Let's talk about one of my favorite topics, CARS!

Actually, I'm mostly going to talk about my ride.
I've got to brag a bit, even though there probably isn't much to brag about.

Starting off with the description off the car, it's a:
1993 Honda Accord EX-R 4-door sedan, with standard 5 gear transmission.
For those of you unfamiliar with this car, the EX-R model comes fully equiped with power sunroof/moonroof, power windows, power mirrors, cruise control, etc. The car right out of the factory had around 138HP, out of a 4 cylinder engine.

I'll describe the "performance" and "mobile audio" changes that this car went through, but please keep in mind, that most of these upgrades were installed by me and my friends, so please don't be picky if something doesn't look quite right.

Actually, this is probably a great place to thank my brother Mike and all my friends, who made most of the "performance" upgrades possible. My thanks goes to all of you!

Enough chatter for now. Let's move on to "performance" equipment list:

• Ractive Air Intake system
• Ractive Muffler - MT215
• Ractive upper tie strut bars - Front & Back

The following is a list of "styling" upgrades:

• Clear Corner Lights
• Clear Bumper lights
• Clear Tail lights
• Halogen light bulbs (head lights)
• PIAA 1400X Platinium Series Fog lights - unfortunately already stolen

This last list shows the "mobile audio" equipment installed in my car:
(Some of the links will not point to a proper equipment, as the components intalled in my car are at least two years old and therefore are no longer listed on manufacturer web sites.)

• Sony CDX-C780 Deck
• Sony CDX-747X 10-disc CD changer
• Boss Rage series REV-785, click here to see my selection process.
• Kappa 60.2CS components
• Kappa 6x9 2-way speakers (692.1I)

Now, that you've read about all this stuff that has been put in the car, it's time to show what all of it looks like.

Photos and Description
Click on pictures to see a larger version.

Well, let's start with the engine compartment.
As some of you may know, Hondas are pretty reliable and very easily upgradable cars. They seem to lack power, but mainly because they are so restricted, air flow wise. The easiest remedy for it is to change the air filter and air intake pipe. That increases the air flow to the engine and may give you up to 26Hp increase, although realistically a gain of 5 to 10Hp can be expected. In case of my car Ractive Air intake was used. The whole O.E.M. air filter box assembly had to be removed to allow space for Ractive component. The final result is visible on the picture.

Together with the air intake upgrade, a good way of increasing the air flow is a muffler upgrade. I was lucky enough to get mine as a B-day gift from my bro and all my friends, as it is one of the more expensive upgrades. Together with additional horse power, an awsome rubble is also gained. (I might record mine one of these days and post it here ).

Well, because of budgetary constraints, that's all the upgrades that were installed to make the car accelarate faster. The next step was to make it stick to the road better. Probably the best way of doing that is wheels and tires upgrade, but that can easily climb to $2000 or more. So, again thanks to my brother, I installed the next best thing: front and back upper tie strut bars. These elements help the suspension "support" each other, so that the car is much stiffer through the corners. Basically, the car sticks to the road which allows for much faster cornering. I installed both personally with some help from my friend Maciek. The best part was that we didn't even need a lift to do this, but the difference was amazing. I recommend this upgrade to anybody.

So, getting all these upgrades installed really improved the way the car drove. But it still looked like one of a million other Hondas on the road. To make it distinct, I've decided to install a all around lights upgrade. I wanted to go for a nice, clean look (as opposed to making the car look like a christmas tree), so I've installed clear corner, bumper and tail lights, all around the car. To make it street-legal, colored light bulbs were installed as well. As a last touch, and to improve visibility, I've intalled PIAA 1400X series fog ligths, as well as halogen light bulbs to replace standard head light bulbs. Unfortunatelly, before I could take a picture of the fog ligths, they were stolen, so the only sign of them being installed is the electrical harness, which still resides in the engine compartment. In any case, I might replace them one day, but not now - again because of budgetary constraints.

That finishes the story of performance/styling upgrades. Let's move on to "mobile audio" upgrades: