Snoozin

SOme more things have been done, including all-new loop pile carpet and a nice alloy sealed battery box in the boot but that's not even important. What is important, is the gearbox, which sucks. Downshifting is impossible without a big ol' rev match and double clutch to get it from 4th to 3rd, then from 3rd to 2nd. As the car makes a little bit of a racket, it's quite obnoxious. So I sat down with Earle McFarlane (he's had many many experience with T50s and rebuilding them) and ordered a whole load of parts from Japan. They came in this box. This struck me as odd. Amayama orders are sent to an NZ warehouse then dispatched from there, so I'm guessing this happened locally. 20210325_180028 by Richard Opie, on Flickr And this is what's in it. 20210325_175701 by Richard Opie, on Flickr We have; Synchros for all gears New selector hub sleeves Gasket/seal set Selector hub shift keys Clippy springy things for above Bearings a go-go (all bearings I could possibly get, we need to get the 2 countershaft bearings locally) Some good low km selector hub centers are en route from South Island. Next, I will rebuild the gearbox - well, Earle will rebuild it and instruct me to do some of the easy bits. Then I can finally aim for some twisties and give it a good drive, assuming it all plays the game. Looking forward to pissing around with brake bias, making all that stuff work etc.

Confirm reverse lights also - my folks Aussie assembled Marina 262 (our family car well into the 90s) had reverse lamps in the indicators, they weren't overly useful to be honest. This project thread is now officially my new guilty pleasure.

20210129_194419-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr Toyota Fest later this morning. Can't sleep. Too amped. Finishing touches to the detailing this evening, then I sat and looked at it for a bit. Man, I am super into this thing.

The idle is proving to be a little problematic on this car, it lopes away like it's got some stupid set of cams in it - but will work through this after Toyota fest this weekend, it's otherwise behaving itself well. Treated the car to it's first detail in over a decade, and maybe the first time I have ever hit it with some polish. First stage results below, wash and a hand cut (machine would have been much better, but you know). Paint isn't bad for a 14 year old respray done in a carport, it could be flatter but I know much more about what nice paint is now than I did then. 20210126_232629-01 by Richard Opie, on Flickr Gloss has come back nicely, and the colour is much much more vibrant than it has been. Next step is a glaze, and a couple of coats of wax for silky smooth depth. Then maybe I'll scoot out for some actual photos with the real camera again. I am super duper amped to bring this out and share it with everyone at Toyota Festival!

Not enough love heart reacts for this mate, Laverda triples were a major object of adoration for me as a kid. I have this old book which basically details every new bike you could buy in 1976 or so, and the Laverda pages were heavily thumbed over! Looking forward to it shaping up.

Just dredging this doubtful post up for relevance.

A wee while off yet, I need to fix the gearbox and tidy up a few little jobs. But mainly fix the gearbox and get a few KM on it so I'm confident it won't kill @cletuswhen he has a burn in it during the process of making it legal. Although, judging by some of the shit both he an LVVTA post on their respective socials, this thing seems reasonably well screwed together.

Anyway, this car is now tuned. @kprkindly agreed to handle the tuning duties, following some initial setup by @Stujust to get me running in the meantime. Some things to note : 1 - the gearbox is still not good, downshifts into 3rd and 2nd are the absolute pits. 2 - this tune is still done with the stock head and cams, attached to the high-comp bottom end. Here's a short clip of the final dyno pull, Kris managed to eke 100kw out of it, the engine wasn't keen on taking a lot of timing due to my wack combo, but this is decent regardless I think. Anyway, it's a little smoky when it gets up in the revs, but I hope it calms down a bit with some bed-in time. The dyno session went fairly smoothly. The cam covers were leaking a bit of oil, and a few fasteners on the engine self-ejected, probably as a result of me not checking over the engine nuts and bolts thoroughly enough. So naturally, you get the thing home and you want to drive it, right? So I did. Here's a wee 2nd and 3rd gear entrance onto the motorway, gives a nice idea of how it sounds in car. But the best sounds are outside of the car, right? I got @Espritto take it for a skid up and down the main straight of my local test route so I could revel in the delicious doorts. It didn't disappoint, especially with these rowdy things reverberating off every concrete and steel building in the area. The exhaust also achieved the requisite amount of twang up in the revs, something I wanted to retain that 4AG character. Initial driving thoughts then? It's pretty good. I suppose taking your time with stuff and trying to make educated choices pays off somewhat. It's super cliche but it totally feels like a larger gokart. With the 275lb front and 225lb rear springs it feels planted. and quite lively when you chuck it into a corner. It's got enough travel you can punt it around with relative confidence, I took it for a brief squirt down the backroads out by Kris' place and felt immediately at home. I think with some minor tweaking it's going to be a really fun little chassis. The brakes are shaping up to be damn near perfect. I've fluked the cylinder sizes, it feels pretty good out of the box and is only getting better with use. Although I am yet to do a proper bed-in procedure on the pads. But I feel, aside from some adjustment of the bias, the brakes will be up to anything I can chuck at this car as it sits. You can tell me how bad the exhaust sounds in this discussion thread we all prepared earlier. Who would have thought I'd actually be close to completing this car?

Here we go then with another sporadic update. So, encouraged by a few people I have been putting in a little bit of effort on this in an attempt to get it to Toyota Festival, later this month. Nick the Sparky and I put in a couple of days in the shed at his place, where he did sparky things, I occasionally helped with sparky things, but I also stripped the old interior and put the new bits in. From there, I took the car to @sheepers, and he did some choice stuff for me which included a driveshaft loop, and mounting the freshly retrimmed Recaro LX (Fishnet) seats. Also while it was there I drained the synthetic (wrong) oil from the gearbox and put the right (mineral) stuff back in it, as it was giving me some strife. More on that soon. Lewis Horrell in Ashburton is responsible for the killer retrim. I wanted to match the seats to the plastics, and he managed to find a stunning option. We'd been talking about this for a long time - I wanted either a houndstooth or a tartan to channel both early Porsches (which I adore), and also the period the KP was designed in. I reckon it turned out all right. The gearbox has some shifting problems on the downshift from 4th to 3rd and 3rd to 2nd - initially we suspected clutch drag and maybe a mismatch of master cylinder to clutch cylinder, but after Davo's old man Earle dropped in and helped me through a few checks (he's a real T50-whisperer) his diagnosis is something in the selector or synchro area - so it's gonna be a gearbox out job shortly, nevermind. However, I will still be getting the car onto the dyno with @kpr and @Stu at some stage in the next couple of weeks, as we can hook 4th with no problem do the doort things! Pictures below: 20210110_181421-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr Grabbing some sun after a full day of work. 20210110_181852-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr This is pretty much the final version of the engine bay, I haven't clipped the loom along the sides of the block yet, but it should be all sorted out post-dyno. 20210110_180317-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr Got the dash back in for the first time in 5 years. Some plastic repairs on broken parts mean it is now secured better than it ever has been in my ownership of the car. The fake brushed ally of the factory dash has been re-overlaid with a textured vinyl. 20210110_172923-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr The Stack bits all lit up. Tach output isn't turned on in the Link yet, and we are struggling to get a useful signal for the speedo. But shouldn't be too tricky to solve, just need some advice from some experts and Nick reckons we can make it tell the speed! 20210110_180414-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr' Recaro LX in sumptuous maroon, with matching door cards (new CNC cut from 3mm tempered hardboard) 20210110_182113-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr Absolute must to have the RECARO logo embroidered on in the proper location. 20210110_182416-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr Imagine having rears that match? Well, you don't have to, because they match! 20210110_183559-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr Wilwoods peeking through the Star Brights. It stops well, and it's only going to get better! 20210110_182557-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr Top down! You can see the interior and the engine bay, I'm pretty stoked on this to be honest. It has come together better than I could have ever imagined ten years ago, when I pulled it all to pieces. As you can probably tell there's still plenty to do, like carpets and stuff. But the list is signficantly smaller, and there is no way I could have done this myself - I owe so much of this to a handful of really generous (especially with their time) and talented people I probably don't give enough dues. So thanks, if you're reading.

The actual reality is, there was no top end increase... having a dearth of anything in the lower RPM just exacerbated that rip-snorting 74kw at the upper rev limits so it felt like it had more!

Took it to the drags, ran a best of 14.3 @ 97mph and then a string of 14.4s all day. I think it's got more in it, I just need to not drive like a dickhead. So I gave it a wash (since we're allowed to in Auckland now) and took a few pics of current state of play, wearing the OEM skirts, Advan RGs, Mugen bits under the bonnet etc. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-1087-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-1172-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-1096-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-1100-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-1133-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-1139-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-1149-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr Turns out it's a pretty decent wee car, sort of running out of things to do on it though which is weird. Although there is some signs of the early stages of a common rust affliction on the top of the hatch opening, so I'll sort that out in the new year.

I immediately thought of PLAYLD, which had the YB in it and the mahoosive stereo and TVs and everything, back in the glory days of 4 n Rotary.

Someone find me photos of these things slammed on cool wheels and convince me it's a good idea.

Perfect for you, super rusty, Nissan. Checks the boxes!

You start it, I'll contribute. Also, Alex you have truly gone down the March rabbit hole. Now you know how I feel about Integras. Also, an E-prefix before a chassis code is usually a Japan emissions standard. After E, Japanese cars were prefixed GF, then GH, etc. etc. E came about in 1978 or so I think, even my KP is E-KP61 as it had all the gubbins associated to meet the standard.

Still haven't gotten around to getting out with the real camera, but here it is on the RG with the tyres from the original white wheels fitted up, as the 205/50 that came on the Advans were balloon as. I also had all the kerb damage on them tidied up and the edges repainted, they all look pretty mint now. Very happy. Spent the weekend putting km's on it, and loved every one. This car rules. DC2R Phone (48)-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr DC2R Phone (49)-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr DC2R Phone (50)-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr DC2R Phone (46)-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr

So sheepers popped around, we did a bit of a bolt check, clipped all the fuel and brake lines up and then the above happened. How cool. The tune is only very beginning stages so I couldn't give it any real beans under load yet, but ambling around on part throttle was super great. The brakes feel awesome, as does the suspension. Things to look at include (and this is for my reference): - fix/adjust clutch so shifting is hopefully easier - move exhaust to drivers side so muffler is away from rear passenger side wheel - resolve tacho and speedo not working - roll rear guards cos she rubs a bit - driveshaft loop - secure and install battery box - seat mounts (for lush lush lush new interior) - diff is noisy, change out worn CW & P for a good spare set I have - get it aligned properly That's really about it for the moment. Not bad all things considered, the only stock mechanical component on the car is the steering column and rack!

I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty cool.

Been a long time no update but anyway thanks to Stu and Sheepers and Nick the Sparky this is where we are at. Weird. Went pretty smoothly, it's spooging a bit of oil out the breathers on the top but I guess once it's run in that'll settle down or it'll just keep doing it cos 4AG life. I have 5 forward gears, a clutch that works and some brakes so with a few hours checking things and tidying up small jobs there's nothing stopping me from going for a wee drive. Oh the thermostat doesn't seem to be opening but that's not really a big deal to sort out hopefully, it might just be old and stuck, or new and stuck, as the case is.

The horn button and the steering wheel are still in their box. But instead I did some other stuff, we'll call this "Gen 2.0" of the project/not really a project. Last weekend, I fitted up the option OEM skirts and rear caps, made sure it all fit OK (which it did, because it's OEM) and trekked to Hamilton to get my mate Brendan to paint it all up. This stuff is all pretty rare - the skirts came up cheap locally so I pounced on them, but the caps I ended up having to spirit across from the USA. I've had it all for about 6 months I guess. The skirts needed some cracks repaired - luckily this was easy, as they're made from ABS. I foolishly forgot to take any photos during the paint and final fitting process. A cool trick for those at home, is to use side skirt trim for a Toyota bB to act as the NLA Honda weatherstripping that seals the edges of the kit against the side of the car. But anyway. I also scored a cheap set of Advan RG in 16x7.5" flavour just this weekend. They aren't mint, but present really well. They have a bit of light kerbing on 3 of the wheels, some stone chips as expected through age, and plenty of marks and chips on the inner barrels. I spent HOURS removing baked on brake scum, tar spots, and cutting the paint to remove light scuffs and they turned out pretty awesome I reckon. A bit of a bucket list wheel for me, I had some 17-inch versions on my old Torneo Euro R if anyone remembers that... Anyway, pics of wheels and kit on car. They tyres are a bit too tall, these are a 205/50/16 where the 205/45/16 on the stock 16's fits (and looks) much nicer. Just lame-o phone photos for the moment, I'm intending to get out with the camera (and the car on 17's) soon for some nice pics of how it all looks with it's flash new aero. DC2R Phone (41)-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr DC2R Phone (44)-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr DC2R Phone (42)-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr Bloody good though, eh.

This goes to the breather on the rocker cover on a 4K, assume similar?

How to be a nerd, Part 7 I've always loved the NSX-R steering wheel/horn button combo, and have long wanted to pop one into a DC2R as homage to the original Type R. Since I had my first one, all those years back. Anyway, these steering wheels are actually still available, as is the horn button and the trim ring. The steering wheel price is $1440.00. Yeah um. Maybe not. The trim and horn button, while expensive (for what they are) don't break the bank, so I hatched a plan. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-1060-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr Here, you can see I bought a contemporary MOMO Tuner wheel. For all intents and purposes, this is an NSX-R steering wheel. It feature a marginally different offset in the spoke, and a different printed logo, but still has the red stitch and pretty much identical rim/grip style. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-1066-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr This is a gen-you-wine NSX-R horn button, and trim ring. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-1072-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr And this is a detail shot of a gen-you-wine NSX-R horn button and trim ring wedged into a MOMO Tuner. There's something pretty cool about these brand new OEM beauty pieces, or maybe that's just me swooning irrationally. But yes. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-1076-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr This is what the assembled item should look like. I've got a WOF due in September, so I'll pop it on after that as I have to replace the OEM airbag wheel for WOF time. Fun.

OK solid idea, I did wonder if that was likely. Will check it out again after a few km and see how it's faring.

The clamping was just painful, putting all the bits in was comparatively easy, albeit a bit tight to pass the inlet trumpet part under the chassis rail and not scratch the nice shiny top bit. V-bands are a pain anyway, just that one is especially suckful. At least the whole thing doesn't have to come out to remove the filter though!

Nah it can stay that way. This isn't a restoration, it's preservation - if I was to touch that up or repaint it, it would lose that original look that it has, they don't stick much paint on them down there. If it was actual rust then yeah it would warrant attention but for now just a clean is adequate.