Ell's Artic Blue DC5 - Honda Integra Type R
Discussion
After two years building an EK, a brief stint with an EP3, i had the oppurtinity to buy a DC5....
Long story short, i seen a post on a local facebook group of a guy buying a new car with a photo of his new 350Z and a DC5 in the background, i dropped him a message and turned out he was going to be selling the DC5 and he had not got round to sorting a for sale ad, i asked if i could pop round to see it that afternoon as it was only a few miles away (there is a piston heads sticker on the car, so if your on here, hello and thanks!)... a deal was done there and then and a week later i picked it up. It was basically stock other than a long arm intake (more on that later) and a custom made OEM replacment exhaust. 120K on the clocks but has the certificate of when it was converted to MPH which removes 25K, so milage just under 100K. The previous owner was the first owner from import, he had it 11 years, it came with stacks of history, the original import documents, the auction sheet (grade 4B).
The car had no MOT and had sat for a little while, judging by the history and how the car drove i was hopeful it would go straight through an MOT, so i sold my EP3, picked the teg up on a saturday morning and headed straight for its MOT, which it flew through and passed with no advisories, had a quick look under it on the ramp too and happy to report no major rust!
Quick photo's i was sent from the previous owner before going to have a look
After it's MOT i took it for a quick wash as it had been sat for awhile and was filthly
Only issue i was having with it was EML, the owner advised me he had the o2 sensor replaced and there was a receipt for this, but DC5's precat O2 sensors run on wideband and these are not cheap, the receipt was for £70 so i was convinced the secondry O2 sensor had been replaced. I ordered a new sensor from Torque GT and replaced it which cured the EML. While i was at it, i gave it a full service, new oil/filter, plugs, cabin filters and gave the car a general check over.
As a side note, i recently bought a 3D printer, this was the perfect chance to try something with it... i designed a 3D printed oil filter removal tool, printed it in about 6 hours and gave it a go...
While changing the oil i also noticed a slight leak from the bottom of the rad, the bottom clamp had rusted away and there was no force being applied around the hose anymore... i decided to swap this for a spare silicone hose with new clamps i had spare from my old EP3.
So after using the car a few weeks, i loved it... everything i didnt like about my EP3 was sorted on the DC5, no dropping out of vtec between gears, LSD, nicer interior, hydralic steering, it really is a great complete package.
The one thing i was in a hurry to change though was the intake, it had an AEM Long arm, this sits the filter behind the duct in the bumper which is great in the dry... however at the beginning of winter in the UK, not so great. I had a tegiwa intake on my EP3 and loved the noise, i knew these were a little harder to find for a DC5 and didnt want to pay the price new, eventually a good deal popped up and i bought one with a pre cut scuttle too, i also managed to sell my AEM to recoup a little of the money, got it fitted the day it arrived with a nice new silicone intake hose too.
What a noise! I had the same one on my EP3, but my EP3 also had a loud exhaust, so having no exhaust noise and all intake noise with the DC5, the cross over into VTEC sounds so much better, it reminds me of my B series engines in my EK.
Next on the list, well you can see the state of the engine bay and the wheels, this needed sorted!
I've always loved Regamasters, if you know about JDM wheels, then you know how timeless these are, i dont think ive ever seen a car that they dont look great on... i found a set up for sale with the bonus of having AD08R's fitted, these were about 70 mile away in the Yorkshire Dales so a deal was done and i went to pick them up on a miserable sunday, shame the roads were greasy and wet as they would of been fun.
Stoppped for a photo on the way back catching the sunset, best photo ive taken of the car so far, not bad for an iphone!
And a photo of the new wheels, theyre in great condition, not a mark on them and even came with centre caps which ive not seen before on another pair.
Whilst there i picked up a spare K20 rocker cover so i can refurb and paint it, made a start on this over the christmas, its ready for primer now but i havnt had a chance to paint it yet, hopefully this weekend! I bought some wrinkle blue paint for it, hopefully it goes well.
Now thats pretty much up to date for car updates, but ive been doing some stockpiling of parts ready for the summer! My plans with the teg is to keep it comfy as its my only car, but i also want it to be capable on track days. I had bought some Miester R coilovers for my EP3 but never got round to fitting them, i then found out that they will fit a DC5 with EP3 track rod ends, so ive kept them and refurb'ed them ready for better weather. I also got PBS pads front and rear as a christmas gift, along with a couple of Javelin vouchers. Just after christmas, i picked up some braided lines too. So the plans are, around Feb/March time as the weather gets better to fit all of the parts i've got and a couple more things i want to get too.
Coilovers, pbs pads, braided lines with fresh fluid, rear camber arms, and stick the Regamasters on, then get all the suspension set up, maybe a baffled sump and were good to go!
I'll leave this for now and update when i have some time, i have a post about fitting rear light seals, but thats boring and i wanted to get a thread started
Long story short, i seen a post on a local facebook group of a guy buying a new car with a photo of his new 350Z and a DC5 in the background, i dropped him a message and turned out he was going to be selling the DC5 and he had not got round to sorting a for sale ad, i asked if i could pop round to see it that afternoon as it was only a few miles away (there is a piston heads sticker on the car, so if your on here, hello and thanks!)... a deal was done there and then and a week later i picked it up. It was basically stock other than a long arm intake (more on that later) and a custom made OEM replacment exhaust. 120K on the clocks but has the certificate of when it was converted to MPH which removes 25K, so milage just under 100K. The previous owner was the first owner from import, he had it 11 years, it came with stacks of history, the original import documents, the auction sheet (grade 4B).
The car had no MOT and had sat for a little while, judging by the history and how the car drove i was hopeful it would go straight through an MOT, so i sold my EP3, picked the teg up on a saturday morning and headed straight for its MOT, which it flew through and passed with no advisories, had a quick look under it on the ramp too and happy to report no major rust!
Quick photo's i was sent from the previous owner before going to have a look
After it's MOT i took it for a quick wash as it had been sat for awhile and was filthly
Only issue i was having with it was EML, the owner advised me he had the o2 sensor replaced and there was a receipt for this, but DC5's precat O2 sensors run on wideband and these are not cheap, the receipt was for £70 so i was convinced the secondry O2 sensor had been replaced. I ordered a new sensor from Torque GT and replaced it which cured the EML. While i was at it, i gave it a full service, new oil/filter, plugs, cabin filters and gave the car a general check over.
As a side note, i recently bought a 3D printer, this was the perfect chance to try something with it... i designed a 3D printed oil filter removal tool, printed it in about 6 hours and gave it a go...
While changing the oil i also noticed a slight leak from the bottom of the rad, the bottom clamp had rusted away and there was no force being applied around the hose anymore... i decided to swap this for a spare silicone hose with new clamps i had spare from my old EP3.
So after using the car a few weeks, i loved it... everything i didnt like about my EP3 was sorted on the DC5, no dropping out of vtec between gears, LSD, nicer interior, hydralic steering, it really is a great complete package.
The one thing i was in a hurry to change though was the intake, it had an AEM Long arm, this sits the filter behind the duct in the bumper which is great in the dry... however at the beginning of winter in the UK, not so great. I had a tegiwa intake on my EP3 and loved the noise, i knew these were a little harder to find for a DC5 and didnt want to pay the price new, eventually a good deal popped up and i bought one with a pre cut scuttle too, i also managed to sell my AEM to recoup a little of the money, got it fitted the day it arrived with a nice new silicone intake hose too.
What a noise! I had the same one on my EP3, but my EP3 also had a loud exhaust, so having no exhaust noise and all intake noise with the DC5, the cross over into VTEC sounds so much better, it reminds me of my B series engines in my EK.
Next on the list, well you can see the state of the engine bay and the wheels, this needed sorted!
I've always loved Regamasters, if you know about JDM wheels, then you know how timeless these are, i dont think ive ever seen a car that they dont look great on... i found a set up for sale with the bonus of having AD08R's fitted, these were about 70 mile away in the Yorkshire Dales so a deal was done and i went to pick them up on a miserable sunday, shame the roads were greasy and wet as they would of been fun.
Stoppped for a photo on the way back catching the sunset, best photo ive taken of the car so far, not bad for an iphone!
And a photo of the new wheels, theyre in great condition, not a mark on them and even came with centre caps which ive not seen before on another pair.
Whilst there i picked up a spare K20 rocker cover so i can refurb and paint it, made a start on this over the christmas, its ready for primer now but i havnt had a chance to paint it yet, hopefully this weekend! I bought some wrinkle blue paint for it, hopefully it goes well.
Now thats pretty much up to date for car updates, but ive been doing some stockpiling of parts ready for the summer! My plans with the teg is to keep it comfy as its my only car, but i also want it to be capable on track days. I had bought some Miester R coilovers for my EP3 but never got round to fitting them, i then found out that they will fit a DC5 with EP3 track rod ends, so ive kept them and refurb'ed them ready for better weather. I also got PBS pads front and rear as a christmas gift, along with a couple of Javelin vouchers. Just after christmas, i picked up some braided lines too. So the plans are, around Feb/March time as the weather gets better to fit all of the parts i've got and a couple more things i want to get too.
Coilovers, pbs pads, braided lines with fresh fluid, rear camber arms, and stick the Regamasters on, then get all the suspension set up, maybe a baffled sump and were good to go!
I'll leave this for now and update when i have some time, i have a post about fitting rear light seals, but thats boring and i wanted to get a thread started
Brilliant car and brilliant build 
I had a fairly well spec'd DC5 a good few years back with a pricy, but fully built engine (Toda, Skunk etc) I bought via ICB Motorsports in the States and shipped it across (worked out a lot cheaper that way than getting it built over here)
Loved the car but I soon outgrew it, so returned it to OEM and sold it and the built engine as well...
I still hanker after one for a weekend toy, but I'd have to faff about getting bigger seats sorted again and that puts me off a bit haha
Looks like you've got a great build going though; it'll be good to watch it's progress
I had a fairly well spec'd DC5 a good few years back with a pricy, but fully built engine (Toda, Skunk etc) I bought via ICB Motorsports in the States and shipped it across (worked out a lot cheaper that way than getting it built over here)
Loved the car but I soon outgrew it, so returned it to OEM and sold it and the built engine as well...
I still hanker after one for a weekend toy, but I'd have to faff about getting bigger seats sorted again and that puts me off a bit haha
Looks like you've got a great build going though; it'll be good to watch it's progress
Thank you for the replies!
5er said:
Your wheels, I think, might be Regamaster Marquis Promada with Evo stickers applied, hence the centre caps (which the MPs came with). I can't quite remember the Desmond ins and outs cos I haven't been into wheels in years.
Thanks for the info, if im being honest I never knew there was a difference! Having a quick search on google shows the "Evo" seem to be a lighter weight version and the "Marquis Promada" seem to be more of a show piece having centre caps.... Now im not sure if mine have just had the centre caps added or how to tell, theyre stampted correctly for Regamasters but im not sure which version, doesnt seem to be a lot of info on the internet on these either, think ill do some digging!Yeah I think blue seems to be quite a rare colour, mine also has blue recaros, door trims, carpets and floor mats, I'll stick a photo up once ive cleaned the inside properly! Drivers side has a little rip and the common bolster wear, passenger side is pretty good though.
After having the car a few days I noticed a little leak into the boot, which normally means the rear light seals need doing which is very common on these. So I bought two new gaskets (well I bought one at first, didn't noticed they were sold individually and had to wait 2 weeks for one to come in!).
I was a little nervous about this, the car had been undersealed but I wasn't sure if behind the bumper had been done or if i was going to find rust...Eventually had time to go and fit them, so pulled the bumper off to find that it hadn't been undersealed but there was only a little amount of surface rust.
But this is where the problem started... I went to unbolt the brackets that hold the lights to the car, the whole bracket was rotten, tapping it with anything was breaking bits off so i decided to leave them for now, a quick search and a post on the Integra group got me the part numbers for the brackets from Honda, expecting to have my eyes out they came back with a reasonble £50 for both, but they had a 3 week wait, so I ordered them and they should be due at the start of next week.
Now i just have to work out how I'm going to get the rusty bolts out of the car, might be a cut/drill and tap job which I dont really want to do, but they're rusted to the point no socket will go on, or if i hammer one on it looks like they'll snap.
After having the car a few days I noticed a little leak into the boot, which normally means the rear light seals need doing which is very common on these. So I bought two new gaskets (well I bought one at first, didn't noticed they were sold individually and had to wait 2 weeks for one to come in!).
I was a little nervous about this, the car had been undersealed but I wasn't sure if behind the bumper had been done or if i was going to find rust...Eventually had time to go and fit them, so pulled the bumper off to find that it hadn't been undersealed but there was only a little amount of surface rust.
But this is where the problem started... I went to unbolt the brackets that hold the lights to the car, the whole bracket was rotten, tapping it with anything was breaking bits off so i decided to leave them for now, a quick search and a post on the Integra group got me the part numbers for the brackets from Honda, expecting to have my eyes out they came back with a reasonble £50 for both, but they had a 3 week wait, so I ordered them and they should be due at the start of next week.
Now i just have to work out how I'm going to get the rusty bolts out of the car, might be a cut/drill and tap job which I dont really want to do, but they're rusted to the point no socket will go on, or if i hammer one on it looks like they'll snap.
Had the weekend working on the car to get a few jobs done. My friends recently started his own detailing company and has just got the keys to his unit, so we decided that he would give the car a good wash inside and out, and polish up my headlights, while he was on with that, I could get my rear light brackets and the surface rust sorted and grab a few photos for him too.
Quick snow foam and a wash down to get it clean before pulling it in the unit.
Then whipped the bumper off and got to it, the plan was to remove the lights and brackets, wire wheel and sand down all the surface rust, treat it with a rust converter then underseal it.
It wasn't long before a grinder came out, those brackets were not budging. A nice old rotten parts vs OEM Honda photo....
Once off I cleaned up all the surface rust and treated the areas
After that had cured after a coat or two, then I undersealed the area and left that with a heater on for 24 hours, called it a day there as we started off pretty late in the day. Came back on Sunday to finish the job, bolted the new brackets to the lights, and used the new OEM Honda light gaskets. Looks a whole lot better now.
After getting this done, I also wanted to deal with a little rust on the inner arch lips, I knew about this when I bought the car, I've seen these a lot worse too so wanted to catch it while I could, I know this isnt the ideal solution but without spending loads on paint I'm happy with the result. I carefully sanded the outer edge, treated with rust treatment, then used some touch up paint and clear coat, it looks better in person than it does on the photo but the main thing is i know its been treated and protected for now, I also wire wheeled the back side of the metal and treated that then used underseal there and touched up a few little spots. Ideally in the summer when I have time I'd like to redo both full inner arches with underseal.
Before -
After -
So as I was doing all this, my friend set about polishing my headlights, cleaning up the interior and waxing the car. We then test fitted the Regamaster's too and grabbed some photos, so happy with how this looks and cant wait to get them and my coilovers on.
That's all for now, hopefully get the rocker cover painted this weekend!
Quick snow foam and a wash down to get it clean before pulling it in the unit.
Then whipped the bumper off and got to it, the plan was to remove the lights and brackets, wire wheel and sand down all the surface rust, treat it with a rust converter then underseal it.
It wasn't long before a grinder came out, those brackets were not budging. A nice old rotten parts vs OEM Honda photo....
Once off I cleaned up all the surface rust and treated the areas
After that had cured after a coat or two, then I undersealed the area and left that with a heater on for 24 hours, called it a day there as we started off pretty late in the day. Came back on Sunday to finish the job, bolted the new brackets to the lights, and used the new OEM Honda light gaskets. Looks a whole lot better now.
After getting this done, I also wanted to deal with a little rust on the inner arch lips, I knew about this when I bought the car, I've seen these a lot worse too so wanted to catch it while I could, I know this isnt the ideal solution but without spending loads on paint I'm happy with the result. I carefully sanded the outer edge, treated with rust treatment, then used some touch up paint and clear coat, it looks better in person than it does on the photo but the main thing is i know its been treated and protected for now, I also wire wheeled the back side of the metal and treated that then used underseal there and touched up a few little spots. Ideally in the summer when I have time I'd like to redo both full inner arches with underseal.
Before -
After -
So as I was doing all this, my friend set about polishing my headlights, cleaning up the interior and waxing the car. We then test fitted the Regamaster's too and grabbed some photos, so happy with how this looks and cant wait to get them and my coilovers on.
That's all for now, hopefully get the rocker cover painted this weekend!
Quags said:
Lovely car, great to see you saving it and bringing back the luster
Cheers! Glad all that kinda stuff is done for now, looking forward to getting some new bits on the car!With that in mind, I bought some shifter bushings from a group buy via the DC5 forum, these turned up today so hopefully get these fitted this week or weekend, I wouldnt say the OEM shift is bad but after seeing others post about how worn or perished their bushings were, I thought I'd have a go!
Not a lot of progress unfortunately, but I picked up a bargain custom made 2.5” cat back, made by CAS engineering. Hopefully this gives me a little bit of performance and some noise I’ve been missing
Waiting for some fresh gaskets to get that on, I’ve also received all my delrin shifter bushes so should get those on this weekend. When payday comes at the end of this month I’ll be ordering EP3 track rod ends (for my ep3 fitment coilovers) and some rear camber arms, then it’s time to get everything together.
Waiting for some fresh gaskets to get that on, I’ve also received all my delrin shifter bushes so should get those on this weekend. When payday comes at the end of this month I’ll be ordering EP3 track rod ends (for my ep3 fitment coilovers) and some rear camber arms, then it’s time to get everything together.
Thank you for all the comments!
It was imported in 2006 and has done around 80k miles on UK roads. To be fair, the underside of the car has barely any rust at all, it was undersealed when it was imported and it looks like they've done a good job as its still going strong, it just looks like they hadn't taken any parts off to do behind the rear bumper. I'm hoping when the weather is better I can spend a weekend under it with a whire wheel to take it all back to bare metal and give it a fresh coat of underseal, but for now I'm happy with where its at knowing that it is protected and theres no major rust on the car. Mechnical maintenance its been really well looked after, there are stacks of receipts and full service history, I think it has just been neglected for the last year the previous owner had it as it had only done a few 100 miles and spent a lot of its time on his drive.
I will be putting my cat-back on this weekend and fitting the new shifter bushings from the group buy on the Integra forum. I've also taken the day off work for the 11th of March at Teeside Autodrome to give it abit of a shakedown before hopefully booking Croft in April. Im on holiday next week but as soon as im back its all go to get the car ready for Teeside, I cant wait to see how this drives with good suspension, stickier tyres and sorted brakes.
Kewy said:
Crikey those light brackets are awful, sorry if you mentioned, but how long has this been in the UK for? Looks like it's spent a while here with not much maintenance!
Yeah those brackets were a fun job! I'm glad its all done now and protected though.It was imported in 2006 and has done around 80k miles on UK roads. To be fair, the underside of the car has barely any rust at all, it was undersealed when it was imported and it looks like they've done a good job as its still going strong, it just looks like they hadn't taken any parts off to do behind the rear bumper. I'm hoping when the weather is better I can spend a weekend under it with a whire wheel to take it all back to bare metal and give it a fresh coat of underseal, but for now I'm happy with where its at knowing that it is protected and theres no major rust on the car. Mechnical maintenance its been really well looked after, there are stacks of receipts and full service history, I think it has just been neglected for the last year the previous owner had it as it had only done a few 100 miles and spent a lot of its time on his drive.
I will be putting my cat-back on this weekend and fitting the new shifter bushings from the group buy on the Integra forum. I've also taken the day off work for the 11th of March at Teeside Autodrome to give it abit of a shakedown before hopefully booking Croft in April. Im on holiday next week but as soon as im back its all go to get the car ready for Teeside, I cant wait to see how this drives with good suspension, stickier tyres and sorted brakes.
Edited by Ellb123 on Friday 15th February 16:26
Managed to get some time this morning to install my delrin shifter bushes, these replace the stock ones which quite a lot on the DC5 groups seem to have worn quite badly.
So, got to work pulling the gearknob and trim off, since I was installing the shifter arm bush too I just took everything off for easy access. I did the two cable end bushes first. These came out pretty easy which I was surprised at after reading a few comments about how much of a pain they were, they also looked in fairly good condition so I’m abit dubious to if I’ll see much difference.
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/g27Qkwmv[/url]
And then the shifter arm bush too, bit trick to get the mechanism off but easy enough to change the bush once it was out.
The old bushings were in pretty good condition, comparing to some of the photos I’d seen on the groups of others basically falling apart, maybe I should of checked these before jumping in and buying but they were a good price on a group buy so I can’t complain.
I’ll be taking it for a drive later on so I’ll report back at how much of a difference I think this has made, from selecting gears it does feel a little tighter but there is still some play too.
So, got to work pulling the gearknob and trim off, since I was installing the shifter arm bush too I just took everything off for easy access. I did the two cable end bushes first. These came out pretty easy which I was surprised at after reading a few comments about how much of a pain they were, they also looked in fairly good condition so I’m abit dubious to if I’ll see much difference.
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/g27Qkwmv[/url]And then the shifter arm bush too, bit trick to get the mechanism off but easy enough to change the bush once it was out.
The old bushings were in pretty good condition, comparing to some of the photos I’d seen on the groups of others basically falling apart, maybe I should of checked these before jumping in and buying but they were a good price on a group buy so I can’t complain.
I’ll be taking it for a drive later on so I’ll report back at how much of a difference I think this has made, from selecting gears it does feel a little tighter but there is still some play too.
Edited by Ellb123 on Sunday 17th February 12:09
Edited by Ellb123 on Sunday 17th February 12:16
We made a change to the steering rack bushes to remove play on our DC5 race car.
https://www.zrtmotorsport.com/steering-update/
https://www.zrtmotorsport.com/steering-update/
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff