i’m just lucky i didn’t hit any metal body panels, let alone bent the frame. but it did make a pretty nasty sound both backing into AND out of the pole, and i do suspect the latch clips for the main bumper itself have snapped. it’ll prolly send me off a good $500USD bux i bet. 😗🎶💸

full version of that bandai-azuma skyline drive from last weekend:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbi-...

at least the sporty ones i’ve been in, yeah. (i’ve been in a cappuccino before)
in contrast the suzuki lapin i very recently drove has FLOOOOATY AF suspension; the rear end has hella sway that honestly reminded me of the caprice classic wagon my dad handed down to me before i moved to japan, lol.

otherwise… the front damper swap that the recall addresses seems totally fine. i honestly don’t notice a difference between the old one and the new; it’s still the lovable so-called “crashy” OEM suspension that my bf ever so loathes. 🙂

honda mechanic did mention the pedal feels excessively heavy despite the fluid reservoir being fine… but honestly it always felt that way since i bought the car over 120,000kms ago? master cylinder adjustment i did does make the pedal higher than usual tho’, so maybe that set off his spidey senses.

i still need to get the clutch serviced🥲 though i already do have the relevant part #️⃣s i can order if i choose to do it myself and forego the ~¥60,000 labor fee from honda themselves.

thing is, i honestly don’t notice any slipping? clutch bite point is still around middle of full pedal travel too…

also i had bad shifter notchiness starting a year ago, and made an educated guess it was the clutch cylinder no longer traveling far enough to disengage the clutch… so i found out a trick online to extend that clutch travel further than usual (and it actually worked lol)
twitter.com/chibitech/st...

i do notice the shifter feels sorta weird if i time my shifter position change w/shorter-than-1/2-second delays after fully pressing the clutch pedal (often from 1st→2nd), like the feeling if i change out of gear w/o pressing the pedal… but otherwise the shifter still feels mostly accurate & easy🤔

mechanic told me i need a clutch overhaul soon btw… i guess i can no longer ignore that input shaft bearing rattle and occasional shifter notchiness🥲

shiny cap on new front damper, vs tarnished af old non-replaced rear one

yeah i guess i’m pretty fortunate i was able to see it, especially since that acute turn is setup for the worst visibility on a RHD perspective. i was amped up on monster, so maybe that helped lol

yeah that was definitely a close call, especially with that acute of an apex😮‍💨

i think i know why it broke in the first place lol… first owner was an old dude who did tasteless mods on the car, and i bet he researched tips online in Minkara & saw a tip on increasing roof tension in order to shut the wind up.

i was wondering why my roof was always hella hard to lock into place

pulling out the old cables while keeping a threaded guide for the new ones to slip in was an absolute bitch. the cable channelways are thin & kept snagging partway. i ended up using skinny-enough speaker wire to yank thru, w/replacement tethers being pulled from behind.

but roof is now fixed. yay 🥳

new tethers for both front and back from honda would’ve costed me ~12,000yen each. yeah i could afford that, but all that money just to replace what is essentially bicycle brake wires? i was like bruh eff that…

a quick mercari search later and i score myself used-but-good cables for ~6000 a set. 🫰