So here's what I've been up to lately:

Picked up an OE reproduction spoiler in carbon, had it painted but left out a portion of the carbon look:



Hacked apart the airbox to make it 'Spoon style', to go with the duct. Closed off the reasonator too, using a piece of plastic from the fence on the inside of the airbox and glued in place with some silicone. All the cutting took about 30 minutes with an angle grinder and a dremel type tool. Complete with dirty engine bay pic! I've removed the aluminum cooling plate for the time being as I'm going to paint that with a creative theme.



Got a ScangaugeII for Christmas, but I only just picked up one of Modifry's dash brackets, so installed all of that. Have to tidy up the wiring a bit:



Bought a Fidanza aluminum flywheel for cheap, had it resurfaced. It'll be paired with the Exedy OEM replacement clutch kit I bought from one of the vendors. The pressure plate is stamped 'Honda' and came in one of the pink plastic bags that Honda parts always do, but without the Honda stickers. BTW, the kit also came with an OE release bearing, so for US$350 shipped, it's a good deal. Anyway, the flywheel was balanced with the pressure plate together, so some small washers were welded to the pressure plate for balancing purposes, and some holes drilled into the side of the flywheel.



On Sunday, I joined the bent fender club, when I was turning right into a parking lot. The combination of the RE01Rs, the curb and the turn meant the tire bit into the fender lip a bit. I managed to bend it back with some heat and a rubber mallet. But to prevent it from happening again, I thought it best to roll it some. Fortunately, I still had my friend's fender roller, so the next day the fiancee and I did some rolling on the fronts. I did a bit more yesterday too. More difficult than the rears, as on the rears we were just rolling the inner edge up to be more flush with the skin, all on the inside. I probably could have gotten away with just rolling the front inner lip up, but I wanted to be extra careful so I flared it out a bit too. The flaring was the difficult and anxiety ridden part. It's far from showcar perfect, a bit wavy, but not too bad. Heat gun held by my fiancee meant we didn't crack any paint, fortunately - but a bit of the clear coat did crack.

Before the fender incident, I had already raised the front by about 5mm, but it still made contact. I can probably lower the car the 5mm back down again, as there is quite a bit of gap, and there was never any contact at speed. Interestingly...the issue was entirely down to the tire. Last year I had the RE050s in 215s, and never any incident. Now with the RE01Rs in 215s, contact. The tire is definitely wider!

 

The wing looks good!

 

225 RE01Rs are reputed to be more like a 235 in most other brands

 

Really? I thought they looked pretty skinny on my AP2 wheels. I guess i didn't have anything else to compare to though, just the 215 RE050's that came off.

That makes me a bit worried about running 255's all around on all AP2 rears. Apparently they fit with no issues, but i'd hate to end up a member of the bent fender club, since Mike's fender roller is a long way from here

Btw the cars looking nice Vince. Still love those Stoptechs the most though.

 

Thanks for everyone's comments!

Regarding tires, they are definitely wider, or at least the shoulders more square on the tire...with the RE050s on the fronts last year, they were noticeably stretched. Now the RE01Rs look much more like a 225.

I also get a bit of rub still on the rears, on the plastic fender part of the bumper. I relocated the bolt and also cut away some of the material, but on long sweeping corners with the outside suspension compressed a bit, there's just a hint of rub. Maybe I need stiffer suspension! Again, last year with DZ101s in the same sizes, those mods I did eliminated the rubbing already, but now a bit is back, so even those the sizes are the same, the RE01R is wider!

Shane: I'm going to Vancouver in June, probably will take a couple days to hang out in Victoria. If you need the roller, I'm sure Mike wouldn't mind me bringing it out! Let me know and I'll chat with him about it.

 

i recall a buddy putting A048Rs that were 225 beside REO1R 225 and there was a good inch difference

 

Hmm, good stuff to know guys! I wonder if all the sizes are wide for their width rating? I'm guessing they are; the 255's i have on the rears look huge compared to the 225's up front (maybe that's why i thought the 225's looked so skinny).

I know several guys that said they run 255's all around and i believe at least one of them were on RE01R's, but i guess i'd have to double check. I guess by the time i get around to buying new tires i won't be able to get any RE01R's anyway.

I'll get back to you about the fender roller, Vince. But even if i don't need it let me know when you're coming and maybe i can meet up with you, and if you're here on the weekend i'm sure the local guys would be up for a drive somewhere around here. Maybe even during the week.