[JH4DC2Man]

Table of Contents:

Bodywork Done: Check! / Acquired original parts from previous owner
'Hatch pond' Gone: Replaced Passenger side tail light & DMT gaskets
Infamous 'hatch pond' : Cuts Me Deeply:
Dun Dun Duh Duh: Bodywork Time - Bumper/Mirrors:
Headlight and License Plate bulb upgrades to LED / Floormats:
Right off the bat troubles / OEM parts missing
2018-11-29: Day 2: Purchasing and Bringing Her Home
2018-11-27: Day 1: Craigslist 'Nice Price' or 'Crack Pipe' find

Re-introduction to Team Integra

************************************************** *******

Just another day at work, needing to take a quick mental health break, pop onto Craigslist in the surrounding cities to see what has popped up on the market in the last x amount of hours since I last looked. Low and behold, come across what appears to actually be a clean Integra (is this real?). Not the typical absolute trash posts with crummy pictures, no details, high mileage, looks like it has been used in several demolition derbies, with a Salvage title asking $3500 OBO for an LS. Homie don't play that / Is tired of that game.

Quick to text the owner, get an immediate response. Ok, I'm thinking to myself. This is some sort of scam. Exchange a few more texts, and come to find out this is literally 10 - 15 mins from my doorstep.


Now, keep in mind, I have been looking for a clean GSR for off/on 3 years now. Not much has come across my desk that seems to worth too much consideration or if it is it's across the country. The owner says he could meet me whenever and I said how about now (pretty much 10 - 15 mins). He concurred that it would be fine.


I arrive first, wait maybe about 5 mins on him. He pulls in, walks up to his garage, garage opens, and my heart beats excitedly.... omg.... Look at this beauty!! It is freshly detailed and he offers to pull it out.

So if you can't tell by now, I'm already in love. Which means I'm sold. Which scares me. So, I check around the car knocking on the panels, looking at the VINs, inspecting underneath. It looks legit. This is something that just feels right. I'm riding a cloud of euphoria. The only things that are a right off the bat issue are the front bumper and the mirrors which he was completely upfront and honest about in the ad as well as in person. Everything else oddly enough looked very clean/good condition.

At this point, it's a matter of mere putting out the vibes of his asking price. I try to maintain respect for all involved. Stated that I think his asking price is high. He says that he did that on purpose to keep tire kickers at bay. I respect that, alot of people suck when it comes to online buying. Without making an offer, but letting him know what I'm thinking. I bring up that I had a 2000 GSR Turbo with less miles and in better condition. Told him it took ALONG time to sell that car and it was more than a hassle with all the jackasses? on Craigslist/internet. Ultimately, sold that car for 6k and this was years ago. With that said, I put it out that that's what I'm thinking. Without any hesitation he said "I'd do six." Cool, good stuff! So, now I have alot to think about.


****So prices are subjective to many. This is something that is a little difficult to price if you ask me. My insurance company will tell you it's nowhere near worth 6k. However, actual street value, you find me a clean mostly unmolested GSR........ I'll wait. Seriously. I compared to pretty much everything I could find online quickly, and closest things were in CA at a dealership for around 9k with more mileage and didn't even have the blades. soooo it's subjective!


Ok, last pic of my initial viewing. He's putting the car away.

 

[JH4DC2Man]

Day 2: Purchasing and Bringing Her Home
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After more deliberation than you'd see at a homicide trial, I started to think maybe being an adult would be to pass on this. Afterall, let's face it the price of the car is not exactly an easy pill to swallow. Well, maybe for some, but not all trust me LOL Here I am finding myself just hot off the press married, the whole 9, maybe this childish dream is just silly. Well folks, part of the reason why she is the one for me is she gets me. And as I read another member here wrote the same words of his significant other, she pretty much told me to do it. And they say there's no good women today! PSH!!! Anywho, this was a very interesting transaction that could turn into a too long of story to post, so I'll skip that for now. Sweet and Short of it, with the wife's blessing, one childhood ambition, and perfect star alignment we did the deal.

After selling my last GSR, I have not always had a garage. So some things were just meant to happen because I never wanted to leave that car out in the elements. Fast Forward to today, I have access to a garage again and being able to place the car inside vs leaving outside is my preference. If you haven't seen my original 'Intro Post' this running log is not so much of a build in my opinion, but moreso of a restoration/what I'm doing running log. My goal ideally is to make this as OEM as possible. At this time, I will be leaving the nice suspension and exhaust on the car. That's just a driving preference. Everything else though, I want it to be like a time machine back to the Golden Era of Honda / Acura when I step into this vehicle. Like it rolled off the showroom floor. (As close as possible - I do prefer the lowered look/driving characteristics). As previously mentioned, find me a clean OEM GSR.............Still waiting.............. LOL.............

 

[JH4DC2Man]

Right off the bat troubles / OEM parts missing:
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As with anything new to someone, I was wondering what sort of gremlins I would encounter along the way. Afterall, this is an 18 year old vehicle, well taken care of or not. Once taken into my possession and had some down time to assess things some more here is 'to do' list


Troubles:

-OEM Headunit missing the Access Code (card was not in the Acura book)
-Appears the antenna for the radio may not work, considering it appears to be stuck up/not moving (confirmed once the headunit code was inputted)
-Leaky tail lights errr tail light
-OUCH discovered a pond lurking in the hatch :'( (this cut me deeply)
-Front bumper and mirrors are rough with paint and bumper has a tear and stress cracks



OEM Needables:
-Front A badge (currently a red JDM Honda badge)
-Rear A badge (currently a red JDM Honda badge)
-Rear DOHC VTEC sticker (currently a GS-R Gen II badge, I do like, but not exactly showroom fresh)
-Rear Acura sticker (currently a OEM Honda badge)
-OEM Steering Wheel (currently rocking what appears to be a JDM ITR wheel)
-OEM Rear strut covers (original covers are off since the strut bar is installed)
-OEM Windshield washer fluid cap (missing/broken) --- Later find that this must be a thing? who knew
-OEM Rear windshield wiper cover
-OEM Rear center console (looks like this is a JDM ITR console if I am not mistaken)

Ok, not a too terrible of a start. I can work with these. Keep in mind, I am in no means a mechanic by trade, just a regular jo-smo DIY guy probably less capable than you reading this!

-Utilized Team Integra oddly enough to resolve the issue of the access code for the headunit (go team with your forumns!)
-Next up, found myself wanting to start off as inexpensive as possible. Rome wasn't built in a day, and the purchase alone plus Christmas was hurting my wallet. Figured I'd check out that radio antenna, after some troubleshooting, determined that the antenna motor was shot. Found myself looking for a close U-Pull-It and traveling there. This in and of itself was a trip down memory lane, I haven't been to a junkyard in well over a decade (oh the old ricer daysss!!!)

The junkyard was fun.
Pulled two OEM antenna motors in the event that one did not work. This was a smart decision considering when I got home and tested them, sure enough one did not work LOL
Note to anyone who deals with Pull-A-Part, when I took some items back, they don't refund you. They give you yard credit, which sucks considering I don't see myself going back anytime soon. So that's a near $30 loss at this time.

 

[danteisme]

Hey you made a thread for the "Build", "restoration", whatever you wanna call it lol. Whether i need anything or not, when an integra pops up in the upullandpay, i head over to check it out. We finally got one around here i wanna say early last year. Not sure how often you roamed around Penn Hills when you were around here, but thats where it ended up.

 

[JH4DC2Man]

Hey you made a thread for the "Build", "restoration", whatever you wanna call it lol. Whether i need anything or not, when an integra pops up in the upullandpay, i head over to check it out. We finally got one around here i wanna say early last year. Not sure how often you roamed around Penn Hills when you were around here, but thats where it ended up.

Yessir getting around to making and updating this log.
NICE! Penn Hills and me go wayyy back. Used to ride the dirt scooters up in the slag yard for a long time. Pull-A-Part is new to me and I see that ETCG (Eric the Car Guy) worked with them on their site. It looked clean and well put together so I figured I'd try it out.


Dante, when are meeting up to hit up the 'Dragon' haha

 

[JH4DC2Man]

Headlight and License Plate bulb upgrades to LED / Floormats:
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I am a little behind on the log vs where I currently am at today. So playing a little catch up game here since I waited so long to make an account.

The new/old OEM honda radio antenna is installed and working. Once I got the motor in, come to find out that the antenna had slight bend to it and the cord was broke so this needed replaced if it was going to work as it should. Wound up ordering some replacement on eBay for pretty cheap. While I was on eBay, searched around and found some floor mats. Have the originals, the driver side is a little rough, but to preserve those I ordered up some black with red stitching mats to serve the purpose for now. One friday night, took the car out for a quick drive to a nearby Redbox. Eeeeh, point blank period the headlights suck. Between the crappy halogen bulbs (age ?) and probably being pointed too low it was bad. So while I'm online ordering some small stuff, figured I might as well and upgrade to some LED headlights w/cutoff. Well, ordering the headlights, why not get some LED license plate bulbs. Always loved the look of the pure white over the yellowish halogen look anyway. Ok, so if your saying to yourself that's not exactly OEM or 2001. I get it. Keeping the parts to easily convert right back at any time. For the sake of safety, the headlights are dangerous so that it what it is. Don't see the ability to post a quick vid of the antenna living again, but that's 2001 and got me excited!

New Floor Mats (to save the originals from any further use)

Before / After license plate bulbs: (Piss poor editing in M$ Paint to conceal my average Joe identity but you get the idea)

Comparison photo with old halogen bulb (left) and the new LED bulb (right):

In keeping up with the name "Snow White" I feel that the new bulbs do the name some justice

 

[JH4DC2Man]

Dun Dun Duh Duh: Bodywork Time - Bumper/Mirrors:
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I mentioned that the bumpers and mirrors are rough. You can probably see that in previously posted pictures. Let's show a close up of what I'm working with here.

Got a quote from a local body shop on these pieces. /sigh .... I said I was not going to jump head first into this project but here I am impatient in wanting to get some basics done. Talking to the body shop guy, explained to him what my goals here are and up came into the discussion was that front Honda badge. He let me know that the holes most likely were bigger on the H badge than the regular A badge. When I got around to removing the bumper cover and flipping over to see, he called it. Appears the holes were enlarged a little to allow that Honda badge. Let him know my findings and that was correct. Phew found out this is not a big deal, he can epoxy the holes to accommodate the Acura badge. So now I have to purchase said badge.... Well, found some nice OEM Acura parts websites online. Figured I needed pretty much all the badges plus the dang windshield washer fluid cover, rear wiper cover.....

Youch...

Currently awaiting this order to come in so that I can drop off the bumper, mirrors, and new OEM front A badge for him to begin.
::fingers crossed:: this turns out amazing!!!
That pretty much brings us to speed with where I am at and will update accordingly. Hoping that some members here can appreciate what my ultimate goal is...... OEM

**Update: In conversing with the (I'll refer to him as the original owner / OG owner) he said he will provide to me all the original OEM stuff that he has. SCORE!!! Matt, if your reading this you are awesome!

 

[JH4DC2Man]

Infamous 'hatch pond' : Cuts Me Deeply:
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Did accidentally overpass the 'hatch pond' troubleshooting. Criticize me, yes, I should have spotted this upon first viewing the vehicle. Really would not have made too much of a difference, atleast in terms of I Want Car.
Forum searching, learn that DMT makes better than OEM tail light gaskets. This was slightly blindedly throwing parts at a problem, but there was justification behind it. More on that in a later post. Ordered up the DMT gaskets and installed. Tested the leak at a high pressure washer and lo and behold, new pond. Ok, that sucks. So, examining this situation further, I was able to now see where it appears water is definitely coming in. From the looks of everything it is the right tail light allowing water to just zoom right in (yes that's with the new gasket installed). The left looks solid and dry. Did some digging around and found a guy out in CA selling a pair of the infamous 98-01 'All Red Tails' for a much better price than what I found on eBay (sheesh). New tail lights have come in and are installed with the DMT gaskets. Have not tested this setup yet, but greatly hoping that it's the ultimate fix to this problem. The original right tail light, I placed under my sink and filled with water and watched it drain out. That shouldn't happen. Water should not be going in externally and vice versa (correct me if I am wrong).

 

[aw614]

The power antenna annoyed me so much, that I bought an early 90s accord OEM manual antenna. It was a direct fit and it looks like stock. In my case, the plastic mast broke on mine.

 

[danteisme]

Infamous 'hatch pond' : Cuts Me Deeply:
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Did accidentally overpass the 'hatch pond' troubleshooting. Criticize me, yes, I should have spotted this upon first viewing the vehicle. Really would not have made too much of a difference, atleast in terms of I Want Car.
Forum searching, learn that DMT makes better than OEM tail light gaskets. This was slightly blindedly throwing parts at a problem, but there was justification behind it. More on that in a later post. Ordered up the DMT gaskets and installed. Tested the leak at a high pressure washer and lo and behold, new pond. Ok, that sucks. So, examining this situation further, I was able to now see where it appears water is definitely coming in. From the looks of everything it is the right tail light allowing water to just zoom right in (yes that's with the new gasket installed). The left looks solid and dry. Did some digging around and found a guy out in CA selling a pair of the infamous 98-01 'All Red Tails' for a much better price than what I found on eBay (sheesh). New tail lights have come in and are installed with the DMT gaskets. Have not tested this setup yet, but greatly hoping that it's the ultimate fix to this problem. The original right tail light, I placed under my sink and filled with water and watched it drain out. That shouldn't happen. Water should not be going in externally and vice versa (correct me if I am wrong).

You've probably already checked it, but just to make sure it is only the tail light that is causing the issue i would double check the sunroof drain tubes as well. I'm assuming they pop out in roughly the same spot on a coupe.

 

[JH4DC2Man]

You've probably already checked it, but just to make sure it is only the tail light that is causing the issue i would double check the sunroof drain tubes as well. I'm assuming they pop out in roughly the same spot on a coupe.

You know what, I have not. So, that's a great suggestion! I know the passenger side rear was allowing water to get in. Not sure if it was coming in any other place. I'll have to test again now that the new lights are in.


Took the bumper and mirrors to the body shop today. Should be done in about a week and a half. Can't wait!!! In the mean time, she sits missing her nose and ears LOL atleast it's crappy winter time to be doing this stuff.

 

[JH4DC2Man]

The power antenna annoyed me so much, that I bought an early 90s accord OEM manual antenna. It was a direct fit and it looks like stock. In my case, the plastic mast broke on mine.

NICE! If it wasn't for the fact that I want this car to be close as original as possible, I would have opted for the shark fin. Had one years ago, the reception sucked since it was a knockoff but I loved the look.

 

[JH4DC2Man]

Quick Update for both good, bad, and great!:



GOOD:

Bumper and mirrors are done!
Mirrors are installed!
Have to order a couple of bumper to fender pins to complete my bumper installation.
***Not sure if it would help anyone, but OEM part # Front Bumper Side Clip - Part Number: 90661-ST7-003
Love seeing that new shiny A emblem where it's supposed to be! I'll post a picture once it's back on the car and all buttoned up.

BAD:
Noticed a couple small rust spots on the strut towers months back. Well, now that I have the bumper off, raised the car for the first time and discovered that the Omni Power camber kit (UCA) the top bolts have slammed into the strut tower. Upon doing some quick searching, see this is has been common. Looks like I will be raising the car up a little sooner than originally anticipated in the quest to stop that from happening. I hope that it is the ultimate resolution as I do not want to tear up those towers.

GREAT::
Yes, GREAT news!!! Attempt #2 with infamous 'hatch pond' was a success. Not only was there no more pond, there wasn't ANY moisture AT ALL!!!!!! Sweet sweet victory.

 

[JH4DC2Man]

Dun Dun Duh Duh: Bodywork Time - Bumper/Mirrors (Part Duex):
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My OEM bumper clips came in a day early yesterday. Was not going to work on putting the bumper back on, but had a minute to do the work so why not. Very pleased with how the mirrors and bumper turned out from the body shop.
A quick before/after comparison (passenger side):

A quick before/after comparison (driver side):

So next steps are the rear, replacing these emblems with their original counterparts:
Any tips are appreciated, I have the driver side HONDA removed and the leftover remnants are a HUGE PITA that are not coming off so easily!!!

Got another awesome update as well.
Met with the OG owner finally (weird story) he has provided me with most of the original OEM parts for the car. As mentioned some stuff will remain off for personal preference as well as to avoid any further wear (i.e. suspension). A big thanks to him for that!

Yeup!!!

 

[JH4DC2Man]

Small Update::


Finally got around to doing more emblem work. Snow White is looking more 'stockish' now. Removed the red H and Honda emblems (honestly, most elbow grease I ever had to use before on emblems) and updated with the respective OEMs.
It is not pictured, but I have left the Gen 2 GS-R on it for now. That's grown on me. Despite my wishes of making it more original (I know). It's only temporary and I do have the DOHC Sticker. Couldn't believe how much it filled my soul to have the original emblems on the car. A completeness came over me LOL

 

[deesautohouse]

Super clean! BTW what LED light did you go with? I've been thinking about getting some for my project, but my main concern is the light cut-off. I don't want to blind people.

 

[JH4DC2Man]

Super clean! BTW what LED light did you go with? I've been thinking about getting some for my project, but my main concern is the light cut-off. I don't want to blind people.

These are the Opt7 FluxBeam LEDs at 6000K Pure White. I absolutely love their look, don't think anyone would tell you that I blind them because my headlights are not moving when I try and adjust them and they are more downward :'[

The lights themselves have what looks like a built in cutoff so the cutoff line is there which is awesome considering it's a halogen housing.

 

[JH4DC2Man]

Had a few hours this past weekend to work more on the car. Pulled the following off
1997 JDM ITR MOMO Steering Wheel - Put the original OEM wheel back on
Mugen Oil Cap - Put the original OEM cap back on
Mugen Shift Coin
Password JDM Shift Knob - Put the original OEM knob back on

So with the NON-SRS steering wheel on, I didn't have a working horn and my SRS light was on. The inspection guy told me last year he would let me slide on the horn not working just for that time, but it better be fixed by next years inspection. So, my thought process was if I install the original wheel the horn should work again and my SRS light should go out. Well, I have a horn again (yay) but the SRS light remains on. Found MorningZ's write-up on here of resetting the SRS light. Did that (what appears successfully according to the instructions) and the damn light remains on. One more head ache I guess.

BEFORE::

AFTER::