So, I’m at a predicament. I bought this car on a whim, if you recall (part 1, part 2). Since then, and since the first update, I have dumped a ton of money into it and hardly drove it. I still live in a downtown Boston high-rise building where parking is pricey, I walk to work or drive whatever car I’m reviewing, I own a Lemons racecar and a family MDX, I have two little kids, big boy day job, fun writing gigs, and therefore no time to drive it. But we are looking at some houses with proper garages and driveways. But we really want to stay in the city.


In the year and a half that I have owned it I drove it about 100 miles. In that time I replaced a ton of stuff on it. I was very careful with my choice of parts and here is what has been done. All mods are top-quality mods and don’t take away from the car:

• Fully adjustable Tein coil-overs (quality Japanese suspension company), raised all the way up it looks mildly drop over factory ride height.
• Comp Tech rear sway bar and support bracket.
• OEM front ITR sway bar.
• Every bushing, nut, and bolt in the suspension is new. Some polyurethane bushings, some OEM rubber.
• New fuel tank and filler neck.
• New steel brake and fuel lines (they were replaced previously but it was a hack job).
• New engine and transmission mounts, shifter bushings.
• Exhaust header had a crack in it or I got a new OEM JDM ITR header (google it) with OEM heat shields, high-flow cat, mid pipe, and OEM ITR muffler.
• Ton of other shit I am forgetting.
• It still needs some filters changed, and have CompTech intake (quality stuff) installed.

It still needs a few things:

• ABS module crapped out. I don’t care about that as ABS isn’t that important to me.
• I haven’t touched the brakes, wheels, or the tires yet.
• Speakers are blown but I removed the broken power antenna and got a grommet in its place.

I just got some body work at Dan’s Auto Body (FB) to remove slight rust spots in the rear quarter panels. All work, mechanical done by Ace Performance, and body was professionally done, so is to say not by me. I paid someone a lot of money, even with a friendly friend and family discount. Which brings me to the next predicament. I have spent more money on it now than I ever expected to, and more than I could ever get for it. It has 126,000 miles, one owner before me, service history, and original engine and interior.
What do I do now?
I think my plan is to keep spending money on it. It may sound crazy, but that’s the only way for me to get this done, and to have it how I want it to be like. There are TV shows made around unfinished projects and I don’t want to be that old guy with a shitty half-assed car in his garage. I want to drive the damn thing. I’m thinking of ditching the airbags next and replacing them with quality OEM non-SRS parts. And then tires, and since I’m getting tires I should so something about the wheels, and while there…