My Teal wonder (92 GS-R build)

GENERAL General G2/G2IC Discussion
1

I figured it was about time to make a build thread for myself. This isn’t exactly what I had planned for the car, but that’s ok. Skip to the next post if you actually want to see the start of the build. This one is just setup.

I had a 93 Frost White LSS for a number of years (random pictures of old cars. The white CRXs are not mine, but all the other cars were. Oh, and I bought the GSR transmission like that) but had to let it go in 2008 shortly after getting involved back in G2iC after a long hiatus. After selling it I started pining for another Integra as a project car and was planning on waiting until I finished my Master’s degree to try to find a good condition Green LSS with black interior, but about 6 months before graduation I found this:

Here is how the ad started:
“1992 Acura Integra GS-R GSR 2-door hatchback One Owner
Acura VTEC 160HP 16-Valve Fuel-Injected 4-Cylinder engine with 5-Speed manual shift One Owner ~118,000 miles. Low miles for this age.”
If you are curious how much I paid, go look at kbb.com for zip code 47403. I paid (much) less than the private party “good” value.

I could not pass that up, even if I really don’t like GS-Rs and find Aztec Green Pearl seriously dated.

A month later, I wanted to drive it on my commute one day but didn’t want to park it on campus, so I parked it at my friend’s office instead. Dick.

Car had 120k miles and 18 years on the clock with no record of the timing belt being changed. I drove the car home when I bought it and to my friend’s office that one day but otherwise didn’t drive it and didn’t get on it (except during the test drive). So maybe 180 miles total.

I did all of the regular maintenance with OEM parts. Fuel filter, air filter, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, timing belt, water pump, accessory belts, etc. The previous (and original) owner wasn’t exactly a maintenance freak. As can be seen by the original!? plugs I pulled out of it.

I even did the cam seals just for good measure…

…but unfortunately, I F-ed something up. This happened 5 miles into the final test drive before buttoning everything up.

(I specifically asked for a flatbed) :frowning:

Opened up the valve cover and…oh. Wow. Melted stuff. damn.

So it sat for a few months while I decided what to do.

and I realized that I could rebuild it. That I have the technology. That I could make it better than it was before. Better…Stronger…Faster (booiiiing!)

So I bought a used B17A1 head from a forum member.
(I do know it is the same as a B16a head)

And I towed the car (on a flatbed) over to a friend’s house who is letting me use his garage.

2

The quest for a replacement door:

First try didn’t go so well:

Second one turned out a little better because I didn’t entrust it to Greyhound:

3

Alright. Let’s get this engine out of there:

There we go. Immaculately clean:

And let’s get rid of that pesky ABS while we’re at it:

And the interior wiring too:

Remove front suspension:

Should I replace this front arm?

4

Looks really nice. I hate when cars aren’t maintained properly, they just become time bombs waiting to blow(especially timing belts).
Good luck with the build.

5

I would just clean up the rust and repaint the arms. Unless there’s something Im not seeing.

6

I thought I remembered that whole part being a machined smooth surface and I wasn’t sure if it would be an issue since it is chewed up. But I guess the ball joint only sits on that inner collar so that makes sense.

All the obvious stuff like brakes and axles and stuff like that he did, but he never went to the dealer and as far as I can tell, didn’t do any of the scheduled maintenance other than oil changes. I also think he stopped driving it regularly about 10 years ago so it makes sense that something like that was over looked. The condition of the car is immaculate though, so I can’t criticize too much. Even UNDER the carpet is clean so he never spilled anything in it.

As a note to anyone who does a complete ABS removal: There are two ABS wires that go forward from the cabin harness after it crosses to the Driver’s side in the middle of the car. Don’t stress out about these. They go to connectors in the cabin fuse panel and are really frustrating to get out. One is for the ABS light and one is for the BRAKE light. Just tape up the end of the brake light so it doesn’t go to ground and you can use the ABS light wire for another purpose if you want, just ground the wire to make the ABS light come on. My plan is to make the ABS label into NOS. (totally kidding)

7

If you find that you bit off more than you can chew let me know and i would be happy to take this off your hands. Thing looks so beautiful.

8

haha. Sure! $8,000 and its yours. If you wait a couple weeks it will be $10,000 but come with a spare engine and transmission.

Thanks for the compliment though :slight_smile: . There is a guy in Alabama selling a teal GS-R in better shape than mine on Honda-Tech but he wants too much for it ($3200). Mine actually has a little smidge of rust in the rear panels that will eventually need to be dealt with and the paint on the front, while color-matched very well, is not original. It also has “hail” damage from where the guy parked it under a big tree that dropped acorns on it.

But yeah, when I see pictures of it I go “Dude! I want that car!” and then realize Oh, right. I’ve got it.
In pictures all I see is how pretty it is but in person I see all the little things that make it imperfect. That’s life though, I think.

9

nice work man:) I love aztec green!

10

is the pink plug under the drivers seat use in your car? my donor car(gs) has it unused and I was curious if GSRs used it.
I just can’t get over how clean your headlights look. I love clean usdm lights.

11

Thanks, Ryan; taking it apart was the easy bit. Hopefully I can get it all back together as well as it was before. :slight_smile:

Gnomedestroyer, if the car was any other color and the lights were in bad shape, I would totally get some JDM 1 pieces, but I really think the stock lights just look right on a AGP GS-R so for right now, I am totally going to just keep them.

That pink plug is the diagnostic (test) plug for the ABS so nothing plugs into it. You can test all the wheel sensors and other stuff from there. I think mine might have had a fancy little cover for it though…I’ll have to check the “ABS” pile. I’ve been keeping everything so I can weigh it. I’m really curious how much extra the interior wiring adds. My guess is 5lbs MAX. If I were to do it again, I would still pull everything through the firewall because that part was easy, and then just remove the ABS computer, but leave all the wiring in the cabin harness.

12

About time you started a build thread young man!

Car is very clean. Are you keeping the AC/PS/CruiseControl etc? Taking that stuff out makes a ton of room in the bay. Will definitely stay tuned in though, to see how this turns out.

13

Well, so far I have been mostly planning, not building…so I didn’t see a need until now. This should have been called “a motivational thread to make me build!”
PS and A/C are going to stay for now and I just hadn’t bothered to take out the Cruise control yet. Did you see that I found a used B17A1 that I’m going to put in for a little while? I think I’m going to actually keep my original engine stock within the rules for Improved Touring/Street Prepared and build the engine I’m getting next weekend like we talked about in my brainstorming thread.

I did get a new toy last week. I’m definitely going to weld on brackets so I can bolt on a factory heat shield but I’m trying to figure out if I should have it ceramic coated or not. It would mainly be for looks because structurally it is in fantastic shape (but it ugly).