Since no one makes 1 7/8″ headers for an LS1 IS300, we had to take matters into our own hands and make some. The passenger side header was pretty straight forward. Meanwhile, the driver side header had to wrap around the steering rack. After making sure the headers fit perfectly, the exhaust was fabricated. We used twin 3″ pipes going to an x-pipe and then through magnaflow cans. The muffler selection was made to keep the car a little bit quiet, but so the engine will still be heard over the spinning tires. After the mufflers the exhaust dumps just past the rear axle. The car was then put on the dyno and made a healthy 414 whp, and 378 ftlbs of torque. That is an improvement of 21whp over the old manifold/exhaust setup.
LS1 IS300 gets headers, exhaust and tune
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011Welding top of roll cage
Monday, July 18th, 2011
Many people wonder how do you weld the top of a roll cage. We are about to let you in on how we do it. You drill holes in the floor where the base plates go. Then when everything gets bent and tack welded together, you drop the cage through those holes. That way the top of the cage can be welded. After that the mounting plates get welded in above the holes in the floor, and the cage gets welded to the top of the plates.
Looking for a few good interns
Friday, June 24th, 2011
Due to the overwhelming success of this years Batlground Motorsports intern program, we have decided to expand. We will be inviting a couple more eager students to join us.
Our interns are not afraid of a little hard work rewarded with learning something new. We strive to provide a give and take environment where both the student and teacher are helping each other to accomplish a common goal.
Here at Batlground we deal with a wide array of different makes and models of vehicles, did you think we only built import projects? Think again, there is a huge force of American muscle with modern LS basedV8 projects coming in all the time. Not to mention our own LS6 powered drift car. Between overseeing the work our techs do to our customer cars or getting some hands on experience with Batlground’s own stable of vehicles, there is never a dull moment.
Our current interns have also enjoyed racing with us. This years Atlanta Region SCCA Autocross season has proved to be a valuable experience, with several of our own constantly improving their lap times. Want to learn by doing? We encourage everyone to join us for all of the Autocross action.
If you are interested in becoming part of the automotive industry, are currently enrolled in an automotive or motorcycle program or just have some extra time to spend doing what you love, please send us a resume. Please send all resumes to us at Batlground@gmail.com for review. Don’t worry if you do not currently have a full resume, we just want to get an idea of your background and interests, please send pics as well. Pics of past, present or future projects are always helpful.
NSX dyno
Thursday, May 26th, 2011
Here is a turbo NSX. The new owner brought it by so we could see if it made what he was told when he bought it. When buying a used turbo car, you could be getting a great deal, or buying someone’s old problems. In this case, the customer came out ahead, at least for now. The car made a respectable 433whp.
Treefrog
Thursday, May 19th, 2011
I want to show you guys this cool tree frog I saw the other day. I think it looks like it should be in the rain forest or somewhere tropical, not Smyrna, GA. This has absolutely no relationship to cars, but is interesting enough for me to take a few minutes to talk about it. Don’t you wish that you could walk up walls like this guy? I know I do.
Batlbunny
Monday, May 16th, 2011
Friday afternoon we heard shouting and horns coming from the street. Upon investigation we noticed that there was a little bunny trying to cross the road. With the help of a courteous driver we rescued the bunny from traffic with no harm to anyone. After work it was dropped off at the Cobb Emergency Vet, they will take care of him for approximately 4 weeks before being released into the wild.
Diversity Over Specialty
Monday, February 15th, 2010One thing that has always bothered me a little is how shops get lumped into categories. For instance we were considered a “Supra Shop” for a long time. Even after we had stopped drag racing the Supra and built a 450 whp SR powered S14 that beat up much higher horse power Supras. Trust me, NO ONE had one of those back then in Atlanta. Then we changed the S14 to be a drift car, built one for Tracy too, and got our Pro licenses. Naturally, we then became considered a 240 shop. When we built the Hello Kitty Evo 8? Again our label changed. So on and so forth. Our competitors deal with the same issues. There is “The Honda Shop” and “The 350z/G35 Shop” or “The Subaru/Evo Shop” . To me it seems that these shops embrace being labeled as a specialty shop so they can try to justify their inflated rates and outrageous prices. It appears, for the most part, to garner them a lot of business for that particular car, while limiting their experiences and knowledge of other makes and models. Some have even refused to work on certain cars. Thanks for the business guys!
Now, I’m not saying that these other shops don’t work on other cars—not at all. I’m just saying that we are able to work on anything. We are not afraid to work on the “tough” cars. I personally enjoy it. It makes my job more interesting and more challenging. It has been this way since I came to the shop in 2003. It is a part of what makes us Batlground. I think a lot of people don’t realize how Batlground got started. Dan started working on his own cars in his drive way before he even thought of opening a shop. He worked by himself for more than 2 years before I came into the picture, all self taught. If he couldn’t figure it out he bought the shop manual and learned. This self teaching was on his own Mercedes, E46 M3, and Supra. I worked at a Toyota dealership when I first moved down here and they sent me to school for alignment, suspension, and brakes. I spent a year on the service line performing all aspects of work on all models, including the non-Toyota wholesale cars. I then worked at a Subaru/Hyundai/Honda/Mitsubishi dealership for a little over a year. We take a lot of pride in our ability to work on anything. Back then, for Dan, it was necessity—for myself it was my job. Now—its our passion.
This applies to tuning, too. Dan can tune on any platform, even if we don’t have the software here in house, as long as he has it when its time to tune—from an AFC to Motec and anything in between. Those other guys only “toon”. They talk a big game, but when it comes down to it they are just mashing keys. Dan has thrown down the challenge. Compare his maps to the other guys. You don’t have to be a tuner to see the difference.
Just take a look at our history to get a glimpse of our future. With the Supra it was the quickest, fastest, highest horse power in GA. When we had the Evo, it was the quickest, fastest, highest horse power in GA. The 240? Same story for an SR power plant in GA, then it became Dan’s drift car when he was the ONLY Formula D licensed driver in GA. Soon enough the LS6-Z is going to be done. There are going to be more projects to master beyond that. There is an old saying: Expert of many, Master of none. Who do you want working on your car? Experts of few, Masters of one? or Experts of many, Masters of Done? If it were me I would choose the shop that has progressed with the scenes and trends of their customers.
Please visit our gallery for more pictures of our cars and to take a look at the variety of customers we have worked on.
Batlground: Monster Jam!!!! EXPLOSIANS!!!!
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
Saturday! Saturday!!SATURDAY!!! Thanks to Tracy and her connections she made while trying out to be a driver for the Grave Digger team and Live Nation, we had the privledge of going behind the scenes at Monster Jam this past weekend. IT WAS AWESOME! I had been to Monster Jam once before and it was a great time even in the nose bleed seats. There is just something deeply gratifying and carnal about watching 10,000 pound trucks crush cars and jump 40-50 feet in the air. Mix in some pre-party (as well as some during) cocktails, 8 grown adults acting like kids, and some flannel: What you get is a hootin and hollerin good ol’ time! I mean lets be honest, 65,000 screaming fans can’t be wrong. Monster jam is a great time. Special thanks to Mike, Henry and Dan for the access and information. It was very insightful hanging out and getting the inside information on how the trucks are built and maintained. See y’all next year!
Check out Tracy during her monster truck driver ed-u-ma-cation. HOOOO YEEAAAHHH!!!!
The American Way? Everyone else can suck it!
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009
Totally random, but I can’t help thinking about Burger King. Short story. I am in advertising school as some of you may know, so I check a lot of this stuff out. BK has a new ad campaign. It’s 2 of the same commercials but with just one little difference. One is calling out Wendy’s for having a fried burger and the other is calling out McDonald’s for the same exact reason. BK also goes as far as to claim that their burger is bigger and by golly it even taste better than the competitions. So, I been wondering, does that make BK’s burgers taste any different? If not, I wonder how many customers they lose daily because they called out 2 of their competitors on their fried burgers in a huge ad campaign. Now that I think of it, I wonder if anyone goes to Cali to get their burgers at In ‘N Out instead of BK’s in their home town because of the campaign.
There is also the Verison/AT&T war, currently. What about way back when with the Pepsi challenge where Pepsi called Coke out on their better taste? OMG. Even Nationwide calls out Geico. Nationwide is supposed to be professional. What are they doing going up against their competition in such a flamboyant way? This world is going to go to hell in a hand basket because of our unprofessional ways! I think I am going o start a Facebook Fan page. Help me decide on what I should call it. I was thinking Batlground Rules and everyone else can suck it. Comment and tell me what you think.
/sarcasm
Batlground: December to Remember
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
So after an amazing December we are winding down a bit for the Holiday. Filming for a TV show the first half of the month took us all the way to our charity dyno day on the 19th. A lot of work has been put into the future of our little shop. With the state of our economy and the other small shops around the Atlanta area struggling to keep their doors open, we feel especially fortunate for our relative stability. Some of it is luck, but mostly I think it is because of who we are. The pride we have in ourselves is reflected in the work we do. We want nothing but the best for our customers and we will do everything in our power to make sure that they have best possible product for the cost allowed. This of course is nearly impossible to achieve %100 of the time, so we do have our share of detractors. I have a statement for everyone listening though: I will take the “Pepsi Challenge” against any of our competitors. I stand behind every car that has passed through here.
Batlground isn’t going anywhere. We have been around as long or longer than our competitors. We have toured the country racing at the professional level. We have had feature cars in magazines and displayed at SEMA. We have built 5 “shop” cars, in synch with the latest models and trends. There is a 6th on the way. The best part is we haven’t lost who we are and where we started. The same small project cars grace our shop today that got Dan started in 2001. We have a long list of return customers, some that started out doing just a GSR swap in their civic. They now return to make 600 whp in that same car. Some are customers that first came in with an entry level tuner project, that have progressed up to a 06′ Mustang with a Blower, Z06, or Viper. To be able to work on those types of projects, and to be able to have those long term relationships with our customers is a great feeling. Its something that keeps me going, and drives me to do better.
2010 is almost here, this is the year that the economy is supposed to turn around. We have weathered the storm and are stronger now, ready to take on the next challenges. The reason, in my opinion, that we are strong is because we have been the same for so long. Dan, Tracy, and Brandon. Now there have been plenty of other employees come through here. Some with big names and reputations, that ultimately didn’t work out in our system. We have been the same 4 for over a year and a half with the addition of Justin. That is not something you see at other shops, there is always such a high turn over. When you deal with us, you have some sense of accountability. You know that when you come in you won’t have to hear ” Oh, well, so-and-so did that and he don’t work here anymore”. I can’t wait to see what the new year brings. What new project or trend is around the corner? Alternative fuels? Land Speed Records? A new Fast and Furious? We got that.
