Along with his namby-pamby woes, Dennis also had an extremely hard time deciding on how he wanted the front of the car to look. Around the same time that Dennis was still on his original 4X100 suspension, he was originally rockin' a stock front end with an ITR lip. He then switched over to a Wings West bumper and started to turn up the riceometer. At the pinnacle of Fast and Furious styling he had a Lexus IS300 headlight conversion at the same time as his first ITR lug pattern. When his guiding inner voice picked up Liu found a path towards a cleaner look and ditched the confused Acura-Lexus monstrosity for a SiR-G front end, which inspired the complimenting 4 lug de-conversion. The final stage, obviously, is the JDM ITR front end, clad with all its lovely carbon-fiber accoutrements.
Now I could go on about the numerous changes to the interior as well, but I think Dennis sums it up best. "I've done every seat combo you could possibly think of," he laughs. "I realized if I kept switching setups I would never finish my car." (And you may never finish reading this article.) "So I stopped buying different setups and started picking parts I truly wanted on the car." What Dennis truly wanted inside the car was Mugen, and lots of it. Seats, rails, cluster, pedals, shift knob - the list goes on, but it flows perfectly. The two-tone red and black theme is continued from the exterior and shows a well thought out build, one that came at the price of many overhauls.
Fortunately, all the remodeling wasn't done alone, close friend Rainer De Leon was there to help along the way. All paint and bodywork was completed by Rainer, affectionately known as "toto" by friends, in a home garage. You'd be none the wiser to guess it was all professionally done in a booth when you see the car in person, a result of true dedication put in by real enthusiasts. Toto also assisted in assembling and installing the K series engine. The completed bay resembles an art piece in the upper echelon of contemporary car tuning. Everything is located in its proper place with function at the forefront but tucked and hidden making sure aesthetics aren't a blatant afterthought.
Finding a unique way to blend style and function seems to be a knack for Dennis. With an equal amount of aggressive clash and clean flow the car is a perfect balance between race, show and street. Although you would never guess by looking, a majority of the parts used weren't even designed for the DB8 chassis, but with a vision and desire Liu saw the project through in the end. Such projects aren't completed easily, let alone cheaply, as Dennis experienced first hand. "I learned how expensive it is to finish a project of this caliber." He explains. "But I also learned a lot about friendships." Many times that's really what it takes, friends, dedication and money... all in mass amounts. If you are lucky enough to see this car driving in Sea Town, just remember, for DL, stuntin' is a habit.