Long build in process.

GENERAL General G2/G2IC Discussion
1

Well this is prettymuch a re-trace of the history of me getting my DA until present day.

I’ve been into Hondas since I was like 12-13 (am 24 now). But when the time came to buy my last car, I was bitten by the Subaru bug and I very nearly picked up a 2000 Subaru 2.5RS. After test-driving it and feeling the power virtually disappear at 5,000RPM… I realized how much I would miss the high-revving world of Honda…

I decided I didn’t want to get the tried-and-tired Civic Hatch, or the DC Integra… I do like EK Coupes, but still wanted something different… It was then that I really noticed the DA and how un-common it is around my area. After about a week I had plans to go see two different DA’s. Upon calling the owner of the first car, I found it had been sold. Meh… So I called on the second one and went to see it.

I instantly loved it. The next day I returned to the guys house with $2650 in cash and drove my baby home.

I’ll first list the mods, then will document the history with pics that I have. Motor has 0 miles on it as it was just barely installed, and still waiting to paint the shell.

Exterior:
LS Mesh wheels; wrapped in BF Goodrich G-Force Sports in 195/50/15.
OEM Front License Plate Removal Plugs
Acura Legend Yellow Fog-Light Mod, with the Fog-light switch mod.
S2K Style Antenna

Suspension:
Skunk2 Pro-S Coilovers
SuspensionTechniques Front and Rear Swaybars
RevoTechnica Front/Rear Camber Kit
HaSport Billet Aluminum MotorMounts

Motor, freshly built.
Block:
- B18B, 81.5MM bore, fresh from the machine shop
- Micro-Polished B18B Crank
- BC B18B Rods w/ ARP 2000 studs
- JE Pistons, 11.6:1’ish compression
- Calico Bearings all around
- ARP Main Bolts
- ARP Headstuds
- OEM ITR Oil Pump
- GMB Water Pump
- Gates Racing Blue Timing Belt

 Head:
    - '99 B16a3 PR3 Head
    - Fresh 3-angle valvejob
    - '00 JDM ITR/CTR P73 Cams
    - Skunk2 Pro-Series Adjustable Cam Gears
    - ITR Lost Motion Assemblies
    - ITR Dual Valve Springs/Retainers
    - ITR P73 Type-R Intake Manifold,  port-matched to theottlebody 
    - OmniPower 70mm throttle body
    - eBay 4-1 header; 2.5" Collector
    - RS*R ExMAG Exhaust System
    - CarSOUND 2.5" Hi-Flow Cat

Transmission:
'91 JDM XSi/B16 trans with 4.4 Final Drive
Raybestos OEM-Replacement Clutch Disk
Exedy OEM-Replacement Pressure Plate
B18B Flywheel, freshly balanced

Misc:
OEM Non-A/C Firewall plug
OEM Non-A/C Heater Duct
A/C Delete
P/S Delete with in-line filter
JDM One-Piece Headlights (soon to be installed)
GoldenEagle LS-Vtec Kit

First day; The Test Drive:

The next day at its new home; next to my hooptie:

After owning it for a few months, I did some absolutely necessary mods.

Skunk2 Pro-S Coilover Setup:

Installed:

Suspension Techniques front/rear Swaybars; Purchased from a g2ic member:

After the drop:

2

Decent side-shot after the drop; not too low, not too 4x4:

After a nice bath, with my buddies B16B-swapped EK:

Right after the new wheels + height adjustment & alignment:

At my first local car-meet:

MOTOR STUFF

Fresh from the machine shop:

Mmmm… Goodies!:

JE Piston; Dome Height of 4.2mm/cc:

P73 Intake Manifold Compared to the Stock B16 one:

3

The reason I decided to repaint was, the previous owner had a Maaco paintjob done… It actually looked alright, but it had the orange-peel/texture to it. I decided to wetsand and buff the orange peel away, but the paint was so thin that I actually went through the clearcoat and paint. I didnt want to repaint over the existing stuff and have like 8+ layers of paint/clear/primer etc on the body, so I decided to strip all the paint off and re-do it.

Orange Peel compared to the fender I sanded/buffed:

S2k style-antenna test fit:

I loves me some Jasco paint-stripper!

Ready for Primer:

Brother laying it down!

Mmmm:

4

Out with the old:

Fresh from the shop:

eBay Header; not as bad as I had imagined, really:

Slowly Getting Test-fit and assembled:

In With The New:

I just like this view for some reason:

Radiator in, §§§§§ in, Clutch Cable hooked up, nearly finished:

5

Where Im at now is… I still need to install the RS*R exhaust and CarSound cat… then the motor and suspension is done for a while an I’ll be focusing on getting the body in paint. Any feedback is appreciated, negative and positive. Just figured I’d share what I’ve been doing to my DA lately. :werd:

6

Wow, looking great! Can’t wait to see it finished up and repainted!

7

Thanks… Will definitely keep updated as I go along. Its been slow-going lately, but it WILL be done soon!

8

sweet build! :rockon:

9

nice build! engine looks mint man. did u paint strip the whole car?

10

looks good, its going to be a sweet car

11

schweeeet.
you keeping the meshies? or you got other plans?

12

I like the meshes… but they’re not in the best condition… the clearcoat is peeling on two of them.

I’d love to get some Rota JMags (Shoot me if you will but I wont pay $1300 for a genuine set of Mugens), but right now I’m broke.

Still need to save up or a tune ($500’ish) and registration/emissions/safety.

I’ll probably keep the meshies, and save up for a ‘nice’ set of wheels.

13

i had jmags when they first came out. didn’t like em. looked real cheap. meshies are better, IMO. gotta work with what you have sometimes, i know. i’d put the money towards some kick ass tires. tires>rims. just me though

14

True that… I dig the tires I have now… they’re pretty grippy.

As far as rims, I was quoted $100/ea to re-finish the meshies to an oem quality finish… HMMMM…

15

up to you. i wouldnt put that kinda flow into meshies. would just save till i found something i really liked. something oddball or a fluke, off craigslist or a yard sale or something f’d up like that. then refinish myself. there’s a tonne of cool used rims you can have shipped from overseas. not terribly expensive either. once again, just me though

16

i still think your first suggestion about tire choice still holds a lot of weight here.

unified, what tires are you running? if they are the BFGoodrich tires i see in the car meet pic, your impression of grippy is slightly skewed friend :wink:
tho i do understand the cost vs tire life debate. a good cheap tire thatll last forever is great to and from work…
but there are far more better tires for a car with this kind of potential. i hate seeing bad tire choice hamper great cars.
you can even kinda fill out the fenders a bit with some 205 width tires, im assuming those BFG traction TAs are 195/55/15, oem spec? you could get away with a 205/55 and still have a relatively close speedometer and not throw off the sidewall size too much (195/55 is just shy of a 3.5" sidewall, 205/55 is only .2" more at 3.7ish). albeit a little more expensive, the tire response and steering feedback i got out of upsizing my direzzas from 195 to 205 was like adding gasoline to fire, fun!

anyway, i love the look of mesh wheels on DAs no matter what tire is wrapped around them so if it wasnt obvious before; :up:

17

Yes I stripped the car down to bare metal, used a Direct-To-Metal primer/sealer, and will be re-spraying it Horizon Grey. The reason for stripping is because with the oem paint plus a maaco spray job, there were at least 5 coats of material on there. If I painted over it all, it would be more like 8’ish layers… that’s just asking for paint chips and flaking to occur. Now it will be fresh as fresh can be.

[QUOTE=OMG Its Weasel;2149807]i still think your first suggestion about tire choice still holds a lot of weight here.

unified, what tires are you running? if they are the BFGoodrich tires i see in the car meet pic, your impression of grippy is slightly skewed friend :wink:
tho i do understand the cost vs tire life debate. a good cheap tire thatll last forever is great to and from work…
but there are far more better tires for a car with this kind of potential. i hate seeing bad tire choice hamper great cars.
you can even kinda fill out the fenders a bit with some 205 width tires, im assuming those BFG traction TAs are 195/55/15, oem spec? you could get away with a 205/55 and still have a relatively close speedometer and not throw off the sidewall size too much (195/55 is just shy of a 3.5" sidewall, 205/55 is only .2" more at 3.7ish). albeit a little more expensive, the tire response and steering feedback i got out of upsizing my direzzas from 195 to 205 was like adding gasoline to fire, fun!

anyway, i love the look of mesh wheels on DAs no matter what tire is wrapped around them so if it wasnt obvious before; :up:[/QUOTE]

Heheh… Yes sir, the current tires are the BFG G-Force Sport, and if I recall right the spec is 195/50/15. Dumb me went down a size on the sidewall thinking it would look better… then after I realized that it would result in more wheel gap, hence it not looking very low or tucked. They do grip decently, though I enjoyed the feel of the Falken Zeix 512s I had before, they’re currently discontinued. What rubber would you recomend?

I appreciate all the comments and feedback so far. thumbs up

edit I had a brain-fart when I posted this. The tire spec is 205/50/15… but the situation of having the 50-series sidewall stands… I should have left it the 55-oem spec sidewall.

18

yeah, i didnt offer the lower sidewall for that reason, the lack of flex isnt noticeable anyway so sticking with a larger sidewall just works for aesthetics.
that said, the unfortunate thing about a lot of the tires i like, they are only available in 50 series for 15 inch.
for cheaper tires, the direzza star spec is awesome. rain handling isnt the best, its a bit noisier than most tires (in a gutted car though, so it might not be noticeable) but its a good tire otherwise. i just recently replaced my first set after having driven them on almost a years worth of a few hours every week doing hotlaps in failed housing developments. :angel:
if youre feeling like putting a real good tire on, for the price vs grip the kumho ecsta xs’s are awesome tires, but are also not available in 205/55. if your car can handle it id go a little lower and get a 205/50, but i live in flat florida.

anyway, if youre looking for good all around daily and somewhat cheaper tire with ok life and ok grip, the direzza z101 is available in the 205/55/15 size you want. its the scaled back version of the star specs, you wont be posting mega laptimes, but itll stick better than those BFGs

19

no doubt. far too often people underestimate the importance of an awesome set of tires. it should honestly be first and foremost. personally, i’d drop it a little more and go with 50’s. less flex. just my opinion. had azenis on my last setup. was really pleased with those. decent price too. direzzas a pretty soft compound. nice and sticky and at a wicked price too. but these. these are some dope tires
http://www.1010tires.com/tire.asp?tirebrand=Hankook&tiremodel=Ventus+R-S2+(Z212)

20

[QUOTE=welfare;2150164]no doubt. far too often people underestimate the importance of an awesome set of tires. it should honestly be first and foremost. personally, i’d drop it a little more and go with 50’s. less flex. just my opinion. had azenis on my last setup. was really pleased with those. decent price too. direzzas a pretty soft compound. nice and sticky and at a wicked price too. but these. these are some dope tires
http://www.1010tires.com/tire.asp?tirebrand=Hankook&tiremodel=Ventus+R-S2+(Z212)[/QUOTE]

the RS2 is discontinued now and most places that still have them are wanting around 150 bucks each, the RS3 picked up in its place, its not as good as the RS2 imo. its also not available in a proper 15" tire, only 45 series. great for tire performance, terrible for daily use (looks vs cost, im not an aesthetics guy, but 45 sidewalls on a 15" wheel, it would still look horrible if the tire was a 225). and ive only had experience with those tires on a 4000lb magnum SRT8 with low profile 18s so i cant really tell you how they would work on a car half its weight and double its sidewall.
i should have mentioned this before as well, but i have not had the chance to actually try out a set of Z101s, my suggestion was based off of insight gathered from a good handful of skilled drivers. just to clarify.

E: one thing i never liked about hankooks was the silly flames they put on their tires, i cant take anything serious when its got flames on it.