| 2002 | ||
| 05-Jun | Ok... i was no way bored with FEE. So dont get it twisted. I needed something i could drive to tha movie theatre. Something i could drive through hick towns in. Something i could park, and not have EVERYONE know it's me. Hence... i ran across a deal to pick up what is now known as... "Tha Hoop" It's a 1991 Honda Accord EX Sedan.. White with blue interior (yuck) and has a manual transmission! The first stick of mine to own. Im learning how to drive it basically. It ran the price u see to the right, and runs quieter and smoother than FEE with the A/C on!!! It's great and everyone who friggin drives it agrees. Just picked it up and it has plates and insurance already. There are a few lil things wrong, but nothing major. The tie rods were replaced before picking it up, and the antenna mast was replaced, but the motor seems to have gone. I dont care tho. It works. The radio needs replacing since it's not putting out to the two front door speakers. There's a Honda 6 disc in there, but something is wrong with that too. Dunno what tho... been too hot to go out and play lately. Later on realized the CV joints were bad too. Gotta call this guy back tomorrow so he can get em. Also needs two new rear tires. Ive got another set of alloys with two good tires for that. Other than that and a back passenger door molding, it's all good. Not a bad deal... YET. | $2,500 |
| 06-Jun | Called this guy at Honda and he's gonna take care of the joints for me. Put in the clear tails on the trunk. They look good. Bout time i had a use for them. The outer lights will eventually be all red. Gotta paint the old ones that were red from FEE, over. No cost... spare parts!!! | |
| 09-Jun | Called AutoZone to see if they have the Sylvania Silverstars in stock. Yesh they do .. for $24.99 ea. Eventually will pick up a pair. Who knows when. Im still not driving hills or highways just yet. | |
| 14-Jun | Man is it hard to find some clears these days. What's touching with the shop up in Harrison charging $35 for a pair?!?!!? I was like eff that man. Time to hit tha web and order those chit's for like $12/pr. Also found out about the alarm. Wanna get the windows going up and down as well as a trunk release... but no remote start. Also included with that are one touch windows.... meaning from the driver side they go up and down at one touch of the switch. Sorry.. had the chit in the other car and cant live without it now! More on that in a few weeks tho. | |
| 19-Jun | Ordered clear corners and bumpers from Autodynamic.com. Sure didnt cost $35/pair. Actually, it's cheaper for BOTH pair online. Who cares if the quality is actually cheaper!??! I can buy 1 pair each year and they should last as long as any for $35/pr, and cost about the same. Just waiting for em... | |
| 24-Jun | Clears came in today already. Gotta seal them up and put em in. | $33.14 |
| 26-Jun | Finally got a chance to seal up the lights. Think im gonna just let it cure for the 24 hours, then will put them in tomorrow. Also went through bulbs last night, so now i have a regular dome light for the time being. Dude at tha dealer has my cv joint, but that gets done next week. Hopefully a molding can come in at that time. In the meantime, time to order up the factory fogs, find some rear mudguards, and set up an appt to get the alarm installed. | |
| 28-Jun | Rained like hell so i didnt get to put the clears in until today. They look ok. I hate orange reflectors so that problem is solved. It helped me to take a closer look at what kind of damage there is to the front end of tha hoop. Sux... but it IS a hooptie. In any case, my whole old assortment of orange bulbs got to be used once again in the corners. These just dont light up like my old clears used to though... cuz these are euro with a reflector basically. The old were a cloudy plastic where the whole lens lit up. Ah well. Shouldn't have sold em. | |
| 10-Jul | Finally managed to get tha hoop up to tha Audio Clinic in Harrison to get an alarm installed. Good job guys. Chit works good, but i didnt get the window rollups/downs put in nor the trunk release added or one touch windows. Ah well... it will go back one day when i get tha chance. I got a good price on everything since i couldnt pay cash... so with tax included... (see price on right) | $243.80 |
| 24-Jul | Nothing further to report really. Car's been running ok so far. CV joints still not replaced but more focus will go on tha hoop now. FEE was in a bit of an accident yesterday and will be straight sitting for a little while. Tha hoop may be getting a bunch of parts even... we'll see. If tha hoop turns into FEE II then i can enjoy HID's again! Hehehehe... See tha journal for FEE for more info. | |
| 25-Jul | Well... time to upgrade tha hoop due to the current mishap with FEE. Already began taking some useful parts to keep them from being wasted. Today i swiped the billet grille, moonroof visor and wiper blades from FEE. Tomorrow.. who knows what it will be! Hehehehe. Guess next is the floor mat since i dont have one in tha hoop, then possibly the clear tails might migrate over to tha hoop for a week or so. Who knows... That's all for now... all at NO COST!!! One issue though... is that the stock grill would not line up correctly with things on FEE. The original stock grill taken off was a perfect fit. This might just mean the frame HAS been bent. But more on that when i find out for sure. | |
| 26-Jul | Can u FUGGIN believe it?!?!?! Tha hoop got hit today!!! Ok so the car is parked on the street near a driveway, but with a good 3-4 ft of space in front so anyone backing out or pulling in could have room. Unfortunately for one lady it wasnt enough room. So im two houses away in front of the car talking to someone else in a car when tha hoop's alarm goes off. Im like who tha hell set my chit off. I turn around and see a 91 Lincoln Continental sittin in my front bumper. THEN... while my arms are up in the air with the disgruntled look on... she CONTINUES to back FURTHER into the car!!! So now im yelling, and we go inspect. She didnt see my car because she had huge boxes on the passenger front/back seats of her car. When i asked why she KEPT going after she hit something, she replied.. 'I thought it was the pole'. WTF!?!?!?! So after all my hooping and hollaring we're gonna try to settle this like grown folks and i'll get some bumper estimates next week. My front plate is all crunched up so she will be paying for the replacement of that, the holder, and the bumper. Hopefully i can get the whole thing painted white.. molding and all out of the deal. The bumper is only scuffed, the molding sliced, and some paint removed across the bumper. The driver side bumper signal was also scratched... u know.. one of the set i JUST fuggin bought, sealed up and put in. WHAT a fuggin week. | |
| 27-Jul | THEN.... it's shortly after 7am and im on the way to work and after passing a few cars on the local road, i come to a red light while a spanish dude's walking and he points and laughs at me! Im like 'what? what? is it flat?' and he points and laughs again! So the light changes and i pull through and pull over. I get out to check and my fuggin car and the passenger side front bumper signal is hanging completely out and on the ground! So.. ran home and stole the screw and plastic around it from FEE's bumper light. What a fuggin week. | |
| 30-Jul |
Had to do a bit of running around to get some numbers on the cost of fixing tha hoop's front bumper. Basically it's gonna run about $300 to have it fixed. Spoke to hit-me-lady and she's gonna pay up, but im no longer gonna pursue the new license plate costs. Im too nice sometimes. Anywho, things seem better, but for the record, three places agreed that a whole new bumper is needed. Good chit! Also did a super duper quick job on painting the stock trunk lights to put on. Basically... i did somethin sneaky with the clears on, so i had to change the tails FAST! So they came out crappy, but it makes a difference. Now i just look like a regular accord again. Pics... are finally up.. click the date. |
|
| 16-Aug | Copped the Sylvania Silverstars from Autozone. They're just not in yet. Pics will go up here whenever they get put it. I can't find the friggin receipt but they were just over $50 at 24.99/ea. | $51.48 |
| 21-Aug | Great... now the problems start to really begin. Looks like the wiring harness on the pass side tails burned up on me. This happened in the other car. Suddenly the whole right side brakes and third brake light went out as the Brake Lamp light came on on the dash. Oh well ... it's off to the junkyard to find a working one. | |
| 26-Aug | Picked up the wiring harness from Honda for a lil over $20. Easy as hell to install... done it before. | $20.96 |
| 28-Aug | Finally put in the Sylvania Silverstars. Dudes.. these lights are GREAT!!! It's a 55w bulb so you dont have to worry about burning your wiring out, and it actually does produce a much cleaner and brighter light. | |
| 02-Sept | One good thing so far was to wake up and call up Audio Clinic, only for them to tell me that they can just up and take my car in!!! So had the rest of the alarm installed along with the windows up and down attached to the alarm and remote. Ran a good penny... $300 for all 4 windows to roll down. $125 for the other goodies. | $450.50 |
| 12-Sept | Had the clutch master and slave cylinders changed and brakes adjusted in the rear. Shifts better... wallet is slimmer. Oil was changed too in the process. Going back next week for brakes, rotors cut and the cv joints. | $280 |
| 09-Oct |
Tha Hoop was almost traded in for a new accord. It was actually up for sale for a minute, for $3,500. Well, that no longer is an option, and Tha Hoop is here to stay for quite a bit longer. Future plans changed as Tha Hoop will begin it's slow transformation into... FEE II!!! The plan... is to work the interior in before the winter hits... then do the body swap as soon as the weather breaks for the spring. More of that will be posted in a seperate section later on. It's been pretty eventful in the past month. Brakes were screeching off the hook at one time... a week ago I managed to snap my intermediary shaft (or something like that) while in the process of a burnout. Today i had the shaft replaced as well as that cv joint finally. The brakes were done all tha way around and rotors were cut. Now i need an inner tie rod, then things should be straight for a while. |
$400 |
| 30-Oct | Ok.. i OD'd. I call the local Honda dealer to get a price on the decklid spoiler for Tha Three aka Ti Ti. Five fuggin hundred dollars they want!!!! So i ended up calling Manchester Honda for the wing and it was a surprising $248! I was suckered in by the price and opted to have em send it right away. That and some extra fogs for FEE II. | |
| 05-Nov | The fogs came in today along with the wing for Tha Three aka Ti Ti. Nothing i can do with them just yet but to hold them until the dash gets taken out. I guess it's really more of just the lens that i need than the whole kit. I guess either i'll have backup wiring, or add on for FEE and sell them along with when she goes after being stripped... Who knows. | |
| 19-Dec | Havent done much at all in a while, so today after taking the strut bar from FEE, i hesitated in putting it in tha hoop. The intake and front bumper may come sooner than planned. I swapped batteries for the Optima battery, but it was so dead, that by the time i drove around for an hour or so and shut the car off, it wouldn't start back up. Good thing i was home. Ok so i was driving around with the dead Optima after i thought it had charged enough to at least turn on the radio, when im sittin in traffic for a sec, and the car starts to overheat. After blasting the heat and driving frantically .. i found out the terminals slipped off from the battery. Tightened them back and was good to go. Anywho .. the strut bar didnt yet make it. We'll see what happens next time. Oh yea... car also needs to be in the shop for a tie rod, cv joint... and the struts are pretty shot too! Woo hoo! | |
| 31-Dec | Well... last year in the turn of the new year... FEE gave me problems, with a stuck driver side window. Well... FEE II is apparently fitting right into FEE's shoes. So im on the way to picking my boys up, so we could head to a new year's eve party. I turned down this one street, and stopped for a black cat, who ran across as i got close to it. I said.. "that's not good" and 5 min later after pulling over and waiting for someone to hop in the car, smoke's pouring from under the hood!!! Checked back with the guage...it's completely on "H" which doesnt stand for Honda. So the night was cut pretty short and kept local. Who knows what the problem is.. it was ok all during the day. Merry #$@*ing New Year!!! | |
| 2003 | |||
| 03-Jan | FINALLY... i was able to pick up some Prelude SI stocks!!! Only surprise was that they were painted graphite.. similar to gunmetal. They've got 205/55's on em.. two good two shreds. Looks like time to upgrade to 205/60. Or take the two 205/55's off FEEII. Who knows.. i prefer 60's. Not a bad deal from a fellow Accorder who's trans went. | $200 | |
| 04-Jan | Had to pick up two more tires from BJ's so i could finally have 205/60's all the way around. SO.. picked up two BF Goodrich tires.. which by the way, are wider than Michelin 205/60's ($129 ea) Go figure. Also had to pay to get all the tires swapped from the old dishes to the new wheels. That costed me $40. The rest you see in the right column was the cost for the tires (67.04 ea + tax) | $182.12 | |
| 05-Jan | Picked up the locks for the lude wheels. Finally i can drive somewhere with a little less paranoia. | $25.43 | |
| 09-Jan | Fixed that overheating problem by simply adding anti-freeze. Pep Boys does it for me with a bottle of prestone for $7.49+tax. Problem solved... for now. | $7.94 | |
| 13-Jan | YESH!!! I got the suspension. Koni Yellow's, Neuspeed Sport Springs and an Ingalls Camber Kit all for the low price shown. Not yet installed. The wait is killing me. FEE II might just get her first wash once she's closer to the ground. | $375 | |
| 17-Jan | Picked up some K&N filter cleaner from Pep Boys and a set of jackstands by Pro-Lift. Cost was $10.99 and $19.99 respectively. | $32.84 | |
| 18-Jan | The car was supposed to get the suspension put in, the CV joint changed, AND the inner driver tie rod replaced. Bought all the parts, but got nothing done. If it werent so cold i'd definitely do it my damn self as long as none of the bolts in question were frozen. Anywho, parts cost a fortune. I picked up the inner tie rod from Honda for $54.50+tax and the passenger CV joint from Pep Boys for 119.99+tax There's a $50 core when the old is returned. Work should get done next week. If i can get a proper pair of snips, i cleaned the filter from the intake so that is ready to be installed once again. | $184.96 | |
| 25-Jan | Ugh... this is starting to kill me over here. At first, the car wouldnt start the night before, due to either low oil, or low battery. The low down is... went to start the car, walked away for a moment, came back and the car had shut off. I took a look and the battery and oil light were on. I AM just about due for an oil change, but im using synthetic, so there should be no problem really. So today, i check the oil, and it's waay below the two circles.. but the car had been sitting all week and wouldnt run enough to check the oil at an even temp. SO.. the battery was switched with another that was borrowed, and about a quart of oil put in, and the car started right up, and ran enough to get to the shop. Once there, swapped the old battery back in, and the car stuttered a little bit, but kept running. Maybe it was a combination of both low oil and battery.. which would mean im leaking or burning oil. Checked the oil this time, and it was slightly above the bottom hole in the dipstick. Bottom line, the car will be there for a few days to get things fixed. Hopefully this time around i can finally drive dropped! Then we'll deal with the rest. | ||
| 30-Jan | Finally got my chit back and it's lowered LOVELY. I effin LOVE the ride. Install just cost me too damn much. Didnt get the camber kit installed though. Some bolt or something is missing. More on that later though. | $300 | |
| 08-Mar | Guess who got a bath today?!?!? Woo hoo!! I forgot how white this car was! And apparently so did the rest of the world who saw it and reacted in shock. Anywho... although my hands froze and almost broke off, FEEII has finally received her first wash! Not much more has gone on since January though. Spare parts are being prepped to be put on whenever the weather breaks long enough. This includes the sway bars, intake, strut bar, tie bar and possibly the full set of clear tails. I did receive a molding in the mail, but all clips were missing, so i might epoxy it on, or just swap the back doors already. We'll see! | ||
| 16-Mar | The Ingalls camber kit was installed today after having it forever. The ride is the same as it was before the install pretty much. The only issue is... the control arms are now in danger of being bent from rubbing. SO.. the fenderwell is gonna need some adjustment. It never ends.. i shoulda gone ahead with minimal negative camber and called it a day! But thanx to Alex for showing me how it should be done. [for Installing it.. ] | ||
| 25-Mar | Looks like a SilverStar blew out on me ALREADY!!! I put them in on 28-Aug last year. Mind you though... i DO drive with headlights on day in and out. Even still, unless further investigation shows there's something wrong with my electrical system, these lights look and show ok... but they last no longer than the other aftermarket bullchit out there. Ive gone through so many bulbs it's rediculous. I guess now might be the time to go back to HID's. | ||
| 30-Mar | DAMNIT the other SilverStar blew on me!!! Im in the gas station .. rolling with one headlight, and after the fillup, i pull off... NO LIGHTS!!! High beams all the way home. Luckily i still got maad headlights, so i popped in a stocky and a superwhite. Bwah ha haaa! | ||
| 01-Apr | Taking yet another evening drive when suddenly, something is rubbing when braking. Hmm.. possibly the wheel coming off since two studs are stripped, but most likely the control arm. FEE II gets parked... out comes TiTi. | ||
| 12-Apr | Finally got a chance to take a close look, and the control arm is in fact, rubbing like crazy. Made a call, and hopefully this can be taken care of tomorrow! I thought at first it was just the lining, so i cut away some of it, but nope.. it's definitely metal to metal! Lovely! | ||
| 15 Apr | FEE's bumper which had been sitting for a while, finally was put on FEEII. It is a little off on the passenger side, which is hopefully just a result of some misaligned fenders, rather than some serious frame or core support bending. We'll see in due time. Fogs arent yet wired, yet halfway taken out of FEE. | ||
| 17 Apr | I dont know what it is with this car and bumper signals... but once again, my bumper signal was dragging along the ground. This time it was after a few big holes in the road that were partially unavoidable. Suddenly.. BOOM... then it's lens to asphalt for a few meters.. then me just disconnecting the chit, and later on parking the car. Due to the bumper lights, completely loud blastback-huge-hole-having muffler, and control arms.. [in reverse order of importance] the car shall sit and cool out for a minute. Back to TiTi. | ||
| 04 Jun | Ure gonna get a kick out of this one... im driving along, i take off at a stop sign, and boom... scraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatch... my muffler broke cleanly off of the b-pipe!!! The rubber thingies that attach to hang the muffler from the rear of the bumper were good enough to keep it on so it was hanging from those. SO.. pulled over, ripped it off, and threw it in the trunk. Immediately ran to the body shop and located another one for $20. Will pick that up shortly and have it put on for about another $50. Let's see what happens. There's lots of other plans going on but my lips are sealed. | ||
| 10 Jun | So i go pick up a muffler from the body shop for $20. I take it over to the mechanic to put on, and it turns out what was on FEEII was aftermarket, and the pipe was smaller than the stock muffler i had picked up. End result, this guy attempted to loosen a bolt near the flange and the pipe cracked. Unfortunately.. there are no returns for the muffler, so im assed out of $20. | $20 | |
| 19 Jun | So still with no muffler the decision has been finally made to leave the hooptie as is... and use it for just that.. tha hoop. FEE will be returned to normal and the 03 parked up. | ||
| 28 Jun | There's some crazy knocking noise going on now in tha hooptie, so it's just gonna sit for a while. Im a bit fed up, and wanna focus on FEE. | ||
| 04 Jul | So i decided to keep driving although the knocking noise is so bad. I run out earlier in the day.. just more knocking.. no more trouble. Then later when i go to move the car... i decide to punch it up to 70 in a 25 and right after i stop and turn around on the stretch... the Check Engine light came on, and the speedometer completely stopped working. I dunno. I kinda dont care at this point. Gotta get this thing fixed. | ||
| 08 Jul | Go to start tha hoop to move it. No such luck. This is as soon as i wake up mind u. Pushed the car out the way so pops could get out... just left it til later. Go to move the car off the grass later on.. called for help and everything, and after we move the car into the spot it needs to be, i get in, and it starts right tha hell up!!! Im through. | ||
| 16 Jul | Managed to finally get my hands on another stock camber kit, so to speak. I just dont know the real name of it, but anyway, thanx to my boy. | $10 | |
| 17 Jul | Ok so lost the Ingalls Camber Kit and put the stock chit back in. NO MORE RUBBING!!! Discovered that the knocking sounds were the result of the weights on the back of the wheel, hitting up against the linkage from the control arm to the wheel. On my driver side, this is the result of two studs being stripped, that are next to each other. So as the wheel spins, it's wobbling slightly. This was not evident when we had it on the lift some weeks ago. Arrangements to be made soon to replace the messed studs. The same problem was happening on the passenger side, but not as much. The weights show some damage tho. Later on in the evening tho, running down the highway, the speedometer stopped working again. This is becoming random. Need to find out why this happens and what needs to be replaced. Next steps will be studs fixed, a tune up, a muffler.. and im thinking of tossin the intake in there. ;) | ||
| 19 Jul | A nice early saturday morning turned out to be quite productive. I snatched the stock airbox to put into FEE so she could get into the shop. Didnt have a good tool to cut room for the intake, so instead of buying one for $100+ to only use it once... opted to let the car sit til monday and 'borrow' from a local shop. | ||
| 21 Jul | Got Tha Hoop to tha shop and managed to cut the hole for the intake. Actually sprayed primer on it this time like i should! It sounds good, and teh speedometer has been workin since, and no check engine light issues any longer. Took it over to see about a muffler. Looks like about $150 to get it from a decent local shop. One day. Got both bumper lights back in the bumper again also. Soon to come is all the extra stiff stuff. I broke a stud from the driver side wheel so while that gets fixed, might as well change up rotors. MIGHT go for the rear disc conversion at the same time... who knows. Also needed is that tune-up. The car isnt starting up the first time everytime suddenly... so hopefully that no longer happens after tune-up. For my boy once, it was his distributor giving him the same type of trouble. Hmm... | ||
| 19 Aug | Just ordered up nuff chit for a tune up and to get the studs fixed. This includes plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor and the extras on this order are stillen cross drilled rotors and a neuspeed short shifter. I basically spent an extra $230 on the extras... | $318.26 | |
| 20 Aug | Holy chit all that stuff arrived from Manchester Honda already. I wasnt even prepared to get the chit put on. | ||
| 29 Aug | Did a bit of running around to see who could put these rotors on. My main mechanic has been bullchitting big time, and my second choice mechanic turned out to have a huge communication barrier... he speaks too much d!ckhead! SO.. it's back to the bullchitter to see WHEN he can fix my chit so i can drive this piece again already :( I bought 3 or 4 studs for the car as well. Price n chit tba. | ||
| 08 Sep | [Monday] Dropped off the car to Lamont. Let's see if he holds to getting me my chit back by wednesday. | ||
| 11 Sep | [Thursday RIP Edwin "The Creator" Hilton] Ive been working, so i stop by to see what progress there's been.... turns out if im lucky i can get the car back on Saturday. | ||
| 20 Sep | Look man... $300. That's all ive got to say. It took forever.. but $300 is ok. | $300 | |
| XX Oct | I forget the dates, but i DID eventually get a new muffler put on for $150 which has a 1-2 cheap chit dual tip. I had to take the car back a good 3 or 4 times to fix a certain rattle, and of course, once that was all straightened, there was a hole in the flex pipe. FUCK! | $150 | |
| 10 Nov | Just to update everyone.. not much has gone on. Back at a standstill with the car now. Most recent headache is the knocking from the passenger side front wheel area. I just dont fuccin know what the problem is this time and the car has just been basically sitting ever since. This happened just after the speedometer started going on the blink. IT... goes out most of the time, and then the check engine light comes on. Im completely frustrated. We'll pick up more on this later. It's already fuccin cold around here, and the hole in the flex hose needs to be taken care of for inspection in 2 months when it's a helluva lot colder. | ||
| 2004 | ||
| 02 Jan | FOCK... inspection is this month! | |
| 25 Jan | DOUBLE FOCK!!! Someone.. or someTHING busted my driver side clear corner... AND my lovely 'jolly rancher orange' bulb. :( Might have been a road rock, so what can u do. I only paid $12 for the pair of corners anyway. ;P I sealed em up good.. but i guess u get what u pay for in plastic quality. Daah well. | |
| 29 Jan | Of course we waited til late in the month to get the inspection issue taken care of. Didnt know if i was gonna keep the car due to various small problems or what. Today's events pretty much secured the fact that the hooptie will remain as such, and stay with me. I based the keep v. sell case on whether or not i could get it successfully inspected or not. Fortunately, i found a place to inspect, that really only leans on whether or not emissions are good. That's all i care about also. I like to know my baby is burning clean. So i visit this anonymous shop, the guy clarified i just need to pass emissions and the lowering factor is no big deal.. just need to fix the flex pipe. With that, i headed up to Rt.22 in Mountainside to wind up paying $345.30 total for the downpipe and flex pipe. While there, this guy found my creaking on the passenger side, which winds up NOT to be a bad strut, but loose/bent stabilizer linkage. In other words, the bolt holding in my stabilizer bar is bent as fock and the bolt's about ready to come off. Apparently that needs to be fully replaced. Good thing ive got those Suspension Technique sway bars. In addition to that, it's clear that im leaking oil and trans fluid as the front (i think) and rear seals are pretty faulty. That's a whole nother project. I DID get an estimate however, which was basically $1030 to fix all that, replace the timing belt, water pump and all the other trimmings in the area while the trans would be pulled out. That just sucks, but it will be done in a few months when ive got some dinero in pocket. On top of that id rather have my own mechanic assess it and do the work... which means pay CA$H!!! So anywho at the end of the day, i didnt get the chance to get back to the anonymous place to get the car inspected, so i set up with my mechanic to do a quick oil change and plug change in the morning, before i go, to better my chances of passing. I'll also have to change my corners back to stock, since the one is busted. That only sux cuz the bulb is busted too.. so i dunno how im gonna get it out the socket easily. Oh well. Let's just hope i make emissions. After i get the fresh chit, we'll see! Tha hoop is SO much quieter now tho, although i heard some weird noise when turning to the left after i got home. Sounds like something is rubbing like crazy, but only heard it twice and didnt have time to inspect. Hope it's nothing major.. but if it is... it's "Tha muthaphukkin hooptie!" | $345.30 |
| 31 Jan | MY BABY JUST BARELY PASSED INSPECTION!!!!! WOOO HOOOOOOOOO!!!!! As the guy said.. honda's usually take about 15 seconds to pass the emissions. My trusty hooptie took ALMOST the whole 60 seconds allowed for the test! So.. no more to really say about it. Other than im legally on the road for two more years, and once again that determines that i will keep tha hoop. Period. | $75.00 |
| 13 Mar | Things have been cool for a while now. But.. unfortunately... i got a lil too happy on the way home from bowling, and now the clutch barely catches when shifting. FOCK!!! Burned that chit up. She's being basically put down til i can get the money up to fix EVERYthing. :-/ | |
| 2005 | ||
| 19 Jan | I know i know.. it's been a while. The short story is that i had to get another battery so the car would start. All the problems still exist. Hell.. around xmas time i even drove the car for a good week and a half with no problems. THEN... luckily while only 5 minutes from home, my exhaust pipe broke off (again!) .. but unluckily from just behind the header! OUCH! I had to drive home with the pipe dragging on the ground. Well ok i only drove home because the ground was wet..and i was about half a mile away. Of course that was also a day that all the prettiest girls wanted to be out walking along that route. In any case, since FEE looks like she might be going soon, that money will get Tha Hoop back into full swing. Wish me luck! | |
| 25 Feb | So on the 23rd i ordered my Exedy clutch kit. I really wanted the organic, but i went with the standard kit since it was $119, and the 2 day shipping was an extra $38.45. Will post correct pricing later. It came right on time Friday morning! | $157.45 |
| 26 Feb | Dug the car out of the snow and jumped it to start.. moved it up to a flatter spot in the driveway and lifted to find out my exhaust isnt broken before the cat, but after it. So im pretty much ok there. However, i had to find the stupid jackstands so i could get under the car to cut the rubber thingies to let the rest of the exhaust go. After tons of back and forth to find cutting utensils... i got it off and took it for a ride. Went up to Honda and dropped it off with the mechanic. Came back and dropped off the clutch, old exhaust, sway bars, lower rear tie bar and an oil filter. The dude with the honda parts wasnt workin, so i couldnt pick up the timing belt, water pump and whatever else id need. This is really the first phase i guess. Im still gonna need to find out why my speedometer conks out. But whatever.. the ball's rolling. | |
| 02 Mar | OF course the car's been at the shop for a minute, but nothing was done yet. I did pick up the timing belt parts and seals for the trans tho. Cost me all of $100 for everything! | $100 |
| 07 Mar | Went to check on the progress, and he still needs to do the clutch, the rear swaybar.. which the old needs to be cut by torch... the rear studs, and fix the speedometer issue. Still no word on the price range yet.. but will know when its time to pick it up i guess! Still debating on the 2.5" exhaust, or just have him put on the factory one while its there so i can drive it out, and keep it movin. We'll see. | $100 |
| 12 Mar | She's back!!! This guy lost my Lower Rear Tie Bar, so im assed out with that. Point blank. The sway bars were put on, clutch, slave, timing belt, water pump, plugs, wires, oil change, two rear studs were replaced that were stripped, and the front engine mount was replaced (the dogbone). Oh, and he gave a new battery. That was how i picked the car up... for $650. Then, i picked up new complete wipers for $10 and the exhaust for $90. Took the car home and popped in the signals, and was off to Midas to get the exhaust done. I wound up with the 2.5" from the cat back to the stock muffler. This guy went without the resonator, so it sounds a lil cheap when gassing, but its SO much quieter that u dont even know the car's running! That ran $100 but dude put tips on the muffler for me for no charge, so i threw him an extra $20. Then i had to head up to Harrison cuz my windows werent rolling down by the driver switch, or by remote, although other door switches worked fine. After three hours of waiting, they found the problem and fixed that for me for no charge. Threw this guy $10 for taking me on short notice. The car runs great.. smoothly. I just have to get used to the clutch because im not used to driving without putting the clutch to the floor. So im jerkin a bit.. but i'll get used to it by the end of week. I DO still need brakes badly, and an alignment just as bad. That should probably run me together about another $100 or $200. My speedometer now seems to work since the exhaust was fixed.. so idk if that still needs to be replaced.. whatever sensor he ordered. Bastard still wont tell me. Now i can get the correct mileage showing again.. hahaha. | $880 |
| 26 Mar | Yea so it was a bit of a bothersome day with the hooptie. The fact that i dint tighten the passenger side of the front bumper caused the vibration to kick out my bumper signal! So this was after i got to the bank. I had to disconnect and drive home to the dealer to see if i could get the screw and holder piece. Luckily they had it in stock and it ran $2.88 with screw. Gas ran me friggin $23 to fill up since gas went up, and then the mechanic took my car for a drive to see how the gear shifting was, and he drives through the construction zone.. and by the time i leave there and go home, i got a nice ass flat tire! So i had to go get that plugged, which ran me $7 .. with a $1 tip. So the total here is not including gas. Oh, and we found the stinkin Lower Rear Tie Bar in the back of my boy's truck!!! Fessed that up with Lamonth also.. so it's all good. Oh and while i was waiting to get myt tire plugged, i backed the car up to show what looked like a bit of an oil leak! Yeesh. I just dunno man. :-/ |
$10.88 |
| 18 Oct | So the whip's been sitting for a while. It wouldnt start, then the battery died the day i replaced my headlights in tha three. My boy got a new battery for his lude, so he had the original Honda battery sittin around. I copped that and it worked. Took a nice ride around town and things were as normal as they were before. No stuttering while driving, but i didnt dare cut the car off. Will try it out again this weekend and see if she starts. | $10 |
| 2006 | ||
| 30 Jan | So for the past couple weeks, I've been trying my hardest to get to the root of the problem with Tha Hoop. The end result is that inspection is due so I took it over to my good friend Lamont at VIP, who diagnosed my power problem as being the need for a new battery. I've experienced the battery not appearing to charge.. not having enough charge to start the car... driving for 2 hours and the car not starting immediately after shutting it off.. etc. In 15 minutes, this guy cleaned my connections, rigged the clamps for full connectivity to the battery leads and voila! She's started up ever since without much struggle. Thank goodness. Inspection is tomorrow. Wish me luck. Two years ago I barely passed emissions. The car is running clean now, and I took it out Saturday for a trek pushing up to 115mph+ and she moved out lovely. | $20 |
| 31 Jan | She passed!!!! It took three tries though. They wound up retarding the timing to get the desired results. It works for me. Now I can go on with two more worry free years, from inspection. As usual.. it costs. I tipped $20 for the extra efforts. | $79.50 |
| 31 May | So i had been driving the hooptie a bit, and dealing with the squealing brakes, and lessening kick. Something was definitely going on fuel or sparkwise. The last time i was driving, i had that cut off type of feeling while driving around town. What happens is the fuel feels like it stutters, and i drop a gear, rev high as all hell, and im good. If i keep on the gas while losing that kick, it backfires. The kicker... today i went to start it and get over to the shop, and it almost started the first time. Second time felt like a lil less turnover. Boom. third time.. just wouldnt even begin to start. Man o man. Im sure its something simple, but ive been slacking on getting this thing full operational. The noises from the swaybars arent happening anymore, but the brakes.. i might be eating the rotors right now. Man. | |
| 30 Dec | Due to the unfortunate circumstances to Titi, Tha Hoop gets on the road sooner than previously planned. So bought a battery from Wal-Mart for about $72, and went ahead to see Lamont and get the brakes squared away. The previous pads were actually still half there. What wound up happening was a bit of cleaning, and new pads were still put on. I also had him remove the corroded battery and put the new since he was there. A bit of topping off of fluids and she's good to roll. Next up is the fuel filter which hopefully eliminates this bucking/backfiring thing i got going. That and fixing the speedometer will make me bronze. A rear main seal and upper control arms will have me silver. Lastly, raising it back up a bit with a new suspension will have me rolling golden. Hopefully that can all be done by early February. Final Costs: Battery Maxx battery - $71.68 + $7 core charge Corrosion Protectors - $0.88 Tax - $5.57 OEM Brake Pads and install, topping off, quick inspection - $95. |
$180.13 |
| 2007 | ||
| 15 Jan | Ok. Tha Hoop's been doing her thing for the past two weeks or so. Ive got no complaints at all. I even adjusted my own damn habits so i can get more mileage. So easy.. so much cheaper now. I definitely love my hooptie. Anyway, i ordered up the new suspension for it from Autodynamic.com, and once it gets here i'll pick up some upper control arms. Since I got Titi back, i may just drop it off, and have that, the air filter, seal, and speedo taken care of in one shot. We'll see. Final Costs: CB7 TEIN BASIC Coilover - $712.50 Shipping - $56.88 |
$769.38 |
| 03 Mar | Dropped off tha hoop at the shop to get most things taken care of. This includes the suspension, fuel filter, distributor cap and rotor, speed sensor and identification of the oil leak. The estimates for all the work needed for the hooptie were $300 labor, and $500 for the parts. I'm paying slightly less than the true price, but still more than the mechanic's discount.
Final Costs for Parts (minus coilovers): Upper Control Arms - $280.00 Speed Sensor - $ Fuel Filter - $ Distr Cap/Rotor - $ Rounded Total: $500 |
$500.00 |
| 31 Mar | So after being quite peeved over the time it's taken in procrastination, i finally picked up the hooptie. She is sitting very much higher than usual but the ride is very much enjoyable, and kidney-damage free. It's going to take much adjustment to get used to it at this height. I plan to keep it as such for a few weeks, then lower it once the bad weather is pretty much assured of being away. By then i should have the short shifter, and oil leak squared away. Possibly even the silver faced gauges from long ago.
I have the car, but I pay Monday. It's $300 as we agreed, so I'll add the cost here. |
$300.00 |
| 07 Apr | So after taking the car out for a couple drives it just didnt continue to be so pleasing. Upon payment i find out the fuel filter wasn't done. Then, on a cold night, i managed to hear a sharp squeaking suddenly, but it seems nothing to do with the suspension. It actually seems to be coming from the windshield / dash area. Seems on a warmerday there was no issue. Go figure. Anyway, it wa dropped off for this guy to do the filter, and figure out where my oil leak is coming from. Honestly, it feels more rattley, the car, than before. I didnt get to drive it too too much tho. I'll definitely have him ride with, when next i pick it up. On the other hand, i'll never pay without making sure all is done. I'm writing this a day later, and he changed nothing on the car. It's sitting yet again. Grr... | |
| 25 Aug | Decided to pick up the main relay already and solve these warm starting.. or lack thereof.. incidents. Ran over to Open Road Honda in Edison who had it in stock. Told them that my dealership, VIP Honda sells it 18 bucks cheaper and boom, i got it for VIPs price. Pretty fair. Now to put it in. (I'll adjust the price some other time.) | $60.00 |
| 07 Oct | For a couple weeks, i've been slowly working toward getting the relay in. I couldnt reach the cruise control unit bolts because of all the extra wiring i have flowing through there. SO, i decided id take the dash off to get to it. After taking off the trim, i managed to still just bust my hand up a bit, and change out the relay. A bit before that, i decided i would go ahead and put the reverse indiglos and short shifter in. I bought these things years ago, so why not? I took the gauges out on Friday and procrastinated til realizing the new gauge has 140mph on it, while mine is 130 stock. After matching up the speedo, i opted out, put it back in, put the trim back on, and went on to securing the short shifter. When i took the gauge out on friday, i found out the bolt for the short shifter was too short to make it through the hole for the hydraulic arm that attaches to the shifter. Its supposed to secure the arm to the short shift unit. I figured id go get a longer comparable bolt after she's back on the road. I made a deal with a friend to get the car running for a ride, by this week. SO, now ive put the trim back on and am reversing the short shifter that i half put on on friday when i attach the arm back to the shift lever, and proceed to tighten the nut and break the bolt. FOCK! The bolt had a lil thread to slightly attach the nut. I put it on and went for a LONG risky drive. She rides GREAT!!! 80mph felt like i was only doing 60! No complaints at all in how she runs. And i managed to charge up the battery enough on the drive to restart it when i stopped at a store. No hesitation whatsoever. With all else, im happy. However, the bolt to the shift lever appears to be part OF the lever. Will look more into that tomorrow. I hope i dont have to replace the whole unit. :-( |
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| 12 Oct | So i take in tha hoop to the mechanic and shortly after being on my way, the oil light begins flashing on the dash. Now ive only seen the oil light once, and it was in FEE. SO, i pull over and whip out the mobil one. Who knew?! I wont go into detail of how i learned the hard way that u dont leave the car running when putting oil in. So luckily also present in the car was ample paper towel for oily hands, and a jumper pack. Jumped.. ran it, and boom... oil light blinks. I just continued over to Honda. Pulled in the garage and received the lowdown. The shift lever can be easily taken out and brought in in the morning to drill out the bolt. Then we'll see if another can be put in. Worse case is to have to replace the shift lever. Its labor intensive and i wont have the patience. WAY too many small parts for me. At least i can leave the car home. Next, the oil was fine in level so it was chalked to a sensor. I see the 'that gasket' was leaking so i figure i'll replace that before the sensor and see if it continues. The light didnt come on the whole way home. The starting issue still remains but clearly not the relay but power issues. The negative cable could use a replacement in full. I figured just a new head, but i can dig it. Randomly the front radiator hose was suggested a replacement before it bursts. I thought it looked a lil large, but i have one in the trunk... and i havent had antifreeze in for like a year. I just turn on the heat when the engine heats up since i dont drive it that much. And typically while moving the car stays at an even temperature. So tomorrow will be fun! |
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| 2008 | ||
| 05 Jan | I get the call some time ago from my newphew's phone. It's his friend. These guys were playing basketball at my parents house and an elbow pushed dude into my car and he cracked the windshield. Damnit. The car's due for inspection this month and i've got to replace the cat. Grr... dunno how bad it is yet, but we'll see. | |
| 06 Jan | So i found out yesterday that Honda wants between 5 and 7 hundred for a cat pending which was the right one for my car on the screen. The mechanic has one for $300 that he says he'll put on for $25. Wtf. Time to look up some chit online. Meanwhile, checked out the windsheild and it's truly a shatter style crack. A web, if you will, completely shutting down any idea of driving it. Bully. Gotta be fixed this week. | |
| 16 Jan | Summming up the week of events. The windshield was to be replaced on Friday the 11th. It was cancelled due to rain. The car's been boarded up to help protect. Meanwhile Monday i rescheduled for yesterday. The guy calls me at 3:30ish to say he probably won't make it. I stress the urgency and he figures out a place we can take it after dark that will have ample light to work with. I felt great. Then i get a call around 5 from that guys office saying he can't do the job. WTF. I stress the urgency there, they say i would be first in the AM. I ask him what time to expect this guy since the window is 8-12, he says between 9-11. WTF!?!?? Apparently they dont get to their first calls until somewhere between 10-11. I think mention of 9 is only to help you feel better and make them look busy. The techs are a bunch of young kids, so what should i expect. Anyway AAA also has emergency windshield repair, but doesnt serve my county. It's a new program for anyone who has it. At this point im still waiting for that call that Safelite is on the way. Bastards. On another note, the catalytic converter by way of most websites that sell the Magnaflow Direct Fit model, are less than $100!!! WTF?!?! And this guy wanted me to pay $300 for a used one? It didn't sound unreasonable though. In any case, ordering it is an issue. I need specifically for the EX model, and Summit Racing is the only place that has it, but with an estimated ship date of the 28th. The car needs to be inspected before then. BUT, if it fails for emissions then at least the part would be on the way. We'll see what happens. Focus has been on the windshield. |
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| 2011 | ||
| 12 Feb | Welp, I have full payment in hand for the car, so technically it's sold. In comes the end of an era. Not fully a done deal until the title is signed over. Stay tuned. | |
| 24 May | And finally... an end to an era. The title has been signed over and tha hooptie is gone. :( Clocked at about 157900 miles. (For whatever reason, I didn't grab the exact odometer reading.) | |
| Running total minus the cost of the car ... | $7,174.07 | |