Josh Jett’s wife knew all about his girlfriend. The forum chatting, the late-night texting, the time they went to the drag strip together–she was fine with all of it. And their relationship, which had nothing at all with regards to surreptitiously sexting one another at all hours and everything to do with collaborating on each other’s RSX build-ups, was the kind of stuff car-guy bonds are made from, that’s mostly because Josh’s girlfriend wasn’t a girl at all. None of this stopped Josh’s wife from pronouncing her fellow and husband RSX chat forum member Zack Keller girlfriend and boyfriend though, even though they were only a couple of friends which shared a fervor to the final iteration of what was once the Acura Integra.
Josh and Zack met online and soon realized that they lived in close proximity to one another, nearby the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio. For Josh, his ’03 RSX Type-S was his first attempt at modifying a car in the ground up. He’ll tell you about the ’00 Civic EX he’d once owned, but he’ll also let you know that the changes he’d made to it pale to what he’d do in order to the RSX. Zack, the more mechanically experienced of the two, is partially to blame. Zack was much more knowledgeable when it came totransmissions and motors, and how things work, Josh says. I’m sure I used to be quite annoying with all of my questions, but he was always helpful.led to the 741 whp that Josh would later make and the 11-second pass he’d post his first time out. It’s correct that Josh’s new friend was the more experienced of the two, but his RSX would turn out to be the real teacher. My RSX is the first car that we really put some time into modifying and understanding everything [about] which i could, he says. I like to do things myself and tried to with this particular car up to I could. Josh’ll be the first one to remind you that his RSX is the thing that he calls built, not bought. It soon became an instruction manual for him, leading to his better understanding how difficult making power naturally aspirated was, how temporarily satisfying a supercharger could be, and just how worthwhile a totally rebuilt and turbocharged K-series is. In just a short time, Josh had subjected his K20 to nearly every form of aspiration, each of which concluded using a predilection to get more power, which is exactly what generated his settling on an engine program in relation to a Precision PT6766 turbocharger.
Take a peek at Josh’s setup and little will surprise you–unless a cluster of top-notch engine pieces and high-end suspension components are unfamiliar to you. Ductile, iron cylinders, Wiseco pistons, and Manley connecting rods make sure that the 28 psi that passes through the Golden Eagle intake manifold and into the lightly modified cylinder head stays put and doesn’t plan its own exit strategy by means of a hole in the block. A team of fuel pumps along with 2,000cc/min. fuel injectors tuned with the help of a Hondata K-Pro do their part in generating the nearly quadrupled power figure but it’s the drivetrain that impresses and, in addition to the exhaust that’s routed through the hood, toes the line between what Josh says is actually a weekend car and what exactly is really only a track car occasionally fired up on the street. A five-speed RSX gearbox augmented with PPG straight-cut gears–their whine of which, according to Josh, is the thing his wife can do without. Despite what the state of Ohio’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles says, Josh’s RSX is a race car by any description. Either of his sons will tell you as much, the older that pines for the opportunity to be straddled inside the passenger-side carbon-fiber bucket, as well as the younger of which, although not of sufficient age to ride in it, knows to refer to it as Daddy’s race car.
2003 acura RSX type S AEM gauges 08
2003 acura RSX type S golden eagle intake manifold 05
2003 acura RSX type S F1Spec type 2 carbon fiber seats 04
A smattering of mods you aren’t likely to find on any race car have also found themselves onto Josh’s RSX, like the shaved engine bay and body work that he did himself, both processes that gave him the opportunity to learn new skills, like paint and welding preparation. Interior enhancements have been made, just like a dyed-black headliner and carbon-fiber-vinyl trim pieces strategically placed across the center and dash console. It’s all very much the right contrast towards the exposed, billet-aluminum K-Tuned shifter box, CNC staging brake, and barrage of digital AEM meters.
Josh’s RSX has since been is and completed admittedly done. All that he says remains is to enjoy beating the hell from it, a job that’s been bittersweet ever since August 14, 2012, when Zack passed away following a fatal car accident. Still, beat it up he has. Within the once watchful guidance of his friend and longtime drag racer, who Josh says the build’s been dedicated to, Josh familiarized himself withlaunching and staging, and shifting. I wasn’t nervous; I was excited, he says of that first pass. Zack grew up around drag racing, so I wanted him there to give me pointers. I short-bogged and shifted at the beginning of that first pass. The time was quite embarrassing. Following a little bit of seat time as well as just before posting his quickest pass Josh looked to Zack and asked him how he thought he was doing. Excellent, Zack said. Now quit driving the vehicle like a pussy. You built it for any reason.