Hey guys,
My name is Tom. I have been a member since early 2007 but I have been mostly inactive so I am still considered "New" here. I used to own a 1991 Honda Accord EX Wagon that I bought bone stock in 2003. It had a slightly rare original paint job until I had the car painted. (Looking back, I should have just gotten a re-spray of the same color.) It was black with a copper metallic flake, I'm not sure what the paint code was anymore. I painted the car a BMW black with blue pearl. The car ended up costing me about $25,000 throughout the 7 or so years I owned it until I stripped it of all the parts I had and sold the car for $2,600 a few years ago. I absolutely loved that car, It was not only my first CB, but it was also my first car.
Since the day I bought my CB, I've owned maybe 7 or more other CB's (Wagons, Sedans, but never owned a coupe). I have always loved the body style and my urge to own another only grows stronger with every passing day. My 91 Wagon was the only CB I had that I put any money into, the others were either winter transportation or parts cars. My grandmother currently drives a 91 Coupe thanks to me. I'm blown away by some of the pictures I've seen on this site and the JDM movement throughout this past decade or longer has only shown a greater potential for the amazing styling these cars possess. Living in the NorthEast proves hard to find a decent used car that isn't chewed up by the salt. I keep an eye open for the right one and I know my patience will pay off some day.
When I sold my CB9, I was also the proud owner of a 2005 Acura RSX Type-S. I bought a complete A-spec kit including the A-spec suspension for my RSX. I had a Mishimoto Carbon Fiber intake, RS*R Exhaust, JDM Visors, JDM Type-R valve cover, and Cusco B-pillar Bars. I had bigger plans for the car, but rust claimed the floor under the driver seat and I immediately lost interest with the car. I traded it in the following week and drove home a 2010 Honda Element SC with 24k miles. I thought by buying an Element, my tuner bug would die and I wouldn't be tempted to spend any money on that car. I was wrong. I ended up seeing a lot of potential in the car and started buying parts for that almost immediately. I bought Ksport Kontrol Pro coilovers, OEM styling bits, messed around with the interior, Installed a JDM S2000 start button with JDM center garnish, ETC... 2015 marked the end of that project.
My wife and I were married July 19th, 2014. We had the crazy idea of buying an RV and traveling the USA for our honeymoon. After a year of saving our pennies, we realized that we weren't going to be able to take our honeymoon trip unless I sold some of my toys. The Element ended up being sold to a dealership for a huge loss, but I was able to pay off my loan and put a couple thousand dollars into our honeymoon fund. The next week we took a month and drove a 1987 4cyl Toyota motorhome that I had purchased in 2014 10k miles around the USA, making stops at family and friends' homes along the way. I have no regrets, but I do hate seeing my old Element being driven by someone who doesn't take care of it. (I live in a rural area and I see this car weekly).
I've come back to this site because after selling my Element I was searching for the perfect CB, and I accidentally found a decent deal on a 1994 Acura Vigor GS. I know a Vigor isn't an Accord, but the styling and everything about it reminds me of some kind of hybrid between my old Accord and my RSX. Needless to say, I am enjoying this Vigor a lot!
I've started gathering parts for this venture already. Financially irresponsible? You bet! I bought the Vigor in September of 2015 with 89k miles on it for $1000. It needed a little bit of work, but nothing serious. Or so I thought. It had a timing belt and water pump service due at 90k, and I assumed that the previous owner of this car had never had it done. 89k miles on a timing belt isn't a huge deal, but assuming it was the original belt and pump from 1994 had me concerned, so I brought it to the dealership for the service. Normally I do my own maintenance and labor, but there's something about the engine timing that has always intimidated me. I wasn't willing to sacrifice the engine on my newly acquired vehicle, so I decided against doing the job myself. I've already put new brake rotors and pads in the rear, bought stainless steel brake lines, replaced a couple ABS harnesses, replaced the clock spring in the steering wheel, and even threw on my old mishimoto intake that came off my RSX. This car has a ton of potential, maybe not so much with engine upgrades, but with styling ques for sure.
So far, I've collected a JDM Honda grill from Japan, window visors from Japan (not sure if oem JDM), JDM fender markers, and a Megan Muffler (since my exhaust is shot anyway). I am still very actively working with a friend in New Zealand who is scouting junkyards for me looking for the JDM headlights (which were standard issue in New Zealand) and a few other goodies, like the Honda steering wheel airbag, and the orange JDM bumper turn signals. Sadly, I used to own two sets of the JDM Vigor headlights back when I had my CB9, and had one of those sets custom fit to my CB9. The other set I sold years ago. Now, of course, the JDM Vigor headlights are near impossible to find.
Aside from a small amount of quarter panel rust that I've patched temporarily, the car is solid and is getting ready for body work and a paint job this coming spring, at which point I will install all of my acquired JDM parts. I know the Vigor is a rarely talked about platform and is extremely limited as far as aftermarket parts go, but I find that to be a bit of a luxury. If I owned a CB, I'd be following that theory that "a project is never truly finished", and I'd be constantly spending money trying to create something I was happy with. Which is fine, I'd love to do that again...but the Vigor has a finish line within sight. Using the JDM guidelines for this project, I'm really only looking at investing in a limited market of Japanese parts until I run out of available parts, at which point I will be complete. My goal for this car is to reach the point where I have a fully daily-capable vehicle with every JDM part I can find, minus the right-hand stuff. (I'm not that invested into this project).
You're going to find all sorts of poor attempts at Vigor builds online, and even the good ones are outfitted with improper parts because the owner failed to do their homework. I am blown away when I see a Vigor that someone has clearly invested a ton of money into, and they are using parts from a CB5, Inspire, Etc, and end up with a B*astardchild of a car, littered with JDM parts that don't belong. I fully intend on applying what I've learned from my research and only use parts that belong to the CC2 platform, unless it's something under the hood that can be adapted. I hope that I am able to create something amazing in the near future. I've got a good pace going, and if I can keep at it, I will hopefully have something put together by the end of 2016 that I am happy with.
I thank everyone for reading my intro and taking the time to get to know how I ended up back here. I hope to have another CB7 or even a CB9 again soon, so here's to a successful 2016!
Here's some of the pictures I still have from the last days of my CB9 (keep in mind it was 2007 and body kits were just about at the end of their popularity):
Thanks for looking.
My name is Tom. I have been a member since early 2007 but I have been mostly inactive so I am still considered "New" here. I used to own a 1991 Honda Accord EX Wagon that I bought bone stock in 2003. It had a slightly rare original paint job until I had the car painted. (Looking back, I should have just gotten a re-spray of the same color.) It was black with a copper metallic flake, I'm not sure what the paint code was anymore. I painted the car a BMW black with blue pearl. The car ended up costing me about $25,000 throughout the 7 or so years I owned it until I stripped it of all the parts I had and sold the car for $2,600 a few years ago. I absolutely loved that car, It was not only my first CB, but it was also my first car.
Since the day I bought my CB, I've owned maybe 7 or more other CB's (Wagons, Sedans, but never owned a coupe). I have always loved the body style and my urge to own another only grows stronger with every passing day. My 91 Wagon was the only CB I had that I put any money into, the others were either winter transportation or parts cars. My grandmother currently drives a 91 Coupe thanks to me. I'm blown away by some of the pictures I've seen on this site and the JDM movement throughout this past decade or longer has only shown a greater potential for the amazing styling these cars possess. Living in the NorthEast proves hard to find a decent used car that isn't chewed up by the salt. I keep an eye open for the right one and I know my patience will pay off some day.
When I sold my CB9, I was also the proud owner of a 2005 Acura RSX Type-S. I bought a complete A-spec kit including the A-spec suspension for my RSX. I had a Mishimoto Carbon Fiber intake, RS*R Exhaust, JDM Visors, JDM Type-R valve cover, and Cusco B-pillar Bars. I had bigger plans for the car, but rust claimed the floor under the driver seat and I immediately lost interest with the car. I traded it in the following week and drove home a 2010 Honda Element SC with 24k miles. I thought by buying an Element, my tuner bug would die and I wouldn't be tempted to spend any money on that car. I was wrong. I ended up seeing a lot of potential in the car and started buying parts for that almost immediately. I bought Ksport Kontrol Pro coilovers, OEM styling bits, messed around with the interior, Installed a JDM S2000 start button with JDM center garnish, ETC... 2015 marked the end of that project.
My wife and I were married July 19th, 2014. We had the crazy idea of buying an RV and traveling the USA for our honeymoon. After a year of saving our pennies, we realized that we weren't going to be able to take our honeymoon trip unless I sold some of my toys. The Element ended up being sold to a dealership for a huge loss, but I was able to pay off my loan and put a couple thousand dollars into our honeymoon fund. The next week we took a month and drove a 1987 4cyl Toyota motorhome that I had purchased in 2014 10k miles around the USA, making stops at family and friends' homes along the way. I have no regrets, but I do hate seeing my old Element being driven by someone who doesn't take care of it. (I live in a rural area and I see this car weekly).
I've come back to this site because after selling my Element I was searching for the perfect CB, and I accidentally found a decent deal on a 1994 Acura Vigor GS. I know a Vigor isn't an Accord, but the styling and everything about it reminds me of some kind of hybrid between my old Accord and my RSX. Needless to say, I am enjoying this Vigor a lot!
I've started gathering parts for this venture already. Financially irresponsible? You bet! I bought the Vigor in September of 2015 with 89k miles on it for $1000. It needed a little bit of work, but nothing serious. Or so I thought. It had a timing belt and water pump service due at 90k, and I assumed that the previous owner of this car had never had it done. 89k miles on a timing belt isn't a huge deal, but assuming it was the original belt and pump from 1994 had me concerned, so I brought it to the dealership for the service. Normally I do my own maintenance and labor, but there's something about the engine timing that has always intimidated me. I wasn't willing to sacrifice the engine on my newly acquired vehicle, so I decided against doing the job myself. I've already put new brake rotors and pads in the rear, bought stainless steel brake lines, replaced a couple ABS harnesses, replaced the clock spring in the steering wheel, and even threw on my old mishimoto intake that came off my RSX. This car has a ton of potential, maybe not so much with engine upgrades, but with styling ques for sure.
So far, I've collected a JDM Honda grill from Japan, window visors from Japan (not sure if oem JDM), JDM fender markers, and a Megan Muffler (since my exhaust is shot anyway). I am still very actively working with a friend in New Zealand who is scouting junkyards for me looking for the JDM headlights (which were standard issue in New Zealand) and a few other goodies, like the Honda steering wheel airbag, and the orange JDM bumper turn signals. Sadly, I used to own two sets of the JDM Vigor headlights back when I had my CB9, and had one of those sets custom fit to my CB9. The other set I sold years ago. Now, of course, the JDM Vigor headlights are near impossible to find.
Aside from a small amount of quarter panel rust that I've patched temporarily, the car is solid and is getting ready for body work and a paint job this coming spring, at which point I will install all of my acquired JDM parts. I know the Vigor is a rarely talked about platform and is extremely limited as far as aftermarket parts go, but I find that to be a bit of a luxury. If I owned a CB, I'd be following that theory that "a project is never truly finished", and I'd be constantly spending money trying to create something I was happy with. Which is fine, I'd love to do that again...but the Vigor has a finish line within sight. Using the JDM guidelines for this project, I'm really only looking at investing in a limited market of Japanese parts until I run out of available parts, at which point I will be complete. My goal for this car is to reach the point where I have a fully daily-capable vehicle with every JDM part I can find, minus the right-hand stuff. (I'm not that invested into this project).
You're going to find all sorts of poor attempts at Vigor builds online, and even the good ones are outfitted with improper parts because the owner failed to do their homework. I am blown away when I see a Vigor that someone has clearly invested a ton of money into, and they are using parts from a CB5, Inspire, Etc, and end up with a B*astardchild of a car, littered with JDM parts that don't belong. I fully intend on applying what I've learned from my research and only use parts that belong to the CC2 platform, unless it's something under the hood that can be adapted. I hope that I am able to create something amazing in the near future. I've got a good pace going, and if I can keep at it, I will hopefully have something put together by the end of 2016 that I am happy with.
I thank everyone for reading my intro and taking the time to get to know how I ended up back here. I hope to have another CB7 or even a CB9 again soon, so here's to a successful 2016!
Here's some of the pictures I still have from the last days of my CB9 (keep in mind it was 2007 and body kits were just about at the end of their popularity):
Thanks for looking.
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