JDM AFFAIR

I met Dean at a meet we arranged earlier in the year, not knowing him at the time but after seeing his car it could only have been faith that I had to feature this clean JDM example.

After approaching Dean he had gladly agreed to me doing the shoot, a month had past and me and him had discussed very little as to when we would be getting the shoot done. I finally found the time to do it but Murphy's law struck and the shoot was postponed and so another week for him to wait so that I could get myself sorted. With me having everything in order I made the cal and just like that we were back on track.

He tells me this is the short sweet story of how the JDM affair started "Honda was a brand I fell in love with in school, I had the opportunity to go in a friends honda civic vtec. The sound / high revving spirit and handling had me hooked way before I even had my licence.

Its rare to see a EG sedan in this condition but he assures me it wasnt always this good for him "I managed to get a really beaten up 97 honda ballade 160i as my first car, with 370 000km on the clock and pretty much everything broken, i still drove that car with a grin" He then traded in the beater Ballade for his first ever V-tec but when the V-tec kicked in, he wrote the car off in just 4 months of owning it.

Its got that stance look down to say the least, it oozes that JDM street feel that so many people love subtle would be the only way and it surely worked.

"This Honda of mine was never meant to amount to anything" he tells me smiling "It was purchased as a non-runner , a temporary set of wheels" With this originally being a 150i  it would have been sold if anybody had approached him so that he could get his hands on another V-tec but the shape had struck him as very interesting and from there he moved onto getting the indicators done in amber a set of fifteen inch wheels, finally getting his panels all done in one color a result of the car having a black fender and a bad paint job.

150i's are not to say the best, Dean had got so tired of his he did a motor swap "I figured converting to Fuel injection would be the answer, and so I bought the necessary components, landed up purchasing a sohc vtec 1600 motor in the process"

As it Turned out the motor was junk "ran bearings after 5000km, but even so Vtec had me hooked"

After his experience with the motor that ran bearings, he decided to do it properly this time around and with the help from Jared at Ian Brown Engineering they proceeded to do another lump swap. They also had a spare dash that to be fitted plus exhaust which was all done in one entire weekend "it was so worth it"

The first drive of the car was open headers(no exhaust) with a smokey cabin, no indicators, lights or any form of electronics besides ecu and engine working.

He says that you couldnt get the smile off his face or the look of horror from those that he drove past from the deafening sound.. 

Future plans, "better suspension setup, some 16" rims and getting the car on the track where it belongs"

Here is just a list of what Dean has had done.

Model:

93 Honda Ballade 150

Engine:
1800 DOHC VTEC (B18c)
Rybro Poly insert engine mounts
Rybro 2.5" Cold air intake
2.5" custom exhaust

Interior:
Honda Del Sol front seats
DC2 dash, cluster, consoles

Exterior:
EG hatch front bumper
Mugen Lip
Volk CE28n reps 15"

Suspension / Brakes:
Skunk 2 Sleeves + Koni Yellow shocks
uprated vtec brake

Its got that stance look down to say the least, it oozes that JDM street feel that so many people love subtle would be the only way and it surely worked.