hyperblu

Body shops usually try to screw you. When I took mine in for estimates, I made sure they knew I know my **** when it comes to terminology. That way they can't say "well, now we gotta do this, cause this is messed up". I'll know exactly what they're talking about. What they could charge someone who knows the extent of the damage in full detail, and someone that doesn't, labor charges would literally be cut in half.

Kostc1

sweet job bro! you can't even tell though

ReedMann

iTrader: (11)

I drove to Maryland after work today to pick up my taillights. After dinner, I went back out to my car, which was parked on the street, to find that it had been sideswiped. My mirror and housing were laying on the ground shattered and there are some new scratches on the side.

I have just been having the best luck lately.

ReedMann

iTrader: (11)

I finally got my new taillights installed.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64248054@N05/6348516456/
The insurance company said they would charge a $250 deductible in order to get an estimate for the damage. So i just ordered a set of new mirrors(my passenger one was already broken).

ReedMann

iTrader: (11)

I got my new mirrors in the mail yesterday.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64248054@N05/6365386141/
Also got a little something for under the hood.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64248054@N05/6365386613/
Here is a better picture of the new front suspension. I'm hopefully going to take it to a local powder-coating shop on Monday to get an estimate.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64248054@N05/6365385685/

Tommay

Geez... Talk about a string of bad luck. Keep up the hard work man

ReedMann

iTrader: (11)

Yeah it sucks, but at least I have it all fixed now. Thanks man.

94IntegraRS

Nice hatch bro, I really like the SI rims on it.

ReedMann

iTrader: (11)

I picked up a swap this weekend...

My friend told me about a couple of swaps in the area, just in case I was interested. First I checked out a B16, but found out the seller was lying to me. He claimed it was OBD1, but after tons of hassle I finally got to see the engine. It was clearly OBD0, cable tranny and all. Plus it had been sitting in some shop for 9 months and there was no way to tell if it would start.

The following week, I started to talk to a guy with a JDM B16A which was in a running car. Last Saturday I drove there, saw the engine running, shifted through the gears, and checked it out. Everything worked great. He was selling it because he had just bought the Del Sol that it was in for $2800 and drove an hour back to his house. He waited for a few weeks and couldn't get the title from the seller so he decided to part out the car. I was able to talk him down on the price and said I would pick it up next weekend(yesterday).

The seller, four of his friends, my dad, and I somehow fit the engine into the back of my dad's Odyssey to bring it home.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64248054@N05/6449638219/
We brought it home yesterday and my friend and his dad came over to help us unload it. His dad is even lending me an engine stand and hoist for as long as I need it.

What I know about the engine:
-OBD1 JDM B16A
-Y21 trans
-approximately 100,000 miles
-aftermarket cam gears
-runs great

The seller told me that he wouldn't be surprised if it had stuff done to the internals, but he hadn't opened it up, so he isn't sure. I am hopefully going to open it up later today to find out. I'm also going to change the timing belt, water pump, and check the clutch and pressure plate before I put it in the car. It is pretty dirty at the moment so I'm going to give it a good clean as well.

I took the transmission off to get a better look at the clutch and to prepare for putting it on the engine stand.

Dirty, dirty

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64248054@N05/6455594947/
Haven't taken it apart yet, but judging be the worn pressure plate, I'm guessing the clutch has never been replaced.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64248054@N05/6455594105/
I guess the harness that came with the motor was originally non-VTEC because that red wire goes to the VTEC solenoid.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64248054@N05/6455593553/
The guy I bought it from was great, but I got kinda pissed because he was rushing to take the motor out (he just cut the whole front of the Sol off with a swazall haha) and took a huge chunk out of the valve cover. He also just cut some of the vacuum lines instead of removing them. I'm probably just going to cut off the whole cam cover until I can get a new valve cover. You can also see the VTEC wire haha.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64248054@N05/6455592871/

furious94ls

Nice progress. When do you plan on getting the motor installed?

John M

nice

ReedMann

iTrader: (11)

Thanks man!

Well, I'm going to replace the timing belt, water pump, and probably clutch (I might as well do it now when I can easily get to it) first. While I'm collecting parts (mounts, exhaust, intake, & shift linkage) I'm going to do a bunch of cleaning and make the engine really shine before I put it in. I hope to put it in sometime near the end of winter/beginning of spring.

Thanks!

mayfly

good progress. whats the car mainly being built for? just a nice daily driver? or weekend warrior?

Tommay

Looking good man! Nice pick up on the motor btw

ReedMann

iTrader: (11)

As of right now, a nice daily. I love to work on cars and upgrade performance. I might try my hand at some autocross next summer though. It always looked fun.

Thanks dude!

furious94ls

For a young enthusiest, you have your **** together. I'm happy to see that. Good idea getting all the maint out of the way while the motor is out of the car. I'd also replace the rear main seal while at it, oil pan gasket.

If you do it now, you most likely won't ever have to worry about it again, or not until a LONG time from now. PLEASE invest in a serious alarm, and layer security. You will have a lot of haters and theifs with this car. So be careful. Looking forward to seeing future updates. Keep up the good work.

MrMolina

Nice build bro!

The car looks beautiful and the engine is just what the car needs. How much did you pay for the engine?

SettleMoore

Lovin this build man, nice and clean. Hey just curious, where do you go in MD? I just noticed you mentioned being there a few times

hatche1

Wow your hatch looks nice aspecially since your barely 17 and still in h.s. I remember driving my ek hatch to high school with 17in wheels and a sound system. it was until after h.s that i was able to really mod my hatch which i still have today( thanks god). i hope you keep this hatch hopefully forever. keep up the good work and keep us up dated on your progress.

ReedMann

iTrader: (11)

Thanks man! I will definitely look into changing those. I was also thinking about replacing the head gasket, but I'm not sure yet. My friend's dad is lending me an engine hoist and stand so I will be able to easily work on it.

The seller wanted $1500, but I talked him down to $1300. I let him keep the eBay header and intake, as well as the ECU. I already have an OBD2a P30 from a 96-97 Del Sol VTEC.

The guy I got my taillights from is in MD. We just met off an exit of I-83 right near the PA-MD border.

Thanks dude. Haha I hope I keep it forever too. If I can, I want to keep it the whole way through college and then later in life. I really want to completely strip it down to the shell and rebuild it with all cleaned up or quality replacement parts, but I would need another car as a daily. Right now this car can't be down for more than a week. Someday...

furious94ls

Good thinking on the Head Gasket. The best way to start a build is with complete maintance, and tune up. Looks like you are doing everything correctly. 17 years old and already know that ebay headers/intake are ****. LOL Nice.

ReedMann

iTrader: (11)

Little update. I took the clutch and flywheel off and I'm glad I did. The clutch disc was so worn, that the metal rivets used to hold the ceramic material on were sticking out above the ceramic and had worn grooves in the flywheel and pressure plate. Needless to say, I'll be replacing them. Also, noob question, but I have an engine stand I was wondering if I could put the whole engine on it. Basically everything except the transmission and exhaust. I know the stand can hold the weight, but I'm worried about the threads for the bolts that attach the transmission. Is it bad to have all the engine's weight on four of those holes for more than a month or so? I have never used one before and don't want to mess anything up.

Shonda

Good job so far, the tail lights look really nice !

are these the oem once ?

apexi_rsx

looks good and yes you can put all the weight you want on the engine stand use your motor/ trans bolts to hold it on the stand. as long as the stand is rated at 300 or more pounds u will be fine and not mess anything up. project looks good so far

ReedMann

iTrader: (11)

Well the seller originally told me they were and I believed him, because they looked really good in the pictures. I drove an hour to meet him and they were Depos. They were practically brand new, but I talked him down some since they weren't OEM. I still think they look good though.

Ok cool, the stand is rated at 1000 lbs. I was just worried about hurting the threads on the block. Thanks