I'm Kat, I write about cars, I have a Honda Logo TS


JalopnikKat

New Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2017
Messages
16
Car(s)
2000 Honda Logo TS GF-GA3
Howdy, EK9 forum folks,

I've been a long, long time reader, as I had an EJ (although we still sort of called it and other such USDM hatchbacks EKs) in the early 2000s, but I had never registered. Eventually it was stripped, I bought a BMW E46, and then when I moved to Japan I was without my own car. A few years ago, I picked up a JDM Honda Logo TS GA3 for 100,000 yen. At that time, it was about $975.

It's an automatic, it only has an 89.9bhp D13B, and the exterior was/is rough, but it was the right price, right place, right time. Also note, the TS did NOT come in a manual version, so there was no option to get a TS as a stick-shift, even if I had had the opportunity to purchase one. I've been doing a lot of the work myself fixing it up and modifying it with a sort of imagined Honda Logo Type-R design image, if it had ever actually existed in the real world. In addition to taking design cues from the ITR and CTR, I'm planning to do an engine and transmission swap to a B-series or a K-series. They've been done in Logos before. That way people can stop wailing and gnashing their teeth at having a slushbox. But since it's a daily driver, engine/transmission swaps are not something you do piece-meal in your spare time in a parking lot.

Oh, and I'm the Correspondent, Asia for Jalopnik.com, where I document all of this and write about cars in Japan more generally. I have people who both like my work and some people who dislike my work. There may be people here who fall into either category, but honestly, I'm just a car person doing car things because I like cars. Especially Hondas. There will always be people who think you are doing it wrong/aren't qualified/don't adhere to their preferred writing style, just don't like you personally, etc.

Here's some photos:

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This weekend, these two items came: 2001 instrument cluster and an EP3 CTR carpet I think will mostly fit with minimal modification. All of the holes match up, so it should:

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So, uhm, there. Hi, everyone, from DaiNippon.
 
Hi! Welcome to the forum!
Here in my country ( Portugal) the Honda logo is a somewhat rare! It's a car that I would like to build a stealthy sleeper! Also I would "kill" for a Honda Beat but there are only 3 in here so they do command an absolute **** ton of money!

I'm enjoying the progress, and was surprised that the EP3 carpet fitted on a Logo!!!
Please keep the updates coming!

Cheers from Portugal
 
Fun to see the "Logo"- We don't have them here in the US. It always blows my mind the amount of Honda's America will never see haha. I would love to see an engine swap in that thing. Keep us posted. Good luck!
 
Nice Logo, I have 1 too, there's not many in Ireland either. Mines a 3 door, I've converted it to a d16y8 sohc vtec and just picked up a Greddy turbo kit for it so it should be fun to drive once I get that in and mapped.
 
So some bad news. I have been reliably informed, while legal, the registration/inspection situation for doing an engine swap is massive. It's complicated paperwork followed by massive expenses. It may be technically legal, but it seems prohibitive.

So I'll need to figure out how to deal with the D-series. :/
 
I've always thought in Japan, an engine swap was something normal and didn't require paperwork to be legal.

Here in Portugal it's "ilegal" to swap engines.
If your changing for another that is exactly the same they overlook it (although you need to add an addendum in the car's registration document, which you can't do because they ask for a paper you can't get! )
BUT if you, for example, have an EK3 and want to change the engine for a B16A2 (from an EK4) you can't legalize it because they ask for documents that cannot be obtained ( they ask for a paper from the engine supplier and a paper from Honda saying that that engine is compliant with the chassis. And Honda doesn't give you that paper. So... most of us are outlaw's...
And this is just the tip of the tuning iceberg!

Cheers!
 
You can do it, you just need to have a mechanic do an inspection to make sure that all the parts related to supporting the engine were designed to be used with that engine. It's expensive because it goes above and beyond normal inspection, and normal inspection is already between $1000-2000 (100,000-200,000 yen). You will need this inspection to change your registration documentation and your insurance. Altogether, it is apparently very expensive. Legal, but expensive. So most people... don't.
 
It doesn't sound that bad compared to us. We pay more than 400€ just to have our windows legally tinted!

Please keep the updates coming. You guy's have awesome cars that we never got ( City Turbo, Beat, S660, ...) and it's always interesting seeing what you do with them.

Cheers
 
I'm an American by birth, Japanese by choice. Compared to how much freedom and lack of fees/taxes on stuff like this in the U.S., this seems rather expensive to most of my readers at Jalopnik. Apparently, it still seems expensive to most Japanese, since even car enthusiasts in Japan apparently are much more likely to buy an entire car with the engine that they want rather than do an engine swap.
 
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