VAUGHN & CO.
TOOLS. SYSTEMS. RESULTS.
BUILD STORIES
THE STORY BEHIND THE PROJECTS
TWIN TURBO BMW E46
MAYHEM
DOUBLE TROUBLE
I bought this E46 because I wanted something fun that would challenge me. There were still so many things I didn't know how to do, and I wanted a project that would force me to learn.
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It definitely did.
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One of the first ridiculous ideas was building six individual exhaust pipes out the back of the car. The problem was, I didn't know how to weld yet.
So I learned.
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The BMW became my rolling classroom. I learned to weld and fabricate on this car, and every time my skills grew, the plans for it got a little more ambitious.
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It also became the first—and last—car my brother and I ever worked on together. I was starting to teach him how to work on cars, and the last day I spent with him, we worked on this BMW together.
Eventually the neglected original 2.5L came out, a 3.0L M54B30 took its place, and the build evolved again—this time into a completely custom twin-turbo setup.
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It's taken way longer than I ever expected, mostly because I keep choosing to learn how to build things instead of just buying them.
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But that's also why this car means so much to me.
It's the car that taught me how to build—and now it carries a piece of my brother's story with it too.
BMW E46 330i
SPITE
SETTLING THE SCORE
This car exists because the internet wouldn't let something go.
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Years ago, I built six individual exhaust pipes for my blue E46. It was one of my first real fabrication projects—and the internet had a lot to say about it.
Especially one word:
Backpressure.
According to the comments, the exhaust was killing horsepower, destroying torque, ruining performance, and probably responsible for several other crimes against humanity.
The problem was, nobody actually had any data.
And neither did I.
The original car has evolved way beyond that setup, so instead of arguing with strangers on the internet forever, I bought another E46.
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The plan is simple: establish a baseline, recreate the original six-pipe exhaust, put the car back on the dyno, and actually measure what changes.
Horsepower. Torque. Driveability. Sound.
Maybe the haters were wrong.
Maybe they were right.
Either way, we're finally going to find out.
RAPTOREYE WRX
RESURWRXION
THE NEXT CHAPTER
Before I really started building cars, I was customizing dirt bikes.
This WRX was the car that changed that.
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It was the first car I really started modifying myself. I started small, learned as I went, and kept pushing the car further until eventually I had it making 430 WHP.
Then it blew up.
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The engine suffered LSPI, and after putting that much time and money into making power on the Subaru platform, I was tired of fighting reliability.
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So instead of putting another Subaru engine in it, I decided to do something completely different.
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LS swap it.
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What started as my first real modified car became a completely different kind of project—and another opportunity to learn how to do things I'd never done before.
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The WRX was my bridge from customizing dirt bikes to actually building cars. It was the first time I realized I didn't have to leave a car the way it came.
I could build it into whatever the hell I wanted.
WRAITH
Corvette C7 Z06
THE NEXT CHAPTER
The last day I spent with my brother, we worked on my BMW together.
Later that day, I took him for a drive in a C7 Stingray.
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I had no idea at the time how much that day—or that car—would eventually mean to me.
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After he passed, I spent the next year saving for a down payment.
On the anniversary of his death, I bought this Z06.
But I didn't choose the Z06 just because of that memory.
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After years of starting with older rusty vehicles and turning everything I owned into increasingly complicated projects, I wanted to start with a platform that was already incredibly capable. The car coming with a supercharger, dry-sump system, limited-slip differential, gave me the foundation for the kind of higher-horsepower build I eventually wanted to create.
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For once, I told myself I wasn't going to immediately tear the car apart.
I've mostly succeeded.
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Eventually it'll get the same treatment everything I own seems to get—more power, fabrication, bodywork, paint, and inevitably a much bigger project than I originally planned.
But this one will always be different.
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It represents one of my favorite last memories with my brother, but it also represents how far I've come since I started building cars.
PROJECT INFERNO
TROUBLE
1986 MAZDA RX-7
This was my first car.
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I bought it at 16 after saving everything I could from my first job. Not long after, the engine blew—and I found out the guy who sold it to me knew it was already on its way out.
I didn't have the money or the skills to fix it, but I couldn't bring myself to let it go.
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And somehow, I never did.
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I held onto this car through getting kicked out at 18, countless moves, losing shops, and more major life changes than I can count. Everywhere I went, this giant red paperweight came with me.
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As my skills grew, so did the plans for it. Eventually I was finally in a position to build the RX-7 I'd dreamed about since I was 16. I bought a 20B and trusted a shop to help make it happen—only to get screwed all over again.
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It's been my longest build, probably my most expensive, and without question my most painful.
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But after all these years, I'm still not giving up on it.
At this point, finishing this car isn't just about building an RX-7. It's about finally finishing something I started when I was 16.
2004 GMC LB7 Duramax
DIESEL DADDY
THE OVERHAUL
I bought this truck in Maine with relatively simple plans: clean it up, make it reliable, add some power, and turn it into the perfect hauler for all of my other bad financial decisions.
It even showed up running and driving.
I fixed that pretty quickly.
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While loading it up, a rear brake line blew—and once I started looking underneath, the “quick project” started becoming something very different.
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What began as fixing an old plow truck eventually turned into a complete frame-off restoration.
The truck came completely apart. I replaced the crossmembers, restored and custom painted the frame, and started rebuilding it from the ground up instead of just fixing what was broken.
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Because apparently I don't know how to leave anything alone.
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The goal now is to build the truck I actually want: a reliable, powerful, show-quality toy hauler that can tow my cars, handle road trips, and still be something I'm proud to pull into a show.
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And knowing me, it'll probably keep escalating until it ends up at SEMA.
