July 20th, 2014 - Some progress updates with pictures

July 20th, 2014

I haven't done a progress update for a while. Well, around the middle to the end of August, 2012 seemed to be a busy couple of weeks comparitivly speaking.

First, I found a decent stereo that I thought would work quite well in the CR-X. I received a Best Buy gift card as an added Thank You for some extra effort at work, and coincidentally, my local Best Buy was closing down their car audio department and liquidating their inventory. I picked this unit up for just over $70, minus the gift card and it was little over $20 out of pocket.

New head unit for the CR-X.

The next thing occurred one day back around the end of August 2012. I stumbled across a rare find indeed. A genuine Mugen rear bumper on Kijiji (Craigslist type classified site) in a city called Red Deer, about an hour and a half north of Calgary. I found it on a Sunday afternoon and it was listed for $200obo.

Photos from the Kijiji Ad selling a Mugen PRO.2 Rear Bumper

Photos from the Kijiji Ad selling a Mugen PRO.2 Rear Bumper

 It looked legit from the pics he posted, so I emailed the seller to give him my phone number and said I'll pay full price and would like to come, verify its condition, and pick it up today. Unfortunately, he didn't get back to me until 7pm that evening and it was a "school night" for me, so I was faced with a dilemma. Do I go and pick it up that night and end up a zombie the next day for work, or do I see if he'll hold it for a week.

Who are we kidding, here? Fuck sleep; I'll sleep when I'm dead. I told him I was leaving in the next 30mins and I would call him when I got to town. And I was off.

We met at a local restaurant on the main drag just off the highway, and I brought a good flashlight. It was in excellent condition, even better than the one I already had. Money changed hands and I loaded it in the back of my Fit for the journey back home.

Thank God for Energy Drinks ;-)

Mugen PRO.2 Rear Bumper home safe and sound

The following weekend, I did some test-fitments and discovered a small repair I need to make to the mounting area on my CR-X so I've had to put the OEM bumper back on for now. Can't wait to install it once and for all!

OEM Rear Bumper

Baby Got (No) Back

Test-fitting Mugen Pro.2 Rear Bumper

Fast-forward thru 2013 where the only real significant contribution to my CR-X were some OEM parts and a second set of LHD glass headlights from Germany.

LHD Power Adjustable glass headlight from Germany

For my birthday, my wife got me a GoPro Hero 3+ Black Edition for use with the CR-X. I've been able to take a couple pictures, but until I get her out on the road, I will have to wait for more fun with it, and I purchased a back-up set of front signal lights. Man, they've shot up in price lately. Over $200 for the pair. In addition, I picked up a more 'authentic' valve cover than the Type R cover. I also started a project to clean and organize the parts in my garage.

Interior photo taken with my GoPro Hero3+ (suction cupped to the hatch glass)

BNIB signal lights

DOHC VTEC (with DOHC larger than the VTEC) Valve Cover

A little garage organization never hurt anyone.

Spring/Summer 2014: I was able to take the shift boot and Powered By Honda emblem into a local auto upholstery shop to be sewn on. They only charged $20 to sew it on, which I thought was more than fair and made the whole piece roughly $125 total. It's about what the Honda Access boots were selling for a couple years back so I'm quite happy: I don't have a shift knob in the shape of a penis and I get the 'look' I wanted. Sweet.

Powered by Honda - Honda Access shift boot emblem/logo

Custom Powered by Honda shift boot

I was also able to organize my receipts in preparation for an appraisal on my CR-X that I had performed in July. I went thru them all and removed any receipts for non-car parts (like memorabilia, Minichamps models etc...) and organized them by year. Then I went thru the CR-X from bumper to bumper to document all of the parts I replaced when it landed in Canada. Following this I went thru the receipts again until I'd found receipts for all of those parts. Once I had that final pile of receipts, I added them to a spreadsheet and noted the currency (CAD -vs- USD) values, and made a file folder for these parts included in the appraisal for easy access in case they were ever needed to prove to the insurance company that they were purchased/installed.

These are the receipts for all of my spare parts.

These are the receipts for parts I've changed and that were included in my appraisal.

 I also decided once the appraisal was complete, that I needed to replace the stereo in my CR-X. Because of the JDM radio, and lack of FM band expander, the only radio station I could pick up was ShineFM - the local Christian Rock station. I have nothing against Christian Rock, but it's not my cup of tea.

Prepping to make a wiring harness using a Metra harness

All soldered and heat-shrinked up, with a band of velcro to hold it tight.

"I still got it" - Disassembly took just over 20mins.

All installed and tested. Note the Powered by Honda custom shift boot.

Installed and tested. Note the replica Personal Box decal on my OEM ashtray and the Powered by Honda custom shift boot.

Sorry for the crappy pictures of the final installation... I'll take more when I can.

Remember, this blog was written in chronological order so, you will need to click OLDER POSTS to move forward in time, and click NEWER POSTS to go backwards.