First of all I would like to introduce myself and offer a bit of thanks. I used to be very very active in the hybrid scene way back when it first started up, before Joe Rogers and Adrian Teo had joined their hybrid sites (which recently departed ways). Also, was active with Shawn Church way back on the importracing.com board in exposing TOO to be Larry Widmer.

I started off with an EF and then moved to an EG2. As the Honda scene grew larger and larger and I started noticing ridiculous body kits laced with fake CF and neon showing up in places like rural Oregon and Idaho, I promptly decided that things were wearing a bit thin. It almost is embarrassing driving a honda/acura at times any more. That being said, I am pretty involved in SCCA Pro Rally here in Oregon and so decided to pursue something a bit more robust and another passion, vintage Volvos. Along the way, I decided that I couldn't stand to drive my perfect 78 242 anymore and hence bought a 97 Integra GS recently for daily driving duties. Basically what I am getting at here is that I am not a noob, although it may look like I am one....lol

That being said, I decided that I had better starting hunting up information on what is really happening with performance these days within the Honda Camp. One of beefs about a stock Honda has always been the lighting. I suppose that is to be expected on cars that are pushing 5-10 years old. Needless to say that this has been a great resource for information. I decided to give Trevor's kit a try and installed it yesterday. I must say that I am impressed by the looks more than the light. It has a noticeable difference, but not nearly as noticeable as I was expecting. Has anybody else been slightly let down by the light output? I know these are not HID optics, but I was hoping that the projector beam housing would certainly be of some help. I also tested a pair of silverstar bulbs for high beam replacements, back to back with regular halogens. The silverstars are actually quite white, but their light output is still very yellow in comparison to the HID bulbs. For those of you who are interested, I think one would be better off saving their $50 and applying that towards the next group buy that Trevor has for a 9005 kit.

Anyway, thanks for providing good discourse and valuable information. Too many of the boards these days are filled with rambling idiots who only value looks and possess no appreciation for performance and what routes are taken in people's desires for upgraded performance on their vehicles. I chose the GS for a few reasons.... I had definite plans to do a b20z swap and nothing more. No FI and no VTEC. The rest of the money gets spent improving the chassis and upgrading the brakes on the car. My cars are all stock sleepers and this one will be no different.

For those of you who want to improve the rigidity of your chassis you might want to consider foaming the chassis with high density poly foam. Three of us did it to our EG2s way back. It offers a marked improvement in rigidity. Obviously it was very noticeable in that car, but I was so impressed with it that the DC will undergo the same process. Post here or email me for links and discussion.

Thanks once again!
Rgds,
Jack Ingram

 

welcome Jack

seems like you bring some good info along

how hard/messy was the foam to do?

just pull the bumper reinforcements and tape off the holes then fill the rails ?

under the car just tape off the holes and fill ?

did you use the q-45 body foam or something else ?

Jamie - who had almost forgotten about the body foam till now

 

oh yeah , and how about time to cure/dry ?

can you drive the car right away or should you wait ?

thanks again - Jamie

 

Well, I bought the 9006 4300k D2S HID kit from Trev on this past GB and I must say that I am very happy with the light output. I knew it wasnt going to be as great as a stock car coming with HIDs from the factory because of the optics being different BUT it is still like 2.5 times better than stock lights, vs maybe 3 times better for an OEM equipped HID car. And the lights color is great too, not quite as blue as some OEM HID(mainly the German cars) cars, but it is still not even near stock yellow halogen light, and I could care less if it isnt as blue as those either and dont know why some people sacrifice some light output and buy 6000k+ kits just for the color, but to each his own. Anyways, I am really enjoying my HIDs, hope you are happy(enough) with them too, enjoy

 

I'm very happy with the 9006 HIDs from Trevor. His customer service is great too. Especially, with any concerns/information that you may have about the products that he selling. I like how the HIDs look with light out put of brightness and coloring being produce by the Non-Hids headlights. I could never go back to regular headlight blubs again. The hardest part in installing his HIDs is finding a damm place to mount the Ballast. Especially, when you have both 9006 & 9005 HIDs. I can't think of a location to mount the 9005 Ballast!

Big Ups to Trevor!

 

What would ever make you decide that?

 

The foam can be a nasty mess. There are a number of products to do the job. The miata guys use a stuff called Bellco that is very very expensive and difficult to source here in the states. Then there was that company that SCC used on their 300zx. I don't remember the name of the company off hand. However, the foam density was so low that Slater and I felt that it would not be worth the effort on the EG2.

I did a bunch of research and settled on a company called smooth-on. They do a ton of stuff with molding, liquid rubber and plastic, and naturally rigid and flexible urethane based foams. I chose the Foam-It! 10 and Slater went with the Foam-It! 15, the ten being only available when I did the project.

The pot life is remarkably short. We both had problems with it sticking in the funnel at first. Since the mix is two parts you have to mix it together, but you must be very quick about it and then pour. The stuff is incredibly rigid and made a mess all over my driveway. I literally had to take a hammer and chisel to get some of it off. The denser the foam, the less it expands. Your best bet is to get a hold of the engineers at smooth-on and tell them roughly what volume you are dealing with so you can purchase the necessary stuff. When I did it, I thought the stuff would expand more and didn't plug the holes very well under the side sills. The stuff leaked right out and made huge indestructible patties on my driveway. Basically I got so excited to do the project that I didn't do enough prep....this project is all about prep. The main focus should be your side sills first. After that you may want to consider the rails, but dirty your hands on the sills first. The project is incredibly messy and can be difficult, but it is worthwhile. Use more than tape on the bottom of the holes.....it will go right though. Setup time is variable....I let mine sit for about 24 hours, although I was being very cautious. The stuff that setup in my driveway was rock hard within minutes, but since I was dealing with a larger area, I wanted to be absolutely sure.

Rgds,
Jack


My Volvster:

http://www.geocities.com/haakebecks7...?1027529929157

 

LOL, well that sort of came out wrong.... I didn't want to pound on it as a daily driver....more of a leasure/cruiser. I love that car more than anything. No comparison between a solid block of steel that is a Volvo and a tinny Honda. Two totally different cars and two totally different apects of appreciation.

Jack

 

Don't get me wrong about the HIDs guys. Trevor was a pleasure to deal with and he is going to post my customer comments on his website. The lighting produced by HID is noticeably better than stock. I think, however, that I had built it up in my head to be this huge improvement and as such I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be. As it is, the kit is great, the service is great and the lighting is perfect. I would never go with a 6000k or higher unit. The 4300k unit is the perfect color and produces the best light output.

Certainly for the $399 I paid in the group buy, it was absolutely worth it. However, I wouldn't run off and pay more. I do think I will end up doing the high beam conversion as well, like Josh did. As much back country driving as I do at night, I think it should be well worth it.

Rgds,
Jack

 

J00 have GT wheels on your 242GL... nice.

 

Thanks, I love the GT rims on that car...... she is pushing 280k miles right now. All original. The head has never even been off the car. The car runs so amazingly strong......it really moves the car around quite well, a torquey little bastard. Bought it from the original owners a few years back. Has IPD sways, tie bars, exhaust. Lovingly restored throughout..... and it is only a 242DL, not the GL....no leather in this one. If/When the motor goes, not sure if I will go turbo or just swap a fresh b23 in.

Jack

 

Very nice! I hear you on the B23FT swap - that will happen to my wagon one day, if I don't find money and go the 302 route.

Welcome


Pat, fellow Volvo nut

 

LOL, my Pop fell in love with mine and actually went out and decided to buy one of his own. He is a big small block v-8 guy and is looking at doing a conversion. He really gets off on the idea of sneaking up on his hot-rod buddies and blowing their doors off with a volvo, lol! I went and visited recently and he has already stripped the car, rebuilt the rear end and threw in an lsd....one good thing about those dana rear ends...cheap lsd. Too bad the same isn't true for us eh.

Jack