Summer days…
Got a couple new photos for you guys today…I had some spare time during the day after I finished up a story for Super Street magazine so I decided to head down to the Rywire facilities to see what was going on. Big Mike had also hit me up earlier on in the day and wanted to know if I wanted to hang out so we just met up at Rywire. There’s been a couple of ongoing projects at the shop so I picked up the camera and snapped some photos for you guys. These aren’t like customer cars or anything, just a couple of friends who asked Ryan if they could use his shop space to work on their cars since he had some extra room down there.
Supertwinz John from AEM has his red EA hatchback there while his other project, a white EA, is up in Norcal in preparation for paint. This red one is supposed to be a tad more tame than his white one and this one is supposed to be his weekend track car. He’s going all out on his white one and I’ll update you guys on that build once it comes back from Franklin Autobody. The other car currently there getting worked on is an EM1 coupe owned by DPK Darryl or D-Rail, who works over at JHPUSA. His car has been down for awhile and he’s torn it apart to get a K-swap and tuck…
Here’s a shot of John’s EA…As you can see, the B-series barely fits in there and clearance is at a minimum, especially since the half-radiator is going to have to sit off to the side…
A shot of John’s Kinsler individual throttle bodies…These will eventually go into his other white EA Civic. He just has these on this motor now to see how things look as far as fitment goes…
I thought this was pretty cool, it’s easier to see in the second photo but that anodized gold fitting is actually a fuel line quick disconnect. You don’t really see these used that often and it’s definitely a cool touch…
John’s 15×8 949 wheels just came in recently and are sitting at the shop in boxes. Those will probably go on as the car gets closer to completion but for now, he has a set of Mugen CF48 wheels on and lurking behind the hideous face are Wilwood brakes…I don’t care what you say, those wheels may be classics but they are ugly as fuck. They look like old fan clutches from like, a small block Chevy from the 80′s…
Ryan’s CR-X was sitting on some filthy ass Kosei K1 wheels because he participated in a small track event at Buttonwillow last weekend. The car is pretty dirty but at least you know it’s being used. It ran very well at the track too and did a 2:04.584 when it was driven by Ryan’s friend Charlie…
Ryan and Big Mike going over some details on Darryl’s Civic Si…At the rate this rebuild is going, it should be done right around 2015, and he will be the only Honda left on the road because cars will have the ability to fly by then if you follow the timeline from Back to the Future Part II…
You guys already know whose car this is…not much to report here, just some minor touch-ups that need to be completed…
This is awesome…and stupid…
Maybe some of you guys have caught wind of this by now but I guess there was a Honda-Tech meet this past weekend up in the Northwest and a couple people caught this incident on video. Apparently there was a CR-X that was there at the meet that was in the possession of some girl that apparently was stolen. She didn’t steal it, but the person that traded her for her Integra apparently did steal the car. She doesn’t have the title for the car and just simply traded her Integra away for this CR-X. Well the owner from which the car was stolen from, spotted his CR-X at the meet and decided to take it upon himself to just hop back in the car and take the car back with his own keys. All hell breaks out and this girl goes apeshits, screaming at this guy. You really can’t make out much talking other than the screams of “get the fuck out of my car” but it’s pretty interesting/stupid/hilarious. It is to my understanding that the guy just wanted to get his car back that was stolen away from him and the girl was not educated enough to get a pinkslip for the CR-X that she traded her own car away for. Dude hops in the car, and her homies or whatever come by and start punching the guy through the window and door and rip his shirt and what not, basically attacking him thinking that he was trying to take her car. The police come and I don’t know what the final resolution was, but this is probably one of the most random fucking things I have ever seen. Thank god for the internet and cameras because you simply cannot make this kind of shit up! Haha…enjoy…
“GET THE FUCK OUTTA MY CAR!!!”
Different angle…
and one more angle…
Guess you throw on a pink Honda badge and it equals a pinkslip for the car…Craziest thing was that these dudes were just hitting the guy and not even trying to figure out what was really going on. I’d like to see some young kids try to punch some people down here, all fucking hell would break loose and people would be on the floor sleeping, haha. Honda meets are serious business. Just goes to show you that Honda-Tech has even spilled into real life and that shitty forum brings shitty ass situations to light in the real world. Cars are not trading cards or bags of chips, you can’t just like trade somebody without the proper paperwork. The dude is lucky he even found his old car. Imagine if you were this dude and you show up to an event and spot your once stolen car sitting in the parking lot. Fuck, you better hop back in that shit and take it back. Getting beat up for it is a bit unnecessary but hey, if you love your CR-X that much, punch away…
The white girl drops more F-bombs than an entire Scorsese movie…
Have a good one…
Oh there’s more back story in the video descriptions as well as the comments…
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…
Today we remember…
Everytime July 4th rolls around, it’s not only a reminder for me that it’s Independence Day but also the anniversary of the passing of one of the (in my opinion) most influential Honda personalities of our generation; Randy Gagan. I can’t believe it’s already been 4 years since his passing. Only seems like yesterday when I met him for the first time at Nisei Import Showoff. The guy was so friendly and always had a positive energy about him. He always answered any questions I had for him and offered his help to me even though we weren’t super tight. The guy was a class act and even 4 years since his passing, the two Hondas that he completed would still be very current and held in high regard even by today’s standards. They were just timeless works of art and his influence is still apparent today. I actually dug through some old photos that I had on my computer and found a couple shots of his DA at Nisei Showoff 2005. I didn’t really take pictures back then nor had any real interest in it. I had borrowed my mom’s camera I think and was just shooting pictures of cars that caught my eye. Randy’s DA of course was one of them. I liked the car so much that I seriously thought about selling my Accord back then and picking up the DA when I found out he was selling it…
Without the time stamp, you wouldn’t think that this was taken 5 years ago. The bay was on point…
Sadly, he passed on July 4th, 2006 and that year for Nisei Showoff, his closest friends brought out his unfinished EF project in memory of Randy. When they pushed his car in, I remember the whole show just being in complete silence. It was a powerful moment to see it and remember the man who never had a chance to complete his project…
I know there are plenty of you who never had a chance to meet him or speak to him, or just weren’t heavy in the Honda community then so I went and dug up his old features from Honda Tuning magazine. The first is of his right hand drive CR-X SiR and the second is of the DA6 from the pics above. Both awesome, timeless builds…
I can’t say enough about the guy…he believed in me when no one else did…
R.I.P. Randy “Questoyz” Gagan 11/23/1980 – 7/4/2006…we miss you man and we will never forget you…
CR-Z news…
While I’m busy writing a feature on one of the greatest CR-Xs every built, I thought I’d pass along some tidbits to you guys regarding the new CR-Z. I was randomly talking to Rodrez online early and he mentioned he saw pictures of the C-West CR-Z aero kit. He didn’t show me anything but I decided to go on a search for some pics of it that weren’t artistic renderings and sure enough, I found it….
Looks good, the front kinda reminds me of something Audi-ish but it flows well. Definitely adds a bit of style to the CR-Z, which apparently is very popular with older people. I’m sure they created this car with the intent of it being the next generation “green” sport compact for the new generation but much like the current crop of die-hard CR-X guys, the owners are older men. Nothing says “I’m moving on in my journey through life” than by surprising your girlfriend by selling your CR-X and getting…a…ummm…new CR-X…errr…Z…
Haha, I guess it’s understandable. People are generally nostalgic and when you create a car that’s a newer version of what is definitely a placemarker in the history of Honda automobiles, you would expect them to generate the interest of guys who were around when CR-Xs were new. Maybe when they hit U.S. shores the younger generation will take a liking to them but from this article in Best Car magazine, so far, it would seem to show otherwise…
We have received word in Japan on how popular the Honda CR-Z is proving to be with older people, the latest sales figures moving the goal posts for would be “sports car buyers” again, this time into a much older age category than is normally the case and all the manufacturers are climbing over each other to get a slice of the “Hybrid-pie”…
Traditionally, new sports cars are the domain of the guy in his 20’s to 30’s. Not any more. The CR-Z is the first of a potentially long line of cars to appeal to older buyers in their 40’s and over. All of them sporting something Hybrid.
Older buyers are taking to the “Hybrid Sports” concept, and specifically the Honda CR-Z like it was 70% off at IKEA, with a strength in sales even Honda hadn’t envisioned. Numbers speak of sales at more than 10 times the previous estimations that were made by the Japanese company, indicating a massive surge in support toward the movement for “Green Sports Cars”.
Men in their 30’s make up the bulk of the CR-Z’s sales which is acceptable to the casual observer. The real shock comes from where the other chunk of buyers of the car are coming from and according to the figures, a whopping 35% of buyers are those over 40, marking out a real paradigm shift in the sports car mentality for the Japanese male. This obviously doesn’t answer the argument that the Japanese males Western counterparts may desire a car altogether completely different and are arguably a lot younger and hungrier for a traditional turbo charged inline 4 as opposed to “Hybrid” anything. A meager 15% of males in their 20’s who have purchased the CR-Z tell the story of how impotent the “sports car” is to young Japanese adults.
Obviously the people at Honda are not listening to any of this and are happy to just sell cars it seems.
The sports car market, in itself, is still in good shape, price, design and concept wise if based on the current climate and if the product is right, there is a chance that these cars will sell, and sell well. Why? Perhaps BP has an idea…
Right now, the Japanese market is poised to take on an onslaught of “Hybrid-Sports” vehicles, with each manufacturer keen to offer up its own take on the theme.
And yet, one question lingers and a new one is asked…
Does this signal the death of the “traditional” Japanese sports car as we know it and if so, is this what the manufacturers would have us accept as its replacement? The argument “for” the change, at least from the manufacturers of the technology, certainly says so.
It makes us wonder whether the riots in Thailand were over the direction Honda is taking with its Hybrid technology instead of over a pay dispute…
Words: Adam Zillin
Source: Best Car Magazine.
It could be totally possible that the new CR-Z is the “mid-life crisis” car for older men, who feel that by owning this car it would make them “hip” or “cool”. Or who knows, maybe it’s just a solid car that will become popular with everyone. I guess time will tell… From a style standpoint it’s a very cool car, but trying to convince the younger people to modify a hybrid?…Ehh…that’s a bit of a stretch…
C-West CR-Z…
In my subpar attempt to actually bring you guys Honda news, here is a rendering of the new C-West kit that’s coming for the CR-Z. We can look at this two ways….1. I’m actually a very big fan of the new CR-Z or 2. Things have been kinda slow lately and I’m basically using this as a filler. Either way, here it is. I love seeing drawings like this. I once attempted to take an automotive design class at Art Center in Pasadena and we did exactly this, but as you can see, I am a writer now and not an automotive design major. Clearly, we can see that those classes were not money well spent. I mean I learned something and I definitely drew some cars, but I have the uncontrollable shakes and it makes it hard for me to even draw a straight line without totally fucking it up.
On another note, they’re also developing aero for the new Insight which is also pretty cool. You can do a bunch of shit to Insights and people will still have no idea what they’re looking at. It’s amazing. Maybe the addition of the C-West kit will get your friends and family members to stop asking you whether you enjoy your new Prius or not and if you’ve had problems braking at all. They look about the same, I’m just sayin’….
Enjoy the pics. Why was I on C-West’s website? I don’t know, stop asking me questions. I look at a lot of random things online…
Looks pretty mean. I like it…looks like they have Advan RG2 or something similar on there as well. Just imagine a couple years from now these cars are gonna be everywhere and all done up and cops can’t say shit to you cuz you’re driving a hybrid…
I actually had to look up pics of a stock Insight to see what they did. Looks good nonetheless….chances of seeing it in America? Ehhh….pretty unlikely.
I’d rock either one of them all day, kit or not…the 4-Runner I drive is neither a hybrid nor is it aerodynamic.
Image Source: C-West Japan
HKS CR-Z
Guess HKS got their hands on a CR-Z now and are building it up…
Fast? …..No…
Stylish? …..Yes…
Looks sort of like a wireless mouse?…. Definitely… 
Have a good Sunday…
Something you’ve probably seen already…
Not much going on lately, just been working and completing orders from the store. Make sure you guys pick up shirts while they last. They’ve been doing surprisingly well…
Anyways, you guys have probably already seen this but for those of you out of the loop who dont normally peruse other honda sites, here’s the first pics of the Spoon CR-Z. The CR-Z of course is the next generation CR-X. It’s also a hybrid, which makes things really interesting. I’m kinda happy that it still resembles the look of the old EFs but not entirely sure how far the tuning aspects are gonna go since it’s a hybrid. If anything, the majority of the work done will be purely cosmetic. It’s a cool looking car and I can’t wait to actually see these things in person. It’s got that nostalgic feel to it along with a concept car look, and it’s good for the environment, what more can you ask for? Can’t wait til Spoon starts making kevlar parts for it with their signature shit ass weave. Seriously, quality control guys…
Sorry for the small ass pictures.
Look what I got…
Periodically, I like to go to Mitsuwa market to look at magazines in their bookstore. I like seeing how the tuning culture is in Japan and I would collect every issue of Option magazine I can get my hands on but with the exchange rate nowadays, it’s not financially a good idea to be buying these things. I mean, at one point I remember paying only like 7 bucks for an issue but now with the way the dollar is, I end up having to pay over 10 bucks for it. I even tried subscribing one year but it ended up costing more than it would cost to buy them individually. So I’ll normally just glance at them at the market and put them down. Same thing with the VIPcar and VIPstyle magazines. Those are awesome to look at because VIP stuff just isn’t as abundant on the internet compared to drifting, time attack, etc. but like I said, shit is just too expensive to buy. I’ll only pick up an issue if it comes with some free stuff like stickers or keychains because then it might actually be worthwhile. So I show up and I just so happen to catch the Jan. 2010 issue available…
I actually bought the issue because this month they had something featured that they normally don’t; Hondas. Sure they’ll include the smaller pics of some Hondas here and there or they’ll throw in some NSXs but that’s about it. Honda isn’t as mainstream as it is over here so to see some appear in Option is a pretty cool sight…
Maybe their resurgence in American car culture has led for them to grab a bit of the spotlight back from the rest of the crowd, I don’t know, but attention America; Hondas are still alive and well in Japan…
Now I would have used my sister’s scanner to show you guys but I honestly just hate that fuckin thing so I just used the camera and took some pics of it. That scanner is a bit dated so these might actually come out clearer than it would have with the scanner…
I don’t really know what it says so just look at the pictures. That’s what I do…
The white EF8 has a B16B EK9 swap in it with a Stack cluster and carbon roof. Notice the two-toned bay…
If you look at the pics closely, you’ll notice that it says “north latitude, 36 degrees” all over the car. Even on the windshield. Not really sure what it means but I think they’re representing Yokohama, Japan, because well, it’s located 36 degrees north latitude. Again, I don’t know for sure, but if it was their intention, that’s a pretty cool idea. More creative way of putting the city you’re reppin instead of just stating it…Oh and notice the header and side exhaust exhaust…
The other CR-X is black and has a full carbon front end, even has the carbon fiber Z3 style fenders…
It also has a B16B swap like the white one. The gauge set-up with the bracket hanging off the rear view mirror mount is pretty cool idea. Not sure if I would be cool with the wires hanging all over but hey, not my car to judge…
Pretty cool though right? Just to see what the “other” guys are doing overseas. I wish Option had more coverage on Hondas, especially cool little builds like this. It’s like something you would see over here, but not, you know? Like the white rex, you could see a car similar to it over here but it wouldn’t have the little details to it like the nitrous and the custom fuel set-up in the trunk. The exhaust and header set-up as well. I mean, on a full race car or a car that never sees the streets, it’s possible, but for a car like that to be driven everywhere? No way…Shit would get jacked or impounded by the police the moment it sets foot on the street…I mean, do you honestly think you can drive around here with a big nitrous bottle attached to your cage and your side exit exhaust screaming down the road?
