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blink's Integra RS build thread (LS/VTEC)

11K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  blinkz0rz 
#1 · (Edited)
Yeah, I think I should start a build thread on the car. Since I bought the car in Feb '11, I picked up a GSR head off my buddy zarka and done some work to it. I got it with 168k miles, it now has around 180k. I drove a lot thanks to my last job. :mad:


Day I bought it




Then bought some LS Mesh wheels off a Untouchable213 here TI. Really made a difference.




I then got a JDM ITR Momo steering wheel and cluster off my friend that I got the head from. Switched it when the car had 176k miles. The cluster had 50k kilometers on it, and I have made it to 56k now in the last 3 months.





Here's kind of a shot of the head, tho he's keeping the JDM ITR red valve cover and bolt-ons.




Last month I replaced the radiator with a Blackworks Racing aluminum rad. However, I still have a coolant leak, but it's coming from the coolant tube that sits on the backside of the block. To get to it, I need to remove the intake and such. So I'll be fixing that when the head is removed for this swap. Also swagged it up with black Password:JDM radiator stays. (not shown)




In the last 6 months, I've slowly pieced the build together to get this swap rolling. It has been a common swap on Honda's for awhile, and it would nice to have VTEC for when I'm tracking the car more.


List of parts
- GSR head - stock
- GSR P72 ECU - stock
- GSR water pump
- GSR timing belt/tensioner
- ARP B18C headstuds
- LS/VTEC oil line kit with B18B headgasket
- Skunk2 Pro-Series Gen1 Intake Manifold
- BLOX intake gasket
- Skunk2 Cam Seal
- Password:JDM gold valve cover washers
- Skunk2 magnetic drain plugs
- Royal Purple 5-30W oil
- Fram oil filter
- Rywire VTEC subharness



The head is off a '98 GSR. Stock cams and such. I plan on reving it to 7500 for most of my races for now.

I did start the paint the valve cover an unique teal color, since it was faded and such. Aircraft Removal, 400grit sandpaper, 800grit wetsand, and then 2000grit polished the emblems. Used a spraygun to paint it then. It's really nice.




All I need to get is a OBD1 VTEC distributor, which is almost finalized as I type this up. Waiting on a PM. Otherwise, it's been fun and expensive so far haha.


Not a pretty car, but at least it's clean and subtle enough. I have always been a fan of the sleeper status in the car scene. I can thank my dad for that, with his muscle cars looking factory stock.
 
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#3 ·
Yeah definitely. When I got the car, I was looking at spring/shock kit from JHP. But anymore, I know a full coilover is needed than just lowering the car. Not sure one which coils to get, kinda had Function&Form in mind.

It's gonna be a budget build for awhile, but I do have plans on building an all motor setup with 230hp. That wont be a cheap engine lol.

As for the rust, it's kind of a last idea to fix for awhile. Its bad, but not terrible where its destroying the body yet unless I score a deal on body work. Damn Honda cancer...
 
#4 · (Edited)
Ok here's a funny thing.

I just recieved my order from OEMAcuraParts.com last week. It was $30 cheaper than going to the Honda dealer, even with shipping. Damn monopoly of car sales here, all 6 places owned by the same guy. Anyways, now I know why it was cheaper: they shipped it in a used coffee creamer box. wtf? lol

Parts
- OEM valve cover gasket
- OEM throttle body gasket
- 2 OEM o-rings
- 4 OEM vc grommets
- 4 OEM spark plug gaskets

 
#6 · (Edited)
So finally got to assembling it this weekend. Had a few issues, nothing major that I couldn't fix and such...well the ARP studs was, but I got some off a friend for $50 new. He had two sets, by mistake haha. Pick those up tomorrow morning, and then finish putting it all together.

The head, cleaned and ported.




So, the break down.

Drained the oil and coolant. Took the valve cover, power steering, alternator belt, and such off. Bagged and tagged all the bolts and small parts (smartest thing to do). :)



Ended up breaking the hose for the PCV valve, it was dry rotted. Also forgot to unhook the O2 sensor, but that didn't break when I yanked the head off lol. Scrapped the old head gasket off, then installed the new coolant pipe from the Thermostat to the H2O pump. That thermsostat was a ***** to connect back on. The biggest time killer, removing that damn crank bolt. It was not budging with a Snap-On or Matco impact wrench. The Matco is rated at 1000ft/lbs of torgue, but no luck. My buddy texted me later after tweeting it was a *****, and he said he had the crank tool. I grabbed that, wedged it on the ground and used a breaker bar on the bolt. I gave that a few whacks and it clicked the bolt off. Took like an hour. Then 30seconds with the impact to take it off. :mrs_eusa_doh:



So we then started to assemble it slowly, only to realize the ARP head studs were two different sizes. Not cool. Thankfully my buddy had a 2nd set of B18Cs, so I am grabbing those in the morning. We just continued to assemble the head and intake and such, and just got it stationed to see how the VTEC line would run from the filter. Yeah, the Blackworks kit didn't come with instructions, but it wasn't that hard to figure out. Thankfully I read enough on Honda-Tech about this swap, and pieced it together in my mind.




So it's been 9 hours of work, and just now getting it pieced together. I will finish it tomorrow, and maybe wire the VTEC sensors to the ECU. I don't want to run VTEC yet until I know it's set to go. Hence a little break in of subtle driving for the few days. We will see, but so far so good with troubleshooting and such, as those are always expected with any work.
 
#8 ·
Yep, I don't want a turbo. I had one before on my GSX, and with the troubles and such, I like staying NA for the feel the engine has.



10 more hours today, but got it running finally. Was a ***** though...

Went and got those head studs this morning, after 4 hours of sleep. Put the studs in, and started working on the head more. I put the adapter on by the distributor for the teflon hose, and tapped the plug into the bottom of the intake side. Realizing the Blackworks head gasket is still a B18C1 one (Why do they still do this?!), I decided to plug that hole since it was part of the oil channel and hung over the block. I may still have a small leak on the front by Piston #4, so eventually I'll have to replace that gasket to the right B18B1 one.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/blink182ska/Cars/Integra/2011-11-27135718.jpg


Put the thermostat housing back on, with the new coolant tube and o-rings that had me thinking that was where the coolant leak was from. So far so good, haven't seen a leak from there now. Then I installed the oil hose onto the sandwich plate to feed oil to the cams in order for VTEC to work properly. Looks fancy.




Gotta love torquing down head studs. Put those in and torqued them 3 times: to 20lbs, then to 50lbs, and lastly 85lbs since I didn't have the ARP lube and directions say 85lbs with oil. I had the torque sheet to do it in the proper order. Simple stuff that is the most crucial.




Since it was only a few hours in, I had a smile on my face at the progress. Despite looking like crap (No Shave November), it was good to clean the cams off for installation.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/blink182ska/Cars/Integra/2011-11-27173522.jpg

Now it was time to assemble the head. Put the cams on, then the oil rails and such. I labeled each one before I took it of, since the stamped labels from Honda were tiny. Little security, thanks to the bag and tag technique. Torqued them down to spec as well.




Fun stuff now, had to wire it up and connect all the hoses. That took some double checking between my buddy's B16A Civic to get it right. I bought 5 feet of fuel hosing to run new ones. Got the intake, throttle body, and coolant finished. We then started mounting the belts and engine back on. The alternator...omg, not fun. It was stuck, and it took about 2 hours to pry it loose from the rusty bolts...and realizing there was a key in the bolt after the first hour and a half.


Once that got off, the belt installation became a breeze. Got the power steering connected, A/C as well and then went to putting the valve cover on. It turned out pretty well, but I'm going to redo it since the last coat of paint sprayed thick. I like it, but it's not gonna stay because of that. It's not perfect. Oh so while my friend was putting the belts on, I was doing the ECU swap. I didn't bother running the subharness for VTEC, since I don't want to hit it yet. Nor did I know how to wire it in properly to the clips...lol. Gotta be safe somehow though.



So after putting 5W-30 synthetic oil and coolant, it was time to start it. Yay finally. And wouldn't you know, it started on the first try. The engine needed no help or anything, fired right up. BUT...problem. The timing belt was slapping the plastic. And it's not fun to tighten, gotta remove the power steering belt, and find a way to get the socket in there to tighten it. No luck though, we tried and tried with a 1/2inch ratchet, but it wasn't doing anything. It is now 10pm, and with all of us working Monday morning...kinda decided to make sure the belt would be safe under slow driving. I am going to shift no higher than 2000rpms and just take it easy.

Also, broke the bolt for the collector and test pipe on the exhaust. So I'll have to get a new one tomorrow, as it's leaking loud noises...

Lastly, the car needs to be tuned. It bogs down when I let off the gas and engine break. And the Fast Idle Control Valve needs a little work, it revs a bit like 200rpms on warmup.

It drives, but it ain't complete. And I was without a car for this weekend, had to skip out on the family dinner...bogus.
 
#9 ·
Holy hell I haven't been back to this in awhile.


So it went fine, VTEC runs good and normal as it should.

The only thing now is some front end damage, I'm gonna need a whole new setup since the radiator support is bent up. It's not bad, just visually it looks like hell with the big hood scoop I have on it now...lol.

I did however just put new brakes on. Got a nice set of EBC slotted rotors with Yellow pads. In the process of putting them on, my caliper bolts snapped off from rust. Also, the calipers themselves were shot, so I replaced all four.




Still doing the set in period on the pads, and will need to rebleed the lines again. The pedal is soft, but I can feel it grab better. I haven't locked the brakes up yet (yay no ABS), nor have I actually got so hard with them like I would at the track yet.
 
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