Brandon Kim’s S2000 CR Build Photos… Part 1…

Brandon Kim’s S2000 CR Build Photos… Part 1…

I haven’t done a build feature on this site in awhile, since we typically cover most of this type of stuff on the Vlogs these days, but I decided to capture some photos of Brandon Kim’s S2000 build so both you guys and Brandon can see detailed updates as Yuta moves forward with it. It just made sense to get photos to document everything because Brandon actually lives in Hawaii while his S2000 spends a majority of its time here in California. The car was shipped over via boat a few years and is a resident here at our shop. After Yuta Akaishi came back from Arizona after working at HKS USA for a year, the two of them decided to install an HKS GT2 Supercharger on the CR. Along with the install came a bunch of other stuff that eventually will make its way onto the car. It seems like new things are being added every day as Yuta continues to go through the car. Most of the info and technical aspects of this build-up will be detailed on future episodes of the Vlog but periodically, I’ll toss up some photos as well. Here are the first batch of photos that I captured recently at the very start of the build…
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Ryan Der’s NEW B16B-Powered Civic Project!! CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #2…

Ryan Der’s NEW B16B-Powered Civic Project!! CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #2…

REJOICE! Der is finally back in a Honda!! After a decade plus of not working on a Civic, one of the best car builders I know has finally found his next project. The BMW E30 M3 was fun, but it just didn’t give him that tingly sensation inside to keep his motivation to make it anything special. When I got the text, I was honestly a little surprised. For one, he would always troll us on April Fools Day telling everyone that he bought a new Civic, and secondly, he just never seemed that intent on starting another project. When I realized that it was actually going to be a reality, I was pretty stoked, and I don’t get excited about a lot of things. This is an all Honda-dedicated episode, featuring Der’s new purchase, a quick stop over at Club Racer to check-out Andrew Horn’s amazing Civic build, and major updates on Brandon Kim’s S2000 CR. 2021 is looking up!! I can’t wait to see what Der does to this thing!!…
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Club Racer Chuckwalla January 2021 Coverage…

Club Racer Chuckwalla January 2021 Coverage…

Ryan Der and I decided to make the 3-hour drive out to Chuckwalla this past weekend to support our friends from the Club Racer event series. There hasn’t been much going lately due to, well, very obvious reasons so it seemed like a good time to go outside into some wide-open spaces to see some car stuff. This particular event at Chuckwalla wasn’t a competitive one but more of a ‘preseason’ event to get enthusiasts ready for the racing series in 2021. It wasn’t crowded and there weren’t too many cars at the track this time around, but the weather was nice and overall, the day was pretty relaxing. We both brought our cameras to get some coverage but since there wasn’t too much going on, I found myself just hanging out and catching-up with friends. The drive was long but seeing friends is never a bad thing, and my one major takeaway from going to Chuckwalla was finally seeing Andrew Horn’s Civic all finished-up. The car has been down for some time now as it was going through a major overhaul but he wrapped it up in time to do some testing. Most of my photos from this event are actually just of Andrew’s Civic but it felt weird to just call it “Andrew Horn’s Civic Photos” as the title without any context or history. I want to see that I wish I shot more but the people at Chuckwalla weren’t too keen on having people shooting on the track this time around so I couldn’t get any cool photos like last time. Oh well, still a fun day. Enjoy the photos…
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New Year, New Projects, The IS300 Gets Painted & More!! Chrncls Vlog 2021 #1…

New Year, New Projects, The IS300 Gets Painted & More!! Chrncls Vlog 2021 #1…

Happy New Year!! With a new year comes some new changes to our video series, mainly with the overall look of the Vlogs from this point forward. If you’ve been an avid watcher of the series over the years, you’ll probably notice the changes right away but one of my focuses this year is to really improve how each episode looks in terms of color grading and what not. I hope you guys enjoy it! Anyways, on this episode, the season 7 premiere, we introduce you to some new projects at the shop, my IS300 Wagon is finally getting painted, and other happenings at the shop, including a birthday!! Here’s to good fortune and lots of prosperity in 2021 everyone, thanks for watching!!
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Winter Build Updates, Brekkie Car Meet, & MORE!!… CHRNCLS Vlog 2020 #32…

Winter Build Updates, Brekkie Car Meet, & MORE!!… CHRNCLS Vlog 2020 #32…

Is this the Season Finale? Is there one more coming before the end of the year? Hell, even I don’t know, but I put this episode together with every intention of it very likely being the last one of 2020. Big changes are coming next year and as you’ll notice from watching this episode, the video looks much improved overall. This episode also marks the first video that I edited completely on my new computer. Workflow is much better and I think you’ll notice a lot of quality changes. As far as the episode goes, this one is for those of you who like the really long episodes with loads of content. I could definitely have split these up but hey, it’s the holiday season so now is as good a time as ever to hide from your loved ones so you can go on YouTube, lol! In this hour-long extravaganza, I take you to Premier Auto Body to check on the progress of my IS300 Wagon, Yuta and I do some work around the shop, I check out a car meet with Der and JDM Wong, RJ de Vera makes a random appearance as he always does, and we get all kinds of goodies in the mail that we’ve been waiting for. Join us for the Premiere and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! (Stay for the end credits BTW!!)
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Honda-Swapped Benz, Tesla-Powered S2000, A Legendary DC2 + IS300 & DC5 Updates!!… CHRNCLS Vlog 2020 #31

Honda-Swapped Benz, Tesla-Powered S2000, A Legendary DC2 + IS300 & DC5 Updates!!… CHRNCLS Vlog 2020 #31

This one is jam-packed with a wide-variety of automotive goodness! First, we finally take my IS300 wagon to the body shop to start on body work and paint, then we head to Period Correct in Costa Mesa for the grand unveiling of two new Turn 14 exclusive builds. The first is Rywire’s Tesla-driven Honda S2000 and the second is a wild S2000 F22C-swapped Mercedes 190E!! We check those cars out and head back to the shop in time to put some work into the DC5 RSX. The day after that, I stop by my boy David’s meet and am reunited with one of the most legendary Integra builds in the Honda tuning community.
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CLUB HANDZ x LSD 2020 Coverage… Part 2…

CLUB HANDZ x LSD 2020 Coverage… Part 2…

Hopefully you guys enjoyed the newest Vlog episode. If you haven’t please try to give it a watch, I think you guys will enjoy it. It’s one of those episodes that may feel foreign to some, because they’re so used to me covering mostly Honda-related content on here, but I think people forget that I’m just a car guy that enjoys all different makes and models. Even though The Chronicles was built on the foundation of great Honda builds, I’ve always dabbled with other styles and makes of vehicles. Hell, coming to you as a ‘Honda guy’, I currently own a Nissan, Toyota, and a Honda—and my Honda is the only car that isn’t heavily modified. I just love cars and through my many journeys all over the world documenting car culture, I’ve come to appreciate so many different sub-genres…
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A Double-Feature Packed With RARE JDM Goodness!!… CHRNCLS Vlog 2020 #30

A Double-Feature Packed With RARE JDM Goodness!!… CHRNCLS Vlog 2020 #30

It’s been a while since we’ve had the time to do one of our “Drive-By” episodes but boy is this a good one! If you like rare Japanese parts, wheels, and car guys that love all things “JDM” to an absolutely obsessive level, this one is the one to watch. Jaime has been wanting to bring his JZX100 Mark II over for a while now but after driving at AVS, he ended up destroying his front lip! He got it repaired, blew-up a pair of TEs, and finally made it presentable after driving the car all the way to Norcal and back. Since our friend Derek was in-town for Formula Drift, it was the perfect time for Jaime to come by since Derek loves hanging out with us (we have no idea why) and he surprised us with a car that we never even knew he had. This is one of those longer episodes you guys have been asking for so sit back and watch us talk our shit!!…
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CLUB HANDZ x LSD 2020 Coverage… Part 1…

CLUB HANDZ x LSD 2020 Coverage… Part 1…

We’ve read and heard so many negatives about the year that has been 2020 worldwide. There has been a pandemic, so much loss, a contentious feeling throughout our country, and there doesn’t seem to be light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. Everyone is having a rough year, and I can’t think of another time in my entire life where that has been so true. How is that even possible, right? It’s crazy to think that it has been such a rough time but what’s even crazier is believing that everything will change the moment we flip that calendar over to January 1st. There remains to be so many unknowns heading into 2021 and it is just a little over 30 days from now. To think that everything will change in 2021 is, frankly, unrealistic. Time, and more importantly life, just doesn’t work that way. I feel like the best way we can approach the future is to put a positive twist on it—and that’s coming from someone who hasn’t necessarily been the most positive of people. I’ll admit, I’ve gotten better with age. I’ve always been fairly ‘aware’ of who I was as a person. Most of my 20s were spent kind of in a fog, taking life as it came but always approaching it with a bit of cynicism. As I’ve grown-up, both physically and mentally, I have found myself to become a much more positive human being. I’m still incredibly sarcastic and very much a cynic, but I think I’ve figured life out. I’ve had enough experiences that have paved my way to a much more positive approach towards life and all of its many hurdles…
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From Broken NSX To Breaking Records, The Road To 1:44.768… CHRNCLS Vlog 2020 #29

From Broken NSX To Breaking Records, The Road To 1:44.768… CHRNCLS Vlog 2020 #29

Well, it finally happened…The Koyorad x RS Future K-turbo NSX is fast—REALLY fast. And after nearly three years of development, it’s also the NEW Super Lap Battle “Street Class” overall champion and record-holder. It wasn’t easy, I’ll tell you that. I’ve had the pleasure of watching this car come to form from the very beginning as a stripped-down bare shell. People didn’t understand the concept of utilizing a turbocharged K-series engine in an NSX at first. To most, it just seemed like a ‘cool idea’ but the C30/C32 engine was Honda’s flagship 6-cylinder powerplant. To some, it was automotive sacrilege to put a modern Honda 4-cylinder engine in an NSX. The doubters were only proved right when the car continued through its development stages and repeatedly ran into issues. It was a bit disheartening to see the car not reach the level of success that we had hoped for but everyone involved knew that it would be a long process. Things started to turn around at the start of 2020 when the gearbox issues that had halted development were relieved thanks to a Samsonas Motorsport dogbox. The NSX really started to move after that. As Amir Bentatou got more comfortable, and even more confident, behind the wheel, we knew that there was a strong possibility it would finally see the success we had envisioned for it at Buttonwillow Raceway. Sit back, take a trip down memory lane with us as we venture back to the beginning, and relive all the emotions that came when the clock hit 1:44.768…
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