Moderator, feel free to move this if it is out of the place. Thanks.

Once in a while, we pause from our busy daily activities to reflect on the things that happened to us along the way. There is one thing that I would like to reflect on beside having a wonderful family, a good job, a healthy body…that is being able to daily my Integra Type R and making good friends along the way.

When you daily a 1997 supercharged Integra Type R equipped with some Mugen goodies, you automatically inherit some attention both positive and negative. Since I like to focus on the positive things, let me tell you the one positive thing that happened to me and my Type R.

“I love your Type R”, “The engine sounds really nice”, “What have you done to it?”. I got this a lot from all kinds of people: From an eighth grader to a retired GM mechanic. After I recited to them the long list of mods, most people ask which shop performed the swap and tuned my supercharged motor. This is where my face glow and my respond is Anthony at HYBRIDWORKS.

At this point, you probably think: “So, what is this guy trying to say? Any backyard gearheads can do that”. You are half right. Any person who has been messing with cars for years can easily perform that task. Heck, even an old fart like me can probably pull that off. BUT, only one person who can manage to pull off the following events that happened to me and my Type R and that is Anthony at HYBRIDWORKS. The first time I met Anthony, I felt like we know each other for a long time. That’s how comfortable he made me feel. He is a down to earth person without the ignorance of “Mr. knows it all” appearance like most other shop owners. Let me get right on to it. The first time I met Anthony is the day I bought my caR in for the dyno tune of my JUN 3 built engine. On the dyno day, he fixed my intermittent injector, discovered my wrong breaking-in oil, dyno tuned my JUN 3 setup to perfection and installed my aftermarket exhaust system. A week later, my engine developed a tricky coolant and oil mix which he troubleshot to a leak in my built block that even a well-known machine shop cannot figure out. Time for a new built block and let’s go supercharge. He performed the assembly of the new blocked, installed the supercharger, dyno tuned the engine and try to get my caR up and running in a record time. Remember? This caR is my daily. A few months later, I was on my way to the first Treasure Island Car-n-Coffee at 7:45AM when the oil return plug on my old beat up Moroso oil pan decided to pop and spilled most of the oil on the Bay Bridge. I knew this problem may happen but opted to ignore it. I limped the caR to Treasure Island parking lot and didn’t know what to do next. Should I call a tow truck to tow my caR 60 miles back home or should I do this and that….Many options came to my mind but none is a sure bet. That’s when Anthony at HYBRIDWORKS comes in. I dialed his number and woke him up from his beauty rest at 8:30 on Saturday morning to tell him that I’m stranded and if he can come and fix my caR. I know what you are thinking: “Are you out of your f_ _ _ _ _ mind?”, “Who do you think you are?”. I didn’t have the answers on that day. I didn’t know why I did what I did and that is calling a guy I barely knew at 8:30 on Saturday morning and asked him to drag his butt out of his warm bed, got on the internet to research for the right plug for the Moroso oil pan, drove all over town to purchase the possibly right plugs and picked up the oil, drove back to his shop to gather the tools and drove to meet me at Treasure Island, fixed my oil spill problem and didn’t charge me a cent. YES! You heard me right.

Till today, I like to think that I knew Anthony forever and that he is one special friend that any car nut like me could ever dream of. Every time I drive my Type R, I feel invincible because I know this caR was worked on by my good friend Anthony, one of the most knowledgeable and down to earth master mechanic.

-Chris

 

When is the wedding?








jk

 

I feel the same way about my tuner Lawrence working out of Synergy Auto Works in San Jose.

Put my daily driver together to run mid-11s. Also did Mike's(Rboosted717) supercharged ITR in the early 2000s. He's also an owner of a nice PY ITR and one of the fastest All Motor Pro cars in the area. You meet some solid friend's through the community!

 

^ "You meet some solid friend's through the community", Indeed. Specially the ITR community. I forgot to mention that Anthony does own a CW ITR. Talking about ITR community, one of these days, my older son and I would love to take a road trip to the East coast and preferably attending a future ITR EXPO as I don't see it will ever make it to the West coast again.

 

Nice story and great photo.

 

Thanks for sharing another vouch for Lawrence if anyone needs tuning in the Bay Area

 

Great story. Nothing feels better than having someone like that in your corner. I only have one shop touch my caR and I trust them completely.

 

Awesome story!

 

Thanks all for the positive inputs. I'm sure there are others's stories that are as good or better. In the spirit of bringing the Type R community together, let's hear them

 

The ITR community is truly something special. For those that have never attended an ITR Expo, I highly recommend it. Even as just a spectator who drive/flew in, the community is why Expo is such an awesome event.

 

I love this. its very heart warming and very different from the "Honda Scene."

 

Im still stuck on that first photo. Ridiculous.

This community is a pretty special place. Its a little different than it used to be but the core folks are still floating around and new people popping up all the time. Expo is a great place each and every time.