UK Integra R. Low miles & minty fresh
Discussion
I’m booked to go on track @ Castle Combe 12 Oct.
Was originally due to take my track-Lude, but it won’t be ready, so I’m going to take the Integra.
Looking forward to using it as intended!
Booked in next week for service. All oil/filters/fluids. Discs & CL RC5 pads, valve clearances along with swapping on my 98spec manifold & JDM cat/b-pipe.
Being Honda OEM it will all fit perfectly & the manifolds are very well regarded
Was originally due to take my track-Lude, but it won’t be ready, so I’m going to take the Integra.
Looking forward to using it as intended!
Booked in next week for service. All oil/filters/fluids. Discs & CL RC5 pads, valve clearances along with swapping on my 98spec manifold & JDM cat/b-pipe.
Being Honda OEM it will all fit perfectly & the manifolds are very well regarded
df76 said:
Should be great at Combe, report back afterwards please!
Well in a word Castle Combe was WET!!!Running the AD08’s I was mindful to go steady & feel my way back into it. Combe is my local circuit but it’s been a few years)
Swapped my better tyres onto the front & was pleasantly surprised at grip & traction on offer.
Certainly the poor weather favoured the mild torque & top-endy nature of the engine combined with compliant standard suspension and I was able to use the car really well.
The new discs & RC6 pads up front gave some superb stopping power- though the discs began picking-up after a couple of sessions. Pretty much to be expected....
Despite taking it somewhat steady the car was going superbly well.
When I knocked it on the head just after lunch I hadn’t been overtaken all morning.
Post track day I need to clean front callipers, bleed the brakes all round (& I think I have a handbrake issue with one of my exchange callipers!)
Re-bush over the winter too!
Busy stockpiling bits for a front-end refresh over the winter.
Hardrace replacement rubber LCA & UCA bushes, compliance bushes along with a pair of blueprint droplinks & lower ball joints. Honda quality but somewhat cheaper!
Should be DIY’able & get the front end as I’d like it.
Also have a new blueprint NSR caliper/carrier to go on.
Will get the rear rebush to follow- though il use my local specialists for that as it’s pretty likely there will be issues with sheared LCA bolts...
Hardrace replacement rubber LCA & UCA bushes, compliance bushes along with a pair of blueprint droplinks & lower ball joints. Honda quality but somewhat cheaper!
Should be DIY’able & get the front end as I’d like it.
Also have a new blueprint NSR caliper/carrier to go on.
Will get the rear rebush to follow- though il use my local specialists for that as it’s pretty likely there will be issues with sheared LCA bolts...
chrismc1977 said:
Busy stockpiling bits for a front-end refresh over the winter.
Hardrace replacement rubber LCA & UCA bushes, compliance bushes along with a pair of blueprint droplinks & lower ball joints. Honda quality but somewhat cheaper!
Should be DIY’able & get the front end as I’d like it.
Also have a new blueprint NSR caliper/carrier to go on.
Will get the rear rebush to follow- though il use my local specialists for that as it’s pretty likely there will be issues with sheared LCA bolts...
Looking foward to how the refresh improves the handling when it's all done. Plan to do this eventually on my DC2 and plan to go all Hardrace bushes apart from the RTA bushes. In the meantime, will be replacing worn parts with the Hardrace as required and have recently replaced my front droplinks with the Hardrace ones. Hardrace replacement rubber LCA & UCA bushes, compliance bushes along with a pair of blueprint droplinks & lower ball joints. Honda quality but somewhat cheaper!
Should be DIY’able & get the front end as I’d like it.
Also have a new blueprint NSR caliper/carrier to go on.
Will get the rear rebush to follow- though il use my local specialists for that as it’s pretty likely there will be issues with sheared LCA bolts...
Are the Blueprints close to Oem as you say and where do you source them from? Not really clued up about them but had a new set of Blueprint brake pads given to me by the previous owner a couple of years ago when I bought the car. I had them installed on the fronts when I had my disks replaced this summer and the pads needed filing down a bit to make them fit properly. Does feel OK though.
not seen this thread till the updates, so thought I'd mention some of my experiences over the years with mine (which I've now had for over 10 years!) quick comment on the flywheel. I put a 3.4kg fidenza one on mine and it's great (although a little noisy). can't say I really noticed any drivability issues - makes it easier to heal-and-toe though!
In terms of suspension, I wanted the car to be very complaint for bumpy road use, but much more aggressive on geo. think tarmac rally rather than circuit setup and much closer to OEM than most aim for (I run stock ride-height too)
I re-bushed the whole car with Hard race rubber bushes including the compliance bushes as I believe those specific bushes are OE hardness (I can't remember, but seem to recall hardrace do a street and race option, I went with softer street bushes). I also did HR front camber arms (with nice big adjustment bolt heads rather than the more common hex heads which rust and then round off!) JDM spec LCAs to allow a wider range of coilover options and toe kits on the back. its the only way you can get the right geo on these for more aggressive setups.
my OE dampers failed at the nurburgring, so I had to go aftermarket coilovers, I dearly would have loved some new OE Showa dampers, but they went end-of-life many years ago apparently and cost £800+ a set.
one thing no one has mentioned is ARB replacement - I put adjustable whiteline anti-roll bars front and rear (2 position front, 3 rear). one of the best suspension mods I have done - meant I can run a soft spring rate but keep the body in check, also makes it really easy to adjust turn-in for rain on track etc
brakes, I went to legend twin-pots at the front (similar to the NSX caliper which is also a popular swap). not for the extra piston, but for the extra width of the rotor you can use. I wanted to keep 15" wheel compatibility, but wanted more heat capacity. the legend rotors are a lot thicker (28mm on the legend rotor vs 23mm for the integra). not had any brake fade issues in the car since and its seen years of trackdays and european alpine driving which is very hard on brakes.
Baffled sump is a must for trackdays - my car had a issues before I put one in (the car will loose oil preasure and drop out of VTEC in corners without a baffle)
My car has a 4-1 manifold, a 80 quid exhaust and an APEXi ECU with the standard airbox - was mapped by Roman at eurospec at 201bhp on 95 octane fuel and still running a CAT
I've not done much to the car for years now (other than service it and drive it). had to do all the brake lines as they rusted away, and I'm worried the fuel tank is going to need replacing eventually as rust is starting there and you can't buy them any more
great cars - despite some unrelenting track abuse, its been very reliable - mine is a keeper
In terms of suspension, I wanted the car to be very complaint for bumpy road use, but much more aggressive on geo. think tarmac rally rather than circuit setup and much closer to OEM than most aim for (I run stock ride-height too)
I re-bushed the whole car with Hard race rubber bushes including the compliance bushes as I believe those specific bushes are OE hardness (I can't remember, but seem to recall hardrace do a street and race option, I went with softer street bushes). I also did HR front camber arms (with nice big adjustment bolt heads rather than the more common hex heads which rust and then round off!) JDM spec LCAs to allow a wider range of coilover options and toe kits on the back. its the only way you can get the right geo on these for more aggressive setups.
my OE dampers failed at the nurburgring, so I had to go aftermarket coilovers, I dearly would have loved some new OE Showa dampers, but they went end-of-life many years ago apparently and cost £800+ a set.
one thing no one has mentioned is ARB replacement - I put adjustable whiteline anti-roll bars front and rear (2 position front, 3 rear). one of the best suspension mods I have done - meant I can run a soft spring rate but keep the body in check, also makes it really easy to adjust turn-in for rain on track etc
brakes, I went to legend twin-pots at the front (similar to the NSX caliper which is also a popular swap). not for the extra piston, but for the extra width of the rotor you can use. I wanted to keep 15" wheel compatibility, but wanted more heat capacity. the legend rotors are a lot thicker (28mm on the legend rotor vs 23mm for the integra). not had any brake fade issues in the car since and its seen years of trackdays and european alpine driving which is very hard on brakes.
Baffled sump is a must for trackdays - my car had a issues before I put one in (the car will loose oil preasure and drop out of VTEC in corners without a baffle)
My car has a 4-1 manifold, a 80 quid exhaust and an APEXi ECU with the standard airbox - was mapped by Roman at eurospec at 201bhp on 95 octane fuel and still running a CAT
I've not done much to the car for years now (other than service it and drive it). had to do all the brake lines as they rusted away, and I'm worried the fuel tank is going to need replacing eventually as rust is starting there and you can't buy them any more
great cars - despite some unrelenting track abuse, its been very reliable - mine is a keeper
Thanks to Christmas I now have a set of Hardrace bushes for the front end lower & upper arms, compliance bushes & some new balljoints & arb droplinks to fit.
Looking forward to fitting them. Should really tighten it up a treat.
Certainly at 18yrs/65k I’m sure il feel a huge benefit!
Apart from that it’s service as normal. Duff rear caliper replaced with no issues
Looking forward to fitting them. Should really tighten it up a treat.
Certainly at 18yrs/65k I’m sure il feel a huge benefit!
Apart from that it’s service as normal. Duff rear caliper replaced with no issues
Edited by chrismc1977 on Saturday 29th December 19:05
Today’s fettling session saw me whip round the car & re-bleed all the brakes.
I’d had a nagging feeling that the pedal was a bit long since changing the NSR caliper. Everything had appeared to bleed up properly though so put it down to the front pads having done a track day...
However I decided to bleed the rears off the hub with bleed nipples pointing skywards & got a couple of small bubbles from each side!!
Hey presto. Brakes are back to their absolute best!! Il remember that for next time...
The angle and position of the bleed nipples on the rears don’t lend themselves to easy bleeding it seems
I’d had a nagging feeling that the pedal was a bit long since changing the NSR caliper. Everything had appeared to bleed up properly though so put it down to the front pads having done a track day...
However I decided to bleed the rears off the hub with bleed nipples pointing skywards & got a couple of small bubbles from each side!!
Hey presto. Brakes are back to their absolute best!! Il remember that for next time...
The angle and position of the bleed nipples on the rears don’t lend themselves to easy bleeding it seems
Busy couple of months ahead for the car.
Front end replacement bushes are all ready to be fitted.
Also booked in for a couple of minor bodywork issues to be sorted along with a precautionary inspection/freshen of rear sills & arches & my spare wheels to be refurbed in CW.
Should be back looking & driving it’s very best after that. :-)
Front end replacement bushes are all ready to be fitted.
Also booked in for a couple of minor bodywork issues to be sorted along with a precautionary inspection/freshen of rear sills & arches & my spare wheels to be refurbed in CW.
Should be back looking & driving it’s very best after that. :-)
Koolkat969 said:
Looking foward to how the refresh improves the handling when it's all done. Plan to do this eventually on my DC2 and plan to go all Hardrace bushes apart from the RTA bushes. In the meantime, will be replacing worn parts with the Hardrace as required and have recently replaced my front droplinks with the Hardrace ones.
Are the Blueprints close to Oem as you say and where do you source them from? Not really clued up about them but had a new set of Blueprint brake pads given to me by the previous owner a couple of years ago when I bought the car. I had them installed on the fronts when I had my disks replaced this summer and the pads needed filing down a bit to make them fit properly. Does feel OK though.
Apologies- missed this!Are the Blueprints close to Oem as you say and where do you source them from? Not really clued up about them but had a new set of Blueprint brake pads given to me by the previous owner a couple of years ago when I bought the car. I had them installed on the fronts when I had my disks replaced this summer and the pads needed filing down a bit to make them fit properly. Does feel OK though.
I’ve never had a problem with blueprint stuff tbh. The clutch is manufactured by the same folk who did them for Honda- so effectively an OEM clutch in a Blueprint box.
Certainly I’ve always found their stuff to be every bit up to Honda OEM quality. Dizzy cap, rotor arm etc etc.
Upper & lower Bushes up front I’m replacing with Hardrace- aside from ball joints & droplinks which are Blueprint. I don’t foresee any aggro with that setup.
Rear end will be to follow. Droplinks have already been done. The rest I believe are available from Hardrace- possibly with the exception of the damper bottom bush where it attaches to the trailing arm. I’m sure I can source these elsewhere however.
chrismc1977 said:
AndrewGP said:
Good to see the car being used as it should! You drove past me whilst on was walking my kids to school run a few weeks back and it looked superb!
Thanks! Haven’t seen the Clio parked up recently- have you gone for a change??Stock front pads fitted today- the RC6’s proving too noisy with too many nasty deposits on the front wheels for daily road use.
Interestingly inner pad locating shoulders needed filing on both sides to allow the pads to fit freely in the carriers. Outer pads were fine however. Never known that before with Honda OEM stuff....
Quiet braking restored!
Interestingly inner pad locating shoulders needed filing on both sides to allow the pads to fit freely in the carriers. Outer pads were fine however. Never known that before with Honda OEM stuff....
Quiet braking restored!
chrismc1977 said:
Stock front pads fitted today- the RC6’s proving too noisy with too many nasty deposits on the front wheels for daily road use.
Interestingly inner pad locating shoulders needed filing on both sides to allow the pads to fit freely in the carriers. Outer pads were fine however. Never known that before with Honda OEM stuff....
Quiet braking restored!
The Blueprint pads i had fitted to the front needed filing also (see my post on the 28th of November). Was told by the garage that one side was fine and didn't need filing but didn't say whether it was the inner or outer that was fine. Interesting that! Interestingly inner pad locating shoulders needed filing on both sides to allow the pads to fit freely in the carriers. Outer pads were fine however. Never known that before with Honda OEM stuff....
Quiet braking restored!
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