Well, Stranger Things Have Happened
I hate to admit it but I suppose it's about time I come clean and say it: I lost. In the spirited battle of the EFs between Super Street and Project Car, the 1990s style that I so righteously represent just can't hang with the new school tricks that Gary's CR-X pulled out, and I can see why: the attention to detail was carried out so perfectly that I would have been surprised if the win didn't go to them. Let me back up and give you the full story: last year we decided to have a friendly build-off, to generate some cross-promotion between the two titles and see if they could take my old single cam D16, turbocharge it and beat me at the drag strip against a bone stock B16A swap; sort of the perfect challenge for two projects with an even dollar amount to complete. They beat me fair and square on the 1/8th mile, but then again their torque curve was massive compared to my gutless and stock B16. So I issued a show off, so to speak, thinking shit, maybe I could take them down in a field that suits me better. After all, I am kind of a big deal.What I wasn't expecting (but should have) was them rebuilding the car from the ground up, exchanging my old motor for a B16B, piecing together a set of SSR Neos from a bunch of trashed 4x100 sets and the barrels from Gary's 240 offset and respraying the car with a fresh new coat of paint. (There was a lot more done than I can go into full detail, so if you want the entire breakdown I highly recommend picking up the Summer issue of Project Car if it's still on newsstands, or better yet, pick up a back issue.) They did a lot of custom work on their own, too, like powdercoating their intake manifold and valve cover, and had Chase Bays come around for a full Mil/Spec wire tuck, too; so much for my mild tuck. We decided the readers would be the judges and picked three local events to test them out at: SpoCom, Eibach's Honda meet and Nisei Showoff. At all three, it just seemed that the current trends really overpower the simplicity of the 90s and it was an overwhelming response the feedback we got for both cars. No matter how many friends I bugged to vote for my car or people that I tried to bribe, I just couldn't win! I was close though. It's still great to see that people still appreciate a car like mine but all respect goes out to the car that beat mine, fair and square. I lost the EF category to the CR-X at Nisei by only 3 points! Well, there's always phase two of the car I suppose, and just wait until you see what I do with that...
Gimme, Gimme!
One thing that really caught my eye at Nisei was this pile of SSR magnetic locking keys from the Infinit Wheels crew. What's Infinit Wheels you might ask? Just link up with them at www.infinitwheels.com. They're your hottest connection to locating rare and highly sought after old school wheels and can also retrofit them with custom barrels so you can get a really nice offset onto any car. This is a really great resource for the older Honda and Toyota enthusiasts who are looking to put that finishing touch to their projects. You're going to see some collaboration with Infinit in the near future with my Project EF. But until that happens, I'm going to drool all over these keys. MUST. HAVE. NOW!
Jonathan Wong
jdmwong@superstreetonline.com