The sun shone strong atop the grainy hills of a small inland community sitting on the outskirts of urban Los Angeles, thrashing us with rays, angles unfelt, tag-teaming with the winds, cracking every layer on our lips. We traversed a long stretch of narrow, windy roads filled with blind corners, fortified with dirt walls, fitting for a Hollywood locale, to finally reach a spot unlike anything we've seen. Looking toward the open canyon, downtown L.A., highlighted with smog, is on one side, while a sprawl of suburban neighborhoods is on the other. It was a beautiful day to say the least, and we couldn't have found a better place to capture P.J. Bonifacio's righthand-drive AE86 on film.
Born of heroic lineage, P.J. sits inside the car, the bright-red Brides conforming easily to his body, looking at us, waiting for us to prepare our cameras. The Bonifacio name is entrenched in Filipino history starting with Andrs Bonifacio, a national hero and the leader of the revolution against Spain back when the islands were still getting collectively violated by other countries. P.J., the great-grandson of Andrs, has instilled the passion of his ancestors into tuning the most remarkable vehicles this publication has ever printed, starting with our February 2002 issue. This one, a Lexus Silver Toyota Levin, shipped directly from the tuning mecca, is complete with a widebody kit, making the fenders so fat, Jenny Craig's calling to help; ultra-wide SSR wheels laying 9 inches of rubber on all four corners; and a combination of Tein and TRD suspension hardware helping the stout Levin grip every centimeter of every corner. This automotive stallion is among many in P.J.'s stable, sitting around his paint-and-autobody shop and inside his garage at home. These Toyotas are his favorites to play with. "I like Corollas because I can buy them for $100 from people on the street and fix them up at my shop," explains P.J. The other cars sitting around are S-Class and E-Class Benzos, a Lexus LX 470, one Volvo S40, a widebody 13B Miata, and countless others.
As the dust settled from his driving rampage through the windy curves, I noticed P.J.'s fluidity behind the steering wheel, which stems from his experiences in SCCA autocrosses and numerous track events. This Levin hasn't seen the track yet, but there's hell to be paid once it does. There's no doubt that this track assassin is ready for the chicanes, especially when there's a 2.0L 3SGE basking comfortably under the hood, governed by a six-speed transmission. P.J. threw out the original 4AGE and appropriated the more powerful 3SGE from a lonely Toyota-an extremely rare motor swap to be sure. The 3SGE is pumped up with HKS products, from pistons to valvesprings, all of which were finely tuned by Dan Quiambao of DansToy. Dan's work helped produce approximately 240hp @ 8,500rpm, and torque-wise 197lb-ft @ 4,800rpm.
Going up the block, there are more DansToy creations, starting with a custom intake manifold and valve cover. The most impressive DansToy construction, however, is the hi-rise/equal-length header, making the engine cove light right up. "Dan's my chief mechanic and actually dreamed up this project, and had the knowledge and expertise to make it a reality," says P.J., giving much-due props to his tuning professional. "We would drop a 3SGE into a Jeepney [Philippines' very loose version of buses] but the import crowd might not really dig it, so we chose the Levin instead." As much as we would pay top-dollar to see that, P.J. is right. However, with his creativity you never know what he might do. Case in point, the AE86's cockpit has GReddy and Stack gauges, a Nardi steering wheel, and of course, a DansToy custom dash, littered with carbon fiber.