Project: Integra

[Ranger]

Hey I'm alive! Started a new job which has kept me really busy. But I actually have made a lot of progress. Didn't take too many pictures yet, but I will this weekend, because I should have the car 90% back together.

I don't like Honda or anything...



What happens when you don't have a bushing press:



Coilovers assembled, old vs. new here. Koni Sport shocks / Ground Control collars / Eibach springs / eBay top hats (I figured can't really go wrong there). Full set for less than $800. Spring rates are stiff enough for the track but hopefully still streetable.

[Shadowden]

Great price for koni, ground control, springs and top hats for less than $800!

I like the Honda theme!

[Saul_Good]

Curious how the car drives with new trailing arm bushings compared to the old, broken ones.

Bushings are last on my list but im close.

[Ranger]

It's so much more solid. The rear end previously had a lot of slop. IMO, a mandatory replacement on these cars or any car with a similar design. Keep in mind, though, my car has close to 205K on the clock, and the RTABs had never been replaced.

A year and a half later and I've hardly driven this thing Life was pretty rough last year, and cars weren't a priority. I'm back at it now though. If I get time I'll try to go back and fix the broken pictures.

As for how it drives, on the whole, I don't think this is because of the RTABs, but the car was painfully stiff in the rear. I say "was", since I currently have the rear end torn apart. I want to raise it a bit to give the suspension more travel, and those $75 lower arms I got from Amazon are about what you'd expect in terms of ride quality. I bought the Energy Suspension bushing kit and am working on getting them in.

Part of the problem might have been that the middle hole, which is what the shock mounts to, is in a completely different location.



Goodbye old bushings.



Cleaned them up and painted them the color of the EM Civic Si because rice. Here you can see that there are metal sleeves in the holes that I'll have to sawzall out. Unfortunately did not realize that before painting.



Amazon arm bushings (left) vs. Energy Suspension OE replacement (right)

[Ranger]

Sorta off topic but last weekend I did my first ever autocross at PPIR's Time Attack series, in my Civic though. I'm hoping to have this car ready to go for their next event in a few weeks.

At some point last year I primered the car. Yes it is different colors...I don't understand how Rustoleum can make 3 different shades of primer black. I'll fix that, but paint isn't high on the list right now.



Functioning hatch shocks are nice. If you have a hatchback and need hatch shocks, this company (Eazy Lift) is great. Pretty cheap on Amazon too.



That junk on the floor is my ECU and the seatbelt control module (remember, 1992, active shoulder belt). I pulled all that out while trying to figure out why the hell my car was beeping at me. At this point I'm guessing the seatbelt control module is faulty, because the belts work fine and were plugged in. I just unplugged it, which sucks because it means I'll have two buckles to undo, but whatever. Peace of mind is nice.

Got the new steering wheel on. I might go for something nicer in the future. But it's great not having a bus tiller.







I started mounting the new seat, too. It's taking a lot of trial and error, because the brackets I got (the ones that bolt to the floor) really are meant for bottom-mount seats, not side mount seats with L brackets. It was wayyyy too high off the ground; zero headroom and I'm not a tall guy. So I drilled new holes in the L brackets as low as I could while still leaving room for a bolt underneath.

Hoping this will work. However, when I get a rollbar and start using a harness, I'm going to have to figure something else out. Pretty sure strapping the lap belt over that bracket isn't safe The factory belt will go over the top just fine though.

[Shadowden]

With as low on the bracket as you are now, you could probably pick up some steel angle and just drill the holes where you need to in the floor and for the seat and it wouldn't cover the lap belt. Otherwise, you can just cut the top off the existing bracket. I mention the steel angle because it is going to be a lot cheaper. Saying that, you also have the option of aluminum now.

What seat(s) and bracket(s) are you running?

[Ranger]

That was my first thought, bolt the L brackets through the floor and forget using a bracket, but with the way the floorpan is shaped it's not really an option. Good call on chopping off the top brackets though. Seat is a Bimarco Expert and the brackets are OMP. I'm not sure I'd trust a seat being mounted to aluminum in a collision I mean, it'd have to be something heavy duty like these.

[Shadowden]

I would think you would leave plenty of materia lto not have it pull through the aluminum. Those are'n much heavier than the 11 ga steel your current bracket is made out of.

Having said that, I also have some nervousness about fabricating my harness lap belt attachments out of aluminum, but it is not like they will get pre-fatigued by bending or develop other stress cracks. Safer is better though, so I put that project off and need to pick up some steel. I will probably over build them too and use 3/16".

[Ranger]

I've kinda let this car sit for a while, but due to the clutch going out in my Civic I put it back together and have been driving it around. I forgot just how massively different modern cars are. This thing is so raw by comparison. I didn't realize how much I missed having a cable throttle, and being able to hear and feel everything.

Speaking of, there's an intermittent clunk in the front left suspension. I'm about to go troubleshoot, but I'm thinking it's probably a bad ball joint. There are two, one in the upper control arm, and one in the steering knuckle. The control arm isn't serviceable. Steering knuckle is, but that's something I'd have to have a shop replace.

Oh yeah, I gave up on installing the racing seat using the brackets I have. I have the factory seats in for now. I'm not sure what direction I want to go, because I really want sliders, but I can't find any brackets for DA Integras that have them. I might just sell the racing seat and go for something like these. (Though I don't really want red stitching, wouldn't match the blue in the interior.)

https://www.amazon.com/RSTRLGBK-Racing- ... tegra+seat

[Ranger]

So, despite bad ball joints (I'm now positive that's what the clunk is), I took the Integra to PPIR's Time Attack series today. It was the first real autocross I've ever done. I've done plenty of track days, but cone chasing is ummm pretty tough for my directionally challenged brain I find it difficult to see where I need to go when there's no "road" to follow.

This was my best run and I was still 5 seconds off the lead. You can see spots where I hesitate because, well, I knew I could just floor it, but to me it wasn't clear where I needed to point the car in order for that not to be a really bad thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaN8ETKRL0A

Anyway. If I had any doubts about whether buying an Integra was a good choice, they're gone. This car handles phenomenally. There were three other Integras there (and one EF Civic which is very similar), and they cleaned up in our class, which included cars like new GTIs and turbo Velosters.

Today also made me realize that I've got more work to do on the car. The front end feels squishy and not as responsive as it should. Aside from ball joints, I plan to do bushings in the lower control arms, and replace tie rods. I did the upper control arm bushings already, but left the others untouched.

Oh yeah, and I got to compare my car to my two friends' Integras. One a 3rd gen, the other a '92 like mine. They're mostly identical, except I haven't removed power steering or A/C, and have a stock header.

Mine felt the worst due to needing the above work, but it has the most perceivable power. Which makes no sense at all Mine also sounds the best I think we're all going to dyno to get a baseline. The goal is to add turbo later on down the road.

Integra party (3rd gen is further back):

[Saul_Good]

Good job! Yea that sea of cones will get you. Just keep going and walk the course a lot. Also great to see the resurgence H/A brands at motorsports. Nothing like a lightweight, double wishbone car.

[Ranger]

I didn't get a chance to walk the track as I didn't make it down in time. Not going to make that mistake again. If I have to, I'll go down Saturday night and stay the night.

The funny thing is that people are surprised that they do so well. Maybe more like insulted that these 90s crap cans are beating up on modern technology In reality, even an Accord from that era would out-handle many modern cars with just a bit of suspension work.

I forgot to mention that I definitely need to get my racing seat (or at least something better than stock) put in. Part of the reason of me being slow was not feeling secure in the cockpit. I also don't trust the OEM seat belts...so I might drive my Civic at time attack days until I get a roll bar put in.

[Saul_Good]

Ask Dwduc to show you the seatbelt trick which allows you to harness yourself in with the stock belt. It's not like a race seat but it works good.

[Ranger]

Well, the thing is that I'm not sure they're locking appropriately. You can give the belt a hard pull and it doesn't lock. In other words, if I hit something, I'm not sure they'd actually hold me in place. I think I know the seatbelt trick you're talking about (this) and that depends on belts actually working correctly

There are those CG lock things, but those won't work, because the 2nd gen has the old automatic seatbelts, where the shoulder and lap belts arent connected via D-ring.

Basically, 2nd gen owners are boned when it comes to both seats and belts. Nobody makes sliding rails for them, so you either have to adapt the stock ones to a different seat, or take a chance on universal sliders. Seems like a roll bar and harness are the only safe way to go if you want something other than stock. (That, or buying belts from a Canadian car, which didn't have the automatic ones...but that's like $300. Screw that.)

Edit: You know what, I might be able to do something like this. Need to look into whether the rear seat belt mounting points will work. And if the bolt holes for the lap belt are in the right spot.

http://soloracer.com/harnschrothfaq.html

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209863

[Ranger]

I went to look at how the belts are now. The lap belt actually does lock, consistently. But the shoulder belt doesn't. That's pretty dangerous considering the car doesn't have an airbag.

I think I have a plan, though.

The seat rail bolt won't work for lap belts---it's under the seat. But it looks like it might be possible to use the factory mounting point for the lap belt. I'll have to bust off the plastic covering and figure out how to unbolt it.



Back seat mounting points won't work for that Schroth 4-point harness. But the good news is, they will work for the Rallye 3. I can use either the lap belt or the B-pillar. I've been meaning to remove these anyway...probably would shave a good 10 lbs. off.