Jae2K

S'goin on yall. I've been creepin' around this site quite some time now, looking for ideas and inspiration as to what direction I wanted to take my AP1 in. I’ve owned the car for almost a year now and I’m still slowly figuring out what my tastes are. Congratulations, you’re all invited to watch my slow progress lol.

Contrary to the large number of members on this site that spent years dreaming about owning this car, I had never thought twice about it. I saved every penny since I was legally able to be employed at the age of 16. Spent the next 2-3 years trying to buy a good looking, low millage DC5 within a price I was willing to pay on my own. Probably checked out like 10 cars but none were exactly what I wanted.

One day, a guy ended up letting me drive his AP1 and it won me over immediately. Started looking around and within a week and ended up with this car somehow. I also thought it was silver stone when I bought it and thought it looked a little light but I didn't know any better. Ended up being sebring, not my favorite color but its definitely grown on me.

I picked it up in the winter of 2014. 107k on the clock, clean title, 3rd owner, decent condition, completely stock.

Only a few weeks later, a color-matched hardtop popped up for sale. I knew right away I wanted one and picking this one up would save me the cost of paint, admittedly however, I was quite apprehensive at throwing 3k+ on a hardtop. Luckily I paid fair market value and I've learned these things retain their value extremely well. Fast forward over a year, I'm glad I splurged because I haven't seen another sebring silver factory top for sale since. I ended up making the trip from SD to LA to pick it up. Here's what she looked like in January of 2015.

stock life by Jael Nava, on Flickr
stock life by Jael Nava, on Flickr
stock life by Jael Nava, on Flickr
stock life by Jael Nava, on Flickr
stock life by Jael Nava, on Flickr

Jae2K

Clazzio Sports OEM Style Seat Covers

Picked these up from gotuning with the intent of preserving my stock seats because they were in such good condition for being in a 14 year old AP1 with 100k miles, but they serve a functional purpose as well. They're padded along every bolster area as well as the seat-pan, filling the empty gaps in the stock seats, providing a more full seating experience lol. I opted for the perforated leather center and red stitching options.

After a year of owning them, I'm pretty happy with them. They've broken in nicely and don't look as boxy as in the picture below. Definitely increase comfort noticeably and match up nicely with the stock interior. Downside is that at 6 feet, I sit a little higher in the seat than I'd like so it can be a little annoying to see traffic lights sometimes, but totally negligible. Only opportunity cost is the price, which is pretty steep for some damn seat covers lol.

Also gave the seats a good cleaning and conditioning with my favorite Lexol products before covering them up. Excuse the shinyness, I hadn't yet wiped away the excess conditioner.

Before:

DSC_0007 by Jael Nava, on Flickr

After:

DSC_0008 by Jael Nava, on Flickr

Interior:

interior by Jael Nava, on Flickr
interior by Jael Nava, on Flickr
cluster by Jael Nava, on Flickr

Jae2K

OEM Trunk Swap

One of the biggest reasons I had gotten such a deal on the car was because the trunk was totally f*%#$d up. Looked like someone's fat girlfriend totally tried to sit on it and failed. Metal was totally compromised and beyond repair without the use bondo which I didn't want to use on the trunk due to its already flexible nature, not counting the cost of paint. After being turned down by a few PDR places, I spent a few months checking CL for a clean trunk. Luckily I ended up finding one in my county for a more than reasonable price and once again, paint matched! Due to the light nature of sebring silver, it's a little hard to tell how bad it was from the before pictures but trust me its bad.

Almost none of the panels on the car are original so the trunk swap wasn't a big deal at all to me. I don't worry about vin numbers and stuff like that, personally. If its looks good, its looks good, end of story.

before:

bad trunk by Jael Nava, on Flickr
bad trunk by Jael Nava, on Flickr

after:

good trunk by Jael Nava, on Flickr
good trunk by Jael Nava, on Flickr

Jae2K

OEM AP1 trunk lid spoiler + OEM replica AP1 front lip spoiler

From an aesthetic standpoint, I cannot stand the look of the AP1 without its OEM spoiler options. Looks down right bald lol. That said, I think these pieces add a very completing touch to the exterior of the early model s2000. Not to mention that it looks damn good in sebring silver despite the fact that I wasn't very partial to the color to begin with.

I always knew I wanted to pick one of these up but was waiting around for a good deal used (I only buy used stuff lol). I happened across the OEM decklid spoiler on the FB classifieds and actually picked it up before the trunk, but I knew it was in my best interest to find a good trunk and get both spoilers painted at the same time, so thats what I did. Don't be fooled, decklid spoiler was in terrible condition, originally painted BB. Got it dirt cheap shipped to my door.

DSC_0168 by Jael Nava, on Flickr
DSC_0169 by Jael Nava, on Flickr

Due to the rarity of authentic AP1 front spoilers, I settled for an ebay replica but set out to make it fit as best as possible. These things look like s*&% out of the box. Check out the gross edges.

DSC_0150 by Jael Nava, on Flickr
DSC_0167 by Jael Nava, on Flickr

Not to mention some spots that looked like swiss cheese. I fixed these unsightly areas with some bondo and sanding before sending off to paint.

DSC_0166 by Jael Nava, on Flickr

After going over the harsh edges with 80 git, 120, 300, 1000, and then wet sanding the whole thing with 1500 before sending everything off to get sprayed.

DSC_0152 by Jael Nava, on Flickr
DSC_0155 by Jael Nava, on Flickr

Had the spoilers done by Auto Art in North San Diego County (Escondido). Mike, the general manager took good care of me and priced very competitively and even had them sprayed a second time when I wasn't happy with the results the first time around, not to mention a life-time guarantee on the job.

DSC_0158 by Jael Nava, on Flickr

Not bad for a replica. All I need now is the OEM gasket.

DSC_0159 by Jael Nava, on Flickr
DSC_0160 by Jael Nava, on Flickr

jonner

Keep up the good work....

King Tut

Nice OEM byld.

arsenal

Someone really needs to make a decent fitting OEM replica AP1 lip with the same contours as the OEM version. The replicas have more of a curve all over where as the OEM is more defined.

Orjinal

Nice progress so far.

US Racing Sports is pretty well fitting and closely matched to the OEM.
http://www.usracingsports.co.jp/honda.html

Here's my old one,

Ricky_Flowers_

I've seen these on Yahoo Auctions Japan but never seriously considered them until now. Do you have any close-up shots of the lip? Did it come with hardware?

Orjinal

I've seen these on Yahoo Auctions Japan but never seriously considered them until now. Do you have any close-up shots of the lip? Did it come with hardware?
[/quote]

Yea, that's where I got mine from as well. It came with hardware, I'll attach a couple of more pics below.










Here are a couple of reviews from Japanese buyers, http://minkara.carview.co.jp/en/part...&cmk=3&cmo=159