Acura Integra GSR Customizing and Modifying

01teggsr · May 2005

hey everyone, i just found your forums off of google. uhh, i have an '01 Integra GSR it's silver, very nice, it has served me well. but, i have a couple questions though. 1. i'm a big modder, if that's what you'd call it, i know quite a bit about fixing up cars, tuning them, all of that sort. but, for my integra, i don't know which route to take. could anyone give me some examples or guidelines to doing so? 2. does anyone know where i can find an owners manual for my car? when i bought it it didn't come with one. haha if you would like to see pics, just ask me. it has the clear corner turning lights and HID headlights on both high and low beams. thanks to all

01tegguy · May 2005

Hey I like your car already! mine's the same, color and everything. You've got those clear corners though. As far as the owners manual goes:

I believe the best place would go if you want to get brand new is to HelmInc (I think they're site might be down at this very moment though)I'm pretty sure they have the owners manual and all other manuals. I think that your best bet would be to get the actual service manual which would be much more extensive than just the owners manual that comes with the car. If you wanted to go this route you would want the 1998 service manual and then the 98-01 supplementary manual to cover the small mods that were made in those few years. this would be about 100 dollars total. If you wanted just the owners manual it would cost about 35.

I hear that some libraries even carry the service manuals though so that might be cheaper. either way - all the manuals can be found at that site.

Hope that helps

garados · May 2005

alright, i'll try to go in order, and hopefully harry or somebody else picks out errors in my logic or my knowledge. Here we go ...

stiffer springs and stock shocks: This will work for a little while, depending on the spring rate and the drop of the springs. Stock shocks like springs with a lower spring rate. I beleive the front spring rate of the gsr is 212 lb/in or so. Now, I'd bet to guess that stock shocks could be good up to about 250 lb/in. Beyond that, they just can't control the motions of the springs. Most lowering springs will probably bump you up to almost 300 lb/in.

So, on to lowering. Let's say the shocks can safely move a total of 10 inches (i'm making up this number). Let's call that 5" up and 5" down from when the car is on the ground. On a typical speed bump @ 25 mph, the car compresses the springs and shocks 3.5". Now, let's lower the car 2" and say the spring rate hasn't changed at all. Now, go over the same speed bump, the car goes down 3.5" which leads to a total compression of the shock to be 5.5". Obviously, this isn't good. This is what's called bottoming out the shock. The shocks are usually equipped with a bump stop, but it won't save you 100% of the time when you try to compress the suspension farther than it was designed to go.

Shock strength: I think the only problem you'll have with a "strong" shock would be if you're using racing suspension. Harry can go into more detail on this as he used Ground Control's Advanced Design shocks. Basically, what happens is that these racing shocks can't take the bumps and abuse of daily driving, but they can usually handle an incredible spring rate like upwards of 800 lb/in or something rediculous. Don't ask me why they can't handle daily driving. Anyways, for a street setup, say, 450-500 lb/in springs, Koni Yellows will be able to dampen the springs, no problem. They apparently don't like drops in excess of 2" either, but I'm not too sure. I'd say that all shocks that have stock dimensions don't like to be used on a lowered car. I believe that Neuspeed sells a shortened-bodied koni yellow that has a 20mm shorter body which would allow the shock to work effectively with a lower-than-2" drop.

Staggered tires: A wider tire up front is apparently a big thing on fwd cars in japan. There was an integra type r that had 225/45/16's in front and 195/50/15's in front, and it was incredibly nimble around the tracks there. In my experience, I really like tires of the same size all around for two reasons. 1) you can rotate the tires and 2) i'm poor and can't afford to get some crazy tire for the front. Now, theoretically, a wider, stickier tire up front would be beneficial to an extent, but if the rear tires can carry some of the load of cornering, then the car will be faster in a turn.

The wider tires up front would be good for launching off the line because of the better traction that a wider tire should offer. Now, I wouldn't really recommend this because there are tires out there that would allow you keep the same size, front and back, and allow you to have an incredible amount of traction. Falken Azenis Sport is one of these tires. They're fairly cheap and very sticky. I've had good experiences with these in the corners as well as in a straight line.

Engine upgrades: A new clutch is something very strange and kinda wierd. I upgraded my clutch to a unit that could handle 250 ftlb of torque. This was in preparation of forced induction. If you are thinking about going with a turbo, supercharger, or nitrous, I'd highly recommend a stronger clutch. I don't think the axles need to be changed until you're pumping out 250-300 hp at the wheels.

The thing you need to think about is this. When you're making a lot of power and you want to get it to the ground, there has to be something that slips initially. This can be the engine bogging or stalling, the clutch burning up, the axles breaking, or the tires breaking loose. So, you don't want to stall you engine, burning clutches is a bad habit to get into because they're expensive and hard to install, especially on fwd cars, axles breaking can get really expensive and they're a pain to install, so I'd say I'd like the tires to break loose. I don't really believe that any street tire offers enough grip to cause the axles to break, but I have been proved wrong before.

Lightened flywheels: I had a 7 pound flywheel in my integra, and it stood up to all the abuse I threw at it. 8k rpm clutch drops, 8k rpm clutch slips, trying to burn the tires, hard launching, etc. I believe that if you get a quality lightened flywheel, you won't have any problems with it. However, when you start getting prodigious power out of your motor, then a lightened flywheel may not be able to hold together from the tremendous acceleration. So, depending on how much power you're going to be making, the metal used in the flywheel should get some consideration. I don't think I've heard of a flywheel breaking due to a hard launch, so I wouldn't worry about it.

Well, hopefully everything makes sense and is accurate. If it isn't, hopefully somebody will chime in. Take care and good luck

90gs · May 2005

Okay, so I had to trade my hurt looking 14" alloys that had 3.5% tread for the 15" five spoke GSR's They came w/ brand new tires (enduro Runways 506 - i dunno i never heard of them) but I made sure to get them in 205/50 like Harry told me too. Funny thing - the car used to pull to the left and now it pulls slightly to the right, but I guess that'll be fixed in the alignment when I get there. When I had my baby propped out I looked at the rear trailing arm and it looked fine. However, I looked at the front lower arms and they looked fairly corroded. I looked at that parts site you showed me: http://www.acuraautomotiveparts.org/acura/jsp/mws/prddisplay.jsp AND it's looking like 160-170 per arm. So 4 questions: 1)should I replace it, is it easy enough for me to do, can I find it for any cheaper, and would it make sense to just replace the corrodded parts or "once Im down there, might as well"?

I'm leaning towards the ST rear sway bar - but wasn't I told a little bit back to stay away from a front sway bar b/c of understeer? My GS came w/ no strut bars (the top bars) and I'm ordering the neuspeed one to start out - unless there are objections. But can someone please explain the locations/diff. between strut/sway/anti-roll/tie bars b/c I just can't visualize and every website has something diff. I'd obviously like to get sets of these bars as they are usually more cost effective like that - I just dont want to get that "understeer bar" in the package. HELP!

garados · May 2005

alright, sway bars (aka antiroll bars) connect the lower control arms which prevents the car from rolling while cornering. Tie bars connect the PIVOT points of the lower control arms and keeps the frame from going from this ------- to this U. Strut bars connect the tops of the shocks together and kees the frame from bending from ----- to U. Hope that helps

01teggsr · May 2005

i like my strut bar on my GSR, it helps alot when taking corners at 40, 50, and 60 mph

only1harry · May 2005

Wow, easy with the questions. I can't handle 10 questions at a time after 10pm and don't have the time I used to, to spend time on here. Boy I just read your posts but can't remember half the questions. First of all you overanalyze some things and are wrong in some of your assumptions but I 'll go into the more important things.

Do it RIGHT the first time. The stock shocks are crap and are made to handle 212lbs/in. front & 117 in the rear. The valving on most cars this class will not handle more than 10%. I don't think you can find a 235F/130R combo anywhere so just get the Koni Yellows and you 'll thank me for it. Do the labor once, not twice. But since you asked, my shocks only lasted several weeks before the front driver side broke and the other started squeaking a little. The car in general felt good with the H&R OEs (276F/220R) the first month or two but after a few auto-x events I could tell the shocks were deteriorating. So as soon as the first shock broke I installed the Konis (paid for the same labor a second time) and my car felt just like my brother's Type-R (had a 19mm Neuspeed sway bar on it too). 10 times better than before. How many times do I have to say on this board, that shocks play a bigger role than springs. I will not talk to anyone again that keeps asking to install springs and leave the OEM shocks on. This must be like the 60th time I 'm writting this. Don't make the same mistake I made. You won't get better advice than this.
As far as Neuspeed, yes they sell the 20mm shorter body Konis but they 're like close to $1K. I think they 're also valved a little stiffer if I remember correctly but what are they valved for? What spring rates? A friend of mine who called them a year or so ago was told by Neuspeed they would "easily" handle 500lb/in. and more but was not given specifics. I would not buy them for the main reason that for almost the same price (maybe a little more) you can have Koni America custom valve your Off The Shelf Konis, aka: OTS ($499 initial cost, after you 've worn them out and enjoyed them for a couple of years say with 350-475lb springs, and feel that they might have deteriorated some..), and do a full rebuilt for $440 plus get them shortened by 20mm at the same time for an additoinal $52 ea. Point being you get them valved for your exact spring rates and get them to last twice as long for a little more $$. The compression and rebound will match our spring rates. Koni also claims you can usually go up or down 50-100lbs/in. (not sure how they do this or if I believe this) safely with stiffer or softer spring rates after a custom valve job, in case you don't like your initial setup.

And finally, the size tire you select is only as good as your wheel's offset. If you buy wheels with the wrong offset then you 'll be limited as to the size tire and you will also have rubbing issues. Integras are limited to 215 or 225 maximum size anyway. The safest is 205-50-15. If you want 215 or 225 you can't lower your car as much or the tire will rub on the inside or outside depending on your wheels' offset. The more you lower it, the closer you 're bringing the inner wheel well, fender, and suspension components to the tires.
On stock height Type-Rs a 225-50 is not an issue. On a 1" lowered Type-R it becomes and issue, but Type-R (factory) wheels come a different offset than RS/LS/GS/GSR. ITR's hubs, bigger calipers, ABS lines, etc. are oriented a little differently, so don't compare wheels & tires with Type-Rs (or maybe I 'm confusing this with Garados). If anyone else did, don't listen to another thing they have to say. The same goes for Civics. Some 225 tires are wider than others. The Falken 215-45-15" is as wide a 225-50 tire. It 'll rub like crazy on a GSR slightly lowered. On stock GSR's it rubs every so slightly. I tell you all this from experience and the dozens of Integra owners I 've met at the 9 clubs I 've raced at. More on wheels/tires later.

That's it for now. I will read your posts over again and try to answer a couple of your questions at a time. It'll take me days to get to all of them or several hours in one sitting. I just can't do it all at once. You 're too excited and wired and have 20 different things going on in your head. Take one or two things at a time and concentrate on those. You 're only going to upgrade or take your car to the shop for a couple of things anyway, why worry about all the others now? Don't jump from suspension to power, to axles, to flywheels and then tires. Too much for me to address late at night when I 'm already overtired and my brain is not functioning as it does during the day. I used to visit Team Integra often as well as a couple of other very popular forums. Still do once in a while when I do research. I don't post there much any more. I just search and make my own conclusions. Those forums have gotten out of hand but there 's still good info there. After a while you learn which posts to take seriously or who the people are that know what they 're talking about and the ones that think they do.
Oh one more thing (this is for everyone). The only reason some people put bigger tires than the rear on their FWD cars is for better rotation. I didn't realize this (or didn't think about it much) until a couple of years ago I put 1 size smaller tires in the rear of my Civic. Only reason being that Tirerack did not have 4 tires that I wanted in the same size, so I said ok I 'll take two 195-60-15's and 2 OEM size 185-65-15's. I normally don't do this but these were winter (snow) tires and I was desperate because it had started snowing and I was on summer tires! I figured the 185 OEM size would do better in the snow since they 're skinnier and taller so I put them in the front and the 195-60's (less circuimfurance) in the rear. I immediately realized the car was rotating much nicer and with less effort. It does get tricky though because if you go too fast, the car will not understeer in a normal fashion but the rear can come around on you and scare the crap out of you the first time it happens. This is why they don't put different size tires on street cars or daily driven cars (non-race cars). It can be unpredictable at first until you get used to it. It also requires a little more correction and input in sweepers but I like it. Turn-in has improved and the car just rotates faster in 90 degree turns. Ok that's really all for now because I can't see what I 'm typing anymore.

90gs · May 2005

This is interesting what you said about matching spring compression w/ shock compression. Is there a chart (maybe that you could make Harry) to help us figure out what a good combo is. One thing that became blatantly obvious when I took those old tires off was that the inside tread on both the front tires was worn bald while the outer part of the tire (visible from outside car w/ rims on) had much more tread. Now I didn't put the tokico springs/shocks (lowering it 1") until months after I bought the car and by that point the tread was already at 30-40%. Is that the result of poor wheel roation or did about 2mo. w/ the lowered stance and diminishing tread do the dirt?

And you're right there are plenty of q's that Harry (or someone else) hasn't answered yet...I'm gonna check these last couple of pages and find the important ones.

90gs · May 2005

Okay so I'm planning on ordering the ST ANTI-SWAY BARS: Part#52150 for $264.59 That's front and back - If I can find it cheaper someone please let me know. Also, if someone can get back to me about those 4) Front control arm q's I'd appreciate it.

90gs · May 2005

Okay wait - Harry wanted me to just do the rear ST sway bar and front Endlink bushings - Not a front sway bar - I'll just order the front strut bar for now until I get more feedback - Is ST poly? Harry if you could just tell me specifically what set-up you think will be best including the parts and part# if you know 'em than I could hold you responsible if I screw it up, 'er scratch that - than I can make an educated decision, hehehe....

only1harry · May 2005

That's seems like a pretty good price for 2 sway bars. Go for it.

All of our control arms look rusty from the outside after 2-3 yrs. That' s normal. It doesn' t mean there 're bad or something is wrong with them. They 're very thick and for them to rust a lot where their integrity is comprimized, can take many decades or even a century. It's the bushings in the Lower Control Arms (LCAs) you want to look at, not the metal arms. Look for small hair cracks or any visible cracks in the bushings. There should be 3 bushings per arm. If you can see cracks, no matter how small, the bushings need to be replaced.
Also inspect the the rear lower control arm bushings. If they look bad too and have cracks, buy new arms. They 're less than 1/2 the price of the front ones. Replacing the entire (rear) arms will save you $$ on labor than if you have someone press out all the bushings and press new ones in. I think the rear are only like $170-180 for both. The fronts are expensive so you might just want to replace those bushings that have visible cracks. You might have to wipe down the bushings with a wet rag to notice the cracks. If there's mud or debris on them you won't see them. You 're headed the right direction. The sway bars will make a big difference.

only1harry · May 2005

Well you can either get a whole new ST front sway bar or just the ES poly bushings for your stock sway bar end links. You can't do both. The ES poly endlink bushings are for the stock sway bar. The ST front sway bar comes with polyurethane end link bushings. All aftermarket sway bars do.

I believe in your generation Integra you need to upgrade the front sway bar too. It is very small like it is on the '94+ RS/LS/GS, which is why many upgrade to the GSR 24mm one. The 24mm front sway bar is one of the few things a GSR shares with a Type-R btw.. What is the diameter of the front ST sway bar for '90-93 Integras? Did you look it up or ask? Let us know.

only1harry · May 2005

Welcome 01teggsr!

If you think your GSR strut bar helps (it really helps very little), throw out the tiny little stock 14mm rear sway bar you have, and upgrade to a 19 or 22mm one. Then we 'd like to hear what you have to say about taking corners or highway ramps

only1harry · May 2005

Hope I didn't scare you with my last e-mail. I was a little cranky last night due to lack of sleep lately.

Anyway, larger tires is always a good thing, not just FWD but RWD as well. As a matter of fact it should be the FIRST mod you ever do before anything else. They typical and proven upgrade for an Integra is the 205-50-15" tire (up from OEM 195-55-15) preferrably on a 38-42mm offset wheel. The 205-50-15" will also fit fine on the stock wheels which have an offset of 45mm. The smaller the offset the further out the wheel is. You could put a 215 size tire on with a 35-38mm offset (front & rear) wheel if you roll in your fenders like I have done but I decided to stick with 38mm and 205-50-15 because 215 & 225 size tires are much heavier especially the Kumho 225-50-15 Victoracer and Ecsta 7000 (DOT Race tires). A 225-500-15" Victoracer is several pounds heavier than a 205-50 Victoracer. For every pound you add to the wheels, you are adding 10lbs of unsprung weight, and that's big NO NO for me since I compete with the car. Heavier tires (and heavier wheels) will hurt acceleration, steering response and turn-in. The 38mm gives you a wider "track" as we call it since it pushes the wheels out an extra 7" from stock. So my "track" is now 14mm wider which is better for handling. That's about 0.6". May not seem or sound like a lot, but in auto-x and generally in racing where drivers win by hundredths or thousandths of a second, you bet it matters. I 've been in races where I won by 2/1000's of a second and lost one by 6/100ths.

Our axles are very strong and another 20-30hp will not hurt them. I see many American cars that auto-x with broken axles, like Neons, Camaros, etc. I 've only seen and heard of one Civic break an axle (my friend's) that has a Type-R motor with 196hp at the wheels (about 225-230hp) and a Kaaz clutch type LSD. It was blamed on a combination of things but not on the power of the motor. Of course when you 're racing for a few years, things start breaking down sooner than if you just used the car to commute.
The only thing you 'll have to worry about, resulting from the extra 20-30hp you might put on your GSR is the motor mounts. I guarantee you they will deteriorate slowly and break. They may not even break. The rubber inside the steel mounts/casing will be really bad and you 'll get lots of torque steer and lots of wheel hop hurting your launches. Since I installed polyurethane motor mount inserts late last year, all those problems have gone away and they helped me get faster times in auto-x. I could do without the vibrations at idle, but there 's almost always something negative for every posite. I 'll post later. gotta run

90gs · May 2005

Okay Harry here's the specs on that ST sway bar set: "Front 15/ 16 in. Diameter, Rear 3/ 4 in. Diameter" - Now if I get these bars for 264 they're not gonna get squeeky on me are they? it says they're made of solid steel

Also - I'm having trouble visualizing where exactly the Bushings are. When I had the wheels off I looked for anything rubber but couldn't find it - I promise I'll remember if you help!

01tegguy · May 2005

I guess I'll start off this thread with appreciation since its the first thread I've posted since all the info. So Thank you to both of you! (garados, only1harry)

I didn't get scared away after your first post, no worries. I did however learn a few things, and I do realize that my first post was all over the place. My teg is actually completely stock so you might be able to stab at how overeager I am about "doing it right the first time" which is why my mind seems to go off on tangents.

The information is great so far, and tires will probably be my first install since I'll be coming up on 30000 miles soon enough. At the same time, since I'd have to replace my tires, I'd be interested in getting new wheels too. And if i'm not mistaken, I believe you are against getting 17's? (even if they're forged and xpensive?). What might be the losses besides weight of going with a larger tire?

And not to add too much to the "question load" here. Has anybody seen a teg with flared fenders? I've seen a couple, but I believe/hear the mod would be a completely custom fabrication job. I don't think anybody makes flared fenders for tegs.

My postings may be few and unorganized, but my excuse is that i've got a few midterms this week and I'm cramming my schedule with studying.

Thanks again for all the info,

Devin

garados · May 2005

The bushings that harry is referring to are the ones on the lower control arms where they connect to the subframe. So, if you take the wheel off and look at the arm that comes off of the bottom or the hub, just follow that back and you'll see two connection points. They'll have some rubber hanging off both sides of the connections.

As for squeaking, as long as you lube up the bushings sufficiently, you'll be okay.

I'm also against going with 17's. Weight is a bad thing. There are two types of weight disadvantages that will be present when going with 17's instead of 15's. Let's look at a wheel. As you can see, most of the weight is the tire and near the tire. Let's imagine having a weight in your hand. Hold it straight out and start spinning. You'll probably notice the extreme burning in your shoulder from holding the weight, but another thing you'll notice is that it takes a little while to get up to speed. Now, drop your arm down with the weight and spin. It'll be a lot easier to get it moving.

The other kind of weight is unsprung weight. That's basically using the suspension to control the movement of the wheel AND the car. So, you see, the less work done to control the wheel can be put towards controlling the car which results in better handling. I noticed this when dealing with speed bumps. When I had the 17's, the wheels would come bouncing up into the fenderwells quite often. When I went down to 16's (aluminum wheels rock

) I could go over the speed bumps faster and handling improved dramatically because so much weight was lost. Hope that made sense.

Fender flares would indeed be a custom job. I'm guessing that you could maybe get some sort of kit for the front (just replace teh fenders) but for the back, it would have to be put on professionally because you can't just replace body panels in the rear.

only1harry · May 2005

Another disadvantage of 16" & 17" wheels is acceleration. The larger the diameter (and circuimferance) of the wheel the more torque it requires to move them. Since your torque has not increased, you car will get slower. The best handling wheel for auto-x handling is the 15" (you said you were considering auto-x) and then 16" if you do a lot of street driving. 17" is out of the question. 15x6.5" or 15x7" but I don't recommend 15x7" or 16x7" for daily driving especially if you have 300+ springs and stiffer shocks. The car will track a lot and you 'll need both hands on the wheel at all times especially around town/city. You should have 2 sets of wheels anyway if you have real winters where you live. If you plan on auto-xing, definitely get a 7" wide wheel (if you want to race in STS or DSP, otherwise for Stock class you 'll have to use the OEM wheels). Garados has some good advice too. 17" wheels is a burden on your suspension, will slow down your steering response and cause more wear & tear on every suspension component, including bushings and brakes(!). Weight is very important. Your stock GSR wheels weigh 15.5lbs. My 15x7" Kosei K1s are 13.0lbs, fairly inexpensive and very strong for every day driving. The Kosei K1 15x7 is standard on Spec Miatas (road racing class) and approved by many race sanctioning bodies. It's funny, I was the first one to have them in '99 and around '00-01, everyone started using them, including many BMWs! Copycats!

Depending on what you want, there are many proven aftermarket wheels out there though. Since your car is a daily driver, you can't really go below 12lbs because you 'll have issues with pot holes..

garados · May 2005

This is just a rant about ^^^. It's such a pain in the butt to replace the front sway bar on one of these cars. You have to drop the entire subframe to even get to the swaybar mounting brackets :mad: It's for my sis' TC, so my bro-in-law and I decided to tackle the project, even though the instructions said to take it to a professional :P So, we dropped the subframe, replaced the sway bar, and put it all back together in about 3.5 hours. I'm about to get out from under the car and I pull on the swaybar and it pops ... and I said, "hey Patrick, get me one of the other bushings." Sure enough, we installed the wrong ones so we started taking the whole thing apart again

So, off it comes again and the new bushings go in. We started at 8 pm and finished at 2:30 am. Oh yeah, I managed to drop the swaybar on my face and get a paper cut in between my pointer and middle finger on my right hand :sick: So, I'm now off to put the rear bar on and then do the springs. Take care guys :P

only1harry · May 2005

I heard of another car too that you have drop the front subframe to do a sway bar swap. I can't remember which one..

The guy that owns the race shop I go to, works on a lot of BMW race cars too. He said a very common mod is to take the rear subframe off the 3-series and do something with it but I didn't hear exactly what, over his very powerful air gun that he was using at the time to take my wheels off. I think he said reinforce it or do some kind of welding or something. He said this transforms the handling capabilities and rotation of the car. He charges $1400 for this!

Anyway you would think Toyota did not expect anyone to upgrade the front sway bar, although it is not very common in FWD cars. The rear sway bar usually makes more difference. I 'm surprised they have these bars out already for the Scion. Who makes them?

90gs · May 2005

First off thanks for the help w/ the B---ings, I'll try not to mention them again unless absolutely necessary b/c so much web space has already been provided on those.

Just a commentary about 17" wheels for Devin, something that hasn't been mentioned - if I remember correctly you have a 3rd gen integ. Now where I live (bay area) those cars are the most saught after rice rockets - prime targets for boosting, they'll usually go for 3 things at least: Rims, leather seats, GSR motor. Throwing some bigger wheels on there, aside from screwing up your handling will make someone want to steal your car even more, And BTW - clifford alarms & Lo Jacks never stopped anyone. My friend had a 96 w/ a type R front end and an alarm and they took it from his drive way - they found it sitting on bricks the next day.

01tegguy · May 2005

Good point.

I actually garage my teg but when it's out yea there's always that chance. If I get new wheels I think I might end up just getting another set of 15s, depending on how it looks after I put some new suspension in I might go to 16s, but as my financial situation is like the "go" on a geo metro (none) I'm thinking this will end up being a future project. If I get extremely lucky this summer I might end up being able to put a couple thousand into it.

While on the topic of car theft...
does anybody here have a good ideas for homemade security things? I've installed a simple but effective mod(fuel cut off), but I was thinking that it wouldn't be too hard to take your car alarm and electronics a step further...

I was getting out of my car one day and I was shocked when I opened my door. No, no.... LITERALLY shocked... so i started thinking. I know that it would be possible to create a device that would go off when the alarm went off, or to make a switch that would control a device when you weren't at your car. What if you made your car electrically charged as a security measure? It could shock people in the event of your alarm going off, etc... My question arises about other electrical components in the car and shorting anything out. There would definitely need to be a second battery for this operation where in the event that it died you would be able to start your car still. Probably warning stickers too...

Anyway, just an idea, thought I'd put that out there since everybody has thoughtful remarks from different angles...

Devin

stever · May 2005

I can just see the law suit from the meter reader now. :P Ditto if you went with flame throwers like the reports from South Africa a couple of years ago. How about a power deflator so the thief would have 4 flats in a block? Of course, that would justify why the guy with the flatbed is towing it away.

Steve, Host

only1harry · May 2005

against car thieves is to get a dog that will alert you when strangers are in your driveway at night. I heard you can also train almost any dog to do this but dogs do lose their hearing gradually as they get older. This only works if you live in a single family home and have your own driveway. Of course there 's nothing better than to keep the car inside the house in your garage. A good dog plus motion detection automatic lights are very good deterrents.

A friend of mine that has had his M3 stolen twice from his driveway (he is a cop too) has not had an incident since he got a dog and he did almost catch the thief trying to get into his 911 when his new dog woke him up growling and barking (german shepard). He also had a light switch installed in his bedroom that turned on all the external lights of the house that he had placed on every corner of the roof. This way if the dog made a sound, and he woke up, the first thing he does is flip that switch that's within arm's reach. This switch bypasses the motion detectors and turns every available external light on. He also had an electrician install a very powerful bright light all the way on top of the roof right above the driveway. All the wiring is inside the house so there was no way of messing with it from outside. Now you are probably wondering, if this guy can afford these expensive cars (he has 2 jobs) why can't he afford a garage or a differnet house. It's his parents' house and the only way he can afford these cars is by not paying rent or mortgage. His parents converted the garage into a bedroom and made the house a "mother/daughter" with a kitchen downstairs and a seperate entrance. A lot of people do that with bilevel (or high/raised ranches) homes around here so they can rent out part of the house downstairs or give their teenage or college kid more privacy.
01tegguy: 15' wheels look bigger when the car is lowered. I have many people ask me: "what are those 16" wheels?" They just look bigger because they 're closer to the fender. If you go back 3-4 pages, I posted a link to a photo album of my car. I have like 100 jpegs of pics other people took of me racing (I 've never taken a picture of my car!) but I posted just a few in that album. Take a look and you 'll see what I 'm talking about. Someone even posted a video mpeg of me auto-xing on the web which a friend of mine found by accident. Anyway, get yourself some decent tires and start with a rear sway bar upgrade which your car desperately needs. I have the Comptech 22mm rear sway & tie bar combo. It's probably one of the best, if not the best out there but you pay $$ for it too. The billet aluminum tie bar serves as sub-frame reinforcement and ties the lower control arms together at the same time (why it's called a tie bar) reducing flex. The sway bar comes with polyurethane bushings and high quality fasteners. I 've had it for almost 4yrs now. Used to have a 19mm Neuspeed rear sway bar and a Neuspeed rear lower tie bar. No subframe reinforcement came with those because the 19mm is not strong enough to rip your subframe like the 22mm can. I liked the Neuspeed stuff a lot too and they made the car more neutral. The 22mm sway will make your Integra oversteer a little only when really pushing the car. Comptech and Neuspeed have been around for a while and make good stuff that lasts. Those 2 companies would be my first choice and then Suspension Techniques (ST) or rear sway bars.

FYI: I installed the new AEM V2 cold air intake on my car. I had the old AEM CAI on there before which is still in decent shape (hint). The new AEM sounds a little better and the car feels faster. I 'm pretty sure it's because the old filter was all clogged and dirty. I hadn't cleaned it since last August.

garados · May 2005

the sway bars are made by hotchkis (is that spelled right?) and so are the springs I also put on. Aye, 3 days straight, 12-8 working on this car. Oh well, it handles amazingly well, so I'm happy. It was unreal, apparently, the rear sway bar is about 300+% stiffer than the stock swaybar :surprise: I'll believe it as it's over an inch in diameter.

hehe, I put my old 15's on the miata with some azenis and went to the stiffest setting on the front sway bar. I gotta go auto-x now, so I'll post how it went later :P

garados · May 2005

Haha, word. Today was a blast. Like I said before, all I had done to the car were the 15" azenis on the front, kumho 712's on 16" wheels in the back, eibach swaybar on the front, and koni yellows all around. So, the previous owners of the car used the yellows to lower the car, so it's pretty low. There's about an inch of clearance between the tire and the fender with 3* of negative camber in the front.

Well, with stock springs ... yeah. Heavy wheels/tires, wide tires with funky offset, and soft springs make for good times :P Apparently, when I was going around turns, I was tucking the wheel, that's right, not the tire, but the wheel into the fender :surprise: I'd guess that's about 3-4" of suspension travel right there

So, onto some numbers. I placed 2nd in CS with a clean time of 40.446, and I'm going to be going into CSP because of my seat :confuse:

Doesn't matter, though, if I didn't have my racing seat, I wouldn't be able to fit in the car. This opens up the opportunities because now I can upgrade the springs (ground controls, possibly, or some lowering spring like eibach, flyin miata, or tein) and allow me to run with an intake and catback exhaust. I think I'll get just some lowering springs and raise up the perch on the yellows and get 14" azenis all around for the next auto-x.

Here's a course layout

only1harry · May 2005

15" front and 16" rear? Lowed by the Konis? Man, you gotta straighten this car out!

Congrats on the 2nd place!! You came in 2nd on street tires in CS? Wait. You don't have to go to CSP because you 'll get killed there without race rubber. Go to STS2. It's a new class that came out last year and only allows street tires. It's for 2 seaters (thus the 2). You can do everything you can in SP except for LSD. Look into that. Do not go CSP. That's one of the fastest car classes (non race car class) out there. If you look at the PAX#s, CSP is the same as BSP and almost the same as ASP. The 1.8L Miatas and Honda CRXs rule CSP with 13x9" wheels & Hoosiers. Your car is a 1.6L and on street tires. Go to STS2.

14" wheels will work well too but most Miatas I 've seen them on, use 205-55-14" Kumho Victoracer or 225-50-14" Hoosiers! You gotta have R tires if you go with 14". What are you going to put on the 14"? Street tires? I don't think they make the Azenis in 14" anymore and you DON'T want to race with 195 size tires. Don't do it. 195 is not wide enough for auto-x if you want to be competitive which sounds like you 're beginning to.

Stick with light 15" wheels (12-14lbs) and put 205-50-15" on them. You want at least a 205 width tire for auto-x if you want to start seeing results. 14" rims are great if you with the above 205 or 225 race tires I mentioned above. There is just no good street tires out there in 205 width made for 14" wheels. Another thing: Go 7" diameter rims. No 6" or 6.5". Since you have to a higher class, forget about racing on 6" rims. Use them for the winter or for your regular daily driven tires. Get 15x7" all around and you won't regret it.

garados · May 2005

yeah, 205's are awesome, so I just need to get 2 more wheels, and I'll be good to go. The 15's I have now are 7" wide, so they're perfect. They're just really heavy. I think I'll look into some team dynamics. They work well for the spec miatas that run locally. They're not too expensive, if I recall correctly, something like 140 per wheel. Although, the kosei k1's sound like a bargain, and at 13 pounds or so, I think they'll do well. I'll roll on the stock 14's around town and use the 15's for racing.

only1harry · May 2005

You 're on the right track. Get have a couple of Spec Miatas that auto-x in the tri-state area now and then, and they both have the Kosei K1 15x7 although one of them seems like it has the Kosei 15x8" because his tires look wider. Last year, at the last event of the SCCA NNJR (North New Jersey region) I look at the list of registrants they had printed out before the event started and I see a Spec Miata in my class! I quickly found out that Spec Miatas do not go to CSP, but DSP (my class), because they 're not fully prepped for CSP (or not allowed to do all the mods allowed in CSP). So naturally I worried a little because the guy was on Hoosiers and I was on Kumhos which we know don't have the traction of the Hoosiers. The auto-x chair of NNJR whom I know well told me "don't worry, Spec Miatas are stiffly sprung, and don't do very well in auto-x). I asked him what did he think my car was with 750lb springs? During the morning runs he was ahead of me by 3/10s sec (god forbid, hehe)! During the afternoon I went all out and really concentrated on getting faster and I ended up 1/2 sec. faster than him.

Here are the results which also includes PICS. I was actually faster than the CS class and the CSP class that day which should have been much faster than me but I think because temps were in the 50's, their Hoosiers were not sticking better than the Kumhos. My Kumho Victoracers were really worn out though like they usually are by the end of the season (I went through only 2 sets of Kumhos last season and I really stretched the last one..I usuallly use 3 sets). Because there were only 68 cars that day, we had time for 10 runs, but the computer program only goes up to 8 runs, so they made it into like 2 days or 2 events and like they do at the Nationals, they added your best run of each "day" (heat) together to get your best time, instead of just your fastest time like regional clubs do. So since the Spec Miata was .3 ahead in the morning, and I was .5s faster in the afternoon, my total time was .2 sec. faster. They also have the PAX results as well a list by fastest time further down.

http://autox4u.com/2004results/1162004nnjr.htm

Click on pictures at the top of the results page, after you check out the results, and then put your mouse on the Englishtown 11/6/2004 auto-x. You 'll get a little popup menu. Select Watch Show. You can also fast forward the pics. The Spec Miata I was racing against is pic #39 and it has the Kosei K1s but they seem to be 15x8". They look really wide. I didn't get a chance to talk to the guy. He didn't seem too friendly and he left early (only took 8 runs) when he saw I was beating him. He was really PO'd. Everyone noticed it. My car is pic#48 and when that pic was taken it was actually my 1st or 2nd run and I was coming in way too hot into the slalom and braked late. I was actually drifting & oversteering. You can see I 'm almost rolling my rear outside tire because of all the weight transferred to that side and the drift that totally messed up my line and entry into the slalom. Hey I usualy use my first 2 runs as test and tune anyway

Actually I did pretty bad that day. I PAXed 16th overall but I usually come in 16th out of 100-130 drivers, not 68. I actually had the 13th fastest time, but because of the difference between my morning best run and afteroon best run, the total of the 2 runs brought me down to 19th in Raw time (rank). Who cares? :P

90gs · May 2005

I know for our cars (this is not a miata forum!) one of the quickest security adjustments is moving the hood cable from under the fender to the engine bay. It takes a while and a lot of my friends have already done it but I just haven't gotten around to it. BTW this is only for 1990-93's. Another thing that I just discovered this weekend and haven't figured out any prevention yet: Aside from four small screws on the outside of the front bumper, once you take the front bumper lenses off it's just another 4 screws and your off with the entire bumper assembly. Maybe this 93 bumper conversion wasn't such a good idea! Another problem is the lack of windowframes. I know a lot of the newer ones are subject to this too. Just run your favorite butter knife around the parimeter and your already inside. Oh and the cable for the hood is so that you can yank it while the alarm is going off, get under the hood and snip the power to the alarm. Hope this was helpful.

Finally, I know there must be some sort of Auto-Crossing over here in the Bay are but for the life of me I cant find it. Can anyone suggest a place? Also, what are the requirements for entry ( including fees, auto specs, so forth). From what I've been reading it sounds like a lot of fun.

only1harry · May 2005

http://www.sfrscca.org/index.phtml
is the web site for the SCCA San Francisco region. I assume that's the bay area right? Check it out to get directions and the schedule. Looks like they 're having an event this Sunday. Go watch if you can and ask questions. Usually most regional web sites have an area for newbies or novices with information on what you need to do to participate. There 's really not much required. You show up, register (most sites have registration on line), pay the fee (usually $20-35 depending on the region and area). Clean your car out. Remove any loose items and then get online to get your car inspected. Also make sure your battery is secure and there are no loose items in the engine bay either or you 'll fail tech inspection. Most clubs have loaner helmets for those who don't own their own, and sometimes they have tape you can use to put your numbers and class letters on both sides of the car. Your car is in STS and not a stock class, because you 've upgraded the springs I believe. What kind of springs do you have again? The shock upgrade is allowed if you want to race in a stock class (I think you would 've been in G Stock, aka GS), but anything else like strut bars, springs, larger wheels (even larger diameter), puts you in the Street Touring Street Tire class, aka STS. Bring lunch and a cooler with drinks because it's usually a long day like from 8am to 5pm. Especially SFR which is one of the biggest regions in the country. They probably have 150+ drivers show up at every event.

Normally you don't have to be an SCCA member to race, but that means you 'll have to pay a little more than members. A few SCCA regions get a lot of auto-x participants so they require that everyone must be an SCCA member. SFR might be one of them. Check the web site because I think I saw "SCCA members only" on their Solo2 schedule. They also list ph#s that you can call and talk to someone. You want to talk to the Solo2 chairperson or whoever organizes or is in charge of the Solo2 (autocross) events. The SFR web site should also have an SCCA application that you can download, fill out, and mail to SCCA to get your membership card. Membership is only good for 1 year and you 'll have to renew each year. It's gotten a little pricey since I became a member but I still pay it. You can also visit www.scca.org for all kinds of information. Make sure you click on SOLO. However most regional web sites have all the info you need. On the SFR web site, you want to click on Solo2.

90gs · May 2005

Sweet - I'm gonna go as soon as I have a stable income and my girlfriend lets me take our car there (which may not be until she gets her own car). But I went to the website and it seems legit. I'm sure I'll see some of the neighborhood ricers once I get there. I take it you can go there just to watch too right?

SECURITY: One more thing I just remembered, and I'm sure you've got to be EXTREMELY carefulinstaloling/testing it out. I had a friend tell me about his friend that put a couple of small tweeter size speakers around the area between the front window and front windshield. The speakers were literally ear deafening. and were set to go off only when someone tried to start the car without a key. Ouch! quite a surprise for car thiefs! I'm not sure exactly how he did it though.

New idea: I want to get a sound bite of a dog growling or something similar to replace the normal chirp that goes off when idiots peak in my windows. Obviously I'll have to have it hooked up to my G5 Concept Clifford alarm, but does anyone have a clue how I could do that? :P

90gs · May 2005

Okay so I might just be having a helping hand with rebuilding a B-Series motor but I want some input on the best combinations vs. price vs. reliability. Leaning towards B18b or c or maybe even B17 (the GSR from my gen) I want something pref. w/ good puch throughout the RPM range but it's gotta be fast enough to take the average NEW stock sports coupe in the 18-26k price range: ie. RSX, celica, civic-si, etc. Time is not an issue and I am concerned mostly about speed and reliability. I'm thinking port&polish, VTEC (not the phone) and maybe a turbo. No NOS, no frankenstein motors.

90gs · June 2005

This I thought was too cool to pass up; a stainless steel WASHABLE oil filter! I found it at http://www.proficientperformance.com and its a hundred bucks but I guess will pay itself off after 20+ oil changes. I'm putting my order in tomorrow.

Also, HARRY, I was reading some of the past posts and I just got your "hint" about the intake. I would love to buy it off of you if it's C.A.R.B. certified for Cali and if it'll fit on my 90 GS. Let me know.

paclark01 · June 2005

I am in dire need of some expert advise. I have a 96 Integra GS-R Sedan... It might be one of the only few left in the D.C. Metro area (LOL). I had my 90K service performed at 96900 miles, and I questioned whether the clutch pedal should make a groaning noise when pressed in or released. It sounds as though it needs to be lubricated somehow, but the mechanic mentioned that it is a typical symptom of a Integra that has some age. Keep in mind that it is the original clutch, and I was informed the fiction point, and pedal travel are perfect. Unfortunately, I find the groaning noise to be extremely irritating when shifting in daily traffic.

My next and final question... What can I do to make the Vtec engagement more noticeable? I would like to be able to hear it a bit more. I can feel the car pull like a son of a @$@^, but a little more engine tone would make my smile a bit bigger than it currently is.

Thanks for any insight that can be provided.

garados · June 2005

For engines, I'd recommend the b18c series, either the c1 (gsr) or the c5 (type r) because they offer some lowend and have a killer top. If they're out of reach, then the b18b1 would be my next suggestion. It's a good all-around engine, having good bottom and midrange. The top exists, but it's not as pronounced as the vtec engines. If you're going to turbo the motor, then the b18b would be best (IMO) because it'll handle the boost and take abuse, and if you blow it up, then replacing it wouldn't be as much of a blow as a vtec motor.

PaClark01: The pedal issue was present in my 95 gsr sedan. I'm sure you can lube it somehow, but I don't know off the top of my head. I'm sure if you can stick your head up in there and look around, you'll find the pivot point and you should be able to get some kind of lube on there. Also, are you sure it's the pedal and not the clutch fork? Since it's so pronounced, I'd bet it's the pedal. If it's the fork, then go to the engine bay, find the clutch slave cylinder (it's about 4-5 inches long, an inch in diameter, and has a 90* rubber sleeve on it). Pull the boot back and lube the ball joint.

For hearing the vtec engagement, it'll be noticable with an intake (or the top of the stock intake box removed), but mine was especially noticable when I put an exhaust on the car. For our kind of car, the Apex'i World Sport exhaust is quiet, but still makes a bit of noise.

only1harry · June 2005

Nah I don't think my intake will fit your car. That's interesting about the washable oil filter, if you do the oil changes yourself I guess. I don't know if the quick lube place I go to will spend the time to wash it. It's an express oil change place. I supply my own filters and they give me a discount.

only1harry · June 2005

Unfortunately most Honda/Acura cars get the "groaning noise" around 90-100k mi. when engaging the clutch. Even my '01 Civic is starting to do it a little but not as noticeable as my '97 Civic. My '99 GSR only has 45k mi. on it but I have a new aftermarket clutch on it.
It is actually more noticeable on the 94-96 Integras. There was some kind of design flaw with one of the clutch springs in those models and the spring would actually break prematurely in '94,95 and early '96 Integra models. They fixed the problem during the middle of the '96 model year. You most likely have the "fixed" version because the spring would have broken around 50-65k mi.

To make the engine sound more pronoun at 6K RPM when the secondary runners open up, all you have to do is install a short RAM air intake. This will also shave 15-20lbs of weight because your stock intake and resonator will be removed. For more (noticeable) power gains, you can install a Cold Air Intake but those are much lower and are prone to sucking in water if you drive over a deep puddle or get flooding where you live, but I think you 'll be happy with the short intake (aka: warm intake). The "VTEC" sound will get much louder. AEM and Injen make decent intakes (I 'd go with AEM though).

90gs · June 2005

well I used to pay 30 sumthin bucks for an oil change but it got too costly... once I've go my washable oilfilter I'm estimating my total cost per oil change to be around four dollars...now thats something I can afford to do every 2,000 miles.
So my Bushings appear to be fine, I'm gonna finish off the suspension w/ the sway bars and maybe add KONI's later but the next big endevour I'm researching is the engine... I don't want something that's gonna be super high maintance and will make me cry if I blow it (ie, B16a or B18c) thats why Im leaning towards the B18b maybe with a turbo, I also like the idea of a VTEC though... I've heard of a civic motor in an integ being incredible, maybe thats the expensive one though.... I wanna know If I should build up the pistons/bottom on a B18b or maybe go a diff. route. Keep in mind its gotta be C.A.R.B. legal. I also just found out there's a lot of shops in LA that have been building up B-series for a little while now, should I get something down there? :confuse:

90gs · June 2005

Okay Just a thought, I see S2000 motors for around $3,000 could this fit in my 2G integ?

only1harry · June 2005

stick with B18B or B18C motors, don't go with B16A or A2. The 1.6L motors have less torque and it will feel less torquey in the low and mid range than even your current B18A.
Have you thought about looking into building up your B18A? I mean, there 's only a 10hp difference between yours and the '94+ B18B motor. Also the latter half of the '93 models, your generation Integra, came with 138hp B18A's..

If you 're thinking turbo though, the B18B is the motor to get. Superchargers work well too on both B18B & B18C (VTEC). A friend of mine had the 8psi Jackson Racing Supercharger on his '98 GSR and nothing else, and managed a 13.9 in the 1/4 with street tires. One thing you also got going for you is weight. You car weighs around 2450lbs if I 'm not mistaken. My GSR even without the spare tire, 1/4 tank of gas, light alloy wheels, lighter titanium race shocks, lighter header, lighter intake, lighter flywheel, etc. still weighs 2600 even (2670 is the factory spec). That's with a full interior. It's probably around 2595 if I empty out the glove compartment and remove the CDs from the arm rest compartment

So anyway my point is you have a decent weight advantage over most g3 Integras, so any mods you do, will have a greater effect on your car than most newer Integras. Remember: power to weight ratio is very important. On the same token if you upgrade to a B18B, you car will get heavier because it's a heavier motor.

only1harry · June 2005

for $3K? There's something wrong with them. Probably blown. There 's no way they can be that cheap. I don't even think you can get a B18C1 GSR motor for $3K. Maybe it's just the S2K block with no head?

Think about the question you just asked. S2000 is a RWD car, yours is FWD. You should know the answer.. THINK before you ask.. How are you going to mount the tranny, how about a rear differential, rear axles, and so on? Think a little!!

90gs · June 2005

okay you're right, RWD, duh... i didn't even think of that. About the weight...I'm understanding more how important that is. Infact I've already got a JDM bumper support (about 20lbs lighter than American version) ready for when I swap to a 93 bumper. I know they sell a rear one for about $140 but I'm not sure if that's worth it... I've taken out the power antenna (i know that's not much) and I'm still looking for other reasonable ways to put my car on a diet. IM OPEN TO MORE SUGGESTIONS. As of now I want to leave the interior and AC infor the ladies, so please don't go there.

MOTOR: I do notice the torque difference. This weekend I drove my friends 96 civic ex or lx and I didn't pull nearly as hard as my car that's 6 years older with maybe 80k miles more. I like the idea of building up my motor partially b/c when I blew the head gasket (radiator busted on fwy) I had some major head work done (2 valves replaced and I think a cam shaft seal) The only problem and reason for me wanting to trade up the motor is because it burns oil like carzy, even more so than before the head work. Head work done at stealership btw. I've gotten to the point where everytime it gets low on oil/dirty oil I just do an oil change (every 1-mo.) I don't even try and count the miles anymore. The other prob. I have with building up my own motor is having it in the shop forever. But that's minimal b/c we could just borrow or buy another car for the meantime. The other prob. would be the assumption of lack of parts. Shouldn't I build up internals (i.e. pistons, cam gears, so forth before doing turbo/blower. And I'm not even convinced that I need to go as far as those two items. If it's possible to just put VTEC on my current B18a I think that would prolly pull hard enough for me for this car. help please Harry

only1harry · June 2005

Sounds like your motor needs to be rebuilt and/or built up, especially since you 're burning a lot of oil. '94+ B18B & B18C (including B18C5 Type-R) motors burn oil as well. Not a lot but after 100k mi. it becomes very noticeable. It all depends on your driving style and how much hway vs. city/town miles you do.
I have 46k mi. on mine and it burns exactly 1qt (started burning around 20k mi.) every 3k mi. but about 1/2 the miles are racing miles so my car is not the norm or to be taken as an example. I know others with GSRs that take good care of them with ranging from 70k to 100k mi., and they only burn 1/2-1 Qt. (which is pretty normal). I estimate my car will burn 2qts by the time it hits 70 or 80k mi. if I keep racing it.

I don't know anyone with a B18A and GSR head. I know plenty of people do it on a B18B so I can't help you there. The main thing is, you have to rebuild the motor before you decide to throw extra power on to it, be it a GSR head or forced induction. And while they 're in there you can install some forged pistons, etc. Other people install B16A2 heads on their B18B motors and claim they get a little more power out that combo than with the GSR head. That's the Civic Type-R's head which is purely JDM. The CTR was never imported to the US. Its motor put out 185HP (1.6L). Go to Honda forums and talk to people that have rebuilt their motors and what they did. You have to have a plan and know what you 're doing.

Motor build up is not my thing and I consider it very costly. I can tell you this though, there is a '90 (or '91) Integra LS in one of the clubs I race at with Cold Air Intake, header, exhaust, free flow CAT, and lighter flywheel that is pretty quick. There are other ways like bolt-ons to add 15+ HP to your motor.
If your motor burns a lot of oil then you have no choice to rebuild it or get another one (or another car with less mileage is always an option). Then you can start building the head or get a different one. There 's much HP to get out of the head. Installing cams & cam gears is one of them. Port & polish another but again it can get costly. Not my thing.. Also don't forget that along with getting more power you have to change the fuel pump, fuel pressure (regulator), and other stuff. You need to feed the engine more fuel to get that extra power. There are a lot of things to consider, and the $$ you can spend has no limit. It just never stops. Once you get hooked to modding, you 'll be throwing every dollar you make into your car because there is ALWAYS something else you can do to it. That's one of the reasons I haven't touched the head or the motor.

I 'm happy with the extra 19HP at the wheels (about 22.5hp at the flywheel, almost matches Type-R) my car is making with just simple bolt ones. I 'm now thinking of installing an Unorthodox ultra light crank pulley that supposedly frees up 4-5whp (so everyone says). I 'm talking bolt-ons here and there 's still much stuff I can do (intake manifold, ECU, VAFC controller, larger throttle body, etc.) to get another 10-15whp out of the motor.

90gs · June 2005

Okay so I'm I wrong to assume that the reason that it's burning so much oil is because the pistons are wearing down and allowing the oil to sneak past and combust with the fuel? This would be fixed if I put some racing pistons/forged pistons in there correct? Would it make sense if I had a solid bottom (ie new forged pistons/rings, etc.) that it would be safe to put a well built, matching head (ie. GSR/VTEC or regular B18w/turbo/blower).

garados · June 2005

My guess would be that the rings are worn out and aren't sealing the cylinders anymore. Another source of oil loss/burning is that your valve stem seals may be worn out. Replacing the rings (bore and hone as well) and the valve seals would basically guarantee you won't burn oil because of those issues. If you do go with forged internals (pistons and rods) then I'd HIGHLY recommend boring out the cylinders so that they're straight again. Combined with the new rings, you'll get a great seal (provided you do the break-in correctly).

If you're going to rebuild the motor, make sure to do these things as well:
-gap the rings properly for what you want to do (forced induction, endurance racing, street driving, etc.)
-new bearings for the rods and mains
-new oil pump
-new water pump/timing belt
-new gaskets
-turn the crank (or just polish it) and check your clearances

If you're going to do the ls/vtec conversion, make sure it's done correctly and you don't half-[non-permissible content removed] ANYTHING on it. You'll be putting a head onto a motor that wasn't designed for it, so there are going to be things to don't work, things that don't match up, and it'll be tough, but definitely doable. If you just stick with the non-vtec head, life will be easier, but you won't get the same power, obviously.

Mr_Shiftright · June 2005

If you use turbocharging, ANY deficiency in the cylinder head or piston ring area of your engine will be amplified.

90gs · June 2005

Thank you for your response Garados, it really helps. I know most of you serious car guys do a lot of the work yourself but can you estimate the cost of rebuilding an engine the right way?

As far as gapping the rings I'm pretty much sold on just a VTEC head with no turbo and no serious drag racing just fast street driving. What kind of gapping should I tell my mechanic for that? Also, If I were to just do the stuff to fix the oil burning (rings/valve stem seals) how much would that alone cost? and would it just make more sense to do the other stuff too?

As much as people have been doing the LS/VTEC recently I am still inclined to your paranoia Garados and so I want to start from scratch with my mechanic. Do you know anything about a B18c VTEC head on my B18a? That seems like a closer match than B18 head on B16 block right?

only1harry · June 2005

There is another option that I would seriously consider (I might have mentioned it earlier but can't remember if I did or not).
It can get very costly rebuilding a motor and adding a GSR head because most likely you 'll have to rebuild the head as well. I know many people that have installed a B18B (140hp LS/GS) motor or own an RS/LS/GS Integra that came with the B18B, and just added a supercharger and they 're very happy.

On the Speed channel (or TNT maybe) there is a show (car guys?) where they take cars new and old and do various mods. Power mods as well as suspension and new brake systems. About 3-4yrs ago they had a silver '96 Integra LS coupe in the shop with ~60k mi. on it. All they did was add a Jackson Racing supercharger (the lowest one - 6psi, not the 8psi one) and an AEM fuel pump (high volume) as well. They dynoed the car and it showed a very respectable increase of 40hp at the wheels (I think the exact # was 38 or 39whp). They then added a header, a "warm" air intake (aka: short RAM intake), and I think also an exhaust and put it back on dyno. It had gained another 10.x whp. That's a total of 50whp which is about 200hp at the flywheel! The actual HP at the wheels was just over 170 (from 116 stock I believe). That's 5+ whp more than a stock Type-R. Your car will be much faster than moderately modified GSR's and even stock Type-R's because it 's 200+ lbs lighter than either one. I bet it 'll be night and day from your aging 130hp motor..

An LS/VTEC conversion done properly also puts down about 170whp so it's a toss up. The LS/VTEC will probably be a little more reliable as far as getting more mileage out of the motor, because most people that do that, rebuild the head as well or do many other mods to accomodate the new head or get the most out of it.
The supercharger is better for performance because you get LOTS of torque. Much more than with just adding a VTEC B18C1 head. I think that Integra LS with the JR S/C got like an extra 35-40ft-lbs of torque. That's a fairly large increase in torque for our cars, and that 's where most of the power comes from - torque. LS/VTEC will not provide you with that much more torque. I think the most you 'll get is another 15-20ft-lbs. A supercharged Integra will almost always be faster in the 1/4 mi. than an LS/VTEC Integra. The supercharged motor gets more power and torque early on in the RPM range than an LS motor with a VTEC head.

spocky · June 2005

Hi all-

First time poster. I'm looking to sell my white integra gs-r coupe and was wondering if any of you out there had any experience with that lately, especially in terms of what people are paying for a private party sale. Its a 2000, completely stock, never raced, great condition car with 47k miles. Any advice you all could offer would be great. Thanks, happy driving.

Acura Integra GSR Customizing and Modifying

Comments

Helpful Tools

Most popular vehicles