Well im Alex and im new to the forum, im somewhat new to the car scene i started my interests in cars around 3 years ago. Im actually only 16 not even licensed yet. Im not the kind of person to “rice” it out. Nor do somthing stupid and blow the engine, ruin my driving history and other stupid ish. Ive searched around on G2IC for a couple months and seemed like a nice friendly forum compared to Club-integra. But yeah… im hoping for bad criticism but suggestions on what i should do. that would REEAAAAALLLYYY HELP.
This integra has been around in the family for quite some time and its finally passed to me. It wasnt till that 3 years ago i realized what i have on my hands and sooner or later i did some research which did me some thinking on what to do with it. With money a factor, and 230k+ miles on the engine im not planning on going ALL out on the car. until enough money comes around for a B18 swap.
but till then… yeah haha nothing much… suspension, headers, intake, exhaust, ecu, rims/spacers and careful driving as there is alot miles on the car. but yeah. here it is.
rear end, small dent near the emblem. i have no clue how that got there.
LS special
any suggestions on what i should do to fix those gaps?
bay. very dirty in picture but i did some cleaning a few days ago.
front end. i plan on switching out into JDM 1pc’s soon. anybody selling on forums?
stick. which i do have down. i havent gotten really into techniques yet.
i need some gas, lol.
230K+ miles
backseats.
wired for sub.
rear end again.
of course im going to admit, im still learning more and more and this is my first time stepping up and introducing myself anywhere. im just an enthusiast wanting to meet other people with the same passion for the same car.
Suggestions are welcome. telll mee what you think i should do first.
car looks to be in decent shape, body looks clean. to fix that gap between the tires and fender, u’re gonna need to lower the vehicle. that means performance shocks and springs or coilovers. depending on how much you have and how much you are welling to spend, i say that should be the first upgrade.
thats what i was thinking too. since id like to do it as soon as possible, i want to lower them by springs on Tien S. Techs or Skunk2s. Then get struts later on when i have money again so that my shocks dont blow. But thing is, the total will be almost as much as coilovers in the end and plus theyre adjustable… but i know im probably never going to have that much all at once for a while. there are coilover sleeves, but i dont know too much about those.
I must say you have my favorite and what I consider to be the rarest G2 Integra they made because it is Isle Green Pearl, has the black interior (instead of that gross tan) and is a 5 speed (instead of automatic). My first Integra was a Frost White LSS and I loved that thing. The car looks good.
I will tell you what someone told me 10 years ago when I first joined the site: the best thing you can do to improve handleing of your car, before you do anything else is to put in stiffer bushings. Energy Suspension makes a kit which is less than good lowering springs that will really help the handling. Bushings will improve the effect that everything else you replace has on the suspension. I drove my LSS for 6 years with nothing more than ES bushings, a Progress rear sway bar and a Neuspeed front tie bar and I loved it.
There are a lot of tips on this site about maintenance and fixing common little issues like leaky sunroofs and stuff like that. Lots of them are free or very inexpensive.
When it comes to buying new parts for these cars, a general rule to follow is if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. This is very important when buying suspension parts, brake parts and internal engine parts…especially if you’ve found said cheap parts on ebay.
thanks soul. i do love the color of my car cause of the rarity. ive only seen one other like it and not in as good condition. my family also owns a 92 integra GS sedan which i might be able to get pics. but sadly its not running, which im not too sure why. i think its not getting enough spark, so i changed the distributor but that still dident fix the problem im guessing ignition coil? anyways, about the bushings. that seems like the perfect thing to do for me as the first mod. did you get the whole hyperflex master kit? or just the few that were necessary, and how was installation? thanks again for the suggestion, as well as the inspiration.
nice ride like the color don’t see those to often
like you i have also had my da since i was 16 but it was sadly stolen today
but like db1 said i would lower the car first
good luck and enjoy da
I did get the whole kit but there was a bunch of stuff I didn’t use from it. I didn’t replace the front sway bar (body mounts) or steering rack bushings because I think they were hard to get to? The kit also comes with lots of little boots for the balljoints, I didn’t use those either. I did buy and replace the big trailing arm bushings also (doesn’t come in the kit) but back then you couldn’t buy that bushing separately from the dealer (you had to buy the whole arm). If you are willing to put in a little more money towards the parts and possibly installation, you may want to research the PIC/SUJA kit. I haven’t actually seen the 90-93 kit explicitly for sale anywhere, but it might be worth calling Suja. to see what’s up if you are interested in that. I don’t think it includes front upper arm bushings, but those aren’t super critical. At some point you’ll need a new ball joint up there and at that point just buy a whole new arm with new bushings from Acura. You will also need an alignment after you finish.
Some of the bushings will come out without a problem, but some can be really hard to get out and you’ll need to take the arm to a machine shop of some sort. One thing I didn’t know then that I do know now is that the bushings are supposed to be pressed out in a specific direction…so maybe the holes are conical or something? Installation is made to be done by hand.
If you don’t have access to all the tools you need, we can help point you in the right direction there as well.
I’ve got an autoshop at my school and maybe i can get installation help there. As well as a nice lift. Are the rear control arm bushings hard to put in? I hope they have a hydraulic press -.- but other than that do they really need to be pushed out in a certain direction.
It is the removal that is difficult, not the installation. I seem to remember the trailing arm bushing being a bit of a pain getting it in, but I think all the rest just literally slide right in by hand with almost no difficulty.
Honda indicates that the bushing for the compensator arm (that is the arm connected to the front of the trailing arm) should be driven out in “the direction indicated” and also has arrows to describe the installation/removal of the rear lower control arms, but looking at it more carefully, I don’t think it would actually matter. However, if it gives you piece of mind, that direction appears to be towards the front of the car if the arm were installed for the control arms and towards the back of the car if installed for the compensator arms but again, I don’t think it will actually matter. I should have studied that more carefully before I opened my mouth, I had just been looking at that the other day and interpreted it a bit differently. Sorry.
Here is the suspension setup I’ll have on my car when I’m done with it. You had mentioned suspension, so I figured I’d tell you what I had planned for my car.
Upgraded rubber bushings. These help every aspect of handling. Neuspeed front upper tie bar. In my opinion, this is the best bar out there. A good bar helps improve steering response. I am sure it helps geometry and other things, but the difference I noticed was the steering response.
15" wheels and good tires. The good tires will help all aspects of handling, the 15" wheels look best (to me) and allow for a sidewall size that will improve handling while not being a liability for the wheels over potholes. I haven’t researched tires at all and haven’t made up my mind about wheels yet. Progress Technology full bodied coilovers. I have never enjoyed having a really stiff suspension. The handling benefits just aren’t worth it to me. The progress coilovers are cheap, have reasonable spring rates and I believe will perform well but I have no personal experience with them. ASR rear sub-frame brace. I wouldn’t have bought this except I like having a large rear sway bar and this is a safe way to install one.
Integra type R 23mm rear sway bar
I had a 22mm Progress sway bar on my old LSS and it was fun. I like how the Type R bar works with the ASR brace though which is why I’m going that route this time.
yes, the sleeves must be pressed out in the specified direction. they are slightly tapered. i tried the press and those bastards weren’t going anywhere. and this was a fairly large press.
easiest way i found was to torch them out. once you torch the bushing out, scraping clean the inside with a screwdriver, and are left with just the sleeve, you just cut a slit down the inside of the sleeve with your torch. then they’ll pop out easily with a screwdriver. as long as you’re decent with a torch, this technique works great. the control arms are cast iron, while the sleeves are probably steel. not much to worry about there with damaging the control arm.
then again, depending on the environment the car has been, it may be easier for you to just use the press. up here, shit gets seized pretty often
damn an LS-special… center console… leather interior… leather wrapped wheel? isle green pearl… painted moldings… that is one rare DA, definitely jealous!!
Heres a font end shot of when i had an plastic front lip with amber bumper lights.
A few shots when i did a little last minute photoshoot at the UC San Diego campus.
note* i was a bit lower than i am now.
still have the stock GSR wheels
and a picture that i thought was pretty cool.
all of those picture were shot about 4 months ago (and im just posting it now, i know right). And all i had were bumper lights, coilovers and a lip.
I installed the energy suspension set on my DA and by far the best upgrade I did besides adding engine management. You can remove the old bushings using a table vise, hack saw, sterdy flathead screw driver, hammer, chisel, and a propane torch. It took me about 4 hours to do the front suspension and 4 to do the rear (my first time installing a set). This is with removal of the parts ect. and reinstallation. It saved me $800-1000 if I were to get a shop to do the set. remove parts, heat bushings until they start to pop, use screw driver to dig old rubber out, use hack saw to cut the sleeve in half, knock sleeves out with chisel and hammer, use table vise to press new bushing in, reinstall parts. It seems like a lot of steps but if you get the parts off first then start removing the bushings it goes pretty quick. Just be patiant and have some kool aid to keep calm (noticed your under 21 lol or I would suggest a beer).
After the bushing install I ordered skunk2 coilover sleeves and sport springs (package). For me they are perfect for DD use. You can drop the car for a very aggressive stance or you can keep it simple for a little better handling. I really enjoy my suspension. Not matter how much gas I give the car on nice turns it takes it. I haven’t upgraded any sway bars or corrected camber yet.
