Step Your Game Up

While surfing the forums lately, I came across some unsettling truths in regards to my plans for Project Legend. A big one was that those same center consoles and Navigation trim sets are being imported in bulk to the U.S.

Secondly, someone has already imported and installed rear heated/reclining seats into a USDM Legend. This same person has also installed many of the same JDM mods that I have had planned for years and already have the same parts for. Props to him most definitely for doing it first, however its somewhat discouraging. However, instead of letting it discourage me, I've decided to use these facts as motivation. With the knowledge about the JDM counterparts of the Legend becoming more abundantly accessible, more and more legend owners are beginning to see the light as well as make power moves to incorporate these ideas of transference into a reality. They are connecting the dots and putting together the same pieces of the puzzle that I am...

That’s the part which bothers me. Not that they are doing it to begin with, just that they are accomplishing my goals before ME! While the idea of creating a USDM car with all or mostly JDM parts is certainly not new, its impact in the Legend community has been, for the most part, unfelt. That is until recently. The "JDM" scene has become quite common place within the US market in the last couple of years. In effect, this has both lowered (somewhat) the prices of imported rare JDM parts as well as making it harder for a project car to really stand out on its own. Rarer parts need to be sourced, cleaner builds need to happen. Which equals more work, more money, and more connects in the industry in order to make my dream (*ahem* Project Legend *ahem*) come true!

So that’s that and I need to get back on track. I’ve got to get my engine paid off and get out and get those pieces to the puzzle people......other people have been looking at the top of the box besides me.

11:14 PM 4/10/07

After watching the navigation trim and center console on ebay stay at $100 with $160 shipping to the U.S., I seriously thought about purchasing said item. However, once it jumped pass $300 I decided that was just a little too pricey. I just checked my eBay accnt. today, I saw that the final bid went for $520. Plus the shipping, so damn near 7 hundred for this wasn't really in my price range. Crap. Oh well, I do have a new Type 1 engine that I have to pay for in my daily driven Type L......and I am able to take some solace in that the valve covers that came with it are JDM, which puts me one step closer to Project Legend being completed. Not as a big of a step as getting the center console and navigation trim.....but a step none the less.

The left valve covers are the same, but the USDM right valve covers....


Don't have the big ol' Honda "H" on them while the the JDM ones do.

JDM Center console and navigation trim

Might be bidding on a JDM Center console and navigation trim off of ebay.....couple of things wrong with it......well see.

Transmissions Final Exam:Written

Today I took my final written exam for my transmission class and afterward reviewed the April 2006 issue of Honda Tuning which features Pascales's Legend with the 3.5 swap from a '98 RL. In doing so, I couldn't help but notice how much the performance aspect of his car has dominated over everything else. Miata yellow painted exterior with a Black/Tan Leather Interior? AND he got in a magazine! Don't get me wrong, I'm down for Legends to be featured in any publication, but why would he let them take pictures of spraypainted black plywood in his trunk? To anyone reading this, let it be known that I'm not hating....this is constructive criticism at its most honest. If we as Legend owners are to be acknowledged within the tuner market and respected in any car scene, we must not succomb to mexican paintjobs and shoddy spraypaint work. There is just SO much that can be done with the car as a whole and so little that people do. Throwing on shiny rims and a loud stereo system is just so high school.

Still, 309 WHP kinda makes up for it.....

Read the article yourselves!

Intentions....

Let me begin by saying the intent of this blog is to chronicle the amassing of parts, daily thoughts, and the trials and tribulations of completing Project Legend. What exactly IS Project Legend? Oh, not so much in the grand scheme of life, but to me; it’s a large piece of my life. It is best explained, however, in a "manifesto" if you will, that I have drawn up through the last four plus years from researching the KA7 chassis and what exactly I intend to create based on that knowledge.

PROJECT LEGEND MANIFESTO:

Project Legend is an on-going build of Honda’s KA7 chassis that will culminate into a supreme realization of what I believe the 91-95 Legend should be. This sedan must utilize only the greatest components and accessories manufactured for the KA7 chassis by Honda for its three domestic markets, (JDM, EDM, & USDM) as well as Honda (Legend) specific aftermarket manufacturers such as Spoon, Mugen, etc. In its completion, the car must exude exclusive style, elevated handling performance, reliable above average wheel horsepower, as well as legendary Honda refinement.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
.My name is not as important as is the purpose of this blog. The content involved in this blog is not so much about me as a person as it is about the car itself. What IS important is how my ideas and the events involving me have shaped this project into what it is today as well as what it will eventually become.

16 AND BEYOND
.I've never really been a "car guy." I think I’m beginning to become one but I definitely wasn't one growing up. At sixteen years of age, my goal was just to own a working vehicle to get me out of my parent’s house period. This goal was accomplished in the form of a very rusty, very automatic 1985 Toyota Corolla. Pretty much your basic P.O.S. first car beater.....and beat it I did. So much so that I deprived it of oil to the point that it threw a rod and became oh so much scrap metal within 6 months of owning the damn thing.

After that disaster, I promptly took out a loan for an even bigger piece of crap; albeit newer. This P.O.S. money pit came in the form of a 1991 Geo Storm GSI. This car would become an embodiment of the very thing that would disgust me to this day......a mexican-mobile, an experiment in rice, a car that was as rusty as it was off-white. 5% tints, blue flame dice, blue flame throw pillows in the back, blue flame steering wheel covers, floor mats, neon shift knob, huge subwoofers enclosed in horribly blue tacky stitched carpeted trim......bad times all around.

This car was also my first experience into manual transmissions as well as police officer run-ins.

Ticket upon ticket and one expensive repair after another, led to the subsequent end of my driver’s license's validity as well as my current entrenchment of debt. After I finally blew up that engine after three years of abuse, I decided it was time for a little maturing into the realm of sophistication and class in the automotive world. Not to mention less attraction to the nefarious, bacon gristle sweating, and donut scarfing scourge that IS the police department. I basically wanted less rice and more nice. I liked the shape of the "Acura" Vigor’s a lot as well as the Legend's but after researching and comparing of the engines; I went with the Legend. After watching a couple on eBay, I noticed one going for $4,025.00 (reserve) that was ending soon and promptly placed my bid; winning the auction. From there, I filled out the appropriate loan paper work and had my brother drive me five hours to go pick it up. In doing so I became the proud owner of my very first 1993, 3.2 Liter, SOHC, Type I, "Acura" type L sedan.

Project Legend began from that day on and since its inception, it has continually grown into what it is today.....

So far; a dream and a collection of parts.