I got tired of the look of the front, Istas pulled his off really well with sheetmetal, but on my car I really just didn't like the look of it. So I made a different one! I also wanted to replace my destroyed lower radiator panel
This new grill block has the hole in the center, obviously, but less obviously it is ducted on the sides and bottom.
The left picture shows my lower radiator panel, now made of coroplast and here to stay.
As I pulled off the bumper I discovered this:
I already knew the car had been crashed, and honestly was expecting worse, luckily it was only dented. There were no other bent frame pieces to be seen. I have taken off the bumper in my previous 4 cylinder 2005 accord, and that bumper had some extra things on it compared to this one. It had a foam bumper in between the plastic and metal, and it also had a heavy steel plate on the bottom of the bumper. Both were missing on this. I suspect foul play by the shop repairing it, incomplete repairs...
I also planned to take off my intake resonator while the bumper was off, so I could more easily hear VTEC kick in, yo! But I forgot
Rant warning! Extra profanity ahead!
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So, on the drive over to school I got to see how the new block performed. Butt tunnel says it coasts better, but could be placebo or a mod I performed to the front undertray to lift it slightly. It also still stays cool, I think it cools even better than before despite a smaller opening. Radiator ducting works! So, that drive yielded 38 mpg. Could have been alot better, as you will read. The weather was good, there was moderate traffic, and it was slower than usual, but there were a few heavy traffic moments where hard braking was needed. First one, I scrubbed off more than 40 mph and almost got rear ended by the guy behind me. He was more of a swerver than a braker. Second time....Oh boy...This was my first road rage moment. But
I was the one road raging, not the other person. So I was going 60 mph in the right lane and this
stupid ***** in a chevrolet cruze decides its okay to cut over 2 lanes
just before the exit lane ended, right into me. JUST TAKE THE NEXT ****ING EXIT! A few minutes is NOT worth your life, or anyone else's! I saw it coming before she was in my lane, so I slammed on my brakes and horn, she cut over to the exit lane and went on her way. I was pissed that she did something that
****ING STUPID. I see this **** happen all the time on my commute, thankfully there usually aren't any other cars involved, but this time
I WAS INVOLVED. I am NOT OKAY with people doing stupid **** like this, so I will use my horn alot more than other people. This lady took it too far, doing something so stupid
And almost crashing into me. I was already down to about 40 mph or less, so I cut through the exit lane and followed her. I was going to give this lady a piece of my mind. I pulled up next to her, rolled down my window and gave her a "what the **** was that?!?" gesture. She didn't look over, and she definitely didn't roll down her window. Traffic rolled forward, I pulled in behind her as to not block traffic. I realized she was not going to let me talk to her, so I waited for traffic to clear on the right, I drove by, gave her a
nice clear one finger salute and yelled "**** YOU!" as loudly as I could. That whole ordeal costed me about 2 mpg to navigate back to the highway, maybe another .5 mpg in scrubbed off momentum and angry driving ahead. I could have let it go and probably kept my 40+ mpg, but I am NOT OKAY with people driving like that. And I will
TELL THEM that I am not okay with that ****. So hopefully I scared her enough that she wont do something that stupid ever again. Doubt it, but have to try.
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