Have you ever wondered?

What it would be like to have more money than you could spend? Or if your dad/trust fund/sugar mama or daddy paid for all your toys? Or if you struck it large in dotcom stocks or blood diamonds? Have you pondered what you would do? What you would build?

Well here's something to whet your appetite and hopefully give you some inspiration to work those extra hours, pick up those extra projects, and go the extra mile so you reach your goals. Slick vid time!

458 on HREs

A walk in the park

Hey all, just a quick share of a vid I found that I'm really digging currently. Slick editing and a nice appropriate ride height always make me a happy chappy.

A walk in the park

Hardpark 2012

Yesterday was the 2nd annual Hard Park event for Wellington which was organised by the guys from NZPC. Bouyed by last year's success, this years event was bigger and better than ever. Cars were the recurring theme yesterday and it was a brilliant event with like minded individuals which just added to the atmosphere of it. 

Here's a few pics I snapped along my strolls across the car park.

Ridiculously awesome chrome trims on the wheels on this Festiva. I've always wanted one of these cars for some inexplicable reason.

SW looking pretty on some RS-Zs. I sorta wished my MR2 was ready in time for this, but alas, real life means that other priorities come first sometimes lol.

Pair of tidy S chassis.

Meisters and RE30s. LOVE LOVE LOVE

This mango was like a dream come true for me. Dragging rails, a pulsing 12A, black paint and some US800s. This would have to be one of the standout cars of the show for me, but I'm just biased lol.

My buddy Caleb's 12A Mazda. See a common theme for what I like? Lol.

Not exactly what I would do to a car, but I had to include this DA. I can't help myself, I'm eternally attracted to DAs.

Definitely helps if its turbo! The pplates on the day had me in fits, and this one was definitely giggle worthy.

The Euro movement is slowly picking up here in Wellington.

The stickers on this immaculate BMW 2002 had some truth to it.

This man sure knew how to please a wheel whore. This fitment was purrrrrrfect.

So sweet.

My friend Rich's car rolling in. An S chassis that is definitely built to be used.

I've got to take pics of my friends cars lol. Phil's oarsome Pontiac. So many lulz have been had in this barge.

Many of them involving this. LOL

Ryan's Accord. Hopefully going to be featured soon!

Definitely a Lush Garage spec ride height ;)

Dom's S15

The ever present Jasper along with his BBQ.

Check out that sweet setup

This pair had me salivating. I love old Toyotas.

Onevia on CR Kais.They are def on the wish list along with some RPF1s for the SW lol.

Some tasty tasty RE Amemiya bits on this FD.

Brian's Accord with a new colour scheme for his RPF1s. Swoon.

MOAR DAs!

6/71? Check. Pulsin 13B? Check. RX3? Check. Simmons FR5s? Check. This thing was a textbook example of how to build a rotor!

Timeless quarter.

Before I end this massive post, I would like to share with my friends and readers a cool video I found while trawling the net.  

Cyrious Production 2011 D1 wrap up

Some brilliant editing and an overall slick video. Till the next post.

Honda - The power of dreams Mat's B16B EK

The EK Civic was the last of the double wishbone equipped Civics. It is arguable that this is one of the most swap friendly platforms Honda ever produced. D, B, H, K and even J series motors have all been shoehorned into the front end of this chassis. However, this particular example pays homage to one of the best handling FWD cars ever produced, the EK9 Civic Type R.

This car was a culmination of a New Zealand new EK4 shell and a crashed EK9. There is a lot to be said for the interchangeability of Honda parts. Everything from the crashed donor was swapped into the shell. For the uninitiated, Honda put in a lot of effort into the EK9 in an effort to make it lighter, faster, and more accurate on precisely what it's name entails, Racing.

For a start, all the windows, and rear 3/4 glass is tinted from factory and is lighter than your average EK Civic glass due to it being thinner in construction. It may not seem like much, but every little bit counts in racing.

Inside the car was kitted out with the EK9 Recaros in what I like to call Racing Red, EK9 rear seats, and EK9 doorcards with the racey red inserts. The standard EK4 airbag steering wheel remains due to NZ's draconian modification laws.

This car also boasts the 5 stud hubs and 282mm up front and 262 discs in the rear that is a sought after big brake conversion for other Honda chassis that do not have these as standard equipment. The differences between chassis trim levels are more than just skin deep though. This car rocks the same motor and gearbox that came in the EK9, the veritable tome of high revving naturally aspirated perfection that is the B16B and the helical LSD, short ratio equipped S4C. When this motor was released, it had and still does, one of the highest power per capacity ratios that Hondas seem to thrive on. This particular example also utilises the intake, header and exhaust modification that most Hondas run. The headers are 4-1 Mugen replicas and it runs a full 2.5" exhaust to emit that aural scream we have come to love from the Honda B series motors.

I love this paint colour!

Underneath, this car is equipped with the EK9 22mm rear sway bar and EK9 shocks paired with Lovell springs which is a potent bang for buck upgrade for the lesser model EK chassis. The front swaybar remains standard as it is the same diameter as the EK9 one.

While it may not be the wildest or angriest car around, what has been done has been done to increase the thing that matters most when driving a car, and that is driver satisfaction. While some lose sight of this when shooting for crazy power or impractical wheel fitment, Mat has succeeded in preserving one of the determining factors that made the Civic such a favourite among drivers the world over. And that is the smile that one gets when hitting the VTEC crossover and navigating a challenging set of twisties in a well set up FWD chassis.
I'll leave you with a few parting pictures of the drive we took today.

Blood, sweat and fumes

Sometimes you have one of those days where you wake up and you promise yourself, "today, I'm going to get shit DONE...". Well today was one of those days. With not a cloud in the sky, the weather was perfect, and I was champing at the bit to make some headway into painting my 10s as well as beginning to separate my multi piece rims. 

Progress shot of me putting another few coats on the wheels along with repainting the underside of the MR2.

 

I then proceeded to douse my Rays Sebrings in some WD40 before I got cracking on removing the bolts that hold the pieces together.  I was contemplating flipping the centres on these wheels but unfortunately they have too little offset for it to be even remotely viable. The rims are 16x7 +25 offset. To be honest, I would have flipped the centres if the wheels were anything over 35 offset, but after discussions, I have decided to just refurb and paint these rims, and leave the flipping to my Impuls which might be slightly more achievable than this set. 

A few bolts of the first wheel removed (and right about now I was forecasting how long doing all 3 rims was going to take). Sadly I do not have a full set of these rims, so they will be delegated to skid/tack wheels. 

As I progressively removed the bolts from the rim, I put them in a container to soak in degreaser in order for them to stop looking so ratty and shine again. 

 

After a bit more faffing about and some more token Nui FM on the radio, I finally got my first rim apart.

 Thankfully, for an old discontinued rim, they came apart remarkably easy. Top tip, soaking it hours before hand with WD40 and a nice well placed Sparta kick does wonders for getting a Rays wheel apart. A generous helping of degreaser and sand paper later and walla!

A nice semi clean band ready for further cleaning before the curb marks get removed.

Part way into my second wheel, I was greeted with a pleasant sight in my driveway. 

A good mate of mine owns this car and I had been wanting to do a write up on this car for aaaaages. So much so I had already taken some teaser photos for it months ago!

Anoraks and those who know what to look for will notice that something is out of the ordinary in this car. Look closer and you will spot a 5 stud hub conversion and tinted EK9 glass all round.

Out stepped this colourful character, my mate Mat. We then proceeded to separate the last wheel, along with horse around, discuss build plans, make the rash decision to paint his rocker cover, and begin painting my lip on the 10s.

 

I then began a preliminary attempt at masking off the lip of my rim to start painting it in a colour that would hopefully turn some heads. My initial attempt left much to be desired and I will be redoing this again at a later time.

 

While doing that, Mat decided to strip the paint from his rocker cover along with the centres from my Rays.

 B series love.

The end product for the rocker cover.

Here's the first official shot of the new colour scheme for my rims (forgive the crappy masking attempt, this wheel will be redone)

Not long to go now! 

Some of you may already know of this, but I have picked up a new distraction in the form of an Accord coupe that is in need of a LOT of TLC.  All I can say is, I'm excited for the outcome of this and it will be good to finally be back in a Honda. Alas progress on that build shall be very very slow as I require a donor car, and I still need to get rid of my NA MR2 in order to free up some space and start working on the Accord. 

Exciting times are ahead and I hope you stay tuned for regular updates on the page. Thanks for reading.