Sound Advice.

By Trav Stanley

As revealed in my last blog entry, I am slowly tying up all of the loose ends associated with selling my EG. I was chasing a few OEM parts as I stock it out and sell off my aftermarket parts. Even after 8 years or wrenching on my EG I still got owned but shit advice. So frustrating. I researched and asked a few OG’s about what would fit etc and it just plain didn’t. I have gone on about this before because it’s a pet hate topic for me. I know there is allot of information out there which is great but people can’t just read some garbled info from the other side of the world, repeat it as gospel when trying to be ‘helpful’. That’s how kittens die! Well not exactly but it can mess up someone’s day, week or even their car.

I know a car can always be fixed but at the cost of what? It’s all well and good if it doesn’t waste your time and money. I plead with all the kids out there one thing: If you haven’t done it yourself or been directly involved in it, don’t give people advice on it! Simple. I don’t tell noobs that part x, which is designed for another car, bolts right up unless I have done that exact some thing. So many people read something on a US site and then assume, remember assuming makes as ass of you me, it’ll work on that clueless kids AUDM EG5. Do it first, and then advise others. I’ve wasted time and money, busted knuckles, tantrums; done the whole lot because of dodgy advice. We all have or will fall victim to it but in the future, before you type, before you post, before you ‘help’ think; “who am to tell some kid how to mount his turbo? Or dial his alignment? Or something as simple as picking his engine oil?

So please, unless you’ve direct knowledge of the part, swap, conversion, modification shut the F up until you have. If you are one of those guys that likes to post, converse or whatever, fine post. But at least say that you haven’t done it but you have read or seen the information somewhere. This personal ‘disclaimer’ will save you looking like a knob when your advice comes unstuck and will give the information seeker the real truth.

There are lots of OG’s and professionals that have actually done what you want to before. Find them; ask them, they will most likely help you out. Professionals like Leo here at JDMC know his shit. Straight up, if you want information regarding mega JDM parts, he’s your man. I know I have learnt allot from him and appreciate his advice and help every time I send him an email. Has steered me wrong as of yet. Props to Leo.

If all that fails, well you’ll have to do what our forefathers did……..get a measuring tape out and measure it up first! Remember; measure twice, cut once!

Safe cutting yo.

By Trav Stanley

Breaking up with a long term girlfriend, moving interstate and selling a long term project; all pretty hard crap for a dude to do. Although I am hoping to move interstate soon, my current stress and emotional flash point is the sale my EG. The beloved TRAVDM EG. The EG that I have had for almost 9 years, done so much to and so much with (check pics). It’s the end of an era, a chapter closed and to the future, who knows?

It has been coming for a while but the last 2 years have a been a real struggle for me and the EG. My current ‘life situation’ simple does not allow a gutted, dumped, impractical, cop magnet of an EG to be my whip. It’s just too hard and simple not worth the drama. I love the car to death but it’s just so hard. It’s like having a pedigree award winning race house left in a petting zoo giving spoil brats rides around a barn. Not cool, in fact, straight up waste full.

The revelation to finally sell came to me alone in my tiny garage. I was under the car messing around AGAIN with my stupid exhaust that no matter how much money was thrown at it would never satisfy me. As usual I researched on the net, talked to some peeps and guesstimated what would fit and finally solve my problems. I start my search and source what I need. I pay more in shipping costs then the item is worth. I get the item a week later, I then sandblast and powder coat it and refurb the part back to OEM mint-ness. I go to finally fit it and it plain does not fit! Not even close! More lies! I then proceed to have an epic dummy spit and pray to god no young kids walk past and witness my terrible language and behaviour. Dudes do get PMS I am sure of it! All my research and advice from so called Honda OG’s is wrong, way wrong! I call this anti-knowledge and after years of working on my little Honda, I still fall victim to it. Well that was last straw.

Allot of soul searching was done, bank accounts were reviewed, the 4 was carried, and having that tough conversation with my close Honda mates was had. Allot of ‘no, you can’t’ and ‘don’t do it’ comments were voiced but in the end it had no affect. The final decision was made. Photos were taken and a sale thread was made. The epic part out sale was published and it went bananas! My heavily modified EG went back to stock econobox pretty quickly.

With a new owner lined up and its departure inevitable and sit and ponder have I don’t the right thing? I also ponder how the frig the Lakers didn’t make it to the NBA finals?! Damn.

One thing is certain though, the overwhelming support from my Honda homies about the car is humbling. So many nice words were spoken of the EG, its mods, care and general status and even me to a degree. Wow, so taken back. Although it is regrettable that I am selling the EG I wont regret it. Through the car, I learnt so much, met so many top people, did so much and travelled to so many places. It will always have a tender spot in my heart but all things must come to an end. Although I’m soon to have another project in my life as the EG makes that vacant spot I know that the insane number of top people that I have met because of the EG will not change.

Sincere thanks to all that had anything at all to do with my EG over the years.

Lightbombin’ for life.

Next Gen.

By Trav Stanley

Over the Christmas period I had the opportunity to meet with some Honda kids in Brisbane. A rare occasion for me indeed. Brisbane is so far away from me now and seems to be barely a faint memory of my past. I didn’t know what to expect, it was a late night, and spontaneous pseudo get together/meet. I only knew like one dude there. My good mate, emo Dave and I attended and had a pretty rad time. We rocked up in my stock as daily Euro and I felt rather inadequate compared to the other rides there. Hondas basically rolling hard as. Top notch swaps, cages, wheels with poke and nut scraping stances. Whips were sick! I was very impressed to say the least.

All of the guys were what I call young and lucky. I had my EG when I was their age, about 8 years ago, and mine was no where near as sweet as theirs when I was at their age. I was lucky to have a cheap fart can and some slip on seat covers. These kids cars are harder than mine is now after 8 years! The standard is so high, it was amazing. These kids love the hell out of their cars and the way they were talking, there is no stop ahead anytime soon. It was great to see the cult classic EG chassis has many good years left in it yet.

Talking with the guys for a few hours was awesome. It blew me away how happy and friendly they were towards me. I was merely some dude they may or may not have ‘heard’ of from the scene and forums of a few years ago. They were happy to talk, ask questions and joke around. I thought id feel old and out of touch but it was not the case. A good night was had by all.

I have complete faith in the next generation of Honda drivers/modifiers into future. I am not saying that I agree with every Honda fad or whim but the Honda kids of the future are as laid back but still passionate as that same group of people, which includes me, of yesteryear.

Id like to personally thank Alex, Rory and the rest of FFamily gang for letting me kick it them Xmas 2010. The meeting has made me double think my possible decision to move on from my EG as I look at CRVs in the Trading Post. P

Photo courtesy of www.downshiftaus.com.

By Trav Stanley

No I am not going to talk about those dumb book shops that sell coffees, videos, ipods and tampons. You know the ones. Or am I going to talk about that hideous green car audio company of the same name. The dictionary states fusion as being the bonding of two different objects together. Its also mentions something about chemical reactions and so on but we don’t have time for that. I my opinion my mates EK that I am helping build contains a little bit of fusion.

His drivers seat setup is three differently branded parts bonded together to execute one hell of a setup. He has a black Sparco Sprint V bucket, Vision Technica Super Low seat rails and Bride Tuning Seat Pads. So his Italian seat held in by a Japanese rail and his Australian arse held in tighter by some Japanese Bride pads? All good man. I have seen people talk about they only use X branded parts and to mix and match would be f’d up like washing your socks a jar of salsa. WRONG! This blend of parts work so well and the combo was purely chosen because parts were needed, and these ones would do the job. Not to save money or get forum pussy.

Some people to need to stress less and enjoy the enormous variety of parts we can choose from. Spoon, Mugen and friends wouldn’t be so cool if that’s all we could buy. I am for one also so sick of seeing photos from a meet where like 9 out of 10 dudes are rocking the exact same shit. You got to diversify yo shit y’all! Variety is the spice of the life and with good variety comes cool little ‘fusions’ popping up all around the place.

So the next time you are online shopping for a new part, instead of searching by brand, search by part, you might find something you didn’t know about. Hell, it could be just as good as your mate’s, the brand Nazi, new whats-a-ma-jigger he got last week. Do it.

Postscript: The photo above does show the discussed ‘fusion’ covered in grime, dust and dirt. Please forgive us; building a car in a garden shed is dirty work!

By Trav Stanley

Why do Chicken in a Biskit’s not actually taste like chicken? My answer is that they just don’t. This answer I will also use to answer this question: Why do homies just stop being homies? Again, they just do. I think it is funny that with so many ways to stay in touch and communicate nowadays we can so easily loose track of each other. Basically, we just fall out of love. This sucks. I remember being so tight with some kids back in the day and talking for hours about cars, chilling and cruising together and now I wouldn’t know what most of them even drive. Let alone the brand, size, colour, thread, pitch, star sign, and whatever other ridiculous spec their lug nuts are. Lol

No one is to blame, things just happen, someone sells their car or moves or don’t say it, gets a psycho Mrs. Ha! But really is that a good enough excuse to stop chatting with someone or catching up with them every now and then? I try my hardest to stay in touch with long distant and local homies. I know it’s hard sometimes and I just want to wrap myself up in my own bullshit and say that ill message them later. This is insane in the lame and if you do this too, stop it! We have all got to try. Get back in touch y0! (So if I owe you a message, send me one instead!)

As a high school reunion looms for me it has reminded me that I have great mates in who knows where that I should really email, call or visit. What about you? When was the last time you pm’d that old mate of yours who helped you swap your whip like 3 years ago? Maybe you should send a random ‘hey, what’s up?’ message and reignite what the car scene/community is about. That is, people. Cars can be nice or rice but still need people to drive them either way and that’s why we kick it together, have meets etc. To chillax together and talk poo. So before you keep yourself locked into your ‘usual’ clique hit up your old mates or some new randoms and get out there. Hang out, stay in touch and keep slapping hands with people just like you and me; car dudes and dudettes.

So I look forward to seeing you out and at the next meet willing to kick it, tell me about your car and tell me mine badly needs paint. Lol. Also, don’t forget to message that other guy you haven’t seen for ages, he might have traded his gutted hatch for a family since then but he’s still your mate.

Here is a throwback pic of yours truly at a QLD Honda meet back in 2004. Go the Pumas and Speedys Lol.

By Trav Stanley.

Those that read the t-blog regularly know that I live in a small mining town in the desert and I don’t drive my hatch enough. I have recently made a concerted effort to drive my car allot more. Driving my car any more than once a month used to be an anomaly. Reasons for not driving the car are related to road condition and layout. I.e. they are extremely crappy and way too straight. My sump and header used to regularly eat gravel, potholes and the road in general. My fenders and inner guards commonly dined on the hatch’s sticky tyres. The removal of a camber adjustment kit, spacers and a slight lift in ride height has thankfully alleviated these problems. So I am back rolling on crap roads that are straight, REALLY straight. Not ideal ill admit, but least I am rolling again.

The car is still too loud, hot and rough but hey, I can deal with that. So the other day, my good mate decided to go for a ‘cruise’ in the hatch. The town is tiny so you literally have to drive around town 1000 times or jump on the highway and travel to a neighbouring town to go for a decent drive. We did a quick lap of town and then jumped on the highway and headed east to the next town over. We got there, did a lap and actually found a sweet remote road with a couple of nice sweeping turns, rad. We then left town and headed west again. Once back close to town we took another remote road not previously driven. Again, we found another remote road with some nice corners and a hairpin tighter than a church going pre-teen, more radness. After that we continued toward the other side of town, even further west for a poke around. We then round a town favourite, another deadly hairpin. This one however is tighter still and comes off a road signed 100kmph so legal entry speed can be, and is, way higher. The corner is cut up to poo because of heavy vehicle traffic but that just makes it more interesting. My tyres were nice and warm by that point anyways. Rad.

After a bit more cruise/driving, we head back to town for lunch at our local hang spot. Surprisingly there is a place in town that serves nice coffee and sandwiches, plus has some cute employees. That’s why we always go there. After lunch we head home but before then my mate spots a crazy bushfire on the edge of town and suggests we check it out. Bushfires are cool, right Earle? Anyways, we head down this cul-de-sac and look who we find, the po po. Damn, I do an emergency u-turn to get out of there and guess what? Lights and sirens, game over.  Damn. We WERE having a pretty cool day. So I pull over, the cop takes forever to come to me. We spot that it could be the cop we vaguely know from the gym. There is a glimmer of hope. Oh, nope. It wasn’t, damn again. It was some semi hot early 20s blonde chick we both hadn’t seen before. She tells me it’s purely a RBT and licence check. The combination of my super low fixed back and less than standard ride height has her eyeing the car like crazy. Plus I struggled to reach high enough out of the window to blow in the bag she was holding. I blow a zero reading, as always, and then she takes my licence back to the patrol car to check. As she walks off she asks “Is it (my car) registered and who lowered your suspension?” I felt like saying; “…Soichiro Honda did baby, this whip is stock as a rock. You can’t ping me for anything!” LOL. I didn’t, I just BS’d saying that I purchased it years ago like this and someone on the Sunshine Coast did it. Definitely not true as Earle and I had only been dialling the suspension less than a week ago.

She checks my licence and then lets us go without further comment. THANK GOD. I am not sure if she thought I was a P plater or what but thank god she didn’t look harder. I am sure I would have been older than her. Nothing on my car is engineered and it’s too loud and low, plus I have no wipers and no OEM emission controls whatsoever, the list goes on. LOL. We pull away and head straight home. Earle apologies and counts his lucky stars. If he did get me defected I would of popped a cap in his arse. Guns are easy to come by out here, that’s for damn sure. He shares with me that the story would have made a good blog entry and here it is. We drove around for a good hour or so, we did over 130kms and we were less that 5kms from home when I got pulled over. What are the chances?

The motto of this story escapes me. I’m not sure wether it’s telling me not to be a sticky beak or to make my car less inconspicuous and stock it out a bit. Either way, I think I am going to stick to driving on lonely remote roads and staying the hell out of dead end cul-de-sacs. Oh and one other thing I am definitely not going to do anymore, that’s listen to Earle.

Douchebag.

By Trav Stanley.

When is the last time you sat back and really observed a bunch of people who are all passionate about one thing talk, converse or debate that one thing? I love my wife to death; she’s the best but 99% of her close friends are teachers, just like her. There have been many occasions where I am ‘stuck’ amidst an animated group of teachers talking, usually loudly about kids, the P&C and other random teacher crap. My usual response is that of a possum when faced with a predator…. ACT DEAD. Once their attention on me has fades, I slowly remove myself from the immediate area to find a bloke to scratch my nuts with and/or to enjoy a spot of BS talking.

It’s fine for me to comment on what’s its like when a bunch of passionate teachers are together socialising and carrying on but it’s the same for ANY bunch of passionate people. Say a bunch of Honda heads. We all get into group conversations with other like minded enthusiasts and go nuts. Does anyone actually listen to themselves? Like, REALLY listen? Usual topics include; plans for future mods, new parts out and general scene gossip. Sound about right? Well a topic that my close mates seem always to cover is the ‘next’ car. The ‘next’ car is like your second wife; a newer, younger model with more ‘potential’ and it’s usually a bit newer. I think this seems to happen to us because the majority of my mates have had their Hondas for 5 years or longer which is an eternity for usual gen Y and I’s (read: you and me).

After 5 years, the honeymoon is well and truly over, it’s merely a distant memory, the real car has shown itself. You have had 5 long years to discover all of the dodgy things the previous owner did to the car that you didn’t know about when you first purchased it. You’ve rolled many different setups or combos, done some racing, done some parking and probably got a ticket or two. Like milk, has the car/project gone…..off? Was it always destined to happen or is it your own for fault for not be able to stay ‘faithful’?

So at this stage, you look for a new project, maybe sell off your current whip, part it out or commit some dodgy insurance fraud. This consideration of other projects comes up in the convo’s you have with your mates. Most sentences’ start with; “You know what would be cool?” or “You know what I have always wanted to build?”

So what do you do when you start thinking like this and even worse, talking like this? God only knows but recently that’s been me. A bit dodgy I know, especially if you remember my previous blog entry. For me it has allot to do with what my mates are doing with their cars. One mates ride gets more hardcore every time I talk to him. Its ridiculous, this thing is a straight up track monster, its sick to death, I love it. I am so jealous. Another mate, has got a pretty sick ride that is both track worthy but still doable (just) on the street. More jealousy. Another has his ride prepped for a super neat lil JDM swap that’ll really round the car off as really fun street car, plus it looks clean as hell with a bunch of J’s Racing parts on it. Even more jealousy. Finally, the last mate has gone pretty much back to stock. Back to comfy. Back to quiet. Back to fuel efficient. There is also a tiny bit of me that is also jealous of him.

So I guess you’re wondering what will be my second wife? The next project. A track monster? A stocker? Or something in between? I don’t know what you’d call it but I have always wanted to build an Accord Wagon. A 94-ish CD Accord Wagon or Aerodeck as it’s also known. See photo.

Tonnes of potential, plus its definitely different and I could probably fit a baby seat in the back. Lol. Imagine it lowered on some SSR’s, sticky tyres, F20B 5spd under hood and a pair of fixed back buckets. Rad.

So where does this leave me? Am I on the look for an Aerodeck, heading for the for sale forums with some photos of my car? Nah. Like all good urges they come and go. When I sit in my EG at the lights, ill just stick to dreaming every time I see an Aerodeck roll past. Like a good husband, you can’t just jump on the next ride when you get tired, bored or disgruntled. However when that does eventually happen, just click the JDMC banner up top, order some new parts and freshen’ up wifey number 1 with some tasty ‘bolt ons’ ;o)

Postscript: This entry made me remember I had a super old photo of myself and my EG when I first got it back in the day. The photo was actually taken an actual film camera Lol. I searched high and low for it but couldn’t find it. It’ll be a hoot if I can find it. Ill keep looking, stay tuned peeps!

By Trav Stanley.

I like my car. Allot. I have had it for over 7 years now and it has gone from super stock and unmolested to modified, tracked and hella molested, all by me. It has seen various rims, many different combinations of parts, many alignments and many, many drums of oil. The only thing I have had longer than my EG is my wifey. She just wins out by a few months. To others, it’s just a “rice burner” or some other played out derogatory reference to a Japanese car, but to me, it’s my whip.

In 2009, I hatched a plan to relaunch my car, change allot of it up and make it more ‘streetable’. This plan, starting this year, involved selling some old parts to be either replaced or simple removed. This handful of parts I removed and sold on the trusty Honda forums. I noticed that the parts were in awesome, if not basically new condition. I thought this was just a product of my dedication to maintaining a rigid maintenance schedule for my car and basically take care of my gear. I sold my old parts really quickly and I got what I considered, market value or higher. I didn’t think too much of this and then just last weekend I realised why the parts were in excellent condition. I more I considered it, the more I actually saw it. You know what I saw?

COBWEBS! I mass of thick, white cobwebs that seemed to never to end. Here’s the cracker, they were all over my car! That’s right, not a word of a lie! I had cobwebs all around my rims extending to the ground on all four corners of my car. What the? Grandpa get yo hatchback? The cause, I never drive my car anymore. It sucks. No wonder my parts aren’t worn out, they don’t do any work at all because I simple don’t drive my car anymore. Delete me please, I am retarded. My car sits patiently waiting in my garage with the battery disconnected praying to get driven. It’s a shame and a serious realisation that has really only occurred to me. I don’t know why it took so long but damn, I suck.

I have very new tyres, rims and basically a new seat, plus a matching passenger one in the shed, all going to waste. I have been so busy with work, uni, my mates EK and building a house to even take my humble old EG for a spin. I car that has seen me through think and thin, if the EG could speak it would plead with me to drive it, like back in the day! This must change.

My EG used to be my daily, then it was my weekend car and now I think it’s somewhere between a monthly and a bi-yearly car. Man, WTF? It sucks, I make this promise to drive it tomorrow and I will. I know we all wish we had a spare car or a work car so we could do a crazier swap, or ride even lower, I know I did. Now I have both, a work car and a daily but when you get that chance guys, don’t do what I have be doing. And that is neglecting to drive my car, that’s what cars do, drive! So take it from me, from a guy that has been around a little bit and been though most of the car crap you have and probably haven’t seen yet, don’t forget to drive your car! Drive it, track it, or sit on it at your local meet with your arms crossed. Who cares! Just drive yo shit! Damn.

Spiders usually live in cupboards or under fridges etc but I have some spiders living it up between my MOMO and Sparco! Not anymore!

*grabs can of Raid and car keys*

It’s a Small World.

By Trav Stanley

There are allot of peeps out there that don’t know where I am right now. I used to live in Brisbane. It was awesome, so many meets and rad Hondas. I got out and about as much as I could, met as many Honda kids as I could and went to the track all the time. Allot has changed since then. We ‘relocated’. Or shall I say, was basically forced to move, or we’d suddenly become a one income family. It sucked at the time but looks like it may have worked out. So we moved to a very small town out west. Along way from BNE, my mates, the track and half decent roads.

In our new home town, one thing was immediately apparent. No one rolls Hondas. Damn. There a few standard late model ones floating around but it’s safe to so say I am outnumbered. That’s cool because I am somewhat used to that because I don’t drive a commonwhore or skyrine. In town there are only two other modified Hondas. 1; my best mate’s, which I helped build and have had a huge influence on. So basically, it’s hella tight. 2; a ridiculously ugly EK hatch that is candy purple-ish, has tinsel snot for rims and probably auditioned as an extra in The Fast & Furious movie. And which I doubt made it. Said hatch is owned by a 17 year old chick that works at the local take away joint. One time my mate, Earle, went into the take away joint, she served him and asked him about his car. No joke her name is Peaches too by the way. She spoke about how hers is a 98 EK and Earle’s is ‘only’ a 96. Lucky for Earle he didn’t say what he was thinking which was that her EK was the biggest piece of poo too ever to grace these dusty roads. Peaches thought she was ballin’, Earle thought she was dumb but his polite silence ensured his food wasn’t spat it. lol.

So basically, my Honda socialising days are over. There are some regional Honda kids a few hours east of me but it’s a hell of a drive and they don’t really seem to keen to have a meet or get together. Trust me, I have tried. By pure chance I have befriended some local drift punks that live in the same area. They are cool, have some pretty rad gear but it’s just not the same. RWD, turbo’s, busted arse panels, that’s just not what Hondas are.

Last weekend I drove that ‘hell of a drive’ and headed to the coast, to a bigger regional city and shops, traffics lights etc. I was excited. My wifey and I had a big day of shopping planned. I was in the car park of a big mall just walking heading into another shop and then I heard it. A Honda. I stopped in my tracks and scanned the car park for it; the car pack was basically full. Damn. A super minty Phoenix Yellow DC2R appeared and then rolled right past us. It was dumped on OEM gunmetal ITR rims, sported some sticky treads and aftermarket lugs. The noise I heard could not be missed, the sweet sound of a DOHC VTEC Honda throbbed from a hella rad titanium J’s Racing catback exhaust. This DC2R was dope as, especially for a place that doesn’t even know what a Honda is. I just stopped and stared as it rolled by and then I spotted it, one of Leo’s cool JDM Concept stickers. RADICAL! My day was officially made! lol. Dumb me didn’t even think to wait till the dude parked and go have a chat to him. Damn, I could have started something. Oh well.

Basically I was very pleased to see a couple of things that day. 1; A half decent Honda at least located in the same ‘region’ as me. 2; Leo’s reach as far as a parts supplier. For me and especially people up here that’s important. Shipping is such a killer when ordering parts. It can make a good deal seem crap. So, to see that Earle and I aren’t the only ones up this way to see the good stuff Leo has and does is awesome. Seeing that Teg definitely made my day, it really is a small world. Go JDMC!

Sometimes you just can’t beat OEM.

By Trav Stanley

All the Honda cats out there will have heard the infamous quote; “My VTEC fell off…” The story goes that someone in a VTEC equipped Honda was street racing and lost. He exclaimed to his sympathetic girlfriend that his VTEC did indeed fall off and that’s why he lost. We know that VTEC simply doesn’t fall off and sometimes our cars just don’t go or don’t go like they should. It’s not VTEC’s fault, VTEC is our friend. lol.

This leads to a recent story of when my car basically didn’t want to go anymore. Something did indeed fall off but it sure as hell wasn’t my VTEC. I was just cruising along heading home; I was only about a minute from my destination. I pulled right through an intersection onto the main road; I put my foot down and revved second gear out. VTEC engaged and then sort of died. What the…? It felt like I had a fuel or ignition problem, it just lost power. I put the car in fifth gear and coasted along, hoping just to get home and have a look at it. Damn, ECU light came on and it was game over, car stalled.

I rolled to a stop by the side of the road, popped the hood and started to look for anything abnormal. Shit, cylinder 1 spark plug lead was free from the distributor cap! Just hanging there, IT FELL OFF! How the hell does that happen? I couldn’t believe it, my leads were an aftermarket set from the US which were not cheap. Granted I have had them for a couple of years, but is that all they have in them, 2 years?

I thought my problems were over, I pressed the lead back on expecting my car to start and Id just poke along home. Wrong! Because my lead fell off and my motor continued to run, well try to run, it fried my ignition coil. The car won’t start without a working coil. The car cranked fine, nice and strong but just wouldn’t fire. Dumb.

So I was 2km’s from home with a dead coil and some so called ‘performance’ leads that I no longer had any faith in, I was pissed. I called my mate and we basically pushed my hatch home. To add salt to the wound, it starting raining! Oh man, it wasn’t my day. Once home and dry, I starting to pull things apart. A dead coil looks exactly like a working coil so initially I didn’t think that was my problem. I tried many other things first, my relay, spark plugs and so on. After a couple of hours in the garage with no luck, I jumped on the net and did some research. I read around and learnt that it was my coil died. This happened because my lead fell off and being an inline four cylinder engine, it doesn’t like only having only 3 cylinders firing. Who would of thought?

I jumped in the daily with the wifey and headed to the wrecker. They had the exact car and motor I needed and went in and got a used coil for $5. NOT. I pulled the coil off an OBD2a CRV with the hope it would fit. It was more than $5 too. Luckily it did, and it even worked. So picture me rolling, B16 EG hatch with aftermarket leads and a CRV coil. Sounds OK right? Wrong (again!). The lead again fell off! This time 10ks from home! We towed the car home again and began to take things apart. The coil was definitely dead; there are some resistance tests you can do with a multimeter to determine if it’s really dead. It was. My EG was turning into a coil killer.

It was basically all the leads fault, they just plain sucked. Like I said, they were aftermarket and costly. How could they be falling off easily after only 2 years of use? I tried to expand their ends so they would fit more securely but it that didn’t help. They have killed two coils so far and left me stranded twice, bin. I ditched them, ordered an OEM set of Leo as well as a new coil. For half the price of the aftermarket leads and the second hand coil I got a brand new coil and set of OEM leads from Honda Japan. That’s a pretty frickin’ rad deal in my book. I have also read that most aftermarket leads do nothing at all for performance so they are a complete waste. So if they do nothing for performance, i.e. on the dyno, LOOSE power, then why do we buy them? Probably because most of us don’t know. I have been wrenching on Hondas for over 6 years now and didn’t know until just recently that OEM leads are simply the best choice for Hondas. It’s also funny to think that when you buy a 10 year old motor to swap in your Honda, it usually comes with OEM leads. More often than not, with a clean up and some contact cleaner the 10 plus year old leads work fine. Their reliability is not compromised.

The OEM setup back in my hatch and it runs stronger than ever. Since the change I have had no issues whatsoever. I have always been a fan of OEM Honda parts and I really regret wasting my money on the aftermarket leads. I don’t know why I changed from OEM in the first place. Dumb. OEM Honda parts are basically the shit. So if your whip breaks down or you need some OEM parts, don’t even bothering trying to explain to local Honda parts guy what you want, he’ usually a retard anyway, just get onto Leo. He’ the OEM Honda parts king.