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Type R Expo West - Story Time by yoshi234

Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2018 11:34 pm
by yoshi234
[This will be a multipart story time that will take me a few days to tell so grab a cold drink & get comfy]

As some of you guys may know, I was at the very first Expo at Buttonwillow Raceway. It's been a long time coming (too long!) so I was super excited when it was announced that there would be a westcoast expo this year :thumbup: It just so happens that Mikehonda was helping me with a much overdue major maintenance so we made it a goal to get #234 all ready to run at Expo.

9/25/2018:
Car was packed, ready and left just before LA traffic started :lol:
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Met up with Matt from Hondata in his CW. I think he was the only other Expo 1 attendee this year. Customary gas station shot is mandatory right?
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We managed to miss LA traffic and just humming nicely on the 5 North.
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Few minutes after the above photo, at almost the half way point, disaster struck! :o
Front right wheel had locked up for unknown reason. Felt like the wheel had come off with some nasty vibration and scary noises :o
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Matt and I couldn't figure out what was wrong so I called mikehonda for a phone consult. I described the symptoms and since some weirdness was going on, he grabbed some tools and headed 3.5 hours to meet me. Matt and Reginald "Outrun" were very kind enough to backtrack 80 miles with me to meet with mikehonda.
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Mikehonda went right to work on diagnostics.
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Mike came to the conclusion that most likely a piece of the LSD had broken off, lodged itself to cause the lockup. The piece had by now been ground down to tiny bits and stuck to the magnet at the bottom of the case. After a quick test drive, he says, "F*ck it, just go" as he handed me his platinum AAA card 8-)
(back in January, mike had said the tranny is making some noise and suggested a rebuild. I didn't hear anything and it drove and shifted very smoothly as usual so I told him, "nah, we'll just change the fluids and it'll be all good." Could just be a fluke but I probably should've listened to the Honda whisperer! :beer: )
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What should've been a pretty boring 8hr drive became a 14 hour adventure but we made it!
Registration was already in full swing at the hotel.
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Few goodies.
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Registration complete, the fun begins! :lol:
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Who needs a truck when you have an ITR! :thumbup:
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y :o shi - who is super, duper thankful to mikehonda, matt and Outrun for their assistance. Without them, I probably would've headed home like a dog w/ his tail between its legs.

Re: Type R Expo West - Story Time by yoshi234

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2018 12:31 am
by Outrun
Thanks for Taco Bell! Looking forward to more installments, especially the crazy part of you and Matt going home after the banquet on Thursday!

Re: Type R Expo West - Story Time by yoshi234

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2018 9:15 am
by Mike S
Awesome stuff yoshi! Glad to meet you this year!

Re: Type R Expo West - Story Time by yoshi234

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2018 10:28 am
by TurboLS
Glad you made it! I hope you got out on track with some other folks!

Re: Type R Expo West - Story Time by yoshi234

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2018 11:38 am
by Lturner
Good stuff!!

Re: Type R Expo West - Story Time by yoshi234

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2018 5:39 pm
by krazychowmein
Seen your SN for ages. Glad to finally meet you and glad you were able to make it up and back. 👍

Re: Type R Expo West - Story Time by yoshi234

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2018 7:44 pm
by coolhandluke
Woot! Great shots sir. I love how you capture some of the moments that make Expo such a community event each year. :thumbup:

Re: Type R Expo West - Story Time by yoshi234

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2018 7:49 pm
by coolhandluke
yoshi234 wrote: Mon Oct 08, 2018 11:34 pm
Mikehonda went right to work on diagnostics.
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Mike came to the conclusion that most likely a piece of the LSD had broken off, lodged itself to cause the lockup. The piece had by now been ground down to tiny bits and stuck to the magnet at the bottom of the case. After a quick test drive, he says, "F*ck it, just go" as he handed me his platinum AAA card 8-)
(back in January, mike had said the tranny is making some noise and suggested a rebuild. I didn't hear anything and it drove and shifted very smoothly as usual so I told him, "nah, we'll just change the fluids and it'll be all good." Could just be a fluke but I probably should've listened to the Honda whisperer! :beer: )
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Kudos to Mike for helping out in a pinch. Mike is OG and would have been the 5th person to attend that also attended Expo 1 @ Buttonwillow.

I will get to work on those special prints. :mrgreen:

Re: Type R Expo West - Story Time by yoshi234

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2018 7:56 pm
by yoshi234
Here we go, Part II the official 1st day of Expo!

9/26/2018
Heading to the track in the Broke R bright and early 8-)
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Gotta sign those waivers & don't be too loud...*cough*pike's peak NSX* :lol:
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So nice to FINALLY meet marcus of https://www.heeltoeauto.com/ from back in my EF days!
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Lets see if Matt still feels the same at the end of the day :?
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NSX race car getting ready to hit the track. I think this car was in every session for two days giving rides to many, many passengers....including your's truly. :thumbup:
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James' spirit animal :lol:
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Sun is up and things are getting started
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Very important driver's meeting before driver's get out on track
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Re: Type R Expo West - Story Time by yoshi234

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2018 8:03 pm
by coolhandluke
Good ol' Turbo.