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HEATSOAKED is a Florida-based car culture podcast hosted by Cris and KT - two 30-something year old car nuts who live the stories they talk about. What started as two friends having late-night conversation about dream builds, blown budgets, and heat soaked engines turned into a platform for the culture that raised them.
This isn't about perfect cars or polished influencer content. It's about the grind behind the build. Cris and KT bring real conversations about the 90s and 2000s era tuner scene, passion-built machines, and the culture that keeps them alive. Every episode dives into the journey of a typical gearhead; including the victories, mistakes, lessons learned, and the passion that keeps the culture moving.
HEATSOAKED - because nobody remembers the cool nights.
KT (00:03)
Hey everybody, welcome to episode one of Heatsoaked Podcast.
Cris (00:07)
What's up guys? I'm Cris. I grew up in the Florida tuner culture here where the air is thick and the roads are flat. Everyone swears their car only needs one more part. ⁓ I don't believe you. Welcome to Heat Soak.
KT (00:19)
Wow, that was really good. And I'm KT, so I am your co-host. What are we? What is this Cris?
Cris (00:28)
Let's see, man, this is a podcast about the times that we grew up in the nostalgia, the fun, honestly, the Florida heat. Basically, if you're raised in Florida, you know that Dino numbers are optimistic. Trafficking is optional and horsepower is seasonal. Like we're always going to be sweating our asses off, working on cars and racing them. But guys, this is heat soaked. This is a podcast where we're to talk about all that fun, all those fun cars.
KT (00:58)
Yeah, we're gonna get into your Skylines, your Silvias, your Supras, your Miata's, we're even getting into Maximus.
Cris (01:06)
⁓
Like the only time someone should get into the maxima is to crash it. I'm going to be honest with you. Let's talk about it. ⁓ guys, this is, this is gonna the, this is the podcast for you. If you grew up working on cars on forums, trial and error, and honestly blowing an engine in the Florida heat.
KT (01:24)
Yeah. is, this is your nineties, two thousands tuner car culture podcast. We're going to have fun doing it. ⁓ and we're going to do it with a little bit of Florida style.
Cris (01:34)
Yes. If you built a car in your driveway, ⁓ lost a 10 millimeter forever and burn yourself down a seatbelt at any point in time, this is the podcast for you guys. So talking about Florida twists, right? ⁓ everyone knows that we're sweating our asses off down here. Let's talk about how, man, how did you, how did you get into cars? Everyone has this conversation where, ⁓ we all have different experiences and different things that we fell into.
some of us kind of grew up around cars, grew up wrenching, grew up with parents who worked in, worked in the garages. Some of us, man, have that GTA logic, right? You know, take parts, ignore consequences, know, respond the next paycheck, you know, if you didn't have that life where you had a brand new car growing up, but you got into cars.
This is where we can get back into the nostalgia of if everyone remembers that PS1 game that we all love. Let's talk about Gran Turismo. Let's bring that back to that car.
KT (02:39)
Yeah.
So how did we get into cars? And this, is the whole reason why Heats of exists. How did I get here? So for me, it was video games. One of my earliest memories ⁓ revolving around cars was video games. Just being like a six or seven year old sitting on the floor with the PlayStation, with the controller six feet away from the actual TV.
I remember playing Gran Turismo. That was really like the first game that did it for me. And as a kid, ⁓ you don't really know much, right? So it's a screen and I'm driving some sort of metal pixelated box with four wheels. But all I know is like, this is fun and that box looks cool.
Cris (03:25)
man, what is this tack of this thing? That's, that's the weird little symbol that keeps going up and down, man.
KT (03:31)
What are these like really cool noises that are happening right now?
Cris (03:36)
It's
like the age of growing up as a guy, right? Like everyone knows that first time that you woke up and something was harder than it should have been. It's a big lie to everyone who told us that. And Gran Turismo told us, I think the biggest lie of all is that if we bought parts in the right order, our car would be fast and reliable. And in real life, it was like a fact where it said, hey, congratulations, you've unlocked overheating.
Like, so it's one of the one things that I think back then, you're right. We look, I look back on, ⁓ so for example, Gran Turismo made us do license tests. you're on that. you know, in real life, as we took it, like that was a flashback for me that I really enjoy it. Cause in real life we did it and they just handed it to us and was like, Hey, good luck. Don't crash. you know, I think that's, it's a memory.
KT (04:26)
Like.
Cris (04:31)
Me, you know, playing with my older brother, watching it down when I was, you know, same age, like six or seven and us, you know, fighting over it. Clearly I'm losing, but if I get them in the headlock and choke them out, it's game over for him. And I'm good on man. That's, ⁓ think Grant's Rismo growing up watching him play, playing with my favorite cars, kind of working on it, learning how and what equals more power. Cause
As we all learned very early on in Gran Turismo, more power, more speed, better chance we got. And that's exactly what we're looking for.
KT (05:05)
Yeah, for sure. So Cris, tell me what was the car in Gran Turismo for you? ⁓ man.
Cris (05:11)
And
this is a question I knew you were going to ask. Gran Turismo, man, it had to be the Supra. Okay. It had to be the Supra. Like hands down, it's just the way it looked, looked good.
KT (05:23)
And we're talking about the Mark IV Supra, right?
Cris (05:25)
talking
about Mark for, you know, it's going to be the greatest generation super. It's the one everyone talks about, but Mark for Superman.
KT (05:31)
The iconic 2JZ, GT, and...
Cris (05:34)
I
kinda teach AZGT the things that we know of now, right? Instead of changing the tune with sliders, you know, we're actually having to do it hands on. What about you? What was your favorite one?
KT (05:45)
So for me, it was the R34 Skyline. Your favorite car.
Cris (05:49)
You picked my favorite car period? My
favorite car period? I don't care what anybody say, but if I could live a second life, would be as Ryan Arnett.
KT (05:58)
Honestly,
cars, the Supra and the Skyline, you know, they're both timeless designs. They're both right out of the 90s. They still look amazing today. Good luck finding one today. Good condition.
Cris (06:12)
Oh
my God. I think what are they, what are they looking at price wise, man? If we Googled one right now, I'm pretty sure you're looking at 80 to a hundred grand. Where those cars original doesn't matter if it's left or right.
KT (06:21)
⁓ for sure.
Cris (06:27)
Yeah. Needs work. Like don't lie to you and say that weight, you know, weight reduction or turbo lag doesn't exist on those things. Cause that's a big thing, you know, in Gran Turismo, example, Turro's had zero lag, real life had different opinions. I was like,
KT (06:42)
But
for a six year old, seven year old, getting your first taste of cars and being able to drive a car like that, you know, that's something special, right? That's something that we've held onto for a long time, know, 30 years later, basically. And, you know, even today, those cars still hold a special spot in our hearts. But back then, we didn't know much about them. They were just pretty looking cars.
Cris (06:57)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
They were like, if you saw one, was a unicorn. like when it came to unicorn, like I said, like you just, have this attraction, magnetism towards it and you were just like, hey, you know, that Pokemon was cool. And then you were like, wait, hold on a second. That car took me way out of anything I ever thought of. And you're going from there. I think the, like just relating it back to the Gran Turismo thing.
So if you remember like early in the game, it was kind of brutal. Like we had slow cars, bad tires, know, grinding those races, get parts. And it's like that reality kind of made us realize or made me realize what exactly it's like almost building your first tuner car.
KT (07:51)
Yeah,
you were pretty much doing it in a video game.
Cris (07:53)
So it's like they put us in the seat of somebody or like our future selves. didn't know. yeah. And I think my favorite thing about that was just how comparable, how we can look back on that and smile and be like, this is fantastic. Like, like, like, can't wait to add your PS one to this guy and just play them while you're driving. And I'll just, you know, I'll just be rocking. Yeah.
KT (08:15)
So what was it about the Supra in particular?
Cris (08:19)
man, I think it was just the way, you know what? And I'll tell you this, it actually, wasn't the way it handled. wasn't anything about it other than the fact that I beat my brother with that car. Because he would choose the R34 for me. For some reason, his chat, he just had better, better ops. When I beat him the first time, it was in a Mark four Supra. And I was like, the game's over. It was like the mic drop moment where you set it down, walk out of the room.
And you just have to walk around the corner, letting him just sit in his anger for a little bit. When he realizes you just kicked his ass. So it's like, it's that great moment. And I have fond memories. Like every now and then I'll just call my brother and just be like, Hey.
KT (09:02)
me to super ending up?
Cris (09:05)
Exactly.
Right. So it's like, you were at a time where I would grab the work for suit. Like, like, it's just, just funny stuff like that. But it's like, it's learning about that. Right. Learning those wins and really what those losses are. It taught you a little bit about life. yeah, some of those times that you could really focus on. And I think, like I said, the really fond memories we have with gaming really like a stretch towards our lives right now. And it's, why we're friends. It's how we kind of got into it. Kind of our cars off the bat and now we're looking at us now.
Yeah, episode one of heat suck like
KT (09:37)
For sure, yeah. You know, I think for me, at that young of an age, cars have always been like an appreciation of art more so just because as a kid, you don't really know much, right? I don't know anything technical, but I do know what looks good as a kid. And a Supra looked good and an R34 looked good. So from there, it was just like, hey, this thing looks really good. ⁓ Eventually you grow up.
And you learn about cars, you learn how there's an engine inside of that car, right? You learn how you can actually drive that car rather than behind the controller. So eventually you learn all the bits and pieces that go into a car. And for me, looking back at everything now at the age that I'm currently at, it's just the overall appreciation of a car. It's, it's, it's an art, but it's also a science, right? There's a lot involved in a car.
It is purest form. It's just a piece of metal with an engine and four wheels, but it took a lot of people to design it. took a lot of people to build it. took a lot of parts, you know, all of that. have that deep appreciation for now that I'm older.
Cris (10:46)
I think, I think you're right. There's a, there's a lot of respect that goes into that because beforehand we only had what 2D we were seeing and even the option that we had, right. As we were started getting closer to the, the effects of how technology increased and everything. But we got to see that. think that's what's special about it is when they were developing this, ⁓ you know, they, they were raising a generation in cars.
And I didn't realize it. So like if grand charisma raised you to this podcast is for you. Like this is exactly what we're talking about, but it kind of reflects back to exactly what we mean. Like you're right. Metal for four tires and a motor, you know, but the fact that as we grow older and we got our first POS Honda or POS Camry or whatever, whatever you got as your first car, you know, no judgment if it was any of those cars. Cause I had
many of those, but it's, it's like the first time you go, you know, pop the hood or your car overheated and you start realizing all the things that we know on the back of our hand now, water pump, you know, as we go into things like that and what we need to use, why there's a color, you know, what it's actually doing. It's, it's learning the how's the wise, but it leads us back right back to that. love of cars, our love of, you know, growing up in the, in the time where we had.
magazines, which it was the magazine on your desk right now. It's magazine. we had that we carry, we had those delivered or picked them up at the store and we were showing our friends like, you believe this for like flipping through an actual page to get there? It wasn't actually something that we had immediately off the top of our hands that we were working with. sure.
KT (12:12)
Super
And that's how it all started for us, right? And I know it's the same way for like thousands of you guys out there. And that's what we aim to start this podcast to do, to share these moments, to relive these moments, essentially talk about it and just have fun.
Cris (12:47)
Yeah. I just want to hear the high revs again. And honestly, like if we, think the leading in Gran Turismo for us back then, like, like I said, leading it right back to it, that was our first mistake. It was, it taught us exactly everything we wanted about it. But at the end of the day, we just realized exactly how much we didn't know about cars when I started getting into it. And that was, I think that was stoked the fire of my passion for cars, my passion for working on them. Uh, you know, the
KT (12:58)
Yeah.
Cris (13:17)
the cussing, the bleeding, know, the call on your friends and ask them, Hey, you want to come over and help me with this small thing real quick? Five hours later and three boxes of pizza. It's almost done at midnight. We're almost there. I promise. Like it's, it's, it's exactly what, ⁓ all the experiences that we deal with is, is there, man. It was started from the games. Yeah. I believe you on there. Yeah.
KT (13:42)
I love it. We still do it to this day, right? Absolutely. We still play video games to this day.
Cris (13:47)
I
still have a PS1 in my office.
KT (13:50)
Oh, we have one right here. Yeah, yeah, you're right. That is your p.
Cris (13:53)
That's an emulator, know, but it's a, it does have PlayStation one games on it, but my PS one man, I still, if I had one of those games, which I don't at the moment, I would love to jump on and play. I the need for speeds. ⁓
KT (14:08)
And that's so so true because to this day and you know it too. I have a sim rig in my office
Cris (14:14)
yes you do. I'm very jealous of it.
KT (14:16)
I
have evolved from a controller to an actual wheel in a seat.
Cris (14:20)
He goes, he goes, this is too expensive. So I'm going to buy a Sim rig. If anybody knows who had a separate costs, that doesn't make much sense. Like you just like, you just going to point the two separate things? But at the end of the day, you chose a Sim rig. You used to Sim a lot, actually. Oh yeah. Sim a lot. Yeah. For sure. about, tell me about how you got into that one.
KT (14:31)
I won't have to tell you.
So it all goes back to the story of how I got into cars. At first, it was just an aesthetic thing. It's just purely visual. Like that's all I can appreciate at that age. But eventually I got to the point where I could drive. You turn 16 years old, you get your permit, you want to be able to go places. So, you know, I got the ability to drive, drive in places. Now what's next? What else can I do other than just drive a car and look at a car? So it became natural tuning cars, picking up.
picking up parts, getting rear sway bars, front sway bars, putting on coil overs, the springs, you know, whatever it was, it was just, I just wanted to turn a wrench and I wanted to do it on a car.
Cris (15:25)
That's
so I get that feeling. Yeah
KT (15:27)
We can, we can go into a whole nother episode about that, but, it was after that, Neil, what else can I do? You know, I'm, I'm already driving a car. I'm already turning, turning wrenches on a car, but what else can I do? Well, that's where I got into like, um, racing cars. So for me, it got into, was, it was auto cross is my first thing. It was a really low speed form of racing, but it was fun. It was competitive. was the thing. So like I got into auto cross.
Eventually I got into doing like track days, but you know, it got really expensive. So, you know, that's a whole ⁓
Cris (16:02)
The second you start building a drift car, I realized that like my wallet didn't match. Yeah. You can mine. So it's me. Is it match my mind? You know? So you're saying that, okay, I just want to make sure I'm listening. Right? So the gateway drug for you was Gran Turismo and it kind of led you to some rigs and kind of brought you back into the racing.
KT (16:24)
yeah, I I just like having the ability to do something with my car. We all like to have something that's pretty to look at. There's art collectors out there, nothing wrong with guys who have museums of cars. But for me and you, we love the feeling of being behind the wheel in a seat, getting thrown back to G-Force. The sounds of the engine, that's what it's all about for us. So ⁓ money is the big thing, right?
Cris (16:37)
Absolutely.
KT (16:54)
KENDA!
Cris (16:55)
I think yeah, you're right. And I think you made a really good point So like cars lead us to a couple different things, right? You said like just like you said some people collect art some people have cars that are Hands down ten out of ten immaculate on the outside. They the motor covers look pristine. Everything's color matched Inside is completely detailed. got stars in the accents they have you know the radio that fits in with the dashes of custom bezels and
We're seeing all of this and it's their own style. That's what I love about cars is like they have an area for that within that.
KT (17:30)
Yeah,
it's almost a reflection of you as a person.
Cris (17:34)
your personality within something that you can say like, that's, that's mine. I'm really proud of that. Or people love to look at and ask questions about, it's some, it's something you might be able to help someone out with. And I think something like that like is, was huge for me growing up back in that, like you put this, you had such a great point. wanted to embellish on this is that that car culture always had somebody in it, depending on whether you love the nicest cars ever with the nicest stuff.
And, you like the fastest cars or you like something in between or you don't care what you drive. It could be a hoop T, but that's your fence. That's your, that's your favorite style. You know, everyone had a beater at some point or a POS that they like, you know, rusting off of the frame as you drove. But I think the fact that your personality inside of a car, whether you think that a Greti sticker makes your car 10 plus horsepower or a, or, know, a sound system made you get more girls.
You know, I think that personality and how people want to help people within the car realm. Yeah. We all want to help each other, you know, with their projects. Call me over anytime. I don't mind throwing a wrench or wrenching out, you know, for a subframe that you got on the ground right here. He's like, yeah, I just got a small favor to ask. then I'm sweating my ass off 20 minutes later. I think that's a really important ⁓ topic about car culture that a lot of people try to speak of.
But that that kind of doesn't get through all the time is that factor that we all have our different personalities But they all fit within that car culture and it's something we can all enjoy together. Yeah. Yeah
KT (19:10)
I totally agree, you know, and that's what took me into sim racing. So I was racing cars, but the money aspect, you know, and the time aspect too, you know, as we get older, ⁓ you have girlfriends, know, wives, boyfriends, whatever your spouse, right? You're spending time with them, but then you're also working. You're working your five days a week job. Maybe you're working on weekends.
Cris (19:38)
Nine to five to five to nine.
KT (19:40)
So it's like a time and money thing, right? yeah, you for me that balance was really hard to be able to drive to a track You had to spend a couple hours to drive there a couple hours there and now the couple hours back on top of the cost Involved with it were you old tires?
Cris (19:57)
I was going to up
track tires and they're gonna get rims. You got to make your parts to spec. So for the inspection, probably a race, you know, and you could have wasted a day. You could have gotten there and you're, you know, you're so excited. Everything is good. And you fail the inspection and you just don't have.
KT (20:13)
Blow out a tire on your way back here.
Cris (20:15)
There
it just ends your whole time and now you gotta put one of those tires, you know, it just doesn't work out
KT (20:20)
But with the SimRig, you can just go over there, turn on your computer, turn on your Xbox, whatever you're doing. You can hop in the seat. ⁓ What, two minutes later, you're ready to go?
Cris (20:31)
true. just, I just, I'm laughing because I just had a thought cross my mind and it's like, ⁓ you know, Sim rigs are the only place where thousand dollar upgrades is described as entry level.
KT (20:34)
a laugh.
It's not
a cheap hobby at all and as I'm describing how expensive it is to take a car to the track, this isn't really any better but you do save some time though.
Cris (20:58)
Yeah, I get it. No. And you know what? Is it, is it worth that thousand right to have something in your house where you can jump on, get your, you know, it's like a drug, you know, once you get the track, the first time you're like, I have to get back here. I really want to get back here and do this. I want to turn my car sideways. I want to beat that autocross time. I want to make sure, you know, I'm hitting the limits and I'm tuning this out and I'm finding more of my power band or my low end.
It doesn't matter where you're going. think with Simrig, it does simplify that process. It's basically, ⁓ man, what's the best way to put this? It's like gummies for weed. It's like, instead of having to go out and the, buy the actual like flower or buy the actual thing. And I'm going to leave that, you know, I'm to this short real quick, but it's like, it's, it cuts off the middle man. It gets to the simple part really easy. You know what I mean?
KT (21:52)
It does, but it also gives you a lot of variety too. As us car guys, you know, want to, you want to be able to drive a lot of cars. You want to see a lot of cars and you want to go on a lot of racetracks. And in reality, it's hard to do that, right? You have to travel, you have to book flights, you have to figure out how to get into a car. If you're going to a track at Laguna Seca, for example, in California, like, you know, you need to know someone out there or rent a car, but you can easily hop on to.
Cris (21:55)
You get a different flavor.
KT (22:22)
like an Assetto Corsa or an iRacing or something like that. And you can hop into, ⁓ a Miata or you can hop into an S2000 or you hop into an AE86. The ability to do all of that right there. Now it doesn't replace the real thing. ⁓
Cris (22:39)
I think every wheel, think what's the, and I'm sorry to interrupt you're right, real wheel. The one thing that everyone explains is the fact that like sim racing builds that muscle memory, but real driving actually builds that humility. So it's like, ⁓ it's real thought. And I like the point that you just made with that.
KT (22:57)
But it allows you to get your fix in. Yeah.
Cris (23:00)
You gotta get it you gotta get it. Sometimes you're in you making the itch, know You gotta scratch that itch and get going and I get it man. I get it So we you you evolved basically instead of yeah, it's the we never change. We never left Gran Turismo It just simply seen just made it more expensive
KT (23:15)
evolved
yeah it made it more expensive and on top of the fact that I have a real car that I work on now too like so I have no time to do anything.
Cris (23:22)
It's like a double whammy. It's like, you know, he's the parts are coming in, but what can I do while I wait? I'm just going to sit on my and I want to go from there and wait for it.
KT (23:29)
RIG
We
do it for the love of cars, right?
Cris (23:35)
Of
course. There's no other, there's no others. ⁓ I mean, everyone has a passion, whether it be sports, you know, like, like we just listed some off different cars, different, different, people, the, the, the, I guess the, what I'm trying to say is the drive of the culture or cars just period is what, what we enjoy. It's what drives me, you know, it's what drives you. It's how we became friends. Like I said, it's how we.
developed ⁓ this, you know, and this is what we're, where we're at right now. It's how you, you know, saw this the first time we got
KT (24:08)
⁓ And I know for a fact we're not alone. There's thousands, millions of you guys out there. that's why we're doing this because we want to share that pure enjoyment, that love of cars and the car culture with everybody else out there.
Cris (24:22)
But bang, back to games, man. Was there any other like Ridge Racer that you got into?
KT (24:29)
I remember burnout, right? Burnout. was the NFL blitz of cars.
Cris (24:34)
It
was, it was, yes. It was like, my goodness. If you were, if you weren't playing burnout just to get as fast as you could and break as much stuff as you possibly could, I don't think it was, I think I remember like test drive five, all the test drives and stuff like that. But yeah, like I think anybody who grew up in that age, any play anybody playing racing games to this day, there's whole cultures involved. There's a Reddit chains of just guys playing like.
For the horizons and all the new, you know, racing games coming out and just going from there. They just like the love of the drive. that's why we're coming up for the culture.
KT (25:08)
You
what game had some low-key good cars in it? Grand Theft Auto?
Cris (25:12)
else you got?
All right. What was your favorite car in Greta's battle?
KT (25:18)
So, you know, Grant that the auto couldn't have like real like cars like Toyotas and E-sons, but they they had cars that looked exactly like those cars. So you knew exactly like Cheetah. Yeah, exactly.
Cris (25:32)
The Cheetah was the greatest one. You're right. They had little different ones like that. yeah, think, what was the, man. The Cheetah was like the Jaguar, but they did have a Supra and, ⁓ the new one has the Skyline and it's called the Elegy or something like Yeah. And there's a new one that's the MK4 Supra. think it's the Jester or something.
KT (25:42)
There were even...
Cris (25:59)
but they count, they all came out and it's funny is they couldn't use the actual names. sure. We're just gonna, we're just gonna develop our own names. ⁓ Banshee. It was a Viper. I think I can't remember it. Yeah. That was the
KT (26:04)
Yeah, yeah.
Oh yeah, yeah, that was the death
It was, yeah.
There was like a car culture in that game too. And we're talking about pretty much all the grant that thought of it. The car culture in those games evolved to the point where you can get them modified in the game. You can go to paint shop in the game.
Cris (26:33)
They
realize how important there was a culture was around playing that game and realizing that hard development and actually finding something that you like. Everyone has their own taste, their own style. Yeah. It goes forward. That's what I, that's what I liked about it. I played it, you know, it taught us a JDM before we can pronounce half the names sometimes. So depending on where you're born, you know, and so it's just one of those things where I think, it's, a, it's a bunch of fun. It's a bunch of fun. And you know what? You're a hundred percent writers.
Hundreds of millions of people that enjoy cars have garages like this. You guys can't see what's around us, but we have CV axles. You know, we're talking about oil pans. We can see.
KT (27:14)
We didn't even get in there. We're like legit in my garage. This is my whole garage.
Cris (27:18)
This
is our first episode of our podcast. Just for our memory sake. We're in Katie's garage, right? The entire bottom end of his life.
KT (27:23)
here in
central Florida. Fortunately, it's not that hot today, but it will be in a couple of years.
Cris (27:32)
It's the nicest probably day of the year. It's not too hot, not too cold, but dude, give us an update on this thing. What have, talk about the buying process. Talk about, oh yeah.
KT (27:43)
So for all of you guys that don't know, this is a Lexus IS300 back here. This is a 2003 model. So for me, the Lexus IS300, you when you first hear about that car, it's like nothing special to most people. It's just a four-door Lexus sedan from 2003. But for me, it is special. So back to the video games, you know, this car was one of the first cars I drove when I was playing Forza. I was playing Forza Motorsports on Xbox and
This car, just for whatever reason, it was the car in the game for me. I loved the way it looked. At one point I actually modified it in the game and added the 2JZ GTE. So was quick for both. And it was ridiculous to drive in that game.
Cris (28:28)
But how much traction did you add?
I'm just like you're just doing this the entire time
KT (28:36)
Fishtailing the entire time, which also makes for a really fun drift car. That's why a lot of drift guys get into this car. ⁓ But you know, that's how I got into this car. It was that game, Forza, and I played hours of that game using this car. And it was only because I just liked how it looked. I just fell into that. that was me in my teenage years. Fast forward, you know, whatever, 20 years later. And I'm like, you know, I actually have money and I can buy a project now. What should I get?
And that nostalgia kicked in. It's like, Hey, an IS 300 is actually attainable nowadays. You know, they're not very expensive and being in Florida, there's actually a ton of them around here in Florida, surprisingly. Um, so I looked on marketplace, uh, I found it a decent one. wasn't, you know, great. And I wasn't going to buy a show car either. Um, but I found one that I knew that I could work on. Yep. So.
Reach out to the guy we made a deal and I ended up with this guy back in November of 2024 So it's been sitting here for a while actually You guys may not be able to see it, but
Cris (29:44)
So the other half's hatred, this thing has taken over But like, once again, like, what can we say to that? Welcome back to Car Culture. This thing's taken over my garage. There's parts lying everywhere, but it's the best thing ever.
KT (29:47)
Yes. ⁓
Yeah,
I love working on this car, even if it's for three hours on a Saturday morning, because that's all the time I can afford. But that three hours is pure bliss.
Cris (30:08)
Yeah, absolutely. It reminds you why you enjoy it. Even though your cousin banging knuckles, know, busted knuckles. How many times have we done that on it? You know, it's funny. It's like, I'm remembering the S classes on the Forza. And of course we lead back to like my favorite car, the Skyline R34. You know, and it's like, I think, you know, cause I had my own project prior to this. You you talk about your love for this. had my 93.
Uh, three 25 I, my Beamer, was turning into a drift monster that I was calling it, but it was really more of like a kitten, but it's, it's, was, I got bought it, not even running for like 300 bucks. Yeah. And you're like, and it's like when you, when you had it, you know, it a long time ago, but
KT (30:38)
in E36.
Cris (30:56)
When you have it and you're doing this and you finally get it running, it's like an achievement. It's like an achievement. The, the, the factor pops up underneath you where it goes, you know, makes the sound. And you just basically it's a default answer when it comes to cars. don't care. It's I don't care if it's sometimes I don't care if it's running. It depends on what level you're at. Right. If you have some knowledge of motors, some knowledge of exhaust, some knowledge of, know,
have to figure out what's actually wrong with it. If you can troubleshoot to the fuel, to the spark, to whatever you need timing, pull an engine, pull a motor, open up a head. There's different levels to this in every type of way. I think discovering where my level stops has been like the funnest thing. When I get into AC and I'm like, yeah, I want to give this a shot. And I'm just like, no, it wasn't worth it.
KT (31:50)
You're like...
Cris (31:50)
What you
think back to it? You're like, you tried everything. You tried so hard and then like you call a buddy and he's like, you see this little, you know, you're missing this thing right here. And it's one, one part. you're just like, yeah, I know what's where my limit is now. Never going to touch AC. I'm just going to yank it out for more horsepower and go from there.
KT (32:08)
You
said it the best. It's like little micro achievements as you work on cars. Similar to video games, when you do something, you get the little achievement. Maybe you collect 10 of these coins or something, but there's like a hundred out there. So like every 10 you collect, you get a little achievement, right? But that's like what it is when you're building a car. Like nobody builds a car in one day. You don't buy the car and then you put a new engine, you put a new suspension, you don't do all of that in one day. You have these little milestones that you hit.
Cris (32:22)
Okay.
KT (32:37)
And for me, that's kind of how this car has been. Right. It's been, ⁓ it's been over a year and. know, I've only had the front suspension redone. I just telling you that the rear fuel system got sorted out. still need to put together the rear suspension. So put the subframe back in, get the diff in there, the axles, know, all the control arms, but all of that, they're just little achievements on, on my way to getting the whole big picture done, which is the entire car.
Cris (33:06)
Yeah, exactly. was telling you just a second ago, I said, listen, you're going to have the prettiest undercarriage that nobody's ever going to see. said, so it's going to be one of those.
KT (33:15)
I'm going to make it a point to go to shops and be like, Hey, can you check something out?
Cris (33:18)
No, no. I
for your birthday. I'm just going to get a giant mirror the size of the car. That's going to slide underneath and be like, just make as much possible to like, so people can go to car shows and just see what you've done with underneath this thing. And like all ha like mainly hand tools. Like you've really ripped this thing completely out and redone it re, you know, wired build parts with a little bit of rust, cleaned everything up.
KT (33:24)
my garage floor.
Cris (33:45)
Yeah, for sure. It's been a labor of love for you. And I think that's exactly what a lot of people feel like because, so when it comes to stuff like this, right. And it comes to like the shows that we watch where people are like, Hey, I'll give you $70,000 or $50,000 and you just redo or get me a car. Yeah. But like in reality, right. Where we live, not in the video game, you know, what, what video games tosses.
KT (33:48)
Exactly
Cris (34:13)
This is a labor of love. It's a step by step process. ⁓ it's the love that we have for these cars that we developed and it's the hard work and effort we really put towards it.
KT (34:17)
for sure.
It's
just that much more gratifying when you can see things slowly get transformed on the car. Things that get checked off a list that you have developed. And this is also not a knock for people out there who don't have the skill and they pay a mechanic to fix the car. There's nothing wrong with that. But you had a vision and you're executing that vision and that's the most important thing. So for me, I personally like wrenching on my cars. I'm not a mechanic.
Like I don't have that sort of training. Yeah, exactly. But for us, we've watched a bunch of YouTube videos and I think more importantly-
Cris (34:55)
I'm gonna see certification.
Thanks man. Like this. ⁓
KT (35:05)
We're
just genuinely interested in picking up tools and turning wrenches and doing it ourselves. We're learning along the way. And that's, that's what it is for me. If I don't know what I'm doing, I'll figure it out. Right. I'll make mistakes along the way, but I'll figure it out because I find enjoyment in doing that too.
Cris (35:21)
Absolutely. And I think you have such a good point a second ago. Like there's no hate to anybody that actually goes to mechanic and pays for the upgrades or goes to a shop or makes friends with somebody who knows somebody or does it themselves. Like it's, it depends on, like we were talking about earlier, your skill level with this stuff. Do you have the time? Do you have the money or, know, or do you have the parts available? Like it's just one of those factors you have to choose from that you have to eliminate one of them.
If you have the money, you want the time? You have the parts, you know, have the parts, you know, but you don't have the money. Yeah. You know, got, know, time because you're working for it. So it's like, ⁓ like that factor that I like about it. Now, will you get judgment if you send your car to a mechanic and have a part put on when you have a buddy that knows how to do it? Absolutely. I'm going to, I'm going to judge you so hard.
KT (36:18)
us.
Cris (36:19)
I'm
going to judge you so hard if you go to a kid, if you knew somebody who had to do it now, it's just about the call, but some people don't have that option. And I get it. I respect anybody who has just a love for cars. Anybody who enjoys the culture, who takes care of the next generation or to just helps other people get into that helps other people really recognize what this is and what we're fighting for here. I mean, we say fighting for, but it's something that we've grown to genuinely love and enjoy.
And it's what we talk about with other people on a daily basis. It's that way we live, you know?
KT (36:51)
It's a lifelong sort of hobby and you can probably say it's more than a hobby or it's a passion. But it spawns a lot of different things too. So for me, like the sim racing thing, you know, that comes from cars. So the video game aspect relates to cars, but those are two separate hobbies. I also like working with my hands, building things, and I get to use that particular skill set and hobby on my car. So the idea of a car just being...
an object that gets you from point A to point B, for us it's way more than that.
Cris (37:25)
No, absolutely. Like, like I think the very one of the very first conversations that we had was the fact that when you put together something with your hands, you put a little bit of your soul into it. This sounds cheesy. sounds horny, but like at the end of the day, is it true? I think so. Absolutely. In my opinion. Like I think when you build something with your hands, like when you build a playset for your kids or for your nephews, for, know, you're helping somebody to put a fence up in their yard who's too old to do it.
Like you're putting a piece of yourself into that process, into the building. And I think with cars, every person, no matter if you buying the car and going from there, you have that in your head, that actual process, that piece of yourself that you invested into that project. Even if you sold it or gave it away and have that regret that, I never should have sold my, my beam or I should have kept all those parts I put into.
KT (38:17)
Memories associated with that too. Like the fact that you still remember your E36. Like to other people it may just be an appliance. It may just be an object that like, hey, I had it for six months and now I don't anymore, whatever. But to us, it's like, hey, I remember that. I still talk about that to this day.
Cris (38:35)
Well, I
think everyone has that, that, that one that got away. Right. But it wasn't the Beamer for me. It was many other cars ago, but like, it's one of those where you feel like, you know, I picked up the Z36 for nothing. I built it into this, you know, it was, it was basically a couple hundred dollars away from being a track ready drift, drift, drift car. And it was like, I was missing seat belts and a floor pan. And I was like, whatever, we're just going to rock without it.
Yeah. like, and so it was, but it was one.
KT (39:05)
Your wife is telling me that like the passenger floor like Flintstone style ⁓
Cris (39:12)
It
was one of those things where it's like, uh, like Gran Turismo and Forza told us that weight reduction was the thing ever. And then you rip everything out of your car and you're just like, regret everything. That's exactly what it was. But it's like, uh, it's exactly like what occurred. Like I ripped everything out. I really dove into the motor. I read the valves, I readjusted, making sure everything was just perfect. I got the,
course, I'm going to say this wrong and no judgment for those viewers and everything, but the red label ECU, which it wasn't a OBD2, it an OBD1. So it was, so I plugged that in and automatically, you know, revs got speedier, everything, you you started seeing just more response. I cleaned up the throttle. Everything was just exactly how I needed it. You know, I had an M3 rear end on the back of it that was fitting up. took a couple of like little balances to get it right.
Um, but it was just, it was perfect. It was exactly what I needed. Yeah. It really was. I had to put all that time and I remember the headache on the rear end was just to get it right. It was a lot of like friends coming over a lot of labor, a lot of mess ups, a lot of headaches, a lot of like real frustrating times, a lot of, a lot of cheap pizza and just crappy beer and like just friends that, that, you know, I, like I said, man, like we'll always.
KT (40:10)
your vision that you were executing.
Cris (40:35)
be in your good faith that it will just be there for you, that love just for the culture. But the day I got rid of it, you're right. That regret stays with me for a while, man. That could have been something that we could have run around in. Could have been a beater. I don't care if that car caught fire while I owned it, but the fact that I gave it up, that's where it was for me. I had a lot invested in that, a lot of time. But you gotta make peace with that. And that's where that car culture can come back around. And now I'm looking for my next one.
yeah, for sure. Hopefully you guys can see that evolution and that's going to be the fun part. You guys going to see the evolution of
KT (41:10)
if you
guys have any ideas for Cris's project call. ⁓
Cris (41:16)
All right, hold on I have rules for this and we're gonna talk about it. ⁓ First off if we're gonna get into that we're gonna have a physical altercation I hate boxer dudes to the worst thing they remain I think about limit it would have to be something of course real will drive or all-wheel drive And I'm looking like v6 or something turboed. Okay, but if it's a
KT (41:20)
Boxer engines.
Cris (41:40)
If it's a POS or a hoop D and it's something that motor doesn't work, but it's got a good solid frame, you know, that's where that love comes in and I'll be like, yeah, this will buff out. It's like a panel that's just completely warped. you're like, is a buff out. But it's, it's finding something, finding that next, uh, next hidden gem. That's, that's, I think that's going to be the next fun thing.
KT (42:03)
Sure. There's so many options out there and that's why we love cars, honestly. There's so many different options from an aesthetic point of view, from a mechanical point of view. yeah, for me, that's how I got into my car. Forza was the origin story for this car and many years later I was able to finally get my hands on this. So this is a 2003 Lexus IS 300. It's the sport design package, which
Honestly, really, it's just a appearance package. You get this nice thundercloud metallic paint, which is cool, I think, it's pretty dirty. But it's also a five speed manual transmission. So a little hard to find those out there.
Cris (42:38)
He knows the take out.
Save the manuals? Save the manuals. Absolutely. I'm all for it, dude. All for it.
KT (42:52)
⁓ For those of you who don't know, it has the somewhat iconic 2JZ engine. I only say somewhat because it's the GE. It's a non-turbo.
Cris (43:00)
⁓ I know you're going there. I was just like it's coming. was like it was like waiting for the shot. Go ahead continue
KT (43:02)
The non-turbo
Maybe one day it will be turboed. Not maybe. It will one day be turboed.
Cris (43:15)
Okay. And we all knew that was coming. I think, I think the first of all difference was like, ⁓ they're like for example, the turbo, like they taught us that, you know, engine swaps take, you know, somewhere around 10 seconds and real engine swaps are like take months. yeah. And takes your sanity.
KT (43:33)
Click
up a button and like $10,000 worth of artificial money.
Cris (43:38)
Yeah, that's basically you're like, it's easiest thing ever.
KT (43:41)
I'll just go win another race. You know, yeah, I'll get a $10,000 pot
Cris (43:45)
Like,
then, and then, and then I, you know, you do your first one and then your next one comes around and you're like, how much can I my left nut for? Like, how much, how much help can I find? And you're like, you're actually thinking about it and it's, it's, you know, sometimes they're not that bad, but I've, I've been involved in some, man, that are just, the worst thing ever. Like any Subaru, you know who you are. Like it's, no, some are fun, some are easy, but.
KT (43:56)
goodness.
Cris (44:14)
Some are just too crazy to get, get into. when you get started, it takes those months. takes those paychecks, those, those one bolt you're missing the shearing off of, you know, something to get it out. You know, it's the fun part about cars. It's it's, it's the, it's the saddest part, but it's those, it's those memories that we keep forever. Like that really like brings us back to it. You're like, I'm not doing another, you know, engine swap. I'm not doing another engine swap.
Then you're like, then you're like, Hey, Cris, you want to do that? Yeah, sure, man. Let's go do it.
KT (44:48)
Well, dude on your car
Cris (44:51)
Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Oh yeah. We're probably doing a swap. I don't know. We'll figure it out. Something. I don't know. We'll figure it out whether going at less or something again. Yeah.
KT (45:00)
I'd love to see you stuff a V8 into something. We'll get him a BRZ and stuff a V8 in there.
Cris (45:04)
I'd love to.
I actually
said that would be the only thing I see. could do that. I don't know. It would take a lot and I don't need that much. I need some shops help to really help us out with that. Some fab work, but that'd probably be an interesting swap. Take a BRZ like car like that. Yeah. Put a nice V8 in that little LS.
KT (45:26)
I mean as we as we go through our podcast and we continue you guys will be updated on this car Yes, we're shooting in my garage like we said, so this is our scene, right?
Cris (45:37)
Yeah. So this is, you might even see us like put up some videos possibly in the future of us doing add-ons or other things to the car. Eventually if my car comes, it'll be something that we're going to go with. think, like I said, this podcast and heat soaked was something that me and Katie, you know, talked about our love for cars and what it means to us. And it's something we want to share with other people and really get on topics. So if you guys have any ideas, something you want to talk about, something you want to bring up.
of the real side of the Florida side of the car culture. you know, bring it up, comment, you know, leave a like. Yeah, for sure. And that's why, that's why we're here, man. That's why heat soaked is a thing. You know, we're going to be doing car shows, hopefully in the future, seeing how this develops. And, this is how exactly we're going to evolve, but we're doing everything for the culture, Florida car culture. We're going to stick around the nineties and two thousands, something more recent. If we find something we really like in it, but we like our roots.
KT (46:27)
Maybe s-
Cris (46:32)
Yeah, we like where we grew up. Absolutely. think it's important to us and just like it is for, you know, the, each of our identities with our cars is important to us. And it's important that, for example, like, ⁓ my son sees the culture that the brotherhood that is a car culture of Florida, you know, the guys that get all together, have a barbecue, actually start working on their cars. It's important that we pass that on and it's something for us. And we'll talk more about that as we kind of come up, you know, for sure.
KT (46:34)
fun.
I feel like, we're going to have a lot of fun with this podcast and I hope all you guys out there are going to have a lot of fun with us. ⁓ There's going to be way more episodes to come, way more topics.
Cris (47:12)
Yes, ⁓ some absolutely silly some serious and then earth like this but this is something we came out with guys like I said this episode one and We hope you like it. Help. Yeah
KT (47:23)
This is us, heat soaked, I'm KT, that's Cris. ⁓
Cris (47:27)
Cris and KT back on Heats Up guys. Thank you so much.
KT (47:30)
Yeah, make sure to subscribe, like, comment, follow us on socials, all of that stuff.
Cris (47:35)
Absolutely everyone, it's heat soaked FL. So everybody check that out. All right. See you.
KT (47:41)
See you guys.
Cris (47:45)
I to do an intro. It was something I had written like a while back. had it on my notes here.
What's up guys, I'm Cris. This is KT and this is heat soaked. We come from an era where every friend had a daily a project and a parts car and none of them ran. Welcome to heat soaked. ⁓ man, what's love like that? That's hilarious.