Simple Simon

Hi guys, I've used the forum over the years for various different technical problems I've encountered. So I thought it was about time I signed up!

I'm live over the pond in the South of England (Portsmouth), and I've owned a 98 Spec JDM DC2 for the last 9 months. It's my 2nd one after I ended up crashing the 1st one. I also had an EP3 prior to this with basic bolt ons and some nice work wheels.

I've had a build thread going on the ek9 forum since I bought the car, so I will be copying most of the old posts over to here until it is up to date. Apologies in advance if the timelines don't really add up. Currently as we get close to winter my car will be going into storage for a bit of an underseal treatment (thank god I don't have any rust to deal with!) and a suspension refresh along with another few bits and bobs.

I don't have any ground breaking plans for the car currently, I'm just trying my hardest to keep it clean and rust free. I do like to use genuine Japanese parts, but they are proving ever increasingly hard to source over here in the UK. It took me 5 months of searching to find a decent set of 16" wheels for sale! So I maybe turning to those of you with parts for sale who are willing to ship over to England.

Anyway I'll copy my pre existing thread below:

FEBRUARY 2017:

I managed to find a mega low mileage 98 Spec for sale not too far away from me, and I picked it up last Sunday
I've also managed to track down the majority of the previous owners and it's done barely any miles since being imported and has been well looked after.

Quick Spec:

98 Spec - No SRS or ABS
50K miles (30k in the UK since imported in 2011)
Spoon N1 back box (now swapped for a Mugen Twinloop)
Sports cat
Spoon drop in filter
Password JDM carbon fibre rear gurney flap
Password JDM carbon fibre bumper scoop
Eibach lowering springs
Cusco roll cage (currently missing the rear bars - trying to source them)
Accord Type R twin pot brake upgrade
3 hole gauge pod
OEM rear spats

Pictures from the advert - arches are mint!






Was stored at a friends garage for the remainder of the winter months, he owns a Nissan Silvia S15.



There isn't an awful lot it needs doing to it really, cambelt and water pump need changing and I'll be servicing every belt and fluid. New rocker cover is on oder with Spooner Restorations.
There is a small amount of surface rust in the boot that needs taking back and re painting. Hoping its just the rear light seals leaking, so going to start with changing those.

I don't have any groundbreaking plans for the car really. Just try my best at keeping on top of it looking it's best! Needs a good detail and a new battery haha Couple of niggling things sorting out, but the mods will come slowly. Most likely some basic bolt on mods a map and a nice set of wheels But I'm going to enjoy it as it for the time being!

MARCH 2017 - After the worst of the winter weather had cleared:

So I've got the DC2 on the road now insured and taxed (Still haven't shifted my EP3 though! )

Picked it up from my mates garage on Friday night. The car did have a fair bit of moisture in it when I bought it and being kept in a damp garage didn't help much, but the rear seats developed a few patches of mould Not only that but the drivers rear footwell was soaking underneath the carpet!

So Saturday and Sunday have been spent taking the majority of the interior out in order to get some bits sorted:

1) Remove the amp from the boot and all the associated wiring that goes with it. (Not really my thing)
2) Find the cause of the leak into the rear seating area and dry out everything properly
3) Inspect the condition of the inner rear arches.

It looks a bit overkill but its allowing me to get a lot of jobs sorted at the same time once and for all.

Started with the rear seats and rear boot plastic easy enough:



Then found my 1st issue...there wasn't enough space between the B pilar and the cage to get the side plastics out. Rear of the cage had to come out in order to remove it.






Moment of truth....inner rear arches



Not a spec of rust on either side!
Little bit dirty...but its 18 years old! lol

APRIL 2017:

So I've had a nice chunk of time off work recently and got a few jobs done. First up was a major service comprising of:

• Engine & gearbox oil
• Cambelt, tensioner and water pump
• Valve clearances
• Thermostat swap and coolant flush
• Air filter, fuel filter & Vtec solenoid gasket
• Dizzy cap, rotor arm and HT leads

I got TGM to do the cambelt, tensioner and water pump along with valve clearances. Just for peace of mind and proof of the parts being installed. All in all I think I've covered most items on the car apart from brake & clutch fluid and the power steering fluid.

Whilst at TGM the guys had a once over of the car and picked up on a couple of issues. The RTA bushes were shot, so those were replaced whilst there. Also my rear suspension was making an awful knocking noise. Turned out that the Skunk2 springs on there were actually rattling around when they didn't have any weight on them. I'm not too sure if this is simply because the spring is naturally shorter than OEM? Either way, it didn't look healthy, so needed changing ASAP!

Tom kindly offered me a set of Koni Yellow dampers he had knocking around that came off a low mileage car for an absolute steal! He also got me a set of Eibach springs to go with them as I'm really not a fan of the spring rates on the Skunk2's. The Koni's are a little flaky from where they've been sitting around doing nothing but the top mounts were all perfect. They'll do me as a stop gap until I decide if I ever want to run coilovers.



Once they were on the car. It's nice to see the vast majority of the car got covered during it's undersealing, there's a few flaky patches but these will get attended to as and when I can.



The rocker cover was letting down the engine bay massively, so I got Spooner Restorations to knock me up a nice standard wrinkle red cover. I think this is the 4th cover I've had done by Paul! haha



Car went through it's MOT this week as well, with no advisories. I did need to get some new tyres beforehand, opted for ADO8R's again.

Last weekend I met up with a mate of mine who I met a couple of years ago during the days when he used to own a Honda. He does photography on the side as a hobby, but also works for KeepItClean. I wanted to have some decent pictures of the DC2 so we met up to do a shoot.
Luckily Chris lives about 10 minutes from the New Forrest, ideal location! I'll add my favourite pictures below and put a link in to the full album if anyone wants to take a look.

If you're based down south and want some top notch photos or want to see the rest of Chris' work his Facebook page is found here:

The full album of photos from the shoot can be found on Facebook here:

Or my photo bucket album:
http://s1092.photobucket.com/user/scoleshill92/library/Integra DC2 2017/DC2 Photoshoot?sort=3&page=1

SiR_ME

iTrader: (4)

Lovely dc2

itr#1334

iTrader: (2)

Awesome! Looks great.

Sp00nFed EM1

Nice car man! Welcome.

Tom B

Welcome, dude. Car is looking good. I am also a U.K member but with a '96 Spec, Championship White with black Recaro's. We must of been seperated at birth :-p I know my man **** will be excited to see another 98 speccer.

PaulMc

iTrader: (1)

All the difference center caps make.

Arsenal

Looks very nice! My grandparents lived in the a small village Hyde, in the New Forest. Loved visiting them as a kid - amazing roads!

Simple Simon

Hi mate, yeah I believe I've seen your build on the itr-dc2 forum before. I'm never really on there anymore to be honest as it's a ghost town. Which is a shame as it was pretty active when I had my 1st DC2

Thanks, yeah the photoshoot with my mate was done not too far away from Beaulie :D I love driving around there during the summer months

Simple Simon

Following on from my previous posts, I'll update the rest of the thread up to the most recent post:

June 17 - Summer Time!

Also bought something out of a bit of impulse. I've always loved their seats, but never see genuine ones for sale and they are always snapped up! Got this for a price I couldn't really pass by to be honest!






Bride Zeta 3 glitter back with a pretty rare back protector! After having it a few days, I definitely need to loose a little bit of weight! But its a nice goal to aim to! haha
Also got my personal wheel in this car as well

Carpet will be going back in eventually, along with a head unit and speakers, but I want to sort a couple of bits of surface rust that have developed around the feet of the roll cage.

Also went to Mimms at the weekend, wasn't on a stand or anything but met up with a few mates and also met some new people as well. I hadn't been to Mimms since 2015 and the turn out for this year was way bigger than that last one! I ended getting parked way out the way tucked up in a corner as we were pretty late!
Some absolutely incredible cars there, however K swaps are everywhere! I reckon I was one of a few B series DC2's and probably the only 100% engine bay one! lol

JUNE CONTD:

Same old, been away with work for a good few months and just been on some summer leave.
I had ideas of doing loads of work on the car these past 3 weeks...not the case. Been decorating a new extension on the house the 1st 2 weeks (bad timing to come home! Lol) and the lousy "summer" weather has put things on hold.

Whilst I've been away though I've bought quite a few things, so got a few bits on the car:

• Godspeed X brace (butterfly bars need adjusting)

• Tein bonnet dampers
• Mugen Intake BNIB

• Feels manifold - I'm still in the process of polishing it up but here's how it started out:

And here's how it's looking after a small localised patch was polished (not perfect still though)

• K-Tuned shifter (Love this!)
• DC2 Armrest (missing a blank)

I also got a Fujitsubo RM01A exhuast but only to discover the baffles in the back box are shot! Later I found out it's a 1st gen exhuast so is made from mild steel vs stainless and the baffles are prone to rattling around in them. Pretty pee'd off as I paid good money for it and have to pay more to have to have it repaired.


JULY 17'

So I took a trip over to Simply Jap on Sunday. I haven't been since 2014, and it was quite a small event back then, but it was local. I couldn't quite belive the amount of cars there this time around! It's getting to be one of the larger Japnese gatherings on calender now.
Brilliant day out with a few mates, I was next to my mate in his JDM face-lift EP3, younger mate with an EP2 and another in his FN2 Mugen 200.




Hendy were present at the event as well, and were practically giving away some of their old stock as they are moving warehouse. So I snapped up a couple of goodies for silly cheap prices!



Spoon baffled sump and some radiator stays.
The sump isn't a massive necessity but I couldn't pass up the price. Nice that they give you an oem gasket and hamp filter as well.




I like the settings of Beaulie, and it's seems to bring out a lot of the older JDM models. Cars of the show for me were a mental Mazda RX3, a liftback GT Celica RA28 and an NA2 NSX-R! I only got the one picture but it was this pristine AE86 sitting on Volk mesh wheels...perfection.
This bottom pic is from my friend Chris Charles' photography pages

Simple Simon

AUGUST 17':

Yesterday was nice and sunny and I didn't have much on so I thought I would take a look at the metal behind the rear bumper and side skirts.
Overall I'm really happy with the condition, just Need to get on and protect it!

Behind the side skirts, couldn't see any rust on the drivers side.




Passenger side, one bit of rust underneath the skirt at the front where the 2 sheets of metal meet.





As you can see quite clearly where the underseal stops....just before where the rust has debeloped. Half arseD effort with the underseal, so will be getting done properly.

Behind the rear bumper was all good though. The support bar for the bumper had some paint flake and minor rust and the 2 box sections only have the edges that are rusty.





I will most likely have TGM or Hond-R carry out the undersealing job as I just don't have the time.

More worryingly though, the car had a minor leak on the drivers rear inner arch. At the start it was luckily missing the inner half of the arch and was dripping into the rear seating area.
It looks like it is getting worse though as today I was treated to a small puddle accumulating in the rear inner arch!




Luckily I have already protected the metal with cavity wax so the nooks and crannies should be okay, but still not ideal.
Again I'll let Hond-R/TGM take a look at it for me.

On another note, I've been driving the car with literally no interior, not even carpet and no headunit/speakers for months. Haha
Finally got round to getting some audio in the car! Found these pretty rare gathers speakers for sale and went for them as they are plug, play and forget.
Also picked up a new radiator cap as well.




So I'm back at work next week, which means I'll no longer be driving the car on a daily basis.
Unfortunately I no longer have a garage as it's been converted to a dining room.
I'm in desperate need of finding one! If anyone knows of anything down south of England let me know.
Tried to find a unit/lockup whilst I've been home and came up empty.
Anyone know the best place to find these?

Anyway, I'll be saving some money for upkeep/mods now and hopefully be getting a daily when I'm next back from work, so worst case scenario I won't be driving the integra over winter, it just won't be locked away.

Simple Simon

NOVEMBER 17':

This will probably be the last update of 2017 for me.
In the time since my last update the car hasn't changed an awful lot but I've bought quite a few parts which I still need to get around to fitting.

My Fujitsubo RM01A exhaust finally had the back box internal baffles replaced as they were non existent! I'm so happy I had this done as it now sounds the nuts in vtec and is basically silent at cruising speeds!

Genuine Function 7 LCA'S (need some cleaning and polishing):




I've been having a go at polishing up my Feels manifold, and it's a lot better than it was...but I think I'm going to get it finished by a company as I've grown bored of polishing. Haha

Before:


Currently:



I've been searching since the day I bought this car for a set of wheels to suit it. Eventually found a set of Advan RG's on here in a good size and for a good price courtesy of @DV8

16 X 7.5J ET45 = 6kg!




Did a quick test fit without tyres. Rears are pretty close to the arch lip!



Had a quick look at the back spacing as well, relatively close to the rear arms but...it clears. Probably about 15mm of clearance to the RTA.


The fronts tuck a lot easier, but again probably about 20mm of backspacing to the hub.



I swapped over my AD08R's from the OEM wheels and chucked them on the advans. Being a 7.5J wheel and a 215/45 tyre I am ever so slightly rubbing, when cornering hard and the car squats down at the rear, on the very edge of the arch lip.
I've bought some hardrace rear camber arms to tuck the wheel up slightly as I don't want to roll my arches, I'm still yet to fit these though.
Can probably see in this picture the slight marks where it's been rubbing.


Also attended my last meet of the year. The guys over at Hendy Performance in Southampton have recently moved so had an open day at their new unit. Myself and a lot of my mates are long standing customers of hendy as they can get any oem honda part and actually know what a DC2 and Ek9 is! Ha
Really nice local meet with a lot of familiar faces and a couple of cars I've never seen before.

My mates facelift JDM EP3, Marks DC2 and mine on the end.


[QUOTE]Luckily I've been able to acquire a unit for the teg to go into over winter! It's with a couple of other lads so the price is quite reasonable. We'll be moving the cars in over the next few weeks. I've also acquired a daily driver from a family friend so I'm all sorted for the winter!

Plans over the winter are to:

• Underseal the entire car properly
• Re bush the entire car
• New engine mounts as mine are shot
• Fit exhaust manifold
• Fit baffled sump
• Buy a socketed ecu & conversion harness
• Most likely buy even more random car parts that come up for sale that I can't really afford

Car will then be mapped on Neptune by Romain once all the parts are on. I honestly can't see me doing any more engine mods for a long time as there isn't much to be achieved without changing engine internals or charging.
So I'll concentrate on handling from then on, and hopefully get a few track days in next year as I'm really disappointed I didn't get any time to do one this year.[QUOTE]

Simple Simon

MOST RECENT UPDATE IN NOVEMBER 17':

Came home tonight to find another package had been delivered

Courtesy of @LoganK , who has decided to break his K swapped DC2, I got a deal on some Meister R GT1 coilovers and Hardrace front camber arms for an offer I couldn't refuse. They're basically brand new and done minimal miles!

Can' wait to try these out! I had been contemplating getting either a custom set of Quantums made up or some Ohlin DFV's, but they would have cost significantly more than what I paid for these. I think the meister's are going to be more than capable for my requirements.




I've nearly got the full compliment of arms to re bush my car now. Just rear toe arms, front LCA'S and front compliance bushes left to buy.

Thats my thread up to date, I will continue to update this from now as and when I have something to write about. My unit will be ready next week so the car is going into hibernation after that.

Thanks for reading! :D

feck

Great build and pics.

Little_Nolan

iTrader: (3)

Awesome car and build. I have never seen those coilovers before.

You're doing good things with it, keep up the good work!!

Simple Simon

Thanks man, they are manufactured by a company here in the UK, Meister R. I believe he has started selling his suspension on in America as well now. These are his higher end coilovers and I got them from a guy I know for about 3/4 the retail price with next to no use, so seemed a good deal.
They're collaborated with Black Art Design (B.A.D), again a UK company, who are apparently a very good suspension engineering company.
Although there is very little information out there on them, they apparently have supplied the suspension on the "fastest privateer Ford RS200 in Pikes Peak"...Liam Doran's car possibly??

feck

Yeah the Meister R are great in my humble. Seven years ago I got a set of the basic(not nearly as fancy as Simple Simon's ) ones with rubber top mounts and have put a fair bit of mileage on them in all weathers and conditions(including horrible dirt track boreens) as mine's a daily. So a long term test Couldn't fault them TBH. Only this last summer I was refreshing all my bushings and the Meister R coilovers still looked very good, with very little corrosion on the springs(and I believe they've improved the finishes since). The body of the shocks looked good too, though to be fair I had wrapped the threaded section with insulating tape when I fitted them first, just in case I wanted to change things down the line. The adjustment range is pretty decent and IIRC they're a mono tube design so that's a bonus and they were/are cheaper compared to other names so that's an even bigger bonus. The only niggle I might have was that the ones I got ran the car a good bit lower than standard even at the limit, so not so great if you wanted the OEM/Stock look. Most of all for me, the lad I dealt with at the time by the name of Jerrick was very sound and very helpful. Real personal touch. I dunno if that's still the case with their popularity now, but I'd not be surprised.

Simple Simon

Last weekend I had a little get together with a few friends of mine, as a sort of end of year mini meet. We met up at Goodwood as it's pretty central for all of us. Unfortunately the weather changed for the worse, and I only bothered taking a couple of pictures.

Mark's DC2 on the left - just been remapped after headwork, made 201whp
Liam's Silvia S15 - engine rebuild and mapping had been finished a few days prior to this meet, made 400hp at 1.3 bar of boost (still SR20)
Jason's JDM EP3 - Mostly stock car, but is really quite fast with the JDM 4-6th gears! Really clean underneath!



Also forgot to update this with my latest purchase. I got these for a steal from a mate, they've been passed around between 3 of us now since Jason (EP3 pictured above) initially bought them 2 years ago. I haven't installed the passenger seat as I still need to find rail.




Lastly, the biggest news. I've finally managed to find myself a unit to rent! So the teg is locked away for winter It's not too bad of a price, and not too far away. So I should be able to get a fair amount of work done over this winter.
I've also landed myself a position at work that means (hopefully) I won't be going away out of the country next year at all. Plan is to get the car ready for track at the earliest possible point and get as many track days in as possible next year!

I'm sharing the unit with Mitch, who has a really rare JDM import CRX SiR glass top. If you recognise the car, it used to belong to Steven Wisternoff and then went to Adam Ivell (6TWO1). The car was swapped with Mitch for his EK9 he had at the time. He's quite a lot of headaches with this car, but it's now running a 96 Spec B18C.
Video below of the car just before Adam sold it to Mitch.

Redcoupe

Digging the old school documentation.
Thanks for the share.

Hasport

good looking type r
enjoyed the reading and pictures

CL-S6

Beautiful car man, love the thoroughness

Simple Simon

It's been a couple of weeks since the Teg was locked away in the unit. I started last weekend by giving it one last clean and getting the wheels off so I could give the arches and underside a good jet wash.
Check out the droop on those shocks!!







Rolled it back into the unit and left it for another week in order for the car to dry out fully (ie in the parts of the chassis I couldn't access)



Made a start today with stripping down the front end of the car in preparation for rust proofing. Really is simple and could have had it done in a couple of hours if I worked solid on it.

Started with the drivers side, also removed the crash bar and the bumper support.




Thankfully under the wings there was minimal surface rust :D Really happy as this is the one area I hadn't been able to inspect as of yet.





You can quite clearly see here where the underseal has been applied and then just abruptly stops where the arch liner goes lol



The only real cause for concern was up the top corner near the door hinge around this seam sealer. I'm going to have to remove it and see the damage underneath. I peeled a small amount back earlier and it looked like surface rust...fingers crossed.



Wasn't long before I had the passenger side off as well. Much the same story as the drivers side thankfully.





Slightly less rust on the seam sealed area above the door hinge



And a small amount of surface rust on the front slam panel




Left me with a car looking very bare haha







Need to do a bit of research on how best to go about removing the rust first, then the treating and undersealing. Anyone with any tips/tricks I'm all ears?

Will probably make a start tomorrow on stripping down the running gear and getting it all out the way to start on the arches. Not looking forward to all the ball joints involved up front, hoping the balljoint tool I picked up is man enough for the job as I snapped a breaker bar today removing the drive shaft nuts! haha

As always, thanks for reading.

feck

Sandpaper/Dremel to get the surface stuff off and down to bare metal, apply rust "killer"(I use the BH Hydrate 80 stuff), let that dry, then some high zinc primer(again I like the BH stuff, the paint weighs a ton with the added zinc) followed by top coat and when all that tires off apply ant rust wax of your liking. I'd coat every joint, edge, weld and box section with same before I slapped the wings back on. Rust always starts along edges, joints and welds, particularly in closed off box sections. Our cars(unless they're an 70/80's Lancia ) rust from the inside out. I've seen corrosion in those areas on cars only a couple of years old. You won't see it for years on the outside and well after the corrosion warranty runs out, but it's there.

Tom B

Those areas behind the wings look identical to mine, it's uncanny.



I'm going to do much the same next year when the weather is better as I don't have a garage to work in until my parents go on holiday and I can house sit and make full use of the double garage :-p

See my thread. I've done this already to a few areas. As with any bodywork it's all about prep. Like **** said, get it down to bare metal then use the BH stuff. The zinc primer leaves a factory finish (a little more matt than satin but close enough). I used the old skool waxoyl with underseal on my arches and can't fault it. As long as you inspect it once a year as with any underseal type product you will be fine. I think it's better than the factory rubberized stuff as this has no wax/oilyness to it, just impact protection.

feck

+1. Just my opinion here, but I much prefer yearly applied wax type products over that tarry type underseal often promoted as an anti rust treatment. Yes it's way better than bare metal, but the problem I have with it is if rust does start, either from behind the panel or in the space behind the underseal it can go a fair distance before you can spot it.

Tom B

****, still waiting to see your underside :-p