ElZestyRice

Hi everyone, I've been reading here for a couple of months and just signed up last week or so, and want to share my "project". I would classify it as an appearance build, and I want to explain myself before anything I post offends anyone. I come from tuning v8 muscle cars like a number of people here, and while I respect the tuners of performance driven Hondas, I also like the reliability and fuel economy these cars are famous for, things I can't honestly say my old car had. So I bought a completely rust free 1993 Honda del Sol Si with the intention of cleaning it up to use as a reliable and fuel efficient dd. 170k-ish miles on its d16z6, a deep sparkle red color that is not the same as the door jambs and chipped everywhere. Manual transmission. No spoiler - but spoiler holes - and steelies and aftermarket 2pc headlights that were broken. Basically a stock car minus that it was lowered pretty far and some questionable wiring jobs. Now my problem became that I'm still a young (immature) guy who wants an interesting, modified (flashy) car to play with. And since I was born at just the right time to appreciate things like Need For Speed: Underground, and the Fast and Furious movies, I decided I would build my car into what some might consider a cheesy rice car.

I know my car isn't fast and I don't drive it like it is so I'm not out being a d-bag with it. I just really like my car and I really like rice. At some point when I'm happy with the appearance I may upgrade my performance, but honestly the only thing I care about as far as that is concerned is structural rigidity and ride confidence.

So anyway, here are some of the things I've been up to since getting the car.

-installed LED underglow and interior lighting.
-F-type fiberglass front bumper.
-fiberglass F1 fenders.
-LED halo projector fog lights.
-Highrise MKIV Supra style spoiler.
-New Honda badges to show off the Honda pride.
-14" Konig Incidents. (Not a huge fan, I'll be trading them out soon but at $200 with great tires and zero rash or damage at all I practically stole them. They're infinitely better than the steelies it came with)
-subframe brace.
-installed remote door locks.
-chrome headlights, which I will paint to match the car body when my projector retrofit arrives and I get the whole car repainted.
-aftermarket taillights painted blue for now, also to be repainted with the car. I rewired them so that the running lights are the reds next to the brake lights instead of the regular yellow bulbs in the lower corners, which I didn't care for.

I also have repaired and replaced a number of things like the trunk supports, radio cover, and seat bracket damage. I removed a horribly installed subwoofer system and correctly installed the radio, and removed some Walmart lights that were wired in where the PO cut the accessory socket off. I unbent the bent radiator support and put the windows back on their tracks. (all three were off their tracks haha) I fixed the e-brake switch, but I'm still figuring out the SRS light, and I cleaned the cold air idle valve so it would stop bouncing at idle when cold. I also installed new interior door handles and found targa handles, since the car had none. The previous owner used vice grips to take the top off, so I also had to file the receiving metal teeth for the handles to fit right. While the top was apart I sprayed the panels on it with black vinyl paint.

I'm currently waiting on my projector retrofit and vinyl seat upholstery. I haven't decided which pieces to use for the rest of the body kit, the front bumper was discounted immensely so I seized the opportunity and bought it for $85. I'm looking for a decent intake pipe, the one on it is horrible and I hate looking under my hood because of it. I want to get Rota Auto X rims but that'll come after a new hood and paint. As hoods go, I wish there were more fiberglass choices but I think I'm settling on an Evo style CF hood. (I'm painting it with the car anyway)

Overall, I'm enjoying working on my Honda. I'm still after a short list of small trim things, but for now I'm just enjoying the targa with the nice weather recently in my area and the fuel economy is outstanding for such a fun car. I'm getting it ready for paint next month and I can't wait.

Here are some pictures!

The first day I had it.


Putting everything together on the front end.


Underglow and fogs.


CF vinyl door panels.


The car as of last week. (I've painted the fenders red because it became annoying having them blue)

92slowcivic

there is an appearance section for appearance build threads. this section is for technical matters.

that said, i dont like anything that you've done to the car. but, it's your car so enjoy it man!

edit: i see that it has been moved to appearance

ElZestyRice

Thanks! Yeah I didn't realize I had posted it in the wrong section of the forum. And I appreciate your honesty. I honestly don't expect anyone to like my car, but I'm doing it because it's something I've always wanted. Everyone in my town is doing the flat black, tinted windows and loudmouth exhaust ricing thing. I miss the old style of flamboyant rice. Hopefully I'm not alone.

Dc4LsTeG

iTrader: (7)

Damn looks like the pics shouldve been backwards. Car looked much better when you first got it. Why would you ruin it

ElZestyRice

If you like the stock look, I'll agree it was closer to that. I like the look a lot of people have on here, but I'm going for a look that hasn't really been appreciated in a while. But it's nostalgic for me.

v8killaz

ehh at least you admit ur a ricer
how old are you btw

ElZestyRice

22. This was the cool direction when I was a kid and it's been a dream of mine. I grew to love muscle cars but I never got over the huge body kit, wild colors and themed decals on an import style. I do plan on wrapping my car some after paint. I don't take myself too seriously and flat black annoys me. Seriously sometimes it feels like every guy with a Honda/Acura out here thinks is Initial D outside on my road, and it's all matte paint. They hate my car but I'm smiling, not scowling as I drive, so I consider it my win.

gzes

Hell its progress. I mean I woulda rocked it back in the day on my del sol but my nfs ps2 gaming is over lol

SharkEg

Lol even on nfs I left my imports stock on the outside. Your going to give honda owners bad names for that.

rice a roni

iTrader: (1)

your car your money man. not my style because I'm more oriented towards performance.

just don't do something stupid like attempting to drive under a semi.




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gzes

But thats the fun part remember on fast ajd furious? Lol

ElZestyRice

Nah, I don't think anything I do could hurt Honda's reputation around here. There are a lot of guys with Honda window scrolls and illegally tinted windows doing that. But I doubt I make Hondas look cool. Who cares? There are guys with three times my horsepower making a reputation for Honda haha.

And don't worry I don't drive like a jerk anymore. Last year I blew my Z28 up in a race, and was the passenger in my friend's old Cobalt SS when he put it through a telephone pole and into a tree. We're both alive, my back got screwed up though. Shook me up enough to scare me away from driving recklessly, and the Z28 made me think again about spending money on power. I don't trust my inexperience as a driver and I don't like the idea of endangering other people on the road. Though I drive a c6500 for work and have parked my Honda next to it and thought, "I could fit under there." Hahaha.

and that's just not even enjoying the game! Hahaha but hey to each his own.

tenedor sports

iTrader: (1)

see, even with rice, there is well executed rice, big wing, body kits, crazy colors, but everything somehow still flows and looks like someone actually dedicated time to the project...



what you've posted there... you got some work ahead uncle ben

Throwdown

iTrader: (2)

If you think it looks good then thats all that matters.. thanks for sharing your pics!

toyomatt84

iTrader: (1)

I don't have any problems with you liking your own styling cues. But, at least try to put some effort in making them work together. Currently, your car looks like a cobbled-together mess of parts that don't work well together, along with a color scheme (including the underglow) that was picked for its price instead of how well it matched.

Here's some decent examples of Del Sol's with the show-ish theme you're going for:

TOO MUCH TORQUE

spend more time on HT and you will appreciate cleanly hondas and it'll make you aim for that..

ej1ryder

lol comedy this thread is comedy... OP: do watever floats ur boat man. but i will tell u this and i mean it with all severity: ur car hurts my mind to look at, i just cant wrap my brain around what the hell u got goin on over there, or how u can actually spend money on that s**t in this economy and feel good about yourself. i really hope u look at the first pic u posted, wen it was mostly stock, and realize thats the cleanest ur car ever was. and its not just my opinion man, ur tastes just havent matured yet, u will look back on it some day and wonder what the hell u were thinkin. ur gonna reduce ur mpg's and reliability by puttin cheap crap like that on ur car, those body parts u have added will increase drag, i bet ur already getn less freeway mpgs. but hey to each their own. but ima make one thing clear man, this isnt the site for you.

Dazflap

haha op is full of fail. He isn't even getting the look he wants cause he's too cheap to pay for it.

You should watch fast and furious several more times until you get the right idea, the cars in that movie had a lot more money invested into them and if you want to meet their standards you're gonna have to pay to play.

You're like a double ricer lol.

ElZestyRice

I'm going piece by piece so it might take a little while. I've only owned the car since late February. And if Honda-Tech isn't the site for my Honda what is? My thread was moved to the appearance section, and I'm here to show my progress, but I didn't feel like waiting until I was already finished. Its a build. I suppose it doesn't really look like much yet but I'm in no rush.

I won't argue about the increase in drag from the kit parts, to me it's still a great economy car. But now I'm kind of worried, ej1rider what will the lights and body panels I've installed do to my reliability? I don't want to make my car less reliable.

The glow and fog halos are multicolored by the way. The fogs themselves are very effective projectors that work amazingly. Worlds better than the Walmart "projector" imitation fogs that were there.

gzes

So is the car now completely red? Nice Halos and broma BTW I have Halos and bronze on my tahoe

bakerskater11

I think the real reason we watched FnF was to make fun of the body kits and corny catch phrases...I feel bad for your del sol and hope that at somepoint in the future it gets passed on to someone who will bring it back to it's original glory. It's your car and your money, but when you said you were "young" and grew up with that I was honestly 100% thinking you were 15...I'm 18 and have a deep respect for clean unmolested cars. FnF **** got thrown out of my mind when I was 15 haha. Good luck,

Dc4LsTeG

iTrader: (7)

X2 Im only 19 and I cant stand cars that look like that

WhiteSlips

Please proceed to drive off that poor car off a cliff.

Thank you.

v8killaz

to op-you will not get any sympathy on h-t so throw ur flame suit on lol.

yelnats

i love it cause everbody hates it keep it up!