SEMA cars and vendors present (LONG)

[glxtasy@juno.com (ken r weidmann jr.)]

Just got back from SEMA about 1 hour ago and thought I would fill you
guys in on some of the cars that were there.

VR6 Content: 
    The only regular VR6 there was the New Dimensions VR6 Passat with the
supercharger system. My partner looked at it and said that the install
looks much easier than the AMS system.  The supercharger mounts behind
the intake, right over the exhaust manifold and they way that they use
the stock pulleys and tensioner should give increased performance to the
charger over the AMS version.  No HP ratings available and no one was
near the car to ask questions of.  Talked with Aaron at Neuspeed and he
has done several chips for the project GLX supercharger for James Sly and
said that the car had really linear power.  He expects the VR6 A4 Jetta
to not be available for about 4-6 months after the A4 jetta shows up.
   Hoppen Motors was there with a VR6 Beetle in a small booth outside the
main hall.  Very clean install.  The car was driven down from British
Columbia.
   EIP was there with a turbo intercooled VR6 engine on a stand in the
hall.  They were a couple of rows over from the Hoppen booth.  Reported
over 400hp in street cars for the VR6 turbo and no problems.

A4 Content:
    VW Sport was there with their beautiful blue 1.8t A4 4 door GTI. 
Trucked it from the east coast and it looks really nice with all the
Projectzwo body kit pieces and wheels.
   Neuspeed had their VR5 4door blue A4 GTI there also.  Nothing new
since the EC article on it.  Still a nice car.
   CEC ( Claus Ettenberger Company) was there with a 1.8t Oetinger Silver
2-Door GTI with full Oetinger side skirts, air dam, grill, wheels,
suspension, and engine modifications.  Claim of around 215hp with the
modded engine.  Awesome car and the 2 doors don't seem to have such a
severe angle as the 4 doors do in the rear of the car.
   Hoppen had a Turbo Diesel A4 in silver also.  Had a chip upgrade,
exhaust, wheels, Reiger side skirts, air dam and grill, JE design wing. 
Over 500 miles per tank and with almost 170hp and mid 200 ft./lbs of
torque.  Another very clean car.

A3 Content:
   H & R had a beautiful dark blue Audi A3 there that had just arrived
from Germany the week before.  It was driven down from Seatle.  Not too
long after entering California, the lady driving it got pulled over for
speeding.  She had been doing almost 130 mph and the cop said that it
took him nearly 15 minutes to catch up to her.  Also had nice wheels from
the Wheel Warehouse on it.

Passat:
  Neuspeed had their 1.8t Passat there.  Only improvements were the
addition of 19 inch Racing Hart wheels from Dazz.  With the 245 tires in
the front it rubbed a little, but Michelin (I think that is who Aaron
said) is coming out with a 235 tire in the next week or two and that
should solve the problem of rubbing.
   Mark from AMS was in attendance at the show and had his silver 1.8t
outside in the parking lot.  They also had sponsored a yellow race Audi
A4 that was parked outside.

A1 Content:
   Hoppen had a G-60 conversion Cabriolet with a Wide Body kit, Corrado
door handles and mirrors.

Beetle Content:
  What can I say.  The New Beetle was this years A4 Audi.  Some of the
vendors with New Beetle ( I'm sure I will forget a few) were:  New
Dimensions/ Wheel Skins, ABD,Toyo, Eibach, VW Sport/Projectzwo, Car Craft
Car Covers, Hoppen, Tech Art/ Folia Tec, and CEC.  Many of the non-VW
vendors were using the New Beetle for their wheels, magnetic bike roof
racks, or Car Rotisserie displays (There was acutally a Beetle upside
down on one of those body rotisseries that body shops use for full on
restores).  The New Dimensions supercharged Beetle was repainted in one
of the chameleon blue/green/purple colors, and looked very nice and
different.  VW Sport had one of the Projectzwo prototype body kits there.
 Very subtle but nice.  Running 10 inch wide wheels in the rear and 8
inch wide in the front due to the addition of fender flares with the kit.
 They also had the red rear foglights available and clear front turn
signals. The Beetle in the CEC booth was a black convertible.  The
convertible top takes out the rear quarter windows, again enlarging
already big blind spots, but it looks very cool with the top down.  
Wings West had a large presence with a kit installed on ABD's car and
several others.  Body mods that were seen on some of the  Beetles:
      - One company makes a panel that goes onto the rear hatch turning
it into an oval window, ala 1956 bugs.  Very nice classic touch, but this
car had enough large blind spots to start with, I'm not  sure this was
the answer.  They also had some bezzels that went around the front and
rear turn signals giving it an outline effect. That looked nice.  They
had a front bug shield type of cover that didn't come off very well, but
the front shield they had that attached to the top of the hood to hide
the wipers looked very nice, and other than keeping the classic look of
exposed wipers, you're not sure why the factory didn't do something like
this to start with.  Another company had chrome mesh in the front and
rear bumper fascias.
      -  Wings on the Beetle ranged from the top of the window, to the
bottom of the window to the middle of the deck lid area.  Projectzwos
which mounts using the stock 3rd brake light hole and incorporates the
light was probably one of the nicest and easiest installs.
    -  ND also had a vintage type wooden roof rack installed on the car. 
With this and the oval rear piece and a classic 2tone paint job, you
could have an almost complete retro Beetle.

People There:
 - Brad and Adrian from VW Sport.  Very nice and full of information
regarding Projectzwo for any application.  
-Aaron and Gary Neumann from Neuspeed.  Always full of information on
what is out there and what to expect from them and other
manufacturers/dealers.
- Shawn Van Neer and his crew from Momentum Motorsports were there
wandering around the show.  Very knowledgable about the power trains
particularly with conversion.
-  Eric and Martin from ABD were there Tuesday/ Wed.  Dave Anderson was
going to be there for the rest of the week.
-  Spoke with the guys at EIP briefly.  Seemed knowledgable, but always a
little supsect after hearing about dealings with them from friends and
list members.
-  Spoke with some of the guys at the Hoppen booth.  Seemed very excited
about the new A4 cars.  They said they are now the official North
American dealer for Rieger and are trying to work on JE Design.
-  Saw a Velocity sticker on the windshield of a Volvo in the parking
lot.  I know Jeff and Jeremy were there somewhere as were the Potters and
Todd.

Rice Content:
   In the same area as Hoppen and EIP, there is a company from Riverside
I believe that has begun to go through the certification process for
bringing over new 1998-1999 Nissan Skylines.  The have done crash testing
and are now doing emmisions testing to detune the twin turbo monster to
meet CARB specs.  They imagine they should get approval by January and
should start importing the cars then.  Expected cost $78,000 per car. 
Ouch!!
  Several tube frame chasis honda's there with fully built race motors. 
Very fast and scary how quick the 4 cylinders are getting these days.

If any one has any questions regarding any of the lengthy post, feel free
to e-mail me.

Ken Weidmann Jr
GLXTASY@Juno.com
Checkered Flag Automotive Components
95 Black Jetta GLX M3 wannabe
85 Show Scirocco

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