A supercharger seemed to be just the ticket; "having in mind (a JRSC) is gonna be simple, inexpensive horsepower," it seemed that Brian couldn't go wrong. Another trip to his favorite Web forum rendered Brian with a Jackson Racing Supercharger at an unbelievably low price of $1000. They say the third time's the charm, but that wasn't the case with his latest Internet transaction. This time, Brian realized something was wrong when he learned an important life lesson: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. "I bought the JRSC knowing that a few spacers were going to be missing. This was a whole new thing to me, and I didn't know any better. I spent about $250 to have everything complete. It was a pain because I didn't know the exact spacers and bolts I needed, but just did more research on the forums and figured it out. I had Daniel Butler AKA "Palmerbrock" from Church Automotive install it, and everything was fine for that night. I drove it the next day, and the car took a s***. It wasn't running right and was making noise at 3k rpms. "Check engine" light blinking, car shutting off; it was just terrible. I got it checked that night, and it ended up being that something was wrong with my supercharger. I ended up needing to take it off and sent it to Moss for a rebuild. They received it and told me it was messed up; the blade and bearings were all jacked up, and needed to be rebuilt for $720. During that rebuild of the supercharger, there was down time for a good month. Once I got it back, Kevin AKA "ksmatic" helped me get the install going and it was running good." Remember what I said about being selective when it comes to Web forums?
Once the car was finally back together and everything was working the way they should, Brian limped the car over to Church's Automotive to have it tuned. After a few hours of work, the boys called it quits when the RSX laid down a nasty 285 whp on the "street tune." Thanks to a 3.2" pulley, the most aggressive Jackson Racing makes for this application, Brian is now looking for a better flowing exhaust because he still isn't a happy camper. With an ever growing hunger for more modifications, Brian plans to continue building the car one part at a time. "I decided to keep the supercharger because when you're modding a car, downtime and negative outcomes are bound to happen, so it was all a lesson learned." If there's anything that we can learn from Brian's build it's that you don't have to be ballin' to have a good time building a ride you once considered out of reach. But remember: Just because you're building on a budget, it doesn't mean you can't splurge here and there because as Brian learned the hard way, "you get what you pay for."
Fast Facts
2005 Acura RSX Type-S
Owner Brian Nguyen
Hometown El Monte, CA
Daily Grind Full-Time Student
Under The Hood 2.0L K20Z1; AEM cold-air intake; Hondata intake manifold gasket; Jackson Racing supercharger (roots type), 3.2" pulley; Mugen radiator cap and reservoir socks; Racecoated custom valve cover; Strup race header; Tanabe Hyper Medallion cat-back exhaust system; TEIN hood dampers
Drivetrain 6spd OEM Type-S LSD transmission; Competition Clutch Stage 4 pressure plate and disc; Fidanza 11lb flywheel
Brains Hondata K-Pro
Stiff Stuff Function Form Type II coilovers; Mugen front strut tower bar
Stoppers OEM DC5 Type-S Brakes
Rollers Desmond Regamaster Evo 17X8 +35 (white), 215/45R17 Falken Azenis RT-615 tires
Outside A Spec rear wing; custom rear diffuser; JDM DC5 Type-R window visors, taillights,"H" badges; Mugen front bumper(show), front lip (daily), side skirts, rear lip; Jade green paint by "Pilo"; Techone 6000k HIDs
Inside A Spec shiftknob; custom reupholstered rear seats and door panel inserts; Nardi woodgrain classic steering wheel; JDM DC5 Type-R Recaro seats; Mugen race pedal kit; Muxx dead pedal; Takata harneses; Worksbell steering hub
Ice OEM Type-S Bose sound system
Props My girlfriend, Nancy, for helping me with the build and being there for me the whole time through the ups and downs of my car; my parents; my sister; my homie David; Will; Gabe; TJ; Ejay; Sean Klingelhoefer Photography; hasback Photography; Payuan Photography; Daniel Butler from church automotive;Mike from Jimmy UP; Kevin Shue ksmatic garage; Doug from Blueprint, Sean Nike SB'd; Phaze2; Jerkz; DPK; and all the SoCal crews; Club RSX; DC5 Nation; Honda-Tech.com; nwp4life.com
WWW clubrsx.com; dc5nation.com; f2autolife.com; honda-tech.com; kingmotorsports.com; mugen-power.com; nwp4life.com; racecoated.com