Daily Archives: November 25, 2013

Race Time

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The year was 2003, the setting was Thomas Edison High School and that’s where I saw her. The first ever fully built Honda Prelude I have ever seen. She was a beauty to look at, white pearl paint, slammed to the floor with 18” SRR wheels. When she took off it caught everybody’s eye and hears. That engine was roaring down the street and when it left I knew that I wanted that same attention from everybody. Not too long after I began to take interest in cars and racing and by 2006 I had my first race car and was headed to my first race.

The location of the races is always a mystery until the time of the race. There are usual meeting points where racers from all over NY come to meet and show off what they got. In 2006, the location for these meets was Nassau.  There I met some interesting people and my opponent for my first race. At that time I was driving a 95 Honda Civic. my opponent for the night was driving a Honda Del Sol. It was pretty much an even match because I hadn’t done much to my car since I was still a novice at this. That didn’t stop me however from proving I had what it takes to make people notice me.

At the meets its announced where the races will take place. Everyone piles into their cars and heads out to the races. It’s  quite a spectacular sight to see over 100 different cars driving down the street in a straight line. At the meet the cars line up in 2 lines. There is no setting up, there is no second guessing it’s just racing. Depending how your car is built there is different stipulations that you must follow when you’re going to race, but because our cars only had slight modifications, our race was even.

I won’t ever forget how it felt my first time racing. It was truly something special. Even though I lost it didn’t stop me from perusing something that I loved. I continued to modify my car until my chance at redemption came and I took it. The Honda Del Sol never beat me again. Although I don’t race as much, I still on occasion go to the races and see what new drivers are bringing to the table. The location has changed and so has the way people modify their cars. I have lost and won but that’s not why I race. It’s the thrill of going fast.

Make It Go Faster Part 4 of 4

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Finally the time has come to drop that new motor into your shell and make it go faster. After shopping for your engine, make sure that you have all the parts that you will need for you engine swap. Sometimes when buying your engine, the parts needed come as part of a package. Most drivers that I know usually swap out the parts that come with the engine with aftermarket parts that they buy separately.

When installing the engine make sure that the person doing the install knows what they are doing! You don’t want your engine falling out while you’re driving down the highway. The shop that I took my car to was located in Deer Park in Long Island. He specializes in Honda.

The process of swapping out your engine is very time consuming. First you have to drop out the old engine and everything that is associated with it, like the transmission, clutch, ECU etc.  Next is put in the new motor. To begin you must connect the engine mounts. The engine mounts hold the engine in place. Next you must install the transmission. After that connect everything that you had previously disconnected like the power steering, radiator, radiator fan, clutch, exhaust system and etc. After all that, put you fluids back in and start that new engine up! For a more helpful guide that includes pictures check out How To Change A Car Engine.