I'm going to honda school in august

well, i found out yesterday that i'm signed up for honda school in toronto. first day of class is august 27th. it's an accelerated apprenticeship program which runs for 64 weeks. i go to school for 8 weeks then i come home and work at the dealership for 8 weeks. i flip flop like that for 64 weeks then i'm done. once i get my hours in, i write my license test and wheni pass....WHAM i'm a tech for life!!!!!

basically, i'm done school in less than a year and a half, i have a FAR better education that standard comminuty college programs and i learn on honda cars and am taught by honda techs and teachers. it's like the harvard of apprentice schools.

it's nice because i'm only off work for two months at a time and i can collect EI benefits when im in school so i don't take a financial hit while i study.

kinda sucks having to uproot every two months and move back and forth but it will be worth it in the end to have a honda diploma on the wall, an ontario tech license and a nice big paycheque

Good to hear, Steve-O! Congrats!

From now on you can work on my wife's silver '06 Odyssey EX-L when we bring it in for service. It's always good to know who is working on your vehicle when you take it in.

I saw the pics of your civic and I knew I had seen it around before. Looks good! I love the look of black rims on a white car! Is that still the same one you had way back in the day with the 13" wire rims with the crazy offset?

JDrev wrote:

Good to hear, Steve-O! Congrats!

From now on you can work on my wife's silver '06 Odyssey EX-L when we bring it in for service. It's always good to know who is working on your vehicle when you take it in.

I saw the pics of your civic and I knew I had seen it around before. Looks good! I love the look of black rims on a white car! Is that still the same one you had way back in the day with the 13" wire rims with the crazy offset?

thanks man. hey i don't mean to sound rude but have i met you before? i just don't recognize you by your username.

but ya for sure i'd love to work on your car. i find if i know people depend on me to service their cars and respect me enough to request me, then it makes me feel good and pushes me to be an even better tech and do things perfect. if you bring your vehicle in just request that i be the one working on it. i have a few people i know who already do that and our serv dept actually puts a note into the computer on their file so when the customer's service is booked, it is booked for me to do.

i'm really looking forward to going, not only for the awesome education i'll receive but also for the fact that i'll be learning on state of the art equipment in the best facility in canada. i just hope i do well because when this is all over and the honda diploma is hanging on my wall, things will really start to take off.

here's some info on the program and the school itself:

AHAP Program

Ashtonbee Campus - School Of Transportation

and yes it's the same car i had way back then . i'm the original owner. bought it new in oct 1995

i have pics of it from back then and i'll post them later today when i have time hehe

No, I don't believe we've ever formally met. I know of you and I remember seeing your car around Chatham. Actually, my wife is a good friend of Josee and stood up in her wedding to Martin. I think you know Danielle...or at least know who she is anyway.

It's great to hear that you are dedicated and look to be "perfect" when you work on a vehicle. It's getting harder to find guys that care anymore. I've had some bad experiences at dealerships...just sloppy stuff like getting grease or oil inside the car, spilling fluids all over under the hood, or even scratching/denting the car. We like to keep 'em looking as new as possible for as long as possible!

Our van has been great so far...nothing outside of an oil change really so we can't complain. We had great luck with my '97 Prelude SH and Danielle's '99 Civic Si too in the past. I'm really hoping to have the same luck with my new car as well (even though it's not a Honda). Time will tell I guess...

Good luck with the school thing! It looks like a great opportunity!!

I'll look for those pics from back in the day.

JDrev wrote:

No, I don't believe we've ever formally met. I know of you and I remember seeing your car around Chatham. Actually, my wife is a good friend of Josee and stood up in her wedding to Martin. I think you know Danielle...or at least know who she is anyway.

It's great to hear that you are dedicated and look to be "perfect" when you work on a vehicle. It's getting harder to find guys that care anymore. I've had some bad experiences at dealerships...just sloppy stuff like getting grease or oil inside the car, spilling fluids all over under the hood, or even scratching/denting the car. We like to keep 'em looking as new as possible for as long as possible!

Our van has been great so far...nothing outside of an oil change really so we can't complain. We had great luck with my '97 Prelude SH and Danielle's '99 Civic Si too in the past. I'm really hoping to have the same luck with my new car as well (even though it's not a Honda). Time will tell I guess...

Good luck with the school thing! It looks like a great opportunity!!

I'll look for those pics from back in the day.

well i try to be as perfect as possible when i work on a car. 99% of the time i use the same care, control and attention to detail on customers' vehicles as i use on my own. however, even though we're hourly, my job is based on meeting time constraints for each service so sometimes i can't be so meticulous and anal about things because a 1.7 hour Type 3 service would take me 2.5 hours. if i did that enough times i've be looking for a new job hehe

so you're danielle's husband? i've worked on the white si before. i remember yours had the fog lights which not alot of people got on the 99-00 models. i think they really set off the front end of the Si's.

oh and as promised...

















they're in somewhat chronological order and yes i know it's heartbreaking to see what i did to my poor car back in the day

Yep, I'm Danielle's husband.

Did you work on the '99 Si when we still owned it or has it been more recently? My buddy saw it a few months ago and apparently it was dented, scratched, and had obviously traded paint with another car. It's too bad...Danielle kept that thing in great shape and it definitely reflected in the trade value Honda House gave us for it when we did the deal on the van. She loved that car and actually teared up when Denise called to say the van was ready to be picked up because it meant she had to say goodbye. I had plans for that car, but she never really felt it was necessary to follow through on them. The most it ever saw outside of the factory fogs was a chrome exhaust finisher. A shame really...

Those pics look sweet! Your car has really gone through some evolutionary stages throughout the years. I highly recommend the B18 swap...Type R if you can swing it. Nothing beats the sound and feel of the older style VTEC kicking in around 5500rpm!! My prelude's H22A was a blast!!!

JDrev wrote:

Yep, I'm Danielle's husband.

Did you work on the '99 Si when we still owned it or has it been more recently? My buddy saw it a few months ago and apparently it was dented, scratched, and had obviously traded paint with another car. It's too bad...Danielle kept that thing in great shape and it definitely reflected in the trade value Honda House gave us for it when we did the deal on the van. She loved that car and actually teared up when Denise called to say the van was ready to be picked up because it meant she had to say goodbye. I had plans for that car, but she never really felt it was necessary to follow through on them. The most it ever saw outside of the factory fogs was a chrome exhaust finisher. A shame really...

Those pics look sweet! Your car has really gone through some evolutionary stages throughout the years. I highly recommend the B18 swap...Type R if you can swing it. Nothing beats the sound and feel of the older style VTEC kicking in around 5500rpm!! My prelude's H22A was a blast!!!

cool.

yes i may have done an oil change and possibly a minor service on it. i think the new owner doesn't care for it very well. i find that happening alot with cars where the previous owner kept it pristine and the next owner just obliterates it and has no regard for it whatsoever. that's the reason i am keeping my civic until i take the old dirt nap. i know that no one on this earth will care for it the way i have (lol and still do even tho it's being stored in the garage )

ive been comtemplating two routes for my civic...B18C5 (type-r) swap naturally aspirated with bolt-ons and mild tuning OR B18C1 (gsr) and buying a bolt-on turbo kit for it in the future, most likely the edelbrock kit:

http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive_new/mc/turbos/performerx.shtml

i still have to finish school first so i'm planning to buy and engine within the next year and basically just sit on it til i can get around to installing it. i just want to know i have one waiting for me and i'll be happy .

obviously the turbo route is more work and obviously pricier but it's also alot more power. 250hp at the wheels on stock internals giving reliability and emissions-friendly power (it has CARB cert in california so if it passes there, it should pass here lol).

the ITR swap would be the ideal route because it's the easiest job of the two to do but power is addictive let me tell you and if i had the chance to drive both an ITR swapped civic and a boosted GSR, i think i know which one i'd be laying my money down on

Those are two sweet options! I don't know...that's a tough call. I've had a VTEC car in the past and now I have a turbo car and I have to say that the rush that comes with the turbo is definitely addictive. While the VTEC is buttery smooth you really have to wind it up to see the power, where the turbo gives power is larger doses and much faster. I say you should just have the best of both worlds and turbo a Type R motor! Simple as that!! Toss that into the light frame of your civic hatchback and you'd have a honest to goodness screamer that would hang with most V8's out there.

Martin was telling me that someone is running around C-K in a turbo'd Integra with the JDM front end? Know anything about it? I'd love to see that! Martin is also talking about organizing a meet of some sort in the summer. Should be cool....

screw the b series, get a k.
cai,header, fuel computer, type r cams
get 250whp, with no turbo.

and prob still cheaper than a turbo gsr.


ya once it get warm out. we should meet up on a weekend night (past 10pm)
then do a run somewhere, anywhere but the riverroad. hahaha

Admin wrote:

screw the b series, get a k.
cai,header, fuel computer, type r cams
get 250whp, with no turbo.

and prob still cheaper than a turbo gsr.


ya once it get warm out. we should meet up on a weekend night (past 10pm)
then do a run somewhere, anywhere but the riverroad. hahaha

k-series also costs alot, has EGR (wait til she gets plugged and starts throwing codes ) and has cable shifter i believe.

b-series engines are nice and easy to work on and it's almost a drop in swap with mounts and a couple wires added.

i'll see when the time comes to drop the ducats for one but i'm set on b-series right now. probably ITR for the simple fact that it's quick right out of the box and it's honda's flagship B engine

oh and we can't forget about the shift linkage.

after driving israel's integra which him and i built this summer, we put the ES poly bushing kit in (came with shifter bushings) and with a short shifter and a spoon titanium shift knob (the all-metal one that has the blue burn colour on it) the shifter was solid as a rock and felt so good whipping through the gears. it felt so crisp and direct it was unreal.

i like the feel of a linkage. with a properly installed poly bushing kit, short shifter and all-metal shift knob, it feels absolutely amazing in your hands.

i've driven an s2000 and thats about the only car i can say it compares to. everything else feels too soft and sloppy to me.

Sorry, Martin, but I have to agree with Steve on this one. The new iVTEC motors just don't have the same feel as the older ones with the "original" VTEC....you know the ones that go from a yell to a scream at 5600 rpm when that last sets of cam lobes engage. The new ones, while very nice and smooth, don't have the noticeable shift point. On the flip side your K series has more power/torque throughout the rev range. Six of one...half a dozen of the other. It just comes down to personal preference I guess. I was very close to buying a '00 ITR before I bought the STi, but the wife talked me out of it. Something about not being practical now that we have the kid. Bullshit if you ask me. Oh well...now when I pop the hood I see a red intake manifold instead of a red valve cover. I guess I'll take it!

Steve, you got to drive a S2000? Through the dealership or do you know someone who owns one? That's on my list of cars to own...that and a NSX if they ever come down in price. I love how the shifts are so crisp and tight in the S2000. Unfortunately I've only ever put one through the gears in the showroom. Someday....someday.

JDrev wrote:

Sorry, Martin, but I have to agree with Steve on this one. The new iVTEC motors just don't have the same feel as the older ones with the "original" VTEC....you know the ones that go from a yell to a scream at 5600 rpm when that last sets of cam lobes engage. The new ones, while very nice and smooth, don't have the noticeable shift point. On the flip side your K series has more power/torque throughout the rev range. Six of one...half a dozen of the other. It just comes down to personal preference I guess. I was very close to buying a '00 ITR before I bought the STi, but the wife talked me out of it. Something about not being practical now that we have the kid. Bullshit if you ask me. Oh well...now when I pop the hood I see a red intake manifold instead of a red valve cover. I guess I'll take it!

Steve, you got to drive a S2000? Through the dealership or do you know someone who owns one? That's on my list of cars to own...that and a NSX if they ever come down in price. I love how the shifts are so crisp and tight in the S2000. Unfortunately I've only ever put one through the gears in the showroom. Someday....someday.

i had an S come in for service and i got the job. of course it was nice out and the customer brought it in with the top down and a road test is required on all services where the brakes are taken apart . i didn't beat on it but i def gave it a good run.

i did a PDI on a new Si as well and while i will say the K20 engine has the power (the VTEC crossover point is noticeable on the K-series...well, at least the one i drove anyways) it just doesn't have the same growl and intensity like the gsr, itr or prelude vtec crossover sound.

i'm leaning more towards an ITR engine because eventually when everyone goes k-series the b-series will come down in price. i just hope i can find a good used one with relatively low kms on it. also, going boost kinda spooks me a bit because with an itr, i can simply walk from my bay up into the service dept, make a b-line for the parts counter and have any part i need for it next day if it's in stock.

another reason why the itr is getting my vote the more i think about it.