I’ve been working on The Ugly One quite a lot over the last month or so. Since the last update, I have:
Removed the ABS system including the wiring.
Removed the engine and transmission.
Disassembled the engine.
Removed the under carpet tar and firewall insulation.
Removed the AC wiring.
Removed the sound system wiring.
Made some mounts for my racing seat.
A big thanks to my Dad and Dave for helping me get the engine and transmission out. And thanks Matt for being willing to help me get the under carpet tar out and blow up some plastic bottles with the left over dry ice after. Thank you Juana for helping me get the rear hatch off. I don’t think I could have carried it without you there.
I almost wish that I hadn’t bothered removing all the wiring for the ABS, AC and sound systems. It took me a few days to do it all, which is a long time to spend to get only a few pounds off of the car. Oh well.
I am really happy with the condition of the engine, though. It has almost 300,000 km on it and the bearings are still good enough to put right back in. The rings are letting a bit of oil by so we’ll replace them, and the piston bushings seem somewhat worn so there’s a bit of play. We’ll fix that, put in ARP rod bolts and a crank scraper, measure clearances on the bearings to make sure they’re within spec, and that’s it. The head is getting the factory valve job refreshed and being milled 0.028" to up the compression a bit.
I’m pretty happy with the seat mounts that I made. The seat is now about as low as it can get without removing the original mounting points, and I’ve moved it towards the center of the car by a few inches. The driving position seems comfortable, and I’ve got room to move it forward or back an inch each way if I find I don’t like it when I’m actually driving the car. The only thing I have left to do on the mounts is trim off the excess metal and paint them.
The next step is either to get the roll cage in the car or to have the bodywork done.
Ben, those pictures of the seat mounts were in-progress, the finished product is much less scary.
No real updates on the car at this point. We had a setback with the engine - one of the cylinders was way out of round and we have been unable to find an OEM set of oversize pistons to fix the problem. Hopefully we’ll be picking up a usable engine this weekend.
We took this engine apart on the weekend and the cylinders are within factory specifications so we’ll be using it. The engine that came with the car will be a backup in case something catastrophic happens.
A big pile of parts should be arriving this week, my dad has been prepping the body for a repaint and we’re trying to find somebody to do the roll cage for us, since we’ve basically run out of time to do it ourselves.
I’m trying to fill out my 1990-1993 Integra weights list (link: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pKxooL4M291ektRVualMtNg). Can somebody who has a 1992 GS-R wheel with a stock sized tire put it on a scale and tell me what number shows up? No “I picked one up once and it felt like about 30 lbs” please.
Car is away getting a roll cage put in. Meanwhile, the parts I’ve been waiting for have arrived:
Some nice parts there, is that a LSD I spy near the front?
Have fun with the S300, did you pick up a wideband also?
I’ve been sorting out a S300 tune for the last few weeks with my old engine, still waiting for my new head to come back from Lance at Hayward Performance.
Also looks like you’re still working on your bottom end, those are ARP rod bolts I believe?
Yes, you do see a Quaife in there :). I actually got the crank, rod and pistons back in the block with the ARP rod bolts in place last weekend. Waiting on the second head to get back from the machine shop after my stupid mistake with the first one :(.
I already have a wideband, but don’t know if I’m going to have time to do a proper tune on the car before it hits the track in April. Might have to just use the stock ECU for the first few races.
The cage is being done by a guy that was recommended by another racer I know. It’s hard to find people willing to do this kind of work that don’t charge an arm and a leg - and I need those to drive!
What are your plans for the engine you’re building right now?
The head is being worked over at Hayward, the usual stuff:
Cleaning
Inspect all Supertech valve train parts for wear
New bronze valve guides
Multi-angle valve job with back cut
Short turn and bowl area port and polish
Port and polish to port entry and optimize divider
Deshroud and polish combustion chambers
Valve guides faced out of ports
Combustion chamber CC’ing
Match intake manifold, gasket match
Resurface
Reassembly with new Honda valve stem seals and gaskets
Staying within my class rules with the B17 bottom end and it’s getting a:
Cleaning
Resurface
Lightened turned down B17 crank shaft
0.25 bore and hone
JDM ITR Honda pistons and rings
Shot peened stock rods
Honda bearings
ARP bolts
Honda gaskets
Honda seals
Honda H2O and oil pumps
Unorthodox Pulleys
Moroso oil pan
Prelude breather fittings
Toda flywheel
My current modified ITR intake manifold off my old engine will be reworked with MDX injectors, Hondata insulating gasket and transfered over along with my cams, cam gears, valve cover and Spoon header unless I can find a reasonable deal on a used first gen Toda header. Nothing overly exotic or cutting edge just going with a proven strong combination of established parts.
Stock 4.4, ran out of money. Depending on how the car runs this year, I might switch FDs for next season, but it really depends on whether the 4.4 suits Mission Raceway or not. If there will be any issue with the 4.4 dropping me out of the power band it will be at the turn 3 exit, with turns 2 and 6 being close seconds.
I’m curious, what class do you race your GS-R in? I’m really not familiar with the autocross/solo side of things.
Oh, and 4sd4dr, you could build the seat rails yourself for about $20 of sheet metal and a half day in the garage with a hammer and drill. They really aren’t hard to do.
Besides, who besides guys with dedicated race cars would want seat rails where you have to unbolt the seat to adjust it forwards or back?
EP as in E Prepared, similar but different than E Production.
I’m still on my stock 4.40 with a Quaife I’ve used since 95. Just was thinking while I had the engine and gearbox out I would try a FD change. What diameter tire are you going to be using? 23 inch?
If either one of you are in need of some roll bar padding I have maybe 6 to 8 sticks of Longacre black padding left over. I used all my SFI dense stuff but have some of this fluff left over, good for some distant areas of the cage.
Our rules state that you must have a minimum of 1/2" impact foam on any cage that would come into contact with a helmet or body part.
The MOROSO foam I got is more that enough. I know the high density stuff you are talking about with the adhiesive on it but this stuff is just fine.
DB2-R81 - I assume that you autocross your car here locally and it seems that you have prepared it to a fairly high standard and I was wondering why you dont come to Mission and road race it?
I still don’t think you remember me, but I was at one of your early driver licensing days at mission. You took SCCBC’s driving school and I was also there with my red GSR along with a friend named Greg who owns a silver M5 for some track time.
If I recall it was my second or third driving school with SCCBC don’t remember exactly what year had to be late 90’s. At the time my car was pretty much stock likely with an exhaust and R compound tires. I use to attend lots of track days mostly at what use to be called SIR now Pacific Raceway outside of Seattle.
My car is still way to pretty to use as a wheel to wheel race car and I could never afford all the expenses of maintenance and repairs associated with fender to fender racing.
I still usually get out for one or two track days a year and plan on doing one at Mission later this year.
