Snoozin

Yesterday, I put the intake. There were no tears, copious swearing and ALMOST one snapped bolt. But not quite. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-955-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr The garage is only wee, so this is a door-up jobby. Yay for a break in the weather. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-957-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr Car goes up, bumper comes off. More stuff needed to come off, too. How easy is it taking off a modern car bumper. This appears to be attached with 2 self tapping screws, 3 push-in clip things and a 10mm bolt. And maybe a hearty splurge of hopes and dreams. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-962-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr The old intake arrangement consisted of this piece of convoluted hose feeding the original airbox. In the interests of total originality, I still have the big resonator that sits up in the guard and all the pieces required to reinstate to OEM will be kept. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-963-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr The airbox has to come out. Along with the radiator overflow bottle and it's bracket. And the support bracket for the airbox. And you also need to undo a stay that connects the clutch flexible hose to the hard line. This becomes evident later in the swear-fest, after Richy says "surely I don't actually need to remove that part." 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-976-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr Next, we attach this wee stainless bracket to the bellmouth part of the kit. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-981-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr Then, you slide the bellmouth into the OEM intake arm. You'll see there's a wee spring on the end that goes around the circumference of the arm. This keeps enough tension on the joint to prevent slippage, in lieu of some ghastly looking hose clamp. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-985-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr THEN, oh boy, what a humdinger of a step... the wee bracket bolts onto the mounting tab vacated by one of the three bolts that secured the original airbox. MAGIC. But yeah nah, it located perfectly. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-991-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr The filter - a K&N item made specifically for the kit - then slips onto the bellmouth. It's a pretty tight fit, so it stays put. For now at least. Until the next step. When it seems to be a real sausage in a hallway situation right when you don't want it to be. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-994-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr Unfortunately, I had to use all 7 of my hands to complete this step, so couldn't document the in-progress part. That's a big V-band clamp at the wide end of the airbox. After you have successfully managed to spend most of your life maneuvering the airbox into general position - I took the headlight out also to help - you then have to deal with clamping the bellmouth, filter, and airbox together with this big clamp. Now, the filter loses any conviction whatsoever to retain its interference fit to the bellmouth flange at this stage. This results in MUCH fumbling, and I'm pretty sure one of the instructions in the manual was "say FUCK a lot," but I don't read Japanese so I'm unable to confirm. So yeah, it's quite a challenge to ensure the clamp, er, clamps all three of the components. Often times you'd be like "YUS GREAT SUCCESS" only to realise the bottom (which is totally inaccessible) wasn't properly clamping. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-995-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr Anyway, after saying 'fuck' about 589 times, it paid off and I got it all clamped up. I also added the trumpet to the bottom (fixed in place with aluminised tape) and fixed the bottom snorkel part with the supplied bracket. No pics, cos it was dark and I was mainly fumbling about trying to finish it off. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-1018-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr The next day, the all important task of fitting the sticker was on the agenda. I struggle to attach a WOF sticker without it being 78% air bubble, so trying to place this no doubt expensive adhesive thing was slightly stressful. But we got there. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-1009-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr Final step! Stand back and admire the view. Took it for a test doort round to sheepers place, seems to have fattened up the midrange noticeably in conjunction with the headers. And there's heaps of noise, so this unequivocally means it is faster. Thanks for looking.

THISSS.... Is a very expensive and difficult to get piece of discontinued Mugen equipment for a DC2R 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-932 by Richard Opie, on Flickr Why did I get it? Because I'm a stupid fucking magpie, that's why. I also have a Mugen exhaust and a recently restored header (which for some reason I never updated but OK), and wanted to finished off the intake, header and exhaust (I/H/E) holy trinity with a matching piece. So a friend of a friend found a wee shop in Hong Kong who had this. He subsequently bought it on my behalf, I sent him money, he sent me a large box, I dealt with the hassle that is customs, and voila. Here it is. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-945 by Richard Opie, on Flickr I am going to read this manual, and figure out how it installs. There's a lot of parts. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-953 by Richard Opie, on Flickr This is the airbox, and the velocity stack that locates inside the inner gaurd. Vs the stock arrangement, it has a HUGE volume. I'm going to assume there is some kind of science involved in the shape, and volume of it. Because well, justifying it. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-940 by Richard Opie, on Flickr The airbox attaches to this bellmouth with the biggest V-band clamp I've ever seen. Apparently this particular part is quite responsible for the Mugen setup producing some better numbers than most other units on the market. I'm not a surgeon, so I can't comment with any real conviction. Really nicely made piece of kit however! 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-947 by Richard Opie, on Flickr This thing stops all the nasties getting in, and claggin up my 'tec. It's really important that you keep fine particles away from your VTEC. K&N make this. So you can just do washing and oiling like you do with all the other K&N things and it'll last forever. Or at least for a few thousand KM this gets driven every year. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-950 by Richard Opie, on Flickr It is REALLY important to have a sticker. So here is the sticker, that usually goes on the shiny top part of the airbox. I'm gonna scan it, so I can get replacements made when I inevitably wreck the other one while I'm doing my best impression of an apprentice signwriter whom hasn't yet read the dictionary definition of "self adhesive." The shiny stuff is sticky tape. In true Japanese tuner fashion, you use that to stick the trumpet onto the end of the airbox. No lies. Join me next time, for the part where I swear, scratch my new parts, cross thread some bolts and take some nice photos of it so it all appears super mint and well installed.

Useless info - the brakes on these are the same as a 98 spec Type R Integra. So, you have Type R brakes. How good.

are you gonna mod Mk1 Cortina lights for the tail panel cos that'd be bangin

DC2R Phone (33)-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr DC2R Phone (36)-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr Wheels, meet car. Yeah good. Caffeine and Classics tomorrow if the weather holds!

2020-06-26_08-08-47 by Richard Opie, on Flickr Finished. Tyres and stickers. Good.

Project other is going all right. So I bought some wheels. I've long lusted after a set of SSR Type C, however do not like the price that tidy examples command. Some chance Facebook Marketplacing saw these things turn up. The description simply read: Honda wheels 17-inch. Coaxing the seller through a few extra pics confirmed they were SSR Type C, 17x7.5-inch forged wheels. They weigh 5kg a piece. They looked rough. I bought them for next to nothing, and did a roadtrip to Wellington to get them the first weekend we hit Level 2. Great idea to also get out of Auckland, get some driving in, and see some people I hadn't in a really long time. This is what I got. 98272862_10216632842556010_1422751630977138688_o by Richard Opie, on Flickr Assorted tyre sizes. Pretty haggard in the paint department. Some of Australias finest export quality matte black I expect. 99048908_10216650052466247_8180097297808359424_o by Richard Opie, on Flickr With the tyres off things didn't get any less ugly. The full scope of the repairs needed started to become apparent, more of which is detailed below. 99006202_10216650056026336_8451286377600909312_o by Richard Opie, on Flickr 99078092_10216650054786305_4216971291200061440_o by Richard Opie, on Flickr 99138489_10216650053066262_530452122030833664_o by Richard Opie, on Flickr 100086434_10216650053946284_2533449599859818496_o by Richard Opie, on Flickr And more. But anyway I dropped these into Wheelfixit in Wairau for a look and a quote, turned out they were totally repairable and it wasn't even very expensive. Step 3, was acid dipping, kindly taken care of by Kwik Strip in Te Atatu. Again, bargain prices and criminally fast turnaround. As in, these were done in the space of several hours. 100597172_10216707809990149_7015287452575203328_o by Richard Opie, on Flickr 101063927_10216707810710167_197262320282370048_o by Richard Opie, on Flickr 99291047_10216707810350158_3946752332850528256_o by Richard Opie, on Flickr Some were worse than others, with signs of surface corrosion evident on some of the wheels. I also cleaned up the kerb damage on the one non-bent wheel by gently filing and sanding, enough so that the lip retained it's profile and was not 'flattened' too much. But then, for my final trick, paint. Of course I suck at paint. But I know some blokes who don't. Ben and Nick took the job on for me, and gave em a splash with Porsche Weissgold, with a satin clear over the top. To say I am stoked on the result would be an understatement. 101952115_10216857720217811_7586636871987907807_o by Richard Opie, on Flickr 104433228_10216857720617821_5444337198238180490_o by Richard Opie, on Flickr 102458703_10216857721577845_1496879978836587088_o by Richard Opie, on Flickr And that's that, so far. I am going to get some stickers for them in due time, and probably some tyres. Run em for a bit then put them up for sale to the period-correct JDM piners. Unless I decide I quite like 17s and keep them on. But 16s was probably the ideal... anyway, thanks for looking.

Could well be tempted.

That was my Rainer Wolfcastle moment.

Can't guarantee it will be safely protected from short circuits (it's a Starlet so the circuits are not very long) but too easy on the rest. Assume sealed battery does not require external venting. Chairs!

Hello @cletus I've tried searching but failed. I need to mount my battery in the boot zone of my red car that you're a little bit familiar with already. It is an AGM type sealed battery. What are the requirements please (does it cross over with motorsport?). I am going to make a tray/clamp for it. Do the requisite fasteners need to mount through the tray AND the floor. Or can I have a tray mounted to the floor, then the battery mounted to the tray? Each using whichever fastener spec is required. Thx and hugs, Richy,

New name. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-927-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr New tail lights. AU/NZ spec facelift types with the CREAR WINKER. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-879-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr Side profile for shits and/or giggles, been playing around watching tutorials on commercial editing etc so easing into it. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-894-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr Over lock down, I also finished the caliper rebuild and assembled them. They're coated in HPC of some sort, whatever the flashest one was, in a finish to mimic the OEM ones. I'll do the rears in due course. Also detailed the inner arches and front suspension, it's all very clean in there now. Will try for some pics a bit later. Rears to follow, again. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-917-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr

Turns out all the links have shit themselves for some reason, nevermind. Anyway, all this bullshit has me pretty up and down and generally a bit upset in between the occasional moment of optimism. I haven't seen the car since a week or so before lock down, and even though I might not have done anything on it anyway under normal circumstances I thought I'd go through my phone a bit and see what I had, just as means of trying to cheer myself up. I haven't updated much here, but this is the engine bay, it has the loom in it in this photo with much thanks to Stu, Nick the Spraky and Sheeper. 20200307_203640 by Richard Opie, on Flickr I'm a bit hopeful I might be able to spark it up not long after we're allowed out again, it'd make me pretty happy to do so. KP61 Phone-11 by Richard Opie, on Flickr The brakes also work on it, the handbrake works, the body loom works (headlights etc), Lewis has the new front seats to trim and soon I'll ship the back one down. It has some cert compliant wheels and tyres on it now, and Clint even came and gave it a wee pre-check over just to ensure I haven't made any totally glaring oversights. So overall, notbad.

I'd really like to shoot and spin a yarn about that car if the opportunity presented itself.

Thanks for pedal box yarn. This is something I'm likely to go through pretty soon on the red car.

This is awesome. I've been looking longingly at 156's of late, manual V6 sounds like a thing I could happily own.

The answer is always Bilstein, and it's not even that spendy really. You can generally buy what you want, then have it valved how you want by the appropriate dealer.

Won a trophy at 4&R Nationals for having the best original paint. I guess the 30 + hours of detailing wasn't in vain.

This is nearly working. Lots has been done since ^^

Still own it, still clean it. Took a photo with another cool Honda. 1996 Honda Accord Super Tourer HART001 (3)-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr Also did some more work/doing some more work so will update soon times.

Space, but more crucially, money.

So, without going into too much detail about all the boring shit I have done, it's starting to look quite good. 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-195-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-308-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-350-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-434-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-294-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-129-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-151-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-56-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr 2000 Honda Integra Type RX-37-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr

That sounds exactly what I don't want.

I wanna 635CSi tbh

So it failed it's first WOF under my ownership. Typical Honda things. Bushes. Front LCA outer bush on the RHS, and both RTA bushes. Bought the following from Speed Science/Hardrace - Front LCA kit (all 4 bushes) - Front swaybar end links (D-bushes unavailable in 25mm size!) - Front compliance arm bushes - RTA bushes George, being the excellent human that he is let me clag up his hoist for a week. With some help from Dustin (DNG) and Scott (East Tamaki Auto) it's all buttoned up and ready for it's recheck. Feels AMAZING with all the new bushes. Also learned it has a Spoon rigid collar set installed, while I was rummaging around underneath it. Also; Scored some nice clean, unfucked arch liners from Pick a Part. Have since cleaned and gotten rid of all the tar on them, will install this weekend. A few other little pieces. Brent at Doozi in Hamilton organised some showroom plates for me, and a new INTEGRA sticker for the center console. Plates as below, just real stupid nerd/indulgent shit. 20190830_175357-01 by Richard Opie, on Flickr 20190830_175651-01 by Richard Opie, on Flickr Car is looking clean and ok though. Just a few more small jobs and it will be ready for market. Standard suspension is en route but the Stacked! container is having some difficulty with fumigation for the ol' stink bug. DC2R Phone (28)-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr