Jakes Yaris is sitting on Tein Basic Coilovers that have been modified for more drop.  Wheels are 16×7 MB weapons done in white. For performance he uses an aFe intake, Megan Racing header and he fabricated his own exhaust. It also sports a set of 12k HIDs, custom wrapped Zebra fabric interior pieces, a cobra suzuka seat, schroth 5 point harness, MI shifter extension, Netz/Vitz badges, TRD rear sway bar. Look for a lot more in the near future that will be happening to this micro cruiser!

Got some info from Fernando and a whole story about his car came to be where it is today! A big thanks to Fernando for keeping it real in this tight knit community of Micro car modders! I looks forward to seeing Fernandos Fit and where it will be at in the future! On to the reading folks!

First off I’m a San Juan, Puerto Rico native whose life has brought many changes including now working out in Granite City, Il. One thing remains constant during my life span is my formal love for cars, it’s pretty safe to assume my car obsession started from a young age from LEGOs to 1/10 Scale electric R/C car racing back in Puerto Rico. I have been in love with anything with an internal combustion engine since the beginning. In my university days to get my BS in Mechanical Engineering I rebuilt the suspension for the 2008 Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico SAE Mini Baja Car. But my 4 wheel obsession really started with lowed trucks back in the mid 90’s but then modified to mini trucks. As one day would have it, I saw a feature on an early model black Toyota Tacoma modified by Axis that had an intercooled turbo swap done and I was hooked. At the time I thought this was the coolest thing on 4 wheels.

My bug for modifying cars really changed its quality when I got the chance to work and learn from the masters at HKS in Los Angeles for an internship. In California I got an automatic  91’ Honda Accord DX and that pretty much sealed the deal with my Honda obsession. I loved my Accord but I knew when I got a full time job that is was time to get something newer, more reliable, and had a good following in the aftermarket world so I could start racing. Basically I wanted a starting point to learn to drive AND take me to work, I wanted a “then new” 2007 White GD3 (’02-’08 Honda Fit/Jazz) base model with manual transmission.

As soon as my car got transferred to the good old US of A from Puerto Rico it was getting modified brakes, suspension, and a new rim/tires set-up. My plan was to use this car to learn how to drive to then eventually trade up to something faster (Subaru STI.. long time fan), but along the years of owning my Fit I have fallen in love with it! The fact that modified Fits are a lot less common than other Hondas like EG, EF, EK or DC’s really makes it really hard to part ways with it, plus it is a lot of fun to drive a slow car fast!

I have been auto crossing non-stop for 3 years in various SCCA regions and also took it to track day events at New Jersey Motorsports Park. I took part in a range of autocross schools in Philadelphia, Houston, and recently the Evolution Performance Driving School in St.Louis. This season I placed 2^nd in Class Championship Points in the St.Louis Region SCCA. I plan to continue to race the Fit and tweak it to be even more competitive in the ST class. With some new rule changes hopefully happening in ST Class for the 2012 Season and the removal of the almost spec car to have (89-91 Civic Si) into another class, I hope to be in even better shape for next year maybe even go to nationals! 2012 might see the Fit wearing a new brake set-up, engine mounts, new clutch, more suspension tweaks, and adding more lightness J

My Fit has been my daily driver since day one and has been set-up to follow ST Class rules in SCCA, so most of the attention goes towards what gives me faster times with a few thing added for looks.

Go Fast Parts:

PRM Racing Prototype GD3 Intake

T1R (Ceramic coated) Response header

Skunk 2 50mm Cat back exhaust

Skunk 2 Limited Edition Oil Cap

AMSOIL 100% Synthetic Oils

Password JDM CF engine cover

Brakes:

Power Slot Cryo-treated Slotted Rotors

Hawk HP+ Pads

T1R braided lines

Motul RBF600 fluid

Rims + Tires:

Miteki open end lug nuts

(Daily) Enkei RPF1 15×7

205/50 Toyo R1R

(Auto X) 949Racing 6UL 15×7.5

225/45 Hankook RS3

Suspension:

Cusco front and rear Strut Bars

T1R Lower Arm Bar

Skunk 2 Pro C Coilover (6k front, 6k Rear)

Progress Rear Sway bar

Eibach Camber Bolts

Racing Alignment + Corner Balanced (w/ help from Dad’s Auto Repair)

Exterior:

J’s Racing front grill

OEM Sport Front lip and side skirts

Siebon Carbon Fiber spoiler

3M carbon fiber wrapped roof

Spoon Sports antenna

Interior:

Skunk 2 short shifter

Skunk 2  10^th Anniversary shifter

JDM Passenger side sun visor (Gf approved mirror)

Sparco 4 point harness

In the end I want to give big thanks to my very patience girlfriend Susan Giger, my family for all the moral support, Skunk 2 for the hook-ups, Bruce @ Dad’s Auto Repair, Terry and Bob @ Dent Devils, all the great car friends I meet through SCCA and my traveling, finally a shout out to FitFreak.Net and all the great members, and my healthy credit card.

Pictured: 2 piece version, that one is prices at $1200 msrp

When tasked with finding a brake kit for our Nissan 2010 Cube SL project car, we were pointed to the folks at Fastbrakes.com!  What they were able to come up with was a brand new 12″ rotar kit that include a 4 pistion Wilwood brake caliper / pads / brake cables.  The best part of this is that they are offering this kit for a limited time for $655 after that the price will go to a msrp price of $740 for the complete bolt on kit.

This kit will also be available thru our aftermarket part partner site MicroImageOnline!!!

I bring to you the Intake Manifold that was designed for the NOS Yaris in SEMA. I purchased the product off a member at Yarisworld.com. This manifold was purchased in hope of developing a mass produced intake manifold for the Yaris community. First the Manifold will be going to HiTunedPerformance to get a Throttle Body adapter welded onto it and it will be getting the direct port nitrous holes filled since this will be used for an N/A setup on my Yaris. From there the Manifold will be getting some color to it and then it will be on to the install!

Jacob Kriegesmann

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photo courtesy of Toyota / Scion Pressroom

Toyota’s Scion brand announced this week that the long awaited MicroCar they have promised us is finally dropping in October! We at MicroCarMag.com are thrilled – We had the chance to scope this interesting piece of automotive art when it made its semi debut in San Francisco for fans of the brand. With a wheelbase of only 10 feet this iQ will compete with SMART and to be released TaTa Nano.

With one of the most interesting configuration the iQ sports a 3+1 seating arrangement that puts the front seat passenger in an offset forward position to allow for a full size adult to sit behind, the +1 means that a younger child or small adult could fit behind the driver.

Power for the iQ will come compliments of a 1.3 liter 4 cylinder VVT-i engine that will produce 94 hp and 89 ft lbs of torq. It’s one of the smaller engines that Toyota has put in one of its modern released vehicles, however you know that many of our project car sponsors will be chomping at the bit to modify the heck out of that little engine.

Not to stand too far apart from the rest of its Scion family – The iQ will have a standard 160 watt stereo with the ability to have a custom greeting screen, use your ipod and other mp3 devices.  For a little extra you can upgrade to a 200 watt system or one with a GPS.

The iQ will be available in seven exterior colors, including Blizzard Pearl, Classic Silver Metallic, Magnetic Gray Metallic, Black Sand Pearl, Hot Lava (personal favorite of MicroCarMag), Pacific Blue Metallic and Black Currant Metallic.

Starting at an MSRP of $15,265 plus delivery, processing and handling (DPH) fee for all Scion models is $730 and is not included in the MSRP. DPH fee for vehicles distributed by Southeast Toyota (SET) and Gulf States Toyota (GST) may vary.

As soon as we are able to get our hands on one we will have a behind the wheel report of this awesome little beast!

You will be able to check out either Microcarmag.com or CarReview.com and get up to date coverage of the SEMA show!