Into Another Dimension: A Tale of Two Hierophants
Special thanks to @Deskyx for providing me with the car.
When Houston mechanic Carl Blake first heard about the '94 Dimension Hierophant, he knew that it would be his dream car sooner or later. In fact, he had enough money in the bank to buy two: a non-turbo for daily use, and a turbo model for the track. But having owned and driven both of them for a few months, he realized that they would make great tuning projects. Yet from then on, the two could not have had stories that were any more different.
For the non-turbo model, he installed a new close-ratio gearbox, tweaked the cam profile, added a high-flow exhaust system, reinforced the bottom end, fitted 4-piston front brakes, retuned the suspension and replaced the oversized wheels with 17-inch items to improve ride comfort. The result was a much faster (nearly 10 mph more at the top end, and more than a second faster to 60) and better resolved car, with astounding straight-line performance for something with less than 300 bhp. But Blake was not satisfied and soon found himself wanting more.
The Hierophant Turbo, meanwhile, received similar engine, gearbox, and suspension mods to its NA counterpart, and also shared that car’s fancy brakes, but in addition to all that, it was fitted with a new turbocharger installation with ball-bearing turbos, a water-to-air intercooler, and 40% more boost, among other things, while the rev limiter was decreased to 7200 rpm for reliability’s sake. As such, its power delivery was even more violent, with much more torque and less lag than previously. However, the extra grunt, especially in the mid-range, made it much more of a handful than before - as Carl Blake himself found out the hard way when he spun 360 degrees on an autocross run, fortunately without any damage to him or the Hierophant.
Fearing that he might not be so lucky next time, he put the turbo Hierophant into storage and used the non-turbo model as his daily driver for the next few years. It wasn’t until drifting became popular in the United States that he seriously thought about using it again. And when he finally brought the beast out of retirement, he was surprised to find out that he had finally found a use for it - as a drift car. With ample midrange torque, he found it easy to kick the tail out in the corners, although it took a while for him to keep it under control. But when he mastered it, he laughed maniacally at the insane drift angles he was consistently getting. So he used it as a street-legal drift car and entered it in various sanctioned amateur competitions, which he duly proceeded to dominate.
Both cars survive to this very day, and while Blake believes he could have done a few things differently, he does not regret what he did at all. In fact, he is proud of what he had built, and only recently has he thought about offering the pair for sale - he now wants a single car that can easily do double duty as a track weapon and a daily driver. So if you want to own a piece or two of '90s nostalgia, with the ability to beat the Japanese at their own game handily, now might be the right time to do so.