2015 Nissan Leaf Tsujigiri. Megan Racing Adjustable Coilover suspension. 17X8 Motegi Racing MR147 CM7 MT Bronze wheels. 225/45ZR17XL 94W Westlake, SA57 UHP tires. Custom front airdam. Graphics package.
Drawing on the stories of the ancient Japanese Samurai practice of testing a new Katana or fighting technique on the unsuspecting passerby, the Tsujigiri Leaf offers a surprise confrontation with the tuner car world, testing its place, technology, and techniques of tuning.
First introduced in 2011, the Nissan Leaf has become one of the most popular battery electric vehicles (EVs) on the planet. From the beginning, various attempts were made to enhance the platform - most focussing on increasing the range and efficiency. The Leaf is largely unknown in the tuner car community with a few rare examples of them appearing in autocross events, hill climbs, etc… There are some fabulous renderings available and a smattering of real world examples with one off body kits built in Japan.
In what could best be described as a departure from our roots building rat rods and doing motor swaps on vintage Japanese cars and trucks, Rusty Speedwerks Inc. has partnered with High Voltage Garage Canada to explore the Leaf platform and it’s potential to become more mainstream in tuner car culture. While the Leaf stands in stark contrast to our last build (Fargo Farm Truck also featured on Speedhunters April 2020), it does represent a desire to look to what hot rodding and tuner car culture is becoming. This project is a study in the presence of EVs in our local tuner car culture, and whether or not a rather pedestrian car like the Leaf can become a platform not unlike the Honda Civic that is accepted as legitimate in this world.
Stage One of the Tsujigiri Leaf has focussed on the basic first mods any enthusiast would make - suspension, wheels and tires, and cosmetics. Stage Two would involve brake upgrades, and already available battery upgrades. Stage Three would involve performance modifications to the motor and controllers. The beauty of the Leaf platform is that it shares many components with it’s non-electric counterparts from Nissan. Thus, it is fairly straightforward to upgrade the braking system with components from the z33/z34 platform, and the Leaf shares wheel bolt patterns and offsets with many other current Nissan cars.
The Tsujigiri Leaf has been lowered approximately 4” over stock on adjustable front coil overs and adjustable rear springs and shocks. When combined with the UHP tires and aftermarket rims, this car really starts to come alive. Cosmetically, we have drawn on cues from and pay homage to the Shakotan / Bosozuku practice of mounting an oil cooler out front and a train handle in the rear. The front airdam, modest wing and livery draw on more traditional race car inspiration. Being an outsider, the Tsujigiri Leaf also pokes fun at some of these traditions. Mounting a fuse out front rather than an oil cooler (who needs one of those anyway?), replacing the train handle with a vintage electrical cord, or running the Kanji characters sideways, mixing the layout of Japanese and English.
We have already received considerable interest in the build and are excited to see where we can go with the next stages of this project. We are also using this platform to explore EV conversions for our more traditional hot rod / rat rod builds. Some of the challenges in doing this involve overcoming some of the traditional things that make hot rodding and tuning popular. When there is no rolling coal, lumpy cams, open exhausts, blow off valves, or turbo sounds, what is there? Silence. We are learning to love it. It might take time.
The Tsujigiri Leaf is a partnership between Rusty Speedwerks Inc. (@rustyspeedwerks on Instagram) and High Voltage Garage Canada (@high.voltage.garage.canada on Instagram).
All photos in this feature are by the talented Maxmillian Krewiak (@maxkrewiak on Instagram).