TND2GEN

- Project DA9/6 Type R was conceptualized in Japan 2001, with assembly
starting in Canada 2003 and is now a street legal circuit machine in
California as of March 2004

12/03/2006 Build-up stage 2 click here

Project DA Budget: Approx. 9000$ (Not including chassis) Many thanks to Asai San from Honda and Imagawa San from Mugen for their technical advise and insight on everything concerning racing and tuning. Asai San whom I had the pleasure of working with when I was assigned to HSS, was head mechanic for HRC's group A NSX for 2 years, and while he is very modest about his expertise, I learned the most from his input and advice. A million thanks goes to Jay Revelle. This project would not have been possible without him in any way. He helped with overseas shipments of all parts and stored them over a period of 3 years. He also helped conceptualize and troubleshoot various components for Pancake Racing which where built and tested for this car. When I returned from Japan in October 2003, we started the process of organizing all the parts and deciding on fabrication materials and designs. Everything was done at his house over a period of 6 month, with a one-month vacation in between. Thanks to the Revelle Family, who supported me and put up for 5 month of garage mayhem madness. Thanks to everyone in Japan and Canada who helped me turn this project into a reality. The help of friends is sometimes overlooked, but always appreciated and never forgotten.

ACQUIRING PARTS

In Japan: 3 years was spent acquiring parts in Japan and either sending them back or stock piling the parts on the roof of the offices where I worked. I visited Canada each Christmas, and every time I maxed out my luggage size and weight to bring back parts. I got pulled over once because this Japanese girl at customs thought the LSD looked like something from a missile. This is the crate I prepared, working on it during lunch breaks, eventually loading it into my friends Toyota Hiace by hand and driving it down to the Yokohama docks for shipping to Canada.

Parts List: Like everyone else in Japan, a good chunk of parts where acquired from Yahoo Auction, which kills shitbay (Ebay), while most other parts where resourced through Honda or friends. These are just some of the parts I managed to pick-up, some of which where for friends. The brand new Honda OEM DA6 clutch is the same one that I blew up on my first track event at Streets of Willow.

REBUILD STAGES PHOTO GALLERY

Project Stage 1: My last year in Japan, I shipped back a palette containing a B16A, S1 Transmission, steering rack and 4 Watanabe wheels from my XSi, and a B18C. Leaving Japan wasn't easy and I made sure I took full advantage of my position at Honda to go back home and build something that's never been done before.

Project Stage 2: After a month of prepping the chassis; grinding away all the rust proofing and sound deadening material and cutting away every little unnecessary hinge or section of sheet metal, assembly is under way.

Project Stage 3: Engine and transmission rebuild took nearly a month. Also, fabrication of several custom parts was necessary because of the limited availability of quality DA components. This took up a couple months easily, as everything was conceptualized from computer to the final one off part being installed on the car.

Project Stage 4: After engine installation, All the custom parts are fabricated: The intake chamber (made from a scrap DC5 Mugen lower chamber), foot rest floor board, the chromoly roll cage. The chassis is also riveted in crucial areas to add rigidity, and improve body roll characteristics. All the aero parts are fitted including the custom carbon front diffuser.

Finished Product: After 5 month and 3 years of prep work, the rebuilt DA is ready for time attack duty. Granted, tuning and further modifications will be required to make this chassis as fast as possible, and tuning is ever changing to make a car go as fast as possible. For more pictures, please visit Daniel's site http://www.digitalhorizononline.com/feature/sep_06/sep_06.html

Custom Fabrication & Ongoing Tuning

Custom parts: While most of the parts come from various other Honda's, some had to be fabricated in order to achieve certain objectives for this project. I had help from several friends including Jay Revelle, Akaichi San, Kuma San, and various people over at Mugen and Honda.

Current Projects: Me and Daniel Alvarez http://www.digitalhorizononline.com are currently in the process of designing and fabricating a rear diffuser. This is to balance enough dowforce with the HIRO rear spoiler to allow the added 40ps the engine will have after the stage 3 build-up.