Exclusive Content: Tactical Art Meets Super Street Magazine…
One of the many great things about meeting the guys over at Tactical Art is that Yasutaka Shimomukai, Atuki Tubouti, and friends are constantly taking photos of whatever they are doing and sending them over to me. They are always up to something so it’s cool to be able to see what goes on over in Japan at their shop. Recently, they opened up their doors to the staff of Super Street magazine when they flew out there for Tokyo Auto Salon 2012. I served as the bridge between the two parties and helped set-up the meeting since Jonathan Wong wanted to shoot a couple of their Hondas for a future feature in Super Street. I asked Yasutaka if he could grab some photos while the Super Street guys were there and he was more than willing to take some pics. Below are photos from that day and you will also see a couple new cars that you hadn’t seen before from some close friends of Tactical Art; a crew by the name of “Team Madame”. They had three cars in particular that aren’t even available in the U.S. so it was even more interesting to see how they looked modified…
The photos aren’t in any particular order. You’ll see the Super Street guys there and then a couple photos from a mini-shoot that they did on their own after the SS guys took off…Enjoy…
The Tactical Art trio…Yasutaka’s EG up front, Atuki’s in the back, and their friend, Taku Kusugami’s EK…
Sean K., Jonathan Wong, and Sam Du checking out the Tactical Art cars…
The Super Street guys setting up the equipment for the shoot…
Wong and their Japanese translator, Tetsuya Ogushi, looking on…
Posted-up outside of the shop was Team Madame’s Toyota Wish mini-van, owned by Beeyan Hamada…
Also outside was Kazuya Kawashima’s Honda StepWGN from Team Madame…
Not familiar with that particular brand of brakes but the StepWGN as well as the Toyota Wish are on Work Meister S1Rs…
Mr. Beeyan Hamada sharing a photographic moment with Bernice Guevarra (art director from Source Interlink), Jonathan Wong, and Sam Du…
The SS staff preparing for some interior shots of Taku’s EK…
Team Madame getting acquainted with Super Street magazine and American import models…
Atuki positioning his EG for the shoot…
One car that I really wished that we had in the U.S. is the GRX133 Toyota Mark X…This is another car from Team Madame and just looks perfect on bronze Work Meister S1 wheels…
The SS staff taking a break to inhale some Japanese coffee in a can…
Taku Kusugami’s EK post-shoot…
Totally coincidental, but during the day of the shoot, I received a text message from Jonathan Wong telling me that the Tactical Art guys received my package of Chronicles merchandise I had sent over a week before. Pretty cool that it arrived on the same day as the shoot…
Masashi Kameoka putting a Chronicles decal on his 2nd gen. Mark X…
After a chunk of time, the Super Street guys finished-up their shoot and headed back to their hotel…
Since they had all the cars at the shop already, Yasutaka Shimomukai decided to get some more photos of the cars in front of the shop…
All you wheel fitment guys will appreciate Kameoka’s Mark X…
A couple more shots of Team Madame’s Toyota Wish…
Interesting to see that in their quest to adapt the U.S. “Hellaflush” style, Pedobear has also made the transition. This rendition is slightly modified though and his pink and rocking gold earrings…
The Wish’s custom side-exit exhaust…
Sticker-bombed Recaro bucket seats in the Wish…
Side view of the Team Madame Mark X…
Team Madame X Tactical Art…
Hamada applying a limited edition Year.Three Chronicles decal onto the windshield of his Toyota Wish…
The guys chillin’ in the shop after the cars were moved back inside…
That’s pretty much it from that day. I don’t know if you guys are at all interested or not but I’ve taken the liberty of creating some 1080P-sized desktop wallpapers for you guys, featuring the Team Madame vehicles. If you like them, go ahead and click the links below for the full-size images…
Masashi Kameoka’s Toyota Mark X…. Desktop Version (1920×1080)…..
Kameoka’s Mark X and Hamada’s Wish… Desktop Version (1920×1080)…
That’s a wrap, thanks for looking…
The Rywire ITR Build…Part 6…
I wanted to jump into some event coverage today but I’m not finished yet with the photos from the latest It’sJDMYo.com event. I’m about 95% finished but I’d rather just wait until tomorrow when they are all done before starting on part 1 of the coverage. Today, we are going to jump right into part 6 of the Rywire Integra Type R build. There was a short update last week but Ryan actually found some time over the weekend to work on the car so I stopped by to check it out. These photos are only a couple hours or so old so this is literally how the car sits at this exact moment. There will be more updates coming up soon but I believe the car will be heading down to ASC Speed Metal for some custom fabrication in a couple weeks. We’re going to take a look at Ryan’s Tilton brake set-up that he mocked up over the weekend. There is still a lot to be done before the brake pedal assembly will be operational but I figure now would be a good time to introduce it to you guys before more stuff is going into the car. I’ll let Ryan Basseri himself take over for a quick minute so that he can explain it to you guys, check out the video before you jump into the photos below…
Here are some photos so you guys can get a better idea of what he is referring to…
Here is the Tilton pedal assembly mounted on the car. As he said above, there is still an extra pedal that will need to be retrofitted to the Tilton assembly to make the drive-by wire system operational…
A driver-side view of the pedal assembly. The gas pedal assembly from the Subaru STI is actually kind of far off from where it needs to be so it’ll be interesting how it will look when it’s been modified. Ryan tells me that the brake and clutch pedal will be moved further back as well…
Custom brake hard lines that Ryan started on but has not yet completed…
This is the Tilton brake bias/proportioning valve that will later be run under the exhaust tunnel which will give Ryan the ability to adjust rear his braking…
Ryan also spent some time over the weekend installing his Hybrid Racing shifter assembly…
Here are some other parts that are waiting to go on the car…
I may have already taken a photo of this before but since he had it on hand, I figured I’d show you the intake manifold that he will be running…
Here are pretty much all the pieces for his dry sump oiling system. This dry sump unit is what makes it possible for Ryan to modify his valve cover the way he did with deleting the oil filler, dip stick, and crankcase ventilation…
Blueprint Racing’s K-series alternator bracket…I believe this is used to eliminate the OE K-series water pump and to allow the usage of an older B/D-series alternator. Ryan will be utilizing a electric water pump instead because it reduces drag from the crank and will allow his K to produce more power…
Rywire brake hoses that will be used for Ryan’s ITR…
Remember how I showed you guys his custom valve cover last week? Well, Ryan also spent quite a bit of time over the weekend making the ignition harness that will be going under the modified K-Tuned wire cover. I did an overlay shot above where you can get a good idea of how everything will look once the harness is finished and the cover will be mounted. When the car is finished, I doubt many of you guys will be able to see what’s going on from the ignition coils out to the engine harness so here’s your chance…The dimple dyes in the plate will give you a very small hint but you’ll mostly be seeing the custom made harness only…You can also see in the photo how the Deutsch connectors will look exiting drilled holes in the valve cover…
Here it is without the cover…nothing is mounted yet and is just a basic mock-up of the finished product…
The back side of the valve cover, completely streamlined with just a single connector peaking out…
Most people get excited by sports, girls, drugs, etc….Ryan on the other hand, gets incredibly excited when he creates custom electrical parts like the harness for his camshaft sensor…
He insisted that I take a photo of it even though he has yet to finish it and put a connector on the end… I mean, the guy is a genius when it comes to this kind of stuff and he creates product of only the utmost quality… I’m not going to tell you where you guys need to get your stuff from because you should know very well who to go to…
That wraps it up for today…Make sure to check back for more on this build later. Tomorrow is part one of the “So you think you can STANCE?” event coverage…thanks for looking…
The Rywire ITR Build…Part 5…
While I would really like to give you a full in-depth update on Rywire’s Integra Type R, I can’t because the progress on it has been relatively slow. Ryan is brainstorming everyday and the car has already come together in his mind, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day for him to execute his plans. When we followed Big Mike’s Prelude re-build, it went significantly faster because Big Mike had set a target date for it to be complete. With Ryan’s build, there really isn’t a set date for it to debut. Wekfest SF 2012 would have been an amazing place for it to debut but with so many customers and a company to maintain, it just wasn’t feasible to put everything aside to work on a personal project. It’s been pretty busy ever since the chassis arrived back at the Rywire facilities so Ryan and staff have been busy knocking out custom harnesses and other work for customers. His Integra chassis has been sitting in the corner, directly behind the table where he does his everyday work. He’s been itching to work on it and every time he gets out of his seat, the car is right there staring at him waiting to be re-assembled. He hasn’t forgotten the car by any means, the Rywire business just comes first. Many of you should understand that and if you don’t, you need to understand how to manage priorities better in your own life, haha. Today we’re going to be taking a quick look at some small updates just so we keep the flow of this build going. It’s been awhile since we did an update and I felt that it was time to give the public some information on the build… After Wekfest SF, I am sure he will have more time to work on the car, in the mean time, we just have to wait just like Ryan…
As you can see, the chassis itself has not moved since it’s returned to Rywire…There are a couple more things around it though, like a stock engine harness that’s laying on the floor for a customer’s project. A couple days before this, I wouldn’t even have been able to take a shot like this because there were other cars occupying space inside the shop…Click for Larger Version here (1400×933)
Like the outside, the interior remains completely untouched…he’s kept it clean though, haha…
One notable update that’s worth mentioning is Ryan’s custom valve cover. He had Louie from L*Con Race Fabrication shave and smooth out a stock K-series valve cover, removing everything that Ryan deemed unnecessary. The dipstick and mounting area has been deleted and filled as well as the crankcase ventilation area. There’s no need for ventilation because he will be running a dry sump oiling system. There were some areas on the edge of the valve cover that were raised by design from the factory but even those have been shaved for a more streamline look. Unless you are familiar with how a K valve cover looks, you probably won’t really notice what has been changed, which might also be a good thing, because it’s so streamlined that you would think it came that way from the factory. If you take a closer look, even the oil cap and oil filler section has been filled and smoothed out. Once this thing is coated, it’s going to be amazing… Also notice on the K-Tuned spark plug wire cover how dimple dies have been added. I believe the positioning of the holes exist as well so you can see peek inside and see the coils…
On the backside of the valve cover, you’ll also notice that the top corner has been filled in, along with the area where the harness would normally run to the coils. Instead of having all the deviations and square edges, Ryan opted to have the whole area filled with just a hole drilled out to make room for a shell size 8 Autosport connector. All necessary wiring to the coil packs will run through the connector….
His Wilwood brakes recently came in and were ready to go on the car, but Ryan’s ideas are ever evolving and he decided to pick up a set of AP Racing brakes and now this Wilwood kit is up for sale…Once those come in, we will be able to mock them up on the hub and see how the wheels clear in relation to the custom front fenders…
These exact connectors aren’t for Ryan’s ITR but he will be using Deutsch connectors when his harness starts to come together… Not much of an update until we actually start getting all the wiring done but it gives you an idea of what he’s going after electronically…
Meanwhile, moving at an even slower pace, is DPK Darryl’s EM1 coupe….it’s looking much better these days but hopefully it’ll be done sometime in the next decade…
That’s pretty much it for now. I know you guys have been waiting on good updates on this build and trust me, I’m right there with you. Every time I go down to the shop I walk over to the car to see if anything’s been added. You can see in this shot that Ryan’s been trying to install his FCS-made fuel cell. I think he had to modify the brackets a bit but the cell should be mounted by the weekend… Click here for a Larger Version (1400×933)…
Thanks for looking… updates will come when Ryan decides to update his car…haha…
The Chronicles’ Choice…Favorite Non-Honda Builds of 2011…
Well this is a first…During the last couple months when I was busy trying to figure out how the order of the Top Ten Hondas of 2011 would go, I came up with an idea to spotlight some of my favorite non-Honda builds of the year. I am after all, an avid automotive enthusiast and I love cars of all types. I don’t even own a Honda anymore personally, and I’ve at one time had a Toyota, Honda, and now a Nissan (Infiniti). I always have my eye out on everything because I can appreciate a great build without brand bias. Another reason why I’m always looking for great builds in general is because I work in the magazine industry. It’s sort of my job to go and seek out new cars to feature so I have to always be aware of new builds that are coming out every year. This list isn’t in any particular order, much like the 2011 Honors list, because I feel all these cars are great in their own right. All are very different builds and from varying parts of the world. Some I have seen in person, some I hope to someday see…either way, it’s my personal list of favorite non-Honda builds from 2011. The Top Ten Hondas list will always trump any other list I make here on The Chronicles but to show my deepest appreciation for their hard work, here are some builds that stood out to me the most and really captured my attention….
Joy Abdalla’s Subaru STI…
This car absolutely took my breath away when I first spotted it at the 2011 SEMA Convention…It’s just a great looking car. I love how aggressive the widebody is on it and how it still flows with the original lines of the STI. Where this build really shines though is under the hood…the bay is very well-done and one of the cleanest Subaru engine bays I have ever seen. Everything just comes together nearly perfectly…the custom paint, aero, engine bay, interior…man, just top-notch… I believe this is going to be in an issue of Import Tuner in the future so make sure to grab a copy of that. I had a chance to meet the owner at one of the industry parties’ during the SEMA weekend in Vegas last year as well and when David Do from MayDay Garage introduced us, I can honestly say that I was very surprised to see that it was a female owner. I’m not saying that I’m surprised that a woman can build a great car, because I’ve seen it plenty of times before…I’m just saying, a lot of STI owners are usually like bro’d-out white dudes or larger gentlemen that seem like they enjoy a good competitive game of Warcraft…haha, okay that’s not totally true but thumbs-up to Joy Abdalla for building herself a wonderful car. A favorite of mine for sure…
Nick Weir’s K20-powered Volkswagen Caddy…
Nick’s Caddy is probably one of the coolest builds of 2011. He wasn’t the first to do a K-swap in a VW Caddy but his is definitely the most well-rounded. When I first heard about this thing, I was really interested in seeing it in person. Luckily for me, I had a chance to fly out to Nashville, TN for the annual summer Import Alliance meet and I did indeed get the opportunity to see it for myself. There are little things here and there that obviously don’t make it “perfect” by any means, but Nick never intended it to be. It’s a little rough around the edges and that adds to the appeal of the truck. For what it is, the quality of work is very good. How often are you going to see a VW caddy with a K-swap and a battleship-greyish bay? It’s a one of a kind build with some unique personal touches to it that leave no question that it’s the work of Nick Weir. He was bummed that he didn’t get the Rotiform wheels that he wanted for it but the Work CR-01s look pretty good on there. This Caddy was one of the highlights for me in 2011 and I’m happy that I got to see it in person to appreciate it. Nick is a bit of a weirdo so his personality reflects his cars..haha. This thing is most certainly an odd-ball build but odd in a very cool way…
Machan’s A60 Toyota Carina wagon…
Speaking of oddball builds, this Toyota Carina wagon is about as outside of the box as it gets. I first spotted this thing at the Hellaflush Japan event and I’ve been looking for more information and photos of this wagon ever since. It has a Japanese Firetruck theme on the outside and apparently, it’s actually used at one of the firestations. I love how it’s a mix of genres and also a mix of old school styling and new technology. The bay is tuck and shaved with the cage running through the firewalls to the shock towers, and the heart of this Carina is a Toyota BEAM’s 3S-GE from the Japanese market Toyota Altezza. It also has individual throttle bodies, a custom header, and a custom semi-trailing arm suspension. If that’s not enough, this Carina also features a Tilton brake system and 14×8.5/9 RS Watanabe wheels…Man, this thing is so sick. I know that the “stance” and “hellaflush” style is just getting completely out of hand but when it comes to a build like this, it works…. Everything is over the top and not meant to be anything taken too seriously… I don’t know about you guys, but I thoroughly enjoy old school Toyotas, Nissans, etc. and it’s cool when you see something like this that has a mix of everything…
Jin Ueno’s Aimgain VIP Lexus LS400…
Jin’s LS from Kyoei USA has to be my favorite VIP build of 2011. I say that because I’ve always preferred the more traditional VIP “look” and Jin has executed it well. When I say “traditional”, I mean, it’s not just all about wheel fitment and modifying fenders. He has taken the time to create a well-round VIP project…he’s paid attention to the interior, which is essential when building a VIP project, and he’s added some one-off touches that make it stand-out in a sea of black and white VIP cars. I love the simplicity of the Aimgain kit and the contrast of the red pinstriping and red exhaust tips. It’s another car that flows every well because the owner has paid great attention to minor details. The red also transfers over to the front fogs, something you never really see, and the black/red them is also found throughout the re-wrapped and custom stitched interior….VIP-style isn’t all about cramming stupid wide wheels into your luxury/non-luxury vehicle and this is a great example of how to build a VIP-style car…
Wilson Tam’s Carlsson 2010 Mercedes Benz E350…
I’ll be the first to admit that I am not all that familar with European vehicles. It’s just not something that I’ve taken an active interest in throughout the years. I just love Japanese cars and Japanese automotive culture, so my attention has been devoted to that. When I ran into Wilson Tam’s E350 at SEMA 2011, it made me want to learn more about a car that I would otherwise overlook normally. It was sitting in the outside display area and it just looked so good sitting on the ground on some custom bronze BBS LMs. I walked up to it and noticed that it also had a full Carlsson aero kit. Everyday that I went to the SEMA show that week, I found myself stopping by to take another look at it. If you have seen my coverage from SEMA and Autocon in 2011, then you most likely have already heard me rambling on about how much I like this build…I’m not that big of a fan of Mercedes Benzs but I love this one…
Ka Wong’s F20C-powered AE86 Toyota Corolla…
I’m a big fan of Ka Wong because he not only built himself an amazing AE86 Corolla, he also happens to be one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. This car has been around for about two years now but I like the fact that he continues to add new stuff to it. This year, he showed-off his custom audio set-up in his trunk and it just makes his Corolla that much more untouchable at car shows. The guy has been a consistent winner and he’s very much deserving of all the accolades that he receives. It’s just one of those cars that you can’t help but notice, you know? Not only because of the bright orange color but because of the S2000 engine swap and the myriad of other things he’s put into this build. There are very few AE86 Corollas that are built this level of quality and I’m happy that I’ve had plenty of chances to see this Corolla in person.
Ryan Deguzman’s FD3S and FC3S RX-7s…
Ryan Deguzman happens to have a pair of two of the finest RX-7s in the west coast. I don’t know how or why he has both these sick ass builds so I’ll just sit back and enjoy the view. His FD RX-7 stands out much more because of the yellow tone but his white FC is not a car that you should just overlook. It’s in mint condition and I believe his FC is also his daily driver. I’ve included links below to take you to some online features of both cars so that you can read more about them if you choose. I’ve never had a chance to meet this guy or speak to him but he has great taste in parts and has a very good sense of style. I really like both of his RX-7s and they are definitely two highlight builds of mine in 2011…
Click here to read more about Ryan Deguzman’s FD3s RX-7…
Must be nice, right? Haha…round of a applause to this guy for having a pair of well-built Mazdas…
Brandon Burke’s S13 Nissan 240SX coupe…
I didn’t get a chance to see Brandon Burke’s S13 until December of 2011 but it immediately became a favorite of mine in 2011. I just love how simple it is and how it can still look really aggressive without having any wild aero. What I like the most about it is that it’s completely garage-built and everything but the paint itself was put together inside his crappy garage. It’s a little rough around the edges here and there but it’s almost a throwback to how cars were put together back in the day. Brandon is completely self-taught and put this whole car together himself without having the help of any shop or anything. I can’t say much more about it because his Super Street feature drops in about a month so just pick up that issue if you want to hear me write more about how great it is…
Mark Arcenal’s Hakosuka Skyline 2000GT…
2011 will probably be remembered as the year that Rauh Welt cemented it’s status in America and that’s largely due to the efforts of Mark Arcenal from Fatlace/Illest. His Rauh Welt Porsche was the talk of the second half of 2011 but my favorite Mark Arcenal automotive build will always be his Nissan Skyline 2000GT. I just feel that the Rauh Welt look is a look that Akira Nakai created and it will always be Nakai’s style. Mark’s Porsche was built to represent Rauh Welt so the car is very much Nakai’s creation and not truly his. His Skyline on the other hand, is more of Mark’s handy work and has more elements to it that are more representative of Arcenal himself. It’s not built off another car that’s already been done before and I love the overall look of it. It’s style in it’s purest form. I also enjoyed how Mark himself described the car in a video that I’ve attached below. Check it out and you’ll understand why I like this build so much more than “Pandora One”. You can tell how big of an enthusiast he is just by listening to him talk about his car…really neat stuff…
If the video link doesn’t work for you, click here to go to the page…
Well, that’s it for today. I promise this is the last of the “Top”-whatever lists. Haha…Time to move on to stuff that’s going on in 2012…Thanks for looking….
Exclusive Content: Tactical Art Japan…Track day at Nakayama Circuit Coverage…
Wouldn’t it have been great if I had actually been in the Okayama Prefecture in Japan, taking all these photos and covering stuff like this for you guys? Haha…some day I’ll make it to Japan and believe me, the coverage will be absolutely amazing. For now, we will just have to play a game of “make believe” and pretend that I was at the Nakayama Circuit covering one of Tactical Art and friends’ track days. It was cold and I probably didn’t get enough sleep the night before for whatever reason, maybe because I was following these guys around….In reality, I really do have coverage of this event though, and it comes courtesy of the guys from Tactical Art. Hopefully this isn’t your first day here on The Chronicles and you’ve become well-acquainted with who and what Tactical Art is. It’s pretty early so I’m not going to try and explain it to you guys so if you would like to find out more, simply search this site or go on Google and type in the search terms “Tactical Art Japan Chronicles” and I guarantee you will find something….
Anyways, this actually took place back in late November, but Mr. Yasutaka Shimomukai wasn’t able to get the photos over to me until just last week. With the new year and consistent business over at Tactical Art, it’s been difficult to keep the lines of communication open. Out of the blue, he emailed me to just to say what’s up and sent me a giant chunk of photos that he had collected from the past two months. I think it’s great that we have been able to keep the lines of communication open because we are both fans of one another and now I have a way of bringing you some pretty cool stuff that’s going on over there that no one else in the U.S. can. What I mean by that is that you may see cool automotive content from Japan, but often times it’s the bigger, more well-known events. The Tactical Art guys tend to do their own thing and attend smaller track events whenever there is one going on so they help to bring us a completely new perspective of the Japanese Honda community. I like their enthusiasm and you can really tell that they want to learn more about how we do things here in America. I mean, the feeling is mutual of course, because we are all very excited to see what is going on in Japan…
This track event that they attended took place at the Nakayama Circuit. It’s a track that isn’t too far away from them and as it turns out, Nakayama Circuit is actually very well-known. It was built in 1970 and was one of the four original racetracks to be approved by the JAF (Japan Automotive Federation) for competition. The other three are tracks that you are probably more familiar with; Suzuka Circuit, Fuji Speedway, and Tsukuba Circuit. If you have played any motorsports-related video games like Forza or Gran Turismo, than you will definitely be familiar with those names. Unlike the three more well-known tracks though, the Nakayama Circuit has aged a lot over time and actually lost it’s JAF approval around 1989. You can tell in the later photos that the track has some age. It’s just used for smaller, private track events now and that’s why you will only see a small grouping of vehicles in the photos. I have to thank 7Tune for providing me with the info on Nakayama Circuit, otherwise I’d just be making up a bunch of bullshit and telling you how speedboats and unicorns race here for gold, or some shit, haha…
Before we begin, I don’t have any actual race footage because it was not provided to me. Maybe they didn’t get a chance to upload them yet, or maybe they just don’t have them. From the photos, I saw that they did have cameras and camera mounts on the cage of some of their cars but again, I didn’t receive anything. If for whatever reason you feel like your day isn’t complete because you didn’t get to see videos of them racing around the track, uhh, I don’t know, how about you just learn to move on and make a sandwich or something. We are lucky enough to have these photos today so we can’t really complain or ask for more. I think it was really nice of them to pack all these photos together in their original formats and upload them to a file-sharing site for me to download. The file was almost 500MB and there were two files, so you can already imagine how long it took for me to download these. After I got them, I went through and picked out what I felt were the best ones too and processed them and sized them correctly to meet the format of this site. They aren’t photographers nor do they claim to be, so I had to discard a lot of the blurry images and what not. They got more than enough photos though and I think they came out pretty good. I don’t know if they took these photos strictly for their own personal blog, because they only use a couple of the images, or if they took them just for me to post up here. From the amount that I got, I can only guess that they intended for me to use them and for that, I have to give them a huge thank you. I love seeing stuff from other parts of the world, especially from Japan, so it is not even a chore for me to get these up for you guys today. Alright, enough with the long intros, let’s get to the photos…
Inside the Tactical Art facility, where they were prepping for the day’s adventure at Nakayama Circuit…
Atuki Tubouti, owner of Tactical Art, making final preparations on his EG6…
A quick look at the rest of the facility…Not too big in size but more than enough room to store their cars and do audio installs, which is what they normally do on a day-to-day basis…
Yasutaka Shimomukai’s EG Civic with the ride height adjusted for track-use…You can see in the background that Atuki’s EG is being loaded onto a trailer…
A look at the outside of the shop…Once the car was loaded-up, Yasutaka hopped into his EG and they headed down to the Nakayama Circuit…
Love the aggressive Volk TE37s on this white Civic…
Atuki-san making adjustments to the suspension…
You can see in the background how the walls and buildings how the age of this track…
The interior and fiberglass dashboard of Atuki’s EG…
One of their buddies brought out his EG for the day as well…
Not much done to this Civic…it has some aftermarket fenders that have been pushed out even further to clear the meaty tires and low offset XXR wheels…
His Civic is bare bones with nothing other than a solo, old racing bucket with Takata harnesses on it…
Atuki’s Civic ready for action…
…as was Yasutaka’s EG…
All the competitors standing in line to get the rules and paperwork for the event…
Another one of their friends helping out and making sure everything is secure…
Tire change on an EJ1 coupe…
Another pair of EG-chassis Civics sitting across from them in the paddock area…
This EG has some pretty aggressive aero and I always see it in photos with them at track days…
Note the mirrors, hood, clear corners, and the fender work required to get those meaty ass TE37s under there…
Schedule for the day…
A look under the hood of the Defunkt Racing Civic reveals massive ducting driving air into the ITBs…
Check out the aggressive front fender treatment necessary to house those 225/45-16 Advan A050 tires and 16×9 SSR SP3 Professors…
Rear shot of Yasutaka’s EG, bumper holes and all…
His interior…
Another glance at Atuki’s interior, notice the cut out doors?…
Check out this wild Integra that was there…The rear fender work is nuts, especially with the gas tank lid and everything being reshaped. The front fenders have been widened and cut towards the bottom, almost resembling a Japanese Super GT type of look…This thing is wild…Looks like it has a non-staggered set of 17×9 TE37SLs too…Plenty of tire and traction all the way around…
An AE86 Corolla Levin coupe with SSR MK2s…
Another EG….check out the orange Recaro seats, might be something that Rywire Ryan might want to look into for his ITR build…
Interesting rear bumper treatment on this EF hatchback…I can’t help it, but everytime I see the graphics on the side of this car, it reminds me of Bruce from Family Guy…
Haha…I’m sure even you casual Family guy fans will understand what I’m saying. The moment you read what the car said you were probably already thinking it…
Center-exit exhaust… Spy the Integra in the back heading out to the track from the paddock area…really wish they would have gotten some photos of that thing out there…
The name of this vehicle escapes me right now...Ohh Nooo….Honda Today 2-door perhaps?…
Stock-body Nissan S15 Silvia with WEDSports…
FD2 Civic Type R on Advan RS…
Yasutaka chucking the deuce…
Peep his canard set-up…
Dialed and ready to go…
Hanging out while they wait their turn…
Shimomukai grabbing some vending machine coffee while waiting…They don’t give us that many options in the U.S. because we as a society are indecisive and would take forever to decide on what we wanted. And judging by how U.S. vending machines work, half the time you would never get your drink anyway because the fucking thing would break…If you’re wondering, 150yen is just under $2.00 U.S…
The FD2 R heading out…
One more shot of Atuki’s EG6 before it heads out for a beating…
I personally liked this shot a lot…
Yasutaka in his EG6…seeing that giant “Tactical Art” decal splashed on the side of his car reminds me that I have to send a batch of Chronicles stickers out to them….He said he wanted to run my site’s URL on the side of his car but my machine can’t cut anything nearly that huge…awesome idea though, haha…that’d be crazy to see…
Lining up in the staging area…
Only “track footage” that was usable…I’ll have to ask them if they got an on-board video…
A couple shots of them returning to the paddock area after they were finished with their session…
That’s pretty much it… I hope you guys enjoyed it. It’s always cool to see something different and to see how other countries do it. Thanks for looking and thanks to the guys from Tactical Art for providing us coverage of their adventures…
The Chronicles 2011 Honors…The Best of the Rest…
I’m glad that everyone was happy with The Chronicles 2011 Top Ten Hondas list. I spent a lot of time deliberating when it came to who would officially be on the list, where they would go, and who would ultimately have the number one spot. If you missed it, feel free to scroll down to check it out or click on the attached links below. Today we will be taking a look at the rest of the pack. These guys were the ones that were also in contention for the Top Ten but just failed to make the cut. They were all great builds but the guys that ended up on the list just had what I was looking for top to bottom. I do an “Honors” list every year after the Top Ten is released because I feel that these guys should still have their time in the spotlight. Just because they didn’t make the ten, it doesn’t mean that they should be forgotten, you know? The list isn’t in any particular order, so don’t take the last guy as the bottom guy or whatever, and the first guy to be “number 11″ so to speak. I just felt that these Hondas made a big impact in 2011, whether their builds were extensive or just simple, and straight to the point…
If your car isn’t on this list, don’t take it as a bad thing…I try to keep a very thorough view on the entire Honda community, but there are times when I will miss a car or two. I mean, honestly, if I didn’t keep an eye on everyone’s builds, would you think that you would be sitting here and looking at 25 Hondas today? I could be taking a nice little break right now…
Anyways, here is the Top Ten f 2011 just in case you missed it…
Now that you’ve seen the Top Ten, here are the 25 other Hondas that just narrowly missed the list…
In no particular order…
Bisimoto Engineering’s 1004HP 2012 Honda Civic Si….
Why it made the list:
There were a lot of you that probably felt that Bisi’s Civic should have been on the list, and I can see why. The guy just produces stellar builds every single year. I couldn’t really include him this year though because he came in so late in the year. His wagon and CR-Z made the list the year before because the wagon had been around for a majority of 2010 and his CR-Z was just nothing anyone had ever seen before. The Civic, while equally as amazing, only came to being in late October of this year. There are still a couple things that I’m sure Bisi would like to change or fix on the Civic as well so everyone should keep an eye on it in 2012…
Taku Kusugami’s Honda Civic from Japan, representing Tactical Art…
Why it made the list:
Taku-san makes the 25 Honors list because his EK was one of the more recognizable builds of 2011 coming out of Japan. The photos of this EK were posted up everywhere after the Hellaflush Japan event and it became quite the popular internet forum topic. I loved how it resembled some of the best Honda builds here stateside and just has a great universal appeal to it. It’s this car that also helped bring my attention to the Tactical Art guys and why many of you recognize the Tactical Art name today…
Yasutaka Shimomukai’s EG6 from Tactical Art Japan…
Why it made the list:
Yasutaka’s EG is another one of the cool builds that come out of Tactical Art. It was the last of the three that I noticed but Yasutaka is also that guy that I communicate with the most from there. I’ve already stated before that I personally am not a fan of the XXR wheels but the Japanese love the USDM-inspired look. After he saw my post, he asked me about XXR and he even told me that he has a set of Rotiform wheels on order and that will be his new lookin 2012. As a whole package though, i love how his EG looks and above all else, it’s built for track-use. He attends road race events regularly and always takes photos and sends them to me, so expect to see a lot more content from Tactical Art in the future. He makes this list because like many of the guys on the Top Ten list this year, he built his car with style and function in mind. He doesn’t make the cut on the Top Ten because I didn’t really meet them until the later part of 2011…
Atuki Tubouti’s EG6 representing Tactical Art Japan…
Why it made the list:
You can’t talk about the guys from Tactical Art without mentioning Atuki’s EG…It is by far the most wild of their roster and Atuki also happens to be the owner of Tactical Art. His build is also built with function in mind but with style as well. This Civic just has a very menacing feel to it and just like our number one car, Gil Salazar’s ITR, it just has a certain presence about it that can’t be ignored. He narrowly misses the Top Ten list for the same reasons as the other two Tactical Art representatives… To read more about Tactical Art, here is a list of all posts tagged with Tactical Art…
Sportcar Motion’s “Little Red Riding Hood” EG Civic…
Why it made the list:
The Sportcar Motion Civic was probably one of the builds that just narrowly missed the Top Ten list, probably by like a hair…it was that close. The reason it didn’t make it, is because I felt that Loi Song and company just weren’t 100% finished with this build yet. It had a good year overall and made various events, I just think that it’s going to have an even better year in 2012 when it’s turbocharged. It’s rare to see Loi build a Honda that isn’t white, so it immediately stood out when it debuted, but there is so much more potential for this build this year….
Cooper Boudia’s Acura Integra from Olympia, WA…
Why it made the list:
Cooper’s Integra is another popular build that many thought would make the 2011 Top Ten list. Many even believed that it should have been number one. I didn’t necessarily agree but I do feel like it should have been included somewhere in that group. My reasoning behind it not being in the Top Ten, is because it was also another one of those builds that many didn’t see or know about until the later part of the year. Cooper’s Integra is definitely one of the better builds that came out 2011 and it’s also one of those builds that you have to see in person to appreciate. Luckily he drove all the way down from Washington to attend my anniversary meet and I was able to see it indepth. I am a huge fan of Cooper’s Integra and I hope to see more of it in 2012… He has one of the most epic build threads of 2011 as well, much like the next guy on the list… Check out his build thread here…
Eric Dabbert aka JDMcivbomb’s K-swapped, Spoon’d-out Honda Civic…
Why it made the list:
Eric’s Civic is one of those builds that I just wish I got a chance to see much more of in 2011… I didn’t even know about the car itself until Wekfest Chicago and I had no idea he even had a build thread going on the NWP4Life forums. It’s probably one of the most extensive builds I have ever seen and just the way he restored the car from the ground-up puts him in high contention to make the Top Ten of 2011. I’m not a huge fan of Spoon Sports but I can totally appreciate a thorough, highly extensive build thread and that’s why I like his Civic so much. There is just an insane amount of work on this car and you have to really go through every single page of his build thread to really understand how much effort was involved in getting his EG to this point. He probably would have been in the top five very easily if I was able to see his car more at events and what not…great work nonetheless…Read all about it here…
Tuan Chau’s K-supercharged Integra…
Why it made the list:
Simply because Tuan had one of the best Integra builds of the year. What’s even better than that is that this is supposedly his daily driver. He’s built a Civic in the past as well and that car is also a very well-built car. Both the Civic and Integra were featured in Honda Tuning and both were very deserving. I had a chance to see this thing in person when I flew out to Nashville last year for Import Alliance and it looked every bit as good as it did in print. I love what he did with the valve cover and how he matched it with the blue Recaros and the CCW Classics. It’s a good looking car that’s driven often and you’ll see it at plenty of events out on the east coast. It’s very well done and I’m happy to have been able to see it for myself. It narrowly missed the Top Ten list because there were just so many great Integra builds in 2011…Check out Tuan’s features here… His DC2 and his ’93 Civic CX….
Raul Ramirez’s authentic JDM 1994 Honda Civic VTi…
Why it made the list:
Raul Ramirez’s Civic VTi was probably close enough to making the list where it would have been #10 1/2…Seriously, Great build, authentic Japanese Civic VTi, K-swapped, and built with every intention to be road-raced. He participated in Super Street magazine’s FF Battle 3 in 2011 and did very well, finishing in the Top 5. The reason why it didn’t make the list is because the guys that did were just a little more active than he was and they made it out to more events. When it comes to build quality, it’s right up there with the others. Raul knows his stuff…this is like, his 12th Honda or something, haha…Check out his Honda Tuning feature here…
Harvey Flores’ 4-door Acura Integra from Tronics…
Why it made the list:
Harvey’s 4-door Integra is deserving of a nod on this list because it’s a beautiful car. I’ve been keeping an eye on his build for the last couple years and I loved the way his car looked in 2011 with the Mugen front bumper. The guy has a good sense of style and his DB8 reflects that. It’s not over the top and he’s paid close attention to building himself a well-rounded Honda. The engine bay is clean, as is the interior, and the exterior has always looked good. He doesn’t make the cut because it took me like, a fucking hour to just find one good photo of it that I could use, which probably means that I didn’t see him enough at events. I probably snapped like two photos of it in total the entire year. Compared to the other 4-door DBs on the list, he just wasn’t as active. Really love how this thing looks though…
Will Salazar’s 1993 Honda Civic CX…
Why it made the list:
Will’s Civic is one of my favorite Hondas from back in the mid-2000s. It’s crazy to think now that he still has it and he’s continued to evolve the car in 2011. Gil, who not only happens to hold the number one spot in 2011 but is also Will’s brother, kept me up to date with the rebuild from the moment they stripped it down to the first photos of it after it got out of the bodyshop. I’ll always be a fan of this car but a part of me will always prefer how it looked back when it was red. Don’t get me wrong, I love the evolution of this car and how it currently sits but I somehow feel like there is something missing with this car. I don’t know what it is, to be perfectly honest. Despite that, it would have made the Top Ten list if he was a little more active in 2011. He was supposed to be a part of my “GENERATIONS” display at Nisei Showoff this past year too but he just flaked on me…haha, I guess it wasn’t that important to him. Anyways, the Salazar brothers can build the shit out of a Honda and I always look forward to what they have up their sleeves. I also like how down they are to just take their cars out on the track and beat on them…From what I’ve seen, Will is a pretty good driver too… If you want to read more about Will’s Civic, click here….
Chivas Sotelo’s Honda Civic Si….
Why it made the list:
Chivas deserves a mention because he’s been to any and everywhere in 2011. The guy lives in Vegas but you wouldn’t think so because of all the events he’s been to this past year. His car isn’t bad either…It’s wild to think how much he drives this thing considering how low to the ground it is. All those trips from Vegas to Cali and back, you would think his car would look all fucked up but it’s remained in great condition. It’s another build that I’ve been able to see the gradual progression of and it’s a very eye-catching coupe. It doesn’t make the Top Ten of 2011 because the other cars that did make it I just felt were more thorough builds. There are still a couple things I would like to see done on his EM1, but it’s fine the way it is…2012 is looking to be a good year for him, he’s featured in the January 2012 issue of Honda Tuning which is on newstands right now….if you would like to read more about Chivas’ car, go fucking buy a copy of the magazine!…
Gerald “Lowballer” Reyes’ Acura Integra…
Why it made the list:
You can’t really mention Chivas without including Gerald Reyes…these guys are practically attached at the hip. If you saw Chivas Sotelo in 2011, chances are, Gerald’s Integra was parked right next to him. They both hail from Las Vegas, so they usually roll to events together. I am not entirely sure if there is anything done to the bay so that’s why it didn’t make the Top Ten list. It’s a good looking car overall, I just don’t know if it had enough to compete with the other Hondas in 2011. I’m sure it wasn’t his intentions to be competitive in 2011 anyways, because Gerald and his friends just build good looking street cars. There are a lot of people that seem to get his car confused with the other brown DC2 on Work Equips out here in Cali…they aren’t the same car! Anyways, Gerald and Chivas go everywhere together so they might as well be right next to each other on the 2011 Honors list…
RC Chacon’s K-turbo Honda Civic sedan…
Why it made the list:
RC’s Civic makes the 2011 Honors list because it’s really rare to see 4-door Civics done to this caliber these days, and it’s refreshing to see one with a turbocharged K-series. I love how the engine bay looks with all the custom fabricated turbo parts, but I felt like it was a little lacking aeshetically. That’s why it didn’t make the Top Ten in 2011. While it was one of the more anticipated builds in 2011, I just don’t feel like it was ever at a completed state. He did enough events in 2011, I felt, but I wasn’t sure if the car was ever “finished”. Every time I spoke to RC, he would tell me that there was more that he had to do to it…
Michael Mao’s Acura NSX…
Why it made the list:
Michael Mao’s NSX was probably the most “seen” NSX in 2011. He was everywhere…He missed the Top Ten list because it’s another one of those new builds in 2011 that I just wasn’t sure was in a finished state yet. It’s got the aero, wheels, and suspension down, but I think there could be more coming for this NSX. Sure, it’s an NSX, which isn’t as common as Civics and Integras, but in terms of the level of builds that are being produced these days, I have to hold NSXs to the same standards as the rest of the “popular” Hondas…
Bon Senesombath aka BonB’s Honda Civic…
Why it made the list:
BonB’s Civic deserves mention on the 2011 Honors list because his build was probably one of the most anticipated of the year. It took a bit of time for the car to get finished but when it appeared in the hotel parking lot during the summer Import Alliance event, people went absolutely nuts over it. Bon is one of those guys that is one of the more recognized enthusiasts down south. His EG was a hit back when it was still blue and thanks to his many trips out to the west coast, he’s become a household name out in these parts. When people caught wind of his Civic re-build, they had their eyes peeled in anticipation for it’s re-emergence. His car is another one that I’ve had a chance to see in person, both when it was still blue and had a B-series as well as it’s current K-swapped, green stage. It would have been a good choice to be on the Top Ten list but he didn’t make enough appearances in 2011 and there were still some loose ends that needed to be tied-up before I think it’s up there with the others who have the more completed Hondas of ’11…
Abe Cruz’s EK9-inspired Honda Civic…
Why it made the list:
Abe, better known simply as “EK9abe”, was all over the place in 2011. He hit every event possible in the Socal area last year and did a great job of being seen. His Civic is as close to a legit Japanese CTR as it gets here in the U.S. but with his own personal touches. I didn’t really know enough about the build itself to really consider it for the Top Ten, but I will give him credit for good execution. I just feel that his car is just too simple overall…maybe that’s a good thing, but when it comes to a list with such intricate builds, it needs more to stand out from the rest of the pack…
Mike Trevino’s EG9 Civic sedan…
Why it made the list:
Mike’s 4-door makes the honorable mentions list for a second year in a row. He did a consistent job of making appearances at events alongside his crew-mate, Jeremy Duarte, but there weren’t really any changes on the Civic from the previous year. I’m a big fan of this build and I feel that the best is yet to come for this car. Mike has it taken apart right now and it’s going through a re-build, so we should all keep an eye out for it in 2012. Maybe this year, it’ll finally make it over that wall and end up in the Top Ten Hondas of 2012 list…
Sunny Wong’s 2010 Honda Insight EX…
Why it made the list:
Sunny shocked everyone this year when his Insight re-emerged at SEMA 2011. It was nothing anyone had expected from him nor from a Honda Insight. The only time you really see an Insight with an extensive amount of work done to it is over in Japan, so when Sunny debuted his new look, it had Honda and non-Honda enthusiasts stopping to stare at it on the SEMA show floors. The flared body and aggressive sizing of the TE37s just give this Insight an entirely different look and made for a drastic change over his more VIP-themed look from before. I know an Insight will never be built to a level of say, a build like Gil Salazar’s, but it’s about as invested as an Insight build can get. I was almost on the verge of putting it on the list but it just didn’t re-appear until later on in the year. It’s just a wild-looking car…it’s hard to categorize it with the other builds on the list but it’s well thought out enough for people to accept it. This is an instance where taking a chance and thinking outside of the box really pays off…
Ly Say’s Acura TSX…
Why it made the list:
Ly Say’s TSX is in no way shape or form nearly as “built” as the other Hondas on the list, but I think it would be good to consider it just because of how much attention it brings to the TSX crowd. It just has a Euro-R conversion, suspension, and wheels, but damn, it looks good just the way it is! Anytime I came across someone who was staring at his car at all the events he attended, all they could do was compliment him on his taste in mods. While the chances of him hitting the Top Ten list were slim in 2011, I give him credit for having a great looking car and being so active throughout the year…
Bryant Nguyen’s Acura TSX…
Why it made the list:
Much like Ly Say’s TSX, Bryant is right up there in terms of activity and overall style. He also has a very good-looking TSX and he has a bit more done to his car than Ly does. This year was the debut of his new SSR Professor SP3 wheels as well as a new air-ride set-up. Still not as intensive as the other builds on this list, but I commend him on his efforts for bringing a bright, positive spotlight onto the TSX community….
Moe Drennon’s K-swapped EG Civic…
Why it made the list:
PGK Moe had a great 2011…He was featured in Honda Tuning magazine in July and then around that same time, he brought his Civic out to Import Alliance with a brand new K20-swap. The bay looked good as did the rest of the car, but I just can’t figure out why he never got himself another windshield molding. Little stuff like that bothers me, because the details are what it really comes down to, but I’m sure he has his reasons. He and his brother are always busy tinkering with cars so maybe he was just too busy to really finish up the car. It would have been a really good choice to be in the Top Ten list, but again, it just seems sort of incomplete… I guess you can say it was a molding short of making it…haha…Here’s PGK Moe’s HT feature…
Chris Drnek’s EF Civic hatchback…
Why it made the list:
Chris’ EF is one of those really clean Hondas that instantly caught my eye when I was out at Import Alliance. I was just hanging out in the hotel parking lot when I spotted it. I walked up to take a closer look and I immediately became a fan of it. It’s one of those Hondas that has a very timeless-appeal to it. I was correct in my liking of his EF because a couple months later, he also received a feature in Honda Tuning magazine. It just narrowly misses the mark and doesn’t make the Top Ten because both Jay Powers’ and Jordan McCord’s EFs were more comprehensive builds. That’s no knock on Drnek’s EF though because the chassis was practically perfect as it was when it arrived in his possession. There was no reason to repaint or restore the car because he just didn’t have to….If you want to see Drnek’s Honda Tuning Feature, click here…
Jay Borcena’s VIP-styled Acura TL…
Why it made the list:
In a world full of Civics and Integras built to be “track-inspired”, it’s very hard for a VIP-themed Honda to make the list. Unless it has major engine modifications or a customized bay, it’s not going to be built anywhere near the level of the Hondas that comprised of the Top Ten. While it would be great to see something truly different on the list, it’s very difficult to take one of the Top Ten off of the list to make room for a luxury-based build. I have enjoyed the continued progression of Jay’s TL over time though, and I like the fact that he made a presence in 2011 with all the events he attended. It’s one of those Hondas where even non-VIP fans can appreciate it. I’m also very happy to a see a car with aggressive fitment that doesn’t have chewed-up fenders in 2011. It seems like a simple enough concept but people are all about fucking their fenders up these days….
Yellow Factory EG6 Civic…
Why it made the list:
In a time when most Honda enthusiasts are all about race cars and the “Because Racecar” phenomenon, the Yellow Factory Civic arrived at just the right time. When photos surfaced of it early in 2010, people were all over the wild front end of this Civic where in the past, most would have probably laughed at it and complained about how ridiculous it looked. More dedicated road race guys would have appreciated it though, even before time attack and road racing became the “cool” thing to do. If it were in ’09 or 2010, people would be aiming pitchforks at the front bumper because it’s a “ricey bodykit”. Now that people are more concerned with “function”, everyone is a fan of the Yellow Factory EG. In reality, the Yellow Factory-built Honda is a very capable car on the circuit. It ran the Tsukuba Circuit in 1:01.38 and it’s time puts it right up there with the likes of a Z-Tuned R34 Skyline. If you go and pick up the current issue of Import Tuner, you can read all about it. It is worthy of a mention on this list because it fits the era that we are in currently in. Enthusiasts love track cars and the “track-look” so many are looking to this Civic for inspiration. Hondas with aggressive aero like this that can run great times make it cool again for people to rock parts that might have otherwise been reasons to humiliate someone online a couple years before….
Ryan O’Hara’s EP3 Honda Civic…
Why it made the list:
Ryan is not only the only Canadian representative on the Honors list, he also has the only EP3 to make it. I’ll be honest, it’s incredibly difficult to keep track of what is going on in Canada, because there just aren’t enough online media outlets for most of us to see what’s going on up there. Canada has always produced some very good Honda builds and it would be great to see more of them. They have a couple S2000s out there that are just amazing but no one has heard of them before. Ryan’s EP3 makes the list because it’s one of the best EP3 builds I have seen, ever. It was featured in HT a couple years ago and Ryan has continued to work on his Civic. This current look with the Air Walker front bumper and orange SE37Ks is probably his best look yet. There are just a couple photos of it floating around online but being that it’s a rare chassis to build, Ryan’s EP3 is instantly recognizable. There are a couple of other EP3s out that are worthy of a mention, i.e. Cristian Loza’s from Canibeat, but I have to say, this one is my favorite in 2011…
Hmmm….you know what? Fuck it…after some careful consideration at 4:53am, I think I made a mistake by not including his EP3 on the list…
Cristian Canibeat Loza’s EP3 Honda Civic…
Why it made the list:
After some thinking, Cristian’s EP3 is one of those cars that I almost failed to mention. He was very active in 2011 and he is also a part of one of the more popular online automotive websites right now; Canibeat. I wasn’t very fond of the site at first but it’s great to see that it’s developed into it’s own brand over time and isn’t piggybacking off of the ideas of other websites like Fatlace/Hellaflush. It’s also been good to see the continued progress of Cristian Loza’s EP3. I developed a much deeper appreciation of this car after I had the opportunity to check it out for myself while I was in Nashville. I like the fact that it’s “stanced-out” but doesn’t have stupid spaceship camber, and his engine is actually really nice for an EP3 chassis. He’s got a couple Mugen goodies in the bay and another really nifty accessory, a K20Z1 swap… It’s a nice, well-rounded Honda, and I almost feel like an asshole for not mentioning it…
Well, that’s the 25…errr 27 noteworthy Honda builds of 2011 that were in contention for the The Chronicles Top Ten Hondas list. Again, all are great in their own way, it’s just really hard to come up with a final ten without excluding some really nice Hondas. I was honestly surprised by how receptive everyone was of the Top Ten and didn’t complain about how they didn’t see so and so’s car, or some other guy who I have never heard of. That’s always a good thing….This year was probably my favorite Top Ten list because not everyone was a lock to be on and it took more time and consideration to finalize it. If it was really that easy, I wouldn’t have almost another 30 Hondas to mention. At the end of the day, I couldn’t be happier with how it all came together. Thank you for your support and I hope you guys come back to see what The Chronicles has to offer in 2012…
The Chronicles Top Ten Hondas of 2011…#1…
…and then there was one…
There’s no doubt that there were a number of great Honda builds in 2011… The last two days we’ve taken a look at 9 (10 with the tie) of what I felt were the best of the best in 2011, but in the end there can only be one. One Honda build that stood above the rest of the pack, well-rounded in every way and built for purpose as well as with the owner’s idea of functionality in mind…
With the number one selection in The Chronicles Top Ten Hondas of 2011, stickydiljoe.com selects….
1. Gil Salazar’s 2001 Acura Integra Type R…
Why it made the list: If there is one particular Honda that should have been on the 2010 Top Ten Honda list last year, it would be Gil Salazar and his 2000 Acura ITR. The car came out of nowhere and simply amazed a lot of his fellow enthusiasts. Everyone that knew of Gil knew that he could build a Honda and he had been doing so for many years now. You may remember he once had a white Integra as well and that car was also one of the better built Hondas of the early-mid 2000s alongside his younger brother’s red EG. His black ITR though, was definitely his best work yet. It not only had all the right parts on it, he also had a K20 that produced very good numbers, and the amount of custom fabrication that was done to his ITR was one of the key factors that set it apart from the rest of the crowd. He didn’t make the cut that year because of the fact that we didn’t see enough of the car….He is a businessman as well as a family man, so those two limiting factors took much of his time away from his ITR, but the main reason why we didn’t see enough of his car was because it was down for much of last year. He had all kinds of issues with it that prevented it from running correctly. There were issues with the motor while they were tuning it, I believe his transmission took a shit at one point, and when it came time for him to participate at last year’s Super Street FF Battle 2, he didn’t even get a chance to make a complete pass because there were electrical issues with the car….
All of the bullshit that he had to deal with was enough to bring down any enthusiast. You can only experience so many issues until you just lose faith in your car. It didn’t mean that his build wasn’t good or anything, it was absolutely stunning….there were just too many issues with it for it to qualify for last year’s list. That and there were all kinds of amazing Hondas last year. I didn’t want to remove someone on the list to place Gil’s ITR in there, when at that time, it wasn’t running at 100%. I honestly didn’t know what would become of the car. His feature in Honda Tuning came out and as you can see from the photos, it looked great. I just wasn’t sure what Gil had planned for it in 2011, but I did leave the window open for him to see if he was willing to get this thing up and running and active during the year…
Where Sheepey and him have faced similar hardships with their builds, i.e. mechanical failure, engine issues, etc., Gil Salazar has proven that he has faced adversity and persevered. In 2011, his ITR was running better than ever. There were still minor things here and there, but every enthusiast faces those issues. He just had to get this thing running, everything else was perfect just the way it was…
I would have liked for it to have shown up to more events last year, but considering the limited amount of time that he had between business operations at Circuit Hero and being a father and husband, he did what he could. He was never much of a car show type of guy either, so it was equally understandable as to why he split his time from doing events like the SEMA show and the annual Eibach Honda meet, and made time to get some testing down at the track as well as competing in the 2011 Super Street FF Battle 3 event…
As far as influence within the community goes, it’s very easy to see how Gil’s ITR made an impact. Anh from ATS Garage has a lot of similar modifications as far as custom fabrication goes because the work on Gil’s ITR served as his inspiration. He has used this car to help him promote the Circuit Hero brand name and now you see all kinds of different builds in our vast community utilizing Circuit Hero products. When he hooked up with ASC Speed Metal, his ITR and his brother’s EG had all kinds of custom fab work and it really opened the eyes of the community to what ASC was capable of doing. They’ve been working closely together ever since and you will see more and more amazing work coming from those guys in the coming years…
When it comes to a functional, well-rounded Honda build, it just doesn’t get any better than this. The K20A motor makes over 250hp, everything that was added to the ITR serves a purpose, and it doesn’t hurt that it has a stylish, menacing, almost evil appearance. We always came to know Gil as a guy who likes his cars to be more understated, simple…this car, is definitely not “subtle” by any means. It has a sort of presence about it that can’t be ignored….
It earns the number one spot on the 2011 Top Ten Hondas list because it encompasses everything that I’m looking for in a Honda build. It doesn’t have to be a monster and make crazy amounts of horsepower and it doesn’t necessarily have to have every rare or expensive Japanese aftermarket product on it. Gil’s ITR is just very well-rounded. He built the car for himself, he had some very unique ideas for it to help it stand-out, and he is a competitive guy and likes to take his car out every now and then for a thrashing. It’s not the fastest ITR on the track, nor does it have to be. The guy built, and drives his own car and that’s what counts. I also love how he was able to work closely with a custom fabrication shop like ASC and really made his car look distinctly different from other Hondas…
There were some moments leading up to the final decision where I might have put another car above Gil’s in the Top Ten but I always went back to giving him the top spot. He’s done everything right, I believe, to earn this position. The fact that he was able to look past all the lingering issues he had with his car and finished what he started is why he’s number one in 2011…
For those of you who don’t have a Facebook account, I recently used The Chronicles FB page to ask what many of you thought would be the number one car of 2011. There were some good cars in there, but guys like Cooper Boudia with the red DC2 and Bisi Ezerioha’s 2012 Civic Si just don’t qualify for this position because they came out so late in the year. Bisi’s didn’t debut until a couple months ago, and Cooper will admit himself that he just recently got his car to the point where he was satisfied with it and didn’t bring it out until the end of the year. Gil Salazar has had his ITR in this state, for over a year now and his build deserves all the credit and recognition in the world….Like I said before, all the Hondas on this list were just about even across the board this year. They were all great in their own way, but there were obvious reasons why they were positioned in this way. I took into consideration everything that this builds had to offer and having Gil at the number one spot just felt right. Everyone seemed to be pretty happy with the selections from 10-2 and I hope you guys see where I am coming from when I say that Gil Salazar’s Acura Integra Type R is the number one Honda on the 2011 Top Ten….
If you want to read more about Gil’s ITR, click here to check out his feature in Honda Tuning magazine….
Congratulations all around…. I look forward to what 2012 has to offer. From what I’ve seen so far, this year might be the most interesting one yet…
Thanks for looking….
The Chronicles Top Ten Hondas of 2011…5-2…
Welcome back to the ongoing countdown to the number one Honda build of 2011. The response to the first half of the list has just been overwhelming and I’m happy to see that so many people have come on to The Chronicles and have taken interest into seeing the breakdown of some of the best in our community today. What is even cooler is how the people who have made the list so far have responded. I love to see how happy they are and how some are surprised and overjoyed to have been a part of the Top Ten. In reality, they shouldn’t be all that surprised because they have put in the man hours and labor into creating such amazing Honda builds. It is good to know that there are people out there who are humble though and truly appreciate the recognition that they have garnered for their hard work. Today we will continue with the top half of the list, which are selections #5-2 and will culminate tomorrow with the announcement of the number one build of 2011. Like I stated yesterday, all the Hondas that made the list this year were pretty even across the board…all were equally great and are of the utmost quality, just other factors presented themselves that put certain cars and their owners ahead of the others. I’ll try to explain to the best of my ability how and where the builds landed where they did… With that said, let’s move on to selection #5….
At the fifth spot on the 2011 Top Ten Hondas list, stickydiljoe.com selects….*by virtual TIE*… Jeremy Duarte’s right-hand drive 1998 Acura Integra sedan and Mark Sutakajana’s 2000 Acura Integra GSR sedan…
5. Mark Sutakajana aka Chalesfoo’s 2000 Acura Integra and Jeremy Duarte’s 1998 Acura Integra….
A tie exists in this scenario because I felt that both of these sedans belonged on the Top Ten list for different reasons. While Jeremy’s DB8 has become one of the most recognizable builds of ’11, Mark has played the underdog role and quietly captured our attention by doing everything that fits the criteria of what I am looking for an a great, overall build. Duarte’s sedan is obviously the more flashier of the two, there’s no doubt about that, but I think that many have simply looked past Mark’s 4-door because of it’s otherwise simple aesthetic appearance. If you just glanced at his Integra, you probably wouldn’t think that it had anything done to it other than some suspension and wheels, but there is just so much more…
Why it made the list: Mark’s Integra makes the list because it is a fully-functional, multi-purpose build. The guy has been everywhere this year, appearing in every major event in Southern California as well as a majority of the smaller meets. You will usually find him on a set of black 949Racing 6UL wheels but there are times when he will put on his Sunday best and throw some polished Sprint Hart CP-Rs on his sedan for a major show. To be perfectly honest, when Mark’s Integra starting appearing on my radar as well as a couple of other close stickydiljoe.com associates, we thought that they were two different Integras. He would show up at one event with the 949s and then at the very next one, he would have his Sprint Harts on and we would be scratching our heads wondering if they were two different vehicles with two different owners…The guy would always pop on a different valve cover as well so it could have easily been mistaken for another car. There are a couple 4-door white DBs floating around in SoCal so there was probably a chance that even you were confused…
The exterior itself is mint and almost as OE-looking as possible. The only indication that there is probably so much more beneath the subtle exterior is the red Bride interior. Above is Mark’s DB on his polished CP-Rs…
…and this is the look that we often times see this Integra in with the 949Racing wheels…
What I absolutely love about this build is that he not only drives this thing everywhere…
…he also likes to beat on the car at road racing events… He built this thing with intentions to have the best of both worlds; an Integra that he can take to car shows and floss but also take out to the Streets of Willow and smash on it. I love the fact that he enjoys every aspect of building a Honda. If anything, I would have placed this build higher on the list but he still remains a relative unknown to many people outside of Socal. Don’t let the simple exterior fool you either, he’s not simply taking a stock B-series and tracking it….the motor is built….
Under the hood is actually a 2.1-liter stroker B-motor with full valvetrain upgrades, Profab header, Spoon N1 exhaust, and Mark also gets the power to the ground via a CTR transmission. The motor was tuned at Church and makes right around 252hp and 180lb-ft tq. The car rides on PIC Select coilovers, has Spoon brakes, just everything you can think of in a very capable street car/weekend track toy. It’s just a very well thought-out build with the best aspects of both function and form combined…it’s not flashy and over the top, and it’s also a sedan, so many people will be quick to glance and walk past it, but you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t take a closer look at it. Maybe he was the underdog of this entire class of Hondas in 2011, but he’s definitely going to be a recognizable figure now. Well done Mark, you’re every bit as deserving of recogntion as anyone in our community and I applaud you for building a car that you can enjoy in every aspect…
Why it made the list: Jeremy’s right-hand drive DB8 makes the list because from the beginning of the year, up until the very end of it, it was easily one of the most recognized Hondas of 2011. The guy was everywhere….he did a majority of the big shows in California, north and south, attended meets regularly and the car itself is very unique in its own way. Sometimes I think Jeremy is bat-shit crazy but he built the shit out of his 4-door…
The fact that it’s a 4-door definitely makes it stand-out more, because there aren’t many Integra sedans built to this level. The exterior is aggressive with the Chargespeed front lip and bright green Enkei NT03s on the contrasting blue chassis, but the engine bay is where it really catches the attention of the masses…
The neo-chrome accented bay with the big turbo gives Jeremy’s bay a very one-off look. That in combination with it being a not-as-commonly-built sedan is a big reason why it was a staple in our community in 2011. There are a lot of unique little bits on his car too that also help to make it different, like the Porsche brakes…
One of the main reasons why it made the Top Ten list and why it’s at the number 5 spot is because Jeremy has continued the evolution of his build. He still continues to add new things to it and it’s currently going through a makeover as we speak. He’s had the car for a couple years now and it’s been featured in Super Street in the past, but it hasn’t stopped him from working on it. He even got himself a nice little feature on the Wek’Sos blog this year because they liked his car so much…
Whether you’re a fan of Jeremy’s DB8 or not, you have to admit that it’s definitely an attention-grabber. Anytime you see this car online or walk past it at an event, you almost HAVE to look at it because of how much it pops. The quality of work is also right up there too so it’s not like the car isn’t worth looking at. I put Jeremy and Mark’s sedans together at number five but for different reasons…For one, if it came down to me only selecting one sedan out of the two, I just wouldn’t be able to. Jeremy’s been more of the poster child between the two, and it’s definitely a show car, but I like Mark’s because it’s a multi-purpose build that does both shows and road racing. They both enjoy their cars for different reasons so I can’t exclude one of them because they didn’t both accomplish the same goals. In many ways they are similar, but they are also polar opposites of one another. Ones a flashy, turbocharged Integra with neo-chrome everywhere and very loud colorful wheels, while the other is very simply-stated, with nothing to indicate that it’s actually a very capable car with a naturally-aspirated-motor that makes really good power. Both sedans, both different, both deserving of number 5….
4. Jay Thammavong aka S2KJay’s 2005 Honda S2000…
Why it made the list: Just to throw it out there so that there is no confusion, Jay’s S2000 is the only car on this list that has made the Top Ten list before in previous years. If you read part one, then you will know that I have a rule where I won’t have the same build on twice unless the car has been completely redone, which essentially makes it a whole “new” build. Jay’s S2000 is basically a different build, just on the same chassis. He hit the Top Ten list in 2009 but back then, his S2000 was yellow, turbocharged, and had different aero. He re-did the whole car the following year and repainted it the shade of blue you see now with a whole new arsenal of aero and ditched the forced induction…
This was the S2000 in 2010, after he did the re-spray and brought it out to the west coast for the second time. He also came out in 2009 and drove his turbo S2000 all the way from Georgia to Cali. If there’s one thing to say about Jay, he’s probably an ambassador of sorts to the tuning community outside of the west. The guy has a very good understanding of how the entire community is because he’s been all over the country and has seen how things are through his own eyes…
In 2011, he continued add to his S2000 and also continued to bring it out to events. His F20C gave out after years of boosting so he rebuilt the motor, and now it’s naturally-aspirated with individual throttle bodies. He’s also now on his like 68th different set of wheels. The guy has never been shy of spending money on his car…
One goal that he had set out to accomplish entering 2011 was to finally take his car out to the track and have a little bit of fun with it….He’s had the car since 2005, driven it across the country to attend a meet, so why not thrash on it?
Jay’s S2K makes the Top Ten list easily because he’s another one of those guys that has always held onto his car and never stopped changing things up to keep it fresh. In a time when building a feature car and cashing in is the ‘cool thing to do’, Jay’s S2 is refreshing. It looked absolutely stunning when it was yellow on bronze TE37s, and you wouldn’t even think that it was the same car now from seeing it’s current incarnation. Jay himself belongs on this list because it’s the epitome of a great enthusiast in our community. He’s always been willing to travel across the country to attend events and he’s always been nothing but helpful and welcoming when people travel out to go to events out east or in the south. His S2000 is probably the most nationally recognized Honda build outside of the west coast and it should be. It’s the only S2000 that you’ll see in event coverage from both coasts…if you really think about it, that’s pretty wild. Jay is down, and that’s why he hits the number 4 spot on the Top Ten…Great build, great owner, willing travel….it doesn’t get any better than that when you try to describe a true Honda enthusiast….
Amazing…
3. Jay Powers’ Honda CR-X…
Why it made the list: When it comes to being one of the great Honda builders of our generation, you probably wouldn’t name Jay Powers….not because he doesn’t build great Hondas, because he definitely does, he just isn’t all that often in the public eye. You’ve probably seen the builds he has produced with his wife. He had a 1998 Honda Civic CX and 1994 Acura Integra that he built with his wife Lisa that was featured in Honda Tuning in 2010. Both great cars…the Civic I believe he is rebuilding now, and the Integra is sitting perfect just the way it is after they did some more work to it in 2011. His Honda CR-X is probably the flagship Honda of his collection and is his personal favorite. Jay is probably the only guy that makes the Top Ten Hondas of 2011 list just based purely on build quality alone. His CR-X is just fucking immaculate and almost has a collector’s sense of timelessness to it. It is MINT in every sense of the word…
You don’t really get a grasp of just how anal he is about this car unless you’ve had a chance to see him work on this car or watch him detail it in person. You could eat off of this car if you wanted to but you wouldn’t because of how mint it is. The body is flawless, has all the right parts, and the engine bay looks as if the car has never been turned on before…
There’s no point of deception here….Jay doesn’t drive this car a whole lot, but it runs and was tuned by Bisi Ezerioha from Bisimoto Engineering. Still it’s just one of those Hondas that you wished would just stay in this condition, as if it were placed in a time capsule to show future generations how a great Honda build looked in our time. Jordan McCord, who was number 9 on the list, is also a prime example of a very clean CR-X with a timeless look, Jay’s just happens to be on another level in terms of sheer quality of work and aftermarket parts selection…
In 2011, Jay’s CR-X made appearances at all the major events in California…Wekfest Norcal, Wekfest Long Beach, the annual Eibach meet, and even to other events like the It’s JDM Yo!! Anniversary show. If you were able to attend one of these events, then you can probably vouch for the quality of his CR-X…
As a whole package, it would be safe to say that this was one of the best-assembled CR-X builds of all-time. The exterior has been completely restored, the JDM EF9 SiR conversion looks like it came with the car, and the motor and bay are just flawless. It’s definitely cleaner overall than the number 2 and number 1 picks for the Top Ten of 2011, but it sits at number three because Jay doesn’t really drive the car at all, which allows the car to remain in this state. I mean, it’s literally frozen in time as it sits in a garage under multiple car covers. It’s a show car and he’s never tried to make people think otherwise. If you get a chance to see it in person, appreciate it for what it is, a piece of Honda art built by an artist with an almost O.C.D. like mindset…
2. Alex “Sheepey” Soto’s 2003 Honda S2000…
Why it made the list: …Well, because you probably expected it too…haha. No, I’m just kidding. When I typed up a question regarding who you guys felt should be on the the Top Ten list a couple weeks back on Facebook, a lot of you brought up Alex Soto’s name…and for good reason. His S2000 was one of the more “surprising” builds of 2011. He has a reputation for having a flare for the dramatic, but nobody outside of his circle of friends really knew that he was building an S2000. He popped up during the beginning of the year at Wekfest SF but at that time, it wasn’t much of anything more than a stock AP1 with suspension and aggressive wheels. It wasn’t until Wekfest Long Beach when it re-appeared and had jaws dropping because of the custom turbo set-up under the hood…
To call it a unique turbo set-up for an S2k would be the understatement of the year…Just the amount of fabwork and customization under the hood gave Sheepey’s S2000 a completely different persona…it went from being a stock S2000 to an absolute beast, and the exterior still retained a basically stock appearance…
His S2000 was just another notch on his belt and another great Sheepey-built Honda. For the rest of 2011, it was one of the main attractions at events and in November, it landed on the cover of Honda Tuning magazines winter issue…
If there was one critique about the car, it was that there wasn’t much focus paid to the exterior aesthetics. It had aggressive CCW wheels on it, front lip, and carbon side splitters, but it wasn’t much to look at, compared to the rest of the S2000 community, who places heavy emphasis on aftermarket Japanese-made aero. It didn’t matter though, because people that came to know Sheepey’s builds, knows that the engine bay has always been of the utmost importance to him. His Civic in the past was very simple, as was his Integra, that’s just his style and way of building cars. The way the bay was set-up, you didn’t really concern yourself what what was going on outside, almost as if it didn’t matter. Would it would have been even better with aero? I would be inclined to think so, but that’s not Alex’s prerogative…it stands out in a crowd of S2Ks regardless of it’s lack of aero…
I love how the oil catch and oil breather cans have been fabricated to fit the shape of the engine bay. Everything looks like it “belongs” there, even the dump pipes that exit through the hood…
Sheepey’s S2000 shocked the world in 2011…it made all the important events of the year…and the quality of the build is equal to none…with that said, why isn’t it the number one Honda of 2011 you ask? Well I had to do a lot of thinking when it came to selecting the number one build. Sheepey just didn’t seem like the right choice. From the moment I started to consider everyone for the list, I knew right away that his S2000 belonged here. There was never a point in time when I ever thought that Sheepey would hold the number one spot. Why? Well, because I know Sheepey and I know how he is…I’ve known him for a couple years now, back when he first started becoming a “household name” within our community. Back then he was just a kid and had all the confidence in the world. Over time, he’s grown up a bit, his builds have gotten better, and he’s become a more knowledgeable guy. He’s always been one of those guys who was quick to learn and many times self-taught. You see as time goes on how his builds have grown-up along with Alex. I appreciate what he does because I like his enthusiasm and I’ve learned to like his flare for the dramatics. He shock-value is what makes his cars great, you know? If there’s one criticism that I can make about Alex, being that I’ve watched him grow in our scene, is that he’s never been able to stick with one project and really see it through. Where the other guys on the list have been able to consistently evolve their Hondas over time, Alex has been quick to set aside his cars and forget about them, and build something else. Now you may be thinking that there’s nothing wrong with that because it sounds like he just has the itch to build something new, I question his ability to stick with his cars because I’ve watched him cast his cars aside whenever something happened to them…His Civic, which was his first “baby” of sorts, he rebuilt it, turned it into a drag car, made a couple passes with it, and blew it up. Instead of taking the time to fix it, he got rid of it…nobody ever heard from it again…His Integra was once turbocharged, until he parted it to fund his Civic and S2000…Now that his Integra is up and running again, and there’s been no signs of his S2000, I am pretty confident in saying that the motor on his S2000 has probably seen better days. That’s why he’s turned his focus away from his S2000 and back on his Integra….That’s just his MO, it’s how he works. Is there anything wrong with that? No, absolutely not…but it would be a discredit to the rest of the guys on this list, especially the guy that holds the number one spot, if I were to give Alex the crown. Alex’s ability to build a Honda is something I will never doubt…the guy knows how to build a quality car that makes power and that has the shock value to propel the “Sheepey Built” name straight to the top. I’ve always been a fan of his cars. When the times get tough though, I often find myself wondering if he has the ability to persevere…does he have the proverbial “heart“?…It’s not a criticism per se, more like an observation….that’s why he just falls short of number 1….
That’s the 9 best Hondas of 2011, with only one spot remaining….who holds the crown as the best Honda build of 2011? Stay tuned….
The Chronicles Top Ten Hondas of 2011…10-6…
Welcome and happy new years everyone. I’m sure anticipation has been mounting for the past couple weeks so I’ll jump immediately into the Top Ten Hondas of 2011… I started doing this list right around the time the site began in 2008 and over time, it has become one of the most popular topics on The Chronicles. It was never meant to be taken too seriously…I just wanted to spotlight some of what I feel were the best Honda builds every year because I think that all too often, we take a lot of really well-built Hondas for granted and fail to give them the proper recognition that they deserve. The community is just so vast though that of course, there will be a lot of differing opinions regarding what’s good, what’s better, and who should be where on the list. I have always said and will always stand by the fact that this list is created solely by me and does not reflect the opinions of anyone else but me. My criteria for the list has also been to always consider not only the builds themselves, but also the build’s impact and presence within the Honda community. Functionality is also something I look into but since different people build their cars for different reasons, it’s very hard to make that a determining factor as to whether or not a build should be placed higher than another. Many of you who follow the site closely knows how this whole thing works so if you talk to someone that doesn’t understand, please help me educate them. For those of you who want to find out for yourselves and read more about the previous year’s Top Ten selections, I have attached links below so that you can go through those before jumping head first into the 2011 list. After the first two years, I made a decision to add one essential rule to the list; every year, the list will consist of completely new builds and the Hondas that have won the previous years will not be eligible for contention unless the cars have been completely redone, which essentially makes it a “new build”. This eliminates repeats of previous years and keeps the list fresh. No matter how I try to do things, there will always be some sort “bias”…there’s just no way around it. Some people have met me and spoken to me before, some people I know personally, and some cars I have only seen online. By having a fresh list every year with new builds, I hope to eliminate as much ‘bias” as possible. If you don’t see a particular build on here that you feel deserves to be on the list, either I didn’t feel it qualified to make the list, or I just may have never heard or seen the build before. I try to stay in touch as much as I can, being that I run this site and work for the magazine industry, but there are literally tons of enthusiasts out there and it’s very possible that I may not have encountered these said builds…
This year was a bit of a difficult one to figure out. There were a lot of great builds, but everyone seemed to be on or at about the same level…it was essentially, even across the board. There were some builds that really stood out in my eyes and some cars the previous years that were on the fence, but didn’t do enough back then to really make the cut. If they didn’t make the cut, then there is still potential for them later on to make it onto the Ten Best list. For the most part, I’ve taken everything into consideration for the 2011 year, but like I said, there were some Hondas that I felt were great before and I’ve also taken into consideration what they have done also in 2010-2011. The majority of the list wasn’t too difficult to finalize, it was just where everyone would go that would become an issue. I don’t think I’ve ever been challenged as much in previous years as I’ve had for the 2011 selections. The top five were arranged, re-arranged, and I even slept on it a couple days and moved some of them around to get them just how I wanted the list to go. The top three are a very interesting bunch, and it was so close, that I really had to consider everything these builds have been through over time. When it was all said and done though, I was very content with how the list is from 10 all the way to number 1…
Obviously, there are some builds that you expected to be on the list…and they just aren’t. That’s why it’s my list and not your list. It’s okay to disagree, but allow me to explain when the time comes. Maybe we both had the same cars in mind but these cars were eliminated for specific reasons. Like every year, I will also have a list of noteworthy builds that almost made the list but didn’t aka “The Honors List”. These builds were great, but they just didn’t do enough compared to the ten of 2011. The toughest part of doing a list like this is that many times, some really amazing builds don’t come out until the middle or the end of the year. This is either because the builds just didn’t get done or that they were major projects for SEMA or some other major event. They won’t make the list this year, but I have my eyes on them for the following year. There are also probably a bunch of race cars that you felt should be on here because some car is “hardparked” or whatever the fuck you want to call it. I love the fact that there are a lot of race-bred Hondas out there, but many of them are strictly built for racing, and they could give a shit less about a list like this. Some guys just want to race and online presence and car shows/meets just mean nothing to them, and I respect them for that. I wouldn’t want to waste their time by putting them on a list that is of little importance to them. I just want to see great builds. Top quality builds with great attention to detail. Builds that inspire others to do even better on their own Hondas. If anything, you should look to these list of cars as motivation to make your’s better, you know? It’s not that you can’t do what these guys do, you definitely can. I always see people saying “man, I wish I could build something like that”. Guess what? You fucking can! Set aside a plan and do it. Oh and if you don’t like the Top Ten list, you can fuck off, haha. I don’t care. I’m not running around blasting this on every website or forum. You come to The Chronicles, you better want to read what I have to say, because there’s nobody else here putting shit up on stickydiljoe.com. I don’t go to your site to not want to hear what you have to speak your mind about, that’s ridiculous…Anyways, let’s get crackin’ on this 2011 Top Ten list….I look forward to what 2012 has to offer. From what I’ve seen and heard, 2012 might be the most interesting year yet in terms of high caliber Honda builds…
With the tenth selection in the 2011 Top Ten Hondas list, presented by The Chronicles, stickydiljoe.com selects….
10. Kazu Imai’s 1996 Honda Integra Type R from Okayama, Japan…
Why it made the list: Kazu Imai’s Integra has been on my radar for quite some time now. Much like Yonas Liu’s EG from Australia last year, it’s just one of those international builds that captured my total attention the moment I saw it. The build quality is top notch and it’s a great mix of Japanese tuning style as well as their interpretation of our “USDM” style. The aesthetics are clearly intended to be a representation of something you would see in North America, but the guts are all Japanese….
I can honestly sit here and tell you that when I first saw this DC2 in online coverage of an event in Japan that I had no idea it was an ITR. The fact that it’s a 96-spec Type R makes it even better, in my opinion anyway. I know a lot of you would scoff at the idea of modifying an ITR to this extent, especially with the “Hellaflush”, stanced-out look, but take a look at what these thing has to offer; It’s a 96 R, but with an 98-spec ITR swap, 4.785 final drive, ATS LSD, 5Zigen header, and Mugen exhaust…Not only that, the bay has also been shaved and tucked, and still retains the A/C, where the A/C lines have also been tucked. The execution is on point…
If you’ve been keeping an eye on this R as well, then you probably recognize it more with silver Work Meister S1s on it. It wasn’t until the inaugural Hellaflush Japan event when it debuted with these custom 17×9, non-staggered, BBS LM wheels. The body has been re-painted Red Mica Crystal from a Lexus and as you can tell from the photo above, it also has U.S.-spec Rotora big brakes. I love the way the car looks as a total package. It’s a nice fusion of Japanese style with American influence. I saw this ITR in photos from one of Tetsuya Yamaguchi’s USDM Jam events early last year and have been running around looking for photos of it ever since. Japan doesn’t have too many meets or car shows, especially for US-themed Hondas, so it’s hard to really keep track of builds out there. Events are often times not very close either so Japanese enthusiasts often have to drive hours just to attend a meet/show. From what I’ve seen, Kazu has made the trek out to every event he possibly can and his Integra has a following on the web as well. It appeared on Fatlace’s Hellaflush as a featured vehicle as well as numerous Japanese websites covering events overseas…
Kazu himself has proven to be a little difficult to get a hold of but luckily I was able to contact one of his close friends, Yuya Yasunari, and he’s been able to provide quite a bit of extensive information for me on this R. From what I have seen in terms of build quality and execution, to the amount of events he’s participated in the last couple years, he’s a shoe-in for the 2011 Top Hondas and a perfect build to kick-start the list at number ten…
You can see more of Kazu Imai’s Integra Type R here…
9. Jordan McCord’s Honda CR-X…
Why it made the list: One of the key reasons why Jordan hits the list at number 9, is because I was able to see this build personally at Import Alliance during the summer, and I can attest to the quality of his work…
The build itself is very simple…it has Mugen M7s, a B16A swap, and a JDM EF9 front end conversion. What I liked about it was that it was more of a restoration build than it was say, a crazy track-themed build, which seems to be all the rage these days. The body has been repaired, repainted, and the bay itself is where Jordan’s CR-X really shines…
Again, nothing over the top, it’s just a well-done, very simple, tuck, shave, and swap. Often times, less is more, and Jordan McCord’s CR-X proves just that…
What I liked most about Jordan McCord’s CR-X, is not necessarily the car itself. I had a chance to speak to him a couple times while I was out there in IA, and he’s a nice, well-spoken individual. He also has a great enthusiasm for the automotive community as well. He’s made multiple trips out here himself during the year to attend major events like the annual Eibach Honda Meet, as well as the SEMA Convention. He didn’t bring his CR-X out here, but he did drive his car down from Indiana to Nashville, TN for Import Alliance and also to the Wek’Fest event in Chicago, IL. If anything, he’s the true definition of an “enthusiast” and that definitely matters. He’s built himself a Honda CR-X that doesn’t abide to any of the current popular trends that will eventually fade away and the car would be relevant whether it was around 5 years ago or even 5 years later…
Some of you will argue that Renard Mauricio’s CR-X should be on the list, but I didn’t even see his CR-X in 2011 and have no idea whether or not it’s even around still…Either way, they are both great for different reasons and Jordan McCord’s was definitely a recognized Honda in ’11…
You can check out Jordan McCord’s complete build thread here…
8. Loreto Garcia’s 2000 Honda Civic CX…
Why it made the list: Loreto’s Civic makes the 2011 list because he came out and surprised everyone in the beginning of the year. Many, including myself, had no idea he was even building an EK so when the car popped-up at Wekfest SF in February, it was quite a surprise. The guy has always been known more for his interest in drag racing so it was interesting to see him pop-up at a car show with a very clean, “San Jose Shark” teal EK…
His car was the talk of SF Wek’Fest and it also captured the attention of Super Street magazine, which would later place his Civic on the cover of their annual “Honda Issue”. It’s quite an honor considering how the car was only out a relatively short amount of time and didn’t possess a K-swap, or any forced-induction. The bay, much like the previous two cars on the list, just houses a B-series motor in a community when the K-swap is king….The motor, in this instance, it built, but you wouldn’t even know just by glancing at it…
Little details like the black chrome accents in the bay and black chrome TE37s are a nice touch. The Bomex wing and side mirrors also help to add a little more aggression to an otherwise simple exterior. Loreto just built himself a good-looking car in general…The color itself just makes it pop and stand-out in a sea of black and white EKs….
Making such a huge splash early on and landing on the cover of Super Street is more than enough for it to make the list, but I honestly wanted to place it higher. The only reason I didn’t was because I felt that he had so much momentum and then disappeared for most of the year. He cruised down to Socal to do a spotlight feature over at Skunk2 but then that was about it. Loreto didn’t start making an appearance again until the end of the year. He had a great build and not enough people got to see it in person to appreciate his hard-work. He had one of the better Hondas of 2011 and I don’t even think he realized it…
You can check out Loreto Garcia’s Super Street cover feature here…
7. Mike G’s Honda Civic aka “Tank”….
Why it made the list: Mike G’s car makes the list just based on history and impact on the community. The Top Ten Hondas list isn’t a popularity contest, because if it were, Mike G. would win it. The car broke down like, 6 years ago, and people were still talking about it and posting photos of it like nothing had ever happened to it. It’s an internet legend. I was on the fence about “Tank” making the list because I can honestly say I’m not a fan of it’s current look but based on what Mike and his car have meant to the online Honda community, it almost HAS to make the list. The Tank broke down and literally sat for 6 years and when it re-emerged in 2010, people went absolutely nuts over it…
The fact that he still has the car is pretty cool though, considering how long it has been around. He re-did basically the entire car, minus the paint and interior. The once turbo’d B was re-built and is now naturally-aspirated, and the front half of the Civic has been upgraded with Chargespeed fenders and front lip. The wheels are what kind of throws me off about the car, considering all the great wheels he had on there years ago. The good news is that he’s having some wheels restored and re-barreled so that will just give the car a new look in 2012…
The bay sees a lot more custom fabricated pieces than in year’s past and houses a lot of attention-grabbing components…
Mike also did his fair share of events this year. I was also on the fence about putting him on the 2010 list but at that time, I think he had only made it out to one event, which was the 2010 Eibach Meet. This year, he popped about almost everywhere, including events like Eibach, Motion Auto Show, and Nisei Showoff. At the Nisei show, he was kind enough to park with my gathering of other recognized Honda builds from year’s past. The Tank has always been a well-built car, but it’s online status and what it represents to the younger crop of enthusiasts is why it makes the Top Ten of 2011. It has an almost historical presence whether we want to admit it or not…
6. Matt Tucker’s Honda EK9 Civic Type R…
Why it made the list: Matt Tucker’s CTR is another Honda that I’ve had my eye on for quite some time. It wasn’t until I traveled out to the summer IA show where I was finally able to see it in person and appreciate it. I had seen plenty of photos of it online before when it had Starks on it and was still B-series but had no real idea of how it really looked. When it showed up at IA and I saw it had a K-swap and new wheels, it instantly became one of my favorite Hondas of 2011…
I’ve always had a particular taste for EK9 Rs but even if I wasn’t, I would be a fan of Matt Tucker’s CTR. I loved everything about it, the yellow against the F-Zero blue CE28s, Air Walker front bumper, the engine bay, etc….Very well done. I even like the cut-outs in the rear bumper that everyone seems to complain about, it just works…
I was a fan of it back in ’09 when it was featured in Honda Tuning magazine, but the current look is the best look to date. All the black in the bay works out really well and leaves the bay with a more understate appearance, unlike in the past with ARC induction box, red valve cover and what not. I’ll be perfectly blunt, the engine bay looked kinda shitty before, haha. Now, it’s nice and clean, with a harness that’s neatly tucked-away and the overall package is just how I would want a CTR to look…
I found myself going back to it repeatedly while I was in Nashville and it’s just one of those builds that you see in magazines but appreciate more when you can take a closer look at it for yourself, you know? I didn’t get a chance to talk to him but apparently, he’s a pretty popular guy out there so I’m sure one of his fans will tell him about his spot on the Top Ten Hondas of 2011 list. He was also everywhere in 2011, making appearances at meets and shows in all parts of the east coast and the south. He made a good effort to be seen and I made note of that….
Seriously though, out of the thousands of cars at IA, easily, this CTR is right up there as one of my favorite Hondas in the country. I’m also very happy to see that he wasn’t one of those guys that just got his feature and cashed-in on his car and walked away. He continued to work on it, and made it better. He sits a couple spots higher on the Top Ten than Mike G. and Loreto because he drove his car everywhere, attended events regularly, and also because he’s one of the more recognized Honda enthusiasts outside of the west coast. He sits higher than Jordan McCord on the list simply because his build has been around longer, been published, and his build is more intensive in terms of modification. The guys been doing it big for a couple years so it’s good to finally recognize his accomplishments here on The Chronicles Ten of 2011…
Exclusive Content…Unpublished Photos From Import Alliance Summer 2011…
Misleading title is misleading…to be perfectly honest. These photos are actually a mix of published/unpublished shots from Import Alliance 2011 that I shot while I was out in Nashville, TN for Honda Tuning and Super Street magazine. I thought it would be a good time to finally release these since we are nearing year’s end and I’ve been looking back at 2011 while thinking about which moments were my favorites. I can honestly sit here and say that the Import Alliance meet was one of the highlights of my 2011. Just to be able to see a completely new selection of builds and visiting a new place made for a great experience. Today we get the opportunity to look back with some never-before-seen photos that I shot while there. I want to say maybe 50% of these actually made it to print while the rest didn’t make the cut. They didn’t make the cut because the cars weren’t interesting or anything, we were just limited in the amount of space we could use for event coverage and that’s why you will see these images for the first time today. While I was out there, I took almost 1000 photos and hopefully you had a chance to see the coverage that I did from that event. If not, I suggest you head down to the bottom of this page and search for the IA 2011 mini-series of coverage. If you find that too difficult, simply go to Google or whatever fucking search engine you prefer and type in “import alliance 2011 chronicles” and it’ll probably pop up. Since I spent so much time earlier in the year typing up the coverage, I won’t provide captions for these photos today. If you want to know who or what appears in these photos, check out my coverage because there are similar shots, albeit from different angles, of what you are looking for. I went ahead and included the shots that were published because I honestly feel that many of you sometimes just overlook the event coverage section in the magazines and skip right to the main features. If that’s the case, then all of these will be viewed for the first time for you guys/gals. There were also a couple cars that I maybe took one shot of, and then I ended up sending it in for publishing so the cars might not have made it into The Chronicles coverage of the event. So if you were looking for your car in my coverage and thought I was an asshole for ignoring your car or overlooking it, then there is a small chance you may see it here today. Even if you do, I am still an asshole, so everybody wins. Anyways, on with the photos…you guys should have seen enough coverage of this event this year to know what cars these are so captions probably aren’t necessary. I got a shit ton of work to finish up before New Year’s so I am off to take a fucking nap now before I get back to work. Enjoy… shout-out to everyone outside the west coast, I haven’t forgotten about you guys…
Click here to view the original story on Import Alliance Summer 2011 from Honda Tuning magazine…
Click here to view the original story on Import Alliance Summer 2011 from Super Street magazine…
Photos below…
Thanks for looking…
The Rywire ITR Build…Part 4…
I know many of you have come on here today to look for Autocon 2011 coverage and I’ll get to that early tomorrow when I finally finish up the photos. This was just too good to pass up today….
It’s been almost three months since the last update, but late last week, I got word that Ryan had gone up to Norcal to finally pick up his ITR chassis. Sunny from Franklin Autobody had been busy trying to finish it up but with SEMA and so many other projects at his shop, it took a little longer than expected. Everything that we have covered on the build up until this point had been without having the chassis down here in Socal so when we heard that the car was ready, we were all pretty excited to finally see it in person for the first time. Ryan had seen it, as well as a couple other of the Norcal homies, but everyone else down here had seen just as much as all of you had, which was only in photos. There’s a lot going on lately and more than enough content to fill up the rest of this month, but Ryan finally having the chassis at the Rywire facilities was huge news that I just couldn’t pass up. With all the coverage that is coming, it would likely get lost in the mix so it’s better to toss this up today during the beginning of the week….
I wasn’t there the day it finally arrived…Ryan had gone up to Norcal and came back down with our buddy Nick Caster and his trailer. The rest of us were over at Autocon 2011 and then the next day I had to head out to Santa Barbara for a bit. While I was up there, Ryan was sending me photos with the car unloaded off the trailer and in the shop but I told him right away to stop doing any work he had planned on doing because I wanted to document it. Today I was originally planning on working on my own car but since it was raining like crazy down here, I decided to just grab my camera shit and go to the shop to see the ITR for myself….The pictures obviously do not do the paint work any justice. The Porsche GT3 orange is a great color that just has to be experienced in the sunlight but with all that is left to do, it’s unlikely to see any sunlight in the next couple months. For now, I’ll try to document as much of the progress as I can and try to bring you the build in full detail. Unlike the Big Mike Prelude build, I’ll actually be present for a majority of this build, which means that I can provide as much information and as many photos as possible. This is going to be an amazing, one-of-a-kind build that you definitely do not want to miss…
It’s still pretty crazy to see this car in person finally…I don’t even think it’s hit Ryan yet. Sunny did an amazing job though from what I see, and it was definitely worth the wait. So far, the chassis is almost as bare as can be with the exception with some suspension pieces already installed by Ryan. He got excited and started mocking up how he wanted everything…
It’s hard to tell since it’s been painted black but the exhaust opening on the rear bumper has been smoothed out and streamlined with the rest of the bumper. Ryan’s exhaust isn’t going to be routed out of the rear anymore so that opening just wouldn’t make sense. Sunny worked his magic and now the rear bumper looks like it should have came that way from the factory…
Mugen Gen. 2 rear wing with center section painted black. The base plates were left a raw aluminum finish since they were in such mint condition and Ryan had intentions on matching it a gloss black but liked the contrast of the aluminum finish…
Color-matched interior that has been completely stripped of everything minus the steering column…when it’s all said and done, a majority of it will still be gutted minus the dashboard, seats, and door panels. There’s no rush to re-install anything in here because Ryan still has to wire up the whole car inside and out…
One of the most interesting aspects of the build so far has to be the custom metal fenders fabricated by Sunny from Franklin Autobody…They came out amazing and still accentuates the OEM lines of the chassis. The fenders were also measured and designed specifically with those Regamaster wheels in mind so there will be no issues with wheel fitment down the line….
If you saw part 3 of this build, you will have seen the massive pile of parts that were sent off to be powdercoated. A large chunk of those parts were suspension pieces and you can see here how the parts look after they’ve been cleaned-up and coated a high gloss black…Everything that will go back on this ITR will either be new or restored components. This is a shot of the rear suspension along with some brand new Skunk2 Pro-C coilovers that might be replaced later on when the car is closer to completion. Ryan hasn’t really made a decision on whether or not to keep these or to run something different like JRZ’s…
Everything up front is new as well…even the hub assembly behind the Wilwood brake rotor will be replaced later on with a new unit. You’ll probably noticed the crusty old tie rod end in the photo, which contrasts with the clean, gloss black suspension pieces. That old tie rod end is attached to a spare steering rack that Ryan re-installed on the chassis just to get the car moving from the bodyshop back to his shop…
No glass has been installed on the ITR body yet, except for the rear hatch window…here you can see parts of the cage through the rear window…the paint looks wet still and the whole car still needs to be cut and buffed. Sunny will come down personally later on down the line to clean everything up before it makes it’s official public debut…
Another glimpse of the cage and interior with the rear hatch up…don’t forget the battery box sitting just behind the passenger seat area…
Here’s what the bay looks like, bare minus the coilovers being mounted, as well as the subframe and the spare steering rack…Speaking of the steering rack, there’s a reason why was using a temporary unit…
While I was there, he was still busy putting his modified rack back together. I would like to explain to you exactly what he was doing to it, but I felt it would be more appropriate for Ryan himself to tell you….
That’s pretty much it for now. He’s slowing doing stuff to it and I’ll update you when he does but there are so many customer projects there at that time that he has to concentrate on finishing up those cars first…check back for more soon…
Here are the links to the previous parts of the build that you may have missed…
Thanks for looking…
Exclusive Content…Unpublished Photos of Dennis K.’s Subaru STI from Super Street Oct. ’11…
I had never heard of Dennis or his Subaru STI before I did this story. I’ll be perfectly candid with you guys…as much as I try to keep up with everything car-related around me, I don’t really invest too much time into the Subaru-community. I’ve never owned one and the only ones I’m exposed to are the ones that I see either at car shows or on the interwebz. I only know of a couple guys personally that have them, and Dennis wasn’t one of those guys. We had exchanged texts back and forth when I was trying to get a hold of him to do a story on his car for Super Street, but that was about it. The only thing I knew about the guy was that he was from Team Hybrid. I’ve been familiar with Hybrid since the early 2000s and I’ve also done a couple of other stories on some Hybrid cars for Super Street. When Jonathan Wong hit me up to do this story, he told me that it was for the “stance” issue and I was honestly a little puzzled as to why I’d be shooting an STI for it. The only Subaru STIs that I had seen at that point with aggressive wheel fitment were usually rolling on some fake, knock-off wheels and their fenders were (as expected) fucked-up. I went in with no expectations and when I saw Dennis Kongvongsai’s STI, I was plesantly surprised. The build itself was pretty well-rounded and it looked great sitting on some Mag Blue Volk RE30s. His fenders also weren’t haggered to shit and that’s always a plus.
We met in San Diego over at Autofashion USA because Dennis is from there and I didn’t want him to have to drive up to LA, especially considering the fact that I too was originally from San Diego and I was pretty familiar with the area. I headed down to Autofashion early that day of the shoot so that I could spent a couple minutes hanging out with Freddie. I’ve known Freddie for quite some time now so it was good to see him and catch-up. Dennis arrived a little while later and I took him to a spot down the street to set-up for the shoot. Everything went smoothly for the most part. The only real issue I ran into was that the surrounding areas produced a lot of dust, so Dennis’ STI got dirty right away. He had his cleaning supplies and white cars are usually easy to shoot anyway so we quickly eliminated the problem. I met up with Dennis late so the sun also set quicker than I wanted but we made it work. When you shoot in the late afternoon, you’re always chasing the sunset and that’s why you’ll notice that some of the shots, like the interior and engine bay, look like they were shot in the evening….that’s because they were. By the time we found a spot and started shooting, it was already late in the afternoon. I mean, it wasn’t pitch black or anything but it was getting late. Dennis was a real trooper though and stuck it out with me until we finished. He’s a cool dude. Pretty quiet, not much to say, and just an overall chill attitude. I still run into him at various events and he’s definitely not one of those dudes that you’ve met before, but walk by and act like they don’t see you, if you catch my drift…I remember him saying that he had plans of selling this STI, even before we featured it in Super Street, and the feature just happened at the right time. I believe he already parted it out or was in the process of doing that now so maybe he’ll get choked up seeing these photos, haha, I don’t know. Today, we are going to take a look at some of the unpublished photos from the story as well as some that were used. I normally don’t put up the ones that were published already but I noticed that the ones used on the Super Street website were cropped and parts of the car were cut off in the process. I’ve provided a link to the original story, so please check that out if you haven’t already. The story itself is based around the whole “stance” topic since it was, well, the “stance” issue. I was pretty happy with how everything came together. Dennis is a huge fan of the “hellaflush” and “stance” scene so it works out that I was able to discuss that as well as the build-up and history of his STI. There aren’t too many extra photos from the shoot. Space was pretty tight that day and I knew what shots I wanted already so I didn’t bother with shooting any and every angle. I’ve provided some bonus 1080P-sized wallpapers below, as usual. I’m sure you guys know the routine by now….I did try something new this time around though; I consolidated the interior shots so you guys don’t have to click on each individual photo…Enjoy…
A shot of the Mature rear diffuser, a part that I hadn’t heard of or seen until that day… Larger Version (1400×933)
A couple bonus desktop images for you guys…
Thanks for looking…
Exclusive Content…More Tactical Art Goodness…
Mr. Yasutaka Shimomukai sent me these awhile back when we first started communicating through email, but like I said last week, I’ve had a back log of stuff that I need to get posted. SEMA 2011 coverage really pushed us a couple weeks back, but luckily there are a few free weeks here and there between the upcoming events in December that allow me to get this stuff up before it’s too late. Youtube is being a real cow today so hopefully the videos I uploaded from them get up in time, otherwise this update would just be incomplete. For the photos, they are just random images that he sent me of his car and of Atuki’s EG6, which is the one with the crazy front diffuser set-up. I have full specs of the two cars that I’m posting up today, and Atuki’s should be the one you are familiar with. The other EG is Yasutaka’s but I didn’t post any last time because I didn’t know it was his car, and also because I was hesitant to post up shots of his car because he’s rolling on some Sportmax/XXR wheels. I haven’t figured out an appropriate way to tell him in English that I believe that XXR wheels are utter garbage because I think it would get lost in translation. I’m not particularly mad that he’s on these wheels, they are afterall, Honda enthusiasts like us with a special taste for American Honda-styling, which results in him being exposed to XXR wheels. We like what they have and they like what we have. Unfortunately, what we have is an over abundance of replica/knock-off wheels and it’s also unfortuante that it’s become attached to the image of what people outside of the U.S. see as “USDM style”. Sad right? In any case, I like Yasutaka and the Tactical Art crew and I really appreciate the fact that they made the effort to meet me and the other homies when they made the trip out to America for SEMA. I can’t hate on the fact that he has XXR wheels because I don’t expect him to know what we all know about XXR. I am happy however, to see that he beats on his car at track events and those wheels haven’t exploded into a thousand pieces yet…
Big up’s to the Tactical Art guys for being pure Honda guys that are willing to share their videos and photos with us… They recently attended a track event as well and I am hoping that he sends more videos and photos my way. Today, enjoy these random shots and the videos posted below…
Here are the specs for Atuki’s EG6, I don’t recall if I posted up the specs on this car last time so here they are again (if I posted them last time)…
B18C block
B16A head
0.25 overbore
Baffled oil pan
Ported cylinder head
Knife-edged processing
TODA Racing Spec B cams
TODA Racing timing belt
Nagai Electron twin-fire ignition system
Adjustable fuel pressure regulator
Larger throttle body
J’s Racing Tsuchinoko intake
Mugen 4-1 header
Tactical Art original exhaust system
Koyo radiator
Tuned on APEX’i Power FC
Exedy Hyper single clutch
ATS mechanical limited-slip differential
ATS 3, 4, 5 Cross Gear
ATS 4.929 Final Drive
CRUX suspension
Swift 22K front/18K rear springs
16×9 +13 SSR SP3R (front)
16×8 +42 Volk Racing TE37
Atuki welding-up his cage…
Atuki’s EG6 before the wild front canard and splitter set-up…
Note the cut-out headlight on the driver side that helps direct airflow into the engine bay…mesh insert installed on the headlight casing also…
His front diffuser set-up, front lip, and canards, all made of carbon fiber…
Chopped rear bumper…
A shot of his custom fiberglass dashboard…
Here’s a quick video of Atuki’s EG6 at Nakayama Circuit…
This next EG is the one that I was talking about earlier on XXR wheels. I wish I had the full specs on it like the EG above, but this one belongs to Yasutaka, who is the shop manager over at Tactical Art. He has been my main contact over there and has sent me some photos of his car even before it was painted. In all honesty, the car doesn’t even look bad on those crappy XXR wheels, but that’s probably due to the meaty Advan tires on them. I’m done talking about the wheels, haha, I’m just saying, it would look better on some other wheels because I love everything else about it…I just don’t want anything happening to his car because of the wheels…Anyways…
Here’s how the EG looked before it was repainted to it’s current olive tone…The car was already caged but everything on the outside looked basically stock. Shimomukai was also on some SSR Type-Xs back then…
You can see here how hard he drove his Civic. The bumpers are gone and even the front support has been bent a little, probably from seeing some off-road action…I believe the damage is what ultimately lead him to repair and repaint everything…
Another shot of it before it was bashed-up from track action…
Fresh out of paint here with new carbon fiber hood…These Tactical Art guys must have all kinds of wheels laying around. The front set here looks to be some old Volk GR-Ns…
You can tell that he’s a big fan of the U.S. “Hellaflush” movement…
Function7 subframe brace and rear lower control arms….
Unlike the U.S., owning a Civic can still get you girls in Japan…haha…
A couple of recent exterior shots from the Hellaflush Japan event…I like the overall ride height of the EG as well as the canards, hood, and safety net on the window…
A couple rolling shots of Yasutaka’s EG6 on the expressway…
Interior shots…Note the gauge set-up, roll cage, and how the interior has been re-sprayed a grey tone, while the entire interior of Atuki’s EG6 is white…
I wish I had more details on the motor set-up, but I believe it has a very similar B18C set-up like Atuki’s. We can all say what we want about his wheel choice, and the fact that it’s “hellaflush” but what it comes down to is that this Civic is still functional and is tracked quite often. I couldn’t really tell you if he was fast or not but I don’t think they’re out to set and record-breaking lap times. They just do it for fun and from watching the videos, they’re pretty good at what they do…It’s Honda guys enjoying their Hondas, that transcends any borders and any language barrier…
Tactical Art headquarters…
…and the inside, back wall of Tactical Art…It’s filled with Hondas even though they are a high-end car audio install and fabrication shop…
Here is an 11-minute long video of Yasutaka Shimomukai on the track… In this video you’ll see him chasing down an EK9 Type R as well as almost hitting an FD3s RX-7 that had just spun out…
This one is a quick drive-by video of his Civic on the way to the Hellaflush Japan event…
Here is a bonus video that they sent me as well. This is Taku Kusugami, having some fun on the highway. If you guys aren’t familiar with Taku’s EK, please look at my previous Tactical Art post….
That’s pretty much it. I’m hoping I hear from them soon regarding their most recent track event. For now, I hope you guys enjoyed another look into Tactical Art and their Hondas…
Exclusive Content…Unpublished Photos of Cody Chan’s Miata from Super Street Oct. ’11…
I really wanted to post these up awhile back after the October issue of Super Street dropped but I’ve had so much other stuff to post up lately that I didn’t want this to get lost in the mix. One of the reasons why I wanted to get this up sooner was because I was really happy with these photos, and also because the owner, Cody Chan, has been asking to see the rest of the photos. We took a lot of photos that day and I told him early on that there would be a lot that wouldn’t be used when it was published. He understood and I told him that after the issue drops, I’ll get the unused ones up for him to see. He doesn’t follow this site at all but I’ve known Cody for quite some time now. We used to have a similar group of mutual friends but Cody was much younger than so we didn’t really hang out that much…
One day, while I was looking through some event coverage at some random event, I spotted this Miata and I really liked it. I don’t really see Miatas that often because the community seems to be relatively reserved and tight, meaning that they don’t really mix with other crowds. I loved the way this particular Miata looked because of it’s raw aggression. It’s a Miata and they get a bad wrap, but this one just looked fucking beefy, you know? You’ll see in the pics that follow if you didn’t catch the story in Super Street. The car has it’s flaws but one of the reasons why this car works well as a total package is because it’s raw and rough around the edges. Cody takes it to the canyons and beats the shit out of it and the aesthetics and functionality of the car work very well together. When I saw this car earlier in the year, I had no idea it was Cody’s because I haven’t seen him in such a long time and didn’t know that his car had seen such a drastic transformation. I’ll be perfectly honest, when I first met Cody, I wasn’t a big fan of his Miata…he was young and was still trying to figure out what direction he wanted to go with the car so there were just a lot of different things going on with the car that just didn’t work together. He’s grown up along with his car and it’s good to see that he’s finally gotten the grasp of what he likes. After I saw the photo online of this Miata, I knew that I wanted to do a story on it for one of the magazines, whether it be for Super Street or Import Tuner. I hit up Cody after I found out it was his and left the decision up to him as to which magazine he wanted to be in, because they were both interested in doing something on the car. He ended up going with Super Street and I’m happy to say that I got to shoot it and do the story on it because this is one of my favorite personal shoots that I’ve done since I started shooting. Ironically, my top personal favorite car that I’ve shot was Ka Wong’s orange AE86 Corolla, and he too was on Volk TE37Vs….Maybe I’m just a huge fan of the wheels and the cars they go on, who knows…haha…This shoot also marks the first time I’ve ever shot out in the canyons. I don’t know my way around those parts but Cody was pretty familiar so he navigated us to the appropriate areas to shoot. I wanted to shoot in the canyons and not a more public place like downtown L.A. because it fits the theme of the vehicle better. Anyways, it’s a very unique car and I’m glad to bring these photos to you guys today. There are little details that I think are easily overlooked in print, so you get to see them today…
Basically all the shots that you are seeing today were unpublished and not used in the Super Street story, so go to the link above to see the original images that were used. The ones that are repeated are just a couple of the interior shots that are hard to see on the SS online page because they don’t resize correctly and come out really small when you click on them. I’ve also attached two 1080P-sized desktop images for you guys, if you want to switch up your desktop…Enjoy, and thanks to Cody Chan and Super Street magazine for making all this possible…
Links to larger versions of each photo are provided under each image like usual…
OH, AND PLEASE DON’T BE A LOWLIFE PIECE OF SHIT AND STEAL MY CONTENT AND POST THEM AS YOUR OWN…
Love this stencil of the iconic “Great Wave Off Kanagawa” on the end of the wing… Larger Version (1400×933)
A couple of bonus desktop images for you guys…
Thanks for looking….
Exclusive Content…The Bisimoto Engineering 2012 Honda Civic SEMA Build Revealed…
As you should all know by now, the annual SEMA show kicks off this week which will serve as the grand unveiling to many of the industry’s latest and greatest automotive projects. It’s probably one of the most anticipated of the year and many aftermarket tuning companies save their best work for this event. One of the companies that brings out their absolute best to Las Vegas every single year is Bisimoto Engineering. Last year, I had the pleasure of unveiling their 400+hp fully-functional hybrid Honda CR-Z project to the world and this year, or today rather, I have the esteemed honor of revealing their 2012 Honda Civic coupe build. This build, in my opinion, is possibly their best yet. During the build-up, I told Bisi Ezerioha that this has to be his best-looking car yet….I was a little premature in my praise of course, because while I still believe this is his best-looking build yet, I had not had a chance to see the dyno numbers and how much power the new K24z7 produced. This car is absolutely insane. I’ll leave you with a bit of suspense until you can see the horsepower numbers for yourself on the Dyna-Pak screenshot below. What he’s been able to squeeze out of this K-motor is pretty crazy…just hearing it start-up was intense enough…
I was lucky enough to be able to cover more of this build than last year’s Bisimoto CR-Z project. In fact, by the time I saw the CR-Z, it was probably at about 85-90% completion. This year, I was able to see the 2012 Civic from the point in which it was completely stripped down, all the way until the final moment of re-assembly and right when it was loaded on to the trailer and sent off to Honda of America. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to cover every single moment of it, but I’ll tell you this, I spent a couple sleepless nights over there snapping away with the camera while also lending a hand wherever I could to help Bisi and crew finish up the car. The time table was definitely tight on this one but I feel that this 2012 Civic will undoubtedly be a hit at the 2011 SEMA show. What I love about this year’s build is that Bisi also touched on the aesthetics of the car, something that isn’t always a focal point of his builds. Overall, it’s just a very aggressive looking build and it definitely has the guts to back it up….
I have to thank Bisimoto Engineering and Rywire.com for giving me the ability to be present during the build process. It’s a great feeling to be able to unveil such a huge project to the world today. For those of you who will be able to participate in the SEMA festivities, please stop by the Honda section in the main hall to check out this build for yourself. For those of you who aren’t able to go to SEMA, you guys are in for a real treat today. I am going to put up photos and video today from the point in which I first saw the car in raw form to the moment it went back to Honda for shipment to Las Vegas….
I would have liked to have been able to do a more traditional “shoot” like I did last year with the Bisimoto CR-Z but we just ran out of time this year. Luckily I was able to cover more of the intricacies of the build and you get a chance to see the process instead of just the final product. With that said, I would like to formally announce the first official photos of the 2012 Bisimoto Honda Civic coupe….enjoy and if you’re new here, I hope you stick around…
Note – There are quite a bit of photos so please allow them to load…I would have separated them into sections but since I am currently away in Las Vegas, I don’t know if I will have the ability to upload different parts throughout the week…
This is the state in which the 2012 Honda Civic was in at around 1am on October 20th, 2011…The only visually complete items on the car were the Stop-Tech big brakes, cut-out hood, and full roll cage…
Ryan Basseri from Rywire creating custom brake lines for the Civic…
Bisi Ezerioha, Supertwinz John from AEM, and Ryan Basseri going over some ideas for the engine bay…
I was thinking that Bisi would go with his signature Bisimoto Fighter Special wheel since a couple of them were either mounted on the car or around it, but that wasn’t the case because he had a new wheel to debut on the Civic…
At this point, the exterior was still basically stock, other than the cut-out on the hood…
A look at the cage that was built by Steen Chassis…
Stop-Tech big brake kit…a small wheel spacer was needed to clear the caliper…
Ryan doing work…
Supertwinz John holding up the Burns Stainless short muffler that will eventually go on the Civic…
Ryan under the car working on the custom lines for the rear brakes…
The lines running to a Wilwood proportioning valve…
Bisi and Ryan going over the brake lines….
Bisi swept a little…
This next batch of photos were captured 3 days later. By this point, the motor had gone back into the car, the vehicle wrap was complete, and re-assembly had begun…
First look at the K24Z7 since going back into the coupe…
One of the most noticeable additions that I spotted right away were the AEM High Output Ignition Coils….Definitely didn’t expect Bisi to go back to using a more conventional, external coil over the O.E. coil-over-plug set-up…
I did however, expect to see this massive Turbonetics turbo…
Custom relay and harness set-up built from scratch by Rywire…
Cool little addition that Bisi had found off of an airplane…I forget what it’s used for now but Ryan actually rewired this thing and made it functional…
Ryan working on the fuse box….
Your first look at the graphical livery and vinyl wrap layout. You can see here that the chute has been installed and the new wheels mounted…
How the engine bay looked before the radiator support and everything was reinstalled…
Your first look at the Bisimoto “Eins Gramm” wheel…
Ryan and Bisi working on the engine harness…
Ryan installing the Odyssey battery beneath the headlight…
The K24Z7 engine coming together…
I didn’t get a chance to stay very long that day… I just wanted to stop by for a bit and check out the progress… The next batch of photos came another 3 days later, on 10/26/2011, just 5 days before SEMA. The car had to go back to Honda of America for press photos and what not, so there was definitely a sense of urgency to finish. The 2012 Civic actually had to be delivered the next morning so Bisi and crew stayed up for a couple days to knock it out…I had pulled an all-nighter for work and other reasons, but I had to make the drive out to Ontario to see this build through to the end…
Random shot of one of Bisi’s Porsche projects sitting outside next to his trailer…
When I got there, Bisi was busy on his laptop configuring the Racepak dash display while two representatives from Extreme Dimensions were busy installing some carbon fiber pieces from their “Carbon Creations” line of products…
In the days that I was away, the car was actually sent out to Bisi’s fabricators for more stuff, including this custom rear wing…
Guys from Extreme Dimensions installing the carbon fiber half-splitter pieces/canards or whatever you call those things…
I forget the exact specs on the wheels right now, but I’m sure wheel fitment and “stance” guys will appreciate it. I think this had to be the first time where Bisi ever had to worry about wheel fitment. There are only so many suspension components out for the 2012 Civics at this point so messing with the camber adjustments and what not was definitely interesting…We eventually where able to get the wheels to fit without that little area of the rear bumper being pushed out slightly…
The “Eins Gramm” logo on the wheel which means, easily enough, “One Gram”…
The engine bay with the radiator, core support, and front mount intercooler re-installed…
At one point in the afternoon, we stopped to eat lunch since Bisi had ordered pizza, and it was great to see a photo of Misa Campo hanging inside the Bisimoto offices after staring at car parts and dudes all day…haha…
After we finished eating and chatting for a bit, it was back to work. I took the time to get some more detail shots of the Bisimoto Civic coupe…
A closer look at the custom vents on his drag wing…
Bisimoto-themed custom graphical livery…
Better look at the AEM High Voltage “Smart” ignition coils mounted to a plate on the Golden Eagle intake manifold…
The massive Turbonetics turbocharger…
Okay, so speaking of the giant turbo, Bisi had tuned the K24Z7 motor earlier on in the day and revealed to us the final numbers from his tune…
There were still some very minor issues that will need to be resolved once SEMA comes to a conclusion but your eyes aren’t deceiving you…the Bisimoto Engineering 2012 Honda Civic produced 1004 horsepower and 623LB-Ft of torque… One-thousand and four horsepower K24!…
A shot of the front bumper…
A shot of the rear of the Civic….
Bisi Ezerioha putting some of his vinyl decals on to support his many sponsors…
Big Mike helped with the rear window decals…
A shot of the cockpit with the custom airplane “launch” switches…
Almost complete…Below is a video of one of the start-ups so you guys can get a chance to hear the motor….
Corner of the front bumper featuring another batch of sponsors….
Vibrant Vanjen clamps…
Golden Eagle Pro Series fuel rail…
All hands on board to help!…
The Turbonetics unit in motion…
Ryan going over some last minute details in the bay…
A final look at the Bisimoto Eins Gramm wheel on Falken Azenis…
Bisi applying the “BISIMOTO.COM” banner to signify it’s completion…
Below is a video of the 2012 Civic making it’s way out of the facility for the first time and getting onto a trailer for SEMA…
See you at SEMA 2011!…
That’s a wrap…if you guys are going to be attending the SEMA 2011 show, make sure to stop by the Honda section and check out the 1000+ horsepower Bisimoto Engineering 2012 Honda Civic. Remember where you guys saw it first….www.stickydiljoe.com!!!
I apologize for not being able to get better shots of the Civic outside of the facility, there just wasn’t any time. Below is a link to a larger sized photo so you can have a better view of what the car looks like…
Thanks for looking, and thank you to Bisimoto Engineering for the opportunity!!
See me in Vegas, I’m outta here!!! I will definitely try to update whenever I get the chance!
Tactical Art Japan…
I absolutely love doing this type of stuff…Normally I would be providing you guys coverage from the latest event that I went to but with the Year.Three meet coming up, I just haven’t had much time to go out and shoot. Which reminds me, if you guys are here to see coverage from the last Formula D event, I apologize because I didn’t have a chance to make it out there. Another reason I decided not to go was because May was participating in the Long Beach Marathon and it was important that I be there to support her. I don’t do much marathon running because I tend to only run when something is chasing me, but May is really into it so I have to support her…
Anyways, when I say…”I absolutely love doing this type of stuff”, I mean I love going to other sites/blogs from different parts of the world to see what is going on in the automotive community outside of the one I am accustomed to being in. I particularly love going to sites in Japan because as long as I’ve been a car guy, I have always looked to Japan for inspiration. Anytime I can see something new and learn more about it, Honda/car-wise, I’m all for it. The Hellaflush Japan 2011 event really sparked my interest because of certain cars I saw there. I mean, I enjoyed the cars at the event so much that I went and asked someone in Japan if I could use his photos just so I could show you guys, you know? I noticed somebody mentioned one day that I must have been tired or whatever because some of the cars he saw me post up were “straight-up JDM rice” or something to that degree. And I think that reader missed the point. For the most part, I did post up builds that I really liked but I also just posted cars that I felt were interesting enough for you guys to see. Some of the tastes in mods may not be to everyone’s liking, including mine, but I really wanted to show you guys what their interpretation of our scene is, especially when it comes to Hondas. Some of those guys take that whole “hellaflush” thing way too far over there, just like the people here, and I wanted to show you guys that…
With that said, one of the Hondas that really did stand out to me was a Honda that I didn’t even see in anyone else’s coverage before I stumbled upon it on the DOHCresearch website. DOHCresearch has long been one of my favorite automotive websites EVER. I would go as far as to say that DOHCresearch was one of the sites that really opened my eyes to Hondas back in the late 90s to early 2000s. The cars that they had on there were, to me, absolutely stunning. I know there are many enthusiasts today who will also say proudly that they looked to DOHCresearch for inspiration, and that site was based on some Hondas from Hawaii. The site itself slowed down quite a bit the last couple years and updates weren’t as prevalent as they were in the early 2000s so I found it interesting that they had coverage of the Hellaflush event in Japan. Sometimes I’ll hop on that site just for nostalgic reasons and to stare at old Honda builds so I was pretty surprised to see they had photos from the event. Now the Honda that I was referring to, that I hadn’t seen on anyone else’s coverage was this EG6…
Photo courtesy of DOHCresearch.com of course…I think with all the hype of it being a “Hellaflush” event based solely on everything stance-related, this Civic track car was overlooked…
This is a photo, also courtesy of DOHCresearch.com, that I posted up on The Chronicles Facebook page the other night…
I tried to find more photos of it online but there just wasn’t much other than the photos above. I decided that I wasn’t satisfied with just those two photos so I used my journalistic detective skills to try to find more. I spent much of the night before trying to dig for more photos of this car but they were just few and far between. The only thing I really had on it was that it was a build from “Tactical Art”. I hopped on Yahoo! Japan and I was finally able to pull up Tactical Art’s website and blog. On a side note, I realized later on that all I really had to do was look at my own site stats because the guys from Tactical Art actually caught wind of my coverage online and they had already linked it on their blog. Crazy how the internet works these days…
The following photos are photos from Tactical Art’s blog….
I couldn’t really read through all the translations because most of it just didn’t make sense, but this is what I gathered from going through their entire web diary…
It turns out that Tactical Art is actually a shop in Japan that deals mainly with audio installations. From the photos, they do other stuff like parts installs and what not but their main foray is doing custom audio set-ups for high-end vehicles like Lambos, Benzs, etc….
From what I saw, their custom audio enclosures and entire automotive set-ups is very impressive. The Civic that you see at the top of this post, is one of the workers or owners at Tactical Art….You can see in the photo above how the Civic looked before it’s recent transformation to it’s current look from the Hellaflush Japan event….
Here’s a much older photo of it…
Shot of it here, also an older photo, at the starting grid at a track event…
The aggressive white wheels in the front are actually a 16×9 +13 pair of SSR SP3-Rs… I don’t know too much else about the car because the guys who take care of their blog tend to provide more photos of cars that belong to customers and that show off their audio work…
One interesting thing to point out however, is the custom FRP dashboard that they made…
Kinda hard to see it but in this photo, you can kind of make out the dashboard here….They kept the original color to almost make it unnoticeable that the dashboard is a custom made piece…photo again provided by DOHCresearch…
Another Civic that caught my eye at the Hellaflush Japan event was this EK4…
People have been saying that it looks just like ATS*VEE’s Civic and it is nowhere near the same car. I liken it more to Ryan Der’s EK but whatever…I totally overlooked the fact that it had a “Tactical Art” banner on its windshield and it turns out that Tactical Art was the shop that (re)built this EK…When I was looking for photos of the EG above, I started seeing photos of this Civic pop up on their blog…
There were a couple of photos of this Civic floating around on the web, but leave it to DOHCresearch.com once again for actually walking to the other side of the car and taking a rear shot of it so we can see what’s going on inside…
Here’s a shot of the interior of the EK4…Everybody was taking photos of just the front of the car and you couldn’t even tell that the inside was battleship grey…
Once I started going through the Tactical Art blog, I was hooked…It didn’t have THAT many photos but there was enough photos on there to show the process in which this Civic was put together. I called it a “rebuild” earlier because that’s exactly what it was…a rebuild…
This is what that Civic looked like before it was redone and repainted…It already had the cage and all but the Air Walker (style) front bumper was removed and he had some Shift Sports fenders added in place of his modified stock front fenders. The Work Meister S1s are the same as well. I saw Speedhunters’ story on Hellaflush Japan and they mentioned that they were Work S1Rs but they are actually just the old Work S1s that were redone in all black. I read on there that it was a staggered set-up too with the fronts being 17s and the rears being 16-inch…
With the fenders installed before paint…wheels still original finish…
The interior before the re-spray to grey…
…and after….
Through the translations, I could sort of make out what the owner’s goal was for this EK4….They said that he wanted a full street car that he could also take to the track. That’s why the car still retains all of it’s creature comforts like the OEM JDM climate control, power steering, etc… You can see in the upper left corner that there is a little indicator denoting that the car is equipped with an alarm system. Since Tactical Art is a audio/electronics install shop, they make it a point to always show their alarm installs in their blog. In the build-up photos of both this car and the EG, they have posts showing the installs….I guess they’re worried about getting jacked too…haha…
The wheels after they were refinished in black with original Work Wheels decals reapplied…I remember when I had my S1s polished I had to remember to apply the decal right where the valve stem was as well…
A late night shot of the car after they reassembled it after paint and with the wheels re-installed…
Here’s a shot of the car on the expressway…
This shot of the EK4 was at one of their local track events, from some of the other photos, it looks to be at the Suzuka Circuit….You can see here that there’s nothing really special about the engine bay. It’s still white in fact…
On the owner’s blog, which I also somehow managed to find, is a video of the car during a shakedown run before he ran the car at Suzuka… Hopefully the video displays here, if not click HERE….
Pretty cool…
Okay, so while I was trying to find more info on the car, I stumbled onto this other blog site which of course, I later realized was already linked back to me in my site stats. This blog belonged to a tire/wheel/alignment shop in Japan called “Craft” and was operated by the owner of the EK4 who works there. Originally when I was going through the Tactical Art site, I assumed that both Civics belonged to people that were from that shop but that wasn’t the case. The guy that owns the EK4 worked at Craft and was just a customer over at Tactical Art….
Here’s a photo of it posted up at Craft. I thought I was glued to the screen while looking at Tactical Art’s blog but when I started going through all the photos and info on the Craft blog, man, I was on that shit for hours…
Their whole thing was that they took photos of basically every car that they worked on. That sounds sort of boring but when you see the type of cars that roll through there, damn, it looks like a pretty cool spot to work at…They had a lot of VIP cars, Kei cars, Hondas, Nissans, everything…I’m telling you, I was on this site for HOURS….
Here’s some of the cars that they were working on. There’s a ton more but I include the link at the end of this post….
Here’s a Nissan Stagea on SSR Professor SP3s….
Here’s a shot of an alignment they were doing on a Toyota Crown with Leon Hardiritt Ordens…
Different car, same wheels, this one with a Mode Parfume kit and custom rear fender flares…
Honda S2000 with a Spoon front bumper, ASM fenders, and rear flares on Wedsport SA55M….
Liked this white Toyota Aristo that they posted up…
I don’t want to go too far off topic but yeah, they work on all kinds of cars at the shop…
Gonna close it out today with some track photos that I collected from both the Tactical Art and Craft blogs…
The brown EK4 in action…
White EG that’s totally unrelated to both the Civics I was speaking of…
An EG and an EK…I’m just throwing these in here because I figured you guys would enjoy them…
The Tactical Art EG…
I don’t know whose EK this is and the photo is pretty old, but I like the Manaray wheels on it…
That’s pretty much it…. If you really want to see more and be stuck on the computer for hours and hours staring at car photos, click the links below. It’s all in Japanese so it will be hard to understand and navigate through their sites so be forewarned…
…and of course special thanks to DOHCresearch for showing me the Tactical Art Civic in the first place…
Hope you guys enjoyed it, thanks for looking….
Year.Three is a little over a week away!!!
Hellaflush Japan 2011 Coverage…Part 2…
I’m glad that everyone is enjoying the coverage from Hellaflush Japan. For me personally, it was really cool to be able to see most of the cars represented in these photos because I’ve never seen them before. Today we will take a look at the rest of the photos that I got from the event. Again, special thanks to Mr. Koji Karimata for providing these awesome photos for all of us to see… Enjoy… If you missed part one, it’s directly below this post and probably the reason why these are taking a while to load haha….
This Civic immediately stood out to me while I was browsing through Karimata’s photos… It looks like a mix of Ryan Der’s white EK and another ATS member, ATS Vee’s Civic… You probably remember Ryan’s Civic because you’ve seen it plenty of times on this site but probably not Vee’s. His is a very similar color. With the wheels and brake set-up though, and especially since Ryan has now removed his C-West kit, this car definitely reminds me of his hatchback and that is a VERY good thing…I wonder what the bay looks like and what motor he is running…
Honda Inspire converted to U.S. 2nd. generation Acura TL-spec on some HRE wheels…I like the little details on it like the silver door handle frames to match the wheels and what not…cool build…
Evo 8 slammed on some SSR Professor SP3s…
This was weird/cool/strange… Note the mirrors and the exhaust coming out the rear corner… If Big Mike’s Prelude and his Accord wagon were to have a child and then later they both discovered that they were actually related, this is the inbred child it would produce…
Speaking of random combinations of things, check out this DB8 Integra…It has a Blitz-style front bumper that I haven’t seen in years, 5-Series BMW headlights, E46 BMW M3 side vents, and what looks to be some re-barreled Mugen M7s…Pretty wild look…I think those are also some Bomex sideskirts or something. Style is a little different for sure, but execution doesn’t look all that bad…Interior is a trip also…
S14 Silvia slammed on some 350Z wheels…
Oh man, I fucking love this car! Nissan R30 RS-Turbo Skyline from the 80s aka Tekkamen (鉄仮面) or “Iron Mask”… I don’t know what I love more about this thing, the fact that it has Volk TE37Vs on it, which are probably my favorite wheels at the moment, or the fact that he’s rocking a Chronicles sticker!! That’s fucking awesome…haha….Damn I wish I could see this car in person…
This one is a R31 Skyline sedan, which was the direct precursor to the R32 Skyline and the last Skyline they made before they went back to having GT-Rs….Such cool looking cars fromt he 80s man, I really dig these old Nissans. Stuff like this is what really keeps me interested in the Japanese tuning community because I just love seeing cars like this…They have like, a very distinct look to them so you automatically know what era they are from, you know what I mean? Cars these days all sort of look the same now…
EK Civic on some Hayashi Streets…I remember when HeyMikeyyyy was asking me if he should get a set of these and I was like “fuck no, you’re crazy. That’ll look retarded on your car”….I still stand by those statements today even though I really like the wheel itself…just not so much on Hondas…
Integra that’s on some pretty aggressive SSR MK2 wheels…
Very well done MK5 VW R32 that I always see in photos at various events in Japan…
This new VW Scirocco is also very nice….I like the polished OZ Futuras and the neon green accents expressed throughout the car…
This was another favorite of mine at the Hellaflush Japan event…If you don’t know what you’re looking at, this is the 2nd generation Toyota Soarer (or what we know of here as the SC300/400). This was the Soarer long before Toyota had aspirations of bringing the 3rd gen. over under the Lexus brand. It shared the same chassis with the A70 or Mark III Supra but had similar styling cues from their sedans like the Cressida, Cresta, and Toyota Mark II… This is another car like the R30/R31 Skylines that are still really cool to see modified in our day and age. I love the modern Volk TE37SLs on it as well as the red Recaros and Vertex wheel… DPK David asked me yesterday if I was Puerto Rican since I like old Toyotas and Nissans so much, haha…
This Subaru Forester is pretty sick. You don’t see these things modified very often but they definitely have a unique look to them…This car and a couple others were at the Hellaflush Japan event parked together and were all the same color…pretty cool but I wonder how long it took for them to deliberate what color all their cars were going to be…haha…
Widebody Subaru STI….Love the details like the orange and black accents. Even the Sparco seats have matching trim…
Nissan 180SX Type X on Volk TE37s…
Japanese S2000 showing American folks that you can have aggressive wheel fitment on S2Ks without have fenders that look like the Cookie Monster knawed through it…
S2000 on blue Work VS-XX…Not really sure why this photo is smaller than the other ones on this page, I think I may have been falling asleep while editing this photo…
Nissan S13 Silvia coupe with 180SX/USDM 240SX coupe front end conversion…Most would probably just think this was how the S13 240SX came in Japan but that’s certainly not the case…That’s one thing that I definitely don’t miss about the 80s automobiles though…all those fucking flip lights.. like every 2-door coupe or sportscar in the U.S. had them at the time for some reason…Makes you wonder if it was some sort of mandate made to automobile companies during that time to make cars more “aerodynamic” since the world had just gotten out of the world oil/fuel crisis of the 70s…
I believe this is an 8th generation Toyota Mark II sedan…Cool VIP/drift look to it…
Mazda Eunos Roadster…the Japanese equivalent to our Miata…
R32 Skylines will probably always be one of my favorite Skylines of all time… Doesn’t hurt that this one has TE37SLs on it and AP Racing brakes…That’s a perfect look right there. Just leave it alone and cruise in it…
Nissan Stagea on some AME Tracers and AME-sticker bombed front lip…If you guys don’t know what a Stagea is, just imagine a 4-door Skyline wagon and look up…
I don’t know what type of Toyota van this is but it’s one of the best looking vans I’ve ever seen…I know the Japanese Odyssey, Stream, and other Honda vans were great looking but I had no idea Toyota was pushing out vans like this…oh damn….
Toyota Soarer from N’s Factory…I read the description under the door and it said “N’s Factory: Total Car Life Consulting”. That’s awesome….I guess you can go to these guys for a consultation on how to build your car. I wish I would have thought of that…then the world would have 5 more crappy cars than usual…haha…
Ignore the crazy camber on this Nissan Cima for a second and take a look at the front end of the car. As you guys all know, I have a Q45 that I’ve had for a couple years and about a year or so ago, there was a huge fire at Midnight Garage and the bumper I had there was torched and destroyed. Well, besides not getting any compensation from the fucking dumb ass kid that accidently caused the fire, seeing this photo makes me especially sad because the bumper on this Nissan Cima was the exact bumper that I was searching for on Yahoo Auctions Japan for over a year. I was finally able to source one and Mastermind helped me bring it over, but then before I even had a chance to put it on, it was lost in the fire…What’s different about this bumper from most other JDM Nissan Cima bumpers is the OEM front lip on it. This lip indicates that this Cima was probably a Grand Touring model, which was a non-V8, turbo 6-cylinder version of the Cima. The owner switched over to a Zenki, non-Touring model Cima front grille, which was also what I have now, so other than the smoked fogs, black paint, and JDM headlights, that’s pretty much what my front end would have looked like. I have a complete Wald kit on my Q now but when I first purchased the bumper, I had plans to ditch the kit altogether and just rock this JDM front bumper and Grand Touring lip. Kinda still upsets me a little bit because I lost what was pretty much a 3-400 dollar bumper and never got to put it on. You guys probably don’t really care since this is a Honda site but that Grand Touring bumper and lip combo is pretty rare to find, especially in good condition…Maybe some day I’ll find another one…oh well, what can you do…it’s not everyday some jack ass starts a fire and runs away afterwards…
On a lighter note, I’m gonna close out the Hellaflush Japan coverage with my favorite Integra from Japan…
Thanks for looking…
Hellaflush Japan 2011 Coverage…Part 1…
One of the great things about being friends with guys like Tetsuya Yamaguchi from USDM Jam/Yamazstore and Takeshi Kobayashi from Type_K on Facebook is that I get to constantly see updates of what is going on in Japan. Though they don’t have as many major events as we do here in the U.S., the Japanese enthusiasts are die-hard car heads and are willing to travel 5-10 hours one-way just to attend a meet. In the last couple years, the connection between the American and Japanese enthusiasts has grown a lot stronger thanks to social media outlets and internet blogging. When I logged onto Facebook over the weekend, I noticed that Mr. Tetsuya had uploaded some photos from an event that had just happened. Upon further research, I discovered that it was the first ever Hellaflush event held in Japan at the Fuji Speedway. I don’t recall if I’ve ever attended a Hellaflush event here in the U.S. but I’ve always been a fan of Mark Arcenal and all his many projects and accomplishments. I didn’t know that there was a Hellaflush event going on in Japan because, well…I don’t live in Japan and don’t have the resources to be there. While looking through Tetsuya’s photos of the event, I did spot some really nice cars there and I really wanted to show you guys some of the builds that Japan has to offer. I mean, you guys always see photos scattered throughout the net but for the most part, you only see the demo vehicles that major aftermarket tuning companies produce in Japan…
So I hit up Tetsuya to see if he would let me post up his photos from the event. It took a couple days for him to reply, but he was more than happy to let me use them. The only problem was, the photos on his Facebook page are a bit small and it’s hard to see some of the details that the cars had. If the event were held here, then it wouldn’t be that big of a deal because you have probably seen the cars before but for an event that’s held in Japan, I really wanted to give you guys the largest photos that fit to the layout of my site. These cars you will probably never have seen before on this site and the ones that you are familiar with are the ones that I’ve posted from some of either Takeshi’s events or Tetsuya’s… Since the photos were a little too small for me to use, I went on a search through Flickr and found some really great photos from a Japanese enthusiast named Koji Karamata or his user “Ka Ry”. He actually has all kinds of photos from events that he has attended and I spent a good couple hours looking through them. The photos that he updated were straight from his camera so it was perfect for me to use…I just needed his permission. So I immediately messaged him through Flickr to ask if he was cool with me using them. On a random side note, he even has photos that he’s taken from last year’s Nisei Showoff event, so there was a chance that we might have crossed paths at one point and just totally didn’t notice because we had no idea who each other was. I was a little anxious because I really loved some of the cars that were at the Hellaflush Japan event. It only took a couple hours late in the early morning hours but he messaged me right back and was more than pleased to allow me to post up his photos…
Since some of his photos were straight from his camera, I took the liberty of going through the ones that I liked and cleaned them up a bit before re-sizing them to fit this site. I hope you guys really enjoy these photos because it’s all completely new and foreign to many of you. VERY BIG THANKS go out to Mr. Koji Karamata for allowing me to use these photos and for giving me the opportunity to bring you guys some new shit all the way from Japan…
Make sure also to check out his blog HERE… Got some pretty cool stuff that you won’t understand at all but there are pictures…. Seriously though, I used the Google translator to try to translate the name of his blog and the translation told me that it was the “Russian Stupidity Downtown Dance” blog…haha
Enjoy…
One of the first cars that really caught my eye from looking at some of Tetsuya’s photos was this Japanese firetruck-inspired Toyota Carina. To us it’s more known as an early 80s model Corolla wagon but I assure you, in it’s original Japanese state, it is a Toyota Carina. From a quick glance through Karamata’s blog, I believe that he’s actually been a part of the build process of this Carina because he has a lot of photos of it during it’s build-up stages…
I absolutely love how this thing looks. One of my dreams is to actually build one of these one day but I don’t have the time or the funds to go out and hunt one down to do all kinds of nutty shit to it…
The outside looks great and I love it when older Japanese cars are built in this fashion but where it really shines is under the hood…
You would never expect an old Toyota to have a bay like this, with the cage running into the shock towers through the firewall and the shave and tuck job. The sickest fucking thing about this is the motor…
…which is a rare (at least in the U.S. anyway) Yamaha-built BEAM’s 3S-GE from a Toyota Altezza… I’m telling you, this Carina is the shit….I can stare at this thing for hours…
I like the old school Advan graphical livery on this car…I’m not going to lie, I really don’t know what this is…Toyota Sprinter? Someone feel free to let me know…
Speaking of cars I am unfamiliar with, this Kei-car was also nice, sitting aggressively on some BBS RS wheels…
Honda TSX with Acura TSX conversion on BBS CH wheels…
Honda Civic Ferio on BBS wheels…
Honda Integra with a Top Fuel front lip, offsetting-colored headlights (?), and original Work Rezax wheels…
The Work Wheels booth at Hellaflush Japan… I was really digging the blue Fairlady and the Skyline in the lower photo but unfortunately he didn’t get any more photos of it…
The van and wagon scene in Japan is ridiculous…Seeing vans built like this make me wish we had a similar following out here in the U.S. Instead we have Dodge Caravans, and fucking Ford Windstars and shit…
Civic on Work CR-01s…
Honda CR-X also on Work CR-01s and a hopefully an authentic Mugen aero kit…
First gen. Honda Odyssey on BBS RS wheels…
Probably unnoticeable at a glance but take note of the left-hand drive and the 97-01 DC2 front end…I wonder if this is a legit Acura Integra that they imported over to Japan…
This guy’s rocking one of my Hellasunk stickers and has a Filipino flag hanging from his rear view mirror…
Ej1 Civic coupe on Work Equip 03s…
This may not seem like anything that special but from what Takeshi has mentioned online, this was just once a regular Civic coupe in Japan that the owner converted to full U.S. EM1-spec. The coupes don’t have sunroofs over there and the owner went as far as to import a sunroof back to Japan from here and then getting the headliner and all necessary pieces to make it look like an OEM EM1 coupe. Pretty cool if you really consider how much effort was used to make it look like a U.S. car…
Civic on some aggressive Buddy Club wheels…I believe he is running wheel spacers though…
Datsun 510 with some modern touches like Volk LE28 wheels and Recaro seats…
Check the fuel set-up and the horns on the carbs…
Not 100% sure, but I believe this is a Nissan Cedric sedan…I’m usually pretty familiar with these cars being a Q45 owner but I guess I didn’t get enough sleep or some shit today…
One of Toyota’s better looking sedans that we never got here in the U.S…. the Toyota Crown Athlete… While they get all these great looking sedans, we are stuck with the Avalon and Camry…
Toyota Aristo with some aggressive body work…
Original U.S. Acura CL imported back to Japan on some Enkei Racing S wheels..
Old school Toyota Cressida…
This is probably my favorite Honda Integra build in Japan right now. I’ve had my eye on it for the last two years now and the owner recently added some BBS LM wheels to his collection. I like how he just has all kind of different LM faces chillin’ on the floor….
Honda Torneo Euro-R on Advan TCII wheels…
I have no idea what the fuck this is but I thought it was interesting enough for me to post up…
Nissan 180SX with some interesting bright green barrels…
Really liked this VW Corrado…there looks to be quite a bit of extensive modifications done to this thing both inside and out…
Gonna close it out today with this Honda Accord wagon on BBS LM wheels…On the side of the wagon it says “InfiniteGBoys”…I have no idea what that means so you can take that and do what you want with it…Wagon is a good look though…
Back with the second half of the photos tomorrow…All kinds of good shit coming up so stay tuned…
Thanks for looking….
The Top 10 Hondas of 2010…A retrospective…Part 2…
Back now with the second half of the Top 10 Hondas of 2010 retrospective…Yesterday we took a look back at spots 10-6 of the Top Ten and today we will be looking at the other 5 spots on the list. One interesting note to consider when I was putting yesterdays and today’s list is that there seems to be less change with the 2010 group in comparison to the Top Ten Hondas of year’s past. I don’t know what it is, maybe because these builds are in more of a completed state than the others but either way, as a whole, you don’t see very much of a difference. There are minor changes here and there but the guys on the 2010 list seem to be the types that hold onto their cars and aren’t in any rush to build something completely new. Of the guys from 2010, there’s just one person who has sold their car and moved on. You can maybe consider RC Chacon’s new project as him moving on, but he actually still has his white EG and I’m sure he’s planning on rebuilding it…
Moving on…
5. JDMYard/Yonas Liu’s “EGK24A”…
What he’s up to now: You’ll be very happier to hear that Yonas is still very active with his Civic build. While he probably has one of the most recognizable Civics in all of the world today, Yonas tends to keep to himself mostly and only posts occasionally on forums like NWP4Life. Thankfully, we have social media outlets that allow us to keep in contact with people like Yonas Liu who are on the other half of the world. I’ve been chatting with Yonas recently on Facebook and he’s been updating me on all the new things he’s been doing to his Civic. It’s good to know that after all these years of him owning his car and all the abuse that he puts it through that he is still excited to try new things with it and making his build better than ever…
He sent me a photo the other day actually of his latest major modification. It was a decent photo from his Blackberry or something and I was going to post it, but I promised him that I would hold off until next week to show everyone, since he’s planning on some major unveiling some time around the 10th of October. It’s a very drastic change from what he’s been running in the last couple years and I think you guys will be just as surprised as I am when you see it. For now, take a look at Speedhunters’ feature on Yonas’ EG which actually dropped today…
“GOLIATH, MEET DAVID” – via Speedhunters.com
4. Chris Sakai’s Civic/Angel Ramos’ S2000 (Tie)
What he’s up to now: Chris Sakai has taken a more subtle approach with the aesthetics of his Civic in 2011. After his cover feature in Honda Tuning and landing on the Top 10 Hondas list, he kicked off 2011 by ditching his wing, hood, and mirrors. OEM Civic Type R pieces make their way back onto Chris’ car now and he also went with a different set of wheels…
I wasn’t sure how the white Regas would look when I found out about the switch but when I saw it, I honestly felt that it was probably one of his Civic’s best looks yet. Other than those aesthetic changes, not much else has changed. Chris has continued to participate in all the major Cali car show events and picked up a couple new sponsors here and there… The car looks so good in it’s current state that there isn’t really any reason for him to have to do anything else to it…
What he’s up to now: In 2011, Angel Ramos has gone with the old adage; “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Other than a new set of brakes and a different set of Volks, Angel’s S2000 has remained exactly the same. There isn’t a whole lot he can do to it without having to tear down and start over. His S2000 has a very unique look and continues to stand out in the deep S2000 community…
I spoke to him for a while at this year’s Nisei Showoff and he does have one more major overhaul coming for his S2000. 2010 was the debut of Angel’s build and there was so much going on that I think he’s taken a step back this year so that he could breathe and just enjoy the fruits of his labor. There are definitely some big things that he plans to do to this thing but the ideas are still very premature. It’ll be interesting to see what actually happens to Angel’s S2000 but all we can do now is wait until next year…
3. ATS*Anh’s Acura Integra Type R…
What he’s up to now: Anh Truong has probably been the most active in the top 5 in terms of adding new stuff to his build… His ITR probably hasn’t even been in his possession much in 2011 because it’s spent a chunk of it’s time either down here in Southern California for events or over at ASC Speed Metal for custom fabrication…
Anh’s car has been down at ASC because they have been hard at work on fabricating some new catch cans and misc. things for his engine bay. They also added a custom roll bar/half cage to the ITR. I think as a whole in 2011, I probably have seen Anh’s ITR more than I have seen Anh himself… The exterior of the ITR has remained basically the same, with the exception of some brand new Almighty Grey Regamaster EVOs…
2. Bisimoto’s Honda Civic Wagon and Honda CR-Z…
What he’s up to now: Bisi currently is hard at work on a brand new 2012 Honda Civic coupe for SEMA. The wagon is exactly the same as it was last year and for the most part, so is the turbo CR-Z. Bisi is a mad man so he’s constantly hard at work on either his own projects or tuning customer vehicles but the spare moments that he’s had, he’s spent it cruising around in the CR-Z. I was just over at the Bisimoto facility last week and he was talking about how often he drives the CR-Z. If you’re wondering, the answer is “yes”, he does drive it around with the chute in the rear and everything, haha…
There are some minor kinks electronically here and there with the hybrid motor but he has taken the car out for test runs at the track. I doubt he really has any major changes planned for this thing because he’ll be busy finishing his 2012 Civic and campaigning it for 2012. Another thing that might prevent him for doing anything else to this CR-Z is all the different Porsche projects he’s working on. I haven’t had a chance to see his Porsche SEMA project but he promises that it’ll be one-of-a-kind. I don’t know how he has enough hours in the day to do as much as he does but I’m very interested to see the debuts of his new projects when the SEMA show rolls around in November…
1. Ryan Der’s Honda Civic and Big Mike’s Honda Prelude (Tie)…
What he’s up to now: Ryan surprised a lot of people in 2011 when he decided to take off his complete C-West aero kit. He usually takes it off to track the Civic anyways and with so many track events to go to this year, I guess it just made sense for him to remove it permanently and go back to a Mugen front lip and splitter. At the Wekfest event that occurred in early 2011, Ryan also debuted a new set of custom refinished Work Meister S1s..
There aren’t any other major changes. Under the hood he’s switched over to a C.O.P. ignition system and different valve cover but that’s mostly it. He spent much of the year attending car shows as well as beating up his Civic on the track at events such as Super Street’s annual FF Battle….
What he’s up to now: Big Mike is always busy running around all over the place but his Prelude is pretty much the same as it was in 2010. There aren’t very many builds that are as in-depth or as detailed as his and it showed in 2011 when he consistently continued to take home awards at shows all over Cali. His Prelude even appeared on the cover of Banzai magazine, which is a U.K.-based publication. There are many that are starting to think that he needs to switch things up because it’s remained the same for the last two years and Big Mike definitely has some cool new things coming for his Prelude.
While he’s busy working and collecting new parts for his Prelude, Big Mike has started on a Honda Accord side-project to keep him occupied for the rest of the year. 2012 looks to be another big year for Big Mike, so stay tuned…
That rounds out the list. Hopefully this has given you some insight as to what these guys are up to these days. All are very much deserving of being on the 2010 list and continue to be a force within the Honda community in 2011…
The only question that remains now is… who is going to make this year’s list?….
Thanks for looking…
The Top 10 Hondas of 2010…A retrospective…Part 1…
Well, it’s probably a little later than I would have liked to have put this together but here we are in October and this is finally happening…As you all know, I usually do a “Top Ten Hondas” at the end of every year to spotlight some of what I feel are the best Honda builds. It started in 2008 and I followed it up the following year with the Top Ten Hondas of 2009 and then again in 2010. During the middle of each year, I did an update on all of those builds and gave you guys some insight as to what they are doing and where the cars are at. It’s always interesting to see what happens to the Hondas on the list because you either see them continue on with their builds, or sell them and start on something else. Today we’re going to take a look at the bottom half of the list and in the days following I will give you guys an update on spots 1-5…
If you guys are new to the site, make sure to check out the original post on The Top Ten Hondas of 2010…
You might want to catch up on the reading before you start on today’s post, otherwise it won’t make much sense to you…
Here is the original follow-up post to the Top Ten Hondas of 2009, so you guys can get a good idea of what the format is like for today…nothing crazy, just a couple new photos compared to how the cars looked when they first made the list…
The Top Ten Hondas of 2009…A Retrospective…Part 1…
The Top Ten Hondas of 2010…A Retrospective…Part 2…
Alright, so now that we are all caught up, let’s get started on a retrospective look at the Top Ten Hondas from 2010…
10. Kane Chan’s Civic Coupe/Arn Reyes’ Acura Integra/Ejay Adriano’s DA via 3-Way Tie…
What he’s up to now: If there is anything that needs to be said about Kane Chan’s Civic, it’s that he and his car have been nothing but a model of consistency. He’s had this coupe since the 90′s so it’s highly unlikely that it would make any drastic changes. He participated in the first two Super Street FF Battles but took off the 2011 event to give the car a break and so that he could just sit back and enjoy the races. He also landed once again in the pages of Super Street magazine and I’m proud to say that I was able to shoot and write the story for it. It’s been a pleasure knowing Kane and it’s because of Super Street and the FF Battle series that I was able to meet him and now call him a friend…
Not much of a change aesthetically… In 2011, he re-installed his Spoon Sports front lip and put the car back on some classic Work RS-Betas…Everything going on under the hood is exactly the same as when it made its appearance on the 2010 Top Ten Hondas list…
What he’s up to now: Arn is another one of those old school cats that has had his Honda for a while and doesn’t have any plans to get rid of it any time soon. He had a baby and is a full-fledged family man but he still finds time to mess around with his Integra. The guy always has a collection of parts that he can always swap on and off but at the 2011 Nisei Showoff event, he brought his DC2 out on a brand new Hershey Brand front bumper, a piece that also debuted in 2011….
Many will argue that the Mugen front bumper is a timeless look that should never replaced but Arn Reyes has always been a guy that’s been willing to try something new and take some chances with his car. That’s why he always has different parts so that he can change up the outside appearance of his Integra at any time…Not much else is new for Arn and his car but don’t be surprised if he comes out in 2012 with some all new shit…
What he’s up to now: Ejay had quite a year in 2010…he brought his DA out to practically every event in California and even found himself with a feature in Honda Tuning magazine. It’s probably one of the most recognizable DA Integras nowadays but in 2011, he’s taken more of a laid back approach with his car…
He wasn’t too please with the power his H-swap was making so he went ahead and swapped back to a B-series motor. Ejay planned to make his car more streetable this year so that he could just simply enjoy the car so the motor just made more sense to have. While I think wholeheartedly that the SSR Super Mesh was the best possible look EVER for his DA, he also took those off and is now rolling on some Volk TE37s. He made the decision because he didn’t want to mess with the aggressive camber and rough ride anymore and chose to go with a more subtle wheel size…I don’t think I’ll ever forgive him for taking the SSRs off but I’m glad that he can enjoy his DA to the fullest now…
9. Phil Robles Honda Civic...
What he’s up to now: Phil Robles’ Civic has been on hiatus in 2011. He did a couple track events with the car, then ran into some unfortunate events which have since been repaired, and now the car sits in his garage awaiting a new power plant. Phil is a great driver but what was holding him back was the limited power he was making compared to some other Hondas he was competing against. He has finally decided to go K and I’m anxious to see how the J’s Racing equipped Civic will look when he reappears in 2012…
Meanwhile, he’s been busy at track events with another Civic hatchback. He’s got big plans for his original one though and you can read a little bit more on it at the projectonethirty site, where I also grabbed this photo from. It’s a cool site with some good shots so peep it…
8. “DPK David” Andrade’s Honda Civic Coupe…
What he’s up to now: David has been on a mad quest to get his coupe ready for some track events next year. While it has served most of it’s existence as a street/show car, he’s finally taking the leap into the motorsports world. His decision comes from just his overall boredom with the car. David wanted to redo the entire car, but with a wedding coming up as well as eyes on some new projects, it just doesn’t make sense to tear it down to start over. It first appeared in Honda Tuning magazine back in 2006, and then after a makeover, appeared in Import Tuner magazine in 2010. There isn’t much more exposure it can get so DPK David is just going to take the car out and beat it up…
He’s recently re-done his exhaust set-up and installed a new Vibrant muffler as well as porting his intake manifold, changing up his fuel set-up and finally getting tuned on AEM EMS Series 2 by none other than Bisi Ezerioha. The tune actually just happened not too long ago and I have video and more information on it HERE….How good he will do on the track remains a mystery but I’ll be sure to keep you updated on his progress…
7. RC Chacon aka “Kingdingaling’s” Honda Civic hatchback…
What he’s up to now: RC’s hatchback is actually sitting in his garage motor-less and untouched. Why? Well, because he’s been busy working on some other Hondas for his clients as well as starting on a brand new project, which is a 4-door Mugen-equipped Civic. I’m not really sure what his plans are for his hatchback but he seems to have shifted all his focus onto his new project…
RC debuted the sedan at the 2011 Nisei Showoff event and the turbo K inside his EG9 turned a lot of heads. There is still quite a bit of miscellaneous things that he would like to finish up on it and I should have some updated photos of it when he brings it out to the Year.Three Chronicles Anniversary event. As for his white hatch that originally made the 2010 Top Ten list, who knows when or if we will ever see it again…
6. Edwin Pagan aka “Midorieking’s” EK…
What he’s up to now: I really couldn’t tell you…because I have no idea. After the Chronicles 2-year anniversary meet, he had big plans to tear down the car and rebuild it for 2011, but half way through it, he abandoned the project and parted the whole car out. He ultimately sold the shell too and now Edwin’s project from 2010 is non-existent. I haven’t really talked to him nor have I seen him active on the forums so all I can assume is that he’s gone M.I.A. He never really explained why he abandoned the project either so it remains a mystery as to why he seemingly fell off the face of the Earth…
When he debut the build in 2010, it was met with a lot of praise and had a pretty good overall reaction from the community, so it’s kind of a shame to see that he hasn’t taken that momentum and done anything else…
Well, that’s about all for today…back with the rest of the list tomorrow or the days following…
Thanks for looking….
The Rywire ITR Build…Part 3…
Welcome back to part 3 of the Rywire Integra Type R build. The chassis is currently still at Franklin Autobody where paint is near completion, so today we will be taking a look at some parts that Ryan has been collecting at the shop. Right now, Ryan is so busy working on various SEMA projects that he really doesn’t have any room for the car anyway…
Some OEM Honda parts that recently came in…K-series ignition coils, steering rack boots w/clamps…
Various ITR chassis components that are set to be cleaned-up and powdercoated…
Two of the Regamaster EVOs that Ryan plans to use. These too will be stripped and re-coated. I believe they are going to be redone in a gloss black finish…
Bisimoto-assembled K24 long block that will go inside Ryan’s R…
The valvetrain and head with the valve cover off…
AFI Turbo intake manifold…
The fuel cell from Fluid Control Solutions (FCS) that Ryan will be running in his Integra…
Wiggins clamps that will be used throughout the build…Ryan actually has a pretty large bag filled with the smaller clamps…
That’s about it for now. Can’t really do much without the car being here. We are all just pretty excited to get the car back because that’s when this build will really take off. There are a bunch of turbo components that have already been collected but we figured it would look better once it was on the motor after it was installed on the car…
Thanks for looking…next update will come when more is available…
Exclusive Content…Unpublished Photos of Henry Mendez’s Corolla from Super Street Sept. ’11…
Got a major announcement coming your way next week regarding the 3-year Chronicles Anniversary Celebration…if you’re a fan of The Chronicles, then you won’t want to miss out on it…
Anyways, for this weekend I thought I’d pass along this photos that were unpublished from the September 2011 issue of Super Street magazine. I had the opportunity to shoot and do the story for this 1971 Toyota Corolla Deluxe a couple months back before the summer started. It’s a very special shoot for me because the people directly involved were not only people that I knew, but the owner of the car is actually a friend of mine. I know, I know, the whole cliche’ of “it’s all about who you know in the industry” immediately jumps into your mind but allow me to explain. I shot Henry Mendez’s ’71 Corolla not because he was a friend of mine, but because of the fact that the car holds a very special meaning in his heart. Our friend Armando Flores Jr. passed away a little over 2 years ago and this Corolla is a rolling dedication to his memory. Henry had always told Mando that he would bring the Corolla around again after he had lost interest in it but Armando never had the opportunity to see it again. Henry is a man of his word and promised him that he would bring the car back out someday and after Flores passed away tragically, he decided to revive the Corolla in his memory. The story explains it all and I’ve attached a link to the original article in Super Street below. While I will never be as close to Armando Flores Jr. as Henry and some of my other friends were, I felt that it was a heart-warming story that had to be told to the world. Often times this whole car “scene” is so deeply entrenched in competition that we take the people in our lives for granted. This is one of those stories that reminds us that the people that we consider our friends are an essential part of our lives and well-being. To me, this story is special because it focuses on the human condition and our ability to devote ourselves to something that is bigger than any material thing. Armando was an amazing friend and person, so it was an incredibly untimely and unexpected event when he was taken away from us. Everyone that knew him dealt with his passing in different ways, and for Henry Mendez, bringing this car back to life was his way of dealing. To him, this was the appropriate way to honor his life. Cars were always a huge part of Armando’s life, so Henry committed himself to a hobby they shared together because he knew how important it was to his friend…
So many times you open the page of a magazine and you get a quick rundown of the parts on the car and a small introduction to the owner. I love to tell a story and it’s a greater feeling when I can tell you a story that means something, you know? It’s very important to remember the people that inspire us everyday. As I stated in the story, the car isn’t the greatest thing ever built, nor is it 100% pristine showroom condition…that’s okay though, because no one ever tried to make you believe that the car was anything more than it was. It’s what the car meant to Henry, and what it meant to Armando. Hopefully I did a good enough job translating that to you guys, who took the time out of your day to read it. Another moment that I thought was important was that Armando’s father was there. I’ve had the chance to spend some time with Armando Flores Sr. and he’s definitely unique in his own right, and every bit as much of a car guy as his son was. One of the things that I admire about Armando Sr. the most was his ability to understand everything that was important to his son, and continue to basically live his life through his son’s eyes. He knew his son was into photography, so he picked up a camera and learned to use it…he knew how important his friends were to him, so he took the time to get to know his friends and they became his friends…he knew how his son had a fascination with Hondas and cars in general, so he hopped in his son’s S2000 and is slowly continuing on with the build and continues to drive the car often. There’s no better way to honor the life of someone, than to live it through their eyes and to see things from a point-of-view other than your own. I have enormous amounts of respect for that and it warms my heart every time I think about it. For him to be at the shoot and be able to be in a photograph with Henry was a big thing for me. We have all lost somebody at one point or another, but I hope no matter what, we have all been able to look back and remember them, and appreciate what they meant to us and smile. I hope that by doing this story, it will be forever be a standing memory of Armando Flores Jr. and I really honestly hope that every time Henry looks at this particular story, he can remember the great times he had with his friend…
With that said, here are some extra shots from the September 2011 issue of Super Street magazine. For the original story and photos, please click below…
“A LIFE REMEMBERED” -Super Street Sept. 2011
At the end, I’ve also attached a 1080P sized desktop wallpaper for you guys…
Henry Mendez and Armando Flores Sr….. Larger Version (1400×933)
This was actually a group shot of all of us that I took just for personal use and just for us so it was never submitted to Super Street mag, I just thought it was a cool shot…(hence the different border and marking)…. Larger Version (1400×933)
Widescreen desktop shot bonus….
Widescreen Version (1920×1080)
Thanks for looking…
The Rywire ITR Build…Part 2…
For those of you who missed the initial (2) posts involving the Rywire ITR build, I’ve provided links below… Please feel free to catch up before you read this post so that you guys have a good idea of what’s going on in this build because it’s definitely not something you want to miss out on…
Now that you are caught up, here is part 2, which will be a much smaller update compared to the first one. Today we’re going to be taking a look at a couple shots of the man himself, Bisi Ezerioha from Bisimoto Engineering, working on Ryan Basseri’s K24 motor for his Porsche GT3 RS Orange Integra Type R…
The updates will be more spread apart than say, Big Mike’s build, because the chassis itself still resides up in Nortern California where Sunny Wong from Franklin Autobody is finishing up the paint work on it. Once that is completed, Ryan will make his way up there to transport the chassis down to the Rywire facilities where the car will begin to be put back together along with the motor and all of Ryan’s custom electrical work that will run throughout the car…Whenever that happens, I will be sure to update you on the progress on this build. The updates will trickle in every now and then if he has some new parts or something coming in, but for the most part, it’s basically a waiting game right now. We will continue with regular updates as usual and I will incorporate updates on Ryan’s car when they become available…
Here’s a basic rundown of Ryan’s motor set-up (as far as I know)…again, more info will come as it is provided to me…
-K24 engine
-Stock bore and stroke
-GE sleeves
-Arias pistons
-9.0 compression
-Custom Crower connecting rods
-ARP rod bolts
-Widened crankshaft journals
-Balanced and knife-edged crank
-OEM B-series engine bearings
-Portflow cylinder head w/OEM head gasket
-Bisimoto-spec. valvetrain
-Custom turbo camshafts from Web Cams
-Turbo components I am not 100% sure on, I’ll have to find out more from Ryan later….
Now on with some pics…
Arias pistons…
Bisi doing work…
…and now some photos from a completely different point in time. The shots above were from awhile back actually and the photos below are very current. These are cell phone shots of the chassis at Franklin Autobody. You can get a better look at how the interior looks and how the battery box has been incorporated and painted with the body…
I can imagine how bright and blinding the interior is going to be when Ryan is inside of the car…haha…
That’s all for now…stay tuned for more as the content rolls in…
The Rywire ITR Build…Part 1…
Welcome to part 1 of the soon-to-be-epic Rywire Integra Type R build. In the introductory posts a couple days back, I unveiled the painted chassis shots and the custom fender work and today in part one, we will actually be taking a couple steps back from that and show you the ITR when it first arrived at Ryan’s doorstep. Basically, Ryan from Rywire never intended to build an ITR. That may be why many of you haven’t heard of this build before. From what I remember telling me, one of the main reasons why he decided to build an R is because he got such a ridiculously good deal on a bare ITR shell. When he told me that it was too good of a deal to pass up, I was pretty excited. I mean, he seemed pretty stoked about it so it must mean that he had gotten a really good deal on an ITR. Looking at the photos now in it’s original state…uhh man…the car was pretty rough around the edges…
This is how it looked when Ryan first picked it up…
You can see from this shot that the original owner had the car done in a two-tone red and yellow….definitely not a good look and a look that Ryan did not intend to reuse…
How the bay looked when it arrived…
The bent radiator core support needed to be repaired…
5-lug suspension…
Since the chassis was so empty, Ryan began collecting ITR parts from everywhere…
Stockpile of parts everywhere at his old place in San Jose…Skunk2 vacuum cleaner not included…
Cleaning up the bay and shaving off unnecessary items…
Ryan had a spare K-series block sitting around on display so he used it to mock up how the engine would look and how to mount his turbo set-up…
Display motor sitting in the ITR’s bay…
Shot of the bay with a radiator support that wasn’t bent and damaged…
Turbo manifold mock-up…
The next couple of the bay were shot with his cell phone so the pics are much smaller in size…
Figuring out where all the charge pipes and assorted turbo accessories would go…
Set for primer…
Bay shaved, cleaned-up and primed…
Really crappy shot of Ryan’s pedal set-up from Tilton…
Here’s a shot of the cage and interior. Note the battery box that’s been created and mounted to the floor of the Integra…
That’s about it for today. Coming up in part 2, I’ll give you a quick rundown of the motor set-up he’ll be running as well as some shots of Bisi Ezerioha putting Ryan’s K24 together…thanks for looking…
