Happy Holidays!

well, with the holidays upon us. I figured I would share my creative Hyundai touch! haha

I'll be back in January to bring you more kickass Hyundai stuff! For the moment I will atleast leave you with Hyundai's newest youtube upload. Its Rhys Millen hijacking his genesis coupe drift car. This is the real deal! Not practiced or staged (too much) unlike the Ken Block episodes. Not to get down on the guy he is a fantastic driver, but if you notice how many skid marks there are on the pavement while Rhys is doing his run vs Ken Block. Rhys most definitely does NOT need to practice that much!!

check out the link to the video.....Rhys drives through Hyundai headquarters!

Remember...

Come January we will have a new round of Hyundai vehicles coming to the auto show realm. Detroit will kick it off with the Genesis coupe, and the Veloster turbo (really looking forward to this one as it may very well be my next car). Chicago is my prediction for the new Elantra coupe and will should be seeing the next generation Santa Fe! I'll be personally looking at these cars when the auto show comes to my new back yard here in NYC!

have a happy and safe holiday! Please do not drink, text and drive. Also try a little courtesy on the road...you never know it might make things easier. Keep a good attitude while on the road. There are going to be a ton of morons trying to get where they are getting to, but please refuse the urge to get upset. It will only hurt YOU!

Take care and Happy Holidays!

Are you Sirius???

Yup!...

So what we have here is a fine example of a Hyundai fanatic going to the extremes! I love it. Andreas Margaronis from Greece is an owner of a Hyundai dealership in Patas, Greece with a history of rallying and road racing. He was able to transform this normal 1997 Accent with a 1.5 SOHC into a monster. The original Accent came with 95hp, this particular car is putting down 475whp. Lets see how.


Andreas removed the tired 1.5l from this car and replaced with Hyundai's 2.4l Sirius motor from the Sonata (here in North America). A little history on the Sirius first. The 2.4l is a shared motor from Mitsubishi. Its technically a 4g3 block with a different head. The funny thing about this motor and I have seen this firsthand is that the Evolution VIII and VIIII heads bolt directly up to the Sonata motor. I wonder if the 6 speed transmission bolts up to? Sure looks like it. Along with the rear subframe, center differential, and rear differential. The thing that normally stops the normal everyday person from doing a swap like this is the machining and customizing the body. The normal Accent is approximately 4.6 ft across. This particular car is 5.3ft. That means that he is sporting 3 inches extra on both sides and had to do some serious body work to get it all to fit properly. This included making custom front and rear bumper covers. Custom hood with vents to help cool things under the hood. The rear tank was also removed and a custom fuel cell was placed into the trunk. 

What is under there anyway? We know that the 2.4l Sirius makes it under there, but its the Garrett gt3071r that pushes 24 psi of boost and the Haltech E8 ECU that makes the 475 whp and 394 ft/lbs of torque. Supporting modifications also include larger injectors, Front mount intercooler (FMIC), oil cooler, and custom exhaust (the driveline is taking up that space now). The motor also has forged Wiseco pistons, forged crankshaft, and Pauter rods. Apexi boost controller makes sure there are no surges in boost pressure and its all controlled by the Haltech on a custom tune. 




Putting it down...

Along with the body modifications, the suspension and brakes have been upgraded as well. The suspension sees a custom set of coilovers with reservoir tanks and custom sway bars. Wilwood big brake kit helps stop the car when it needs to come to a hault fast. Being on the track or on the trail, I'm sure there are times it needs to stop in a hurry and with Wilwood's reputation for making outstanding kits I'm sure he has no problems.  His ride sits on a set of 18 inch wheels wrapped in 235/40 semislick tires from either Pirelli or Kuhmo. 

All in all, I think this is a find example of taking a point to point car and turning it into something great. A beta swapped Accent (an Accent with the Beta 2.0l motor from a Tiburon or Elantra) can be had for a reasonable price and will pretty much be a bolt-up affair but this is outrageous. Andreas says that his next trip to the dyno he will be looking for over 500+whp! Good job and good luck!!!  Us hardcore Hyundai people really appreciate the hard work and dedication. So from "All Things Hyundai"...keep it up and I look forward to seeing some future numbers.