integra

Flashback: Punit’s Acura Integra

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The saddest thing about winter is the lack of posts that I have and that I have to go back to old pictures and post them to make up for it. Only a few more months and I’ll be back in the groove!

However, this is an interesting post (to me, anyway) that Punit reminded me of last night. I would always go into my folders of pictures and see if there are any hidden gems that I might have missed and I always end up going into Punit’s folder and right back out again. Why, you ask? Because in all this time of knowing him, the only time I shot his car was back in 2009 and that was when we barely knew each other, and that was also when I first started shooting and started getting the hang of it. At the time though, they did beat any point and shoot lol.

Anyways, similar to JC or Ricky, Punit is/was always at the photoshoots of the handful of other cars I’ve shot. It’s not like I never see them or they never drive their cars. They do, in fact drive their cars everywhere we go… Except it’s to shoot other cars or for me to ride shotgun in to do rolling shots. We always get so caught up in shooting all the other cars that we never really think about shooting our own. Even when we talk about it, we don’t really feel like shooting our own cars and I think it’s cause we’re just around each other all the time that we don’t see the point. In retrospect, I really regret not being able to shoot Punit’s car in the various stages that it’s been in. I’m actually embarrassed that I’ve only ever shot it once and it was when I sucked balls. All other times were random shots and I think his car deserves more than that.

Last year, Punit’s car was kind of out of commission – not because it didn’t work, but because it wasn’t presentable in Punit’s mind. He was on Ohlin coilovers that were basically 4×4 height at its lowest setting, he was on TE37’s that didn’t have the fitment he was looking for, etc… He was also busy working on the GS and getting that ready so you can imagine how difficult it is to keep up with modding two cars. Over the year, he’s stock piled a bunch of parts that will be going on for this summer and I promised myself and Punit that we would go out and give his Integra a proper photoshoot once the warm weather comes our way. I’ve seen a sneak peak at the parts he’s got so far and I think you guys will love what he’s got in store for the Integra. Until then, I’m looking back through the shots I managed to get randomly over the years…

This was when I first met Punit – the Integra was done up decently and he had just gotten rid of his Rota’s for the Work Meister S1’s that are now purple and on Diana’s Fit. Unpainted carbon hood and hatch, the basic interior mods like Recaros and ITR wheel. Keep in mind this was way back in 2009 when real wheels were rare to see… This was considered quite modded back then.

His paint was and still is in great condition. This was a noob rolling shot when I didn’t know what composition meant. LOL

Soon after he picked up a set of very aggressive CCW’s and again, at that time – the wheel specs were unheard of for a stock body Integra.

You look at the fitment today and it looks pretty standard, minimal camber, it’s flush with the fenders like they should be… But at that time, let me tell you – we were like little girls in the school yard when we saw this for the first time. He also got a lot of flack for doing this…

The following year he had the faces powdercoated to a teal. A bold move for a red car but it ended up also looking deadly! This was the only picture I got of the wheels when they were teal…

And finally the next year, he did the unthinkable and purchased a set of re-barreled Regamasters from Wheel Flip. At the time, he was the only one in the world with this set. Soon after, Wheel Flip made a few more sets… Not only were they rare, but they were wide as f*** and we even wondered how he was going to fit them. You can see how much camber is needed to do so…

Even with a wide angle, from the back of his car you could see the crazy amount of camber.

Side profile was winning though. White on red was perfect.

This was just as winter was finishing up and we all went over to his place to get the wheels on and his interior back in after he had it repainted. The only differences here from the first picture is the addition of the Mugen wing, his K24 swap and Spoon exhaust. He also dialed it in a little lower and of course the insane amount of camber.

Front fitment – with more dish than my SSR’s lol *facepalm*. He also got a lot of hate for this set up too, but it was awesome IMO.

The rear wheels. Absolutely love how they look.

And that is the final shot I really ever had of Punit’s car. I didn’t even get a chance to shoot it while it was on the Regamasters which I also regret dearly. However, I think with the changes Punit has in store for this summer, the photoshoot I want to have will be perfect.

Mugen Hump Day: Terry Woo’s Type R

/ jasonhoang / 1 Comment

Finally Wednesday! It’s been a busy week and it’s going to continue being busy with more shoots that I’ve been able to schedule with peeps. I have this problem where I want to post things as soon as I’m done editing them because I’m anxious to show them and I’m usually done editing the night of the shoot or the day after at the latest. I’ll try my best to stagger them out and see how far I can stretch the shoots but so far it’s been a “shoot and post” kinda thing. I know it’s also not just me that’s anxious, but most of the time – the owner is anxious to see the pictures too so it’s a win-win… Except when no more cars are out and the blog stays stagnant throughout the boring winter months…

Anyways – a good post for hump day is Terry’s Turbo K20a2 Integra Type R. I’ve been wanting to personally shoot Terry’s car for about two years now and never got the chance until Monday night and thanks to Nathan for making it happen. The one time I remember seeing Terry was going down 16th ave and I was in my STI at the time – he rolled up, said a quick “hey” and was off. I think that’s when I said “I need to shoot that thing”. He had just put the Voltex wing on and I absolutely loved it being the GT wing lover that I am (I would put one on every car that could take one if I could) and little did I know how much power he was pushing…

I do know that Terry has been working on the ITR for quite some time and the amount of times I’ve actually seen it in person is far and few between. But let’s move on… There’s a lot of text for this build, so I hope you like story time.

This was prior to Punit showing up to the rendezvous location – that picture is in the previous post.

Nathan also showed up in his ITR as well.

And not too long after, Terry showed up. Right off the bat – if you didn’t know this car, you’d think ITR, big wing, JDM front – nicely done… But it goes a little further than that…

From the back, you see the Voltex GT wing on the 275mm risers giving it a very aggressive stance. A clean and custom Fujitsubo exhaust out back, a rare Mugen rear sway bar and the OEM lip kit rounding it all out.

Front quarter shot – everything is fairly simple and straight forward. Nothing is on the car that doesn’t need to be and there isn’t anything screaming for attention either – if you don’t count the GT wing. It doesn’t matter though cause GT wings are sick.

From the front – still nice and simple. Terry’s ITR is kind of deceiving because it’s got a sleeper look to it. From the front, you can’t tell he’s boosted because his intercooler is black and it gives the impression that it’s just a regular ITR.

We took my car for rolling shots because Punit and JC were being babies about taking theirs.

Getting ready for rollers.

I felt that this was a good shot that showed the functionality of his ride height. The reason I bring that up is because when he rolled up to our meeting point, he just drove in like any normal person would, where most of us get some crazy amount of angle, practically slow our car down to snail speed and inch up to avoid scraping our bumpers or exhaust. “Most” of us are stuck on trying to get as low as we can to look good, and “some” of us are not willing to sacrifice function for form. Terry is the perfect example of function over form – completely. He isn’t too low but he isn’t 4×4 height either – on Tein Flex coils, he’s riding at a height just perfect enough for him to get where he needs to go.

Profile rolling shot.

Top front quarter shot. He’s also got a Spoon carbon fiber hood – no, not VIS or Seibon. You’re starting to see a trend here, aren’t you?

On the inside, the magic doesn’t stop. Terry has outfitted most of his car with Mugen parts with combination of some Spoon here and there as well. if it’s Mugen, chances are is that Terry has it. In the back, he’s got the Miracle X brace and the swapped 2001 red ITR rear seats from the Canadian production models.

Front and center he’s got the super rare and stupid expensive Mugen FG360 steering wheel paired with an NSX horn button. His cluster is a combination of Mugen and Spoon – he took apart the two and put them together to create a custom cluster. Everything else remains true to the ITR. You really get a sense that Terry is a true believer in everything that is quality and functional when you look at his car and go over it with a fine toothed comb.

It’s hard to find something that doesn’t make sense – that’s where the definition of a true build comes into play and frankly, it’s tough to argue anything about it.

Another nice shot of how the lines of the ITR still look perfect today.

Closer shot of the Voltex wing out back.

Another shot of the Mugen buckets.

Closer look at the Mugen FG360 wheel/NSX horn combo.

Also a closer look at his wheel and brake set up. For the shoot, he swapped his TE/CE combo to the Mugen MF10’s – he was running two of each set on each side of the car. I personally would’ve like to shoot the dual wheel combo, but perhaps we’ll save that for another shoot! He’s also got Spoon monoblock brakes – the big brother version of the twin block versions.

Under the hood is where the magic REALLY happens. Terry has done all the work on his car besides paint and the machine work on the engine. However, everything else from the K20a2 swap to installing his GT35R was all done by Terry himself. His car is pushing roughly 400whp and is no slouch.

From the moment Terry did the K-swap, he added a Comptech supercharger to the mix. It was only about 4 years ago that he switched out to the GT35R. Since day 1 of the ITR having the K20a2 heart, it has seen forced induction. Goes to show how much the K20 can handle and continue going.

At a quick glance, you can see a few things that are over and above the big things – Mugen bolts – for example, holding things in place. It’s little things like this that go a long way in builds as epic as Terry’s.

Another “did you know” tidbit about Terry’s car is that he actually “saved” the car and brought it back from the dead, if you will. About 7-8 years ago, the ITR belonged to a friend of Terry’s who had crashed it and the car ended up being a write off. Terry took the liberty of buying it off of him and restored it slowly to the state that you see it in today and it runs like a champ. It’s definitely a car you have to see and hear in person to appreciate. Pictures – once again – don’t do justice to cars like Terry’s.

We’ll end it here with Terry spooling off. Definitely a great shoot and what makes it even better is the history behind the car.

That’s probably the number one reason I love shooting cars – you get to know not only the owner, but the history of the car too. For cars that have been in the making for years – it’s completely different than someone like me who goes through them so fast – I have no interesting story behind my builds because I’m the “build it” and “get tired of it” type. I wish I could have some patience to keep something for longer than a few years, but that’s just not me…

Anyways, on to the next one!
Thanks to Terry for giving me the chance to shoot it and for Nathan, JC, and Punit for helping making this happen!

My First 2013 Beyond Meet…

/ jasonhoang / 2 Comments

Last night was the usual Beyond meet on the upper parkade of Chinook Center and I was bored so I decided to come check it out. It was my first time out in almost a year, and the last time I was out was back when I still had my STI. To be honest, I personally wasn’t a fan of going anymore just because it started to get kind of cliquey. Not that people are trying to do that on purpose or anything, it’s just how meets usually end up being. People gather in circles and it’s tough for newcomers or other people to join in. The turnouts were also pretty small – usually there would be a full line of cars, and now it seems to have doubled!

It was an exceptionally good turnout last night and lots of different varieties of cars. That’s something that I enjoy seeing and I think it’s even more refreshing because it’s been so long since I’ve been to the meets. Met lots of new peeps, saw some others that I haven’t seen in a long time, but overall a pretty good night. I know they hold the super meet every year so I’ll most likely make my way to that one as well since the turnouts are usually pretty big and include a lot of cars you don’t necessarily see all the time.

Moving onto some of the pics that I got that night. I know later on in the night, some other guys showed up but it was pretty dark and I had put my camera away.

Starting off with Rich’s WRX. Not even a week since I shot this and he’s already on different wheels. What a guy.

Ryan O’Hara’s EP3 looking clean as always.

Corey O’Hara’s new project S2000 – you might remember seeing it at the show & shine.

Alex Markovic and his immaculate Integra also showed up last night. Shoot of this coming soon to a lifewithjason near you.

A pretty clean BMW 1-series on WORK M1R’s. A little drop and it’d be set!

Ryan Tsang’s Hyundai Genesis Coupe.

Jackie Tong’s NSX on some good ol’ Advan RS’s – you probably know by now, but if you don’t – he’s the owner of Zero Limit Automotive.


Steve Chan’s Mugen RSX slammed on mag blue TE37’s

A shot of Regina George. Picked the shittiest parking.

A very clean 7-series. All it needed (and it was screaming for it) was air suspension and a better non-BMW park job. It would have easily been the sickest car at the meet last night (for me, anyway) if it was just dumped and sitting on the ground in a proper parking stall. The colour was fantastic as well.

Justin Kan’s dumped and static TSX on Enkei NT03+M’s

Brad Atkin’s K20 EM1 on nicely contrasting orange TE37’s. Brad – give your keys to someone so I can shoot this.

Errol Tan’s Amuse S2000. Errol – take Brad’s keys and get someone to drive your car so I can shoot both of them.

Adrian Perry’s boosted B18 EJ1 on some new shoes! Volk CE28’s. I believe he’s still on the fence about swapping them but I get the feeling it’s going to happen.

Alex’s Integra looking clean as usual. There’s just so much to say about the car… I’ll save it for the shoot.

A GTR that is apparently pushing upwards of 800+ hp? I didn’t confirm it, just what I heard. Still clean though and in great condition.

Ray Dumitrescu’s STI Sedan on WORK M1R’s.

SO CLEAN. Didn’t see the owner though…

Noel Egger’s S14. I think he had an issue with his hood and hasn’t been able to get it fixed yet so he rolls without it. Still looks sick.

Derrek Poyntz’s super clean Integra.

A wild R32 suddenly appeared.

A pretty cool FD RX7. The aero/styling is very 90’s but it still works pretty well today.

A minty convertible S13

Simple Evo X on RPF1’s

John King’s JDM front end conversion CSX. I still love this look.

Kyle Hugo’s EK on Regamasters

A dumped Saturn. This thing is crazy and it might not appeal to everyone, but he did a pretty good job.

Anthony’s special edition Scrion FRS. The “Silver Ignition” colour is probably the nicest colour for the FRS. It’s got a few extra bells and whistles that the regular FRS doesn’t have like the HID headlights and LED DRL’s. Good job Scion.

Derrick Ho’s Integra. It’s shouldn’t be news to any of you anymore. Good to see him out and about.

A rear shot of Errol’s Amuse S2000

JC’s Lexus CT200h – again, clean as always.

A very clean and awesome BMW on Rotiforms. I think upon closer inspection…

It’s an M3 engine swap? Not sure… Feel free to correct me.

A shot of some asses.

A rear shot of the 7-series. So sick. However, I’m sure the 20 minutes of idling was unnecessary…

A shot of Adrian and Alex’s cars together…

Alex’s rear window rollcall… I particularly liked the “noooooo monicaaaa!!!” one. hahahahahaha

Duncan Yu’s boosted civic.

I’ll end the post here with a shot I took in the corner of the Prius and the longest fucking car ever and the rest of the peeps in the background!

Derrick Ho’s Acura Integra

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FINALLY getting around to shooting some cars. I’m starting to find “some” free time to squeeze in some photoshoots here and there in between all the new house appointments and Calgary Corporate Challenge training  and birthday parties all over the place… The last time I posted a shoot was July 1st of Michael Kwan’s Toyota Supra. It’s been that damn long… I need to step it up in this last month and start shooting like crazy. I’ve been promising a bunch of shoots and honestly never really have much time even though I really want to get them all done. So for everyone that I’ve told – it’s coming!

Well a lot of you have anxiously been waiting to see what Derrick’s car looks like and how it sits or even whether it’s finished yet. Yes, it is finished and it looks great. Derrick did a great job taking this car apart, doing everything from sanding, priming, and painting it, and then reassembling it back to how it used to be. I wrote all that out in a sentence and it sounds fairly simple – which it is – but I recall Derrick saying he would never do it again. The long and arduous task of doing something like this is both physically and mentally draining. As you can see from my previous posts from when I stopped by to lend as much help as I could, the days were long and the work was even longer. Hours were spent on a panel just wet sanding it down to get it as perfect as we could. More hours were spent polishing and getting rid of the marring from the previous step. Wiping and checking, wiping and checking.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I’m proud of Derrick for doing this all himself in his own garage and having the outcome turn out as good as it did. I’m happy to have been a part of the process even though it was a miniscule part when you look at the whole picture. I’m also happy to have been able to shoot it last night as well and I know that was the first thing Derrick wanted as soon as he got it out on the road again.

Now let’s move on to the pictures. We went out last night at around 5:30PM just when the sun began coming down so it was still harsh and it was still hot as shit. The OEM Lexus colour – desert sage metallic really sparkles and shows what it has to offer when it’s in the light. In the dark, it still looks great but nowhere near as nice as when you start to see the metallic flakes shine. Derrick dubbed the colour that you see in the dark a Donatello green – for those of you old enough to remember Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it’ll ring a bell.

Derrick’s car in all its glory. A lot of people expected a Midori green like myself at first. Derrick had thought about it but it ultimately came down to two choices – Milano Red or Desert Sage Metallic. Obviously he did no wrong with the latter choice. There was a lot of “ehh’s” and “hmm’s” when Derrick first conceived the idea, and I’ll admit that even I did the same when he told me.

I applaud Derrick for sticking to his guns right till the very end, though. When everybody disapproves, but in your mind and in the end it turns out looking great – that’s when you hit the jackpot.

Side profile shot of his car. The first thing you might notice or think to yourself is “needs moar low”. Yes, it does and Derrick knows this. The CCW’s that he got from Adam’s EK and before that – Punit’s Integra – is a very aggressive set for the DC body. He raised his coils up a bit to clear them and he’s running very little camber at the moment. In his defense, he just wanted to drive and that was his only option. He’ll be dialing in some camber and going back down to his regular, lower height soon and that will be the icing on the cake.

JC accompanied me on the trip to once again help with the rolling shots later. He’s pretty much my partner in crime when it comes to photoshoots – I can always count on JC for locations, a chaser car, and on-location instagram tags.

Another shot where the sun was coming down really hard. Still looks great.

JC doing that instagram thing off in the distance.

Another shot where you can see the gold metallic in the paint.

A head on shot.

JC chillin over to the side. More instagram…

Shot of the rear.

Derrick wiping off some dust.

Finally JC posted the instagram pic and so they stand and admire the car from the shade.

I’d also like to point out that after all that time, the instagram picture was not even centered. Amazing. (sarcasm)

Getting ready for rollers…

No artificial light flares here.

Again, the sun was super harsh but it added a fairly nice effect.

Inside the CT rolling back to the rendezvous point.

It was funny as we were driving back, JC mentioned that it always looks so weird when there’s no RPM’s. I looked over and laughed because I’ve never seen that before. Weird ass hybrids.

PS – JC your dash is dirty as f.

Cleaning his interior. I gave him a hard time before we even started shooting about not cleaning the car as much as he could have. He was too anxious to drive it… So then he cleaned it at the location.

My car all dirty and shit. I gotta clean it today… and JC’s car is always so damn clean.

Asimo. Typical Honda owners.

I took this not because it was a Nardi wheel. I took it because it’s the Nardi that I sold to him when I started parting out my Civic and he’s still using it today. The suede is worn down right to the bone but it still looks great. He was even saying he was thinking of picking up a new wheel but he would never sell this Nardi because I sold it to him. LOL brown noser.

Recaros

Type R center console.

And a closing shot of my car and JC’s car. Bug guts and all.

I decided to close with this because I’m excited about what’s going to happen this evening. Mike McConnell (MDM Visuals) will be shooting my car tonight. I’m especially stoked because in the 6+ years that I’ve been shooting, no one has ever shot my cars other than myself. I’ve never really asked anybody because I was always capable, but Mike has been wanting to shoot for a long time and I can’t turn a fellow photographer down. He does exceptional work and I would only want someone who could take great pictures to take pictures of my car too…

Stay tuned for that!