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'91 Integra Endurance Racer

7K views 23 replies 7 participants last post by  RacerXR 
#1 ·
Adding this thread to track modifications and report success/failures of those mods and my merry band of racer wanna-be's.





I bought this car recently. It was already built as you see here. I will race it in the World Racing League Texas and Oklahoma region races. My race team is JoBo Racing. We have raced a '93 Mazda 626 in LeMons, Chump, and WRL for the past 3-4 years.

Here's some quick specs on the car as I bought it:

  • 1.8L B18A1 w/beefed up lower end and stock head. I don't know the details, but as cheap as I got this car, it's not important. It seems to be well put together
  • Factory LSD
  • Hondata
  • 5 speed
  • Header
  • AEM fuel rail
  • Koni coilovers with Eibachs
  • K1 wheels with almost new Yoko A048 225/50-15
  • Fuel Safe cell inside containment box (firewall)
  • 3 qt Accusump
  • Proportioning valve
  • All steel braided lines
  • 5L ESS Fire system with nozzles @ cell, driver and engine bay
  • Ultrashield containment seat on slide with adjustable back brace
  • OMP 6-point harness (through 2017)
  • Window net
  • Fiberglass flares and custom seamless nose with ducting
  • SCCA-legal air dam
  • Lexan windshield
  • Carbon fiber hood

I am now prepping the car for the WRL event at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit on Oct 22-23. Here's the list of prep items I hope to complete before the race:

  • Freshen brakes: New pads (Hawk DTC-60's), rotors (Centric High Carbon), and calipers
  • Inspect and replace front upper and lower ball joints and outer tie rod ends as needed
  • Inspect and replace suspension bushings as needed. Bought a complete set of Energy Suspension bushings including the rear control arm bushings
  • Replace badly worn shifter linkage and bushings
  • Install an ASR rear sway bar
  • Create a template for the air dam/splitter (so I can build a new one after we accidentally destroy this one)
  • Freshen fluids: Brake Fluid, Engine Oil, Trans Oil
  • Buy and install a second set of Kosei K1 Racing wheels with Dunlop Direzza ZII tires
Anyone here have road/endurance experience with this motor? I got a number of questions and would like to get some experienced advice.
 
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#2 ·
Yesterday was half off day at the local Pick-n-Pull junkyard. So I spent a little time browsing and came home with a complete spare front suspension for the car. These are great to keep on hand with fresh bushings and wheel bearings already pressed into place. This one will get cleaned up and painted too.

 
#3 ·
I've been replacing brake pads and rotors on the car this week. I've been reasonably happy with the state of the bushings and the quality of the assembly work and maintenance.

However, I changed out the plugs and plug wires today and noticed this.



That's RTV black on the exhaust gasket. Why?

Now I am a little concerned about the work done to install the current head. The seller told me the previous owner had pulled the ported head, sold it separately, and installed a factory spec head before selling it. I'm cool with a factory spec rebuilt head for now. But, I'm a little concerned about the quality of the workmanship of a mechanic that thinks RTV black is appropriate for an exhaust gasket.
 
#7 ·
I'll get some interior and motor pics this weekend.

No track footage yet. I haven't had it on the track yet. I bought it earlier this year but have been quite busy with work and fixing and selling my old race car. I am just now getting back to this car. Our first race with it will be Oct 22-23 with the World Racing League at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit in Oklahoma. If there are no technical difficulties, I will post some videos from that race here.
 
#8 ·
Thanks for the tip. I am new to the B series motors and Honda in general. So info like this is very helpful. I'll keep an eye on it.

Does the top end get a little noisy when the lash goes out of spec? Or, do I need to be more proactive and measure the lash before there are any other external symptoms?
 
#10 ·
I've installed fresh Centric High Carbon Rotors and Hawk DTC-60 pads at all four corners. While I had the front wheels off, I installed a new driver side upper control arm with ball joint and a passenger side lower ball joint boot. Wheel bearings, bushings, and other ball joints look/feel solid.

I did replace the front sway bar bushings and end links with a set of Energy Suspension units. And, I added a rear ASR bar as noted above.

Lastly, I changed oil (8 qts of Mobile 1 15w-50), trans oil (Valvoline MTF w/syncromesh), plug wires (NGK), and plugs (NGK irridium).

I am just waiting for the Innovative shift linkage I order several weeks ago now and this car will be ready to take to the track for some testing. I hope to do that next weekend.
 
#11 ·
I finally got the car to the track yesterday and was happy with the results. Myself and two of my teammates got to drive the car.

I was pleasantly surprised that the motor seemed happy shifting around 5,500 rpm. It pulled the next gear with relative ease. This motor, as it's setup, should not encourage over revving.

Suspension seemed well balanced for the ADVAN A048 tires that are on the car now. It would rotate easily mid-turn. But, it never stepped out unexpectedly. Everybody on my team has a lot of track time in modern Mini Coopers. So, a FWD car setup to rotate easily is very comfortable.

The most disappointing aspect of the car is the lack of the power brake booster. This makes the pedal pressure required to bring the car down to turn in speed at the end of a long straight rather difficult. I had trouble with threshold braking lap after lap at those high pressures. My leg got cramps eventually.

The shifter feel still very mushy with the new Innovative shift linkage. When I installed it, I noticed that the crappy short shifter the original owner installed is missing some of the sleeves/bushings on the lower pivot bolt. There were just a couple of washers on there. I'll order another shifter and get a better pivot bolt with sleeves/bushings. Any suggestions. I am not looking for a short shifter type ratio. Those are actually a PITA on a race track all weekend. I'm considering the K-tuned Pro Circuit shifter. Anyone have experience with this one?

Here's some pics from the outing.







 
#12 ·
Generally the head starts making louder ticking. If you are racing it, you should be checking quite often. I check mine every few months since ot sees a lot of abuse but it generally doesnt need adjustment.

As far as shifters go, I am a firm believer in the K-tuned shifters. They give an excellent position next to the steering wheel and can be made to have a longer or shorter throw than stock. I personally have mine adjust about 70 percent up the neck and it feels like stock. Just gotta remember to blue lock tite the allen keys since mine have vibrated loose over the years.
 
#13 · (Edited)
2016 WRL October Rush at Hallett Racing Circuit



We finally got the car out to the World Racing League's October Rush at Hallett Racing Circuit in Oklahoma. The car ran quick and seemed very well balanced on the Dunlop Direzza ZII's. However, the car did develop some transmission issues that ended the weekend a little early for us. During the Friday practice, the car kept popping out of 4th gear every time the driver feathered the throttle. Then on Saturday the transmission developed a nast howl in left turns and felt like it was binding up or slipping. I suspect problems with the diff, but I am hardly an expert. I changed both axles hoping it was the passenger side inner CV joint. Unfortunately when racing resumed on Sunday, the trans was still howling just as bad. After just to laps, I pulled the car into the paddock and we loaded up and headed home.

As promised earlier, here is some video of a few race laps while the transmission was still mostly working. Although, I did have to drop into 3rd for turns 3 and 4. I would have preferred to pull 4th through there.

 
#16 ·
I just ordered ITR front calipers w/brackets, Mini Cooper 280mm rotors, Civic Si rear calipers w/brackets and rotors. I'm gonna test fit all that before I order a set of Hawk brakes.

I'll post my findings and pics when I get the parts and time to fit them up.

Also, the transmission will be coming out of the car this winter. I'll pull both the motor and the trans. The trans will go to a local shop for a fresh set of gears, possibly a new diff, and likely a few other parts.

While everything is out, I'll replace several of the oil lines for the Accusump, remote oil filter, and oil cooler with properly built lines with AN fittings. Many of the current set of lines look like they were assembled from cheap DIY AN fitting kits. They are a bit leaky.

The plan for next year is to try some sprint/solo racing locally. I'm looking into NASA, COMMA, and a couple other options. I'll also try to race with WRL at Hallett again next year. I really like that event, track, and the drivers that show up for it.
 
#17 · (Edited)
I'm a bit overdue with this update. Work has been crazy busy and I've been traveling every week (and most weekends) since the beginning of the year. But, I finally got back around to the brake update and got everything bolted up to the car now. It all fit perfectly without modification. The pics below show how my 15" K1 Racing wheels fit over the new calipers and rotors and there's a list of the parts I used for the upgrade as well.



Front Brakes:
Calipers - 1997-2001 Acura Integra Type-R, Power Stop PN#S1460
Rotors - 2007 - 2016 Mini Cooper (280mm, Not S), Centric High Carbon Alloy PN#12534100
Pads - 2004-2008 Acura TSX, Hawk DTC-70 PN#HB366U.681
HB366U.681 | Hawk Performance

The front brakes were a simple bolt on install. I used the existing braided flew lines. I installed the Hawk DTC-70 pads to maximize friction. I'm running without the brake booster. So, anything I can do to reduce the force at the pedal will help some. The holes in the Mini Cooper rotors have a bit of slop in them around the wheel studs. I'll have to keep an eye on that to make sure they aren't damaging the studs. Note, I removed the dust shields from the hub long before this upgrade. So, clearancing dust shields was not a problem.



Rear Brakes:
Calipers - 2002-2005 Honda Civic 2.0L, Power Stop PN#S2678
Rotors - 2002-2003 Honda Civic 2.0L, Centric High Carbon Alloy PN#12540060
Pads - 2002-2003 Honda Civic 2.0L, Hawk DTC-70 PN#HB145U.570
HB145U.570 | Hawk Performance
Flex Line- 2002-2005 Honda Civic 2.0L, Centric StopTech Stainless Steel PN#95040003

The Civic caliper flips the orientation of the parking brake mechanism. On a race car without a parking brake, this was not a problem. I simply removed the parking brake bracket from the caliper and bolted the caliper on right side up. Bleeding brakes work like it is intended. The Civic brake line was required to make everything line up properly. It was a simple bolt-on install.

I still have some more work before the car makes it back to the track. I hope to get back to it in the coming month or so. I'll be pulling the motor and trans. The trans will be going to a local shop for new 3rd and 4th gears and a look into what is causing the nasty howl in right hand turns. I also need to update the oil lines or completely ditch the oil cooler, remote filter, and Accu-sump. The plumbing is leaking and making a mess of the car.
 
#18 ·
Looking good and keep up the good work on the build, I love where this has been headed, I also was curious how the slop between the smaller wheel studs and bigger rotor stud holes would play out over time and if it would weaken or put extra stress on the studs from having back and forth play? I am well aware everything is "Hub centric" on our cars, but I had the same thought process as yourself and was curious. I know many run this set up and claim no issues, but it is normally rare for people to post their short comings unless something fails.

Very excited to follow the build and challenges along the way for another local DFW member. Cheers!
 
#19 ·
Love seeing builds like this! This is honestly one of my ultimate goals is to just have a pure-bred racecar. Definitely alot of money, trial, error, and patience involved, but awesome build. Please continue to keep us posted. I watched your video all the way through. Car seems to handle quite well. Doesn't look like you're fighting the car much either, which is always nice. Good stuff!

-Tee.
 
#21 ·
Well, work has gotten crazy busy this past year and it looks like next year will be just as crazy. So, I'm gonna sell the car and my race trailer. I'll put a formal post in the for sale section. Let me know if you are interested in the car and/trailer. I can send more details.
 
#22 ·
After fielding crappy offers on the race car for the past 5-6 months, I've decide not to sell it. Instead, I bought a very original '90 Integra RS I found for sale locally.



The current plan is to pull the motor, transmission, suspension, and all other go fast parts out of the race car and put them in the street legal '90 RS. I'll also gut the new car and install a 4-pt safety hoop with harness bar. The new ride will be a very fun street legal track/auto-x car. And, I won't need a 3/4 ton truck and race trailer to have some fun.

I'll start a new build thread for it.

Anyone interested in a gutted '91 Integra body with Lemons/WRL/Champcar legal cage, custom front clip, fender flares, and 12 gallon fuel cell? You can have it for free once I pull all the parts out of it. You'll have to show up in person, figure out how to load it on a flat bed, and haul it off. It will be sitting on a set of furniture dollies.
 
#24 ·
I assume they aren't in the Dallas/North Texas area. So, I doubt they want to drive all the way here to pick up a stripped chassis. But, I'll try them once I pull all the parts out of the race car.

My work schedule is crazy busy this summer, so it'll take a few months to get the race car back to the shop and stripped.
 
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