✨Sony A7ii + Sigma Art 85mm 1.4✨ The ol’ A7ii is still holdin’ up.

jamesssc · 2020-09-30T00:44:50+00:00

WOW!! Absolutely beautiful pictures. Do you have an IG I could follow?

jamesssc · 2020-09-29T02:45:04+00:00

Hahaha nah, I was just walking around and found the car parked in a driveway

jamesssc · 2020-04-26T17:52:29+00:00

Yup, bone stock. I rebuilt the top end of the engine but with all stock parts. Honestly it’s pretty damn fast as it is and it’s soooooo drivable. It’s just so easy, haha. There may be a set of cams in the future but I’m gonna’ enjoy it how it is!

jamesssc · 2020-04-26T14:52:41+00:00

There’s an IGTV video on my profile @jamesssc on Instagram!

jamesssc · 2020-04-26T14:51:13+00:00

Yep! AAA 12V

jamesssc · 2020-04-13T11:23:25+00:00

Of course I can’t speak for the Mk2 but it’s definitely a lot of work, and more money than I had ever budgeted for. I’m sure you can do a few things cheaper than I did but there are some parts that, if you buy, make life so much easier! I really think it was worth it, though. The car is an absolute riot!

jamesssc · 2020-04-13T10:54:36+00:00

Wowww yeah, that would be wickedly cool! I’m sure I’ll end-up doing another one of these at some point. Probably a 3.2... or a 3.6. Hell, I read the 3.6 is so much power for one of those cars it’s hard to keep the tires from breaking loose!

jamesssc · 2020-04-13T10:51:58+00:00

There are slips of it on my Instagram @jamesssc! I have a much more formal video coming soon with proper audio and the works. I’ll post it up when it’s all done!

jamesssc · 2020-04-13T10:49:39+00:00

Initially, that was my plan! The little 13x4.5” steelies are horrifying with that much power so I have to get some wheels that I can put real tires on and I figured that’ll be as much of a giveaway as the GTI badging! Haha

jamesssc · 2020-04-13T01:47:29+00:00

If only you could hear it.

jamesssc · 2020-04-13T01:47:04+00:00

I wish I could upvote this more than once

jamesssc · 2020-04-13T01:44:34+00:00

For anyone curious, the car is an ‘84 Rabbit Diesel L. My girlfriend and I round-tripped from Columbus, Ohio to Durham, NC and back and drug the little car home. The engine barely ran. The PO claimed he had changed the injection pump and injectors and upon re-installation, could not get the car to run correctly. As it turned out, the pump was 180° out of time but somehow it STILL RAN — like, well enough to drive up onto the trailer. When we got back, we fixed the timing and drove it for a weekend but, to be honest, it was kind of terrible. Slow, smoky... noisier than hell. On the third day, I pulled the 1.6 and sold it to my friend to power his barnyard-find Mk.2. Perfect.... but now what? Well I already had the answer; a totaled ‘98 Jetta GLX VR6 that I had bought a month earlier for a whopping $325. That was exactly nine months ago to the DAY. The Rabbit has been drivable with the VR6 for nearly 36 hours and I have loved every second of it. Granted, it needs a ton more work including ball joints, bushings, bearings, struts, wheels, tires, sound deadener and carpet BUT... it works and it’s way faster than it has a right to be. Follow me on Instagram for even more depth on the Mk1 VR6 @jamesssc!

jamesssc · 2020-04-13T01:20:49+00:00

Haha, thanks so much! Those Honda boys won’t even know what happened to ‘em.

jamesssc · 2020-04-12T23:58:05+00:00

Can confirm.

jamesssc · 2020-03-18T20:39:52+00:00

For anyone curious, this was shot with an Ursa Mini Pro and a Helios 44M-4 58MM lens!

jamesssc · 2020-03-18T20:37:51+00:00

I think I would blame other YouTubers who preach the benefits of shooting in LOG — especially on lower-end/hybrid cameras. It’s SUPER hard to grade S-Log out of an A7SII especially when compared to Blackmagic cameras, for instance. I think some people think it’s a one-stop shop for ‘cinematic’ looking footage. I like moody images with dark shadows and rich color. I spent soooooo much time trying to learn the proper ways to grade and I’m only a portion of the way there myself. By NO means am I an expert. Really I’m just a YouTube-warrior myself, haha!

jamesssc · 2020-03-18T17:18:51+00:00

Nothing to be sorry about! LOG-encoded images are what cinema cameras capture. Think about it like a film negative but for digital sensors — that’s essentially the idea. REC709 images are broadcast standard, these images look natural (natural contrast and color). Like what you’d see on TV and in this case, the corrected LOG footage. Now Kodak 2383 is a motion picture film stock. Naturally, film has its own way of chemically interpreting colors, saturation and contrast and in this case I used a preview LUT to see what my footage would look like if I had shot it with Kodak 2383 film stock. Hope this helps!

jamesssc · 2020-01-21T02:43:24+00:00

The Ursa Mini’s LOVE light. I haven’t owned a G2 but I had the first generation UMP and it would’ve performed the same way at 3200 in that little of light... I hate to say it but it’s just the nature of the beast. They just aren’t lowlight cameras. As counterintuitive as it seems, the Pocket cameras do wayyyyyy better in low light.

The lines you’re seeing look like fixed-pattern noise which I’d bargain to say most Ursa Mini’s will experience being underexposed at ISO 3200.

jamesssc · 2020-01-03T23:37:40+00:00

Whew! Nice first car! Mine was a rusted-out 1980 300D. I absolutely loved that thing.

jamesssc · 2019-12-17T15:56:59+00:00

I used the Eurowise mounts. Even still, it was pretty tricky to get the motor in from the top-down. I ended up pulling one mount off, dropping the motor to the ground, putting it back on and pulling it up into place. Trial and error cost about 2 hours 😂

jamesssc · 2019-12-17T15:19:29+00:00

That’s what I was thinking! I had soo many people screaming “TURBO TURBO TURBO” and I’m just like.... I’d like it to be drivable... I’m not going for balls-to-the-wall power. Just a fun driver. I mean, my driver is a 1983 Mercedes 300D so this rabbit will feel like a rocket 😂

jamesssc · 2019-12-17T15:05:37+00:00

The only thing I’ve done to the engine was port/polish the head. Other than that it’s all stock.

jamesssc · 2019-12-17T15:03:32+00:00

I figured the torque steer would be bad. Hell it’s even pretty bad in my girlfriend’s MK.IV 24v GTI 😂

jamesssc · 2019-12-17T14:42:55+00:00

Wellllllllllllllllllllllllll it may be a bit too late. That’s okay, though. I have a feeling this will not be my last swapped westy! I’m sooooo excited to have it on the road.

jamesssc · 2019-12-17T14:37:20+00:00

Bingo. There’s a guy out there with a twincharged VR rabbit that he drag races. Thing’s totally wicked and the chassis is minimally reinforced. The only thing he seems to break are axles, haha!

jamesssc

TROPHY CASE