j’s racing

Mini Mugen Montage

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Had some time yesterday to go out to take some quick pics of the Type R with the full Mugen kit now on. I know what some of you might be thinking – “that’s not the full Mugen kit, you’re missing some pieces” – and I know but I just don’t consider two plastic covers on the front grill worthy enough to be part of the kit lol. Same with the carbon mirror covers. I think I’ll be eating my words down the road because something will compel me to end up getting them anyway to fill the Mugen void, but for now – I’m happy as it is and can live without those pieces…

This is the first time I’ve pulled the car out to actually see the wing myself in all its glory as well. After installing it, I hadn’t taken it out because the front lip was still with Nick after he painted it. It looked so weird and naked without the lip so I never bothered to pull it out. I ended up picking it up a few days ago and Tommy wrapped it in 3M for me yesterday.  I got home and installed it pretty quickly and ceramic coated it all over again lol.

Anyway – not a whole bunch of shots cause I just drove around the neighbourhood quickly to get some full body shots. I’ll try to get out for a full photoshoot soon before the season ends.

Looking goooooood

While I do like the OEM wing, I think it starts to become out of place once it sits with the rest of the Mugen kit.

I love the profile of the wing. Different for sure.

I think one of my favourite views now is for sure the rear. It’s such a wacky (best word I can find to describe it) combination of Thanos chin, a weirdly angled wing and thicccccness I love the thing profile of the wing from the rear too. Everything ends up fitting so nicely.

Also enjoy this angle. Mugen wing or not, this is the best angle of the FK8. lol

And home together with the Fit. I absolutely love these two together. I wouldn’t say it’s my dream spec but it’s pretty damn cool to have a Mugen and a J’s Racing (almost) catalog car in the garage side by side.

It’s hard to choose what to drive lately… But for the most part, it’s been the Fit because it’s still “new” to me. It’s also fun as hell despite how slow it is compared to the Type R. After driving the Type R yesterday, it felt so tame and refined. It’s also hella quiet and comfortable lol. Weird to say that…

Good day!

DIY: CARPRO SiC on the J’s Racing Fit

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So I’ve been pretty anxious to finally get this all done since buying the car but I just haven’t had time to dedicate until recently. It’s been killing me driving around a car I haven’t personally cleaned inside and out – I don’t know why – just an OCD thing or something…

Anyway, over the last week I’ve been tackling bit by bit on the Fit to at least bring it up to the level that I think is “clean”. It doesn’t matter who owned it before – even if it was a dude that was OCD like me, I’d probably end up redoing it again anyway LOL. Last week I did a full interior shampoo on everything – seats, carpet, doorsill fabric – anything that was able to be shampooed was indeed shampooed. I then steamed and cleaned up all crevices inside and in the door/trunk jams to get out the gunk that’s been sitting there for who knows how long. The good thing about going through the car is you get to clean everything… The bad thing is that you start to notice certain imperfections or things that you need to change or fix. On the interior, there are a few things that I’d like to tackle over time – IE., replacing the interior carpet with a new one, replacing some seals and adding in missing bolts that for whatever reason weren’t there to begin with…

The interior is boring so I never really took pics. The most exciting part is really just prepping and finally getting the coating on. This time, I opted for CARPRO SiC over the classic UK 3.0 + Gliss combo. SiC is still fairly new and there really isn’t much out there in terms of longevity but I wanted to take the chance on this one. Apparently it’s basically UK 3.0 + Gliss in one with the protection and slickness in one. I guess we’ll see over time, but I’ll talk about the process throughout the post.

The Fit in all its glory. Unwashed, unpolished, uncoated. Looks good from afar and not too shabby up close but not the best.

The first hand wash in the new garage too. Excuse the ugly flooring – new flooring doesn’t go in until mid-September.

The resident BI can’t wash the car without making sure his own barrels/wheels aren’t clean LOL

One of my favourite steps in the process is actually using an Iron filling cleaner like IronX. It could totally just be a psychological thing with the color changing effect but it does feel like it gets a lot of things that you can’t with a simple wash mitt or claybar.

The affected area was behind the door handles which I soaked a lot longer. You could even start to see the contaminants along the edge of the handle.

Upon soaking, you could see so much of that red leaking out and immediately start clearing up.

Other parts of the car that are often neglected are the pieces right up against black like near your grill and those little crevices. You can see a bit here which required some claybarring to remove.

Even after just IronX and a claybar, the car seems to shine even more…

One of the other things I’ll end up doing maybe over the winter is repainting certain pieces to all match. It’s not terrible but you can see that the bumper is slightly off compared to the rest of the front. It’s definitely not in your face noticeable but it bugs me…

I ended up claybarring the door sills and jams as there was a bunch of build up there…

All clean…

The side mirrors also had a bunch of build up which IronX and claybarring helped remove easily…

Always funny to see Champ White next to any other white cause then it just looks yellow hahaha

Done for the day. I let it just sit and dry over night because I hate polishing the car when there’s water drips just coming out from little crevices…

The next day, I started the polish. The paint was in fairly good condition already so I didn’t need much. I did a simple stage 1 polish with CARPRO Fixer and an orange pad.

Cleaned up the headlights nice

Slickkkkk

Side results…

Looking good on this side too…

The rear end was nice to polish as well. Got the tail lights all shined up as well as the rear hatch. Often times the hatch or rear of a car is super contaminated from all the kick up on the road. Gotta take care of the ass…

Got some of the swirls out of the wing too. Smooth carbon is the best carbon.

And the much anticipated SiC. I initially wanted to try a graphite coating but I’m just too invested and sold on the CARPRO ecosystem and lineup so I just decided to try SiC instead. Most of the thoughts on this have been fairly positive – the most notable feature of this being the slickness that it brings…

I will say that SiC is definitely slicker than UK 3.0 + Gliss right off the bat. It’s extremely nice and satisfying. It is also significantly easier to apply than UK 3.0. When I was doing it, the ambient temperature in the garage was about +20C and the cure time was anywhere between 1-10 minutes. I found that even after about 8-9 minutes, that was my sweet spot. It wasn’t hard to take off at all and it didn’t grab like UK 3.0 did when it flashed.

You might notice that the results produced a much deeper and strong gloss and shine. Even just on the headlight, I was thoroughly impressed with the deepness it created in a clear lens.

The hood produced a very nice shine and gloss as well.

I would say on dark colours, SiC seemed to really create a dark and deep gloss that is actually super noticeable. The wing and carbon weave here is a good example.

I thought it looked great after the polish but upon wiping off SiC, I didn’t think would’ve looked this good.

Gloss on the rear quarter… Beautiful

Tail lights just shining like a diamond

More gloss on the carbon canards…

Roofline…

And that’s that! Unfortunately, sometimes gloss can be a little understated on white but it does look great in person. The most important thing is now it’s protected – which is all I really wanted.

Bada bing bada boom! Stoked on finally being done. I opted not to coat the wheels yet – I’m going to probably take off all the wheels over winter and clean them up properly and then work on replacing other things like bolts and getting the fenders and sideskirts repainted and reinstalled a little better as well. Little things but in the end, it’s the small things that matter!

J’s Racing Honda Fit Joins the Battle!

/ jasonhoang / 4 Comments

Some of you probably all saw my long ass adventure that I had last weekend… I hadn’t really said anything because with my luck, I would’ve jinxed it and something would’ve messed up, so I just waited until it was official.

Some back story – over the last few months I’ve been searching for a clean stock GD Fit and never really found anything worth starting a project on. It’s particularly tough in Alberta because most Fits have been used and abused (I mean, not to blame them – it’s a Fit) and they were either rusted or damaged in some sort of way… And when I came close to finding a clean one, it was either too high in mileage or in a color I didn’t want. I almost settled on Silver… Not that there is anything wrong with Silver but it’s just not for me.

Reggie (NRI) had posted his Fit for sale twice in the time I was looking. The first time, I passed it up because I was confident I would’ve been able to find a clean base and never came close. The second time, I messaged him and we ended up talking about it and came to a reasonable deal. With the approval from Diana, I  had my plane ticket booked and the rest is basically history.

Reggie had built the Fit pretty much the way I had wanted it – some of the items I would’ve gone a different route like the wheels and wing but overall – it was a very well-rounded build with a nice J’s theme going on. To buy a stock Fit and then all these parts to and labour/paint would’ve cost me more than to just buy Reggie’s. Maybe I’m getting old but I’m not big into waiting for parts and getting them all installed or going through the bodywork process and everything else in between. There’s a certain sense of joy that comes with an already-built car that you just take the keys to and enjoy and this is it.

I just took a few shots in the garage before I do a complete detail on it inside and out. It definitely needs some love and a few extra fixings (in my eyes) to really bring it together. As a package, the car is pretty much take it and drive but the OCD in me can’t leave it as is… Here are some pics with bug guts and all…

The front end is probably my favourite. The J’s front is (IMO) the best looking front end for the GD platform.

TE37 CR Sonics. Guess I’m back with TE37’s… If Advan ever made GT’s in 15’s, I’d trade instantly lol. Maybe one day!

J’s Racing carbon duct and canards as well. Makes the slow car look fast.

J’s racing painted carbon hood. Also one of the better hoods for the GD platform… IMO…

The JDM headlights are also super clean. The USDM headlights that are color matched to the body are barf ugly lol. One day I might retrofit these but I’m digging the reflector look right now.

MOMO Monte Carlo steering wheel…

J’s Racing titanium knob and a Hybrid racing short shifter. Super solid and short shifts with this one.

And a J’s Racing carbon GT wing. It works because of the whole J’s theme going on so I dig it. I think I would’ve went with a Mugen wing but we’ll go with the full on race car theme. It’s growing on me.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be detailing the entire car and eventually coating it with Carpro SiC this time. I was going to use UK 3.0 with Gliss overtop but I thought this would be a good opportunity to try something new. Over time, I will be replacing certain seals and bolts to make it look a little more fresh. I’ll be shampooing the entire interior and I want to eventually replace the interior carpet if I can source one.

More pics of that when I start!

Level Up: Arif’s Honda Civic – The Final Form?

/ jasonhoang / 2 Comments

Ah yes, another photoshoot in the bag – and a rather special one at that. This one is of Arif’s Civic and it’s been quite a long time since we’ve gotten together to shoot. Lots has changed since the last time we shot it and there always seems to be a period of several years between our shoots and while it feels like it’s only been a year or two – this time it’s been 4, and prior to that, it was 5 years. Here’s the link to the Fall shoot we did some time ago if you’re interested:

https://lifewithjson.com/2014/10/08/arifs-honda-civic-ek-2-0-aka-hollie/

This time was special – no, not because we had a candlelit dinner with Jina-spec entrees or anything like that. Don’t get any wrong ideas. It was because this time when Arif asked me for a shoot – he was able to get access to CH Toyota all to himself on a Sunday and one other person. Luckily, that other person was me. You don’t really think about shooting inside a dealership until you’re asked to shoot inside a dealership. I’m not going to say it’s a rare opportunity because I’m sure many others have the same ability to do so, but it doesn’t come around all too often.

It’s an eerie place when it’s empty and there aren’t salesmen walking around, or phones ringing, or machines running and tools banging. It’s quiet. It’s peaceful. There’s no pressure to say “no thanks, I’m just looking” or “umm, I’ve got an appointment at 3?”. You could stand and stare at that 4Runner TRD Pro all day if you wanted without the pressure of someone asking you questions. Speaking of 4Runner’s… Before we get on with this pic-heavy post, there was one gem sitting in the showroom that I was able to snap pics of with nobody around to bother me…

This 1,000,000 km 4Runner. Yup, one million…

The interior – despite the mileage – was in fantastic shape. The seats looked better than most used cars you’d find that have 100k on the odometer. Although the steering wheel has taken quite a beating, it hasn’t stopped the car from running.

A shot of the back seats and carpet – still quite immaculate.

And just look at the condition of the body and paint. This could pass as an old, low km car if you judged a book by its cover.

Some of the suspension components have been replaced as expected, but the rest of the car still looks great.

The original wheels – although scathed and starting to age beyond repair still holding strong.

And finally – a shot of that odometer just to prove it. Man… Glad I got to see this.

And so now as we move on and Arif gets the car ready, I took a couple shots of the inside of CH Toyota – when the lights are off and everything is at peace.

The M3 kind of out of place… But adds to the picture as decoration…

So we begin… Arif’s car in the flesh. Very different than 4 years ago when we shot it and very much evolved into something better.

A lot of the shots I took were with the lights off. I felt it gave a very unique feel with a slight blue colorgrade added to it. Almost like it was in the pits getting ready to do some hot laps…

One of the most notable changes are his yellow CE28’s which demand a lot of attention to the car.

Arif said that he had the car all cleaned and ready to go on Friday when he was confirming if we were still good to shoot on Friday. My mistake was believing him. I took this pic and for a split second, I second-guessed what I saw through the viewfinder only to have my doubts confirmed when I reviewed the picture again after taking it.

“Arif – I think you need to clean your wheels again” I said. Arif gave a hesitant “what?” trying to sound like he didn’t know what I was talking about even though he knew damn well. “Your wheels are still dirty here…” I replied again. “You know what, I’m just going to leave it so that you can take a picture and call me out cause I know you will” he says. Deep down – I know that he thought his wheels were as clean as could be. Why else would he have left his car in the dealership overnight and not drive it there on the day of the photoshoot? Because he didn’t want it to get dirty. This is the problem with multi spoke wheels, man. You clean the top half of the spokes because you’re looking down on them but you always miss the underside. As Arif reads this, I know going forward he’s going to start cleaning the underside of the spokes. Mistakes happen.

One of my favourite additions to Arif’s car is the newly retrofitted headlights done by Aldrich. Rich has done many retrofits for our friends cars and they’ve always come out impeccable. It’s a much appreciated update for older cars with halogen reflector headlights and if done nicely, it can look very OEM. No unnecessary LED bars or strobing/changing colours all over the place – just a nicely placed projector and housing.

Another notable change is the BYS bumper. Another welcome addition to bring the package together nicely.

Interior wise – not much has changed. Good ol’ Tigger still hanging from the cage as you can see by his tail…

Lots of big changes as I go through these pictures – another is the Project Mu big brake kit you see behind the yellow CE’s. Surprisingly a very fitting colour combo.

This photo in the washbay had a sort of neckbreaking angle but I liked it. Also, Arif was holding the hose that you see over to the right of the picture there. Just thought I’d give credit where credit is due…

Getting set up to move around

In my opinion, Arif’s car has really “grown up” in the sense that it’s evolved from a “boy-racer” look to a more sophisticated and rounded out look. The much tamer Seeker wing, the BYS bumper, the clean retrofitted headlights and the J’s hood.

Another addition are the Tracklife Composites fenders. A much more aggressive look up front.

The TiBurnt valve stem caps with Project Mu and Volk.

The panda theme that Arif had going on for a long time is more or less gone. Everything is paint matched now – the hood, the roof. The only “black” you see now is the naked carbon accents on the lip and the side mirrors.

Close up of the BYS badge on the front lip…

Another shot of the retrofitted headlights

The bolts holding the hood latch are a gold titanium. A nice touch to match the wheels IMO…

Under the hood now sits a K20 that replaced the F20B which was the heart of Arif’s Civic since I’ve known him.

One of my favourite pieces under the hood was this titanium hood rod.

Mugen bolts…

The rear of Arif’s civic also sports new LED tail lights with a slight smoked finish as well.

Inside, the iconic STACK cluster

Quick intermission – the owner of CH Toyota’s Ferrari sitting in the corner collecting dust… I mean, my house is free to let it “collect dust” too, ‘namsayin…

Getting ready to move to the final area…

I think a lot of my favourite shots were done here in the tire storage area. We’re lucky that he was able to squeeze in nicely. That’s what she said.

I dubbed this “Speedhunter” style… It was unintended but I guess I achieved it nicely lol.

Getting some higher angle shots shows the awesome lines of the J’s Racing hood…

Another shot. Menacing.

OK last one I promise… Once again, good job Rich!

A shot of the cut off – the most important part. Check that blue/purple.

The teaser shot I posted earlier this week… My favourite shot of the bunch still.

And just a few random shots before we ended it for the morning…

Time to hit the track…

Hope you enjoyed this one as much as I enjoyed shooting it! It’s nice not having the pressures of people and other cars around – although not huge pressure – it’s still distraction and things you need to work with. An empty dealership and all the time you need provides ample opportunity to get a multitude of shots. Adios!