OldSol of the Month: May 2024
Dylan | Germany | @really_swaggles on Instagram
What drew you to Hondas and or the Del Sol Specifically:
I’ve always liked the ‘different’ cars. My first ever car was an E46 Touring (more on that in a bit) and I liked the way it stood out. Usually 18 year olds drive a Corsa, Clio, or Aygo. But not me.
The same thing applied to the Del Sol for me. You rarely see them driving around here and when you do it’s an instant eye-catcher. The way it does not resemble most of the road cars makes it its own kind of unique.
What is the Del Sol Scene like in Germany?
I haven’t been that super involved in the German Del Sol scene. There is lots of police control here and they will either impound the car or defect it when it doesn’t meet the regulations. Sometimes this happens even though all parts are registered to the car and it’s been declared road legal by the MOT regulators. It’s all very strict. I mostly keep busy with the Dutch Del Sol scene (perks of living at the border) which is pretty active and it has many cool builds. It ranges from OEM+ builds, widebody turbo builds and the early 2000s spec builds.
Back story of your del sol?
After getting rid of the E46 (it had many many issues) I wanted something smaller and sporty. After looking for an EJ9 for ages I couldn’t find one. I saw that ChrisFix was fixing a Del Sol and after seeing it once in real life I found it oddly intriguing. And so it happened. In March 2019 I bought this Del Sol fully stock. I had to fix the engine since 2 valves were slightly bent causing it to run on 3 cylinders at idle.
The car basically stuck with me, getting more and more modified by the year. It has seen many modifications (good and bad) since I was continuously experimenting with the car and learning as I went. It started losing the daily status back in 2021 after starting on the ‘widebody’ and getting a new car as a daily.
As of now, it’s my weekend car that sees over 7000 rpm at every drive. This might seem abusive but I built it to handle hard driving. It’s a joy to drive.
What makes Del Sols unique from other Hondas?
By far the shape and the targa roof. I generally dislike convertibles but the targa roof on this car is just special. The benefits of driving a convertible without having the odd-looking shape and the ugly part that is called a soft top
Del Sol ESi
Engine:
Built D16Z6 all motor
75.5mm P29 pistons
Comp Cams 59300 Stage 2 cam
Aem Tru Time Cam gear
Ferrea 5000 flat face valves
Supertech valve springs and guides
DIY Port and Polish
Skunk2 Pro Intake Manifold
Blox Racing 68mm TB
Injen Cold Air Intake
Fidanza 3.1KG clutch
Exedy Stage 1 Clutch
TSS Exhaust Manifold
200 Cell cat
SRS R60 catback exhaust
175HP/189NM 13.3:1CR
Body:
Polybauer Front bumper
Polybauer sideskirts
MS Design rear lip
MS Design Spoiler
Clinched New School Fender Flares
Repainted in Milano Red in 2021
Wheels:
7Twenty Style 44 16×9 +0
Hankook Ventus V12 215/40/R16
Suspension:
TA Technix Coilovers
Hardrace Control Arms
Rear Disk Conversion
Interior:
RaidHp Steering wheel
S-Tuning 2×12” Subwoofer enclosure
Future plans:
I haven’t got that many plans for the car since it’s mostly the way I want it to be, but I do still have a few things on the to do list:
Breaking the 200hp goal whilst staying NA
Water/ethanol injection
Sparco R100 seats
Interior refresh (very worn and worst part of the car)
Trunk refresh
Front suspension refresh
DIY custom LED tail lights
Fixing every rattle in the interior and suspension. If anyone has tips please be my guest!
Thank you so much for choosing me to be the OldSol of the month.
For questions or if you like to follow the car: @Really_Swaggles on Instagram.
