haha.. yah, we all go through that phase. mine came before 2000 and got it out of my system. not making fun, more of a retro good ol' times feel. do they still sell washer nozzles? those use to be pretty popular too back in the altezza tail days.

 

at least you got super autobacs. all we got here is faking autozone and OLRY's (oreily's).. only good for oil recycling. i buy most everything online.

 

I have custom hidden switches for both interior and exterior installed discreetly under the dashboard in the center. I usually keep the interior on and kill the exterior unless I want some nostalgia. Underglow is still seen around here sometimes, but isn't as popular as it used to be as you say.

Yeah, we have Yellow Hat and Autobacs. Very nice stores, and have a lot of hardware and accessories. I also go to UpGarage and GarageOff. I also order part online if I can't find them at the stores from US vendors like Amazon or CarID.

Yellow Hat and Autobacs are very nice, but command a premium price usually.

At least your O'Reilly isn't Bill O'Reilly.

 

I think so... but I haven't seen them too much. Today most people are once again trying to be different but end up being the same: Overly exaggerated camber that provides probably negative performance, and combined with deep fender tucking and high negative offset. Which is part of the reason I keep my car the way I like rather than following a trend as it ends up all looking the same and nothing stands out for better or worse.　( *´艸｀)ふふふ～

 

yah, i think if you limit to it lighting up when you unlock/lock your doors it might be more subtle, maybe trigger it off your dome lights or something to simulate puddle lights.. and another sw to light up while driving when u want nostalgia.

in my area anything other than standard lights are illegal so will quickly be pulled over. so triggering it while stopped was the legal and 'cool' way back then i suppose. and they were neons and those pos tubes would sometimes not light up when wanted. lol u guys all use LED's now which are A LOT more reliable and brighter too.

 

right. bosouzoku or yankee style.. not so cool for real car guys. even here i hate hella flush a toilet look.

 

I have extra wired taped off, but they allow it to be hooked into the dome light for the effect you are describing. I am not sure how to go about it just yet without some help, and I would have to do some disassembly of my center console to access the wires again which is troublesome.

You are right, I have 3 aluminum and silicone housed LED bars installed on pinch-weld and front, the back I took off until I put an aero kit on where it can be better hidden, and I need a drill to mount it properly by drilling into the boot compartment.

 

Some look kind of cool, but like you say, it doesn't look right sometimes, and I worry that their car scrapes or tires rub when they hit a bump or take a steep driveway or incline.　そうだね、ぼそうぞくはぜったい迷惑・忌々しいだろう...

Yeah, motor bike gang is sooo annoying problem here, I wish police did more about it.

 

u sound like u're from UK. they refer to the trunk as the boot. hood is bonnet like jlanders.

except you guy say it 'bon netto'

a waat?

BON NETTO

 

I would love to visit an Upgarage. Only problem may be how to get the items I like back to the States.

I plan to work on lighting also on the car, maybe in a couple months or so. Nothing too extreme. Probably end up buying Chinese housing parts and changing to LEDs or HID. I'll see if I can pickup used JDM lights, that would be "lit", lol, (sorry, couldn't resist).

about MINIs, funny thing. When I was at the dealer looking at this car, there was a used JCW hardtop there I was interested in. I liked, but thought that would totally blow my budget when I'd be done. After a few performance parts and a tune, some basic maintenance, cost of additional fuel and insurance monthly...it just wasn't the right 'fit' for the purpose. I still have my beater daily turbo, so that'll have to do in the meantime.

I guess swapping ivtec into a mini has become popular, I wonder if anyone has tried the other way around, mini into a honda? Probably not as cost effective, but there's has gotta to be a few saying it could be done.

Fitdrift - what are your first impressions of your new exhaust?

 

I have a friend from England who I consult for advice as he is a registered mechanic there. He lives in Yokohama, so I pick up English variations from him.

 

Yes, I think I have seen at least one example of a Mini to a I-VTEC.

Actually Mr. Niteflight, UpGarage has a website you can visit and order your parts from, they offer an English version (At least for Croooober) and your purchases are redirected through Croooober and can be shipped worldwide, so getting parts from UpGarage shouldn't be a problem

About the Exhaust, I absolutely love it. Not only does it sound deep and mature, not overly loud, but it also provides a small boost to acceleration I can feel as I drive my car every day from long trips to short ones to the Konbini. The rubber hooks gave me the most hassle. I found spraying some solvent or lubricating spray into the space between where the metal and rubber touch helps so much with removal and attachment. The difference is clear like night and day.

The only problem I have is that there was some kind of white cushion or extender that was seated in the connecting point of the exhaust pipe and the muffler that I didn't have time to remove as it was getting dark and I was exhausted. So I don't have a snug seal and I worry some gas escapes. However it is bolted back on very tightly, so if it can hold until next weekend I will undo the bolts and try to see if I can pop it off and seal the two pipes together properly.

 

sounds good!

 

Fellow San Diegan! =) Too bad Im no longer a fit owner.

I had the tanabe exhaust and it was a nice subtle tone on my 2013 GE.

Are the GK front ends the same on USDM and JDM? I know the GE front ends were not =/

 

Wassup neighbor! yah, too bad. We were almost Civic Sport hatchback bros though.

I was car shopping about 3 weeks before you put your GE up for sale. My first choice at that time was a 2013 Fit Sport, that was also the first week they had the 2018 Civic Hatch Sport on the lot. I admired the sport hatch but the two cars were a little over 12k apart, so I decided to stick with the original plan.

I was checking out your posts here and on CL as you were returning back to stock. Wheels, tires, and coilovers are what interested me the most, but I hesitated since we had different body models.

Enjoy the new car! Post pics when you get a chance.

-Cheers!

 

Looking at a breakdown of a diagram for the exhaust system, I come to expect that cushion I mentioned may have actually been a flexible gasket. (Still learning as I go) I will likely have to remove it if possible and replace it with a proper 60 mm tanabe muffler gasket.

 

does it look like a mini donut? then yes.

 

On mine, I did not see any gasket. It was "metal-to-metal". I'm not sure what type of joint it's called, "flange-type", where one pipe fits into the other which has been "flared" slightly.

I have seen what you're talking about before, a paper-foam type gasket, but I didn't see one this install.

 

There's definitely a gasket there, it's more cone shaped from what I recall when I changed to the HKS on my 2015:

#9 here: https://www.hondapartsnow.com/parts-...e-muffler.html

 

Did a few cosmetic mods over the past couple weeks. Nothing exciting. Most have been done before, but thought I'd share.

Since I have the LX model, it didn't come with foglights. So I felt I had to add foglights to complete the look. Added a foglight bezel rep kit from Amazon and LED DRLs.

I kinda did a hack job on mounting the DRLs. I wanted to get as close to an OEM look as possible, so I used a Philips Daylight 4 kit.


I also added red emblems.

Before



After



On