LAp2Eleven

This thread is more or less for documenting purposes and simply to share my experience with the coolest car community around! burnrubr:

I'n my early life I was all about "American" muscle cars, I owned a 1967 Mustang , 1971 Camaro RS and 1990 Mustang 5.0, never really giving imports (JDM) a try. But as they say, with age comes wisdom, and so that happen to me, now I'm happy being the owner of this awesome go-kart on steroids! its such a fun car to drive!

Okay, so my car is 2005 NFR AP2, purchased on 12/27/2013 from Carmax with 37,000 miles for $21,000 (first ever dealer purchase, this is by far the best car I've ever owned).

The bottom picture was taken 10/2016, three years into my ownership and one month before the dreadful night of my accident, some stupid crackhead lady ran a red light and unfortunately I was unable to avoid hitting her






And this is how my car sat for about 2 months (11/16 & 12/16), contemplating it's future.







After the shock of the accident wore off, it was time to assess the damage. I must admit at first it look bad, deployed airbags & locked seats belts (both! even though I did not have a passenger), busted windshield, right fender & headlight damage, bumper & hood.
But to me, the most important thing was the frame, it was saved by the design of the front end/bumper beam & the fact that the engine seats behind the tires saved the car (the radiator was not damanged).







From that point on the decision was made, bring it back to LIFE! to stock?

That question was quickly answered after coming across an article on Minh Le's S2000....I knew right there and then that I wanted my S to look something like this.............



Doing it for a Thrill // Minh Le's S2000 | StanceNation™ // Form > Function (Link to article)

So now it was time to find the right body shop and purchase all the parts (do save some money, I decided I'll buy all the parts but if I'm to be honest, I'm not sure I would do this again, it was a pain in the ass! it took me 3 1/2 months to get everything I needed).

My budged to get this all right was $10K (so this meant some parts were going to be reps, or now at least).........

To be continued, btw the car was dropped of 6/3/17 to the body shop 6/3/2017, os its supposed to be ready in the next couple of days, excitement & anticipation is unreal!

WidebodyEK

Can't wait to see. Glad you brought it back from the dead!

LAp2Eleven

@widebodyEK Thanks man, same here

Continuing *this will be quick log"

So as I was shopping around for the right body shop that wouldn't break the bank, I began purchasing the “non-fun” parts from OEM Honda Parts at up to 50% off MSRP Welcome to the Honda Parts Network.
I did my research and found they had the best prices around by far!

At the same time I placed my order (see invoice) with Shine, but unfortunately things didn't go as expected in regards to the time frame



Here is what transpired.
- 1/13/17: Order placed with Shine, was told “I can have all this done in about 4-5 weeks”. So I figured they be ready on 2/10 (boy was I wrong)

- 2/21/17: Requested an updated (5 weeks had passed), was told
“Close. About another 1-2 weeks"

- 3/22/17: Requested another updated, since I hadn’t heard back (10 weeks had now passed)
“Your order should be ready to soon. As far as time frame from us goes, it depends on how many people were in line for the items you ordered. There's high demand for all 3 items you ordered. Just to give you an idea, it takes us 2 weeks to build each spoon bumper with a CF accent. I will check up on your order and follow up shortly”
“The order is expected to be done Friday. So pick-up might be best sometime next week. “

- 3/27/17: FINALLY! after 11 weeks and 2 days, I receive this message
“This is done. Let me know when you would want to pickup the parts"

I was definitely disappointed with how long it took! and I think the lack of updates. But all & all Ken (Shine) definitely responded to all my initial inquiries & concerns.

LAp2Eleven

Before placing the order with Shine, I placed my first exciting/fun purchase of this whole ordeal, WHEELS! but as we all know, this took time, because of lack of money

I wanted the ever popular Work Meister S1R but It was way out of my budged, so then I was going to settle for the Cosmis XT-005R






But I came to the realization (after asking around & utilizing diff online wheel fitment websites, like willtheyfit.com) that their offset was to "excessive" for the "Spoon" Fenders.

18x9 +25mm (Front)
18x10+20mm (Rear)
Shine Spoon Front Fenders +20mm

The rear wouldn't have been a problem, because I was planning on cutting the quarter panel and relocating the tab etc, and the J's Racing Rear Over-fenders +40mm would have easily accommodated the 18x10+20mm.

I ended up purchasing the new (3 month old, at the time) Rays Gram Lights 57CR in gloss black! they look stunning!
17x9 +38mm (F)
17x9 +22 (R)





Then it was time for the rubber, and again, not an easy choice, so many damn options! but I think I did okay with the Dunlop Direzza ZII Star Spec (255/40R on all corners), if I had a bigger budged I would have gone with the Michelin Pilot Super Sports (maybe in the future).






I was as happier then a kid on x-mas!




After this it was time to choose the exhaust!

To be continued.....