Time has been scarce, and it's been very difficult to find a free weekend or a day off to do any work on the Integra. We've been using it as a commute car, which also gives us a chance to get acquainted with the car's quirks, and its capabilities.
The Integra is fun to drive, with low power but also low weight. The power band is very friendly, with good oomph at mid range. The suspension is weak, body roll is atrocious, but that's fixable. Breaks seem decent but nothing to write home about. It's FWD, and so it understeers if pushed, but not too badly. Fuel mileage on mostly highway with a moderate to aggressive driving style is at around 25-26 MPG. A small thing, then again perhaps not, that I noticed is that the arrangement of the break and accelerator pedals is perfect, making heal-toe practically effortless in this car (I have a hard time with that on my FR-S).
Rob has done some work on it this past weekend, replaced the alternator with a rebuilt one, belts, changed engine oil, and installed an aftermarket header (came with the car). Performance-wise I couldn't detect anything on the butt-dyno with the new header, maybe perhaps a slight gain in upper range power, but it's hard to tell.
Our prep for the 2014 season is going to be intense: weight removal (interior, seats, etc), suspension, engine removal and work (on a budget), transmission/diff fluids, cage, racing seats/harness/steering, fuel cell, tires. We're currently looking at Honda Challenge H4 as our target class, but we're keeping our options open.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Sunday, July 28, 2013
First Trip out
So took the car off the jack stands, secured all the loos bits ( spare tire, wheel splash guards, front bumper,
front lights) and took the car for a shakedown ride. Rides nice, brakes work great, and the car has descent power. Now for the repair list found during the ride.Windshield wipers (already fixed)
marker light
rattle from the exhaust
radio code
radio antenna
hvac selector
dimmer switch
185-195 thermostat (currently has a 165 which is a really bad idea)
Not too bad for a car that's 15 years old. The list of things that work properly is much longer than the list of broken things.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
All Lines a Go!
All Lines a Go!, a set on Flickr.
Yesterday we completed the brake line replacement and also took care of one of the fuel lines (the return). The process went a lot smoother this time around, and we're getting pretty good at bending tubing to match the original lines in the car. We also got a new battery to replace the old dead one.
We bled the brakes, fixed a small leak, put the fuel tank back on, all the plastic fixtures—or I should say most of the plastic fixtures, since the plastic bits in this car are 15 years old and very brittle and we lost some in the process—and finally, refueled and fired up the engine. It was great seeing everything working again without a hitch, and the car is road-worthy, if not street legal; that should change on Wed, when we'll be renewing the registration.
So next week the little 'tegra will be ready for some road testing and perhaps some autocrossing. Road trip!
Yesterday we completed the brake line replacement and also took care of one of the fuel lines (the return). The process went a lot smoother this time around, and we're getting pretty good at bending tubing to match the original lines in the car. We also got a new battery to replace the old dead one.
We bled the brakes, fixed a small leak, put the fuel tank back on, all the plastic fixtures—or I should say most of the plastic fixtures, since the plastic bits in this car are 15 years old and very brittle and we lost some in the process—and finally, refueled and fired up the engine. It was great seeing everything working again without a hitch, and the car is road-worthy, if not street legal; that should change on Wed, when we'll be renewing the registration.
So next week the little 'tegra will be ready for some road testing and perhaps some autocrossing. Road trip!
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Brake Lines (from Hell)
Brake Lines (from Hell), a set on Flickr.
Our Integra had severe rusting in all lines at the point where they reached the section of the chassis right before the fuel tank, including leaks in both of the rear brake lines. We figure this is probably because of the plastic shields in that area, which may have functioned as a nice place for water and road salt to accumulate and rust the lines away. Yesterday we set off to replace these lines, plus the other three lines going aft, all fuel related (since they were all rusted away and ready to leak anyway).
Well, turns out that replacing the brake lines in their entirety (from the proportioning valve aft) requires not only dropping the fuel tank, but also removing a forward cross-member that's a mounting point for lots of things under the hood—pretty much all the suspension components and the steering. So a simple leak in a brake line requires you to disassemble most of the car to replace it. Next time your mechanic tells you it will take $3,000.00 to replace the brake lines in your Integra you may want to consider he might not be trying to rob you blind this time.
In the end we decided instead to use connectors, chopping the lines just aft of the oft-cursed aforementioned cross-member and attaching them to the new tubing we fashioned ourselves. The whole process took us 14 hours from planning to execution, give or take (most of them spent scratching our heads in disbelief, trips to Autozone, drinking beer and making fart jokes). Connectors are not ideal, but will do for now. We only replaced the passenger-side brake line, but we could probably do all the remaining lines in a half-day next time.
Our Integra had severe rusting in all lines at the point where they reached the section of the chassis right before the fuel tank, including leaks in both of the rear brake lines. We figure this is probably because of the plastic shields in that area, which may have functioned as a nice place for water and road salt to accumulate and rust the lines away. Yesterday we set off to replace these lines, plus the other three lines going aft, all fuel related (since they were all rusted away and ready to leak anyway).
Well, turns out that replacing the brake lines in their entirety (from the proportioning valve aft) requires not only dropping the fuel tank, but also removing a forward cross-member that's a mounting point for lots of things under the hood—pretty much all the suspension components and the steering. So a simple leak in a brake line requires you to disassemble most of the car to replace it. Next time your mechanic tells you it will take $3,000.00 to replace the brake lines in your Integra you may want to consider he might not be trying to rob you blind this time.
In the end we decided instead to use connectors, chopping the lines just aft of the oft-cursed aforementioned cross-member and attaching them to the new tubing we fashioned ourselves. The whole process took us 14 hours from planning to execution, give or take (most of them spent scratching our heads in disbelief, trips to Autozone, drinking beer and making fart jokes). Connectors are not ideal, but will do for now. We only replaced the passenger-side brake line, but we could probably do all the remaining lines in a half-day next time.
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Coming Home
Coming Home, a set on Flickr.
Took possession of our little racer. First thing we did was give it a good wash, and then we brought her in the garage to check out the state of the brake lines. Both rear lines are rusted through.
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