DC2 Integra Type Ropey; a journey back to Racing
Discussion
Hi all, really needed to get round to this sooner as I've already started doing a lot with the car to get it back into shape so here's a bit of background, I'll split it into several posts to make uploading and reading a little easier.
I started a thread for this car after seeing it everyday stood on a driveway for over a year, never driven. Knocked the guys door, got speaking and in the end after seeking wisdom on here, ignoring it and using hugely ludicrous levels of man maths and madness I came to a deal and the car was bought.
It is a 1999 UK spec which had 85k on the clock, cat D write-off from hailstone damage which is still present all over the front panels, along with a helping of rusty arches and bonnet. It had literally been driven to the MOT centre and back for the past 2 years, managing a hearty 14 miles in the process. Other apparent issues being seized brakes, a flat battery, no radio, collapsed seat bolster, central locking working but not the remote or alarm, and of course the air con wasn't played ball. Oh yeah, and from being sat in a combination of sun and shade it was 50 shades of milano red/pink and everything inbetween. So... take a look at the madness as it stood when I first saw it:
Anyway, the guy was good enough to offer a 12 month MOT with the car if I wanted it, thinking I'd wait and see if he managed to get it running or if it was going to fail horrifically, I let him go ahead and take it to a local garage I knew to be honest; After a brake rebuild, few ARB bushes and the obvious new battery it passed! Shocked by how little it needed really. So here it is on the day of collection, back with its original number plates and still looking rather sorry for itself, but driveable!
My daily driver is hiding in the background (Fabia Monte Carlo), so I returned home and began with my plan of making this a smart looking fun/weekend motor with track day and road trip potential, with a good amount of fettling along the way...
I started a thread for this car after seeing it everyday stood on a driveway for over a year, never driven. Knocked the guys door, got speaking and in the end after seeking wisdom on here, ignoring it and using hugely ludicrous levels of man maths and madness I came to a deal and the car was bought.
It is a 1999 UK spec which had 85k on the clock, cat D write-off from hailstone damage which is still present all over the front panels, along with a helping of rusty arches and bonnet. It had literally been driven to the MOT centre and back for the past 2 years, managing a hearty 14 miles in the process. Other apparent issues being seized brakes, a flat battery, no radio, collapsed seat bolster, central locking working but not the remote or alarm, and of course the air con wasn't played ball. Oh yeah, and from being sat in a combination of sun and shade it was 50 shades of milano red/pink and everything inbetween. So... take a look at the madness as it stood when I first saw it:
Anyway, the guy was good enough to offer a 12 month MOT with the car if I wanted it, thinking I'd wait and see if he managed to get it running or if it was going to fail horrifically, I let him go ahead and take it to a local garage I knew to be honest; After a brake rebuild, few ARB bushes and the obvious new battery it passed! Shocked by how little it needed really. So here it is on the day of collection, back with its original number plates and still looking rather sorry for itself, but driveable!
My daily driver is hiding in the background (Fabia Monte Carlo), so I returned home and began with my plan of making this a smart looking fun/weekend motor with track day and road trip potential, with a good amount of fettling along the way...
Edited by heners54 on Friday 4th November 17:39
First job I gave myself was to sort the car having a full service, which was neglected due to the low mileage it had done recently. Previous to that it had seen only Honda dealerships, the last owner having the car for 12 years. So a quick phone call to local garage, all records found and a huge service, cambelt, waterpump, gearbox flush and I was much happier getting the car into VTEC. Lots of little jobs were done on the car also, wiper blades, a deep, deep, deep clean of the damp mould ridden interior to get the car smelling fresh, as well as some vigorous polishing to the exterior. Air con regassed, cheapo radio and fitting kit to fill the hole and it was looking much less abandoned and working as a car again.
Aerial was stuck when trying to go down though, seemed to have a bend which again is a common issue on integra's, added to the list of things to do.
Next up was the niggling worry in my mind, the rear arches which are a weak spot, this car was a daily driver parked outside so I feared the worst. So out came the sander to take a look....
could have been worse, but clearly needed someone who knew more than me to make a proper lasting job of repairing it, so Manhattan motors in Coventry ordered a new arch and made a brilliant job of removing any rot from the car, leaving a lovely finish.
More to follow..
Aerial was stuck when trying to go down though, seemed to have a bend which again is a common issue on integra's, added to the list of things to do.
Next up was the niggling worry in my mind, the rear arches which are a weak spot, this car was a daily driver parked outside so I feared the worst. So out came the sander to take a look....
could have been worse, but clearly needed someone who knew more than me to make a proper lasting job of repairing it, so Manhattan motors in Coventry ordered a new arch and made a brilliant job of removing any rot from the car, leaving a lovely finish.
More to follow..
Love it. I had a 1999 uk car in black a few years back. It was such a joy to drive and one of very few cars I regret selling.
I still look at these for sale every now and then.
I fitted a spoon centre section exhaust, but kept the stock backbox and it pulled quite a bit harder than standard. By contrast i tried an induction kit and it lost power, so they're best left standard.
It really is a car that needs very little doing to it, modding it can ruin it quite badly.
seeing this makes me want another!
Good luck with your project
I still look at these for sale every now and then.
I fitted a spoon centre section exhaust, but kept the stock backbox and it pulled quite a bit harder than standard. By contrast i tried an induction kit and it lost power, so they're best left standard.
It really is a car that needs very little doing to it, modding it can ruin it quite badly.
seeing this makes me want another!
Good luck with your project
So with the car now in a more solid state, some longer trips were taken to establish the next areas for work and improvement. The first being the wheels and tyres; they were 7 year old Maxxis M-somethings which were flat spotted making a horrid vibration at motorway speeds, as well as being downright dangerous in the wet; 2nd and 3rd gear wheelspin was no issue, following a tidy line was however! The standard wheels are shod with 195/55/15's, and after much deliberation and reading I decided I wanted the original wheels and tyre size on the car. As the wheels were looking very sorry for themselves with corrosion set in, I bought a cheap second set of wheels off the bay to refurb myself, to work as a winter stop gap before having the originals professionally done next year at some point.
So a large package arrived with ropey badly painted alloys in, and I set to work as a complete novice to wheel painting equipped with £40 of sanding, priming and painting materials:
Primer on:
Beforehand as well:
Topcoat on:
And finally all together with the centre cap stickers and new Honda dust caps:
I went for a slightly more matte finish in the end to cover any imperfections I had made in my prep, and I'm very pleased with the results and they are proving quite easy to keep clean. All the paint has stayed on too which helps!
So now to the tyres, oringally this car was fitted with bridgestone tyres so that's what it has now again; bridgestone potenza adrenaline RE002's to be exact. I normally use Uniroyal Rainsport 3's (last 2 cars fitted to) so this was a new tyre to me and I am impressed with the feel and grip although wet grip is still significantly less and the car is considerably more twitchy in these conditions, partly down to the car too no doubt.
And as the car now looks with the black alloys and mild bodywork improvements
It's now at the point where I have been enjoying the car; not without issues (more on that as we get to it) but in all I've totally gelled with the car and completely get the rave reviews and the purpose of it on a real drive, and can't wait till I'm happy enough with the oily bits to get it on track and really give it 10/10.
So a large package arrived with ropey badly painted alloys in, and I set to work as a complete novice to wheel painting equipped with £40 of sanding, priming and painting materials:
Primer on:
Beforehand as well:
Topcoat on:
And finally all together with the centre cap stickers and new Honda dust caps:
I went for a slightly more matte finish in the end to cover any imperfections I had made in my prep, and I'm very pleased with the results and they are proving quite easy to keep clean. All the paint has stayed on too which helps!
So now to the tyres, oringally this car was fitted with bridgestone tyres so that's what it has now again; bridgestone potenza adrenaline RE002's to be exact. I normally use Uniroyal Rainsport 3's (last 2 cars fitted to) so this was a new tyre to me and I am impressed with the feel and grip although wet grip is still significantly less and the car is considerably more twitchy in these conditions, partly down to the car too no doubt.
And as the car now looks with the black alloys and mild bodywork improvements
It's now at the point where I have been enjoying the car; not without issues (more on that as we get to it) but in all I've totally gelled with the car and completely get the rave reviews and the purpose of it on a real drive, and can't wait till I'm happy enough with the oily bits to get it on track and really give it 10/10.
Good to see how it's progressing I remember your original thread before buying it.
I think these are terrific cars this one is definitely worth investing some money in to get it back to tip top shape.
Not sure about the black wheels but good choice of tyres they work really well on a Dc2 with super stiff side walls and good grip in both wet and dry.
I think these are terrific cars this one is definitely worth investing some money in to get it back to tip top shape.
Not sure about the black wheels but good choice of tyres they work really well on a Dc2 with super stiff side walls and good grip in both wet and dry.
The black wheels originally were as a result on laziness on my part, I thought I would save time and effort by keeping the black that my shonky eBay wheels were rather than changing colour. The originals will be refurbed in the proper colour, and the black wheels maybe for more track orientated tyres. That's the plan anyway haha!
Just got back from a run out of the city, just the noise and the feel of occasion is enough to brighten the mood after any day no matter how long. More updates still due but may have to wait till tomorrow or so.
Just got back from a run out of the city, just the noise and the feel of occasion is enough to brighten the mood after any day no matter how long. More updates still due but may have to wait till tomorrow or so.
Right, so an update on the work that's been done as a result of lots of niggles, lack of use and general things as a result of it being an old car:
cleaning and lubricating the central locking gubbins; twice the car has 'unlocked' but the little latch in the drivers door was sticky and therefore the car wasn't truly fully open (and the passenger door quite often wouldn't open either , meaning that i could unlock the car, get in, get out leaving the keys in it and find myself locked out of the car and needing the spare set of keys. Fortunately both times I was at home but it was an annoyance until sorted, which it seems to be now.
Another issue was the spring for the bonnet release snapped, meaning I needed a second pair of hand to lift the bonnet as it didn't pop anymore, this was fixed with a bit of a bodge I must admit, rather than a new spring one of the holiday deckchairs was butchered after deciding it could be used to do the job nicely!
Next issue to appear was the passenger window does not roll all the way back up by itself, this seems to be the source of water ingress in heavy rain. Easy fix is to guide the window back up with some help by hand which locates it all the way back up properly, but a proper fix needs to be sorted soon.
The main issue which reared its head and did cause some concern was the arrival of the ABS light being constantly on; which means no ABS until fault resolved and an MOT fail. Quick code reading showed the rear NS wheel sensor was not playing ball, which on most cars would be an easy and not too expensive fix, however from honda the part is circa £200, rear sensors being like hens teeth. So constant ebay searches and waiting led to a second hand unit being sourced all the way from the Czech Republic for £45. This took a few months, in which time I had covered many hundreds of miles with the light staying on..... only for it to go out and not come back when the part arrived!!! Hasn't been back on since which is a few weeks now, but I'm doubtful it won't happen again.
Final job was discs and pads, as although good enough to get through an MOT the disks were corroded and pitted. Upon starting the work it became apparent the front NS caliper was fubar, leading to two refurbished units by pagid up front as well, with the old ones traded in. The car stops much nicer now however with an arrow straight nature rather than a slight pull, so well worth it.
Since the weather has turned at last the car will be getting less use, but I want to keep stabbing away at all the little jobs until I'm happy with the condition overall.
cleaning and lubricating the central locking gubbins; twice the car has 'unlocked' but the little latch in the drivers door was sticky and therefore the car wasn't truly fully open (and the passenger door quite often wouldn't open either , meaning that i could unlock the car, get in, get out leaving the keys in it and find myself locked out of the car and needing the spare set of keys. Fortunately both times I was at home but it was an annoyance until sorted, which it seems to be now.
Another issue was the spring for the bonnet release snapped, meaning I needed a second pair of hand to lift the bonnet as it didn't pop anymore, this was fixed with a bit of a bodge I must admit, rather than a new spring one of the holiday deckchairs was butchered after deciding it could be used to do the job nicely!
Next issue to appear was the passenger window does not roll all the way back up by itself, this seems to be the source of water ingress in heavy rain. Easy fix is to guide the window back up with some help by hand which locates it all the way back up properly, but a proper fix needs to be sorted soon.
The main issue which reared its head and did cause some concern was the arrival of the ABS light being constantly on; which means no ABS until fault resolved and an MOT fail. Quick code reading showed the rear NS wheel sensor was not playing ball, which on most cars would be an easy and not too expensive fix, however from honda the part is circa £200, rear sensors being like hens teeth. So constant ebay searches and waiting led to a second hand unit being sourced all the way from the Czech Republic for £45. This took a few months, in which time I had covered many hundreds of miles with the light staying on..... only for it to go out and not come back when the part arrived!!! Hasn't been back on since which is a few weeks now, but I'm doubtful it won't happen again.
Final job was discs and pads, as although good enough to get through an MOT the disks were corroded and pitted. Upon starting the work it became apparent the front NS caliper was fubar, leading to two refurbished units by pagid up front as well, with the old ones traded in. The car stops much nicer now however with an arrow straight nature rather than a slight pull, so well worth it.
Since the weather has turned at last the car will be getting less use, but I want to keep stabbing away at all the little jobs until I'm happy with the condition overall.
Oh and one more issue I forgot, a nasty rattle developed from the exhaust which was clearly a heat-shield, only before I finally got round to taking a look it fell off! 
well, dragged along the road making horrific scraping noises, so I had to pull over and rip off the last bit by hand before continuing on my trip.
Also here's a pic from a morning blat along the fosse road, such a brilliant car on trips like this that it justifies the work it will need to improve it and keep it in the state it deserves:
well, dragged along the road making horrific scraping noises, so I had to pull over and rip off the last bit by hand before continuing on my trip.
Also here's a pic from a morning blat along the fosse road, such a brilliant car on trips like this that it justifies the work it will need to improve it and keep it in the state it deserves:
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