I'm sure by now most of you have scrolled through all the pictures in absolute awe. No, this is not a joke! Indeed, we are not kidding! This vehicle is for real. Yes, we realize that Acura did not design the interior or exterior the way it looks in these pictures. And no, this is not an Acura prototype vehicle. This vehicle is the result of two prestigious companies from different worlds, one from import aftermarket and the other from mobile electronics, coming together to create one hell of a ride! This masterpiece is the collaboration between Wings West and Alpine Electronics of America, Inc. They took an already great vehicle in the 2002 Acura RSX, and made it even better.
Before the RSX was even released, import tuners were already salivating over the vehicle and engineering a slew of aftermarket parts for it. This included Wings West who was responsible for the aesthetics and performance upgrades for the RSX project. First on the list was of course, an all-new Wings West wide-body kit, including a two-tier spoiler giving the car an aggressive and unique appearance. Completing the stance of the RSX are Blue Konig three-piece Techwerks 19 x 8 wheels outfitted with Toyo Proxes T-1S Tires (235/35-19 all around), and an Eibach drop suspension kit. The wheel and tire combo seems wide, hence the Wings West kit. Lurking behind the massive wheels are Wilwood 4-piston caliper brakes with cross-drilled/slotted rotors. The final touches to the exterior required ditching the factory hood and replacing it with a lighter (in weight) carbon fiber counterpart that has one hell of a blue hue to it.
Completing the performance upgrades are a Magnaflo exhaust system; AEM cold air intake; Optima gel cell battery; DC Sport oil cap and upper strut bar; dual tank Nitrous Express direct port nitrous; and Momo steering wheel, shift knob, and pedal kit. To make sure not one part of the project was overlooked, even the window tint was taken into consideration when blue window tint was supplied by Sundial Window Tinting.
Batman and RobinSo with an over the top exterior, what do you do for an encore? This is where Alpine Electronics comes into play. You have seen their work gracing these pages in previous issues. For instance, Steve Brown's 1995 BMW M3. The dynamic duo of Chris Yato, who served as lead installer, and Steve Brown were once again on a mission to create an installation where towels are needed to wipe the drool off your lip after you have taken in what you just saw. The challenge was to complement and integrate the already stunning exterior (a la Wings West) with the existing and rather bland interior.
With that in mind and a plan in place, the two went to work. These two are never satisfied with a stock look. The first step was to completely gut the entire interior and create a new one (literally). In fact, the only stock interior parts are the factory carpet, headliner and some switches.
They started by creating a whole new dash out of MDF, fiberglass and body filler. The new "floating" dash was built to be as symmetrical as possible, further enhancing the imaging and staging of the vehicle up front. Housed in the new dash are Autometer gauges that straddle the factory cluster, which now finds its home in the center. Keeping the import enthusiast in mind, the guys installed an Autometer tachometer with a shift light to the left of it directly in front of the driver. On the other end of the dash are other Autometer gauges displaying fuel pressure, nitrous pressure, oil pressure, and voltage. The top of the floating dash holds an Alpine SPX-F13M component speaker set (with an extra tweeter) to accompany the 5.1 Dolby Digital processor. The entire dash was painted in silver and arctic blue pearl.