Set to Excel - 2JZ-swapped kouki S14

This feature isn’t about investing in cars, it’s about investing in people. Scott & Allen are the two main characters of this story. Scott Keiser grew up just trying to make ends meet. Therefore car culture unfortunately wasn’t an option for Scott as a teenager. But – Scott worked his ass off & got through college. And with a lot of hard work, a little luck, and a bunch of hustle, he was able to earn a pretty lucrative career in the medical field. When the time was right, Scott rewarded himself with a Lotus Elise, which was a huge personal achievement. But when it came to actually ‘living car culture’, he always felt like he was was on the outside looking in. Like that ship had kind of sailed & he missed it. So there Scott was: A professional with a good career & a Lotus… but quite literally sitting in the parking lot of an Advanced Auto trying to figure out how to ask the dude at the counter if he could maybe get a ride in his kickass S13 drift car sitting out front.

Well Scott did get that ride… and it started an avalanche.

Scott kept his Elise, but after riding in that S13, he promptly went and bought an S13 of his own… with a built SR20. Which cascaded to another Lotus Elise somehow. Plus an old Series-6 BMW, and a Ford GT350R. The point is… a full-on obsession/collection was well underway.

Introducing Allen…

One of the guys at the shop that worked on Scott’s S13 was named Allen. Scott had taken notice that Allen seemed super meticulous & never took shortcuts. Scott could really tell that Allen took a lot of pride in his craft.

Well – Allen fell into some challenges with his own car, and needed $4,000… which he didn’t have. But Scott had it. So Scott said, “I’ll make you a deal: I’ll give you 4-grand now… and you build me a drift car later.”

So Scott gave Allen 4-grand, plus a $400 S14 in complete & total disarray. Basically in boxes.

…And you know how it is. People have a way of forgetting after they get the money & some time passes. But Allen never did. He worked at a shop all day. And then after hours… he’d habitually go work on Scott’s S14.

2-hours here… 3-hours there.

For Scott, the $4,000 was more of ‘a test’ anyway…

So he kept funneling parts in as Allen made progress. A Toyota 2JZ engine, R135 transmission, and literally an entire front end purchased straight from a Nissan dealer. One year later, the car was done. Poof – brand new everything! It was a huge testament to Allen’s character to see the project through.

This kouki S14 was built… out of a promise that was kept.

That was the main thing. And for Scott… he finally felt what real car culture was all about.

Next chapter…

Scott has a warehouse for work, and that warehouse also doubles for his growing car collection. But – the warehouse directly across from Scott’s became available. Scott got super excited & called Allen saying, “Man you need to come score this warehouse before it’s gone! Start your own shop! It’d be awesome! We’d be neighbors!”

Allen was like, “Man that’d be great, but shoooot I just can’t swing that right now.”

Scott was like, “Yeah ok I get it.” And they hung up.

But Scott was feeling more bummed about it than he naturally should have been. A couple nights later, it hit him as to why. This was his dream too!

S14 dash

He called Allen & said, “Ok I have an idea… let’s be partners!”

And Excel Motorworks was born! As S3, we crossed paths with Excel when they came highly recommended to diagnose & fix some issues with Mike’s Evo 8. That’s where we saw this red S14, and that’s where we heard this awesome story.