Archive for July, 2009

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Exclusive Content…Big Mike’s Prelude Build…Part 20…

July 31, 2009

I’ll be at the Super Street FF-Battle today so if you guys wanna stop by and chill, you know where to find me…Anyways, back with more of Big Mike’s Prelude rebuild. Basically just assembly of new engine pieces and maintanence here and there before the F20B goes back in…

Brand new Bisimoto cam gears…

Timing belt, windshield clips, grommets, spark plug seals, cam seals, valve cover shit, cowl clips, etc…

Big Mike’s homie Ejay came by to help out…

Old Skunk2 cam gears and timing belt coming out…

…and replaced by the Bisi cam gears, orange of course to match the custom orange exterior,…

…and new OEM timing belt…

Fitting for the custom clutch lines…

Mocking up the clutch master cylinder…

Bit of a minor set-back with the reservoir being too close to the firewall…

ARP 12-point stainless steel mounting hardware…

More stuff being mocked up for fabrication…

By the next update the motor should be in the car. While that’s stuff is going on, here’s some shots of the wheels that are getting refinished…

If you guys are wondering, no these won’t be like super aggressive low offset wheels. That’s not Big Mike’s style really. We tried to convince him but he’s more of a old school guy and he doesn’t want to do crazy fender mods to get wheels to fit any what not. What can I say, it’s not for everyone. Definitely shouldn’t take away from the build though….

Back with more as it comes in…

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The road to Nisei…Tony’s neglected NSX…Part 2…

July 29, 2009

Finally, an update on the NSX…Last time we checked-in, the NSX was being used as a storage unit with all kinds of shit stuff inside of it. Well Tony finally emptied it out and being to tear off the front-end so that it could be sent off for repairs…

Don’t think many people got to see the rear of this NSX before with the rear diffuser installed. He had actually just put this on last year before Nisei but as you all know, the trailer fucked this thing up pretty badly so no one ever got to see it. You can also see the custom center-exit L-Con exhaust…

Nice to see the interior again after all the clothes and shit were taken out…

Front-end off…

Here’s a better look at the damage that was done…Alot of cracks and chunks missing. Hopefully once it’s fixed it’ll be as good as new…The biggest issue is the carbon lower piece. Most likely won’t be able to keep the complete carbon look anymore and will probably have to be painted once repaired….

Gotta figure out the audio too since this thing used to have a complete audio set-up. Most of the stuff was sold and or moved onto his other car…

Look at the damage done to the fender…yikes. I can’t imagine the feeling watching that shit tear apart like that. Even the sideskirts were damaged because it’s all essentially one piece…

Everything that needs to be fixed has been removed and sent off to the bodyshop for paint and repairs…

While all the body stuff is being taken care of, it’ll give Tony a chance to finally install this ARC oil pan that’s just been sitting in his garage for ages now…

He also just got these mirrors recently…

That’s it for now. Basically just needs to fix little things here and there, umm…get the car running finally haha, battery is probably shot, and of course the bodywork. Stay tuned….

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Exclusive Content…Big Mike’s Prelude Build…Part 19…

July 28, 2009

Dammmmnnn…part 19 already. Before I begin though, I thought I’d mention that I make my writing debut in the new issue of Super Street that’s out on newstands now. I’m grateful for the opportunity and happy to expand my horizons in the industry. If you see it make sure to pick it up. My homie Chris also makes his debut in this mag too, but as a photographer. I’ve known the guy for awhile now and he’s also one of the few guys in the Accord community that doesn’t hate me. Haha, I don’t blame them though, I guess, success usually tends to breed contempt. Just how it is. Anyway, Chris is a hell of a photographer and I’m happy I convinced him to come out to Socal cuz it kinda helped him get his foot in the door. How fitting that we both make our debuts at the same time. I’m still freelance of course so I continue to do work for Honda Tuning as well so if you’re wondering, no, I’m not jumping ship. I’m like a hired gun, so to speak… So far so good over at SS though, Jonathan Wong is a cool dude…

What better way to kick off the start of my work over at SS then to show a picture of me drinking while sitting on top of a toilet. It’s almost poetic…Damn, I almost miss that ridiculous hair…

On with the build shall we?…

This will be the 19th of the series so far…which will be dubbed…”The Rywire Section”. Black and white for dramatic effect, and obviously to hide the fresh orange paintjob. I also made it black and white because Rywire doesn’t see the sun much with all his wiring duties, so he has an unusual pastel white glow about him when photographed. B&W is the only way to make him blend in. He’s so white he glows is what I’m trying to say. He’s doing all the work and it’s much appreciated. Anyone who’s willing to drive back and forth from Norcal to Socal week-to-week to do work is a down ass mofo. Gotta give him props for doing that…I can’t even stay awake walking from my car to my apartment so I can’t imagine driving almost 15 hours round trip all the time…

Rywire surveying the filthy interior after it came back from paint, trying to figure out where to start…

The mess….

The only time the words “Big Mike” and “scrubdown” will ever be used and used in a non-creepy or prison-love context…

Ryan puttin’ in work…

Break-time…

After the under-dash wiring was cleaned up, it was time to move on to the engine…

AEM CDI Pencil Coil conversion…Basically used as a type of individual coil-pack for each plug, like newer models that are DIS, or distributorless ignition systems…These are used for better spark delivery and to run in conjunction with AEM engine management. Big Mike tells me that he basically ordered the entire AEM catalog….

Ry-wired up…Using only the best stuff of course. Gotta have the DR25 Raychem stuff…

Booster delete to manual brakes…. After Ryan finished up the coil pack wiring, next up was custom brakelines…

The results…

Big Mike also managed to find an OE Prelude car cover…

…Here he’s demonstrating the Big Mike Scrubdown after clubbing Rywire in the head with a dumbbell…sick.

More to follow as it comes in…thanks for looking…

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IA Follow-up…

July 27, 2009

Love the discussion guys, keep it coming…haha. I know that what I said might have came off a little insensitive but after having a talk with my boy Chris out in the midwest, I think we came to an agreement that both events are very different. Is IA better than Eibach? No…totally different event. It’s always good to talk about these things though because it helps us see how different people in different regions see things. I love the guys out east and their cars, hell when they came out here, I personally drove out to wherever they were just to hang out with them and meet them. So it’s not like I got any resentment towards the east/midwest. Keep doing your thing. Shit, alot of you guys out there are helping me rep this site so I certainly can’t say anything bad about that. Like Chris said though, most of the guys out there that support this site “get it” and they understand what I’m trying to say. I’m happy you guys got big things going on out there, it’s about time! Haha…alright alright, time to stop…keep doing big things people.