Heart Begins With H

[Kaan]

I dreamt of a K swapped integra back when I was in high school and the k series was the new rage. To do it right takes serious money. I remember looking into it and with the donor engine/trans it was up in the $9-$10k range.

there is an article about piecing together a Kswap these days for $3k... but its not the "best" motors and weird transmission.

http://vtec.academy/budget-k-swap/

[jmwhtzl]

Yeah, k20 probably isn't in my future. Would just putting the GSR head on this b18 be worth it? Or is that just a waste of time and money?

Again, I kinda know some of my Honda stuff, but I still feel like a noob at this, so forgive me if I say something dumb.

[Kaan]

Yeah, k20 probably isn't in my future. Would just putting the GSR head on this b18 be worth it? Or is that just a waste of time and money?

Again, I kinda know some of my Honda stuff, but I still feel like a noob at this, so forgive me if I say something dumb.

you are talking about doing a LS/Vtec...you should not spin your B18B block to 8k rpms... I've done it... without good oil it turned into a glitter bomb in 4-5 laps at VIR. if it does last a while, you are still on borrowed time. The B18B has smaller rod bolts than the Vtec engines and they are the weak point.

when you build a LS/Vtec you are either not spinning enough for your head to make power (so you stay reliable) or you risk your block and make power. to do it right, you are spending pretty good money on building the block.

I can tell you its about $2k to build a b series motor, if you do the work and know a trusted machine shop. for $2k you can buy a stock GSR, some bolt ons and a used hondata ... and get +175 to the wheels. save up for some brands stage 1 cams and you'll be close to 200hp....

all your HP, no matter your motor, will be boring as crap without a transmission change. plan on it.

for used parts join all the facebook groups out there. VAhonda parts and NWP4life, etc. they have good parts that pop up from time to time.

[V1GiLaNtE]

^ Listen to this man and write down his words verbatim.

[Kaan]

We know you want to backroad the car... I've been there, done that. I'll judge you from my rocking chair later. We also know you want 200ish hp...

can we assume you want to keep AC? what is your motor budget?

[jmwhtzl]

Damn guys, I appreciate all the feedback and advice. Just know that engine stuff is a loong ways away. Im still a high school kid and Im going to be saving for suspension first, and before that, taking care of general maintenance.

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[Kaan]

Get a job, start saving your pennies...

If you were 18, I’d tell you to come to VIR and get a ride along in the civic of doom

[jmwhtzl]

Registered! Almost got hit on the way back, too. Front end was drowning in bugs so I washed it again. Here's some more pics.

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[Senor_Taylor]

I can feel the excitement through the screen. Any idea why it burns oil? More than likely rings or something, but it could also be a bad PCV or something easy.

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[jmwhtzl]

Not sure, if I have time this weekend I'll try to find out. Taking the SAT though, so we'll see.

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[Kaan]

try to figure that oil issue out. I know I have a good B18B head in the garage... and I can do a ball hone on one of my blocks and get a headgasket/rings from AutoFair Honda on the cheap for you.

[Senor_Taylor]

Yeah, if it's valve stem seals or something, that's not a terrible job to do with the various MM alumni who can help. I know Jason Lineberg can do it super quickly for you.

Quick test for that is to do a quick pull up through third gear, then let off the gas very quickly (in third). This will pull a vacuum on your valves from the combustion chamber and pull out through of they're leaking. You'll see a puff of oil smoke out the exhaust.



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[Jake]

Love it and nice story! I added some more paragraph breaks to make it easier to read.

My one roommate at JMU had an Integra RS (1994, I think?) with a pile of miles on it. His had an aftermarket sunroof added, but it was otherwise pretty base with power windows and AC as the only real options. Anyway, that one got sold to Kaan and was his track car until he purchased the Civic.

The wheels you have are from the prior-gen GS-R, but not polished. Maybe they are just old and dirty, I dunno. Either way they look good on it for now.



Now get it out to some autocross sooner rather than later!

[jmwhtzl]

Autocrosses would be nice, but I'm usually too busy on the weekends. Hopefully I can find some spare time soon, though.
Yeah, I really like the wheels I have. They are super dirty, though. Whenever I have time I'm planning to polish them. I keep hearing that they should be painted black, but I don't think black wheels would look that great with this color.

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[ScottyB]

don't do black wheels. just won't look right on a green car. maybe plastidip a graphite grey at most, but polishing would look pretty OEM fresh too.

my bet's on valve stem seals but for now, just find yourself a good High Mileage formulated oil and that should help a little, since they're a bit thicker than a standard oil and have detergents in them that will help your seals swell back up a bit.

[Kaan]

gold... the answer is gold on green.

[jmwhtzl]

As far as gold wheels, I thought about enkei 92s, but.. eh. Gold wheels just dont do it for me unless theyre on like, a BRG Miata. I think im going to end up saving for rpf1s. I know everyone does them but theyre simple, clean, and light.

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[WRXtranceformed]

Love it. My buddy had a big turbo Integra back in the day during the height of the Nova street racing scene. He outran a bunch of police + police helicopter on the beltway, but they got his license plate and arrested him the next day at work. That was the end of that car

Don't be my buddy

[jmwhtzl]

Been gone a while. My interest in the integra waned greatly in the months following its purchase, but the other night I took it for a quick drive and a wash, and something about it just made me realize that my love for the car wasn't quite through.

A good bit happened since I bought the car:

In a move of sheer idiocy, I ended up trading my gsr wheels for another set of wheels that ultimately ended up being shit. On top of that, An incident with not torqing them down enough resulted in a lug stripping off and taking the wheel with it as I drove down 42 towards broadway, (no damage except a crinkle in the drivers side fender), and a few days later, I went and bought a completely different set of wheels. The whole experience was a pretty big downer, but an important life lesson about not jumping so blindly into things. The integra is now sitting on Rota Circuit 10s wrapped in dunlop direzzas. They're not my first choice, but they definitely look alright. When I got them they plastidipped gold because the paint underneath was trash, and when it gets warmer and I have some spare cash I want to paint them(color suggestions?)

Suprise suprise, my door handles snapped. I finally replaced them both last week, and I hope I never have to do that again.

I got a dc sports front strut bar for basically free. I didn't really notice any difference in handling, but oh well.

I don't have a lot of money to sink into the car currently (well, I did, but for things like insurance and maintenance) but I'm trying to do some simple things to make it look a little cleaner. Currently I'm trying to track down some amber corner lights and some post-facelift taillights, and I've heard del sol seats are an inexpensive and pretty nice upgrade from the stock seats, which I'm getting pretty tired of. The next big mod will either be suspension or a gsr transmission.

My heart's not out of it yet.

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[Sijray21]

Good to hear about the Teg getting more attention. I miss mine; it was a great car when it was in my possession.

The amber front corner lenses and all red rear tails do transform the car in a nice, oem way.

A budget suspension (proper lowering springs and good struts) will go a long way in terms of handling and feel for the car. I actually thought the stock seats were decent, but I was coming from a civic of the same generation. I'm not sure if later model year prelude seats fit directly, but I was shopping for those at the time.