Hello,

My name is John.
Let me give you a little background about myself. I was always into cars like most boys are, but I didn't get bitten by "the bug" until my junior year of high school. After that all I have been doing every day is reading about cars. I really fell in love with Hondas. I guess I don't need to explain why, because all of you obviously have the same passion, but I just love the lego-like qualities, the engineering, and the customization.

I've been reading about Hondas for a long time, but due to going to college, the crappy economy and some other factors, I haven't really had any hands on experience with them. I've been itching to dig in for a long time.
About a year ago I picked up the car I always wanted, a black 1999 DC2 Integra. Now in the next few months I'm looking to invest into a K swap.

I know it will be challenging considering how little experience I have, but I have always been the kind of person that learns best by digging in and experimenting, that's how I've taught myself just about everything I know.
What experience I do have with working on cars is a full, frame off restoration on a 1928 Ford Model A. It was my father's first car and we have been slowly working on it for about 22 years.

Anyways, I will need all of your help, advice, input, suggestions. I really look up to many people in the Honda community and admire what they have done to their cars (teggyluva90, ReedMan, donut, etc). Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Here are some pictures of my car. It's stock with about 149k miles and is in pretty good condition.






As for my plans with the car (weekend warrior car):
-K24A2 swap
-ported and fully built head
-Cams to be determined
-about 12.5:1 compression
-built block

Of course, there will be suspension, brake, interior and exterior mods, but I will keep those to myself for now and focus on just getting the swap together.

I have a number of questions floating around in my head, and rather than start tons of threads for every individual one, I figured I would use this thread to ask them all and get your feed back.

And in case anyone cares to see, here are some pics of the Model A I have been working on:

 

Hey man, its great to see that you started a build for your DC2. I must say I'm honored to be mentioned as an inspiration. That looks like a great project you have going with you dad. Your Integra is in great condition. I'll definitely be tuning in for more updates.

 

DAM IT! i was supposed 2 be the 1st one to comment lol!!! but whatever same here buddy what Reed said i'm honored as well blah blah blah so can't wait till you start building her slowly like me. I love that Black DC2 more then any other chassis even jane but i'm fine with her.

 

Thanks guys, it means a lot. Hopefully I'll do you all proud. Hopefully once I have some money saved up I'll have some worthwhile updates. For now I'll use this space to ask questions.

 

Sure thing man. I'm no expert on K-series, but I'll do the best I can to help.

 

so where is the gsr engine going ?

 

To whoever wants to buy it when I'm ready to sell it. Maybe Teggyluva90 if he still wants it then.

 

wish you where closer but good luck with the K

 

Thanks.

 

Finally a small update. Unfortunately nothing K related yet.



Got this in from ICB Motorsport yesterday. Nothing super fancy.

Last night I just happened to look under the rear of the car to see if there was any rust or anything. I happened to see that one of the license plate lights was hanging freely. I stuck my hand in the slot of the bumper and pulled out all this rotted metal and the other license plate light came free with barely any effort as well.

So I took the rear bumper off today to see what the situation was back there.



Luckily the body wasn't rusted at all, it was just the brackets for the license plate lights. The rear bumper support beam was rusting over as well.



I sprayed the support and the body with Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator that we had left over from our Model A project. It's supposed to stop rust from going any farther. The bumper support and everything will be replaced once I really tear into the car, so this is a temporary measure until then.



I made this new bracket out of aluminum for the license plate lights. Nothing fancy, but at least it wont rust away like OEM.



Here it is with the lights attached.



Installed. Doesn't look any different installed than OEM.



Rear bumper reinstalled. Rear of the car is dirty, don't mind that.

I have a package coming in from Autofair Honda within the next two weeks. Nothing gigantic, but something I have wanted for my car for a long time. I'll take pictures of that once it arrives.

 

I like the bracket. God bless DIY projects!

 

Thanks man, means a lot coming from you. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

 

Kswap

Whats your power goal ?



There is a lot of info on motor set ups on k20a.org as well you can read up on.
seeing you are in CT there are quite a few engine builders who can put your motor together for you as well.

Info more

 

I'm actually on K20a.org, I've commented on your build a few times on there I look to your build for inspiration, as well as others.

My power goal is "only" around 250hp, but my plans are really overkill. To be honest, I don't really know who is in CT, especially for tuning. I'd really like to build it myself, but I'm not sure I have the knowledge/skills/tools to really do that, not yet anyways. I was strongly considering going through 4piston. I guess it's not really essential now because the K swap wont be done any time soon.

 

ill be ready to keep up with this build man! good luck i had a DC2 and i loved it. wish i wouldnt of got rid of it.. owell live and you learn.. gsr.. thats a great platform to start with! good luck! remember take your time and do it right the first time!

 

Great work on that aluminum bracket! Very well made. In for some pics of that purchase from Honda too. Keep up the good work and the patience man!

 

Thanks guys!

 

The bigger package arrived today.





Raybrig fog lights for the 98+ Integra. I've wanted these for a long time, and according to Colin/CJM, there were only 33 sets left in the country. I wanted to make sure I scooped them up before people raised the price sky high. About 6 months ago I made a WTB thread on Honda Tech and NWP and people were already asking twice the amount more than Acura.



Rest of the contents of the box.

Not sure when I'll be installing these. I think I'm going to keep them in the box until my car is more presentable. I guess good thing about having a fairly beat up front bumper is that I can practice cutting the plastic out to mount the lights before doing it on a brand new bumper.

Special thanks to Colin and the Autofair Honda guys. Colin answered all my questions on his day off. So many other people would have just waited until the next day they were at work. Needless to say they beat everyone else's shipped price as well. They were mailed out yesterday afternoon and they arrived today during the day.

 

Fogs look great John!

 

NWP people over pricing things? Get out.

Looks like a nice base to start. Good luck.

 

Thanks guys.

 

i got tons of people... let me know when you ready to do something.. i'm from hartford and between my Sohonda Garage heads and other people anything you need to have happen can happen. As for the building, got that covered too.

 

Thanks, I'll keep it in mind. I'll do my best to do the building myself though, but we'll see.

 

Here's a more recent pic of my Model A project if anyone cares to see.

 

is it a full restore? or do you plan on doing drivetrain/powertrain updates?