***Spec R's first build thread ever!***

[Spec R]

On April 30, 2008, I sold my Evo. I had about $5000 leftover after the private party paid off my loan on the car. My intentions were to buy another daily driver to replace the 240sx, which I wanted to sell at the time. 4/30/08: If my desires/needs necessitated, I would get another new-ish car with financing or something. Turns out, I really enjoyed not having a car payment, but I was still used to having 2 cars. Time to look for another car. So I kind of started looking for cars when one of my GF's childhood friends (Ryan) told us he got a newish BMW 3 series. I suddenly asked "What did you do to your integra?!", and he said "I sold it, but its still at my house." Couple weeks go by, and I run into Ryan again, and ask "Is the teg still at your house?" and he goes "The buyer is laggin, you want to buy it?" I say "I'll pick it up at your earliest convenience, I have the cash right now." A few days later, I had a 1997 Acura Integra GS 5 Speed with about 162k miles on the odometer. Ryan sold the car to me for relatively cheap, not only because I'm a friend/family, but the car needed some much needed help. Also, the car had been in a couple of fender benders, but was not totalled/salvaged. I really wish I took photos of the car in its original state in which I purchased it from Ryan, but I didnt have a camera on me and my phone was dead. The car had been sitting for a couple of months collected dirt and dust. I had to drive the car home, but I couldnt see through the windows so the first thing i did was rinse the car off with lots of water. Then I had to go to vegas the next day. so no pics. Pic of virgin (to my hands/tools/cleaning supplies) engine bay. i think i may or may not have changed the battery at this point though. I hadnt touched a thing on the car yet in this picture..stupid me didnt take pictures of the whole car. Here's a few a couple days after one of its first car washes. Once I settled back in after a crazy bachelor party weekend in Vegas, I was able to analyze the car a bit closer. All the functions of the car worked - windows rolled up and down, sunroof open/closed, power steering, abs, cruise control, and most importantly to me, AC was cold (for an integra at least). The replica ITR lip was held on by tap screws which had already ripped through the bumper, the front bumper corners werent held in place by anything. Various scratches and blemishes all over the car. most of the damage was to the front bumper though. Things that had to be addressed immediately after I came back from Vegas: Leaking Radiator, low tire pressures, dead battery, nasty exhaust leaks, grinding brakes, various fluids, abysmal interior condition, etc. First things first (over the next few weeks of course): Battery and Radiator - no pics of battery but who cares. Here's the old radiator with patch fix Ryan LOVED this car, but his 80-90 hour work week with a full time bank job and nighttime DJ at various popular LA clubs prevented him from being able to work on this car. First Oil change: You can see the completely torn CV boot. add another thing to address to the list of to-do's: Axles. Brakes: I dont think I pictured the rears, because they're just brakes, nothing special. Thats it for part 1. I didnt realize making a build thread takes so much time. I'll post more really soon.

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[1turbodc2]

nice congrats..keep us posted..

[Khazzy]

not bad, i would love to have no car payments right now, only 2 years left, hoping to get ahead of myself and make double payments to finish it up by july, would be SOOO nice haha, financially,cant do it asof now, keep us posted on how it turns out, make that car scream

[Spec R]

Thanks guys!

Making this thread now, I really wish I took more pictures, but its hard when you're in "Get this crap done now" mode. and I really dont want to bust out the SLR with dirty ass hands and what not, so please excuse the lack of composition and whatever else needed for fancy pictures.

I was at work when I did the first post...here's Part 2
I replaced the mickey mouse'd radiator with a factory Koyo replacement, using Honda Type 2 coolant of course. OEM fluids ftw.

New Brakes/Pads/Shims/Fluid front and rear:







All right, so I can drive the car without it potentially overheating and can actually safely stop the car. Two steps closer!

Heres a rear profile shot showing the Jose' exhaust which I really had to replace but for the time being I had a muffler shop weld up the resonator which had rusted itself loose which was caused a nasty leak and nasty rattling.


Now to attack the interior. Remember, time is a luxury Ryan doesnt have much of.




















The shift knob I swapped out because thats something of a "personal" touch on the car to me. I chose the weighted skunk2 knob. The GF should have that pic somewhere. Also, you can see the french fry in the shift boot. it was because of this french fry, I decided to name the car "French Fry".

EDIT: found pic on GF's computer


Objectives of that day/week were:
shampoo floormats/carpet to see what stains can be removed
take out obsolete stereo head unit and EQ
clean center console
remove pep boys pedals
remove shift light

[white_n_slow]

Shit dude, good work so far. I love these projects... I hope to post a thread like this myself maybe by next summer :o

Nice wheels too

[jaymar88]

Looks like an easy enough project.. You could turn that car around in a week. As for the upholstery, I'd take it to an upholsterer and have them just re wrap in cloth. Shouldn't be more than 5-700 for both front and back.

PS.. I hope you feel special mang 'cause this is the first non basement post I've made in forever!

[Spec R]

Originally Posted by white_n_slow

Shit dude, good work so far. I love these projects... I hope to post a thread like this myself maybe by next summer :o

Nice wheels too

haha thanks, but technically they're not mine, and one of them is bent on the inner lip causing it to lose air. i've already replaced them with something...unexpected.

Originally Posted by jaymar88

Looks like an easy enough project.. You could turn that car around in a week. As for the upholstery, I'd take it to an upholsterer and have them just re wrap in cloth. Shouldn't be more than 5-700 for both front and back.

PS.. I hope you feel special mang 'cause this is the first non basement post I've made in forever!

I've already addressed the interior...but will post pics sooon. yeah i do feel special! haha

[white_n_slow]

Originally Posted by Spec R

haha thanks, but technically they're not mine, and one of them is bent on the inner lip causing it to lose air. i've already replaced them with something...unexpected.

ibspinners

[Spec R]

crap, there goes my cover shhh spinnnaazzz

here goes the center console cleaning:
start by removing the parts...







Pretty dirty, huh?

Start cleaning..



A little type R action

Head unit plus wiring - replacing it with my old excelon unit that i had originally purchased for my first integra, then put in the evo, then the 240sx, then in this integra. the plan here was to remove all the wiring for the amps/subs. they sounded like they were probably blown. I didnt get pictures of it, but the wiring to the amps was pretty odd. i think they used household electrical wire (the stiff clothes hanger type wire).



no butt connectors here :happy:

[94civicEX]

You have disgusting friends! That car is a tragedy on the inside.

Why not look for some itr rears and rewrap the fronts?

[Spec R]

Originally Posted by 94civicEX

You have disgusting friends! That car is a tragedy on the inside.

Why not look for some itr rears and rewrap the fronts?

grrrrr wait for the interior after shots first!

its hard to narrate the story all at once hahaha i'm compacting 4-5 months worth of content in the first few posts haha.

bekah and I were rather surprised at the condition of the car, but its understandable. Ryan gets like 2-3 hours of sleep a night, like 7 days a week. His BMW is rather upkept. Thats what lack of time does to a car.

Start shampooing the floor mats and carpet to see what we can get out of it...








not bad, but i'll probably still get brand new ones haha



nasty waste water from cleaner!


a few weeks later i got the replacement seats (sorry no complete pics yet) so time to get the carpet underneath the seats.





at that point i was like "man, i know down the line i'm gonna end up buying new carpet. this one is just fubar"

my friend had his old back seats and armrest sitting his garage so i bought them from him for a cheap price. little did i know, that integras had gray leather and black leather anyway it was still an improvement.


You can see the SIR-G seat oooooooo

[95SiR]

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!

damn dood... u did a kickass job with the vacuuming

[Spec R]

Originally Posted by 95SiR

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!

damn dood... u did a kickass job with the vacuuming

thanks man, it was the first time i used the little green machine (from Bissell), and bekah did most of the work on the carpet that day hahaha.

Looking underneath here revealed many things:

-poor alarm wiring/install, the brain was literally dangling where my clutch foot is
-leaky ass clutch master cylinder - which explained the "chirping" sound when the clutch was disengaged (throwout bearing noise).

alright, more stuff on the to-do list: Have HT DB squad leader re-wire everything on the alarm / I have to buy new clutch master and slave cylinder, and remove pedal covers.




Alright time to remove old clutch master and slave





The car needed a lot of random parts:

You can see the Oh shoot handle all broken.


Missing right front fender liner - which reveals VIS coilovers on stock shocks. needless to say the ride quality was sub-par. i've ridden in far worse though. added to the to-do list: ITR springs/shocks/rear LCA's

Not pictured: particle board for trunk, 14" spare tire, jack and tools, front "A" emblem

So I went to Blue Motors and picked up the parts needed for cheap


I think by the time these pictures were taken, I had already done the cap+rotor+spark plugs+spark plug wires+fuel filter. I had also got 2 rebuilt axles installed but i didnt take pics of any those installs. No big deal anyway.

The lighting at night (since I work graveyard, lighting is crucial) was abysmal. I had to do something about it, so I bought these...and gasp...a plug and play HID kit from an evo friend for cheap. HID retrofit shall come eventually, but too many other issues to take care of first.



hella jdm, with hella jdm price

so they came in and damn it, turns out the part of the lower bumper cover they attach to have been cut out by Ryan or someone else. I made a thread about it.
http://www.honda-acura.net/forums/sh...662&highlight=

[Spec R]

update: I've made up my mind with situation...pics should be up soon within my build thread

[HatchVX]

got any plans for it or will it stay stock? I like that color. What the name of it?

[Khazzy]

you get shit done quick bro haha, i agree with the dirty interior, i cannot stand it, my stepdad told me my car was too clean so when we drove from maryland to nebraska, he had peanuts, HE PUT SHELLS ALL OVER MY FLOOR, i was so mad, cleaned it ASAP though, keep it up dude, i wanna detail my engine then the car will be CRISP! haha

[Spec R]

Originally Posted by HatchVX

got any plans for it or will it stay stock? I like that color. What the name of it?

Given the car's mileage and the fact that its an integra living in Los Angeles (eventual theft), any unnecessary funding thrown at this car would sort of be a waste of money. shoot, even the money i've thrown into the project seems kind of wasted already, but its fun "restoring" a car. granted its not one of those "car was found at the bottom of a lake" kind of restores, but its one of the more extensive projects I've gotten myself into. I've done what I can with the security of the car, but if a thief wants it, he'll get it.

the color is R93-P Matador Red Pearl. it was a 96-97 only color.

Originally Posted by Khazzy

you get shit done quick bro haha, i agree with the dirty interior, i cannot stand it, my stepdad told me my car was too clean so when we drove from maryland to nebraska, he had peanuts, HE PUT SHELLS ALL OVER MY FLOOR, i was so mad, cleaned it ASAP though, keep it up dude, i wanna detail my engine then the car will be CRISP! haha

damn thats nasty hahaha. what do you use to detail your bays?

[94civicEX]

I didn't know it was an 'in progress' thread .

Looks like a good time if you have the time/money to do it. My master cylinder is leaking too, not so sure what to do about it, I just keep putting more fluid in . I'd probably want to replace the slave at the same time too, right?

[Spec R]

Originally Posted by 94civicEX

I didn't know it was an 'in progress' thread .

Looks like a good time if you have the time/money to do it. My master cylinder is leaking too, not so sure what to do about it, I just keep putting more fluid in . I'd probably want to replace the slave at the same time too, right?

yep replace em at the same time. get it done soon, its not good for your transmission and clutch if the clutch master and slave are not completely disengaging the clutch.

[white_n_slow]

I used simple green to clean out my engine bay in the old shitbrick (volvo) with stunning results. Lemme see if I can find a pic.

:edit:http://www.honda-acura.net/forums/sh...le+green<br />

[Spec R]

i use simple green too. i bought this can of gunk gel degreaser and holy crap that stuff smells toxic. do not want.

[94civicEX]

Originally Posted by Spec R

yep replace em at the same time. get it done soon, its not good for your transmission and clutch if the clutch master and slave are not completely disengaging the clutch.

I'm pretty sure it's been leaking since I got it 45,000 miles ago .

[Spec R]

Originally Posted by 94civicEX

I'm pretty sure it's been leaking since I got it 45,000 miles ago .

get it done man

Finally took pics of the interior, post clean up.

Trunk with ITR rear strut bar, just no sticker - no more subs/amps


SIR-G front and rear seats and door panels..

had to swap sliders/buckles/etc for the front seats




Took out the black leather GSR back seats - look no center cubby




Replaced the beat up armrest for the one that came out of the same car as the black GSR backseats



The carpet and mats arent perfect, but they're miles better than before..




Out with the old, in with the new - no more gray leather




Alarm re-wired, no more shift light, no more speaker and RCA wires


Head unit, type R shift boot, stuff all cleaned up

[Spec R]

Polished up the turn signals



And yes I couldnt resist it, so I bought another carpet since the existing one has some unremovable stains.
Its a darker carpet out of a wrecked 95 GSR. I still havent put it in yet.

Before





After





This new carpet looked good when I bought it from the guy, but after shampooing more crap showed up. Oh well, whatevers not covered by floormats is clean.

[white_n_slow]

They make carpet paint/dye. It'll look brand new if you just paint it black. Actually, could've done done that with the old gray carpet :o

I think it's dupicolor... pm Tony (Running925) and ask him what he used on his gf's carpet ( )




:o

[Spec R]

Originally Posted by white_n_slow

They make carpet paint/dye. It'll look brand new if you just paint it black. Actually, could've done done that with the old gray carpet :o

I think it's dupicolor... pm Tony (Running925) and ask him what he used on his gf's carpet ( )




:o

yeah i'll let the buyer decide what he wants to do with the carpet haha

lots of tan interior guys always do the conversions to gray interiors

[dom93hatch]

Awesome!!!

I want another Integra when I have my own garage, ahahahha.

[Chefboiali]

Beautiful work, man Wow!!!!!!!!!

[Spec R]

thanks guys!

the build is pretty current now with a few things missing here and there but here's the motormounts and insert install..








MTF drain and refill - I used the revised Honda MTF "Now with more friction modifiers"



The other night I noticed there was a puddle of fluid under the car...oh crap its coolant.
Luckily I found the culprit...

Cant see it?



Its the coolant hose that was used in place for the stock tubes when this car used to have an intake.
I couldnt get a good grip on it with the neck still attached to the head, so I took off the neck



I pulled too hard.



Well it was caked on there pretty bad.



I re-used the attached hoses to the stock metal piece, refilled it with coolant and no leaks!

[dj02]

dude shits looking good, let me know if you need any help.

at the heel toe brake gas pedal, and shift light.