OOFT | NHB Type R

[Young]

After many reminders and me being lazy, I've finally started my car diary here. *looks at Felix* :P On the bright side, since I know how I'm going to post, I can be extremely anal about formatting. #ocd I'll probably stop updating the JDMST thread and just do this one because it's less public here. So here begins the tale of me and my Integra.

Contents
1. Specs
2. The Acquisition
3. Photo Dump: A Drive and Shoot
4. Why I Think My Car Is Cursed
5. Photo Dump: Shoot with Mr Furzer

[Young]

Specifications at time of acquisition, all stock except for the following:
- Mugen intake.
- Hondata S300.
- Mishimoto radiator.

Current specifications as of 27th of July, 2016:
- Mugen Intake.
- Hondata S300.
- Mishimoto radiator.
- OEM thermostat replaced.
- New B18C7 with 260 PSI compression, amazing condition.
- Mugen Oil Cap. (Thanks JDMYard!)
- Major service on swap/unofficial ownership @ 170 234.
- Exedy Organic Heavy Duty Clutch.
- Hankook Ventus RS3
- Hardrace camber arms.

[Young]

The Acquisition

Most new car stories start with a long wait for the perfect automobile in mint condition or perhaps with a plethora of modifications. Then the start ends with the acquisition, but not mine. Due to a combination of being ripped off by a short little man, my own carelessness, and the disadvantage of distance, it took a little more than half a year to get mine. However, finally she (or he, I haven’t decided yet) is here! This is the start of my build/diary thread and the beginnings of my DC2R ownership tale.



I come from the Euro scene, so my next project was actually going to be the R32 Golf. The unfortunate aspect about the Golf is its weight. The AWD hatchback actually weighs almost as much as an R35 GTR with a fraction of its power! After tossing and turning about that fact, I decided to go for an Honda Integra Type R. I chose the DC2 for the raw driving experience. This was aided in part by my OCD; throughout the years, I've owned a DC2, Mk3 Golf, and then another Mk3 Golf in that order. This would make it truly "full circle". Then began the long search…

A couple months later, I found a supposedly mint condition one in Melbourne. It looked great, as they all do in the photos. I flew down, took a gander at the ITR, and went home. A week later it arrived on a truck, ready to receive all my love and affection. (Okay, this is starting to seem like an unhealthy obsession.)



Immediately, something went wrong. At the end of the first day, after mildly panicking about getting the slips and registration done, I noticed a strange sound from the engine. Oh, the joys of a spun bearing. I’m not too familiar with the whole mechanical side, but I’d put my bets on this being one of the most expensive “noises”.

So I dropped her (or him) at JDMYard, began the second beginning of the story, and oh boy, it was an excruciating wait. Now I know some of you crazy nutters easily spend a year waiting for your soul mate, and perhaps another year or more completely rebuilding her (him, it or the car, I reserve no judgement ha!), but this seemed the most epic wait of all time. Not to mention, I had no car to drive in that time.

During this wait, there was plenty of time to look at ways I could customise the Integra. My mod budget had already gone to replacing the engine, so the only things I could do were inexpensive or free. Thoughts of USDM tail lights and tasteful vinyl wrap ensued. In the middle of all this, a friend returned from Japan and surprised me with some JDM stickers.



If I had known about this, I would’ve asked him to get me more “So what if I am irresponsible?” stickers. I admit to being a little excited about attacking corners and carrying speed … on a private track with trained professionals. It’s going on my passenger side somewhere soon, let people take it as a warning before getting a ride.

Then on Friday, when David from JDMYard notified me that my Type R was done, I probably jumped for joy. I don’t actually remember what I was doing, but damn I needed to drive the car. A great condition B18C7, a new Exedy clutch, and some other tidbits, it was almost brand new! (A short while later, I discovered more things that I needed to fix.) So began my second day of ownership, weeks after the first day of ownership.



Over that weekend I did more than 600km of driving on some good roads, keep in mind I was barely on the highway. As soon as I passed the 500km clutch bedding in period, I was coincidentally at Seacliff Bridge at night. Of course the only logical thing was to launch the DC2R and hear the spine-tingling VTEC scream as I rapidly approached light speed.

That’s the end of the beginning. I haven’t quite decided where I want to go with the Honda, but I’m leaning more towards a very clean and almost OEM build. I have a mad case of OCD when it comes to cars. The number plate took me 5 months of creativity and elimination to find the perfect one, which was then stored at the RTA since my last car. A lot of my money will be spent on making it as mechanically and cosmetically perfect as I can. You’ll definitely see a lot more of “OOFT” around, I want to keep her (or him) for a long time. Shout out to David, Kiet and Yonas at JDMYard for doing an amazing job.

[Young]

A Drive and Shoot

That moment when you go out for a long drive and chance upon a perfect photo location. Shame my skills aren't great enough to capture it fully. It was about 4 hours away from Sydney, complete with twisting mountain roads and then this spot. The clouds were just breaking apart slightly and the sky was like a huge softbox (lighting equipment). Minor update to the Integra: new tires, Hankook R-S3s.

[Young]

Why I Think My Car Is Cursed



So I'm pretty sure my car is cursed, because I've had three cars before this (interestingly, all 3rd generations of their model) and none of them have ever given me so much grief or close calls.

As mentioned before, it had an unexpected engine problem that resulted in a replacement done. Then I had a couple close calls recently, nearly got hit by a speeding B-Double and then a kangaroo on Old Pac. Then I actually hit a kangaroo 2 weeks later, but 'tis only a scratch as I wasn't going very fast. In a separate incident, I was right behind a DC2 that snap oversteered into a wall.



Recently I had to get some work done, engine mounts, control arms and associated parts at JDMYard. The night I took it home, something instantly went wrong. Literally was about 30 minutes of trouble free driving. Fortunately it turned out to be an easy fix, and mad props to David for coming out in the cold and helping out.



Then I had some weird problem with the heater, messing around with my water temperature significantly. I'm talking about a sudden drop to max cold on the gauge. Added more coolant and it still happens, but less often I think. Meh. Car works fine now, I'm just waiting for something else to break.

[ajax_h_]

Nice car man, I saw it at the hoodie meet on Wednesday. What did the first engine noise end up being?

[plAythiNG]

niceee young lyn

[scrowetom]

Awesome photos, very nice car!

[Young]

Nice car man, I saw it at the hoodie meet on Wednesday. What did the first engine noise end up being?

Ended up being a spun bearing. Apparently it was so screwed that they elected to swap the engine instead of rebuilding in. (I was in favour of rebuliding because it'll be practically a new engine haha, but the workshop knows best.)

niceee young lyn

Cheers.

Nice write up! Look forward to reading more

Thanks, chaumeh. I'll be doing a lot of photo dumps, but currently building up the war chest so I can splurge on some parts. Expect the new couple of updates to be relatively small and cheap mods. Haha.

Awesome photos, very nice car!

Cheers, scrowetom! It still needs to be cleaned up a bit. Haha.

[JFXtreme007]

Loving this so far! keen to read more! hopefully some of our photos can make it up on the thread someday :P

[Zilli]

how do you like the tyres - waiting for my set of wheels to get refinished and putting them on...

[Young]

Loving this so far! keen to read more! hopefully some of our photos can make it up on the thread someday :P

Oops, bit late now. :P

how do you like the tyres - waiting for my set of wheels to get refinished and putting them on...

Late reply but the RS3s are absolutely amazing. They do very well in the wet as well, tested on a private road of course

[Young]

Shoot with Mr Furzer



This photoshoot around Pie in the Sky was done a bit just over 4 months ago (31/July). I met up with James, back when he still had his DC5R and briefly met a couple other Honda guys. Had a bit of fun and I think I posted a total of one image from all the photos I took. (lol) Well, here's the rest. I can't seem to find any photos of just James' DC5R, but they must be hiding on my hard drive somewhere.