celtic tartan interior retrim, sub boxes made from sunken split rims and even battery ports mounted under the rear splitter so he never gets locked out with a flat battery!
Let’s not forget that glorious paint job too. Mercedes AMG Cripto green. It’s perfection. We really could fill an issue on this legendary Civic, but we’ll leave you to drool over the photos and gasp at the spec list. Shaun, we salute you once again!
SPEC LIST 1996 Honda Civic
Styling:
AMG Cripto green; custom wide-arch; custom fuel filler cap; FN2 door handles; custom door poppers; custom S2000 AP2 front bumper and lip; custom carbon under splitter; custom EP3 rear lip flushed into bumper with exhaust port delete; EVO10 custom rear diffuser; external battery ports; indicators delete; smooth wings; smooth mouldings; smooth radio pod; EK9 tailgate; custom LED EK9 taillights; custom LED EK9 headlights; custom carbon BGW with custom winglet/tilt brackets/adjustable dampener; custom carbon exhaust ports; carbon culture bonnet; NRG carbon spoon mirrors, carbon culture grille; custom EK wide skirts; Evo 8 side skirt extensions; JDM wind deflectors; MPC race window visors wrapped in carbon; brand new glass all round.
Tuning
H22A1 VTEC engine from a Honda Prelude 2.2; ported polished and gas flowed head; Mahle gold series forged pistons; Manley rods; King bearings; Grams 550cc injectors; custom GARRET GT3073HTA turbo by Owen development; ARP head and block studs; Tial 32mm external wastegate; HKS SSQBOV; upgraded fuel pump; custom FMIC and pipework; Hasport performance engine mounts; Skunk2 Pro Series intake manifold; Skunk2 70mm throttle body; AEM high flow fuel rail; AEM fuel regulator; Turbonetics fuel psi gauge; Custom twisted top mount banana fold and bonnet exit exhaust; Rywire tucked radiator; Chasebays overflow bottle; custom radiator cap port and hoses, Password JDM carbon cooling plate; Vtec solenoid cap; Downstar washer kit; full engine and gearbox hex bolts from Downstar; Alternator relocation; Skunk2 cam seal; HKS Pink oil filter; Mishimoto oil cooler; Fully shaved and smoothed engine bay; Relocated battery and fuse box; Downstar brake booster delete; S2000 clutch cylinder; Brake line tuck; Custom Hel gold flexi clutch and brake lines; Chasebays wiring harness; P06 ECU from Rywire; Custom windscreen water bottle; Stage2 Exedy racing clutch; Fidanza lightened flywheel; DC Sports-shifter; ATR shift linkages; Custom dipstick.
Chassis
Custom double-stepped SSR EX-C Xaxon special wheels 17×10 front and 17×13 rear; BC Racing fully adjustable coilovers with OCD sleeve bags; fully polybushed chassis; custom strut tower extension; fully powder coated subframe and suspension components; custom front upper adjustable wishbones; D2 rear camber arms; MPC lower control arms; C-pillar tie bar; custom B-pillar tie bar; ASR Sub-frame; carbon lower tie-bar; 6-pot Wilwood front callipers 320mm discs; 320mm Wilwood rear discs and single pot callipers; custom pink braided brake lines.
Interior
Bride Cuga carbon recliner bucket seats trimmed in Celtic tartan; 4-point OMP harnesses; carbon Mugen shift knob and extension; carbon OMP steering wheel; NRG slimline quick-release boss; custom harness bar; custom 6-point roll cage; fully smoothed dash and trim; custom gauge pods and heater unit; oil temp; oil pressure; boost & volts Plasma dials; S2000 push-start; custom painted and carbon split rim sub boxes.
Audio
Kenwood Audio; relocated CD Player; 2x Herts 10in Subs; 4x Herts door tweeters and Herts 6x9s.
Thanks
Henry at triple H for the engine; Simons Arc for all the amazing work, paint and help over the past years!; the Lomotion Team; last but not least, my mum and dad, for being amazing parents. Much love to everyone!
Scott’s 350Z – Wide Boy!
Patience and modifying never really go well together, but Scott Lennon had to endure a long wait before reaching his target with this amazing Z. “I had it all planned for such a long time,” Scott explains. “But I wanted to get all the parts together before doing any major work.”
Indeed, those magnificent Watercooled rims were custom made and in Scott’s hands a full year before he hit the go button. How difficult must that have been? Although, you’d quite happily put these wheels on display at home and just look at them, forever, and never leave the house again.
“I bought the 350Z when it was white and fairly subtle,” Scott tells us. “The next day I sold the Civic that had featured in Fast Car and from then on used the Z as a daily and my old Prelude as a weekend car.” Scott sensibly stuck to maintaining the Nissan and carried out basic mods like adding the Corbeau seats, Willans harnesses and Vertex steering wheel. Once all the key parts were assembled, it was time to to kick-off with the serious work…
The aim was always to build the car around the wheels, so the Rocket Bunny kit was an ideal partnership. Fitting such a wild kit is always a challenge but in true Lomotion style Scott chose to turn it up a notch and blend the kit into the body. The cuts were going to be crucial, so once again patience was the key as Scott called upon Shaun for help and the talented pair carefully got the task done. To beef up the body further, a Top Secret diffuser, Chargespeed sideskirts and custom front splitter were added to the mix. Other touches include some smoothing, carbon bits, the retro Datsun badge and lashings of Heritage Blue paint. What a colour that is – we love it!
By this time it was all about the fitment and true to form Scott didn’t make it easy. He’s always loved deep lips and asked Watercooled for their maximum size on his rims. Usually it’s 7 inches, but they supplied him with a 9-inch dish, by polishing the barrels instead so he could use them the opposite way! To get them on it took some creative custom fabricating of various arms, but the camber was still pretty extreme. It left Scott with a decision: head for Worthersee or wait and sort it out? No chance. He was off like a shot. Road trip!
Unfortunately it didn’t go well. A breakdown in Germany resulted in a lot of recovery woes before the car was finally back at home base and it was a return to the drawing board. This time the guys milled the rear wheels by 18mm and reverse mounted the faces. It doesn’t sound much, but it made a massive difference as most of the tyre tread now touches the tarmac instead of the sidewalls. Result!
Sure, it took some time to get right, but this glorious outcome is well worth the wait. Even the ill-fated European trip was laughed off, as once you own an insane car like this, you can’t help but grin from ear to ear. Just like Scott.
SPEC LIST: 2008 Nissan 350z GT
Styling
Full respray in Toyota heritage blue; Rocket Bunny kit smoothed/blended in to the bodywork; rear arches split to allow bumper removal; custom front splitter; top secret diffuser; Chargespeed sideskirts; carbon mirror caps; carbon B-pillar covers; rear toe-eye deleted,; ariel deleted,; wiper arm deleted; retro Datsun badge.
Tuning
3.5 V6 engine; custom de-cat exhaust; custom intakes with K&N cone filters; Stage 2 drift clutch; lightened flywheel.
Chassis
Watercooled IND CB1 wheels finished with Rose Gold centres 18x12in -52 fronts with 5in lip and 18×13.5in -92 rears with 8.5in lip; Toyo Proxes Tyres 285x35x18; two-way hydraulics suspension; Driftworks front camber arms; SPL rear camber arms; P2M rear toe arms; Driftworks rear traction arms; custom driveshaft spacers.
Interior
Corbeau club sport seats; Willans harnesses; custom shifter; Vertex Racing Hells steering wheel; NRG short boss.
Audio
Pioneer SPH-DA120 double-din with apple car play; standard Bose sound system.
Thanks
Thanks to all the Lomotion crew; my parents for putting up with me coming in late at night after working on the cars all day; and to my girlfriend Alicia; and special thanks to Shug and Alicia’s dad Allan. Building the car wouldn’t have been possible if not for their help!
Words & photos Steve McCann
