Project R

was back at indika's today. he's done the little bits and bobs. here they are, after first coat:

going into the engine bay soon. had a chat about the build as well. looks like that's happening in one go as well. it is easier i guess, than parting with the car again for another month....

an interesting eBay story:

was looking for the black seatbelts all over the place. since i changed the interior color. attempted spraying the existing ones. since that would win me that darwin award again, gave up the idea. then did some seatbelt research and found out that belts are not interchangeable with anything else as this car has dual airbags. the EG doesn't. so anyways, found what i was looking for on ebay:

sadly, only coupe. no 4 door sedan listings. out of curiosity, contacted the seller.

the seller, Steve from sportsnimports, went through the trouble of:

1. checking whether the 2 door and 4 door match

2. scouring through 25 integras in his yard to find black belts in good condition

3. pressure washed them and rubbed out the rust, olied them up etc etc

4. made a listing for me and put it up

... all for $50.

the closest quotation i got from our local boys for the seatbelt set of an EG ( i would have had to say good bye to pretensioning and then get killed by the airbag, mind you) was 18,500.

i wish our parts guys shared an iota of this guys' work ethic. very very impressed!

in other news, found the entire JDM decal set from the type R DC2 teg. OEM honda stickers. you know, the jap stuff that say 91octane unleaded in the fuel lid, and the color code and tyre pressure on the door, and the SRS thingey on the sun visor. waiting for a stressed out moment to place the order

the stock headlights smudged more than a van Gogh painting. so i asked our resident DIY-guru Davy for some help in restoring them. he didn't just help, rather took over the whole undertaking. and the end result... well...

Rice lights pair $150

Spec lights (same as above) $293

Shipping $300 courier, or $100 plus nawila waren at customs.

Hope that explains it

davy my man tell me where i can make a statue in your honour!

blown away. mind you this is after bara had a go at the lights...

Bought the alloys. Handed them over to Indika to spray gloss white. Got the white Center caps printed as well.

Progress is slow! Aargh!!

a little bit of history.

taken outside the mawanella police. when we went to rescue a certain zx in trouble...

since progress is slow, here's a shot of my new alloy caps.

got two more little items yesterday. delayed shipment:

aluminium dual core radiator with a reserve tank. malaysian make.

and of course, what every b18c can't do without: a torque damper!

also handing in the rear seats today for upholstery.

more updates to follow. dad's customs agent is clearing the spec type R strut tower bar today.

and i'm handing the bumper over to ajitha (very gingerly) to fabricate a new one. lets see what the fiber-castell can spin up for me.

i'm back, motherhuggers! in the middle of exams so can't really go tickle the teg these days. but here's what's been happening so far:

got the floor carpet redone in black. can't have traces of tan to give it away now, can we?

also, got some other goodies. amber turn signals. going clean JDM on this. no smokey-the-bear bullsh*t

and of course the spec integra projector foglamps. nothing but the best for my little girl!

so, sat for my first exam in the masters program. 6 hours of mental rape later, thought i'd go by indikas' and hold a wheel for comfort. boy was i in for a treat. they just starting to spray the basecoat! i'll let the pictures do the talking:

https://youtu.be/D--96GLhTHk

https://youtu.be/D--96GLhTHk

so, since half the interior is out, i decided what the hey and went ahead with the color change. no point in putting it all back and taking it out again, noh?

also brought the floor carpet with me and the seatbelts to be coated black.

indika doesn't mince his words when he said "i'll make sure you can't even tell this was ever any shade other than white". wow. pretty thorough. yesterday his tinker dude was sitting there marking the lines of the car. he sees the dents that i never knew were there.

plus, i think they suspect i'm a little psycho. none of the other car owners come, sit, pat their cars and talk to it calling it "baby" and "honey" with false promises like "it wont hurt" "i miss you" "we'll be together soon" etc.

the looks i get, i tell you...

Interesting development: I had an issue with the Teg over the last few months. She was getting sluggish, and vtec wasn't kicking in. Had to rev to higher rpm's to hit cruising speed, and had me thinking all sorts of things from final drive swap to a retune.

Finally had our tame racing drivers Dhilan Sabar and Nigel Perera thrash her around a little and see what's what. They both concurred on the fact that it was fuel starvation. Idle fuel pressure was 42 psi, which was normal but when throttled it dropped to the low 30's, instead of spiking. So the Perera-Sabar forum advised to:

1. Replace fuel filter, which was probably stock, and now pushing 15 years with our golden nectar

2. Service the vtec solenoid.

All done, replaced with a Nissan filter used on the track cars by the local boys, under 1600/-

And she shot out of the garage like a bat out of hell! Holy crap the difference!! Throttled fuel pressure reading now blips up to 60psi, and my god that makes a world of a difference tho. Still I want a more pronounced vtec engagement. Should speak to Zackie about it.

What does one do when there’s nothing left to do? The interior! 

Picked up a beauty of a steering wheel from Dubai, since I last destroyed mine while trying to clean it. Plan is to send the old one to the UK for reupholstery. 

And the floor mats mats off of the OEM ITR sedan. These are mint!! 

this is the car up to now, and as with any project, its never ever over! i do have a few more plans. some of these are already in the pipeline, whilst others are mere pipe dreams. 

ENGINE

after running the December 2017 drags, i was sorely tempted to splurge on more power. what's the point of having a car that was built to take it and then not give it the best tools with which to do so? sabry advised on TODA Spec C camshafts, which he insists have better power outputs than even Brian Crower or Skunk2. and thus, with a credit card crunching push of a fateful button, these arrived:

i also needed to work on the stock intake, as it was restrictive. the aluminium piping i had sounded very harsh, abck in 2013. but that was also at a time where the car wasnt' tuned. after much research, decided to go for a Tegiwa powerchamber kevlar intake. this is also known as the "whale penis" intake. for obvious reasons. my whale must clearly be oriental, as the intake is shortened due to the presence of the ABS distributor. 

SUSPENSION

nothing major to change here. maybe an EDFC controller for the coilovers, so i can change the dampening settings on the fly from within the vehicle. if and when the GAB springs live out their useful life i will opt for a better softer coilvoer suspension, such as maybe Tein's new line. 

INTERIOR

the steering wheel needs a reupholstering after i quite judiciously once cleaned fungus off of it with undiluted dettol. the leather came off like the scabs of a sore. i still beat myself up for that. aparaade. this involves sending the wheel to the UK as none of the local upholsterers accepted the job. they can do it, but not back to OEM spec. so i first need to find a spare steering wheel. 

i've also got my sights set on a set of OEM red EK9 recaro buckets. nothing wrong with the SSCUS ones, but hell there's nothing like recaro. someday, if i have the money and find the perfect set. 

EXTERIOR

the biggest change to happen here is the JDM front end. the E-DB8 sedan was never made with the UKDM facelift front end. not off the factory. and this was what i sourced last from dubai as i got a good deal on a front end conversion, with a set of ITR headlamps (which have a black housing and plastic lenses, as opposed to the other trim DC2's which have a clear housing and glass lenses.) i also got the ITR lower lip in rubber imported via kapruka. took a huge risk with them 4 years after they lost my wilwood brakes. took three months but this time they delivered. phew! 

the conversion is here but i cna't find the time or the money to do it yet. so i've shelved it for a later date. for the moment i'm still in love with the UKDM face and have no heart to rip it off. 

i might also opt for an OEM spoiler if i find one. 

beyond this i haven't really given it any thought. i have no plans of parting with this car, so who knows? maybe a turbo? big brake kit? supercharger? let's see where it goes. for the moment its singing its song, and i'm listening! 

And so, finally, I found the means to finish what I started and swap the front end. As I’ve explained before, the E-DB8 Type R sedan never came with the UKDM 1998-2001 face. It was only with the DC2 face. As much as I think the bud eye is eccentric and beautiful, it is dated, and I have a mental disorder. So yeah. 

I’ve  had the front end with me for over an year. Picked up from Dubai, the panels are all Aluminium. So much lighter than the metal ones I have now! Project ongoing at platinum. Will update more once paint is done...  

Finally. At long last, the ITR sedan conversion is done!! Here she is in all her glory. More glam pics in the upcoming months! 

Few niggles I’m trying to fix. The front end didn’t come with fender liners/mudguards. Sourced those from uk. 

Also I was using a lengthened shifter linkage from an ek3 with a d series box. Apparently that’s why shifting into reverse and 2nd are difficult. Waiting on a proper ITR shifter linkage from the UK as well. Along with the stock dual bend shifter. 

here's the goods that came down end of january:

amber turn signals. as i said, no smoke signals this time round...

some bling for the engine bay: a godspeed high flow fuel rail, capable of handling 1000cc injectors, and a build upto 1000HP. now that i would, of course. and it wouldn't be complete without a fuel pressure gauge!

a lucky strike after much searching for that elusive "perfomance silent exhaust system" that had me being laughed at by various petrolheads! an APEXi world sport 2 muffler. need to fabricate a piping for this once the rest is done:

also managed to chase down a can of VHT wrinkle red for the valce cover and calipers. hooray! thanks Chang!

there's more: sickspeed red washers to dress up the engine bay and quarterpanel mounts. would look nice on white

and then there's the red plug wires. you didn't really think i would NOT get red plug wires now, did you?

and finally, my crowning glory, the cherry on the cake: the two thrones: reclinable racing buckets from SSCUS malaysia:

in case you're wondering, i sat in them and was doing the imaginary lap. and i thought i was bad until lakmal came over, sat down and did the same with a little bit of double clutching too. even he can be excused... my wife came home, and had to take a spin as well!

so after a long pause, work begins again. the engine's out for the rebuild. so glad to see SOMETHING happening at indikas!

and the best yet i've got P72 pistons in there as is. which is a wonderful find. P72's have a slight hemispherical curvature on its surface, to allow for a compresison ratio of 10,8:1. another little JDM gem that japan decided to keep for themselves! looks like i can look away from the datto for a little while now!

well, work is progressing, and the pace has picked up since the weeklong holidays are over. jeez...

rust! what you doin'?? rust! STAHP!! well, that's the only place this car has rusted. oddly. went through the rest of it with a fine toothed comb, and...nothing.

well it saved my a$$ tho, now the dashboard color change is a "necessary evil" in dad's little book of "my son is wasting his life and money"

this was taken apart, rust removed in two layers, put back and cataloyed in a day. impressive, considering the sloths employed here.

and here's a shot of the interior. falling into place. the glare makes it a little hazy, but that black somehow... just makes my ticker skip a beat!

and, finally, dat a$$! man, those lights! i should be hanged for crimes against the JDM

rear seat upholstery got pushed back a bit. because i ordered these little buggers. would rather go with well built replicas than splurge on spec recaros simply because i dunno what condition they'll be in til they i see them, and then its waaay too late for customer satis complaints.

well, if they're good enough for janaka rodrigo and his fire breathing dragon...

santa came! ho ho ho, motherhuggers!!

MSD blaster coil ignition system

ACL performance bearings: main rod, connecting rod and thrust

BLOX anodized lug nuts.

adjustable cam gears:

saved the best for last: brian crower valve springs, retainers

brian crower stage 2 street performance camshafts!

sadly, these will sit idle for some time til i get the gearbox sorted out. once that's smooth, will start on the engine rebuild and engine bay respray

Reverting back to my old lights. Getting it fixed, cleaned and fibered. There's nothing like understatement on the outside!

well here they are after a cleanup. the fronts are still messed up. too much age and grime to cut away. at least you can see what's inside the housing. earlier they were just opaque little orbs of mystery.

thinking of replacing them with a set of chrome eagle eyes from the US. the right size this time.

the rears, however, came out smashingly well. wow. looks like i just unpacked them!

here's a before shot:

and here's the afters:

also considered giving the front end to ajitha to get it completely redone. might be a better and cheaper option than getting a front end down...

Ok so Darwin racing effed up their shipment. My alloys haven't come through. Ascent holdings deserves a Darwin Award for that one!

Have to wait another month for the next shipment. If I get another "sorry sir" calls then that's absolutely it

before i proceed, here's a pre paint shot of the tan dashboard. it'll be done on boxing day. can't wait!

forgot to mention, i shipped in all 4 AC vents as well. they were broken, and bothering me, somehow.

one of the greatest joys of having a car that actually runs and doesn't sit in the garage more often than it does at home, is that i can actually leather it now and then. this is one thing i am eternally grateful to PAS and Sabry for: for coming through with what they promised and building a car to last. it was on his insistence that i entered the drags. 

i stood no chance fromm the get go. i was in the 1800cc-2500cc NA class, and i was up against 5 other competitors who brought drag prepped monsters carried there on trailers. while i drove my daily whip to the track, raced, and drove back. but with a qualifying time in the 15s range, with the winner running 12s, i'm quite pleased! 

i was loaned a pair of semi slicks for the race. this is why i love this community. the love, people. the love!

our resident rice police @VVTi and @Bugatti both took part in the one make BMW event, and i was sharing their tent space, feeling much like the Geisha to a platoon of SS soldiers...

^^this, by far, is my favourite shot. this is going on a wall somewhere. Built. Driven. Inspired. 

with Sacha Peiris in his Babyzilla

here's the two time trials:

and here's the qualifier. i was booted out after this. but hey, i'll be back! 

this was easily the most fun day of my entire life. to actually have a car that could run a race, and then go home in, to me, was the real victory. and while i sat there, on the start line, with the throttle blipping on launch control, i realized i didn't even have to run the race. i'd already won. the result was immaterial! 

<-- this was how the other 5 cars went home. mine is still proudly daily driven. all i did was remove the stickers. 

Looks like doomsday is Christmas for me. Arriving on Friday are:

1. The alloys

2. The cams

3. The valve springs and retainers

4. The MSD blaster kit

5. The ACL bearing kit

6. The Blox red Allan key lug nuts.

Will post photos once I've stopped having an orgasm over it

darwin racing 15" alloys. being cleared from port today. getting these either powder coated in white, or lquid gloss white finish. and white hub caps with the red H logo. jeevithe mal aiyya inna kal (for all the little decals and whatnots i print at anim8)

Removed the dashboard for paint today. I also got new AC vents since the existing ones were broken. There was a metric ton of rust behind the dash. Bloody hell. So that's official now I am never seeing this car again!

Will post before and after pics soon. Haiyyo.

some photos:

here's the box:

removed the auto. the flywheel screws had to be replaced. the MT ones are longer. its funny how every little thing int he tranny from this to the mounts have been reinforced to handle more torque. quite frightening in a very very nice 

and here it is, bolted into place.

had to source the pedal(s) locally. couldn't find the A and B, so got the C off an EK2. it was a perfect fit. not a bolt out of place. its funny how this car was made for a manual but someone decided to stick an auto in there. every little part had its place, with the bolt holes deleted by rubber bushings.

and there it is, the cheeky little bugger!

have to unceremoniously cut the brake pedal, tho. so invested in some sparco carbon fiber pedals to cover up the evidence. got these directly from sparco italy. tough as nails, light as a feather. impressed!

INTAKE EXHAUST UPDATE

here's the intake manifold. a Skunk2 S2 pro 70mm. coupled with the s90 70mm throttle body

got a simota cone to fit. need to fabricate a housing like the stock box, so i can use the existing cold air piping leading out from under the car.

there's a Mugen DC2 4:1 header in there as well. its still in its wrapping. plus it has a thermal insulation which needs to be wrapped. will post pics of it once i'm done.

for the moment going with stock fuel rail and injectors. planning to keep the latter, but ordered this:

need to sort out the exhaust piping. plus get hold of that tanabe soon. getting it done as soon as the car is out. 

INTERIOR

this is one of the costliest and painstaking parts of the build. making a 15 year old car look like it rolled off the plant yesterday is no easy task and the interior is where the age shows the most.

firstly, here's the stock interior:

this is not off my car, but its the same tan interior.

here;s my goal:

so, the tan had to go. did a lot of research with my paint guy and sourced an epoxy interior paint with a heat and electrolyte (sweat) resistant primer from italy. redid in satin black.

getting the felt bits done in fabric.

threw in all the other little type R parts as well. including...

the momo type R DC2 steering. with an airbag of course. cost me packet for one in good shape, and after a buffing with shoe polish, it looks killer!

got hold of a type R DC2 gauge cluster as well.

and of course, the type R clock with the amber digits! details details...

and then there's the gear boot/knob. black rexin with the red herringbone stitch, OEM honda.

i might keep the seatbelts tan. its good to have a little reminder of what the car was. but the seats will definitely be replaced. the rear will be upholstered in black, while a pair of black recaros will replace the fronts. again, in time. recaros are harima ganang!!

HANDLING/SUSPENSION

you guys have already seen my adjustable camber upper arms from the previous thread. here they are again anyways:

front:

rear:

what i'm adding now are the upper and lower control bars. front and rear. got a sweet deal from ultra racing for the entire kit. quite impressed with them, i must say.

the front and rear tower struts:

the front tower is a 3 pointer. i might not have room to mount it with the new intake manifold. if so, might have to do without it. its a fit for any EG8, so look me up if anyones' interested.

front and rear lower member braces:

the nxt thing, of course, are the coilovers. i need to lower the car. at least 1.5" front and 1" rear. i'm aiming for an Eibach multipro S2 setup oil shock coilovers with adjustable dampening and spring rates. this car is a daily driver and i can't give my self spondylosis at an early age!

for the moment, i'm installing some cheap ebay tin cans. they cost me next to nothing, but surprisingly amazon has some good reviews about them. ah well, only for 3 months...

INTERIOR UPDATE

the door panels are finally done. and looking more than just patta. i'm stunned. really!

fronts.

and the rear:

and what impressed me most was the center console armrest. deen's threw this in for free. wow. just wow. tears in eyes, lump in throat:

here it is bolted on. waiting for indika to fix the interior to see how this looks. 

used your car as a background, prvnrox. hope you don't mind

1. ENGINE

-B18C3 DOHC VTEC SIR-2

The b18c3 black-top is found in the 1996 JDM integra type R. and the JDM spec SiR-G sedan. Lots of rumours regarding the 3 in the C3. Some say its just an area code. As in made in Taiwan/Hong Kong. Others say it’s the closest Honda ever got to B18 nirvana. The head is from a B16 type R, and the individually numbered C3’s are rumored to have been ported and polished by Spoon Sports Japan. Factory specs are as follows, compared to the other two well known B18’s

Urban legends notwithstanding, this is one rare and much sought after motor in the west, and I suspect the spooning rumor has a big part to play in that! To me however, this means I don’t have to port and polish.

- brian crower stage 2 street performance camshafts

The stock camshafts are low lift, for more low end torque, and Honda R&D took great pains to make the shift to vtec as “seamless” as they would like. (why, oh god why??) basically designed for an automatic.

Crower stage 2 is high lift, and vtec engagement is much more pronounced, which, after all is what we want, yo! After much research decided on these over blox HSL’s and stage 1’s. Skunk2 was beyond budget.

to reach that elusive 10,000 rpm redline, its also necessary to upgrade the springs and retainers, piston sleeves and bearings.

Brian Crower Performance valve springs and retainers

its also necessary to upgrade the valvetrain if i’m to avoid the dangers of high RPM. inadequate valve springs and retainers can lead to broken springs, causing the valve to fall into the chamber, and that, would literally leave me in tears. Crower springs are stiffer to meet increased demand, and essentially protect the valvetrain. i opted for steel retainers over titanium as they are more durable and also, simply because i can’t bloody afford titanium!

naturally, a set of adjustable cam gears are also included.

BCSpring pressure:

1.350” @ 80lbs

Open 0.900” @ 220lbs

Coil bind: 0.765” Stock: 0.833”

Weight: 46g Stock: 48g

- ACL main and connecting rod bearings are also going in to ensure nothing pops at that redline.

2. GEARBOX

the auto had to go. clearly. it broke down thrive in the last year, and gave me sufficient excuses to go get my self a third pedal. not just any third pedal, mind you. one from an EK9 type R.

B16A2 EK9 type R box with helical LSD

Hydraulic clutch.

Gear ratios are as follows:

Type R pressure plate, clutch plate

- DC2 Type R flywheel

- Type R trans-axles

sourced the clutch pedal from an EK2. was a perfect fit. wasn't able to get hold of the other two for a complete conversion, so had to cut the brake. but a set of carbon fibre sparco pedal covers should cover that up neatly.

had a few small issues with the shifter linkage being a tad bit too short. thankfully indika is an expert at figuring this sort of thing out.

IGNITION

replaced the plugs with ngk iridium numbers. Also threw in an MSD blaster coil and ngk wires.

INTAKE/EXHAUST

replaced the stock intake with a skunk2 pro manifold and an s90 70mm throttle body. Coupled to a short ram intake and a simota cone filter

The stock 4:2:1 header was replaced with a mugen DC2 type r 4:1 header. With thermal wrapping and 2" piping leading to a tanabe medallion muffler. As nippy as it might be, I want this car to he quiet, despite the power gains.

so an update. the much hyped about photo shoot happened today morning. i'm still waiting for the pro shots, but here are a few that were taken by the owner of that sweet a$$ boosted sera:

also, more on the build. i guess now is the time sanity prevails over its counterpart. in the effort to make this more easy a daily driver, i ordered a set of D2 street spec coilovers. the lwoering sprigns i bought are a clear darwin award winner, and i will never recommend them to anyone. the stock shock is too soft for it and the car tends to bounce like a playmate on a trampoline... and i fear for my engine mounts, dashboard mounts and testicles! those will be coming in soon.

also, getting a B16 CTR ecu, and will be running that for some time, before giving the car to zackie for a full tuneup. drove macroxx's car today, which was tuned by zackie, and it was a blast! that really is the last bit left. will be hobbling and hogging the slow lane til i get these issues sorted out...

Got hold of a b16 sir obd1 ecu. Gave it to Zackie to see if magic can be worked...

also, got all the little elctrical niggles fixed today. the horn ribbon in the steering cassette had torn off its moorings. so that was fixed. a new cassette was 5500 so i'm pretty thankful to the electrical guy for fixing the existing one. also fixed the decentralised locking issue. and the brake lights, and that annoying fog light switch which was always lit up. need to go back to him once more to sort out the seatbelt pre tensioner being on the wrong side issue!

zackie approved of the ECU i got, its with him at the mo. need to hand over the car soon for a tune.

brakes and coilovers are on the way.

one of these days i have to pop over to the fiber guy and get the front mudflaps redone. before they leave me.

aah, post automotive-coital smoke time...

and when ti rains it pours!

went today and its all bolted together. gearbox, mounts etc...

and then up it went on the hoist. and a lot of grunting and heave-ho'ing later...

in she goes. mounts connected. sitting pretty. next on is getting everything connected. dizzy is till out. will do the hoses behind the engine first...

oh its all coming together i can barely stop jumping around the garage! such a lovely sight...

well the engine rebuild is finished, so here she is all closed up and watnot:

we then bolted on all the little sensors and other doohickeys onto the throttle body.

next on was the injectors. cleaned them up and stuck them in there as well

and finally, my piece de resistance... the godspeed fuel rail. mind you that's not where the gauge bolts on. will be mounting it in the right place after mounting the little gadgematics on the rail as well. that's for monday

meanwhile, i got the paint guy to start work on the valve cover... this is after one coat of wrinkle red:

and then 2 coats:

we went full on four coats as instructed, and my god it looks divine. too dark for photos. will snap one first thing in the morning and post. taking it over to a friends' place and baking it tomorrow as well. final touches on monday

more good news: we hope to plug the engine and tranny back in the car on monday. i've already taken a day off to swing on the electric vines with the grease monkeys. should find an auspicious time also... 

well, here's the baked cover. thankfully, the paint dried after baking. its hard as a rock now. and the brownies came out well too.

and then there's the painstaking task of scraping the letters out. with a 25 gauge scalpel blade. need to sand it tomorrow for a perfect finish. al she look sso good. mera pyaar