The Top 10 Hondas of 2008…A retrospective…Part 1…
No photoshoots this past weekend since it was dreadfully hot and I haven’t really written alot of stuff lately because we’ve been so image heavy so I thought I’d do that today. The list from last year has had alot of traffic since I reposted it a week ago. Damn, I had no idea so many people would look at it. Today and maybe the day after that, we’re gonna be taking a look at where these guys are at today. It’s only been a short time but things sure have changed a bit for some of these guys. We’ll start exactly how we started the list last time….from 10-6, then 5-1…let’s get started…
10. Son’s EK from Hasback…
What he’s up to now: I really don’t know….Haven’t really had the chance to talk to him lately since Eibach earlier this year. I’m guessing he’s been busy handling business outside the car world. Not too many changes with his car other than a wheel change and little touches here and there. I loved the Gab wheels on this car….I wish he never sold them. The Mugen wheels look great, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve always been a sucker for some Gab wheels in mid 30s offset. They’re perfect. I remember posting up something about Floss’s EK a couple posts after that in a “Honorable Mentions” list and I had said stated some criticisms about the car and I guess he wasn’t too happy about it. I never meant for it to be a bad thing, but I guess he’s not too fond of me these days…Oh well, can’t please everybody I guess. My opinion shouldn’t really matter anyway right?…In any case, Son’s car hasn’t really seen much change since and it really doesn’t need to…
9. Danville Dingel’s flared EK…
What he’s up to now: Instead of being number 9 on the list he should have won the most pretigious award for having the most interesting name in the world…haha…Danville is a cool guy. I remember posting his car up a while back and then a bunch of Canadians got mad at me because I was making fun of them. Man they were fucking mad…haha. I guess they felt that Reynard’s CR-X should have been on the list instead of Chase’s but what they didn’t realize was that I had no idea who Reynard was at the time or what car he owned. Anyways, I told them something like if they showed me Reynard’s car and it was nicer than Chase’s than I would post it up but if it wasn’t I was gonna replace Danville’s car with a homemade helicopter or some shit. Regardless, they weren’t too happy about it. So Winnepeg hates me but it’s cool, because I still have no idea where it exactly is at. Danville on the other hand, I’ve had the chance to speak to on a couple occassions. He’s a really cool dude and was actually laughing about all the drama that happened. His EK recently got the Super Street feature that he was waiting for forever too. Make sure to check that out on newstands now. His EK has changed a bit since then. Most recently he put some mag blue CEs on and went with a JUN-theme. Also got some Voltex canards similar to Kidkombo’s EK. I don’t know which look I liked better. I think I might be more partial to the old look but the new looks is definitely more aggressive….
If you wanna read about my war with Canada, check it out here
8. Alex Doan’s Spoon S2000…
What he’s up to now: Unfortunately I still have yet to meet Alex but his S2000 is still badass. Nothing’s changed really and it shouldn’t. It’s perfect the way it is. Looks purpose-built, Spoon-themed down to every last detail, the list goes on. Incredible car, and probably still one of my favorite S2000s to this day….
7. Yee Vang aka yee SERIOUS’ EK hatch.
What he’s up to now: Uhhh….yeeWholelotofnothing. I don’t even know where his car is at or what’s he doing to it. I know he told me he sold the Jblood front bumper though. The car itself is probably just sitting in his garage. Not even sure what he’s got planned for it…He’s been using his overpriced laundromat candy prices and saving up for trips to Hawaii and stuff. Either that or he’s on Facebook updating his status every hour on the dot….haha…Yee did come down from Washington this year to check out Nisei Showoff though. We all got together the next night for drinks too but he ended up talking on the phone for like 3 hours….thanks for hanging out for 6 minutes Yee….=P
6. Big Mike’s Prelude…
What he’s up to now: Well if there’s anyone on the list that has made the biggest change, it would definitely have to be Big Mike’s Prelude by tenfold. Not only did he change it up, he took the whole car apart piece by piece and redid it completely. If you’ve been following this site then I’m sure you’ve had a chance to see the incredibly detailed build. 25 parts, over 600 pics…I had grown so attached to posting up his stuff that there was a short period when I wasn’t sure what I was gonna do once this car was done. The end result might have been a bit controversial, but there was never a doubt that Big Mike poured his whole heart out into this project. Sure the color might not be for everyone but that’s not the point. Inside and out this car screams Big Mike. When all the little touches are finally complete, you can be damn sure you’ll be seeing this car again. It was a pleasure for me to watch this project come to fruition and it pretty much cemented itself on to this years list. Where it’s gonna go, I don’t really know yet….but Top 1000 2009? Guaranteed.
Good stuff right? Stayed tuned for more…
It was a good day…
I just wanna begin by saying a big thanks for the overwhelming response to yesterday’s post. Not so much comment-wise but just clearly in views. So many people clicked on those links from yesterday that I guess I was right in assuming that many of the new viewers hadn’t seen the list before. Even #1 of the 10, Donut, hadn’t even seen it before and he was the top car. Guess it shows how big this piece has gotten since then….
Anyways, the “Mugen MF’ers” pics also got quite a response, especially on S2ki and they normally don’t like anything haha. If you guys actually read through that post, then you’ll have seen me mention that I might go and reshoot Brian’s DC5 because those shots just didn’t come out very well and I ran out of time. Well I actually did go out and reshoot it and the pics came out great. I didn’t even like the pics from that last time but I guess it worked out cuz people really enjoyed them. If you liked those, then hopefully you’ll like these even more….
This car needs no introduction, you’ve all heard about it already…so here are the pics…same as usual, I’m posting the re-sized one and provided you links to larger versions…
Mil-spec engine harness and custom tucked and relocated A/C lines…
New Vision mirrors…
Hope you guys like them….I’m out, tired as shit…
Time for a review…
Well, I figured I should have done this about mid-way through the year but so much has been going on this year that I never had the chance to. When I first started this site, I decided at the end of the year, I would do a Top 10 Hondas of the Year list. I also plan to do this at the end of this year and the years following, if this site lasts that long. So many crazy builds this year that it’s definitely going to be difficult to compile a solid list without some great thought. Trust me, it’s gonna be a good list, I just don’t know how I’m gonna be able to decide who goes where….With that said, please take a look at the list from last year. I know I’ve had alot of new viewers since then and if you’ve never had a chance to look through the archives, you probably would have never caught it. If this was like an old sitcom like Growing Pains or Saved by the Bell or some shit, this would be the episode where they get lazy and they like film one scene and then the rest is just them reminiscing and showing you old clips from previous episodes. I’m still editing okay? Give me a break…haha. It’s an important list though. Even the few followers that I had back then thought it was cool and the guys that made the list were honored to be on there. Alright, so go read through it and tell me what you think…
Pretty cool to see what the cars were then and where they are now….Oh how so much can change in one year….Who knows, maybe I’ll do a write-up of what these guys are up to nowadays…
Mugen MF’ers…
I’ll be honest, I was a little hesitant to put these pics up at first because I just wasn’t happy with how the shots came out originally. Probably more of a composition thing because I hadn’t shot at that spot before and I had never shot multiple cars at one time so it threw me off. I almost trashed them but Jared bought me dinner and it would seem like kind of a waste to just not do anything with them so I did what I could to salvage them. I even had to edit them multiple times. The first batch I did I thought looked good initially. And then I woke up the next morning and was not happy with them at all. Delete, file open, and the re-edits began…If you don’t like them, my bad…but I think the final edits came out pretty well considering how it started out…It’s all natural lighting too which reminds me that I should really try to get some flashes if I want to take this photography thing seriously….
Like the NSX shoot, I’ve included larger versions and even widescreen versions for you guys. The layout here is very limited in size and if I keep posting up every image that’s like over a meg in size, the fucking site will shit all over ur computer…
Oh and another thing…I expected Jared to show up with his usual M7 set-up and then he decided to be cute and rolled up on MF10s like the other two….Shit fucked me up. Dark ass car on dark ass wheels, thanks Jared….thanks for the dinner too….
This last one came out weird…I shot it in the dark basically and it actually came out…haha…who knew…
I might go take some new shots of Brian’s DC5 later today because I didn’t have enough time to shoot his car much last time…we’ll see how it goes…
Work in progress…
Sorry guys, I was loaded up with work yesterday and trying to finish up some features for Honda Tuning so I didn’t get a chance to get an update up. I’m also currently editing some pics I took over the weekend. I thought I had them finished but then I looked at them the other morning and just wasn’t happy with how they came out so I deleted them and started from scratch. I’ll try to get them up soon but today is kind of a wash. Was up the majority of the night proof-reading and correcting my work and I’m gonna need some rest before I can stare at this stupid computer screen any longer….
So you guys have an idea of what I’m working on and that I’m not lying to you guys and just being lazy haha…. The Mega Matsuri coverage was up kinda late anyway so check that out if you haven’t yet…..Out for now….
Mega Matsuri Coverage…
I’m not gonna lie to you, this show was pretty small…but that was expected. With all the hype around Nisei and all the sleepless nights that people went through to prepare for that show, it’s hard to get people to come out just a week later to the exact same spot and do it all over again. Most people would probably just relax at home and not deal with the heat, waking up early, etc… Nonetheless, our group made it out there to show support to Ken and the Showoff series. We didn’t have to do much prep last week because our cars were already finished ahead of time, and we just wanted to hang out with friends anyways…Roll-in was simple with such a small group of people showing, so we basically just drove in and parked. Most of the pics from the show aren’t even of cars to be honest. It’s just us hanging out and fucking around. The cars were the usual suspects and no different from last week, but of course I did take some pics…
So we got there around 9am or so. The trailer that was supposed to bring the NSX to the even was up in Norcal for Formula D so Tony ended up having to drive it which is always interesting. It’s trailered not because it’s undriveable, because it definitely runs strong…it just hasn’t been registered in a long time because it sat. We had to sandwich him between our cars so nobody would notice but come on, it’s kind of hard NOT to notice this thing on the freeway…
There wasn’t much to do so the girls were just hanging out by Mikey’s car and talking. Kinda sad to see this car go…I’m sure we’re gonna miss it more than we realize…
JP and Jon setting up the FAST Autoworks booth…
May was nice enough to make cookies for everyone like she usually does for events like this. She doesn’t have a car to build anymore since her’s was stolen a couple years back so she just bakes stuff like cookies and cupcakes for us. Give it a year or something and I’m sure she’ll be back into cars again…Those HotStuffInternational cookies are money…don’t really know why she made one of an elephant though….hmmm…
Big Mike is still trying to finish up his Prelude so he didn’t bring it out this week. Didn’t stop him from coming to hang out though…
Setting up…
I wandered off for a bit and saw Nasif’s 8th gen. Civic…
…and Morgan’s K-CTR…
Also ran into Leon while he was setting up his booth and stuff…
Mikeyyyy modeling my shirt…
JP hard at work…
Models…
Tuan’s engine bay…the coupe would end up taking an award home for Mega FF or something…Congrats…Looks so much better with the white valve cover…
I walked over to Sid to see what he was doing and he was busy filling out his competition sheet…
..apparently he thinks his name is “ACURA”…haha…
Rodrez, Jeremy, Rolando, and Tess came by to eat some cookies and say what’s up…
Jeremy was denied sandwiches and vietnamese girls…
..but Big Mike gave him a bicycle ride…
DPK J.P. showed up fashionably late…
Bryan getting the party started. He’s also retiring his car and decided to celebrate it by drinking by himself at 9:30am in the morning…
Mikeyyyy doing coverage of coverage…
That black dude’s car again…
Arnel finally got the gold and red centercaps he’s been waiting for for so long…shit pops so well and flows with the car perfectly…
JP still hard at work…
…as was Jon…
Alexisoutforfame taking a break…
1500hp K-turbo Civic…yes f-i-f-t-e-e-n hundred horses…fuckin nasty…
Ojay plotting what to do next to his new project. Mega Matsuri also was the last show ever for the only Element to ever grace the pages of Honda Tuning magazine. Right after the show, he began disassembling the car and parting it out. Sad to see this car go also…so many people starting on new projects at the same time…
Judges judging…
Mike G showed up to hang out with his along with his wife and baby. Always good to see this guy…probably one of the nicest people you will ever meet. I can’t wait until his car comesback…
Jeremy never finishes his cars but he helped Tony clean his…
Now for some cars…
Teddy’s EK…
FAST Autoworks…
Bryan’s DA…
Alexisthemovie’s S2000 on HREs…
John “Nads” Naderi shooting our cars…
On the way out for lunch, I got a chance to look at all the Ruckus’ they had at the Ruckus showcase area…
No coverage is complete without a food adventure so we made our way down the block to go eat some all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ…
Food was great. We ended up hanging out there for 3 hours just to eat large amounts of meat and hide out from the heat…
On the way back, we got a chance to catch some of the festivities. Last week they had alot more going on but it was still pretty crowded…
Finally decided to go back and got to look at the Ruckus showcase again…
Project Car CR-X back to having it’s aggressive stance. This EF has come a long way…
JDM Wong’s EF of course…
Think he had like 4-5 more 32 oz High Lifes and then went to sleep…haha…
Ojay also decided to crash out…
Leon riding…
More cars…
Honda Tuning Sep. 2009 poster child…
“Acura’s” DA…
You already know these two…
VIP-styled Fit…
Loved this DA…not too often you see one of these with an F20B or an H22 in it…Very clean inside and out. The airbrushed hood is also very different…
This is also pretty different. A mugen front on a FG coupe…Not sure how I feel about this but it’s an interesting touch…
Cali Love CD coupe…
That’s about it….it was pretty slow throughout the day and the event even ended early. Arnel ended up taking home the “Mega Offset/Wheel Fitment” award which he was really happy about. I’m pretty sure everyone knew he already he the award locked down….Congrats, what a big month this guy is having…
Til next time…
Honda Tuning Sept. 2009…
I’m pretty sure you all have heard by now about the latest issue of Honda Tuning that is on the stands right now. If you haven’t, then please go out and grab a copy. The cover car is our very own Arnel Ortiz from Phaze2. Yes, that one. The Milano Red hatchback that has been the talk of the import community for the past year or so. Sure it’s wheel fitment is undesirable to some and some absolutely love it. Either way, you should check it out just because it’s s staple in the Honda community at the moment and it gives you a sense of the customization that’s popular right now…
Of course I’m telling you about this issue because I was there while the car was shot, and I also had a pleasure to write the feature for it. I always love writing features on the cars that I am familiar with because I feel that the features come out better that way. It has a bit more of a personal sense to it and not just some random guy writing about a car that they’ve probably never even seen in person. I’ve seen this car go through so many changes and I’m very proud to see this car on the cover of a magazine. Arnel is truly deserving because he went out and did everything his own way and didn’t really care what people said about. He’s also such a nice guy that you can’t really dislike him or what he does to his car. So please do yourself the pleasure of going out and picking up this magazine and reading through it…
Here are some behind the scenes shots of when Rodrez shot the car. They’re nothing much too look at compared to some of the other pics I’ve shot lately but ehh, something for you guys to look at and maybe, just maybe, it’ll further convince you to go out and buy the magazine. That way you can see some really nice shots…Alright I’m out for the weekend. Make sure to look at the NSX pics at the bottom if you haven’t already and come out and kick it at Mega Matsuri this weekend. That’s where I and the rest of the guys are gonna be…
Alot of red cars on this site lately….haha…
Tony’s neglected NSX…COMPLETED…
It should be clear to everyone by now that Tony’s NSX is well, no longer neglected. It was a race to the finish but it indeed made it’s way to Nisei Showoff after a two year absence. Not only did it make it, it made it in a HUGE way and even went as far as to take home the 1st Place Acura award. Not bad for a car that was basically a stationary automotive closet that was rotting away inside a garage right? We couldn’t be happier with the result so a couple days after we had a chance to recover from the show, I met up with Tony to take some pictures of the NSX. They’re nothing special but I just wanted to get some better pics out there besides the ones from the show where there were swarms of people around it. I hope everyone enjoyed the Nisei coverage though. From what I’ve been hearing, it’s all been good things. Think of this as a post-Nisei follow-up to Tony’s road to Nisei. Without further ado, I present to you…. The Phaze2xDoods!/HotStuffInternational Sorcery Widebody NSX…
Shout-out to L-Con Race Fabrication, JDM EGO, and Motormavens…
The desktop and widescreen ones are final re-edits too so they’re more vibrant then the smaller versions. Just messing around with the edting and what not. Hope you guys like them…
I also got bored and took a couple pics of my car because it was just sitting there. I was just gonna save them for myself but here they are if you guys wanna see them…
Thanks for looking guys. I hope to have some good shots of Big Mike’s Prelude when it’s all finished up too…For those of you who think these pics are pretty whack and would like to see the NSX in person, make sure to come out to Mega Matsuri this weekend and check it out for yourselves…
Nisei Showoff 2009 Coverage…Part 3…
Words – Joey Lee/Photos - Joey Lee & Michael Cristi
Let’s knock this out shall we? It’s Thursday and there are still pics from Nisei. Hell, the Mega Matsuri show is on Saturday and I’m actually looking forward to it. It’ll be like Nisei without all the pressure to get things done because everyone is still set-up from the week before. No pressure, more laid back, other festivities going on,…it’s gonna be a good one I think.
Today is the final batch of pictures from Nisei Showoff 09…And probably my favorite. I say that because I love covering events, don’t get me wrong, but I also like capturing everything else that’s going on besides the cars. The candids and the random pics are usually the best because they really give people a grasp of what’s happening around the cars. There’s still some cars that I haven’t posted so I’ll get those up first, but make sure to look at the randoms after…Enjoy…
I stopped by the Project Car/Super Street booth to check out the two Hondas on display. The Suzuka Blue one of course is Jonathan Wong’s from Super Street and the red one belongs to Project Car magazine. I guess the CR-X is running now, judging from the ride height and all. I don’t know. It’s usually hammered to the floor when it was trailered in the past. Looking good though. I love the NE-Os on it…
While we’re on the topic of EFs, here’s a one that was running a pretty aggressive boost set-up. The intercooler looks like it’s trying to fight its way out of the bumper..ha…
I still remember this S2k back when it was yellow with blue/yellow Volk GTUs. This thing has been around for a minute now. Judging by the rock chips and what not on the front bumper, the owner actually drives this thing around, which is always pretty cool…
The first time I saw this Accord was back at the JTuned meet couple months ago. Then it had a set of BBS LMs on it and I honestly liked those better on this car. Gave it such a classy look. The fitment of the RG2s is really good though…
Nice S2k but I really don’t understand how it won an award over a couple others that were there. I like the theme of it but the wheel fitment is horrible. There’s aggressive wheel fitment and then there’s making your car look like a monster truck. Don’t really understand what happened but what do I know….=P
This Prelude belongs to Jed Peralta. He used to have a candy red CB Accord and he sold it to build this thing. Great wheel fitment and wheel choice…I offered to shoot his car awhile back just for fun but he kinda like didn’t seem to interested…Oh well guess my pics are good enough…haha…
I was looking forward to seeing this Accord at the show. I was watching his rebuild thread and after it got out of paint, I only saw like one picture of it from the NastIE Garage meet. It came out great. I’ve never seen this kit of a two-door CD before. I think with a different set of wheels, it would look alot better but it’s on the right track…
This is Jesse’s coupe from Cali Love. I always hear mixed things about this car but I like it. Personally not my style but the work speaks for itself. It’s a nice all around build. Interior is really nice too…Would look great with the front end all one color…
My car kinda sucks already but parking next to this thing certainly didn’t help. Shout-out to N1 Concepts…they’re really nice guys and always very courteous to our group…
I saw this EF awhile back at Norman from AS1′s garage when he was working on this thing. I heard it wasn’t gonna be ready for Nisei but I guess they ended up finishing it. I loved how it looked on the NR10s…The Fins are okay but now it looks a little too much like JDM Wong’s EF. The gold valve cover is a nice touch though. Doesn’t really flow with the rest of the car but I can understand why they did it…
One more shot of Travis’ Fit that I missed on the previous update…
…and another shot of these two guys that came down from Norcal. I didn’t really take pics of the white twin turbo hatch…why? Ehh..
Ahh, now for the random stuff. Sometimes I’d rather just stand around and take pics of stuff going on so here it is…
Ron and Celine from Team Supastar actually got married the day of the show so their cars were obviously absent, but it didn’t stop them from showing up and having a walk-through of the show. I wouldn’t ever do this because I think my marriage would not last more than a day if I went to a carshow on the day of my wedding. That and my girl would probably punch me in the neck if I even mentioned it. I’d also be a grumpy fuck because I would hate life wearing a full suit in that kind of heat. Did I mention that if I get married and my friends went to a car show instead of my wedding I would fuck their souls in the afterlife? Oh yeah, I would definitely find a way…Congrats though Ron and Celine. Drinks all around…
I didn’t get any shots of Norman from AS1 doing anything creepy or awkward this time around but here he is sitting with the rest of the AS1 guys…
I was walking around and then I ran into DC5 Jared. Here he is showing me which hand he likes to use the most…
Oh here’s another shot of David’s that I missed…
Some DPK love…
I was trying to figure out who this Hmong woman was who was leaning on Reggie’s DC2…
…turns out that it was actually BonB from the east coast. Even he knew that the best shit is out here so he flew out to come see us…haha…That’s probably the same face he made when he saw that picture of Nashville posted in front of his bathroom mirror with his penis tucked away…Fuckin’ sicko…
I was taking this picture of Tony’s wheel and then headed back to our tent to hang out…
Then Tina watched Thomas from Camp1320 yack all over himself and fall on the ground. I think this was her reaction when he was in his yoga pose throwing up…
Not really sure what happened but it was definitely memorable meeting him for the first time and then seeing him vomit. I feel like I know him already. Well at least I know what he ate that day anyway…haha. I actually saw him the next day at Chase’s Deja Vu meet and he was back to normal. You really had to be there to see him in action…haha, let’s just say that he went on a fucking rager…I liked this pic so much that I actually turned it into a wallpaper for you guys…if you want the artsy hi-res version CLICK HERE...
No this isn’t a black and white image, he’s just that pale. Even in like Socal sun and heat, the kid looks like a ghost…haha…
HBK Gabe. That way when he searches for himself on Google again he can at least find a picture of himself…
AS1 Nancy enjoying the show…
Awards were coming up soon so everyone started to clean up and put their hoods back on…Here’s Sid being useful with his one good arm…
DC5 Brian and TJ aka Silentdancer aka “I’ll join your AIM chatroom even though I’m at a club”…
Steve aka “dagreenek” from Washington not very happy with Brian having his arm around him…
Arnel rocking the Honda Tuning sticker because that’s what magazine cover guys do…haha. Congrats all around for Arnel and his Sept. 2009 Honda Tuning cover spread…
Here’s a good shot of Tony’s custom L-Con fabbed center-exit exhaust…He’s also probably the only guy left with an original Import Showoff plate frame…
All the cool guys are rockin it…;)
…See? If you rep The Chronicles, you win awards…
…Sheepey took the Integra/RSX Showoff award…
…Brian took 2nd Place Acura Class…
…and Tony won 1st Place Acura Class…Congrats to all the homies for winning big. Each car was totally deserving…
Oh almost forgot to point out Arnel’s new gold center caps…
After the awards, everyone was just shooting the shit and getting ready to go home…
We ended up being the last ones at the event because the tow company that was supposed to come pick up Tuan’s coupe brought out the wrong truck. We weren’t gonna throw this thing on a non-flatbed so we waited until they came back with one…
Arnel’s EG of course is in the latest issue of Honda Tuning mag but next month will feature another Phaze2 car; Sid’s DA…It was shot a couple months back and you’ll be able to see it in all it’s glory in the Nov. issue…Hopefully Sid’s arm will be healed by then so he can flip the pages haha…
I walked by to take a look at Big Mike’s engine bay one more time while we were cleaning up. This was probably the only time I got to talk to him because he was so busy throughout the day answering questions and talking to everyone…
Alot of helping hands available to help PlusOne Danny load up his coupe…
Tina happy to go home…
Norcal Tweem1 and his life partner qwkdb8 dropped by to give me the finger. Steve swears I was mad dogging him at Eibach this year but now I know what he looks like so I can mad dog the right guy next year. I always thought he was asian for some reason…haha…
We kinda just stuck around and shot the shit for awhile after everyone left. We still had to wait for the tow trucks to come grab Tuan’s coupe and Big Mike’s Prelude. Man I had to piss so bad that I actually went into one of those porto-pottys. Standing inside one of those things after it had been sitting in the heat all day was not the business…haha. Can’t believe someone actually took a shit in there too…gross…
I try not to post pics of my car on this site but some of you had been asking for updates on it so here it is…Nothing really new, just lowered it some more and finally put my curtains in…I just took these while we were waiting since I had nothing else to do…
That about wraps it up…I went back to Mikey’s after and then headed to our late friend Armando’s birthday party. It was pretty cool cuz it was Michael Jackson themed and a bunch of people were dressed up. I left around 1:30am or so and then got stuck in traffic for 2 hours because the 5 freeway was closed to just one single lane. Shit was fucked. I literally was parked on the freeway. I just went to sleep on the 5 and didn’t get home until 3:30am or whatever. You gotta love L.A I guess…haha. Thanks for looking…
If you wanna check out our cars, make sure to come out to Mega Matsuri this Saturday. It might actually be the last time you see HeyMikeyyyy’s car in Socal. He recently sold it but the auto transport has kinda been lagging so he might bring it out to the show…come by and say what’s up….
Nisei Showoff 2009 Coverage…Part 2…
Words – Joey Lee/Photos - Joey Lee & Michael Cristi
Ahh back for more…
The only shots I took of Big Mike’s car are of his bay. I know the outside wasn’t really completed yet so we’ll reserve pics of that later on when he gets everything the way he wants it to be… The bay is amazing to see though. The etched valve cover was something that I didn’t even expect….
Everytime a breeze rolled by I’d tell myself that I was gonna go take pics but then as soon as me and some of the homies started walking around it got scorching hot again so I kinda just went back and took some pics in our area haha…
So I just decided to get all our cars first and then set out to go get everything else…
HBK Jon…
Tuan from FASTautoworks…
Some black guy’s car…
I tried getting pics of this car at this year’s Eibach event but there were just too many people around it. I love this thing. So much creativity in the bay and the custom Starks are a nice touch…
Phaze2 DA…stay away from this guy. He’s driving with one arm and shit…
Our group…
Parnell’s DA…
FLOSS’ EK…
Freeway’s DA…
AlexisthefreshoutofthepaintshopwithsomeHREs.com
DC5 Jared and his super glossy S2K…
Nancy’s S2000…
DOODS! Travis and his Fit and I thought I’d throw in Ross’s xB in there cuz he was the guy that stayed up all those nights painting Tony’s NSX…
I was kinda thinking that this car would end up being the same color that Big Mike picked but it turns out that they’re not even close…
Loving this valve cover idea…came out perfect.
Next up is the DPK guys…
DPK Jimmy…
JP from DPK…haven’t seen this car in a while…still looks great…
My boy Sheepey…always down to rep the site and even took off his signature “SHEEPEY BUILT” sticker to rock mine…
Rywire in deep thought standing next to Mike…
And of course this is DPK David’s coupe. This car has been gone for like 6 years now or some shit…haha.
Before we stop today, I thought I’d show you guys some pics of Arn from Abunai Racing’s DC. I was really looking forward to seeing this car after following his build on NWP. It sure didn’t disappoint…
What can I say?…Amazing.
Be back for Part 3 tomorrow. I swear…well barring some more Charter internet bullshit…So yeah, more will come tomorrow…
Nisei Showoff 2009 Coverage…Part 1…
Words/Photos – Joey Lee
FINALLY! Haha…fuck, I was busy going through so many pics and then woke up this morning to some sketchy ass internet connection. By the time everything was working I had to go take some pics of a friends car so never had a chance to get this up. I didn’t realize how many people came on this site the past two days until I glanced at the stats this morning. Guess you guys really want your Nisei pics. Before I begin, let me give a big thanks to Antonio Alvendia from Motormavens for giving me, The Chronicles, and the whole Hot Stuff International crew a big shout-out during the awards ceremony at Nisei. It means alot to be recognized in this industry. Also means alot that so many of you were reppin The Chronicles stickers on your cars. Thank you so much. Now, on with the coverage…
Oh before I begin, PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO VIEW THIS ON YOUR PHONE. It is very pic-intensive and I guarantee you that it will brick your phone…haha. Of course I would want it to be phone-friendly but I don’t want to sacrifice image-quality for faster loading times so please try to view this from a computer with a good connection…Anyways…
So all of my Friday afternoon before the event was basically me installing things on my car and cleaning stuff up here and there. I was so busy running around that I didn’t even get to eat the whole day. Luckily before I came back up from SD that morning I had a chance to stop by and grab a burrito. Little did I know that it was my last meal of the day. After I finished up I had to stop by Midnight Garage to check on Tony’s NSX to see if everything was gonna be ready by showtime. We all have been trying to get this thing out to Nisei for the past two years so I made sure to go check on it the night before the show. I definitely wasn’t looking forward to another year without this thing at the show. I’ll be honest I was a bit skeptical about whether this car was gonna make it or not by when I arrived at the shop, I was pleasantly surprised…
Ross was busy wetsanding the NSX and everything looked to be going good…
The bumper looked great with the vents filled and super glossy…
I talked to Ross for a little bit and he told me that everything was good to go. Once it was wetsanded, cleaned, etc., it’ll definitely be ready for tomorrow. He wasn’t lying. I found out later that not only did he finish this car by about 2am, he even found the time to reinstall the supercharger on his xB and cleaned it up for the show. Shit paid off because he ended up winning an award too…this guy seriously does his best work at night…
After I left there, I met up with Mikey at Fast Autoworks because I was staying over at his place that night. I got to Fast around 10 or so I think and they were working on their cars as well…
Little did I know that this would be the last time I saw HBK Jaypee’s DC. If you read my previous post you’ll know that this car actually caught on fire on the way to Nisei and is pretty much dunzo. Don’t know what his plan is now but it’s a shame he worked so hard on it and he never made it. I mean, the car has been down for over a year and it was only a couple miles away from Nisei before it caught fire…
We stayed there for a pretty long time and the guys over at Fast even helped me lower my car some more. I was gonna do it before I went over there but I just ran out of time. Thanks to Kevin, JP, and Jon for helping out. Actually it was just Kevin and JP. Jon just stood there, laughed a lot, and smoked cigarettes…haha. We ended up leaving at around 1am and didn’t get to Mikey’s until like 1:35 or so. I went to sleep for a couple hours and then woke up to go to Nisei…
Roll-in went pretty smoothly. We were still waiting for everyone to show up so we hung out for a little bit before checking in.
I stood around and ate cookies that May had made and then Tony finally decided to show up. If you’ve never heard this thing run then you’re definitely missing out. Just the tone of the exhaust itself was enough to break necks…
Salem talked to Tony a little bit before dropping his car off inside and taking off. He had to get rest and was gonna be busy preparing for Armando’s birthday party…
Once everyone got situated, we lined up and headed inside to get parked…
Tony’s NSX of course…
Some of the cars that were in our line-up…You can see Yee aka yeeTalksonthephonetoomuch and Steve aka dagreenek in the pics above. They came down from Washington to check out Nisei and I had a chance to hang out with these two. Very nice guys. Well Steve was cool. I met Yee and then that dude walked off and was on the phone for like 3 hours while we were all eating dinner the next day….
Nice Tera Patrick tee…haha. Anyways, I didn’t stick around too long after that. We were getting hungry so we took off to go get food at Curry House. Also had a chance to see the festivities with it being Nisei Week and all…
Not really sure what was going on here….Originally I thought I was hallucinating again cuz it was so hot but yup, that’s definitely a japanese dude rocking a man purse. The green dog/rabbit? Totally normal…
Bricks of meat…
On the way back after eating, we saw this thing cruise by…Once I got back to the show, I grabbed the camera to start snapping pics. Again, I am no pro photographer so kiss my ass if you don’t like my pics haha…
Everybody kept calling this thing a turbo all day long…
The bay and wheel shot are of Danny from PlusOne’s coupe. I didn’t get a chance to get a whole shot of the entire car because the car was drawing a big crowd all day. Very nice build, he even ended up taking the EK Showoff award…
Look at this cool guy….I was talking to Sid about how much it must smell under that cast haha…fucking gross…$5 and a free Chronicles sticker to anyone who’s down to just stick their nose in his cast and just inhale for a solid minute…*yack*
Speaking of cool guys that smell, you’re all familiar with Brian’s DC5….
…He recently got his A/C lines tucked and had his mil-spec harness from Rywire installed. The bay is so much cleaner now. I’m gonna try to take some more pics of this car soon to show you guys all the new stuff that’s been done to it…
I’m gonna stop right here for now. So many more pics to come. This is probably like a 3rd or a 4th of the pics. I’m really shitty with fractions because I was busy going through puberty back then and was kinda distracted when they were teaching that shit those days but yeah….definitely more pics to come…
Nisei Showoff 2009 Coverage…A retrospective…
Man…I am tired as shit still. Had a blast this weekend though I must say. Got the opportunity to see alot of old friends as well as meet many very cool new ones. That’s what I love about the Socal Honda community. I read somewhere on one of the forums where one guy said that this event showed him exactly how much he loves our community and it’s very true. Despite the fierce competition we are all still friends. This weekend had everything, good and bad….we even had a homie’s car catch on fire on the way to the event and I’ll tell you more about that later. I certainly hope this isn’t the last year especially with how smoothly everything went this year and all the memories that were made this past weekend.
Now let’s get down to the two topics that everyone is wondering about….Big Mike’s Prelude and Tony Khamly’s NSX. Did they make it? Definitely. Tony’s NSX definitely did not disappoint. With the string of bad luck trying to get this thing to Nisei the last two years, it was definitely comforting to finally see this thing finally make it. If this does happen to be the last Nisei, we are all glad that we could finish it off with this NSX there. It was probably the talk of the show and drew huge crowds throughout the day. The car demands attention. People were in awe just from hearing this thing run. I can’t even describe to you the feeling of hearing this thing scream. Tony’s NSX was basically 2 years in the making and I honestly thing that this year was the right year to bring it out. It made it’s mark. They say things happen for a reason and everything that has has brought this car to this point. I couldn’t be happier with the results.
Now let’s talk about Big Mike’s Prelude…I’ll start by saying this: I really didn’t take any pictures of it. Do I not like it? Fuck no. I’ve brought you guys 25 parts and almost 600 pictures documenting this build. If I didn’t believe in the guy I would have never offered to present it to the world. I know Big Mike and know that he is a perfectionist. Down to the last detail. I’ve already showed you pictures of it incomplete and I even told Big Mike at the show that when it’s finished up, I will come to take pictures of it complete. Does that mean the car isn’t complete? Well if you weren’t at the show then it should be clear to you now that it’s not. If you were there, think of it as “part 26″ or whatever of his build. It’s not finished. He and I have had talks about this throughout the week because we realized that he was running out of time. Shit, it’s expected. Everybody knew that it was gonna cut it close. You think a guy like him, meticulous as he is, would honestly want to bring you something incomplete? Hell no. The only reason he brought it out was because there were so many people involved, so many friends, associates, etc. These guys worked so tirelessly to try to get this thing finished that it would be disrespectful to all of them to not bring the car out. Of course you want to come correct at Nisei but you have to give it up to everyone that was involved in this build. Rywire was coming down weekly to work on it, Bisi doing all kinds of stuff for it, Kinsler with their ITBs, all the friends that lost probably a week’s worth of sleep to get this thing going. Just so many people you know? Nevermind me. He didn’t owe me shit.
I know the first thing you guys are gonna say is the color. Yes, it’s not orange. It should have been clear all along that it wasn’t. How much of a tard do you think I am to just accidently leak it out? Haha..I know not everyone is gonna be a fan of the color. I’ll be honest, when I first saw it that shit threw me off too. I fell out of my chair and then I kinda just got up and started running for two days to nowhere just trying to grasp it. Hell, it’s not for everyone and that’s a given. It’s grown on me now of course. I honestly like the old color better but that wasn’t the route he was going for. He wanted you to look at this car and the color definitely makes you look. If you don’t like it that’s fine, but with all the work done besides the paint, you should be able to look past it. If the paint alone is gonna make you say that you don’t like the car, then well….this community just isn’t for you. It’s more than just paint. I’ve seen plenty of other cars that are heavy hitters in this community where the color choice was iffy to me and I still love the car. It’s hardwork that counts, not a shade on a color pallette.
If you felt letdown by the car then I’m sorry. Big Mike definitely didn’t want the car to be in pieces when he brought it out but that’s just how it worked out. It’s not for lack of trying. I feel bad for Big Mike if anything. The guy is meticulous that he was gonna get this thing tuned before the show. He always told himself that he would never trailer a car to the show but he felt it was necessary because it was the right thing to do with all the people that were involved. He wasn’t gonna no-show just because of something as silly as pride. Sometimes you just have to accept that you ran out of time. Shit happens. The fucking car in pieces still shits on most of the cars in this scene just based purely on details and intricacies. The exterior looked incomplete but the interior looked incredible and words can’t even describe how the bay looks. I’m hearing rumblings and talk on the net that Big Mike’s Prelude was a bit of a “letdown”. You only feel that way because I’ve already showed you all the details along the way. If we hadn’t been covering this build and you attempted to see all the little details in it your head would fucking explode. There’s so much more that was completed that hasn’t been covered and when Big Mike is finally ready, I’ll be more than happy to present the rest of it to you. Like I said, if you feel letdown by all of it then I’m sorry. I can’t say I’m completely happy with how it looked at Nisei and I’m sure Big Mike will be the first one to tell you that he’s not happy with it. Time is a motherfucker and it never waits for anyone. If he didn’t bring it out, everybody who had a hand in putting it together would have felt like their time was wasted. I’m sure he’d rather not let those people down. I feel bad for Big Mike. He tried his best. Everyone was sleeping about an hour a day this past week just to get this thing together. People were passed out and sleeping on the driveway from exhaustion.
If you were there and took the time to look at everything, thank you. The car not complete is still worth the look. Sure I didn’t really take pics of it but that’s because I was busy looking at it too. He pretty much filled me in on everything that he was doing but there were some things that i didn’t even expect. I’m very happy with how it came out and it’ll be even better now that he has all the time in the world to finish it correctly. I can’t wait to see the final product. If you have ever built anything on a deadline then you would understand. “Oh I would have just left it at home if it wasn’t finished.” Yeah and you’d be spitting on everyone that worked so tirelessly to help you get the car out there. When it’s all said and done, and the car is 100%, then we’ll talk about it being a dissapointment or not.
Now, on to HBK Jaypee’s Integra. Man I feel bad for the guy. Cars been down for over a year and when he finally get’s it running for Nisei, the car catches on fire on the way there. What a fucking shame. He had just got it running for the first time the night before. We were all there at Fast Autoworks watching him put the finishing touches on it. After I left, I heard it was started and running and it was all ready to go. The morning of on the way there, JP hits a section of the road that causes his car to bottom out. When it hit, the fuel line broke under the car and caused the car to lean out. This made one of the pistons tear ass through the block letting all the oil out of it and with it being hot, running an open header, and the fuel that was coming out of it, the car ignited. All the guys that were with him stopped and tried to put it out with whatever they had, bottled water, energy drinks, etc. I heard HBK Jon was in such shock that he was just staring with his jaw on the floor. Luckily, somebody who had a fire extinguisher on them pulled over to put the fire out. That guy saved this car from being burnt to the ground. There are pics of it when it was burning and I’ll try to get those from the Fast Autoworks guys. What a bummer though. All that work and such a freak accident ruined it all…Don’t know what he’s gonna do now but I feel for the guy. I hadn’t really told anybody this but the night before when I was at Fast Autoworks, I was taking pics of it and I even had a tripod on me but no matter what I was doing, all the shots I took of it were coming out blurry. It’s a little weird honestly. Maybe only one shot came out. Was it a bad omen or a sign? Who knows but it’s definitely strange….
That’s about it, I’m gonna get pictures up later today. I’m still trying to go through all of them. I ended up sleeping at 1:30am the day of Nisei, woke up at 5:30am then was at the show all day. After that, I went to our fallen friend Armando Flores Jr’s birthday party. Shit was tight, it was Michael Jackson-themed and everyone was all dressed up. I left around 1am and then we stuck in traffic for 2 hours because the 5 freeway was closed to one lane. By the time I got home and had everything situated, I didn’t get a chance to sleep until 5am. Then I woke up to go eat with Mikey and the Weksos guys who came down for the show. Somehow I ended up at Chase’s strip-club meet after that, etc. etc. tits, etc. To sum it up, I’m tired as fuck still and the top of my head is burnt to a a crisp. Pics up later today, count on it, check back for it. Do what you gotta do.
Answers?…
I really can’t even tell you what’s going on right now. I highly doubt that Big Mike even had any time to upload pictures with time running out…I would have gone out there to see for myself but he’s not exactly close to where I’m at and I had to head back to SD to take care of some business as well. Hell, I even worked on my own car today for a change. The thing has been neglected for so long that I felt bad about it. I even took it out and finally got an alignment….Tomorrow I gotta knock out some shit before the show on my own car as well. I know the NSX is almost ready. Everything should be assembled and buffed by day’s end. I had a chance to talk to Big Mike earlier in the morning and he told me that they’re cutting it really short. Worse comes to worse the thing might even have to be trailered there. Something Big Mike swore he would never do. It would be a shame if that was the reason why it didn’t make it so I’m sure Big Mike will definitely figure out a way to get it out there. Like he said, too many people are involved for this thing not to make it to Nisei, but I guess we’ll find out. I know one thing, our group is coming out in a big way so be sure to look for us at the show. Everybody else seems to be completing the final touches but you know that shit always comes down to the wire regardless….I guess that’s the beauty of being apart of probably the biggest show of the year and most anticipated event out here other than the annual Eibach meet. I wish I had the answers for you guys but I guess we’ll all just have to wait and see….ooohhh the suspense….See you Saturday…I’ll provide updates when I can of course….
Double Update!!…
Shit, Nisei is only 2 days away! Can you believe it? Always seems so far away but when it comes down to the last couple weeks, time flys like crazy. We’re all getting ready for the big day and I can’t wait to get out there and check out all the crazy builds. Didn’t get a chance to update the other night because my monitor was being whack. I actually rewarded myself with a new monitor today after all this shit I’ve been doing here and for work lately. My old monitor was pretty decent but it was starting to get fucked up with all the scrolling bars and shit. So I went out and found a pretty good deal on the new one I’m using now. It made a world of a difference and now I can finally edit pictures the right way. Anyways, make sure to check out BOTH updates. Yes, today, Thursday…2 days before Nisei…there is a double update below with updates on both Big Mike and Tony’s NSX! Enjoy it…have a good one…
Make sure to check out both!
Exclusive Content…Big Mike’s Prelude Build…Part 25…
Starting to get a little worried about this one,….Today was the first time I texted Big Mike and he didn’t text me back and/or call me and talk to me for like 2 hours haha….Shit is coming down to the wire and it’s starting to get real. So much more stuff to do before show time. I’m hoping that he’s got more done then he’s leading on and gonna surprise the shit out of all of us. If you’re reading this and you’re nervous, welcome to the party…
So many people showing up to help….Here’s Ryan with Timmy, who is usually doing the commenting on alot of the Big Mike posts. He’s actually there lending a helping hand now which is cool because it shows everyone how close we all our out here. Sure competition is fierce but people help eachother when needed you know…
Here’s Jimmy and Linda from Team Praxis helping out as well…
Last shot of the interior before the carpet goes back in…
Shot of the interior harness…
Brand new OEM Honda carpet installed…
Rear panel reinstalled. The hole there is for the roll bar…
Ryan and Timmy doing the Walbro fuel pump install. Probably was a bitch to do too. I remember when I had to do mine and drop the tank…fuckin pain in the ass…
Speaking of fuel, here’s one of the fuel connections…
…Fittings for the fuel filter and regulator…
…and here’s the custom chrome dipped brackets for the fuel filter and regulator.
Mocking up the lines…
“Big Mike Edition” mil-spec harness!..haha…
…made by Rywire of course…
The ground for the harness…
Somewhere along the way a bolt fell into the timing belt area and had to be pulled out…
Big Mike’s friend Ralph putting in work as well…
Shots of the header after he got it jet-coated and a pic of it on the car…
Sunroof is all coming together…
For those of you like me who have been anxious to see how the seats came out….
Oh man, with so much left to do, it’s definitely gonna be interesting. 25 parts, over 500 pics, I sure hope this thing gets done by Saturday. Would be a bit of a waste if it didn’t but I’m confident in saying that Big Mike wouldn’t let that happen. Can’t believe it’s almost time…oh man…kinda nervous now…
The road to Nisei…Tony’s neglected NSX…Part 4…
The NSX is officially at the bodyshop now getting all the aero back on and getting a nice buff. I was there earlier tonight when the tow truck dropped it off and got a chance to check on everything. It all looks to be on schedule and with only a couple days left. The most important thing was getting this thing started first and with all the bad gas in there it’s still running a little weird but by show day everything should be straight…It’s an awesome sight to see this thing running after so long. I don’t even own it and I miss it…haha.
Thought you guys might like to have been there when it started as well, so enjoy…
Sick right? Ha…
Anyways so I was at the shop at night just to check on how the aero came out before paint. I brought the camera but then realized that I was a dumbass and forgot the memorycard so I had to resort to using my phone camera, which kinda sucks dick. So sorry for the quality…
This is how the NSX looked fresh off the tow truck…everything is not bolted in obviously but it sounded nasty when Tony drove it around a little…
Front bumper is looking good, especially with the vents filled in. Can’t wait to see it back on the car. Even the carbon lower piece is repaired. Just waiting on paint which has probably already happened by the time you’re reading this. I’ll see what’s up with it Friday and how far off it is before showtime early Saturday. Stay tuned…
Exclusive Content…Big Mike’s Prelude Build…Part 24…
Running a little short of time today but thought I’d get this up since we only have a few days left before Nisei. Pretty crazy how quickly it came up, but I guess that’s just how it usually is with these type of shows. Can’t really comment on every single picture but this is basically what’s going on….The motor is basically all finished and ready to go, axles went back in, as well as fluids. After Big Mike finished up with that, the car was sent back to the bodyshop where they cut, buffed, and polished the new paint. Big Mike got ahold of some brand new OEM carpet as well as his new clutch kit. At the end you’ll get a preview of Big Mike’s front seats…Enjoys guys, I am out.!
Heading home…
Foglight bezels all painted and ready…
Rywire doin work…
Brand new Honda OEM carpet…
A preview shot of Big Mike’s seats…
…And this guy showed up, moved the broom around a little bit just so he could get on The Chronicles…
The road to Nisei…Tony’s neglected NSX…Part 3…
Oh man, things are starting to get pretty hectic around here. Big Mike’s build is coming down to the wire and the NSX is close to being finished. Today we’ll look at Tony’s stuff because Big Mike just has so much shit going on that I haven’t even been able to sort through all the pictures with me having features to write this past weekend….
As you can see the front bumper is now patched up. The carbon piece on the bottom stills needs to be repaired and painted. We kinda discussed plans to fill in the two outer vents and Tony went ahead and had them do just that. Just have a much sleeker appearance with the two vents filled and shaved…
Both fenders have been fixed and are back in one piece. Can’t wait to see it painted and back on the car…
The door panels had to come off because Tony and the shop are working on getting some custom mirrors on there. He had some tear drop carbon fiber ones but decided it wasn’t going to work because they were too small. He ditched those and plans on using some other ones he already had…
While Tony still had the NSX at home, he took the headliner and trim pieces out cuz he planned on replacing them. Doesn’t look like there’s gonna be enough time now so I think he’s probably just gonna clean it up and put it back in…
The car’s been sitting for over a year now so it definitely doesn’t start anymore. Tony drained the tank last night and fixed a small oil leak on the motor. Today he was gonna get some new gas in there, get a new battery, and try to get this thing running again. Once the car is moveable, it’s off to the bodyshop where the aero pieces will go back on. Then it’s gonna get colormatched, sanded, and the entire car buffed. Then baring any surprises…off to Nisei. Everyone has there fingers crossed at this point, shits getting serious!…More pics soon….
Exclusive Content…Big Mike’s Prelude Build…Part 23…
Finally…part 23. Before we get started though, I just want everyone who was inquiring about our friends condition to know that he is doing much better now. He looks to be returning to good health but will be in there for a couple more days just for observation and what not. Only thing that bugs him is being in there with a bunch of tubes strapped to him and not being able to move around. I’m sure it get’s irritating being stuck like that all day, but he shouldn’t be in there much longer…
On with the updates…
Today we’re gonna be focusing more on the custom fabrication side of things as well as the tucked radiator…
Here’s the custom made radiator that will be tucked away in the Prelude. I think the only time you’ve probably seen one of these is on Rywire’s personal car…
Here’s the mock-up of how it’s gonna sit, just need the fabricator to fab up the mounts and shit…
Before I show you that stuff Big Mike wanted to say a few things about his fabricator…
“The name of my fabricator’s company is True Berserk Fabrication. He has been a welder and a fabricator for well over 10 years, and his work and work ethic are second to none. This man can design and build virtually anything one could ever want/need out of metal, and do it in a beautifully crafted, structurally sound manner. All of which is evidenced by the work that he has and will continue to put out. If anyone is interested in having work done, contact me directly. Thank you.”
Here’s the fabricator mocking up some mounting tabs for the radiator that will utilize the stock mounting holes on the car…
The center support had to be cut and smoothed-out to fit the radiator properly…
Here’s the ARP bolts that Big Mike will be using throughout the entire bay…
Big Mike’s fittings and his to-do list for Rywire…
All black -AN fittings and lines…
This next part is pretty cool for me since I always wanted to do it when I shaved my valve cover back in the day. Big Mike’s doesn’t need to run the PCV system since he’s on ITBs and gonna run a catch can/breather system so he had his fabricator weld a piece over the cover where the PCV used to go…
So much cleaner with that part filled in and filled correctly. It’s gonna look really smooth once it’s all plated or whatever Big Mike plans to do with it…
While that was going on, Big Mike was busy removing injectors from Bisi’s engine because his weren’t in yet. He’s not gonna run them in the car or anything, he just needs them for the mock-up process…
Big Mike’s custom chromed clutch slave cylinder with stainless braided soft line…
S2000 clutch master cylinder side to side with the stock unit. If you remember in an earlier update, the S2k unit was sitting a little too close to the firewall, which was causing fitment problems so Big Mike had his fabricator create a spacer for it…
Came out perfect…there should be no problems mounting it up now…
This is the fabricator’s drawing of how the fuel filter will come out…
Finished product compared to the drawings…
Final product mounted up to the fuel filter and fuel regulator…
A washer was all fabbed up for the battery terminal to add structural ridigity…
Thats it for now. Don’t know what’s going on but the car is back at the bodyshop once again….it’s nearing crunch time and hopefully everything comes together and it’ll be able to make it’s Nisei Import Showoff debut….
Exclusive Content…Big Mike’s Prelude Build…Part 23…A Preview…
Haven’t had a chance to go through all the stuff that Big Mike has sent over to me but it will be up later today. I was super tired yesterday and KO’d the fuck out. I’m actualy still sleeping while I’m typing this. I just got it like that. Anyways, here’s a preview of what’s to come for today….
Is that tucked radiator? And why does it look like Big Mike is scooping up his nuts like Raisin Bran Crunch? All this and more, later today….!!
A follow-up…
This is how I see it.
Joke or not, it merits a response. Why do I feel it’s necessary to comment and “come to Phaze’s defense”? Probably because I know these guys and these guys are my family. Just like how all the guys from VA and on the VA forums all of a sudden come to his defense. “Oh he’s just joking/it’s just a joke”. And then what? All of sudden it’s cool to name drop because you’re joking and everyone is supposed to get that?
What I do on a daily basis on my site and what our guys have done…we don’t need to namedrop and call people out. What we’ve all done collectively has been cemented in print. All of us. I see alot of comments on the “VA driven” forums about how mad we are. Haha, we ain’t mad about anything. The guy is the William Hung of the Honda community right now. You wanna be famous? All good, I’ll give you your 15 min. Publicity brings hits my friend. A couple days from now, no one will be talking about it anymore because it will be insignificant. But I’m sure somewhere along the way all this has helped bring some new readers to my side and even more eyes on our group. I’m willing to give up 15 min of fame to this cat anyday of the week for that.
We’re a family first, then friends, then businessmen. Nevermind, wheel fitment, Mikey’s business is “killing it” right now. The Chronicles is doing better than ever, etc.
This guy put all that work into getting the car up, putting the wheels on, taking pics, putting it up, a “joke” call out, feeling the need to respond to every comment posted about him….that’s alot of work for a joke. All that for some bad publicity? At the end of the day the jokes on him.
Why take it so seriously some of you ask? This guy pulls a stupid stunt, I stir the pot, and everybody is talking about it. Controvery makes the world go round and round. People are talking about what we said in response more than what the guy attempted to (poorly) accomplish. I think we came out pretty well in that regard. You don’t have to agree with me or like what I have to say. I can’t please everybody…haha. But for those of you who are here for the first time…Welcome to “The Chronicles”. I hope your stay is pleasant, entertaining, and informative.
“…What he said, I said, has been said before ‘Just keep doing your thing,’ he said, say no more…”
Man down, someone trying to man up, and NSX news…
Oh man, sorry for the lack of the update that I promised yesterday. I actually received a call earlier in the morning from Mikeyyyy telling me that one of our fellow homies and Phaze2 member was hospitalized. I’d rather not go into details because it’s pretty personal so let’s just say that he’s doing better. He was admitted late Tuesday/early Wednesday morning and was still in the ICU when we went to go see him today. We chilled there for the majority of the afternoon and just hung out and made sure he had everything he needed. Hospitals are pretty weird. Honestly I can say anyone is fond of being in places like that but it really doesn’t help when the nurse is being a bitch. I don’t know if she had a shitty day and I’d give her the benefit of the doubt if I knew her but she just wasn’t very pleasant at all. Very unwilling to communitcate things to us, trying to kick us out when we weren’t really doing anything but sitting there and keeping our friend company, and talking to us like we were children. I would understand if she wanted us gone if visitation hours were over but clearly it wasn’t. Oh well, tought job I guess, can’t really blame her for being shitty. All the other nurses seemed to be really pleasant though so who knows….We’re all keepig our prayers with our friend and hoping for a speedy recovery. Sometimes we forget how mortal we truly are and harsh moments like these act as wake-up calls. We already lost a good one this year, we can’t afford another one, so please everyone keep your thoughts with our friend….
It also acts as a reminder of how tight our bond is among everyone. Situations like this prove that we are more than just a couple of guys with cars. We geniunely care about eachother’s wellbeing and are there at a moment’s call when our friends need us. That’s what defines a group. Not cars, how much money you have, how annoying you may find the other person at the time…none of that matters. When something happens, it’s good to know that people have your back…. I can’t wait until he’s out and about again. He’s the only person that’s more of an asshole than I am and I need him around to make me seem more pleasant, haha… It also sucks to see people you care for with a bunch of tubes in them and a half-filled pee bag on the side of their bed. Homie, get well soon. You’re gonna be a better person when you get out. Don’t let this shit get you down.
Man, so I get home and literally crash out in my room that happens to be hot as fuck since no one was home all day. I pass out and half this fucked up dream that some ghost was taking me away somewhere. Like one of those out of body experiences. It felt as if a big gust of wind or a force like pushed me down and held me on the ground. Fucking weird. These types of things tend to happen to me normally at night which is one of the reasons I sleep so late, so it was pretty weird for it to happen during the day time. Probably because my body was so tired and I had so much shit on my mind. Shit felt pretty real too, the only thing that told me that it was just a dream was because I saw my cat flying through the air, which was almost a bit comical. After I woke up I just pretty much didn’t do shit the whole night. Then Mikey sends me a text to go check out the “low offset” thread on Honda-Tech. This usually is a sign of some kind of debachery or shit talking and of course, this proved to be true again. Apparently some guy was posting up some ridiculous picture of his car or some shit and uttered the words “phase2 aintgotshit”. This was followed by a pic of his car on his new -44 offset wheels.
Now I know our guys are kinda out there with their wheel set-ups sometimes but at least we make an honest effort not to make the cars look utterly retarded like this guy. He also said…
“they do a vehicle up with improper everything and everyone drools over it.
yes the RSs are amazing but they should go on an e30
i am just playing their game at this point. taking it to the extreme to show that they dont have this “i am extreme” game all wrapped up “
True, we definitely don’t have the “i am extreme” game “all wrapped up” but apparently you have the “this shit is totally retarded and you’re trying to hard” down pat. You’re not playing our game, you’re on another fucking planet homie. I’m happy that you’ve been inspired though. Means we’re doing something right. It’s too bad that you took that inspiration and did everything wrong. Doing some shit like what you did ain’t gonna get you respect or have people “drool over it” like you say people do with the Phaze2 cars. That shit is laughable.
“its no doubt you have ht by the ballz with your setups and wheel choices. its simply the fact that noone is attempting to get on your level as far as radical wheel setups go that erks me. with out competition there is nothing to strive for”
Uhhh….you win. You can have the “radical wheel set-up” crown and HT’s ballz. We don’t want it anyway. Our guys build cars for ourselves and too our liking. We don’t go out and challenge people or try to get on any level. If people happen to like the cars that come out of our camp, then so be it. We have no control over what people like or dislike. Honestly, it’s a little sad to think you went through all that fab work and labor just to please a bunch of people you don’t know and the results came out like that. The drool, the ballz, you can have it all. I think you deserve something for all that hardwork. You’re almost killing it, all you need now are some yellow foglight film, a bike rack, and some shocker stickers. Then you got the game on lock for the next 20 years or so because there’s no one that will ever top that wheel set-up….EVER. Deloreans going to 2015 don’t even have that kind of set-up….You hit the bandwagon so hard, everyone fell the fuck off….
Aaaaanyways….I got a shitload of stuff for you guys the rest of the week. More Big Mike stuff of course and the NSX’s body panels should be completed soon. I talked to Tony briefly today and everything seems to be on the right track. The panels are getting worked on at a rapid pace and should be in paint by the end of the week. Also gotta dump the old gas out of it and get it running normal again. Hopefully once that is all squared away, we can actually drive this thing into Nisei and not have to push it….
Cliff-notes…
Phaze2 man down, homie is in the hospital and our prayers go out to him….
Phaze2 no longer the low offset kings, some guy with a burberry trunk and -44 offset wheels killed the game and now has HT’s balls and drool all over him. He’s the new king of improper everything.
NSX is getting worked on diligently this week in preparation to get it running by this weekend.
Big Mike’s got more shit for you guys, including some really nice custom fabricated parts and what not.
Quiz is on friday, I’m out.
“When ho’s daze has its knights get a little pig hold her….”
Working on a “look back” sort of deal and it’s taking a little longer than I expected. Trying to go over some stuff that I did earlier in the year and since this site’s inception as sort of a “mid-year review” type deal. I know it’s already August and it’s not exactly the middle of the year anymore, but since Nisei is coming up and it’s probably gonna be the biggest show of the year, might as well right? Anyways, check back later today for that, should be a good one….
I’m sure you guys need a good laugh or something to look at in the morning. This is breakfast to some of you so I think I’m gonna hand it off to singing sensation Kim Dong Won and let him seduce you with his vocals. His shirt should immediately throw you off but make sure to stick around and read the lyrics…Haha…Such classic lines as “Oh baby, billing me, it’s only a matter of pie…PIEEEEEE!!” ….It’s a must see.
Anyways, be back later today…
Exclusive Content…Big Mike’s Prelude Build…Part 22…
22′s son, do work! Oh man, we are starting to cut it really close… I haven’t been too worried about it at all as I’ve been following the progress along with you guys and everything seems to be in order. Well, Big Mike text me today to let me know that the Prelude was back at the bodyshop again and I was like “Whatttt? What now?” Big Mike then told me that this was the plan all along. Get the thing painted, get it back, drop the motor in, and then send it back so that they can cut and buff the entire car. Okay, that makes sense…only problem is, the Prelude was already at the bodyshop longer than expected. Because of the time lost, we’re starting to cut it really close to finishing this thing. Like paper-thin close…whatever that means. There is just so much that is left to be done. All the parts are in and that’s what we’ll be focusing more on today, but just the other little things add up you know? It’s not like everything is just gonna bolt up the first time in or there won’t be little mistakes here and there. I’m confident that Big Mike will get it done though, and hopefully he does, because I’m not really all that excited about having to sit here the day after Nisei and explain to you all why the car wasn’t there.
Anyways, today we’re gonna be spotlighting some gangster shit. Not gangster bowel movements, but some new custom one-off shit that is most certainly 2 major factors of this entire build…
First would have to be the new Bisimoto header. I know you guys got to see a small preview of it when the build first began but this is the actual completed header that will eventually find it’s way onto Big Mike’s F20B…
Let’s let Big Mike tell you more about it…
“This Bisimoto header is 304 stainless steel, has tri-stepped primaries, built-in venturi, BURNS collector, and these pictures are off the unit before it was sent out to be Jet Hot coated.”
If it doesn’t look impressive enough already, just imagine seeing this thing in person. According to Big Mike, he swears to me that this header is “re-damn-diculous”…
Pretty crazy right? The work and quality of this header is incredible…excuse me…”re-damn-diculous”…
So while the Prelude was off getting buffed at the shop, Bisi gave Big Mike a call about a package that showed up…
Kinsler Fuel Injection? What could that possibly mean?…Well…One of the original plans for the engine going into this rebuild, besides the header of course, was a new set of individual throttle bodies. Not just any ITBs though…This new ITB set-up would be created by Kinsler, built to Bisimoto specifications, and with a custom finish…A “Big Mike Edition” ITB set-up. A set-up that was to be specifically created for this build.
The following pictures are pictures that were taken by Kinsler Fuel Injection. Big Mike felt that the only way to truly present this product to the world was to use the pictures that Kinsler took. These pictures aren’t for any catalog or anything of the sort. They were taken by the guys at Kinsler, sent to Bisi, who sent them to Big Mike, and now they are in my hands. This is the first time anyone will see these ITBs and the pics are of the actual individual throttle bodies that will go on Big Mike’s Prelude…
The first thing you’ll notice off hand is the top feed/direct feed fuel set-up…
The primary fuel rail and injector set-up is in its “normal” position and the secondary rail and injector is a top feed set-up which delivers fuel directly into the throttle body…
So what exactly makes these the “Big Mike Edition” ITBs? Here’s Big Mike to tell ya…
“From powdercoating, to mirror polishing, to machine finishing, I had these units aesthitically customized to my specification. Bisi worked with them on designing them internally, and the outcome is ridiculous. They are quality man, QUALITY. You can tell immediately upon looking at them. If anyone is wondering, try to find another set of KINSLERS that are like these. These are completely one-off BIG MIKE edition Kinslers.”
Pretty crazy ain’t it? How many builds do you know that feature custom one-off ITBs build specifically for the owner? Damnnn….With all this crazy one-off stuff, I really hope that it’ll be finished up by Nisei so everyone can get a chance to see all this stuff in person….Stay tuned.
