Ekhatch's Weblog » JDM

Howdy Partner

ekhatch — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 08:55:40 +0000

I’m not exactly sure what differentiates a Honda Partner from a Honda Orthia, both were built on the EK sedan platform and in the spirit of keeping their best for the homeland, it was available in Japan with a B20 and all wheel drive. There are a couple of US EKs with Orthia front end conversions running around, but this is a Partner/Orthia with an EK facelift. This offers a great glimpse into what an EK wagon may have looked like if offered here, they would probably be more popular now than when new, ah what could have been.

stock Partner for comparison

xB from AL

ekhatch — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:11:29 +0000

Such a great theme going on here, some shakotan style, Hakosuka inspired livery, Equip 02s, drool worthy. From Al’s blog

JDM DC2 on Equip 03s

ekhatch — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 07:47:05 +0000

Scoots

ekhatch — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:09:41 +0000

Now this is Trick

ekhatch — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:02:16 +0000

The hardcore JDM Honda guys have some Carrozzeria audio accessories they like to track down and add to their car, turns out so do the Scion guys. I’ve never seen these before they’re pretty damn cool.

It’s Good to Have Friends in Japan

ekhatch — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:59:19 +0000

Our good friend Yoshitomo from Westhill Motorsports tells me the bumper in my previous post is made by Stage 21. There’s even a very reasonably priced one on Yahoo Japan Auctions right now. It’s probably too aggressive for most people’s tastes but it definately is very rarely seen over here.

Perfection

ekhatch — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:02:05 +0000

Grandma’s Couch

ekhatch — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:42:46 +0000

Believe it or not, these delicate little lacy seat doilies were an OEM option for JDM EGs

Itasha EK9 CTR

ekhatch — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:18:11 +0000

Another one of those trends my inner ricer thinks is fun, but that I wouldn’t do to my own car. What’s funny is your average tuner in the states would cry rice if they saw this, but this is as JDM as it gets. At some point somebody needs to do a good in depth study of how and why everything considered rice these days like body kits, wings, neons, etc all have their roots firmly in Japan, yet the hard line JDM crowd frowns so sternly upon these things. And don’t get me started on the USDM movement in Japan where they immitate us immitating them (see USDM Jam), there’s probably a cultural studies doctoral thesis in there somewhere.

Teaser

ekhatch — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:53:36 +0000

Yoshitomo and the crew at WestHill Motorsports have blown my mind again. I received my gauge pod in just 3 days all the way from Japan! His support and generosity has been completely overwhelming. Duke and I are going to try to get it all installed tomorrow night after work, it’s pretty straight forward but he is much better at wiring than me. I’ll try to get pictures up tomorrow night as long as we don’t run too late with the project, for now I’d like to share the pictures Yoshitomo has sent me over the past week of it’s construction. These don’t come off some big production line, they’re hand made in house!

It starts with the basic mold, you can purchase them like this, finished, or with a complete gauge set up already installed and wired with all the senders and fittings you’ll need to install. Craftsmanship!

test fitting

finishing

ready for paint

ARRIVAL!!!

Loaded up with oil pressure, oil temperature, and coolant temperature meters from Auto Gauge, beautiful finish

fully wired, prepped and ready to go, the time and skill that goes into these is amazing

everything little thing you’ll need to get up and running, what a time saver

I leave work tomorrow at 6 so I might be a little too tired to get the install posted when I get home from Duke’s, so sorry in advance if there’s nothing new for you here tomorrow.