1996 Integra GSR Sedan

I forgot how much I paid for the yellow pair but I paid about $250 for the clear pair. I did keep the wiring harness from the Amazon kit on my RS since it has the fog light button that mounts where the Cruise Control button would be. The RS doesn't have Cruise Control so that harness was perfect.

 

some new pics from the other day, still need to clean overspray off my windows as you can see. i'm honestly surprised how much got on the windows, i thought i did a pretty good job taping up.







I plan to rock the pieces that need repainted for the majority of the summer, i have too many house projects and some updates i need to do to the taco. i've been neglecting it. hopefully get the pieces painted august into september and put it all back together again. Luckily, i have enough extra parts that i can remove all of the pieces and still be able to LEGALLY drive the car with the extra pieces lol.

 

I forgot to add, i have completely abandoned the idea of polishing these rotas. i'm not willing to invest the amount of time and effort (and upkeep) dealing with polished raw metal wheels. when it gets warm enough to do some spray painting, i plan to paint these gold wheels bright silver and also take care of some surface rust on my calipers and get those repainted as well.

 

Or....hear me out.......ce28s

 

I'm hit or miss on the ce28s. I see pictures where i love them, then i see pictures where i say meh.

i did almost pull the trigger on a new set of wheels, but i decided they were just too big for the car. They were 4x100 racing hart C2s, but they were 18's. The price was right, but i'm not jamming an 18" wheel on an integra, just a bit too big for the car i think.

 

That would be a bit big atleast visually. Im suprised there's a 18 that comes in 4x100

 

I'd go as far as a 17 for certain types of wheels, but thats it. I think a 16 looks pretty ideal on the integras.

 

I'd agree. 16s do look good on integras. My only issue with them is lack of tire size options.

 

I have a few notable things accomplished (or started) on the teg.

I scraped my clear coat run with a razor blade about has far as i want to take it. Can you still see it? Yup. Is it as bad as before? Not really. Scraping any further is beyond my level of comfort at this point, i have a scratch or two from where the blade dug in a bit deeper than it was supposed to.

I'm still fighting with this overspray on my windows. I'm having a heck of a time trying to remove it, nothing seems to be working. I've tried a razor blade with glass cleaner, that got a good bit off but started to scratch the glass. I've tried 0000 steel wool, that helped a little bit, but no more than the razor blade and glass cleaner. All of the videos i watched of someone using 0000 steel wool to remove glass overspray did it using it dry. Maybe i should try with glass cleaner? I've tried acetone and paint thinner on a rag, no effect. Not sure what to try next.

I removed the linkage from the car so i can install my Neuspeed short shifter and rebuild with all new OEM bushings around the shifter. Hopefully I will be able to tackle that during the week so i can get it reinstalled this weekend.

I experimented with some xpel PPF and added a layer to my DIY woodgrain center. Just to protect the vinyl from the cupholder area mainly. I tried using just one piece directly below where the cupholders would come out, but it made that area super glossy compared to the rest. So, i just covered the whole thing, its still drying out in this picture which is why it looks a little weird.



I'm definitely going to try to get this on some key areas of the car once all of the resprays are completed.

Also picked these up. Got paid for some OT i worked so i got myself a little reward.



I will probably not install these over the existing glass like the instructions say to. I've seen where people have had issues installing them this way and they end up loosing an expensive mirror. I've seen a couple of other installs where people will remove the oem mirror from the black plastic housing and install it directly to the oem mirror holder/housing or whatever it is. I'm just not sure what the best method of adhesive is going to be. One video i saw, the guy used rubber butyl to mount it. I don't think that's the best idea, rubber butyl tends to get very flexible when its warmed up. So, i'll keep on researching.

Also picked this up for the OEM head unit. Act a fool.

 

Maybe a clay bar? I dont know if that'll do anything

 

tired that, it laughed at me. i'm gonna give paint thinner / acetone another shot tonight. I'm going to use a little more on a shop towel, i'm wondering if its not as effective on a junk microfiber since its intended to be less abrasive.

 

Well. I figure it was a long shot once you said paint thinner didn't work. Durn it

 

i had some successes this weekend, and some failure. as always...

successes! rebuilt my shift linkage per the LHT video on youtube with all new oem components and installed my neuspeed short shifter. My god that thing is solid now. and the throws are so much shorter, it will take some getting used to after driving all these years with the stock shifter. Also wired in 2 resistors to my led light behind my cupholder, it more closely matches the rest of the interior's lighting "intensity". Here is all of that back installed in the car.




Now....for the fail.....i realized this weekend that what i thought was overspray from my paintwork last year was not overspray from that. Which, might explain why nothing i have tried has worked. This overspray is from eastwoods internal frame coating. Apparently i missed a couple of holes when i was taping off the wheel arch and the rocker. this stuff is hard as a rock. i sent a message to eastwood about anything that might be able to take this stuff off, i'm hoping i dont need to get a new rear windshield because of this screw up...




I tried a razor with acetone on the sections not by the rear defroster....nadda.

 

Is that stuff on the inside?

 

It is, thats why i'm so afraid to go to town with a razor. I heard back from eastwood today though on how to remove it:

Good morning,

Thank you for your inquiry. This product can be damaged by solvents because of its make up.. For easiest removal you should be able to find locally a paint stripper in aerosol form to utilize. This should surely remove this coating.


Best regards,


Customer Solutions Technical Support Specialist



So I'll give this a try, after i completely cover my car to avoid this stuff getting anywhere it is not supposed to!

 

Ugh...I had all intentions of trying out the paint stripper this past weekend. i bought a can of that stripper while running some errands on Saturday and for the life of me i could not find it when i got home. Found it this morning getting ready for work....oh well. I'll get to it. I also now have the DB8R exhaust 95% of the way installed, i have to finish attaching one last piece and that piece of the puzzle is done.


Also, i had a disappointing realization this weekend. I looked at how much room the kiddos car seats take up in my truck, i don't see how they will ever fit in the integra with my seat in a position so my legs aren't in the gauge cluster. I'm going to make it a priority to test that out this weekend. If they do not fit, there is no need rush to getting this car done. I take my kids to daycare and pick them up every day of the week, so if those car seats don't fit in the car, the integra will very rarely be driven.

 

I didnt get a chance to check out the car seats this weekend due to other car issues, but I did take some measurements. The results look promising, but we'll see what they look like with the seats in the actual car.

I also tried aircraft paint stripper on the overspray on the glass this weekend. I sprayed it on a rag and wiped it over the over spray, it had no effect. I think i will have to spray it directly on the glass, and then let it sit for xx minutes like it says on the can and let it eat at the overspray. Hopefully that does it. If not, i'll be emailing Eastwood again.


So, I finished the DB8R exhaust and did a "shakedown" drive with the car to see how things are all sorted out. It didn't go well, I'm a little disappointed. But, here's some pics and what all went down. Here's the car for it's maiden voyage out of the threshold of the garage.




Really love the look and the sound of the DB8R exhaust.




But thats when it all went downhill. About 2 minutes up the road, the car threw a CEL and began to run terrible. I drove a total of about 6 miles to see if it was an issue with gas or just from it sitting stationary (also got about 5 gallons of fresh 93 octane), but no luck. Its idling was very very low at redlights to the point it stalled out, and the rpms would really hang between gear shifts. Oh, I guess 2 good things of the shakedown run. I love this Neuspeed short shifter and the newly rebuilt shift linkage, and the car is getting into closed loop now.









So I took the car home and parked it, and put the hood up, as usual.




Other things to note during the drive: the rotors are terrible from sitting, my cruise control still doesnt work despite replacing all of the pieces and repairing a broken wire, and I need to realign my steering wheel. It is so far off from when I removed the wheel to remove the dash.


So fast forward to later in the evening after the kids went to bed and the engine cooled off. Surprise surprise, I found this guy hanging from where it was supposed to be plugged into. Also found a break in the wire right at the plug.







So, I "phone a friend" and will have a new knock sensor plug on the way to replace this one. I'll just cut and solder the new connection and do my best to make sure the plug actually seats on the sensor. Hopefully this fixes all of the weird RPM issues. I didn't get a chance to check the car seats, but I did take some measurements. It looks promising, so once i fix the RPM issue, I'll test out the car seats.

 

This test drive went much better than the first. I initially thought I wasnt even going to get to work on the car this past weekend with all of this OT i had to work, but i managed to get just enough done.

I replaced the knock sensor plug and pigtail, test fit the kid's car seats (tight but a success), cleaned up the inside of the car a bit, reconnected the car's alarm, and continued to diagnose an electrical issue with the license plate lighting. If i shake the harness, the lights flicker. I also straightened out the steering wheel so i don't have to drive the car straight with the wheel turned 90 degrees.

The car is still idling a bit low sometimes, then it picks up back to normal, but then dips down again to the low 600's. Its weird, the engine makes a thunk thunk thunk or a chugging sound when this happens. I still have to double check the timing on the car, not sure why the idle would be so low. It also still is a bit "hangy" between gear shifts and deceleration. So, hopefully this upcoming weekend I can replace the exhaust gasket, check the timing and continue to diagnose that issue, change the brakes and rotors, and finish up the license plate light wiring issue. I have an appt for the car's inspection on monday to make it all legal.

And pictures, who doesnt like pictures.

 

I'm fond of the pictures. also happy to hear the car seats worked out. My friend had to big car seats in a db8. I remember it being a tight squeeze. what all have you checked into for the idle?

 

So far, nothing lol. Ran out of time this weekend. I'm going to try and check timing tonight and see what that looks like. Other than that, i'm going to clean out the IACV and see what that does. Everything else is basically new, or only has 5-7K on it at this point, so thats new in my book.