Category: Car culture

Go! With Moon!

Words and pictures by PVT Runner Ian.

A few months prior, I was made aware of an upcoming event that I’ve had on my bucket list to attend. It was an open house day at Mooneyes in Santa Fe Springs. This event happens once a year, usually in July and it’s a small gathering of hot rod fans, as well as a few select Japanese and European classics.

Mid summer in SoCal, you can just about guarantee that it’s going to be a hot day outside but the clear skies made for a great opportunity for those candy paint jobs to shine.

The event took over 3 separate lots around the main store, each with its own set of quality cars to check out. Of course a plethora of big body cruisers made their presence known, laid out on the floor in proper fashion.

I personally am not too well-versed in the details of this era of cars, but how can any gear head not appreciate the level of detail and craftsmanship that goes into these vehicles? Just the shape alone of these sleds, gorgeous!

Another fun part about the event is the attendees themselves, dressed to impress and to represent the culture of hot rodding properly. It’s not just about the cars, it’s a lifestyle. This is a culture, embedding deep into the roots of SoCal style and it’s going nowhere anytime soon.

Though I might not know too much about these cars, it was still a great time. Great vibes, music of course and good company.

Also, to wrap the weekend: a new addition to the family. Many adventures ahead, stay tuned y’all!

How’s your week going?

Hope y’all having a good one. I start a new job on Monday.

Over the weekend I did some well needed maintenance on the daily. Some of the Runners came by to keep me company and throw back some beers.

Wrenching and bullshitting. Even talked about plans for this spring and summer: go fishing more! And from garage talk I relayed some info I found out through some research that’s hard to find even on Honda-Tech about which Brake Master Cylinders come on which cars when it comes to EG chassis’s as well as their proportional valve.

Note: do not use this blog post as a definitive guide for BMC’s and prop valves. I am simply stating my findings. These findings apply to the EG chassis.

The Findings:

The EG6 SiR comes with a 15/16 BMC. All other EG’s model comes with the 13/16 BMC like my VX seen here:

The only Civic in the USA that came with a 15/16 BMC is the EF EX sedan and Si. A lot of people swap over the 15/16 from the EF to their EG to have more brake pressure. The folks who upgraded to a rear disk on their EG’s opt for this swap as well, while others leave the 13/16 BMC on; it works. Especially if they can’t source the 1″ ITR BMC. From a source who has access to EG6 SiR’s and other model EG’s in their country (i.e., VTi) he stated that the EG’s that have the 15/16 BMC’s have a 30/40 proportional valve. Only the top model EG2 came with a 40/40 proportional valve along with some EK’s. So there you have it. Vital information.

My set up is DC2 GSR rear discs, 13/16 BMC (Stock USA EG BMC) with a 30/40 prop valve. I used to run a 40/40 with no problems, but it started leaking so I replaced it with a new 30/40. I felt no difference when I did go from 30/40 to 40/40 and back to 30/40. So in conclusion if you have a set up like mine, the 15/16 BMC it’s ok to use with a 30/40 proportional valve.

Theory:

There are other factors that come into play such as if you upgrade to bigger front discs/calipers etc., that you will have to research. Especially the 1″ BMC. Many would match it with a 40/40 proportional valve. I have no experience with that set up, perhaps you can still use the 30/40 if you only upgraded the rear to a DC2 rear calipers/disc setup and leave the fronts stock on a EG chassis. The difference from the 1″ to 15/16 is a 1/16 difference, so I don’t know if there will be any slop or gain. But if the 15/16 already increases pressure, I would assume the 1″ will also increase pressure as well. Non-ITR DC2 non abs has a 40/40 prop valve with a 15/16 BMC. If you upgrade the front calipers on the EG to a DC caliper, you need to match it with a 40/40 prop valve because the calipers are bigger.

Final Thoughts:

If myself and my source is wrong or if someone would like to add any other info please chime in because I would like to know as well, I am always a student. Many people have felt a significant difference when adding the 15/16 BMC to their EG. Since the 15/16 BMC & 30/40 prop valve come in that set up on the EG6 SiR, you know it works. Once you start upgrading to bigger discs and calipers, that’s when research comes in. I.e., 40/40 prop valve, ITR 1″ BMC.

Thank you to my buddy in France who sent me this BMC, you know who you are 😊 I plan to install the 15/16 BMC onto my EG some time this year, probably once the weather warms up.

Merci.

Garage Days

Words and pics by PVT Ian.

Sometimes, you just need to get shit done.

Been making some plans with Private Runner Mel(Baaambol) to bust out a clutch job on the EK. Since I was about to do all this work, I decided now is the time to switch out the LS trans for something with shorter gears. I struck a deal with Mel (homie hookup fasho) to take the trans off the B16A swap he recently picked up. He’s working on something for his EF and plans to use the funds on a cable trans while I make use out of the hydro one.

The time finally came to get down and do the work. I came up to Mel’s pad, he had cleared some space in his garage so we had some work room. This meant that his immaculate and freshly painted EF hatch had to come out and see the light of day. I brought all my tools that I thought we’d need and laid them all out. Mel’s homie Ozzy came by to join us. He’s rocking Mel’s old white EF on some Mugens. Pretty cool car, I remember admiring it the first time I saw it without even knowing who it belonged to.

The surgery finally begins on the EK. Immediately out the gate we run into issues with the axle nuts. Ended up making a tool run and buying an Impact gun. This impact gun proved to be very helpful through the rest of the process.

We worked til late, or til we were frozen over since it was a cold night. At one point, we lost all power! Circuit breaker decided to call it a night. No light, no heat, we decided to call it a night as well.

Ozzy left not long after everything went AWOL in the garage. He probably didn’t realize what he was in for when he came over. Mel told him to cruise by so he can hear his exhaust lol. One thing led to another and he was under the car hammering out the bitch pin, among other things. Guess you never know how a night can go when you kick it with some runners.

Oh and for the record, after 3 long nights of work, a few homies coming through to lend a hand and one really shitty tow situation, we got that shit done!

Side note, by PVT Runner:

I too put in some work today, which I feel very accomplished. Did an oil change on the PVT Support Vehicle and changed the suspension on the daily Yaris. No pics, I felt like that isn’t exciting nor interesting as Ian and Mel’s experience. But we share the same aftermath of feeling accomplished at the end. As PVT Ian said, sometimes you just need to get shit done.

I want ahi poke

I always want ahi poke… I eat so much ahi poke, I got mercury poisoning. Anyway.

Whenever I eat Hawaiian food I somehow always think of how I used to visit TeamRice and Dohcresearch religiously, back around 2003ish.

That was my first taste of the Hawaiian car culture. Just as their food is a mixture of different cultures, the way they style their cars has a mixture of different cultures as well. It’s like a cross between JDM style to Islander style with a little mainland love somewhere in there.

Even if the car looks mad ghetto to some, it’s still mad fresh.
Like the car seen here that belonged to a member of Team Ultraspeed back in the day:

Whether there was a meaning behind it or if they just did it to do it because “why not?” it’s something that stands out and catches my eye of interest (maybe they did it to be ratchet?). The fact that it’s rugged and boro boro, that’s what makes it appealing to me. It’s something you do to a car that will be used to take abuse on and off track. Kind of like how kanjozoku’s treat their cars.

That was when Hawaii still had a racetrack…

Another thing about Hawaiian style of tuning that will always attracted my attention in photos is the background. The cars are the cherry on top and the background is the icing. It’s almost like seeing these cars in the wild type of feeling.

Team Ultraspeed is a Virginia based team, but they expanded beyond that. To Hawaii for example. I remember a team profile of them on some old 360vm issue back in the day.

A well known Hawaiian member of Team Ultraspeed owns this famous golden EG

Him and his team owned the blue rugged and raw EG seen above as well. The “boro boro” Civic ended up throwing a rod through the side of the block at a track day. I don’t know what happen to it after that, but I do believe some of it’s parts remain floating around…

“In the early 2000s there were almost no social media, no YouTube how to’s, basically no internet. Hawaii basically was blocked off from the world. We got our inspiration from going out there and experiencing other cultures and bringing back home what we thought were cool. A melting pot of ethnicities also became the melting pot of car culture. Also technology wise, it was and still is, expensive to get new things done and what not, just because we’re out in the middle of the Pacific. So if you see something replicated here like let’s say a k swapped MR2, when they became popular, then chances are, that person went far wide to get it done.” – PVT La Rosa

Amen to that homie.

Thank you Hawaii for always and continuing to inspire me.

Peace.