The Top 10 Hondas of 2009…A retrospective…Part 1…
Well, it’s a little over the halfway mark of 2010 and I thought now would be as good a time as any to take a look back at the Top 10 Hondas of 2009 and catch up with them to see where they are at now. I did the same thing last year for the 2008 class of Hondas and the cars that year remained basically the same. This year however is a little different. There’s a bit of change with some of the cars of the 2009 class and I’ve taken the liberty of updating you guys with more current pictures of the cars. We will go over 10-5 today and then 4-1 the following day. It’s always good to get an update so let’s begin…
10. HBK Jon’s Honda Civic hatchback and Mr. Coupe’s Honda Civic coupe…(Tie)
What he’s up to now: Kinda funny that both of these guys ended up tied for the tenth spot because neither of them are active anymore. HBK Jon sold the car awhile back and has moved on. The interesting thing is that his feature finally came out in the current Import Tuner mag that’s on newstands now. It took awhile but Jon’s feature finally made it. You can actually see how long it took because the smaller photo in the above picture was taken the day his car was shot for IT and his feature barely hit the stands this month. Probably would have been cooler to see the mag when he still had that car but oh well, it’s cool to see nonetheless. The feature and pics by Luke came out really well so make sure to go grab a copy and check it out…
What he’s up to now: When I had posted the Top 10 list in December, Mike’s car had already been parted and out of commission. Today, it’s still the same. Just sits there waiting for Mike to rebuild it. He’s working really hard on getting his own shop, Track.One, up and running so his time has been 99% completely devoted to that. The other 1% of course, is devoted to Mike posting Facebook pictures of himself flexing, haha. I swear that’s all I see everytime he updates. His shop is looking good though and was built completely from the ground up with Mike overseeing it. The guy knows what he’s doing and I wish nothing but the best for that guy…
9. Dagreenek aka Steve Kwan’s Honda Civic hatchback…
What he’s up to now: Steve is still at it. The Honda Tuning magazine cover boy is still going at it and his Civic is looking better than ever. It’s great to see guys that continue on with their projects after their features. Nowadays it’s so hard to find an owner who actually keeps their car. Most of the guys I see usually sell their Honda right after they get mag coverage or even go as far as to put the car up for sale before their feature even comes out! The most obvious change at first glance is that rare First Molding front lip. It gives Steve’s Civic such an aggressive look and the new wheel set-up and seats flow much better than the old set-up. Everytime I see pictures of this guy’s car he’s got something different…
8. Phil Anastacio’s J32-powered Civic…
What he’s up to now: Here’s another guy that decided to keep his car and continue on with it. Not only is he not parting his car out, he’s also pushing the envelope even further. Phil now has a blower sticking out on top of his J32 swap. You know this car wouldn’t last 10 min in California without it being impounded but in Canada, I guess it’s all good. There’s even videos online of him driving around with this supercharger sticking way out of his non-existent hood. Phil posted pics up on NWP and he says he’s gonna cut out another hood for it but he might as well just not make one. So much is going on up top that there’s almost no point. This Civic looks crazy. I wonder how much power he’ll be able to make when he gets this thing dialed in…Jesus, there’s a fucking supercharger sticking out of this thing…
7. S2kjay’s Honda S2000…
What he’s up to now: Of the 10 Hondas on the list, Jay’s S2000 has probably taken the most aggressive transformation since the list was made. He completely re-did the car with a new Spoon front bumper, wheels, and Laguna Seca Blue paint. The bay was tucked also courtesy of another guy that we mentioned early; Mike from Track.One. The yellow was great but the new paint definitely stands out, almost as much as Jay’s air jack set-up. Jay loves Hondas and even came out again for Eibach to hang out with the west coast heads and plans to make another trip out for Nisei Showoff. He’s one of the guys who is always looking to change up his car and I look forward to what else he has up his sleeve…
6. Rywire’s Honda CR-X…
What he’s up to now: Ryan’s CR-X has not changed at all and with good reason. He’s busy putting in work on some of the best cars (not just Hondas) in the West and also putting together his insane K-swapped ITR. With so much work to do, Ryan has had little time to work on his own car. The CR-X is perfect the way it is though so there’s also no reason to mess with it anymore. A couple of progress pictures of his ITR have popped up on the internet and that thing is definitely going to be a sight to see when he finally finishes it…
5. Tony Khamly’s Sorcery NSX…
What he’s up to now: We’ve had two guys that no longer work on their Hondas, three guys that have gone on and made their builds even better, and now with Tony, two guys who really haven’t done much to their cars since then. Tony’s has had some minor changes here and there but it remains mostly the same. He was finally happy enough with the car to have it shot for a feature and deservingly landed the cover of the current issue of Honda Tuning. Tony plans to redo the Phaze2 NSX and when he does, trust me, you will know about it. He’s got some crazy plans for this thing and I’ll keep you updated when he decides to start the major makeover…
That’s it for today, hope you guys are entertained… the rest of the list tomorrow, stay tuned…
Exclusive Content…A first glance at the August issue of Honda Tuning…
Got some good stuff for you guys today…Rodrez hit me up and wanted to give you guys a teaser of the upcoming issue of Honda Tuning. This particular issue is special because it’s a completely race-dedicated issue. Meaning there are no show cars or daily street driven vehicles. It’s just the fully-dedicated race cars of the community and I think it’s really cool that we get to spotlight these guys in their own genre-specific issue. Of course many of you who follow this site already know that Sheepey’s 800hp Civic hatchback is going to be in this issue but here is the rest of the guys that are featured…
-Civic Type R road race car
-Super budget built CRX (built the entire car for just under $2,009.00 and swept the Grassroots Motorsports competition)
-Sportcar Motion/Loi’s ITR
-Landspeed record-chasing CRX
-All 3 Compass360/Skunk2 Grand AM competition cars
-V6 swapping the 88-91, 92-95, and 96-00 chassis’
as well as…
-Tuners corner with ‘Bisi
-Interviews with a few past and present track stars
Pretty awesome right? Well here’s Rodrez himself telling you more about it…
“I’ve been dying to put this issue together for a few months, but with organizing the Eibach Meet with VtecVoodoo, the NWP “transition” that occurred, and everything in between, it took awhile to get this one sorted out. I’m really happy with the finished product, and I hope all the hours that went into it satisfy a large number of readers.”
Here are a couple teaser pics of two of the guys that will grace the pages of Honda Tuning’s August issue. The hatch is none other than Sheepey and the Integra belongs to CTRparts.com and Lisa Kubo, who will also be piloting the car on race day. Make sure to grab your copy as it hits newstands by no later than next week! Remember to read it of course as your’s truly had the pleasure of writing up Sheepey’s feature and it’s a doozy…If you know or have ever had a chance to speak to Alex Soto, you know this guy always has something interesting to say…haha…Keep an eye out, even you show car guys can appreciate this issue because guys like Alex are doing up complete race cars in “Best of Show” immaculate showcar fashion!…
Sportcar Motion at it again…
This time it was the first win for the KraftWerks supercharged Sportcar Motion Civic. Nice to see this thing finally dialed in and ready for battle. Loi and the crew spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out the perfect formula to get this thing going on the track and it definitely paid off as Sportcar Motion won 1st place Modified FF class at Redline Time Attack this past weekend. The KraftWerks-powered Civic ran a best lap time of 1:32.884, four seconds ahead of it’s next closest competitor, Inline4. Congrats to Loi, driver Renzo Marsano, and the rest of the Sportcar Motion crew for their continued success in the Redline Time Attack series! Here’s some snaps from Loi…
Oh and happy 4th of July…
Good news…
Thanks for everyone’s concern in regards to Sam’s Civic…your words have motivated him to continue on with his build and he promises that it will be better than ever. I also spoke with Alexisthemovie last night and he informed me that there was indeed no frame damage and that all damage is just on the exterior, which is great news because nothing major will have to be done other than bodywork. The wheels are easily repairable so no real worry about that. Good news all around…it was a very unfortunate event but now Sam’s car will be better than ever and it’s given him added motivation to make this thing great…
Did anyone happen to notice that the dude was still INSIDE the Jeep? Haha, man…I barely caught that when I was messing around with this image. Might seem kinda fucked-up but everything is cool now and Sam is happy that his car will be fixed so why not…haha…it’s not often I see pictures like this and in my crazy fucked up head, this was the first thing I pictured… The hits on yesterday’s update was crazy and people from all over are looking at Sam’s car. The pictures are so crazy that I’m willing to bet that by the end of the year it might be one of the most viewed posts of 2010…
Oh someone actually saw this when they were driving by that day and captured some of his own pictures and even video of the aftermath…
Just a small bit of news before I go…The Chronicles “hellaSUNK” Version III sticker is now up and available in the store for you guys. It’s a different look from the previous two and even comes in purple chrome. I was reluctant to do the double chrome because it tears so easily when I weed the extra vinyl out. With the way the font is, especially for the smaller letters, it tears to easily. It’s nothing for you guys to worry about but I just don’t like to waste the chrome vinyl material and the risk of me tearing it while putting the stickers together is not something I look forward to. Thanks for everyone’s support though, you guys seem to love this hellaSUNK stuff…haha…
The Chronicles Storefront – hellaSUNK Version III
800+ for the haters…
Got a text from Sheepey aka Alex Soto yesterday that he was heading over to Bisimoto to get his drag hatchback tuned. Of course, I can’t sleep for shit so I didn’t get to bed until 7-8am or so and totally missed the text. I woke up and looked at my phone and realized that he was already over there and I was kinda disappointed that I didn’t make it out to see this thing on the dyno. Luckily Bisi was able to capture the final run on video where it made over 800 horsepower at around 30psi of boost…The graph is below and make sure to check out the video that’s posted. There are a lot of guys out there that doubted Sheepey’s car could produce these kinds of numbers but here’s the proof for all of them to see…enjoy…
Video of the final run…Bisimoto Dynapack 3000…
Sheepey himself…
“
Its within 5 hp of Bubbas dyno from what I did on spring pressure with lots of fuel!Bobby and everyone else couldnt have done it without great homies like yall!
Big Mike thank you for sharing the lunch with me, those fries wer bomb homie!!
For Bisi and Hedi, straight up nothing what I expected! They are awsome fucking people and Bisi does not fuck around on the dyno. I ran into some small issues where I was ready to just call it quits but the guy has such love for it all helped me work the bugs out. Considering its a damn drag car he still tuned every 1k rpm to 6k being actual boost runs!
We then inspected the plugs to make sure if the tune was really what the ECU was saying and man they looked perfect! We tuned spring pressure which is 14 psi, 20 psi and 31 psi was the end. This turbo will max out around 45ish with the boost duty cycle only ending 30 percent!
I couldn’t be happier with the results! We’re going to go testing and get some seat time before we up the boost even higher.”
Exclusive Content…The unused Bisimoto Super Street shots…
It’s nice to take a long weekend off from everything and just spend time with friends and family…With all this bad news lately, it’s good to get away for a bit but now we’re back in business….Thanks to everyone for their concern in regards to Ross and Midnight Garage. He appreciates all your kind words and thoughts. I’ll let you guys know when I hear anything new on his situation…
Alright, so back to regular Honda stuff. As you all know, the Super Street Honda issue hits the newstands this month and most places have probably had many copies sold out. It looks like it’s a hit and people are running around everywhere looking for them. If you haven’t found your copy yet, keep looking. I have seen them pop up on a bunch of spots in my area so I’m pretty sure it should be readily available to everyone. For some reason the 7-11 in by my place seems to get mags last, especially since I think the guys there are too lazy to ever rotate to the newest issues, so when I see them at this 7-11, it’s gotta be everywhere.
This issue is not only special to me because I had to pleasure of writing the double cover feature and tell their stories to all of you, but I also wrote and shot my very first feature for Super Street. I didn’t really expect them to ask me to shoot anything but when the opportunity came up, I thought it would be a good time to take on that challenge. I guess I’m my own biggest critic so I wasn’t very sure on how it came out but after looking at it a couple times, I think I’m happy with it. Everyone that has seen it tells me that it looks good so I’m happy about that. I’m already in the process of editing my next feature for SS and I think I’ve learned quite a bit since shooting Bisi’s Civic…
I absolutely love Bisi’s wagon and I feel honored to have been able to shoot it. Bisi Ezerioha is a good guy and very knowledgeable. It was cool to actually see this thing in person and capture all the little details in the build. These are the shots that weren’t used by Super Street and you’ll only see them here on The Chronicles. Enjoy…same set-up as usual, click on the link below each picture for a larger image…
Goodbye FD2 Type R…we hardly knew you…
They say all good things must come to an end but this seemingly came out of nowhere. With Honda taking the direction of being environmentally friendly and “green”, they have decided to end production of the 4-door Civic Type R by August 2010. Here in the U.S. we’ve barely started to get used to the idea of the U.S. Civics doing the full R conversions and now with their on the way to the can. What a shame…if there was ever a more attractive incarnation of the Type R, it would probably be the FD2 chassis. I personally loved this bodystyle R and all the new stuff that was coming out for it from J’s Racing and Feel’s, etc., etc…. Sucks that they’re not gonna make them anymore.
Official Press Release…
TOKYO, Japan, April 19, 2010 – Honda Motor Co., Ltd. announced it will discontinue production of the 4-door Civic Type R at the end of August, 2010. A purist’s sports car featuring precisely tuned vehicle dynamics, the Civic Type R creates a unity between car and driver for exceptional driving pleasure. The first-generation model launched in 1997 and was produced at Suzuka Factory. The second-generation model following in 2001, was produced at Honda of the U.K. Manufacturing Ltd.* For the current, third-generation Civic Type R that was released in 2007, the production has returned to Suzuka Factory.
Type R models are specially tuned to take full advantage of the potential of the base model and provide a racing car-like driving feel. First offered on the NSX in 1992, the Type R range was added to the Integra in 1995 and to the Civic in 1997.
Noooooooo…..
Some shots from the Modified Magazine Tuner Shoot-out…
Loi Song and The Chronicles Top Honda of 2009 made an appearance at the Modified Magazine Tuner Shoot-out over the past weekend. Here are some pics courtesy of none other than Loi himself. I don’t know the results and who won but even if I did I’m sure I couldn’t reveal it to you guys. They’re probably keeping it a secret until the actual results come out in a future issue of Modified magazine. These pics should hold you over for now though….some Honda and non-Honda content ahead…
Sportcar Motion DC2R…
I’m sure somebody will say something about the front wing in the comments section…
Sportcar Motion Integra parked next to Tage Evanson’s hatchback…
Really like the aero on this NSX…especially the rear diffuser…
HBK No More…
A couple months ago, I got word through the grapevine that HBK Jon had sold his purple hatchback. Last year it was one of the most talked about Hondas out here in Socal and I even had the opportunity to attend his mag shoot in downtown L.A. Not really sure when or if the feature will ever come out but it almost seems unimportant now since he doesn’t even own the car anymore. What usually happens with these well-known builds is that once they’re sold, the owner that buys it takes some parts off of it and then ends up flipping the car again right away. Same thing happen to Mikeyyyy’s as well as a couple other cars that were sold in the last couple years. Kinda sad to see these cars after they’ve switched hands…especially since the look is so recognized. To this day I still have people clicking on the pics that I randomly took the day of his shoot. I don’t really understand why they’re still so popular but I guess international enthusiasts have never seen the car and it’s still very new to them.
As expected, the new owner has already gone and posted up the car for sale once again. To say that it’s a shadow of it’s former self would be an understatement. It’s funny how quickly things change in a year. I guess that’s just the speed of life out here in the west coast import community. The car has switched owners and we (The Phaze2/Doods! family) no longer affliate ourselves with anything related to FAST Autoworks, for both personal and business reasons. I hate to see the cars when they get to this stage. The new owners usually never take care of the cars like the original owners and you can’t blame them. They didn’t build the car and they don’t have any sentimental value for it. When Mikeyyyy and I sold our cars the exact same thing happened. I remember seeing DPK Rudy’s RSX up for sale last year as well and it was basically stock on the outside. When the new owner posted it up for sale again, people were flaming him on the message boards because they thought he was using Rudy’s pics and trying to scam people, when in actuality, it was indeed Rudy’s old ride and the engine bay was perfectly intact…
Here’s the Civic in it’s current state… I’m sure you all can recognize what’s been removed and what’s left of it….
The Buddy Club Spec 2 that used to be on it has been replaced by some generic muffler…
Here’s a shot of what it used to look like…
Engine bay still has the Chronicles sticker on the intake… =P
Interior is basically the same…
It’s no longer slammed to the ground anymore because the suspension has been replaced with ground control sleeves and stock struts…
Whoever ends up buying this thing will get a pretty good deal. When Jon had it the motor was pretty much fucked so hopefully that’s been fixed but for the 6,500, you’re still getting alot of stuff with the car…
Here’s the link to the for sale thread on NWP…
Not really sure why the new owner said it was featured in Super Street though, because that definitely did not happen. The car was shot for Import Tuner but like I said earlier, no idea when or if that will ever run…Maybe the guy was told it was featured when he bought it though, who knows….
Speaking of which, I actually saw my old Accord on the road a couple weeks ago as well…
I was driving back up to LA from my parents place in SD and drove up next to it in the Vista area. It was the first time I had seen it in person since I sold it back in 2008. Man, it’s probably on it’s 4-5th owner now but the paint still looked pretty minty. Guess the car found its way back to San Diego where it all started. I was kinda sad to see it…just brought back so many memories you know. At least the new owner is enjoying it now. All the parts are long gone and are being whored out by a bunch of other Accord owners but the engine bay should still be intact. I almost wanted to follow the guy and stop him just to see what shape it was in but that would have been kinda strange. That and the dude would probably think I was robbing him or some shit…Oh well…
Actual…Honda…News…?
Ah man, I know there hasn’t really been much to update lately. Mainly because it’s the beginning of the year and well, everyone on this half of the coast is going nuts in anticipation for the 2010 Wek’Fest event. It’s crazy to think that most of us just hang out now and all we can talk about is how anxious we are to go to Norcal. Not only is it coming up soon but my birthday is that week as well along with Big Mike and Jeremy’s. It’s gonna be fun just to be able to get away and explore San Francisco and see good friends as well as meet new faces. All is well and everyone looks to be heading in the right direction as far as getting their cars prepared.
Besides that though, there is actual Honda news from the rest of the world. I know it’s hard to believe but occassionally, on this Honda-dedicated site, there is actual Honda content, haha…And though this is a Honda site, I actually had to find these pics from a non-Honda guy, Jon Sibal. He’s someone who I respect very much for what he does for a living as well as his view on all things automotive so be sure to check out his site.
First thing I got for you is the first pictures of the HSV-010 GT (aka the next generation NSX that will never see production) in action with completed graphics/livery schemes. You have probably all seen the HSX GT in it’s flat black form but these pics will give you guys a good idea of what they will look like when Super GT officially begins…
I don’t know how I feel about them because the car looked so menacing in black and the colored versions almost look fake. I gotta say though, it’s amazing to see this piece of machinery in action and an even greater feeling to hear this thing roar. Check out the video at the bottom. Shit sounds like an F1 car….I would use references like “oh I just came” or “oh I just shit my pants” but I’ d. You know what makes me shit my pants? Uhh…like a fucking gallon of chili. I don’t know, just watch the video, soil yourself if you must…Oh and thank god for HD Youtube, I’m tired of watching car videos on there and that shit looking like that Tony Stewart Off-Road arcade game…You know, that game from the early 90s with 4 big ass steering wheels and the trucks in the game are the size of a pubic hair? Yah that one….nitro booost!!!….
By the way, there aren’t pics of it but watch the video and catch that Raybrig HSV….goodness…shit is mean!!!
Remember to watch this in 720P!!…
Oh and I also saw these images on his site of the 2010 BTCC Honda Civic… I just can’t help but wonder how North America would have reacted if this car had made it’s way to our shores. It’s definitely an interesting looking car. With all the new Subaru Imprezas on the road and everyone fascinated with oddball looking cars, I would imagine these would do quite well over here. Great job of hiding that rear door handle too, good design….
Pretty interesting right?…
First funk-faker of 2010…
Ah as you guys all know, I am a big fan of people who fake the funk and try to rock real stickers on fake wheels to play them off as the real thing. What’s even better is when the owners try to justify why they do it. Often times we hear the “well I don’t have money for the real thing”, etc. etc, but the point is; why try to front like they’re real? Regamasters are usually the first to be faked because the stickers are easy to replicate but any real car head knows the differences between the real deal Regas and the Rotas, DRAGs, Nippons, whatever. I recently spotted these on NWP and I guess the guy who shot the photos had no idea they were fakes, but I wonder what the owner was thinking when the guy was getting close-up wheels shots. These don’t even look close to being the real thing. For the less inclined, real 16-inch Regamasters don’t have the extra holes in the lug/hub area, only the 15s do. That and the lip design is slightly different also. This may be the first guy caught of faking the funk in 2010, but it definitely won’t be the last…Good job fella, you’ve got the first set of Rotamaster EMOs for the new year…
DPK David’s EJ1 Civic Coupe…Exclusive Content…
As promised, here are the final edits of the photos of DPK David’s coupe. Seems like only yesterday when David had no idea what the Chronicles was and thought it was gonna be wack…haha. It also seems like only yesterday when David decided to tear his car down and rebuild it. Little did anyone know that it would be down for about 3 years before it finally made its return at Nisei of 2009. When I saw it at the show, I was pretty impressed but I don’t know, something about it…left me with a weird feeling, like it was naked. Just something missing you know? Nonetheless, it was a great car and I was very fond of it. It wasn’t until he brought it out again for the Norm Reeves show in the winter when my view on the Civic completely changed. He doesn’t know what lip it is and no one else seems to know (we’re thinking 5Zigen) but the front lip changed the whole look of the car for me. I guess you could say that it was the perfect finishing touch. He would go on to win best of show at that event and for good reason. David is a hell of a picky guy, and I’ve said on more than one occassion that he’s the most undecisive person I’ve ever met, but it’s quirks like that that often make for great builds. Undecisive, picky, whatever you wanna call it, the final product is definitely worth it. When we had finally come to an agreement on the time to actually go and shoot this thing, I wasn’t sure how I felt about his wheel choice because I had it in my head that it would be on the CE28s but when I actually saw the car in his garage with the CPRs on it…oh man..I knew we had our choice. Something about the green and the Sprint Harts that remind me how much I miss my car, and I take great pleasure in presenting this Civic to you all…
I’m not gonna include all the specs of the build, because well, I usually get paid to do that…haha…but you can see the goodies…
You know the routine, I’m compressing the images to fit the layout of the site but below each image is the link to the original size. At the end I’ve included some widescreen edits for you all…1920×1080 and 1600×900…that’s right, big as fuck in 1080p. Only seen here on the Chronicles…
Random fish-eye…
Extra widescreen shot for the ones with the big screens…
Widescreen Version 1080p (1900×1080)
Hope you guys liked it….PEACE.
Long Beach Represent…
I normally wouldn’t really go shoot a car in a random place unless I really know the guy. When I went to go snap pics of Sheepey’s car, I went all the way out to Perris in the middle of nowhere to meet up with him to shoot. I go a long way for my friends. When J.P. from DPK hit me up awhile back to help him take some pictures of his new set-up, I really didn’t have any idea where I would do it because I don’t wanna continue using the same spots over and over again. If Mikeyyyy and I know anything about taking pics of cars for private use or for mags, we understand that it’s very easy to burn up a spot real quick. I’m pretty familiar with the Los Angeles area, but still, I’m originally from SD so I don’t know all the private spots to shoot at. I’ve found a couple, but like I said, I don’t wanna burn those spots up. Once I found out that J.P. didn’t have any headlights, well it’s was pretty obvious at that point that I had to go where he was. I’m not about to make the guy drive all over the place with no headlights, especially since he has like copper wheels, bars everywhere, a big fucking intercooler, and well, no headlights. So I just headed down to Long Beach to pay him a visit. The weather has been pretty ridiculous lately, and it’s been super cold. Plus with the rain and all, it’s been getting dark super fast…
Now the pics I’m honestly not that happy with. I took alot more but they ended up in the recycle bin. We spent alot of time looking for spots to take pics at and it basically killed the light that we had left from the day. Along with that, it was cold as shit and the spots we found were pretty smal and limited. Either that or there was traffic going in and out. It was kinda rushed but here’s what resulted from that day. By the time we finished it was night time and I don’t even know how he drove around in the dark like that, haha. He really wanted me to get the new little details he added and hopefully I got that. If not, hell, we can always shoot again…On with the pics. You guys know the routine. I’ve sized them to fit within the frame but links to the original sized versions are below each pic. It’s not rocket science people. Thanks for looking….Hopefully I get to finally get pictures of DPK David’s Civic soon…
The Chronicles….Sub-par pictures, asshole who writes it, but great cars. Yes…great cars.
Thanks for looking.
Fast Autoworks Civic…
Words/Photos - Joey Lee
Last week, I had some free time so I went over to Fast Autoworks to go snap some shots of their coupe. You’ve probably seen it at shows, meets, etc but other than that, it remains for the most part, unseen. It’s got a built B-series that makes close or a little over 300whp, from what I remember, but I don’t remember actual numbers. Everything else is pretty self explanatory. Sorry if I don’t have my usual delightful candor. I heard some shit where one of our guys was done dirty in a very disrespectful way and I’m in the process of figuring out what to do about it….I was almost iffy on putting these pics up because of said issue but I’m kinda happy with the way the pics came out and I don’t want all my man hours wasted….Anyways, enjoy, it’s a very nice coupe….
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…
Support Hondas!…
Okay, for all of you who tuned in to see Big Mike build coverage, I swear, it is coming tomorrow. I was basically tying up some loose ends for work today and editing some pictures when I caught this on the Castrol Syntec Top Car Challenge website. It contains a couple of videos of Loi Song and the Sportcar Motion Civic and basically breaksdown what is in the car. This is one of the premier time attack Hondas in competition right now and we would all appreciate it if you clicked on the link below and took 5 min out of your busy day to watch the videos. You can watch it while on the toilet, inbetween commercial breaks, while you’re waiting for your pRon to finish downloading, etc…. SUPPORT HONDAS. Click the link below…
I can’t begin to stress how important it is to support Hondas in any form of road racing competition. If you read the Chronicles then you probably have love for Hondas and especially this one since I’ve documented it on numerous occassions. Now meet the man behind the build and the owner of Sportcar Motion.
CLICK HERE to go to the Castrol SYNTEC Top Car Challenge site featuring the Sportcar Motion Civic.
Thank you guys so much for doing so.
Back for the first time…
Told you I’d be back with another update today. Hope you guys don’t miss this one after the Big Mike stuff is posted later on tonight for tomorrows update. Anyways, we were all standing around waiting for HBK Jame’s shoot to finish up elsewhere so I decided to just take some random shots of Jon’s hatch. Guess they came out decent considering no flash and it was starting to get dark and what not….
Most awkward reaction to getting a feature ever! Look at his face, haha…you got got son!…
The pics without the “Chronicles” watermark are actually bigger pics, just click for the bigger versions…
Overly saturated version…
Like clockwork…
I guess it shouldn’t really come as a surprise to anyone that’s been following the Redline Time Attack series but Loi Song and Sportcar Motion have done it again. Piloted by Tim Kuo, the Sportcar Motion Civic ran a best time of 1:29.693, making it the Modified FWD champion. The new set-up with a Kraftwerks S/C proved to be deadly and the car that placed 2nd in the class ran almost 7 seconds slower. No other vehicle in the entire Modified class, FWD, RWD, or AWD, ran a better time other than the Harman Motive Impreza….
I actually had dinner with Loi and Morgan a couple nights before the event and was told that Tim Kuo hadn’t even driven the hatch with the new S/C set-up prior to a day before. Imagine the type of numbers it would get once Tim gets futher seat-time…
On another note, running the S/C set-up for the first time caused some heating issues as the half-sized radiator couldn’t handle the work load. Even though they could have just shut it down and decided to not run anymore, they decided to persevere and took some drastic measures to solve the issue. The result of those measures are evident in the pictures….
Taking a chunk out of the front bumper definitely made the difference and allowed for two more runs that ultimately helped Sportcar Motion win the Modified FWD class. Whatever works right? Knowing Loi, he’s probably got a couple extra bumpers laying around the shop anyway…
Big Congrats to the Sportcar Motion crew for doing big things and keeping Hondas relevant in the racing world. 1:29 and counting…More from Song and the crew as the Castrol Syntec Top Car Challenge approaches…
The rebuild of Jade…
I figure I should pass this along to you guys since Eibach is coming up within a couple weeks….For those of you that don’t know, fellow Honda enthusiast and devoted follower of the Chronicles (*ahem*), Jade aka Jadedm aka Morgan, is currently building a geniune Civic Type R which she plans to officially debut at the annual Eibach meet…
Man that sentence was awfully long…Anyway, not only is it a true CTR, it also has a Sportcar Motion-assembled K20z in it. Oh, did I mention that it was being built by a woman? Now I don’t know much about women other than the fact that they yell at me and don’t have penises, but I know one thing; there aren’t too many of them that build cars and they definitely don’t build Civic Type Rs. It’s a cool thing to see girls that are into building Hondas. It’s a shame that they are so far and few between. I personally only know of one other girl that has the know-how to build her own car but she’s currently on hiatus so that makes Jade’s build even that much more important in a male-dominated community…
This CTR has all the top of the line stuff from Skunk2 and BDL. The header above is the newly released K-series Skunk2 unit that you’ve probably heard me speak of before…
…and that piece is connected to Skunk2′s newly developed complete exhaust system…
Hasports newest version of the EKK2 mounts are holding the K inside Jade’s EK9. The newer versions include a different rear bracket as well as an updated tranny-side bracket….
Jade also installed a bunch of BDL stuff like their k-series fuel rail and oil cap…
The interior is all business. No radio, Karcepts shifter, m3-red cage that Morgan just recently painted, and seats I hear are coming very soon…
It’s currently sitting on 16×8 Enkei RPF1s but that last time I was down there I heard she was getting some Work wheels powdercoated and they should be on there soon. Other than the ARC winglets, the exterior retains it’s OEM appearance. It’s a Type R afterall so it’s not really necessary to do anything drastic to it.
She’s still working hard on finishing it up but it’ll definitely be ready for Eibach in two weeks. I have yet to see it in person actually so I’m looking forward to seeing it in person as well. It doesn’t get any better than this, classic geniune Civic Type R with an updated heart in the form of a K20 engine. For more on the build, make sure to check out Jadedm’s blog: Randomness of Jade. She’s always updating her whenever she does anything to the car so make sure to check it out and see her personal thoughts on build.
Exclusive First Look at Sportcar Motion’s entry into the Castrol Syntec Top Car Challenge…
You know I’m always bringing you world exclusives at The Chronicles…okay, not really. I pretty much just bring you pictures from meets, dirty perv stuff, and shit I’m mad at. For many of you, this will be the first time you’ve had a chance to see this Civic. This is Sportcar Motion’s entry into the Castrol Syntec Top Car Challenge….
For those of you unfamiliar with the competition, it’s a challenge that pits Honda Tuning, Super Street, Import Tuner, Modified, Euro Tuner, and Lowrider magazine against eachother. The twist is that the cars competing won’t be built by the respective magazines but by someone that is chosen to represent the mag. Loi Song and Sportcar Motion will represent Honda Tuning. Who better to represent the magazine of the Honda Community than a Redline Time Attack champion and record holder right?…
The challenge is similar to the now-defunct Ultimate Street Car Challenge. Not only will it include time attack and 1/4 mile battles but also other events such as trap speed, horse power, power-to-weight ratio, endurance, braking, and even emissions testing. The key to this competition is to find a car that’s not only a beast on the track but also relatively streetable and reliable in rush-hour traffic. In fact, the cars will actually have to sit in rush hour traffic and go from one destination to another just to prove that it can actually hang with the common folk who sit angrily in L.A. traffic everyday. Definitely an interesting overall competition. Now more on the car…
The first thing you probably noticed in the pictures was the intercooler. Unlike Sportcar’s other shop vehicles in the past, this one will not be naturall aspirated. Thanks to Kraftwerks and Skunk2 Racing, not only will it be another monster K built by Sportcar, but it will also feature a prototype K-supercharger kit…
If you found yourself looking around for a turbo or s/c after you saw the first couple pics, you won’t spot it right away because the Rotrex S/C sits under the intake manifold and alternator. I was told that this is actually the biggest S/C that Rotrex has to offer. The previous K in the Redline Time Attack winner was hovering under the the 300hp range all motor so one can already imagine how much this one will make with a supercharger…
Can’t really divulge too much information on it because it’s still not complete yet but it will have alot of prototype Skunk2 stuff that hasn’t been released. Above is one of the first Skunk2 composite fuel rails to be used in well, anything…Why composite technology?…
Skunk2’s new cutting-edge composite fuel rails are made using our proprietary carbon impregnated aerospace thermo-polymer composite. This material insulates the fuel from both radiant and conductive heat transfer under the hood. Keeping the fuel cooler results in an increase in horsepower and torque. We have seen power gains of up to 3% in real world testing. Skunk2 composite fuel rails feature a large 0.625” internal bore with radius inlets to the injectors thus improving flow characteristics. This type of radius injector inlet design is not possible with extruded and drilled aluminum fuel rails (which have sharp angles internally where the main bore meets the injector bores). Skunk2 fuel rails can be used with factory fuel lines and fuel regulators.-courtesy of Skunk2
New stuff is being added everyday as the event draws closer. These are all in-progress pics and they’re not in any particular order so if you see something that’s different here and there, it’s because they’re just different pictures that Loi has been sending over to me. I’m excited to see the finished product and I might even head down there sometime this week to check it out…
These Wilwoods just arrived a day or so ago and they supposedly clear smaller wheels like 15s and what not too. Should be interesting to see if that is true or not. If it does, I imagine they would be a pretty snug fit….
Here is how the Civic sits as of now. Loi didn’t really mention he had a J’s Racing front lip so I was surprised to see him running something that wasn’t made out of plywood..Looks really aggressive with the canards and that Kraftwerks intercooler poking out of the bumper. 
I’ll try to update you guys on the progress whenever I hear anything about it. I gotta pick up some stuff from Loi as well so sometime this week I’ll be able to get a closer look at it….
More Top Fuel nostalgia…Top Fuel EK on video…
Been a slow week so far. Nothing really going on other than the same old stuff…The post about the Top Fuel Civic from a 1999 issue of Turbo magazine sparked so much interest that I thought I’d keep you guys company with some videos today. No this isn’t the same EK that graced the issue because it’s basically impossible to find anything on it anymore. The only thing that really comes up is Hugh Le’s old EK and that was repainted yellow and went through many other phases. Despite it not being the same car, it gives you an idea of what Top Fuel was doing at that time. Just to hear this thing run is music to the ears….One video is from Max Power UK (sans tits), the other two look to either be from an Option or Revspeed or Hot Version video…Anyway, enough with the talking…
A Nostalgic Moment…June 1999 – Top Fuel’s 531hp EK…
Ahhhh….why the fuck is it shaking?!….Haha, so I was at my parents’ house a while back and I managed to find a whole stash of all my old magazines that I used to collect. Back then, I used to buy pretty much all the magazines that were out but followed Import Tuner the most. When I do these posts, sometimes it’s basically impossible to find any pics of the cars I wanna talk about because they’re usually about 10 years old and any picture of them is probably long gone. For example, I brought up Kash Singh’s widebody Accord awhile back and struggled to find images of it. Now as you can see from above, I have the issue in hand with Aiko Tanaka on the cover and all…I also dug up the 2nd photo album that I was looking for. When I found the first one, some pics were missing and I was thinking that another album must be somewhere in my room and sure enough, here it is…
The first car and mag that I wanted to bring up before all the others is the June 1999 issue of the now defunct Turbo magazine. On the cover, as you can see from the top right corner of the picture, was the H22-powered, 531hp Top Fuel EK Civic…
Back in 1999 I was still a diehard Toyota-guy and also still in highschool. A Honda wasn’t anywhere near my plans for the future so the only time I really looked at them was when I flipped through a magazine. I think this EK might possibly be the reason why I fell in love with Hondas. Something about it was just so raw…
This feature was probably also one of the first time the U.S. was introduced to the Buddy Club bodykit. Whether you liked it back then or not, there’s no denying that this kit was probably one of the most popular of all time. I remember I went to a show once, probably an Autofest in San Diego, and there was a whole row of cars all rocking Buddy Club front bumpers. Of course they weren’t all real, kits were one of the first things to be copied and knocked-off but that represented the true popularity of the look at that time. Shit, of all the Buddy Club kits out there, I bet 90% of them weren’t real. They were all over the place. On Escorts and Sentras and shit,…EVERYWHERE.
This thing was serious…It made 531whp with an H22A and IHI RX-6 turbo. One of the signatures of this EK was the A’PEXi Skyline intercooler core. It might even be the first thing anyone noticed. It probably wouldn’t be too far-fetched to say that this EK was the inspiration behind the Team Rice EK as both used Skyline cores…
Advan RGs will always be one of my favorite wheels of all time. Seeing them on the Top Fuel EK is probably one of the reasons why. It was definitely on my list of wheels to own in my lifetime and when I found a set in 2006, I knew I had to have them. Sure RG2s are great wheels but they won’t ever come close to the original RGs in my eyes….
If you brought this car out today, it would probably still be a beast. There’s nothing really outdated on it per say, the Buddy Club kit maybe but it’s functional on this car. People nowadays are still searching for a mint set of RGs, Top Fuel as a whole is probably a much bigger name than it was back in 1999, and the turbo H22 would probably be a built n’ boosted K20R. If anything it’s the prime example of a timeless build. Most people today are still trying to reach these types of numbers and trying to get ahold of the parts on this EK. If this thing were to arrive at a show or meet, guys would act like giddy little school girls in anticipation of catching a glimpse at it. A crazy thought considering it’s been almost 10 years since it graced the pages of Turbo…
Oh and if you were wondering…I intentionally didn’t scan the pics because of two things: 1. I fucking hate scanning shit cuz it’s so tedious and time consuming. 2. I fucking hate macs even more and that’s the only computer I have here that has a scanner. The images above probably look better than scanning it and them turning out all huge and grainy anyway…
A Nostalgic Moment…Xanthic Design Civic…
Does anyone out there remember this Ej1 from Xanthic? I think it came out in about 05 or so, maybe before. Sure you may look at it and see the headlights and lambo doors and say “oh that shit is ricey” or that it looks like something straight out of an Extreme Autofest show. There are alot of things that most of us wouldn’t do to our cars nowadays or maybe even back then. Xanthic didn’t build the car to be “JDM” though, it was put together as an answer to the U.S. sport compact scene or what they deem: “Spocom” style. While we’re busy trying to get all things “JDM”, the japanese or busy taking our own style and making it better…
Despite the euro taillights and headlights, this thing was truly a piece of art. The entire body was redone in Xanthic’s own carbon fiber. They did numerous tests to get this done right and all seam lines were eliminated A-pillar to the rear quarter panel. The body was constructed in silver carbon fiber and painted red. Xanthic Design also added their own front and rear bumper replacement pieces…
…Another interesting feature was the tilt reverse hood which Xanthic worked in collaboration with Weld Techniques Factory to create. Not necessarily the most functional piece to create but when you have the technology to build it, why not show it off…
Unlike the majority of the lambo door’d Hondas stateside at that time, Xanthic actually did some engine work. And I’m not just talking about colored wireloom…Sitting inside this carbon bodied EJ1 was a B18C Type R engine and AE101 Corolla-spec individual throttle bodies. If that wasn’t enough, it also had a Nitrous Express set-up capable of 250hp…
The interior was strictly “spocom” themed also. Just a whole lot of red everywhere but the entire dash was also constructed of carbon fiber…
Here’s a shot of the two bottles and sound system set-up that replaces the rear seats…
Oh it also had 10mm overfenders on it too, probably needed to house the 19-inch Work XSA-02c wheels…
Look at that gigantic monster-tach….
I remember seeing this thing for the first time back in the day when I was glancing at a Option2 mag. I was interested because I never seen the japanese work on an EJ1. Most of the time all they had were EF’s and EG hatchbacks. The most extreme one at the time was that one EF with a MR-S frontend…..ugly ass car. It was definitely cool to see this thing back then though, especially all the little details. You really need to take a second look just to notice all the carbon fiber on the body because everything fit like OEM. I’m surprised the frontend never caught on. It’s not a bad looking front bumper either. Pretty clean in my opinion but I guess everyone was all about JDM OEM this and that. I mean a couple years ago people were forking out big money for a Bomex kit, can’t imagine why they wouldn’t try to cop Xanthic aero pieces. Maybe it was an availability thing. Alot of people probably don’t know but Xanthic also had EG front lip spoiler also. Another piece that would have been cool if it had caught on over here in the states…
Not bad right? it’s not as huge as the J’s lip and the fitment on it looks really tight.
From the earlier pics you can probably spot the BB6 Prelude in some of the shots. The Prelude was probably the more memorable car because it appeared in Option as well as some U.K. mags and even landed in Super Street. Both cars were both built with basically all the same aspects. The only main difference was the chassis, obviously…Both were definitely underrated though. It was probably a huge hit over in Japan because Spocom was really catching on at that time. In the U.S., it was all about JDM this and that and people probably didn’t pay too much attention to both cars because of it’s U.S.-inspired styling…ironic isn’t it?
I even managed to find a video!…I can’t seem to get it to embed into this page so here’s a direct link. You’ll need Windows Media Player to play it…Enjoy.
Don’t worry, no rick rolling or any stupid shit like that…
Mugen RR Advanced Concept…
One of the more impressive debuts at the Tokyo Auto Salon this year is the Mugen RR Advanced Concept Civic. Many of you are probably familiar with the red RR from the previous year but this Mugen’s “Advanced” version…Power is bumped up to 260ps, 20 more than the original RR and more body panels have been replaced with carbon fiber pieces…
Man, talk about tough economic times…guess Mugen is recession-proof. Rolling out an NSX and Accord concept, and this RR….Just a glance at all the carbon pieces show that no expense was sparred in this concept…
Here’s some shots of it in action…
Mugen has a special site that covers all three cars from Tokyo Auto Salon so it would probably be best to go check that out. They can probably tell you more about the cars than I can…but than again, I speak english and the site doesn’t…You can look at the pretty pictures though, and they even have a special video too…Next time your mom walks by and you say “pure sex” while staring at the computer, she won’t be embarassed by you and run away screaming…
