Just a humble beginning of a car enthusiast....
Where do I begin? Well, I'll write a brief story about my own car life before I introduce my car itself. So get a cup of coffee, you'll be here for a while. Prior to getting into the whole sport compact car tuning/ricer/rice rocket phenomenon that we know of now, I was more into car audio...even though I was in middle school around the time of 1995. So my first experience with any vehicle that was modifed was riding in my cousin's white 95 Civic EX coupe with some old school Momo exhaust (yes, they made exhausts!), 95 GS-R wheels (the fat blades), a few stereo mods, and that's about it. Back then, simple things such as clear corner lenses for Civics had to be imported from Japan off the EG's! Yes, the factory Stanley ones or even the Vision ones! There was no such thing as eBay, APC, TYC, or anything made in Taiwan. So back in the mid-90's, the import thing wasn't a huge market yet.
The ol' school favorite, Racing Sports Akimoto intake.
So it all started back in 1996, towards the end of my freshman year in San Leandro High. I started getting into cars because one of my best friends at the time, Deon, introduced me to the "rice rocket" world. Parts were hard to come by back then and like I said, clear lenses were hard to come by during my first couple years of high school. It was funny because there was an early 90's Civic (the boxy kind, like the EF's before the EG/Ferio style) and a steel grey blue DA (90-93 Integra) there. Both cars were dumped to the ground and instead of clear corner lenses, they had WHITE VINYL over the orange parts! Back then, the only brands that were available were HKS (HKS Sport exhaust and the Super Dragger), Trust (or GReddy/Gracer/Grex), 5-Zigen (Border exhaust anyone?), RS Akimoto (who had one of these intakes!? Haha! Funnel ram like whut!), DC Sports, Sebring mufflers (loudest exhausts in the market), Eibach, Neuspeed (catering to VW and Honda), Hondasport, Lightspeed, Gude/Bullfrog, JG Engine Dynamics, and that's about it. Engine swaps were pretty rare, let alone turbo kits. Plus, that stuff was expensive. Back then, there was only one car that broke into 10's on a quarter mile and that was David Shih's CRX from Wicked Racing/Wheel Connection. Then the world went nuts when Adam Suruwatari's RX-7 from A&L Racing broke into 9's. Did I mention that drag racing was pretty huge back then? Especially out in the streets. I think racing in public is bad, but back then, I was naive, and thought it was pretty neat.
I don't have the old photo of A&L Racing's RX-7 when it was still black, sportin' the OZ Racing wheels, but this'll do.
So, I spent most of my high school years flippin' through issues of Sport Compact Car, Super Street (back when RJ de Vera was with Kosoku driving the "egg" Integra), Turbo Magazine, and Tuning Concept. Tuning Concept, back in the day, was a local Bay Area (got nationwide after a while) free magazine. It wasn't that well written or anything, but informative enough, I can't ask for much for a FREE magazine. I was pretty much introduced to the car world through that mostly when my dad would bring me a copy that he would grab from an accessory shop in Oakland Chinatown. Despite all this Honda talk, my first "favorite car" was actually the 240SX. During that summer of 1996, I was flipping through issues of Option Magazine and Carboy that my friend, Michael, lent me. He's from Hong Kong, so he's more familar with Nissans and Toyotas rather than Hondas like the US. "Hondas are crap" he says. Anyway, there was one car that really caught my eye in one of those magazines filled with Silvias, AE86's, Skylines, etc. I thought this one sparklin' blue 180SX fastback with some cool wheels and a body kit was the most bad assed thing ever. Watching Initial D 4 years later in 2000 revived that same appreciation for the 180SX again after my stint with Hondas. My friend Deon and I would stand outside after school watching the older folks roll up to pick up their underaged girlfriends in front of school. We'd make a game out of identifying parts on the car. So after a while, I started to become a parts catalog myself from all that reading just because I always wanted to plan out a project for a car, but I didn't have one, so that was just some silly daydreaming in my part.
As the years went by in high school, I ended up with a 92 Integra RS, automatic, as my first car very late into my senior year of high school. Very stripped down base model. No VTEC, it has the 140HP B18A1 in it. You'd have to get a GS-R model with the 1.7L B17A for some VTEC lovin'. No power options besides power steering. I had power locks and an alarm installed after I bought the car. It's the first car I've ever learned how to drive in. I was happy to get any car, but at the same time, I had a bit of peer pressure to get a Honda. I would have purchased a 240SX fastback, but I was told, "there's nothing for that car!", even though I could pretty much find anything for any car with a little research. Boy was I a naive 18 year old kid. I liked the 92-93 Integras because the front end looked better than the newer circle lighted Integras from 94-00. It's like the big debate about what looks cooler, the old GC's or the bugeyes when the WRX first came out. (GC's rock, of course)
Anyway, I had that car through most of college too and it just ended up being a super waste of money. First of all, it was an automatic. What the hell am I doing modifying an automatic Honda? No offense to those who do drive autos, I just didn't get as much out of my car as I would have liked. The car came with some bouncy ass cut Eibach Sportline springs. So I had to replace the shocks right when I bought the car in favor of a set of Tokico HP shocks (the non-adjustable blue ones). By that time, clear corners were cheap, and way more widely available, so I got a set of clear lenses. Haha, also one of the first flip down Pioneer CD decks. Which was another waste of money from the beginning of that Integra's life under my ownership.
Here on the cover of the very first issue of Super Street is (the now disbanded) Team Kosoku's yellow Integra with the old 3-piece Racing Hart Type-C's. Some people would sell their souls for a set of those or a set of Racing Hart Tracers!
I decided I wanted to get a little faster, so I got a GReddy MX exhaust and an AEM intake. Yup, more waste of money because I didn't even notice the difference in power. I know I'm supposed to be talking about my Impreza, but there's a story to be learned during this experience with my first car. If I don't know what the car can do when it's stock, then I start modding it, how the hell will I know that money that went into the parts actually helped? I'm very conservative now that I'm older and wiser, but this is coming from a guy who dumped a couple grand into a crappy looking car that eventually had lots of problems before I finally sold the damn thing in 2003. Maybe that money should have been better spent fixing the car's problems? Maybe I coulda used a set of Rota N1R's with new tires? Yes, I knew about Rotas a LONG time ago! Or probably a new paint job too, doesn't have to be a super nice paint job as long as it didn't look as crappy as it did when it left my driveway. Either way, I've moved on. So now with my Impreza, I'm more cautious with how I spend my money. That's why it's close to stock! I'm actually thinking, "is this a cost effective/practical mod for me?" So I take each mod, one step at a time due to the fact that it's expensive and I need to be smart about it and make sure I get my money's worth.
Now, as to how I got into Imprezas? That's a whole other story stemmed from hating my Integra, looking for an alternative to 240SX's, and a short article on Tuning Concept and Sport Compact Car about the 1998 2.5RS with the goldie gold wheels. 165HP AWD? YES PLEASE! Also, a neat story about how I came across a rare 2.5RS sedan, which I now drive, on one fateful night searching on Craig's List. Friends told me I'd never find the exact specs, but dammit, I found it! Oh yea, for whatever I DID modify on my car, I'll talk about that later as well. For now, this is enough stuff for you guys to read. I love writing from time to time, so, you'll see lengthy posts like these every now and then to spice things up.
Oh yea, here's my car when I first got it. Yes, that's a Strong Bad sticker!
Feel free to drop me a line. I'm welcomed to comments about my writing and what not.
- Holland
The ol' school favorite, Racing Sports Akimoto intake.
So it all started back in 1996, towards the end of my freshman year in San Leandro High. I started getting into cars because one of my best friends at the time, Deon, introduced me to the "rice rocket" world. Parts were hard to come by back then and like I said, clear lenses were hard to come by during my first couple years of high school. It was funny because there was an early 90's Civic (the boxy kind, like the EF's before the EG/Ferio style) and a steel grey blue DA (90-93 Integra) there. Both cars were dumped to the ground and instead of clear corner lenses, they had WHITE VINYL over the orange parts! Back then, the only brands that were available were HKS (HKS Sport exhaust and the Super Dragger), Trust (or GReddy/Gracer/Grex), 5-Zigen (Border exhaust anyone?), RS Akimoto (who had one of these intakes!? Haha! Funnel ram like whut!), DC Sports, Sebring mufflers (loudest exhausts in the market), Eibach, Neuspeed (catering to VW and Honda), Hondasport, Lightspeed, Gude/Bullfrog, JG Engine Dynamics, and that's about it. Engine swaps were pretty rare, let alone turbo kits. Plus, that stuff was expensive. Back then, there was only one car that broke into 10's on a quarter mile and that was David Shih's CRX from Wicked Racing/Wheel Connection. Then the world went nuts when Adam Suruwatari's RX-7 from A&L Racing broke into 9's. Did I mention that drag racing was pretty huge back then? Especially out in the streets. I think racing in public is bad, but back then, I was naive, and thought it was pretty neat.
I don't have the old photo of A&L Racing's RX-7 when it was still black, sportin' the OZ Racing wheels, but this'll do.
So, I spent most of my high school years flippin' through issues of Sport Compact Car, Super Street (back when RJ de Vera was with Kosoku driving the "egg" Integra), Turbo Magazine, and Tuning Concept. Tuning Concept, back in the day, was a local Bay Area (got nationwide after a while) free magazine. It wasn't that well written or anything, but informative enough, I can't ask for much for a FREE magazine. I was pretty much introduced to the car world through that mostly when my dad would bring me a copy that he would grab from an accessory shop in Oakland Chinatown. Despite all this Honda talk, my first "favorite car" was actually the 240SX. During that summer of 1996, I was flipping through issues of Option Magazine and Carboy that my friend, Michael, lent me. He's from Hong Kong, so he's more familar with Nissans and Toyotas rather than Hondas like the US. "Hondas are crap" he says. Anyway, there was one car that really caught my eye in one of those magazines filled with Silvias, AE86's, Skylines, etc. I thought this one sparklin' blue 180SX fastback with some cool wheels and a body kit was the most bad assed thing ever. Watching Initial D 4 years later in 2000 revived that same appreciation for the 180SX again after my stint with Hondas. My friend Deon and I would stand outside after school watching the older folks roll up to pick up their underaged girlfriends in front of school. We'd make a game out of identifying parts on the car. So after a while, I started to become a parts catalog myself from all that reading just because I always wanted to plan out a project for a car, but I didn't have one, so that was just some silly daydreaming in my part.
As the years went by in high school, I ended up with a 92 Integra RS, automatic, as my first car very late into my senior year of high school. Very stripped down base model. No VTEC, it has the 140HP B18A1 in it. You'd have to get a GS-R model with the 1.7L B17A for some VTEC lovin'. No power options besides power steering. I had power locks and an alarm installed after I bought the car. It's the first car I've ever learned how to drive in. I was happy to get any car, but at the same time, I had a bit of peer pressure to get a Honda. I would have purchased a 240SX fastback, but I was told, "there's nothing for that car!", even though I could pretty much find anything for any car with a little research. Boy was I a naive 18 year old kid. I liked the 92-93 Integras because the front end looked better than the newer circle lighted Integras from 94-00. It's like the big debate about what looks cooler, the old GC's or the bugeyes when the WRX first came out. (GC's rock, of course)
Anyway, I had that car through most of college too and it just ended up being a super waste of money. First of all, it was an automatic. What the hell am I doing modifying an automatic Honda? No offense to those who do drive autos, I just didn't get as much out of my car as I would have liked. The car came with some bouncy ass cut Eibach Sportline springs. So I had to replace the shocks right when I bought the car in favor of a set of Tokico HP shocks (the non-adjustable blue ones). By that time, clear corners were cheap, and way more widely available, so I got a set of clear lenses. Haha, also one of the first flip down Pioneer CD decks. Which was another waste of money from the beginning of that Integra's life under my ownership.
Here on the cover of the very first issue of Super Street is (the now disbanded) Team Kosoku's yellow Integra with the old 3-piece Racing Hart Type-C's. Some people would sell their souls for a set of those or a set of Racing Hart Tracers!
I decided I wanted to get a little faster, so I got a GReddy MX exhaust and an AEM intake. Yup, more waste of money because I didn't even notice the difference in power. I know I'm supposed to be talking about my Impreza, but there's a story to be learned during this experience with my first car. If I don't know what the car can do when it's stock, then I start modding it, how the hell will I know that money that went into the parts actually helped? I'm very conservative now that I'm older and wiser, but this is coming from a guy who dumped a couple grand into a crappy looking car that eventually had lots of problems before I finally sold the damn thing in 2003. Maybe that money should have been better spent fixing the car's problems? Maybe I coulda used a set of Rota N1R's with new tires? Yes, I knew about Rotas a LONG time ago! Or probably a new paint job too, doesn't have to be a super nice paint job as long as it didn't look as crappy as it did when it left my driveway. Either way, I've moved on. So now with my Impreza, I'm more cautious with how I spend my money. That's why it's close to stock! I'm actually thinking, "is this a cost effective/practical mod for me?" So I take each mod, one step at a time due to the fact that it's expensive and I need to be smart about it and make sure I get my money's worth.
Now, as to how I got into Imprezas? That's a whole other story stemmed from hating my Integra, looking for an alternative to 240SX's, and a short article on Tuning Concept and Sport Compact Car about the 1998 2.5RS with the goldie gold wheels. 165HP AWD? YES PLEASE! Also, a neat story about how I came across a rare 2.5RS sedan, which I now drive, on one fateful night searching on Craig's List. Friends told me I'd never find the exact specs, but dammit, I found it! Oh yea, for whatever I DID modify on my car, I'll talk about that later as well. For now, this is enough stuff for you guys to read. I love writing from time to time, so, you'll see lengthy posts like these every now and then to spice things up.
Oh yea, here's my car when I first got it. Yes, that's a Strong Bad sticker!
Feel free to drop me a line. I'm welcomed to comments about my writing and what not.
- Holland
