Life: Eibach 2018 at AutoClub Speedway Part 3

May 22, 2018May 22, 2018 / WhoisAnts / Leave a comment

Final post of Eibach 2018 at autoclub speedway! I’ve noticed something with my pictures I need to take more into account when I’m going over them…. My pictures look drastically different my iPhones (yes mine and my wife) compared to what I see on both my Mac Pro Desktop and Macbook even though I thought I calibrated them….

Check out my previous post here if you pissed it.

On to the pictures! At this point I was done checking out the cars in S2k row and started to venture out to the vendor area. An overcast arrived that was greatly welcomed, so being not so hot AF I really took my time…

Always a classic S2k look for me, Powerhouse Amuse R1 bumper and bronze wheels, in this case Mugen MF10 (I do wish they were CE28N) and a black OEM hardtop. This white car was also rocking spoon aero mirrors…. I still don’t know how I feel about the aero mirrors since I’ve re-fell in love with stock mirrors recently haha. I’ll probably change my mind about that in a few weeks, as I always do.

I do miss my Amue R1 bumper…..

This new gen NSX came fresh off the drag strip. It ran a stupid fast time….I just can’t remember what it was…. thrilling I know. I believe it only has exhaust modifications done to the car.

Not really a looker this one…. It would be a half decent build if it wasn’t for those awful headlights. Some mods really detract from the car, for example, for me at least, anytime people add these headlights or tail lights I really lose my S2000 boner. OEM is perfection.

This AP1 is packing an HKS super charger. Probably spent all of his money on the HKS Super charger so he had to go for the eBay headlights……

It was the first time seeing the Rywire Sema S2000 in person and it is glorious. It’s amazing how much nicer it is in person compared to in pictures. I spent a good amount of time looking over the fine details of this build since I’ve worked on a number of stock S2ks over the years and know when I see something not OEM under the hood…..

In pictures it does look strange with the really wide hips…..But in person it doesn’t look too drastic. Who can say no to the Mugen SS Bumper… especially one that has been widened for extra smileys.

I’ve had numerous ITBs on my personal S2k, so this Kinsler unit with the top feed injectors definitely peaked my interest. It’s interesting how Ryan integrated the DBW module and basically machined a shaft to match up with the Kinsler linkage. I’m pretty sure he’s using a Subaru Drive by Wire throttle unit. The way this was done, it could only be done with the Kinsler ITBs because the linkage is sideways compared to other itb setups….. Not the best explanation I know.

I love how extra plates with gussets were welded to the body to look super OEM. The bung coming out of the brake master cylinder was interesting. I really like this brake line look…. super tempted to do an ABS tuck….

really clean and tidy setup.

interior was very simple with a Mugen Gen III Steering wheel and JDM Recaro RSG. Looks like a pretty beefy rollcage, but lets be honest, this car will never see a race track….

Interesting blend of the Mugen SS rear bumper and Mugen Ap1 rear trunk lip. For me the side skirts make the car look really boxy and loses one of my favorite S2k lines.

Another SEMA heavy hitter, the Mode Parfume Ap1. Mode Parfume is mainly known in the VIP crowd. Mode Parfume brings an interesting look to the S2k, really rounds out the lines of the car. Besides the kit this car is rocking a J’s Racing hood and Volk TE37.

The blue this car is painted is excellent.

Next to the mode parfum car was this J’s Racing Widebody Turbo’ed S2000, I follow the owner on instragram. This looks like a very well executed build, with the power to match. Love those Project Mu calipers and craftsquare mirrors. Sometimes it drives me insane when there is a crazy widebody S2k, but is running a stock engine….. Wide body needs the power to match the looks!

nice and tidy turbo setup…. big ass turbo at that.

I saw this car for sale recently and it listed Tein Flex suspension on the car, details like this make me cringe, like seriously, you’re gonna spend 30k+ on body work alone and then you’re gonna get the cheapest jdm suspension you can buy….. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw motons on the car.

Greddy showing off their Gen 2 Turbo Kit. The only smog legal turbo kit for the s2000. For the Gen 2 turbo kit, Greddy redesigned the exhaust manifold to make it much stronger, the older generation manifold was known to crack, in addition to the redesigned manifold, Greddy upgraded the turbo to a more modern Garret GTX2867R, oh yeah, Greddy ditched the super outdated eManage and now run Hondata flashpro.

I believe this car is actually owned by one of the owners of Evasive Motorsports. Super clean build with voltex front end, volk te37, and project mu BBK.

I would love a 2nd s2k and boost the hell out of it.

Another shot of Gotuning tommy’s ASM’ed S2k running Titan7 wheels.

This booth stopped me in my tracks. Nisin, in addition to making cup noodles (JK), they also make the OEM brake calipers and Spoon calipers!

Nisin had this on display. It’s a 6 pot caliper they are planning to release soon. They revealed to me that the new Spoon BBK is going to be based off of this caliper. I can’t wait.

In addition to the BBK they are planning to release, they have performance brake pads available now!

All types of S2ks were present, including ones like this…..

I saw some random Japanese people at the Pit Garage booth…. later I found out it was the J’s Racing president…. oops, should of got him to sign something.

ICB selling high quality JDM goods in addition to the new Regamasters. On the table we have a beautiful saclam exhaust. For people that don’t know, the guy that runs Saclam is an ex-Mugen Engineer. That’s why if you look at older mugen exhausts for 90’s Hondas, you can see the influence he had on the exhaust tips.

Interesting wrap color on this Type-R.

Pricing for the Regamaster Evos

I walked back to say goodbye to some S2k people. I couldn’t help to notice Moses’s Amuse Euro 70mm exhaust with some gold bling bling….

People were leaving, love all around….. refreshing from all the internal hate of car things in my heart (kidding not kidding)

Russan Hammer snapping a few shots for the gram.

Another shot of dimsum Jon’s car.

JDM umbrellas were out in full swing.

Moar of this. I wish I framed this better.

stopped by to look at the finer details of this new Greddy kit!

Sara Choi’s S2000 CR I used to see rolling around in Monterey Park…. I like the Volk Te37 on this, really flows will the rest of the build’s dark accents.

Life: Eibach 2018 at AutoClub Speedway Part 2

May 13, 2018May 16, 2018 / WhoisAnts / 1 Comment

Welcome to part 2 of my Eibach coverage. I’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response I received in the past few days, you guys are the reason that I keep taking photos, as crappy as they are, and continue to keep writing as horrible as my grammar is…..

I was blown away at the line up of S2ks. It was like seeing an Instagram feed of S2ks in person.

Let’s start where we left off last post in Part 1

I wasn’t aware who this was in part 1, but my buddy let me know this is JDReyes

Voltex kit with ASM fenders, Spoon Hood, and White Volk CE28N…… all in Cocaine white.

Russian Hammer’s White ASM Ap2 with newly bronzed Volk CE28n again……

If there is one kit I’ve seen take over the S2k scene in the past few years, it’s the Voltex body kit. It has really taken over in the past few years since Evasive first dropped the sketches to the public on FB years ago…. It’s a great looking kit, but to me it was destroyed by how many rep kits they are nowadays. I do agree it is probably one of the most functional body kits since voltex did test it all in a wind tunnel.

Another voltex kitted S2k running Volk TE37SL with EVS fenders and an ASM hood with EVS hood vents. Something about the vents on the fender reminds me of when Z3 fenders were super popular on imports, hell even my Honda Accord with a purple body kit had them back in the day.

Another angle.

Yep, Voltex is very popular. Note the J’s Kitted S2k by S2Boost parting the sea of voltex

EVS fenders on this white Ap1 with a spoon hood and voltex front bumper by kaotik

side shot showing the red ce28n, voltex front flares, voltex sideskirts, circuit garage rear over fender, and craftsquare mirrors.

Silverstone Ap1 with voltex front bumper, spoon fenders, spoon hood, and craftsquare mirrors.

Hector Lavario’s Voltex kitted Ap2…..

All these S2ks looking super clean….. I’m not sure if it’s because i’m ADHD or jaded, but I miss seeing the variety of tuning styles in S2ks. There are so many different manufactures of body parts for the S2k, maybe it is the effect of social media, but s2ks now are looking pretty similar following the same cookie cutter mentality, most S2ks run the same type of body kits or parts, like a voltex body kit, voltex wing, Amuse R1 Bumper (I’m guilty of this), CE28 or TE37…. Only 12+ years ago, I remember there was a variety of styles people were trying out, such as Tracy Sports, Amuse Wide body, INGS+1, Cwest, Car Garage Amis, Sorcery…… I can’t remember the last time someone actually brought up INGS+1 in a conversation, I think it’s a great looking front bumper.

Voltex wings all around.

S2k row.

I think this is the first time I’ve seen car shop glow tail lights in person……. Digging the rear end of the Silverstone Ap1. Voltex Swan Neck wing + CSG tail lights, K1 Laboratory Duck Tail, and what looks to be a J’s Racing Exahust.

Another shot showing the Volk ZE40.

I just realized that the sebring silver car to the left is rocking Euro headlight washers…. It’s funny how europeans can’t get rid of these fast enough, but on the other side of the ocean people are adding them to their cars. The Volk TE37 fitment looks so period correct on this Ap1.

Next to the row of S2ks, they were a row of DC2, most of them being type-r…. Phoenix yellow is so good.

And Championship white.

relatively modest ap1….

I wonder if this spoon sticker is the reproduction or an original? He’s also rocking a Spoon snorkle and J’s Racing cooling plate….

Another shot of Joe’s S2000 CR

I think Kaotik was explaining why he gold wrapped his Mugen intake something something…..

One of the few Turbo’ed S2ks in attendance S2boost. It must be a SMOG thing, but they don’t have as many Forced Induction (FI) S2ks on the west coast compared to the east coast. I remember a bunch of guys out east turboing their S2k when I lived there.

Joe’s S2k CR never ceases to amaze me…..

I’ll cut if off here. I’ll post up part 3 soon which will complete my coverage of Eibach. Once again, I must iterate that Eibach 2018 was a HUGEEEEE event. I didn’t even get to see half of the event because of the utterly large amount of cars and decided to focus primarily on what I know, S2000s. Although I did own an EG civic at one point in my life and did preform a B16a swap on my friend’s EG, I will admit my knowledge in other Honda chassis is lacking.

Life: Eibach 2018 at AutoClub Speedway Part 1

May 11, 2018May 11, 2018 / WhoisAnts / 2 Comments

Hey all,

Been a long time since I did a real post. I’m still slowlyyyy working on my youtube channel. This was my first real S2k event in a year or 2 since I quit my job. It was great seeing friends I haven’t seen in awhile and putting faces to the Instagram screen names of people I’ve never met before. On this particular day it was scorching hot, like really hot as hell. I had to come out, my buddy Gabe, told me that they’re gonna be a very strong S2k showing and since this is S2kandtheAnt, I know I had to come.

If you guys aren’t from SoCal, this event took place in Fontana, Fontana is a good hour + east of Los Angeles. The thing about LA, the more east you go, the more desert it gets. I swore it was good 90+ degrees out there. I rolled with my buddy Peter, who has a pretty sick S2k of his own. I’ll post up pictures of his car some day, he has a pretty nice build in the works.

After arriving at Autoclub speedway around 10:20, 20 minutes after the event officially opens to the public, we sat in line to get in for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Yeah, you heard that right, almost a hour and half we spent waiting in line looking at the best civics the Inland Empire had to offer (take that anyway you wanna look at it). While waiting in Peter’s S2k, I came to the realization that my S2k will definitely retain it’s AC…. No way in hell I’m deleting that shit, it’s not worth it for scene points. On the bright side, the Eibach organizers did allow us to get in free of charge, probably because they were trying to move the line as fast as possible, I like how they took accountability! Big ups to Eibach Organizers.

Another thing I wanna add, for some reason this day, I was wearing shorts that had the the crotch blown out, like it was coming apart at the seams…..shorts that are over 14 years old will do that. So I didn’t want to expose myself by crouching for pictures…. So you’ll notice some of the angles I shot aren’t the best…. and also did I mention it was hot as hell…. I was rocking a spoon umbrella in one hand, my camera in the other hand, and hoping that my nuts down get exposed….. tough life.

After we finally parked. The first thing I saw was this clean PY ITR. I’m sure the parking lot had a ton of goodies, but I didn’t want to chill in one place after sitting in line for over a hour, I wanted to get to the actual meet!

Familiar faces all around. My buddy Chris Lum with his super mint Mugen Ap2 with JDM ap1 clear headlights and Mugen MF10. I don’t think I’ve actually seen his car with MF10s on it in person before this. I love how King Motorsports is re-releasing mugen goodies for non-rape prices now, like the Mugen B2 Radiator caps. Small things like this help people like Chris and I really complete our builds without buying outrageously overpriced 2nd hand parts, seriously people were trying to sell those things for $200 a pop. Now where is the Mugen Spark Plug cover re-release!!!!!

Chris was posted in front of the ICB Motorsports tent and so was this Civic Type R FK8 with Regamasters. ICBMotorsports dropped their new re-release of the Desmond Regamasters! I love how people are putting in an effort to release these wheels again, I don’t care if the market becomes “saturated.” It’s helping enthusiasts get their hands on these wheels without trying to find crappy 2nd hand stuff. Sorry for the pole haha.

ICB selling legit Desmond stickers. Perfect for your Rotas!

Clean Silverstone Ap2 behind the ICB booth. Rocking a Back Yard Special (BYS) wing and Spoon SW388 rims!

Better shot of the Spoon SW388 rims!

Simultaneously with the meet, there was also drag races live on the track to give this meet a great atmosphere. Sportcar motion brought out some badass drag S2ks. I believe that black one was on hoonigan awhile back.

These Regas are a perfect reproduction. Spoon is also bringing back the SW388, but are slightly curved outwards for better Big Brake Kit (BBK) compatibility.

Love the Color on this EG civic in front of the ICB booth.

Great front shot of Chris’s Mugen Ap2, stunning people as they walk by.

This M&M Honda widebody DC5 caught my eye. I don’t see too many of these kits in the USA and with the color it looks absolutely true to the JDM demo car.

Another great EG civic. I love the Olive Color and blue TE37 contrast.

Gotuning Tommy’s immaculate ASM’ed S2000 CR.

swung by the GoTuning X Spoon USA booth to say hi to Areen

All sorts of Spoon goodies for sale. Of course due to the intense sun, they sold out of Spoon Umbrellas this day.

Brand new Spoon support brace for the Civic Type-r FK8. My favorite thing about Spoon is the whole OEM + feeling you get from their parts. For example, the Spoon S2000 Upper Control arm reinforcement gusset was a piece that was actually created by Honda, or how the B16A Spoon cams feel just like the OEM B16A Cams in material texture. With that being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if this Spoon brace for the FK8 is actually made by Honda, just look at it, if you work on enough Hondas this screams OEM.

I picked up the Kanpanchi Auto Salon T-shirt for my wife and I. It came in a sweet Type One bag. Hopefully I can go some day.

So much want

This is what I came here for, the row of S2ks…… Most are Instagram famous, up front is Hector Lavario’s Ap2

My buddy Rival Gabe sick Ap2-1 sitting nice on TE37. I like this look way better than the Mugen MF10s he had before. This reminds me of that super expensive Pizza in New York City that has like Caviar, Truffles, goldflakes, Fois Gras, and doesn’t really taste all that great. Each ingredient is a standout by itself, but for some reason together it doesn’t work…… Basically saying MF10s don’t work on every car, it’s about execution and TE37s work much better with the overall execution even though the Mugen MF10 is a more “rare” wheel.

And next to him was Naglas De Fierro’s S2k. We’ve actually seen his car before here. His car has definitely come a long way! His car is rocking an ASM IS Design front bumper, Mugen intake, Car Garage Amis hood cover, Mugen MF10s, and Mugen MS-Z seats (not pictured, I didn’t want to sweat all over his interior). Personally it was my first time meeting him in person, and he’s definitely pretty rad! Of course, I love how all the parts are authentic, that’s how I roll.

Closer look at the engine bay. He’s rocking an Origin Fab intake arm, science of speed hood dampers, ASM Oil Catch can, Amuse Header, and ASM Tower bar! lots of ASM goodies here.

Finishing off the rear, he has a Mugen SS Rear wing, ASM duckbill, painted of course!, ASM tow hook, with an ASM 04 rear bumper, and Amuse Euro S Exhaust!

This grey Ap2 next to him was pretty cool. According to the license plate it’s a S2000 CR?! Like Naglas, he’s also rocking an ASM IS design front end, but with voltex flares. In the world of crazy flared fenders and such, voltex flares seem almost conservative.

Out back some remnants of the CR remains, like the rear wing. I just noticed his burnt Ti finished antenna, interesting…. I wish my ASM antenna never got stolen. More noticeable un CR like qualities, besides the color, are the M Racing mirrors, and Mugen Hardtop.

Front ASM goodness.

My buddy Joe, aka John JingleHeimer We’ve seen his car a few times. Like the Grey car next to him, his car is also an Honda S2000 Club Racer except done Mugen. The Mugen Dry CF hood is looking nice here.

The Apex blue really shines in the sun. He’s rocking some rare White MF10s, since most people that copped the re-release MF10 have Bronze wheels, so you know he’s really OG since with this white set and blue caps. More Mugen notables like the Mugen Wing, Hardtop, and Mirrors. Not pictured is his endless calipers!

Dry carbon glistening in the sun.

Some Instagram people I met in real life….. like DimSum John. He bought his leather Pole positions from my friend Alvin which used to be owned by a friend of Joe, the guy who he is parked next to. Throw back to when we installed these pole positions in Alvin’s car….

Car kind reminds me of my old build a bit probably because it’s Silverstone + Amuse R1 bumper, I believe this is his first authentic Amuse R1 bumper after owning many reps of it. Hopefully once you go authentic you don’t go back! Besides the bumper he’s rocking M racing mirrors on custom mounts that some guy on S2ki made awhile back and Volk RE30 wheels. Don’t see too many RE30s these days on S2000s.

Saw my friend Russian Hammer! He actually bought my Mugen passenger side rail awhile back and I chatted with him during the ill-fated top down meet 2 years ago. He’s rocking an Authentic ASM front end with the ASM IS Design front bumper + ASM fenders and ASM rear fender flares. Mugen top and voltex wing are so necessary. He recently changed his wheels from Red to Bronze…… I know you can’t see it that well haha.

The voltex front bumper was out in full force! I think it was the most common front bumper on the S2000s there! This white car was parked along with the other white s2000s. I like the look, voltex front bumper + spoon hood and ASM fenders. Loving the white CE28 and voltex wing. Great execution with a variety of different companies. I dig how he’s repping 7apple, great body shop, my buddy is getting some parts painted there as I write this. I’m not sure who this car belongs too. Man Eibach 2018 was huge, I didn’t even get to walk the entire show because it was so large. I mainly hung out around the S2ks….

I’ll continue this post in Part II…..

Finds: Korean S2ks!

February 24, 2018February 24, 2018 / WhoisAnts / Leave a comment

Another sleepless night… it is currently 4:52am….

I remember when I started this whole S2k ownership thing, Facebook was only for college students and instagram wasn’t invented yet. Now instagram is THE destination for insta automotive e-fame. One night I was digging through all the #s2000 content on Instagram and I came across a super rad S2k from Korea of all places, South Korea, not the North of course. There seems to be a small group of S2k enthusiasts in Korea that utilize real authentic parts and take them to the track, not post pictures of their car on instagram and give bullshit inspirational quotes….

I first found tota1ba1ance who has a pretty clean yellow ap2 with some choice mods, Mugen top, Mugen lip, Mugen Wing, and ZE40s. From him, I saw his boy manminkim who’s car blew my mind running an Amuse GT1 kit with a legit Dry Carbon Mugen hardtop and tracking the hell out of it.

I sent them a DM and they replied saying they have blogs they update frequently with their pictures… here and here

I can’t read Korean, and my google translate doesn’t seem like it wants to translate their page, but they are some awesome shots of their cars on there. Definitely recommend browsing their blogs. I’m going to post more pictures of manminkim since his car is crazy!!!! These are not in any chronological order.

I’m sure this is Korea International Circuit, I don’t think they are many race tracks in Korea.

He’s repping Bro’s R&D, a popular tuner shop in South Korea. Side note, I think the one of the guys that runs Bro’s used to work for the late GTMotoring….

From their instgram, I believe he’s running a Spoon create engine with Toda itbs! Of course in the best setup running the dry carbon intake box running into a Mugen intake!

clean

interesting cluster

Running spoon calipers! Dunno if it’s just me, but I think it’s funny how small spoon calipers look with stock sized rotors when you have a massive wheel like this…. I’m sure for the track it’s great since you’re just utilizing stock sized pads and rotors, keeps disposable parts cost down!

RHD. I wondered if it was imported from Japan mostly in this state or if this is an ex-tuner demo car?

Under the skin, interesting not V, V mounted radiator with a custom cooling duct.

At bros, impressive lineup at their shop.

this is when he got his Toda ITBS! with Dry Carbon trumpets too, which only come in 88mm…. #ITBnerdFact.

Looks like a custom tow hook!

Toda Dry Carbon Surge Tank mounted.

I love how the Amuse GT1 kit looks with a Mugen hardtop and Mugen hood….. I think I like it more than the Amuse Hardtop.

ITB install going down.

Toda ITB drycarbon Surge tank! and someone was brave enough to drill a hole into it to mount the IAT sensor.

Looks like he is running stock injectors.

I wonder if spoon ported the head, or if this is before he got his spoon engine…..

Dry carbon Mugen Hardtop

Before

After

You can see the chassis has been gusseted for rigidity on the shock towers.

The Amuse GT1 kit goes so hard.

Interesting bracket to hold the Mugen intake since the stock cross member is gone. Classic Ichishima-San signature on the valve cover

I would love to pay a visit to this shop next time I’m in Korea. Looks so small goodies in this picture, like the Spoon S-Tai front bumper to the right.

Some shots off of Tota1Ba1ance’s S2k off of his blog. Great clean build. The Volk Ze40s look so right wight on Rio Yellow.

Not many people run Mugen front lips nowadays, probably because they are incredibly easy to get destroyed.

soo good…..

Nice off the shelf Ohlins kit!

Spoon axles! Like what my friend Areen is running.

Interesting J’s front S2k.

Hopefully I’ll have some more updates on my own car soon!

Parts Review/ Life: MyAmuse in SoCal & Amuse Lug Nuts!

March 24, 2017March 24, 2017 / WhoisAnts / Leave a comment

Hi all,
My friend Warren came out to SoCal to attend a wedding. You can following him on instagram here . He stayed at my place for a few days. Of course he showed me his awesome and expensive Amuse Lug nuts.

His Amuse R1 Bumper, Amuse Hood S2k! Sometimes I see my own car when I see his….. RIP old S2k 😦

The first glance at the Amuse Titanium lug nut. The lug nut is insanely light, even compared to the Volk Racing Lug nut. It’s an open ended lug not, so you can run these with extended studs!

Yep, that is Chris’s Mugen S2k! Bronze CE28N for days…..

Apparently it takes more than one person to install the Amuse Lug nuts!

Goes well together….

So Amuse lug nuts, are they worth the money? They’re super light and have “good fitment” haha hopefully lug nuts should have good fitment. I would say maybe? They sure look great.

Life: The Chronicles Year 8

December 5, 2016April 10, 2017 / WhoisAnts / Leave a comment

Hey all,

I’m finally finishing catching up the events I went to a few months ago. This should be the last of the posts for now…..I wanted to go to the Chronicles Year 8 meet for awhile now. Reading about them on Joey’s blog when I was living on the East coast, it always painted me a good picture of the SoCal car scene. I knew I couldn’t miss out this year, it helps to have car friends to go with too.

This meet just so happens to be when I was in the process of moving to my new place. I had a bunch of stuff to move and only a few days to do it….. My wife was exciting to hear I was going to a car meet instead 🙂

I met up with a few friends in Pasadena before heading out to year 8. Chilling in front of the infamous rival machine.

Gabe’s car just came out of the paint a few days prior…. The car is looking minty fresh with the battlecraft hood.

Joe was ready to lead the way. Those MF10s are looking dangerously close to the curb in this picture… You can remember Joe’s car from this post

Following Joe to the meet.

My buddy Alvin snapped some shots on the road…..Endless brakes look so good with the Bronze Mugen MF10 rims.

Mugen hood, CR lip, works surprisingly well.

Some shots of the Rival Machine.

Alvin took a shot of me in traffic…..

We’re almost there…..

Of course, this being S2kandTheAnt….I met up with Areen and Chris….. they don’t need any introductions.

interesting pinstriping on the Enkei NT03 on the Rival Machine

626 Squad.

another angle of the 626 squad.

Spoon’s newly converted center-drive FD2 Honda Civic Type R was in attendance. I even got to sit in it! In another life, this used to be 5Zigen’s FD2R in Japan.

S2k squad represent.

It was a hot hot hot day, I think it was close to 100 degrees this day, the crazy heat forced me to buy a spoon umbrella……yeah forced……

I thought these 24k gold engine bays have gone out of style, but it looks like it is still around.

Can’t get enough of this lineup…..

Cool styled NSX.

I loved this mugen kited DC2 Type R.

the Bronze Mugen MF10 looks great against the white.

The same Spoon Civic EG that was in my Spoon sports post. Clean as always, rocking almost the catalog of spoon parts, but that damn Mishimoto radiator always gets me! Link for the owner if he ever reads this.

I haven’t seen this in years, an Ap1 veilside lip.

Another picture of the S2000 Veilside lip.

This Mugen themed FD2 converted Civic looked great.

the only Evo ix at the show and it was a great example of one.

Rare Mugen FA5. True story, I remember going to a dealership in 2009 and the salesman tried to sell me this car instead of the 2009 s2k I was looking at, he was working really hard at it, these cars must have been a hard sale at the time, no real power improvements that make a car cost $6k more….but now in hindsight, it might of been a good decision….

CDM as in Canadian Domestic Market Acura CSX…. with a supercharger and Itasha livery.

PY Integra Type R.

Hector Lavario‘s Voltex Theme S2k was looking good!

Either this in an imported car or a very authentic representation of an early D1 drift car. I love the look, very nostalgic.

Chris popped his hood, and I couldn’t help but to snap a picture. Mugen intakes are my favorite…..

behind me was this swan-necked Suzuka blue s2k.

Rocking Voltex Styled Aero! Overall this was well executed. The red car next to this car was actually K swapped using Hasport mounts…. Update 4-10-2017….. this car was on a Smoking Tire One Take

A few Porches were in attendance.

ASM styled car with M racing mirrors.

And this closes it, from the garage, back to the garage…

Photoshoot: June 2016 Photoshoot!

July 5, 2016April 12, 2017 / WhoisAnts / 1 Comment

Photoshoot: June 2016 Photoshoot!

Happy 4th of July everyone. Last week Warren was back in town from South Korea so we decided to get together for a quick photoshoot! It was getting late and we were not in the mood to move our cars 100000 times….. so this is a bunch of shots in different angles. I lost a few shots because my camera was set on auto ISO on the tripod, the pictures weren’t up to my standards so they weren’t posted.

This line up of cars is seen plenty of times if you are a frequent visitor of this site. From the left to right, my car, Alan’s car, Areen’s car, Chris’s car, and Warren’s car

Chris Lum’s Mugen AP2 and Warren’s AP2 with the ASM V1 rear.

Warren’s Ap2 is also rocking an Authentic Amuse Dry Carbon Hood and Amuse R1 front bumper….. The Mugen hardtop Bronze CE28N and Stoptech brakes are a nice touch…. You can see the different types of S2000 hoods in this shot. Of course, everything is authentic!

Chris’s clean Mugen Dry CF hood and Mugen intake.

Areen’s Carbon Fiber Spoon Spark plug cover signed by Mr. Spoon himself. The battery setup is by KcMachine
Closing this photoshoot out with Areen’s Amuse’d Ap2.

Life: Nemo’s Garage Grand Opening Meet

June 23, 2016June 23, 2016 / WhoisAnts / 4 Comments

Hi all. Last week I checked out the Nemo’s Garage grand opening meet. Nemo’s garage is located in Ontario, CA. It was hot as hell that day, with temperatures in the upper 90s.

I rolled with my buddy Alvin in his LBP AP2

We found some parking off to the side….

There were plenty of civics there….

Like this K swapped RHD example

Of course, I was on the lookout for S2000s….. Like this Formula Red sitting on Advan RZ.

Instagram famous S2boost…. with J’s Fenders, Mugen Hardtop, J’s Racing rear quarter panel, and of course a Vortech supercharger……

Bronze TE37V and Spoon Calipers

My favorite civic there, and they were a lot of civics to choose from. This is a clean and simple Spoon EG build with almost every spoon part thrown at it.

I don’t know much about CRXs, but this one looked like it had plenty of Mugen goodies……

I met up with my buddy Areen at the show and his Spoon’d out S2k. He was parked next to a nicely executed Mugen theme S2000 CR in Apex Blue.

Apex blue just pops in person. I love this entire build…..

Mugen Hood and Mugen MF10s!

He replaced the OEM hardtop with a Mugen piece.

Underneath the MF10s sits Endless Calipers…..Not many people run endless calipers, since they cost more than most of the Big Brake Kits out for the S2k

A better shot of the Mugen MF10 with Endless Calipers….

A caliper comparison, Areen’s Spoon Caliper setup with his brand new Project MU brake rotors.

My favorite cars at the meet for sure….

Areen’s Spoon Mirrors vs Mugen Blue mirror inserts.

Sleek and aerodynamic spoon mirrors…. not many S2ks can pull this off, doesn’t hurt when you have the full spoon kit.

I love how these look, they look much more blue than the spoon mirror inserts….and of course that mugen logo!

Here is Areen telling me about his 1 of 3 in the world J’s racing shiftknob and our crotches
Areen’s New ASM rear bar……Fresh off the boat from ASM.

Meet was not limited to Hondas, this mean FB RX-7 rolled by.

Or this 71′ datsun 240z

Two of Nemo Garage’s cars. their EM1 and EG….
Instagram S2k I follow, Mykeeeman. Full J’s Racing exterior with some meaty ce28 and J’s racing 6pot calipers

The interior unfortunately was not as good as the exterior…. I’m sure he is still working on it. Looks look he has a cage with side bars, but the takata harness through the stock seats kills it for me. From a safety aspect it is unsafe and aesthetically, it looks bad. All he really needs is seats and possibly a new center console cover.

Rear shot of the J’s racing rear bumper and J’s racing tow hook

J’s racing exhaust!

Another build I see on instragram, DPK ChuyChuy and his ITR

I love small details like this Fuji Speedway sticker on the lip….

First time really seeing a J swapped civic. In real life it sticks out of the hood so much…..

Owner and his girl drive all the way from Vegas like this….. no hood and all….

Amazing how clean the engine fits in the engine bay

Stock bodied MKIV Supra rolling by..

I was suprised on the number of RHD Civics in attendance. I felt like there were more RHD civics than LHD.
I love this clean look, lowered midori on CE28s in Titanium Silver.

Pick Ups: (Not Mine) Spoon Axle +Spoon Toe Arms

April 17, 2016April 17, 2016 / WhoisAnts / 1 Comment

I’m lucky enough to have crazy friends with crazy taste that let me live vicariously through them, it is what sets them apart from a majority of other enthusiasts in my opinion. They are willing to take it to that extra degree that some others would think is superfluous and not a necessity.

My buddy Areen with his crazy Spoon’ed out S2000 picked up some parts for his car……

Legit Spoon Sports axles! How many of these are floating around in the USA? I’m betting you these are the only ones in the USA…..

What makes these different than normal axles you say? Quoted from the Spoon EU Website….

“The importance of a reliable driveshaft is often overlooked in endurance racing to street applications. The standard Honda units do not lack strength themselves, the troubles and failure of the driveshafts are often the finishing quality. Slight pitting can occur on the contact surfaces, which under high heat deteriorate which then cause vibrations and failure.

The Spoon drive shafts are standard Honda units that have been disassembled then reworked and reassembled by Spoon technicians. Each contact surface has been polished and finished to exacting standards and then the components are matched during assembly to ensure the highest tolerances.

This ensures a smooth power delivery and reliable service ”

TLDR: Spoon takes the axles apart and micro polishes the bearings and repacked it with high quality grease…..

I blanked out the serial number because Areen paid good money for these and the last thing I want to see is the number being knocked off….

These would good perfect with some Spoon Axle Spacers

He Also picked up a SPOON REAR CONTROL ARM KIT….. Basically the Bump Steer kit for the S2k made by Spoon…. What sets these apart from other companies that have released the same type of component? These are made from Steel instead of aluminum, which makes these more reliable and stronger…..

Details like this is what sets his Spoon build apart from other Spoon builds….. He’s also a big fan of ASM, so the car will never really be a complete catalogue car…..

The new look with the Spoon over fenders installed and painted!

Speaking of insane enthusiasts with an eye for quality. Dallas have been building this VW Rabbit Diesel Truck…. I love how he added legit Volk CE28n to his build and an exhaust system that was worked on by none other than Hytech…..

Of course a shot of my car too! The undertray of my Amuse R1 Bumper is getting more and more scraped as the driveways in LA are angled very steep….

Life: I showed up to the wrong party….

April 9, 2016 / WhoisAnts / Leave a comment

I’m a pretty unorganized person , for example, one time I booked a flight for the wrong week 3 months ahead and didn’t find out until I showed up to the airport and realized I was flying out 3 weeks later…… I don’t know how or why, but I thought the Petersen Japanese Car meetup was a week earlier than when it actually was.

Since I thought the meet was a week earlier than when it actually was, I washed my car a day and week too early….. I took a picture of my car fresh out of the car wash, I don’t go too crazy detailing, I usually take it to a DIY coin carwash place and spray down my car and dry with micro fiber towels, Costco micro fiber towels, only the best. What you can’t really see is the crazy amount of scratches I have underneath my bumper for scraping the hell out of it all over LA……I can’t image what my subframe looks like, I’m sure it’s beat to death now since I’ve been force to daily the car recently…
I meet up with my buddy Alvin and gave him this Spoon Reservoir cover I got from Japan. Honestly it looks a bit cheesy, something about that S in the spoon font….. This Evening he just got back from his first track day so he was super stoked.
The Car wash was Saturday night. Sunday rolled around, I woke up fucking early, picked up Alvin, and off to what I thought was gonna be a JDM car meet. Something was definitely going on at the Petersen since we got passed by a few cars on the road heading to the museum parking structure. I thought it was funny that the cars that passed us were non-Japanese cars like this Mustang……This mustang was actually in front of us getting into the parking structure and was driven by Automotive Designer, Henrik Fisker, ex-ceo of Fisker Automotive. This Mustang is a special edition designed by Fisker himself, I personally think it’s god awful ugly…..You can definitely bet after the show, I was waiting for this car to drive off and crash into something like most mustangs leaving car meets.

The meet is called the Petersen Breakfast cruise-in….. It is open to all makes and models. The Petersen provides free Coffee and Bagels to everyone that attends. There was a good representation of Porsche air-cooled goodness.

Alvin thought the color on this car was rad, he told me it reminds him of butter.
C7 Corvette.

Enter a caption

Some dude showed up in a bikini top Miata, of course I didn’t get a picture of it. The miata rocks a Maruha Timing cover, and a Kraftwerks SuperCharger. He told me it puts down 240whp. He tracks his car often and said his Tein EDFC active suspension system really helps rough tracks since the suspension auto adjusts itself to the condition while he is driving…. Suspension has sure come a long way.
Ferrari Testarossa goodness.
This Red and Black Ferrari Testarossa combo was pretty awesome.

Aston Martin DB7, these cars have aged well, it is still a stunner.
And where there is a Aston Martin DB7 there must be a Aston Martin DB8 near by!
I love how the weave of the carbon fiber meets in the middle.

I was not too sure what this was, I’m assuming it is some sort of rebodied Porsche…..
That is what gave me that clue. I’m sure someone can chime in and let me know what this is.

Lotus 7, Caterham, Kit car, one of the above…..My Friend Chris with the Lotus runs the same Toyo R888 on his car in what looks like the same width….I wonder if it’s a Lotus thing.

A Lamborghini Diablo VT showed up like a boss. Check out those exhaust pipes!
Another car that showed up like a boss was this Toyota Starlet. I got a soft spot for well done starlets. Even dudes in Ferraris were breaking their necks staring at this car.
Especially when they are rocking a 4AG that is carbed!
Clean Datsuns 240Z like this car are getting harder and harder to find.
All different types of cars showed up.

There was a whole crew of BMW Z8s that showed up. Seeing one BMW Z8 is a treat in the wild, but seeing a whole row of them in different colors was something else. There was probably 9+ BMW Z8 in attendance.
The reason for the large BMW Z8 turnout is because Henrik Fisker was in attendance, who also designed this car….All the owners got their cars signed.
Like this particular BMW Z8 that is an extremely rare Alpina version.
I’m liking that Silver on Red! Reminds me of a certain S2k 🙂

That guy with a grey cap is actually famous Youtubber Alejandro Salomon, aka Salomondrin. He’s an enthusists that drives and owns more than his fare share of exotic cars.

Like this Dodge Viper ACR!

I was really feeling the colors on this Ferrari, the blue calipers really stick out on this grey car and the HRE wheels really make it pop.

I’m a sucker for Red interiors, especially on white cars. This Mercedes Benz 250SE is a proper cruiser.
Voltex wings on Nissan GTRs, so right.

The interior of the Diablo VT is fresh as hell…..

I feel like I’m getting jaded living in SoCal. 2 hellcats, a BMW M5, and a Mercedes Benz GT roll in and I wasn’t even excited……..

The event is only a few hours long, so people started rolling out…….

After the morning meet, we hung out at our friend Chris’s house. He was assisting me correcting some fitment issues I had with my Ap2 taillights I installed years ago that was bothering me…..It is better now, but I feel like I need to find a better solution to make it even more flush. Chris is a Mechanical Engineer by trade and he makes his old Custom wings for the S2000. They are extremely secure and actually engineered and tested, unlike other brands…..*ahem battle aero*…… Check it out here

He also helped me put on my H Badge sticker I bought from Japan. It covers the holes in the trunk left by my old emblem. I’m really bad at putting on stickers, I always end up getting air bubbles in them one way or another. I think it looks great, very Porsche GT3RS-esque.

The S2k and the Ant

An S2k Otaku view of the world

amuse

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Photoshoot: June 2016 Photoshoot!

Photoshoot: June 2016 Photoshoot!

Life: Nemo’s Garage Grand Opening Meet

Pick Ups: (Not Mine) Spoon Axle +Spoon Toe Arms

Life: I showed up to the wrong party….