Monday, August 30, 2010
Side Tracked
Sold my daily driver and bought an MX-5. Gonna have some fun with this before I continue my project legend build.
Monday, October 12, 2009
On Hiatus. Why hate us?
Months have passed since my last post. My daily driver is sitting in a friends garage in Walnut Creek and has been since August. I have parking tickets to pay, an ex girlfriend to pay back for getting my car out of the impound, I still have to smog it, finish getting it registered, car insurance to pay for......and that's not even the half. Project Legend will continue. Its just on a bit of a hiatus. I still scroll the forums. I'm still pricing and planning. Always looking for that rare Black on Black Type II GS 6-speed.....even if I can't afford it. My goal when I was in my early twenties was to have my car built by the time I was 25. I am now 26. Whats a few more months/years?
Friday, June 19, 2009
WHOA....
Finally got around to emailing Matt at ICB about the Mugen Emblem. Here is his response:
"Price is $115 shipped. Brand new in package.
Matt"
Dang.
That might have to wait
"Price is $115 shipped. Brand new in package.
Matt"
Dang.
That might have to wait
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Side Marked & Re-Badged.
Ok. Here we go. On the subject of JDM side markers, the KA7 Legend shares the same style design as the EK4 Civics, EK9 Civics, and BB4 & BB6 Preludes. They are typically amber
but I have seen them in clear as well via ICB Motorsports (www.jdmland.com).
I’ve seen the clear ones occasionally posted on eBay, but not all that often and they usually went for more than what I wanted to spend. So when I noticed eBay seller “prodejayautosales” (peep his stuff) had posted some, I bided my time and sniped these bad boys at the last second:
To my surprise, the sellers location was in Oakland (I live in San Francisco) so I emailed him asking him if it would be alright to scoop them in person so that I wouldn’t have to pay shipping. He was cool with it, so that Sunday (May 3rd) I drove out to Oakland/Alameda and bought some JDM side markers. The outside housing turned out to not be manufactured by Stanley (Honda’s lighting manufacturer) but were instead aftermarket housings that used Stanley plugs and bulbs. In comparison they are identical and the minute difference of one that says “Stanley” and one that doesn’t is so small that it doesn’t even matter to me if its "Official OEM JDM HONDA" or not. I’m sure there are some JDM Nerds out there that might trip out on it but really; who cares? They are from Japan, and the plugs and bulbs are OEM Honda Stanley. That’s good enough for Project Legend and that’s good enough for me.
While I was there, I had a chance to talk to the proprietor; Jory, about all things JDM KA7 and brought all my brochures from Japan so as to concoct a wish list as well. It went well, and Jory was nice enough to hook it up with a variety of Honda “H” emblems so that I could finish my outer re-badging conversion.
I guess I could still add the “Honda” rear emblem to the left of the trunk, but I think the “H” is enough and have a brochure pic to prove its validity as is.
The only thing that says “Acura” on the daily driver, is the steering wheel SRS airbag cover, which will soon be replaced with the addition of my re-horn-button’d JDM MOMO steering wheel.
Also, while I’m speaking on ICB Motorsports and emblems, I should say that I will soon be buying a new Mugen emblem from ICB to replace the faded original one that is currently attached to my Mugen wing.
(New New)
Finally, while scrolling through the acura-legend.com forums, I came across some pics of a now-out-of-production Carbing Strut Tower Bar and thought I'd share some pics of that:
This Strut Tower Bar is most definitely on the "Unicorn" list. Its discontinued, and according to an acura-legend.com forum guru; uber rare. Attaining it would bring Project Legend to a whole 'nother level.
I've emailed Tein USA (Carbings U.S. distribution company) for info on the Carbing bar but have yet to hear back from them. I might post a future blog entry on strut tower bars and the benefits of a stiffened chassis but for thats all for now folks. Until next time....Project Legend continues......
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Continuation.
Frequent postings…….what are those? So, it’s been well over a month since my last posting, but rest assured, Project Legend is still continuing. Definitely not as planned, definitely not as quickly as I would like, and MOST definitely not as I’d imagined it.
Setting goals and working on the progress of these same goals without getting side tracked by the distractions of day-to-day life in the process is vital to the accomplishment of Project Legend. Writing about them well or not…… is not as necessary to the end result as is the mere act of writing about them in the first place. The whole purpose of taking the time to put thought into visible words is only an effort to keep progress and motivation at an all time high. OR at least somewhat influx. Well, either that or to, at the very least; inspire me to carry on in the continuation of some sort of charteable progress.
A certain stubbornness combined with and obscure passion for Honda’s KA7 chassis is the only real reason for the continual draining of my bank account along with a large portion of my time and effort/thought process. Lately, however, that portion of time has been filling up with other interests and life activities. Project Legend has been on the back burner for much of Spring 2009. This is a fact. A fact that I have chosen to remedy.
Last Friday I dropped close to $400.00 on getting my windshield replaced. I can now look through a windshield sans multiple cracks and it is great. However, the clarity of my new windshield only serves to accentuate the tears in the leather of my seats as well as the multiple cracks in my dashboard.
Time to get going.
Time to get working.
Time to get planning.
Time to develop a plan of action and proceed with a clear vision of what is next as well as how to best proceed.
Coming up in a future posting will be “The Plan”.
Setting goals and working on the progress of these same goals without getting side tracked by the distractions of day-to-day life in the process is vital to the accomplishment of Project Legend. Writing about them well or not…… is not as necessary to the end result as is the mere act of writing about them in the first place. The whole purpose of taking the time to put thought into visible words is only an effort to keep progress and motivation at an all time high. OR at least somewhat influx. Well, either that or to, at the very least; inspire me to carry on in the continuation of some sort of charteable progress.
A certain stubbornness combined with and obscure passion for Honda’s KA7 chassis is the only real reason for the continual draining of my bank account along with a large portion of my time and effort/thought process. Lately, however, that portion of time has been filling up with other interests and life activities. Project Legend has been on the back burner for much of Spring 2009. This is a fact. A fact that I have chosen to remedy.
Last Friday I dropped close to $400.00 on getting my windshield replaced. I can now look through a windshield sans multiple cracks and it is great. However, the clarity of my new windshield only serves to accentuate the tears in the leather of my seats as well as the multiple cracks in my dashboard.
Time to get going.
Time to get working.
Time to get planning.
Time to develop a plan of action and proceed with a clear vision of what is next as well as how to best proceed.
Coming up in a future posting will be “The Plan”.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Reclining Rear Seats: Proper Blog Entry #2
Ok. So where we? Ah yes. The reclining rear seats that came as an option for the JDM KA7’s. They sold a few weeks ago, and I could not afford them, but I have recently learned that a respected member of the www.acura-legend.com forums ended up winning the auction. He has already built a really impressive black on black 6-speed with the C35A swap (3.5 RL 96-04 engine). And for as much as I wish they were in my car, I’m really looking forward to seeing them in his. Not as much as I am in seeing another set just like them in Project Legend’s interior but I’m looking forward none the less.
With that said, let me begin to try to explain the purpose of these seats:
In order to have a better understanding of all the luxuries that were standard, optional, or accessible to the Japanese Domestic Market, we must first decipher the market that Honda was trying to tap when producing the Honda Legend.
The primary competition was BMW’s 5 Series and the Mercedes E-Class.
The KA7 Honda Legend was built/manufactured/engineered as a luxury sedan and as such; is classified as luxury sedan. In almost, if not all, major cities, there are wealthy individuals and powerful business executives who can afford luxury sedans. Within those individual’s, there is a market for even wealthier individuals who, not only can afford a luxury sedan, but they (or the business they work for) can also afford a driver or “chauffer,” to drive them around; in there luxury sedans. Technically, cars like the Legend were classified as “Limousines” even.
For this reason, as an optional trim level, the KA7 Honda Legend came equipped with rear heated and reclining seats.
At the push of button you could recline one or both of the rear portions that comprised the rear seating area.
The center armrest doubled as separate control unit for the radio controls and heated seat buttons.
A rear and separate air conditioning system also was available for KA7’s with the controls for the system located in the rear center armrest but turned on by a master switch in the front.
(Mobile phone optional as well)
This separate air conditioning system was housed behind the rear reclining seats in the trunk of the car.
While I have no interested in converting Project Legend’s rear portion of the car to accommodate the separate A/C unit, it is an absolute MUST, that the Project incorporates the rear reclining and heated seats.
With that said, let me begin to try to explain the purpose of these seats:
In order to have a better understanding of all the luxuries that were standard, optional, or accessible to the Japanese Domestic Market, we must first decipher the market that Honda was trying to tap when producing the Honda Legend.
The primary competition was BMW’s 5 Series and the Mercedes E-Class.
The KA7 Honda Legend was built/manufactured/engineered as a luxury sedan and as such; is classified as luxury sedan. In almost, if not all, major cities, there are wealthy individuals and powerful business executives who can afford luxury sedans. Within those individual’s, there is a market for even wealthier individuals who, not only can afford a luxury sedan, but they (or the business they work for) can also afford a driver or “chauffer,” to drive them around; in there luxury sedans. Technically, cars like the Legend were classified as “Limousines” even.
For this reason, as an optional trim level, the KA7 Honda Legend came equipped with rear heated and reclining seats.
At the push of button you could recline one or both of the rear portions that comprised the rear seating area.
The center armrest doubled as separate control unit for the radio controls and heated seat buttons.
A rear and separate air conditioning system also was available for KA7’s with the controls for the system located in the rear center armrest but turned on by a master switch in the front.
(Mobile phone optional as well)
This separate air conditioning system was housed behind the rear reclining seats in the trunk of the car.
While I have no interested in converting Project Legend’s rear portion of the car to accommodate the separate A/C unit, it is an absolute MUST, that the Project incorporates the rear reclining and heated seats.
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