Having left behind my camera at Evan's place, a trip to retrieve it was in order and in an unintended series of snaps for fun out of the blue, a second look at the garage inevitably became a reality.
Luckily for me it isn't a far trip and a visit to SHG is always enjoyable and now with extra blog content on hand, it's difficult to feel any regrets.
With the boys hanging out after work, staying for a little bit was the least that I could do to make the trip worthwhile. That's when I started viewing Evan's display case filled with motorsports heritage.
Plenty of color rich visual cues force the eyes to quickly shuffle between items. Anything from Honda catalogs to 24hr GrandAm pit lane passes fill the dust free glass shelves.
Stickers and embroidered patches of sorts are present in all levels and perhaps will make their way onto a race suit when the time to buy one comes around.
Type R catalogs take the main stage but plenty more are stored in the bottommost shelf as so many souvenirs occupy valuable real estate impeding them all from being displayed at once.
Glancing across the 7 foot tall piece of furniture, there is no shortage of inspiration available. A grand sum of the ideals from many companies boldly embody every item through it's graphic appeal or literary content.
Some harder to find pieces such as the 2006 Spoon Sports parts catalog and limited run allthingsproper. decal make a nice addition to the slowly growing collection.
Some of the best names associated with Honda are visible such as TODA Racing renowned for it's N/A tuning, and Motul for their engine lubricants. Although SHG isn't a museum of sorts, being surrounded by Honda's history rich background is key to setting up the inspirational ambience. One that puts you in the right mindset and drives you to be the best that you can be.
Part of what makes the Honda brand so appealing, is the deep roots that it has in motor racing. It's history spans across various decades; all of which marked famous eras. The above being a scale of the BAR 002 Formula 1 car from 2000 that was powered by a Honda V10 powerplant.
Other greats include Mugen Motorsports founded by Soichiro's very own son Hirotoshi Honda. Offering an extensive line up of optional performance parts and fully tuned performance cars from the factory, it's easy to begin understanding the scope of the Mugen's success through its intertwined roots with Honda.
As Soichiro would say, without racing, there is no Honda. This initiative from the early days was absolutely fundamental to it's success as a vehicle manufacturer. An aspect that is represented here through and through.
The amount of eye candy inside the 2x2' wide case is simply staggering; there's enough reading material to keep one busy for months without question.
It doesn't stop there either, Evan has an official press release binder of the 02' Civic Si that was available to only those present at the event. A special gift to him from a fellow enthusiast.
It highlighted all of the concepts behind the development and extensively covered everything that the new car had to offer from top to bottom.
A decade later and the EP3 is still gaining popularity as their performance potentials have been explored and are becoming more affordable to own. Mugen of course produced a slew of parts to take the driving experience another level further, all of which are listed in this double sided pamphlet.
It's nostalgic to flip through these pages as they reminisce a different time where regulatory laws were comparatively relaxed allowing Honda the freedom to create automobiles as they best saw fit.
Moving on back to the garage area, there are some more things which weren't covered last time round. Here we have the EP3's spare transmission case refinished in Cast Coat Aluminum on the left and the DC5's full transmission on the right which will see the same treatment.
Underneath, a stockpile of fluids and chemical products are stored at hip level for easy access.
With only 24 hours in the day, Evan is often found wrenching at late hours of the night, constantly finishing up at 1 or 2am to make small but steady progress on the DC5 build. On this night, opening up the transmission to have an initial look at it's condition.
At first sight, everything looked normal and nothing out of the ordinary as expected from a daily driven transmission.
Upon closer inspection of the notoriously damage prone 2nd gear, a slight amount of wear could be seen but not enough to warrant a replacement as it can be smoothed and won't see use outside of the pit lane. In the center, its gold colored brass synchro has some visible wear so all synchros will be replaced for good measure with carbon versions for improved performance.
When that happens, the Buddy Club 5.46 final drive will be installed with the beautifully engineered WaveTrac LSD. The above however being for the Civic which will be put to use first but both cars will run the same combo.
In a typical night the work is fragmented as this ensures full attention to the task at hand without anything going overlooked. After checking the transmission, Evan got to installing the timing tensioner cover by first removing the crank pulley for better access.
Applying Honda bond with gloves to not make a mess...
...then carefully aligning and torquing the fresh hardware to spec.
Just like clockwork!
Finally, torquing down the timing gears to wrap up the work for the night. So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, an extended look at SoHonda Garage! On that note, happy new years to all of you and we'll see you in 2014!
-Claudio
