Devon Bailey's Automotive Odyssey: 2002 Acura RSX Type S

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Devon Bailey 

2002 Acura RSX Type S 

Instagram: @Dc5__dev

Photographer: AyeRook, John Ponthieux, Draven Pastore

Instagram:  @Ayerook @johnnyp_productions @dravenpastorephotography

Performance Stats: 420hp

The Personal Story

What's up, my name is Devon Bailey I am 25 years old originally from Portsmouth, Virginia, now I reside in Newport News, Virginia. I do grassroots drifting with my 1994 Mazda Miata and have my turbo RSX as my weekend driver. I have been in love with cars ever since I could remember. My family always loves to tell people stories about how when I was a kid if I saw any cool car pass by I could tell you what it was, the general year it came out, what motor was in it, and what type of wheels it had on it.

Acura RSX Type S: Early Automotive Experiences

Well, years go by, and I'm still obsessing over cars and "JDM legends" in my eyes I turned 16 and bought my uncle's 97 EK Civic it had a few issues and needed love I ended up selling it for something more practical and just had normal cars for a few years, then 2020 rolled around and I found a bone stock RSX Type S on Facebook, a car I've always wanted and adored when it came to Hondas and just had to have it. I went and bought it from a guy with the same name as me and the rest is history that car has been there for everything a guy in his early twenties could go through and helped me get through a lot of depression and I learned a lot with that car and working on it and building it.

Automotive Influences and Inspiration

Family and Early Automotive Memories

Probably one of my first memories was something car related and it is all due to my Uncle Grant who is about 18 years older than me so about the time I was born and then got to about 4-5 years old he was in that "golden era" tuner/import time period as a young guy and he had this 2000 Toyota Celica Gt-s that I adored and that is the car that made me fall in love with cars like tuners and imports.

Then I remember one night I went and stayed at my uncle's house and he was like "I think I have a movie you would really like." Lo and behold he popped in 2 Fast 2 Furious on DVD and it was like an entire new world of cars opened up for me I was 100% hooked after that, which turned into my Nana bought me a PlayStation 2 around 2004 and me spending countless hours playing Need for Speed Underground 1 & 2, Need for Speed hot pursuit 2, and Most Wanted.

Family Support and Inspiration

Another person would be my granddad he's a big car enthusiast I would say, he's taken me to my first real race which was IMSA at ViR and he is the original owner of a 1983 Monte Carlo SS that he got the keys and drove it straight off the show room floor and still has it to this day he also bought and still owns a Torch Red C5 Corvette, he is the reason I have a soft spot for Vettes, G-Bodies, and Chevrolet in general.

Also I have to credit my mom who is my biggest supporter and loves cars too. She never made me feel like cars were a waste of time, so I guess I could say she is the person who pushed me to follow my dreams with cars and is considered an influence.

Acura RSX Type S: The Build Journey

Inspiration and Initial Modifications

Pretty playing Need for Speed Underground was what made me always want an RSX really bad, I always thought "That is such a good-looking aggressive car." So the car started its life with me as a bone stock car that was my only car and way of transportation but I didn't care I had huge aspirations of turning this car into what it is today. It slowly started its way into a full bolt-on and tuned "stance car" and just driving around cracking V-tec but it only made 220hp it got kind of boring after a while and constantly swerving potholes and imperfections in the road cause the car was super low I decided "let's make this thing fast and raise it up."

Build Decision and Motivation

Now I went back and forth with different build ideas like a fully built NA setup, nitrous build, a supercharger set-up, or turbo. But deep down I was always going to go turbo and it did.

Acura RSX Type S: The Unique Story Behind the Car

I think personally because not many people have a turbo RSX in my area, I mean I think I can count on one hand how many people have one. But really I think it's unique due to the fact of sentimental reasons like I've met 95% of my friends being an adult with this car and I also picked my now girlfriend of 4 years up in it for our first date and literally just drove around in a stiff, bouncy, and loud RSX and she enjoyed every minute of it and that's the kind of stuff that makes me feel it's unique in a way.

I've toyed with selling it and everyone bust my chops about it and they are like "No don't you can't sell it, it wouldn't be normal Dev without the RSX" and my girlfriend also shuts me down immediately and she's gotten teary-eyed at the thought of me selling it which made me realize this car means a lot to not just me but other people, and the fact random people hit me up on the internet and tell me how I have "their dream Honda build" (which I can't believe ever) and ask me questions about that platform and whatever is just an amazing experience and truly humbling.

Driving Experience

The best way to describe driving the car is it's a blast it's super rowdy and will put you back in your seat even tho 420hp doesn't seem like a lot in today's standards of power but let me tell you for a 2600lb car it's plenty fast and scary.

Acura RSX Type S: Detailed Build List

So the build list is fairly simple, it's a stock motor K20a2 with an eBay turbo on 14psi, fully custom fabricated intercooler piping, Turbosmart wastegate, HKS ssqv blow-off valve, big PLM vertical flow intercooler, Hondata 4bar Map sensor, Deatschwerks 1000cc injectors, AEM 340 fuel pump, and finally tuned on Hondata KPro v4. It was supposed to turn into a budget build that wasn't very cheap like I thought it would be but it all worked out in the end.

Interior and Wheels

The interior is pretty bare bones to stock just no back seats anymore, Corbeau bucket seat, race quip 5-point harnesses, and an NRG harness bar. The car is on 17x9 Enkei RPF1 on 245/45 17r Falken Ziex, I just wanted a basic wheel and tire set-up that was affordable, light, and proven. The car also has a stage 3 ATC clutch in it.

The Support System

Besides me, there was a few people who helped me. So first and foremost my buddy Bailey is the one who lent me his garage space and offered to help and put his big power STI project to the side for a few months so I could live out my dreams and I really appreciate him for that. He helped me get everything moved, unplugged, and unbolted to pull the motor and transmission out of the car and after we did that we got everything degreased, he is also the one who did pretty much 98% of the welding for this build like all of the intercooler piping.

Key Support - Christian

Now the biggest help and one of my best homies and the master of K series and Hondas is the homie Christian, I met Christian through a mutual friend of ours at a party who thought we wouldn't get along (which he was very wrong) but when I felt beat down and done with this car and ready to give it all up Christian was there for me to calm me down and make me come back to reality.

Now in middle of all this and Christian being over at Bailey's every single day to help me till 1 am after work, Christian had a pregnant girlfriend, a job working at Honda, and battling a turbo Honda project of his own and I could never thank him enough for being there for me when I needed help and was down in the dumps with this build because in the middle of me building this car my Nana passed away and after that,t I was really done and it's because of Christian and him being persistent with me and making me keep going with the car and finish it the car got done and I'm very thankful for him in that time period. He also would loan me parts from his turbo K series build if I needed them right then and there.

But yeah I just want to give a huge shoutout to Christian and Bailey for helping me through all this and thank you to all the people who supported me during this process and were always hype about seeing the journey of the turbo build.

Future Plans

Really to just make a little bit more power and get to that 500-550hp mark, which would really be bigger injectors, fuel pump, and E85 and I would really like to get a nice Precision with a t51r mod. Another thing would really be to get a full downpipe and exhaust because this car is obnoxiously loud and spits 4ft flames out of the hood dump which don't get me wrong is super cool but not what I was looking for it was a fast and temporary solution to just get the car running and back home.

Shout Outs

I really just would like to give a shoutout to anyone I've met through cars and supports me and to all of my friends who have helped me with this car and this journey. Oh and shout out to my O.G RSX brother Chris Black, when he had his Nighthawk Black pearl Type S and his Milano red supercharged Type S we would mob out together. Hopefully maybe one day he can get another DC5!! Extra shout out to Christian for being one of my best friends and like a brother and always looking out!

Dream Cars

1. 1999 Nissan Skyline R34 GTR

2. McLaren F1

3. RUF Porsche 911

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