Saving the Goldfish IV

The continuing coverage of my build has begun.

This will be a lengthy post so please bear with me. The car is almost done so I’m trying to dump everything here as much as I can. 

Here’s a shot of the wheels and the tailights chilling at the back of the workhorse. 

I went to Honda and picked up all the factory goodies that i needed so that we could reinstall the windshield properly. It’s amazing that sometimes the dealership is now the one giving you great deals because everybody else is reselling parts for explicit markups. Shame. 

Visited the car and look at the color! Can’t say that this was the color I wanted because it is not. Let’s hope I come to the notion of liking this particular color. 

My friend from the Honda Club forums sourced out this EUDM rear foglamp. Very awesome. Puro rear foglamp na likod ko! Haha. 

Bought a box of vinyl dye spray. Will be using this somewhere. 😊

Here’s some of the stash that I have. 

Doors we got from an EG8. Too bad time was short and I had to complete the car as soon as possible.  We ended up stripping the door for parts to use on my existing door. 

More of the work being done. 

Look what I got. A pair of mismatched Brides! An Ergo and a Brix!  Period correct bitch. 😊 

They are gonna be a bitch to use, but I will make them work. 

Decided to clean the tailights while we were at a buddy’s place. 

The car is slowly taking shape! 

Some random stickers! 

Sample JDMU sticker! 

Had some dealership plate replicas made too! Do you know what the other stickers’ history came from? 

Since 1999. Our humble car crew.

PRS making quick work on my dashboard. It looks fucking fresh! 

Motor getting its electricals done. 

View of the shop. Powerhouse Race Specialists. Located in Antipolo. It is in Bankers Village 2. Bankers Village 1 was where the old H3autoworks stood until the passing of our friend. It has since been renamed as CH3autoworks Auto Detailing. 

Interior being worked on. Look at that raggedy ass long armrest. 

More care packages arrive! This time from our friends in Dynamics! Thanks GMs! 

Most of the interior pieces are back on with new door cards. 

Hard to find STR cam gears now, got this from the great Bong Hilario. 

Some bits and pieces being installed along with the coilovers and the camber kit. 

Got some meat from Federal care of D’Lucky M Tire Center! 

Shift plate from Circuit Hero

Pristine Auto Care hooked us up with their cleaning materials. Thank you sir! Can’t wait to use them! 

We just finished retrieving the 5Zigen exhaust from the metalworks shop nearby. So clean! 

That’s all for now. Will upload more in the coming days

Farewell old friend

The first time I met this man was way back when I was in college at that time internet car forums were all the rage back then and there was no facebook yet. A friend of mine asked me if I wanted to tag along and go with her to a shop in Antipolo because her boyfriend was going to get his car fixed, I agreed to go with them since I was not doing anything. 

I heard about a shop in Antipolo that does great work with Hondas thru local car forums,  I was just getting into cars at that time and was curious as hell as to what the shop looks like. When we reached the shop it was nondescript and very unassuming to look save for the cars inside mainly EK9s and Civic SiRs that were parked inside giving me a hint that “Wow!  this guy must be doing something great to these cars.” I saw a man inside who was very busy checking on various works being done there and he looked serious.  We proceeded inside and my friend introduced herself and her boyfriend back then and then turned to me. “Ako si Bong paps” he said while giving a smile. That was how I first met Bong Hilario and I never assumed that I will become friends with someone as down to earth and as crazy as bum when it comes to bringing out crazy tuned Hondas and insane racecars.

Last December 3, 2014 someone took him away from us. He was gunned down in his shop, H3autoworks and news spread like wildfire and almost immediately, messages of sympathy and cries for justice filled up my news feed and it struck me. My dear friend is gone, and we can’t do anything to bring him back..  I could go on and talk about the anger we have for the anguish the family was going through right now but I would rather write about how he made a big impact to the local motorsports scene.

His name always comes up when you talk about people who makes and build fast Hondas and his builds were ahead of its time at least in the Philippines when parts were hard to come by.  The craftmanship that his builds have is just ridiculous and to put it bluntly,  it was radical.  That’s how Bong does the cars that he tunes. The cars that come out of his shop made their way into the street racing scene and we’re feared by many.  That was the era of the Libis,  White Plains and Sta. Rosa drags.

I am just thankful that I got to know him.  Bong was truly a generous guy.  He values family so much and is a very religious man.  I will miss the days that we just go to the shop just to pester him and just chill there and he would jokingly tell us to go away and stop bothering him but we still stayed there anyway.

Paps maraming salamat sa lahat, utang ko sayo lahat ng natutunan ko sa kotse. Hinding-hindi kita makakalimutan. I will always remember the times we have spent with you. See you when you get there Bong. Paalam.