My visit at ARC Brazing (Japan)
 

Sorry for the slow updates. I've got over 1200 pictures to edit!

My visit to ARC Brazing:

Since ARC has always been one of my favorite companies, I've wanted to visit their factory. I believe everyone that loves cars at least once seen a race car with ARC intercooler or ARC radiator. It's an iconic company from Japan who always sold highest quality (and often highest priced) items.

2 years ago they went bankrupt because of bad exchange rate, bad economy and growth of counterfeit items (TRUST almost went bankrupt, too).

Well, to continue my story, after 2 hours drive from RS Pantera (pictures coming soon), I've finally arrived to the ARC factory. Hard to find, it's in an industrial city and less ''backyard'' than most shops.

First thing I see:
http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/...psc2d837ed.jpg

Looking awesome. I'm sure I'll see tons of awesome cars and parts, some kind of dream come true.

As I told them I was coming, they parked 2 of their shop cars in front of the factory, how nice is that ?

http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3a73d4c3.jpg

Their Toyota 86 demo car looks awesome in person. Very nice ride height, Advan wheels, Modellista lip kit and the decals actually suit the car very well:

http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/...ps62d6e0af.jpg

Let's not forget about the GT-R. This one is pretty much modded perfectly, so subtle and nice:

http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/...psaf71ee8a.jpg

It's also on Advan wheels, suits the car perfectly!

http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/...psab9270cc.jpg

I then asked them to show us the engine bay of those beasts, to hopefully see their awesome parts and clean engine bays.

Let's first start with their 86 demo car:

http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6c34d005.jpg

When I saw this, I did not know what to say. Engine bay looked stock, it was not even running their original intake box nor prototype chamber. The person at ARC told us they were doing some tests on it still...

Other parts were installed:

Oil Cooler:

http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/...ps416ca575.jpg

Oil Catch Tank:

http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/...ps667ea09a.jpg

Radiator Cap:

http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/...psc833011b.jpg

After seeing only this, I was a bit disappointed. I asked them to show me the GT-R engine bay to see if they had more awesomeness under the hood:

http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/...ps697bb0e5.jpg

Stock engine... only upgraded Radiator, Intercooler & their 2-in-1 oil catch tank & oil cooler...

They then asked me to come in and see their showroom, hopefully there would be more awesomeness inside.

There was indeed many cool parts:

http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/...ps209a3b00.jpg

http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/...ps812ceb7b.jpg

Which were super rare and nice, but discontinued and NOT FOR SALE :(

From what I understood, the company used to be an icon in racing, but since bankrupt, they needed to be on the safe side and that's why development has stopped. Another shop told us (rumor) that they do OEM products to companies such as Carbing and only do development, plans and then they build the item to a company with bigger capital.

It's a shame such a great company has stopped doing their awesome (and sometimes crazy) designs that made ARC what it is today.

Only available items now are their intake box (for some specific vehicles), radiators and shift knobs. All other items are mostly discontinued.

I've still asked them if there was a possibility of seeing some of their nice radiator caps or oil caps being done again and they told me they needed an order of 50 units to do it. I think it's possible to do it again, but it'll be hard:

http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/...ps85b4156b.jpg

http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/...ps573e097d.jpg

Radiator cap also possible at 50 quantity...

http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/...psc833011b.jpg

To summarize, this is what happens when a company goes bankrupt and try to come back on the safe side. Without risking anything, there is just no possible way to develop new parts, unfortunately.

For more pictures of my Japan trip, follow us in Facebook!

Well what do you want when you sell a $500-600 intake box that doesn't even make power?

A shame, ARC made the best stuff. I had a lot of their products over the years, incl. the intercooler on my Evo and intercooler piping. Their 86 offerings are unfortunately laughable. No radiator or Ti engine parts, just shift knobs and a useless air box.

Super cool! I've always been a fan of ARC, just not their prices.

I remember back in the late 90s and early 2000s when I was in the Honda tuning culture.. ARC was huge! It seemed like every single "high end" modded Honda had something made by ARC that was featured on it. Now.. whether the parts justified the high cost was a topic of controversy and the subject of many a heated thread argument. But I digress. Regardless of cost/performance.. the build quality and craftsmanship were amazing.

Crazy story.. I bought the ARC winglets for my EK back in the day. The car got totaled (I was the middle car in a 3 car pile up) before I even got to install the winglets. Still have them BNIB (still bubble wrapped with the unpeeled decal and everything). Been debating whether to throw them on my BRZ (I have seen a BRZ with the INGS+1 body kit rocking them) or just hold onto them a little longer.

It must have been a bittersweet trip. Thanks for the pictures!

Proof that it does not make power ? I know for sure that it improves throttle response.

I know for sure it costs way over $600 too, lol!

People on this board said that the box gets hot and doesnt make power, i have an ARC box provided by 86worx and it does not get hot and it does make power. Sounds good in cabin and does get better throttle response. Max please get me one of those oil caps and radiator caps put me on that list lol.

I believe a lot has been said by people without them actually testing the product...

I remember from my integra days as well and even on the supra, although the ARC boxes look sweet, they are no where near the best performing intake for the price.