I've got an '89 integra, body is at about 175k. On its 3rd motor, first as I understand from the mechanic who did the original swap on it was blown up by an idiot. 2nd motor died from a bad timing belt. Gold 5 door LS. Sadly, A/T..

The 3rd motor as I understand when I purchased it was <40k miles. Honda dealership gave me a surprisingly reasonable deal on replacing it (or at least so I thought). Unfortunately, due to electrical (maybe) issues it's barely been used since.

The body has some rust as you'd expect from a 30 year old car, especially since it lived in the southeast most of its life. The rust is relatively minor for its age though. All in all I'd say the body is still in good shape.

The issues that I know of (aside the minor rust) are:

Broken front exterior door handles--both of them. An annoying thing to fix but still doable.
Leaking coolant (minor)--think a line and not the radiator.
Some of the undercarriage plastic is rotted/gone (nothing major, though the skid plate may be living the zip tie life...)
Dash is loose and a bit squeaky, and too worn to get tight without modifying it. Otherwise in good shape.
IACV needs to be replaced (have replacement, just need to bolt on).
Exhaust (original, afaik) has rust but is still sound--probably would replace though.
Needs tire and a battery but that's routine.
Rear wiper and cyclops do not work (broken hatch wiring harness).
Hatch hydraulics are long since worn out and a crutch used to live in the hatch permanently. Hey, it worked...
Minor injector leak.
The really annoying one: Code 9 on ECU (timing checked and rechecked, engine wiring harness replaced, cylinder sensor replaced, distributor replaced incidentally, ECU replaced). At this point I think it's either a wiring issue that's getting past testing or a gremlin.

Other than that, it's mechanically pretty sound. Distributor has around 20k on it (and I have a spare), transmission rebuilt around 20k miles ago, new CVs, suspension is fine last I checked, brakes are good.

It hasn't been my daily (and has been sitting in a dry climate/mostly in shade) for the last 3 years.

At this point, I'm not sure what to do with it. Selling it is an option, as I see these things are still holding some value for an old car if they're in good shape. But given the issues I'd have to find an enthusiast who wouldn't mind putting a little work into it. I'm not particularly interested in selling it to some random for under 1k who's just going to flog it until it gives up the ghost. I don't need the money that much and I'm pretty sentimental. I could potentially start working on it again, clean it up, get it running, etc. I wouldn't mind making a little project car out of it and have absolutely no need for it as a daily.

What do you guys think? In the above listed condition, what would it roughly be worth to someone who wants a 1st gen teg? Given the aftermarket for these, is there anything really easy or worthwhile doing non stock or would the best route just to be getting it as sound and pretty as possible in stock?

 

I'd just sell it and move on, unless you plan on restoring this yourself for sentimental reasons. $1000 is a pretty reasonable price for the condition, and that's without seeing pics of any body damage.

 

A grand sounds about what I was thinking given the condition. As far as sentiment goes, while I have no problems selling it, I don't want to just toss it away for $800 on Craigslist to a random dude if there's any sort of market for it. If I sell it, I would prefer to sell it to someone who will value it for what it is.

 

I had a goal way back to find a Gen1 teg to swap it with a boosted K20 w/roll cage, coil overs and seats (I would of been the fist one to put a K motor in a Gen1). I found a Gen1 for sale went to go look at it. It was clean as hell but when I look underneath it was a rust cancer the whole underneath needed to be replace. I walked away and never could find another one with minor or rust free. That project is long history and I have a family that comes first and my original project 1999 Integra w/112k miles on the body never got finish it's been now 8 years maybe more sitting with no motor/trans inside

 

Fortunately, after having a good look the other day the only major rust I can see is the very back of the rear right quarter panel--it's a little gnarly there but the only bad spot. Underneath seems ok (save some of the 30 year old plastic crap). Exhaust is a bit rusty but doesn't seem to have got worse and last I ran it had no leaks etc. Plan on replacing the exhaust anyhow if I do anything with it.

After BSing a bit with roommate we may end up turning it into a track car. Just for fun runs. I'll have to see what all bolt ons I can find for it. Intake and headers should be easy. Maybe if I get lucky I can find the ZC cams somewhere but I'm not holding out hope for that.

Put on the new IACV yesterday, went to crank it and hello injector spraying. Not a surprise since it's been sitting so long and it had a leaky injector to begin with. Well, $48 for a refurb set on ebay. I'll be putting those in shortly. Then back to fixing the code 9 issue... damn electrical.

If I get it running fine, then we'll probably redo the exhaust (if I can find something acceptable for reasonable $), suspension, and vinyl wrap it.