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Team Autobot's founding member "Grimlock" my import delSol SiR

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Old Jun 14, 2007 | 04:34 PM
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Default Team Autobot's founding member "Grimlock" my import delSol SiR

Firstly, apologies if you're reading this for the 2nd time, its going up on a few forums!

2 years ago i finally bought a delsol after wanting one for a while.
Back in May 2005 I was sitting at work one day and thought "f*ck it, i wonder if i could get the loan i need?" 10 minutes later and I was off the phone having just agreed to a loan for a nice sum of money. I'd have the cheque within 48 hours so there i was, ready to buy myself a delsol for the summer!
I had been a member of delsoluk.com (which is recognised by Honda as the official uk delsol owners club "cough*plug*cough") for a while so started to check for cars for sale and did my own research online checking various different import companies as i had my heart set on a black SiR import.
Quite quickly i stumbled upon a nice little Silver SiR. It was a fresh import and i fell in love with it. I enquired about it and that very weekend was down at the place (about 150 miles away ) for a test drive. 2 days later i put a deposit down and 2 weeks later collected my new car! "But what about black Murphy?" you all ask. Well it just looked too good and i hadn't seen that many silver sols. Also what i've since learned is that almost every 2nd delsol in Scotland is black. I've been at a local cruise/meet to see 6 delsols turn up before....all of them black Sir imports!

Optional extra's it came with were;
Transtop (Stuff your manual roofs, transtops are cool as expletive and stop traffic! 2 accidents and counting from drivers staring at it in action! he he :D )
momo steering wheel (pretty tatty)
momo gearknob and gaiter (fell apart within months)
traction control

Here is the car as a fresh import



And here it is on the day i got it home





and the maaaaasive rear number plate


With the money i had left over i bought myself some red s2000 seats for the car. The seats set the car off a treat and are mega comfortable compaired to the crappy delsol seats. I can drive for miles on these and never get a dead ***! I also got some Eibach lowering springs


I took the car to my 1st show a few months later which was the Japanese Auto Extravaganza in Peterborough. The car looked great, but from seeing the other cars on show i was jealous of all the attention other cars were getting so decided that for the next year i'd make the car look better. I had an image in my head how i wanted to car to look so bided my time and got myself a little list made up.
the JDM scene was just kinda hitting the UK around then (or at least thats when i knew about it) and i got myself swep up along with it and wanted my car to be JDM y0!
After seeing various pic of other delsols and seeing what i wanted to do and what not to do i settled for a few choice mods to the car nearly a full year later in March 2006.

Mod number 1 > a full Honda Delsol lip kit. I got this sprayed and fitted by the company who made these for Honda. Stupid idea that as it cost a fair whack and brought problems with it that i'll go into later.
Mod number 2 > 15 inch Bronze Rota C8's (Now before the smart *** comments come, i've heard them all before. So, rota hater's please go smoke a bloke or stick your dicks in your tail pipes. before giving it out the old "OMG rota's blah blach blah" I'm sick fed up of all the Rota hating. If its not pure JDM enough for you then kindly scrap your Si's and Vti's, go import a SiR THEN you can bitch to me about not having the real deal. They look the part and if i had said they were Mugen's you'd never know the difference )
Mod number 3 a private number plate and re-sized import plates made up.

I also decided to leave the car without a spoiler as i prefered the lines of the car like that. for me a bodykit and spoiler has to go with the lines of a car, unless you're a drift or racing car that needs an ironing board bolted 2 foot up off the rear end for max downforce

Here is how the car looked after the mods (mmmmm stunning- incoming pic whoreage )















No more masssive rear number plate!


Now to many people the car looked great, and to be air in the pics it does look nice but to the few eagled eyed amongst you out there there is some things not right. I was kinda gutted with the car and here's how.
When i was washing it in the winter, all the fecking stickers came off and left lighter patches of colour where they were. They also appeared to take a chunk of lacquer/layer of paint with them. I was surprized at this an realised it might cost a bit to fix as i was told Vogue Silver was a bitch to match up for spraying.
when the lip kit was fitted the company who did it had to remove my mudguards. when they tried this they found the ******* who had re-sprayed the car had simply taped round em, NOT removed them so the guards too a chunk of paint/lacquer wih them and they decided to leave bits of the front ones on the car (pic below) You can also see the colour difference where the old HKS sticker was.

when the mud guard bits came off there was lighter patches there and the driver's side also left a chunk of black tacky putty **** that i knew would take paint with it if i tried to budge it.
To solve the paint work probelm the car basically needed a full respray. It was flaking lacquer all up the A pillars and from behind the side windows all across the rear sail panels. I realised i'd just have to suck it up and start saving for the work in the future.
In the mean time i took the car to Japanese Auto Extravaganza again (JAE 2006 for those familiar) and dragged my little cousin Jonny with me too. We got the car looking nice and shiney and i got a front row placement on our club stand.
Here's some pics from the event.

Scott pissed and knackered , unaware of us stacking **** on him.

Scott again and me with the Domo Kun hoodie (its pimpin!)


Scott woke up when we tried to move the chair and was able to take 2 steps then instantly fell asleep on the ground, so i suggested a new picture opportunity. He moved at first but then was comatose for about an hour allowing us the pic we wanted.



now, back to my car!





finally my favorite


Now after JAE i was happy with how the car looked but i was unhappy at the state of the paint was in and was in 2 minds what to do with the car as i to do the work i had done earier in the year i had taken out a bigger loan and if i was to just sell up i'd still be left with debt from the loan.
nothing much changed over the winter, i took my car to a few hondatech.co.uk meets but each time i was always concious of the paint work problems no matter how many compliments people paid. Every time i was drivin the car, i loved it to bits, but to look at it, all i saw was the things i wanted to fix.
Come 2007 i was starting to look forward to JAE again and was thinking of maybe selling my wheels and trying something else out with the exterior of the car as the lip kit was now popular due to 12tune.nl able to make up copies at a better price (go check out their site now, lots of great Honda goodies! http://www.12tune.nl) and more people had the kit on their cars. I had gone off the JDM scene and decided i liked a more clear approach to the car. People were starting to stick some utter ***** on their cars and trying to justify it by saying "oh but its JDM" no matter how stupid or out of place it looked. There was no longer individual cars, everyone was just appealing to masses.

In March 2007 things took a turn for the worse and all my plans went right out the ******* window.
Late for work one morning i had missed the bus and went home to take the car into work. (7 miles) about 2.5 miles from my house is a rather large roundabout well known for "shunt" accidents. Thursday 8th March it was my turn.
I was watching the traffic on the roundabout, saw a gap and went to move on and BANG! right into the car in front of me. My car buckled and folded up real good.




Now it may not look like much damage but remember this is a 1992. Regardless of the fact its rather rare, in amazing condition only about 80k miles on the clock and without a spot of rust, the ******* insurance wrote it off and gave me a **** poor settlement.
for a while i didn't know what to do. The car needed new bonnet, bumper, JDM aux lights JDM main lights (thank you America for making these already hard to source parts such high value to obtain even 2nd hand! ) front panel and probably 2 new wings. Then i had to add spraying and fitting. I had it set in my mind i'd just take the money, go buy a eg civic and that its.
But a little voice in my head was telling me to do bad things, telling me to contact the insurance company and tell them to stick their offer and re-value it, telling me that this is the perfect chance for the re-spray and other mods i wanted done. The voices were too much and i buckled. It took about 2 and a half months for me to get the car back from the insurance company. Yeah, i got a better settlement and bought it back from them.
Once home i instantly set about stripping the front end to see how bad the front end damage was...


The area around the passenger side aux light took the brunt of the damage as thats where the exhuast of the other car went right into.

I started looking for someone to do the work to the car and after following 2 threads on Hondatech.co.uk i contacted a guy called Peter at Bellshill Coachbuilders.
Now Peter is the father of Ghandi (Peter also), who is the Admin of Hondatech.co.uk.
He'd already fixed up a s2000 for Ghandi and swapped an EG civic front end onto a delsol so i knew his work and know it would be a great job.
Through out the work, Peter has been brilliant in keeping me up to date with how the work has gone on and took some pics along the way. I was able to get the damage fixed AND i got the respray the car needed. Top guy.
for getting the work done i was looking at getting 2nd hand parts or new parts (discounted of course) Peter suggested that as he was already thinking about buying a light rear end damaged delsol from auction we could use the parts from that on mine. It seemed like a straight forward plan so thats what we went with.

the doner


my poor car


test fit


the new front (see anything different? )


the finished article!







The pics i have taken of the car don't do it justice, i'm just waiting on better weather and picking out a good location to get some top quality pics.
Peter's work is brilliant and the shine from the paint is awsome. I waited almost 4 months to get my car back. Some folk say a car isn't the same after a shunt, i agree. Mine is now better than it ever was and i ******* love it!

New mods i had done was the aux lights removed and smoothed over and the rear fog removed from the back bumper and incorperated into the drivers reverse light. I then got a new smaller (and this time properly leagal) front plate made up.

Basically i've taken something pure jdm, added a bit of edm and finished it off with my own touch. I love the lines of the delsol and prefer a smooth look yet fuctional look to the car. Only possible stickers going back on would be one of these for the rear


future mods are new steering wheel, coilovers, better brakes and then maybe engine work.
I will update the thread with better pics when they're taken.since doing up the car i've also decided to call it "Grimlock" for the transformers geek in me. An autobot sticker will soon find its way onto the back window


Special thanks to;
TRLS on delsoluk.com and civicsportclub.net for keeping me focused when i was down and reminded me how much i loved my car.
Camile on delsoluk.com for hearing me moan over MSN and doing his best to get me to look on the bright side
memphisraines26 on delsoluk.com and hondatech.com for his words of wisdom and his encouragement that i should get the car back on the road.
kev_coupe on hondatech.co.uk for his advice and also for the fact his dad is a top bloke, he was the guy who re-valued it fairly.
Ghandi on hondatech.co.uk who suggested i give his dad a call. his father Peter has been great through out the build up and was really cool with the extra work i wanted done. The work was carried out quickly and Peter always let me know how things were going and kept in touch. Would happily reccomend him to anyone looking to get work done to their car.
And finally to all the member of delsoluk.com who've been bugging my *** off to get this write up thread finished with the pics!
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Old Jun 14, 2007 | 04:36 PM
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Default Re: Team Autobot's founding member "Grimlock" my import delSol SiR (MurphyXIV)

that "tran stop" lil bit is pretty effing sick!
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Old Jun 14, 2007 | 04:38 PM
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Default Re: Team Autobot's founding member "Grimlock" my import delSol SiR (MurphyXIV)

Damn, that bad!
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Old Jun 14, 2007 | 04:59 PM
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Default Re: Team Autobot's founding member "Grimlock" my import delSol SiR (JDMFLAVOR)

jeeez your buddy had a ruff night, im glad you fixed it back up
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Old Jun 14, 2007 | 05:18 PM
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Default Re: Team Autobot's founding member "Grimlock" my import delSol SiR (KYLE.)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by KYLE. &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">im glad you fixed it back up </TD></TR></TABLE>
x2
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Old Jun 14, 2007 | 05:27 PM
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Default Re: Team Autobot's founding member "Grimlock" my import delSol SiR (nathanong87)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nathanong87 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">that "tran stop" lil bit is pretty effing sick! </TD></TR></TABLE>

x2
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Old Jun 14, 2007 | 06:54 PM
  #7  
8520's Avatar
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Default Re: Team Autobot's founding member "Grimlock" my import delSol SiR (Danny BAGDAD)

Gorgeous
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Old Jun 14, 2007 | 07:07 PM
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Default Re: Team Autobot's founding member "Grimlock" my import delSol SiR (MurphyXIV)

very nice!
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Old Jun 14, 2007 | 07:13 PM
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Default Re: Team Autobot's founding member "Grimlock" my import delSol SiR (G-Harry)

looks proper. transtop ftw
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Old Jun 14, 2007 | 09:04 PM
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ME= JEALOUS, For you
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Old Jun 14, 2007 | 09:20 PM
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nice
tho i like the 95+ front bumpers w/o the middle lights....
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Old Jun 14, 2007 | 09:31 PM
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Default Re: (waddy41)

you did her right
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Old Jun 15, 2007 | 04:00 AM
  #13  
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nice del sol
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Old Jun 15, 2007 | 04:04 AM
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Default Re: Team Autobot's founding member "Grimlock" my import delSol SiR (MurphyXIV)

i remember the grimlock transofrmer toys. i had a couple of the dinobots
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Old Jun 15, 2007 | 07:48 AM
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ezza's Avatar
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Default Re: Team Autobot's founding member "Grimlock" my import delSol SiR (nathanong87)

looking good

UK forum

http://theorientacademy.top-forum.net/
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Old Jun 15, 2007 | 08:48 AM
  #16  
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Default Re: Team Autobot's founding member "Grimlock" my import delSol SiR (ezza)

Wow! Actually read that whole thing

Pretty interesting story and a nice Sol to top it off
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Old Jun 15, 2007 | 09:01 AM
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Default Re: Team Autobot's founding member "Grimlock" my import delSol SiR (soccerwuedo5)



I wouldn't have changed the car a bit from right there.
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Old Jun 15, 2007 | 09:16 AM
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lol im sorry.. but i know you said no rota comments. Im not bashing you though .. but your comment about if you dont tell us they're rota we cant spot that they're not mugen is totally wrong

Pretty nice Del sol though .. first time ive seen the trunk opened ..looks kinda weird
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Old Jun 15, 2007 | 09:19 AM
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transtop ftmfw
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Old Jun 15, 2007 | 09:40 AM
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Default Re: (kidsafe yee)

Don't wreck that JDM stuff again you no driving f*ck! If you didn't have your head spun around looking behind you trying to switch lanes you wouldn't have gotten yourself in that deal. Maintain situational awareness and use your mirrors....there should never be a need for you to be turning around.

Don't tell me you weren't.....I just don't want to hear it.
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Old Jun 15, 2007 | 01:18 PM
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Default Re: (RC000E)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RC000E &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Don't wreck that JDM stuff again you no driving f*ck! If you didn't have your head spun around looking behind you trying to switch lanes you wouldn't have gotten yourself in that deal. Maintain situational awareness and use your mirrors....there should never be a need for you to be turning around.

Don't tell me you weren't.....I just don't want to hear it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

LMAO? this some kind of joke?

Don't tell me how to drive on uk roads dumbass. Clearly you've never driven on one in your life.

I was STATIONARY behind a car waiting to get on a roundabout, a rather large roundabout. I was watching the traffic come round the roundabout and saw a gap so went to move onto the roundabout. The driver in front of me for what ever reason hadn't moved off. So i went into the back of her. Just a simple check in front of me would have avoided it, but it was a simple minor accident and the roundabout is well known for shunts like this. A light shunt but the car is a 15 year old piece of tinfoil ffs so any light damage is a potential write off.

looking behind me switching lanes.... aye, good one.
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Old Jun 15, 2007 | 02:39 PM
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Default Re: Team Autobot's founding member "Grimlock" my import delSol SiR (JDMFLAVOR)

love those seats
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Old Jun 15, 2007 | 06:20 PM
  #23  
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Default Re: (MurphyXIV)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MurphyXIV &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The driver in front of me for what ever reason hadn't moved off. So i went into the back of her. Just a simple check in front of me would have avoided it, but it was a simple minor accident and the roundabout is well known for shunts like this.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Cmon...don't get all bum hurt cause I knew you were looking over your shoulder instead of forward....lol. The cars nice *** wad, that's why I was getting on your sh*t, but now I just about think your a lame *** who doesn't deserve the car cause you got all bent out of shape over a joke.
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Old Jun 15, 2007 | 06:22 PM
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Default Re: Team Autobot's founding member "Grimlock" my import delSol SiR (MurphyXIV)

Is that your girlfriend's car?

Looking clean.
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Old Jun 16, 2007 | 12:44 AM
  #25  
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Default Re: (RC000E)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RC000E &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Cmon...don't get all bum hurt cause I knew you were looking over your shoulder instead of forward....lol. The cars nice *** wad, that's why I was getting on your sh*t, but now I just about think your a lame *** who doesn't deserve the car cause you got all bent out of shape over a joke.</TD></TR></TABLE>

And how was i to know you were joking?
Until this minor accident i'd had 5 year driving with no accidents. I waited 2 years to get a delsol and always had my heart set on an import so yeah i'm going to take offence.

And i was looking to my right
Hey, i at least got a date from the girl i hit
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