Norm - Perth DC5R

[Norm]

I once had a thought, "Why" on earth am I modifying my Type R. I figured out the "why" in 2012, somewhat 2 years later from the day I started modifying. In 2012, I had to rethink my goals, and why I was doing it. My goal was to achieve one of the most unique Type R's in Australia on a graduate wage. I believed that I wanted it represent me in every way and not to the likings of others. I wanted it done right, and it had to be right by me.

To those who truly know me, this car has done more for me than I have for it. Some people may ask how is that possible?, or think that I'm just here attempting to polish up my story. But truth is, all projects start off with a dream. My dream was no different, it was just big dream.

I started off as any other person. Had an education, was fortunate enough to get average grades in high school, and then be fortunately enough to be accepted in University. I studied Forensic and Analytical Chemistry for 2.5 years. I didn't complete it. I was 1 semester off and I would of been a "glorified" chemist. I didn't study particularly hard in Uni for that matter as I didn't enjoy chemistry. The course sounded cool, and 2004 was the era of forensic innovation. All the buzz and gadgetry NCIS brought to the world, gravitated my tertiary choice and led me to 2.5 years of unfinished studies. I didn't complete it because I didn't believe in what I was doing represented me. I only did it because it was cool.

Fast forward to 2012. By then, I studied a Bachelor of Paramedical Science, and have qualified as a full Paramedic. I had also owned the car for 2 years and was about to take on one of the biggest financial commitments of my life. I had a mortgage, had a girlfriend at the time, which now is my Fiancé and most of all, I had a big dream. I wanted to have the WTCC Buddyclub 9 Piece bodykit. Why? Because I loved the look of it. I fell in love with the aero design and the limited availability of such kit. I made a commitment to start this project. I promised myself to not be in debt, nor would I touch my savings. My options to find funds were either to work really hard through over-time, perform side jobs, find a higher paying career, and up skill myself through further training and studies. All of which, I proceeded to do. I worked more over-time, up to 72hrs a week, side jobs of writing health and safety policy and procedures whilst completing my part-time post graduate diploma.

I'm not here to brag about what I've achieved. I'm not here to gain any merits. Its an online forum for crying out loud. But what I'm here to tell you, is that, if you believe with sufficient conviction, for whatever your mind wants, you mind will find a way achieve it. My favorite quote from Napolean Hill,

"If you believe with sufficient conviction, for whatever the mind can conceive, the mind can achieve".

The car had changed my young mind (22 at the time) to achieve things I would never of dreamt of. Own parts that would be out of my financial reach. And grasp the reality of someday owning a magnificent piece of art and engineering. These were the things I dreamt about after staring blankly at the computer screen for countless of hours.

Well, I did just that. I dreamt about something and I made it reality. So whats stopping you?



As for my car? This is currently where it is,





This is where it used to be at the beginning of 2012.

[Norm]

I just bought Honda Brake Fluid and Steering Fluid. Will be performing flushes at work tomorrow 20/5/2010 and will try to find this clunking noise coming from going over bumps (stock suspension). Sounds like coming from the cabin but also sounds like the left passanger suspension region. I will include photos and post up a summary of the DIY - Brake Fluid and Steering Fluid replacement/flush (This is the aid with someone who knows how of course).

[jj17]

nice, honestly i reckon its something rattling inside the car. might be the glovebox having gay fitment issues but yea.. didnt sound like anything metal clunking.

[Didz]

wow man. Tein know how to charge hey? This has shed some light on my own situation i dont think i will bother getting my teins repaired after reading this. Fulcrum wont even give me an indication of costs, it's as if they have never rebuilt dampers before! It is lucky you got the dampers removed, you dont want to experience what i did!

If you do decide to make your car lowered again consider a different set of suspension. Coilovers are not ideal for street driving (especially if you dont wish to track your car). So maybe consider other options such as Koni with matching springs or Eibach. They can be serviced locally and bth are top quality. This also means you can spec them to a softer setting to what your HA's have.
Hope everything works out

[Norm]

Didz - Darn right tein do. And I pretty much wasted +$900 and ended up reverting back to stock. Shoulda just used that money to buy my cai, spewing to be honest.

Ok. We changed the break and steering fluids today.

Let me first say, the way and method of "us" doing it may not be the most conventional method as the some of the tools we used were improvised in the depot, and to our surprise...everything worked out perfectly. I dont hold responsibility for damages if anyone else tries this. It was done by 2 people and obviously this is just a detail of the events that happened.

I must emphasise, that Honda wanted to charged me $220 dollars to get these changed and flushed. I got hold of 2 bottles of Honda Break Fluid and 2 bottles of Honda Steering Fluid for only $55. Labour time performed took only 1 hour between the 2 of us.




So lets start! (Please excuse my terminology)
1. I opened up the break fluid bottle. I knew it was dirty. It also had a kinda filter thing on the top that I removed so I could suck out all the dirty fluid. I used a syringe to suck out the fluid and did a pretty darn good job. I finished wiping button of the container with some paper towels.







2. I topped up the break fluid bottle with new break fluid, and going slightly over the max line, as later I flush remaining dirty fluid with new stuff through the system.

3. The sequence of which we started to drain the break fluid began with rear right side, then rear left side, then passanger side and lastely drivers side.
We took the wheel off and found the break cap (Circled Blue on top of the jack) at the rear. Removed the cap with our hands and got hold of an empty IV bag or you could use in this instance at home some tubing or even do it with a bucket underneat and degrease the area after. We used the empty IV bag to drain the dirty fluid. I believe you can also purchase kits which have a one way valve over this break cap and perform this flush with 1 person.




4. One person had to press on the break pedal 3-4 times to build up the pressure and then hold it firmly down. Once this is done the other person using a 10mm spanner loosens the bolt beneath the break cap and lets the pressure push all the dirty break fluid out. We performed this several times untill we could see clear break fluid exiting. Bear in mind to check after a few drains that you have break fluid in the bottle and that the system isn't sucking in air and forming air bubbles. It is also important to close the break cap before your partner takes his/her foot off the break pedal as failure to do so will result in suck in air and forming air bubbles.



5. Number 4 was in the same fashion for all 4 break caps. In the order of front left/rear right/rear left/front right (as corrected by Rod).

6. Once the driver’s side was done we topped up the break fluid bottle.

If you get break fluid on your panel work/ paint, rinse off with water immediately and don’t use a clothe to wipe or rub.

If any of the above i'm doing wrong please dont hesistate to correct me as i'm still learning.

[Norm]

Forgot to put up the pic of the IV bag we used hehe!

[Talos]

nice work.

i love those wheels in bronze! matches the car well

[TYPEaarh]

Hey Norm, congrats on your new ride. Looking forward to reading your blog

Funny, WA suspension had always been good to me. I guess it depends on the problem and who you dealt with.

I went to them after not being satisfied with Wilkinsons services. I asked them to raise my ride height and to investigate a noise on my front right strut (Wilkinsons had installed my new flex about a year earlier). They basically told me they couldn't help me coz they didn't deal with teins and that I should go see someone else.

So then I went to WA suspensions, they investigated the sound by test driving with me in the car, got the car up on the hoist, then gave me a long lecture about importing things myself from japan and not getting them through fulcrum coz everything would have been covered by warranty blah blah blah. Anyways, left the car with them the following week but warned me that if they couldn't fix it they would have to send it to fulcrum. Turned out that they could fix it, but warned me that it may be only temporary to save me some money (didn't need it to be fully fixed as I had stopped racing). Went back to them again about a year later when the sound came back. They then took a bit more effort and time, found another solution and the sound hasn't come back since.

So from my experience, they were great, made the effort and saved me some money. Having said that though, my problem was probably not as severe as yours. The gland bolt inside the strut was loose, they had to inspect it by carefully opening the housing up, but not too much or else all hell would break loose and to fulcrum it would be!

Anyways, nice to see another Perthy on the forum! not many on here but I know they lurk around like ninjas (including myself)

[Norm]

TYPEaarh - Well i still dont know up to this day what is making the clunking sound. It doesn't matter anymore, we've reverted back to stock suspension in the meantime haha!.

Gonna try to get the gruppe M intake in a week or 2. So will def add more to the blog then!

[lukits01]

I've never had a problem with WA Suspension, alternatively I also use Kerry wade at Bridgestone Tyre Centre. Between the two of them, they can do all my suspension needs.

It's probably more to do with how crap TEIN HA are, they were pretty average when new, and certainly wont get better with age. Bad luck that you had to go through that, mate. Don't lose faith, DC5R is great, especially with Gruppe M ahaha

[markR]

lol @ n/s bag!

[Norm]

Ok. Its been awhile since i've posted some new stuff. Just some updates. I ended up ordering some 25mm spacers and got them installed for the rear. Looks pretty good now and as i'm running on stock suspension at the moment I dont need to be worrying about rolling up the guards or anything, plus the missus prefers a more comfortable ride than sporty feel.







I also managed to get a 1:64 diecast model of the DC5 Type R. I initially looked everywhere online and could not find it, and to my suprise there was a company by the name of Bianti based in Belmont Perth that orders them in. Will take a photo of it when I get a chance.

Also just order the GruppeM Intake 2 days ago and definetely looking forward to installing it with the help of jj17. Will post more pics up then too. After this mod we're going to move on to exhaust manifold and exhaust.

1 x Honda Integra DC5 TypeR and TypeS
1 x Honda Integra DC5 Induction Hose
- Color: Red

Order history.

06/14/2010 Waiting Payment
06/14/2010 Processing Hi Norman,

Your payment has been cleared and confirmed.

I will get your order processed now for you.

Regards
Jay


All I can say is....OOOHHH YEAH!

[plAythiNG]

ahh, so u ordered the spacers? Did u just get the pair, or 2 x pairs?

[Norm]

I only Just got the pair for the rear because I wasn't sure how they would turn out. I might jus stick with 1 pair.

[Black_Spirit]

Hey Norm,

Be very careful with those spacers! I hope you've done your research into which kind and how reputable they are... cuz i'm pretty sure spacers are illegal... Its more of a safety concern than anything else. I'm not sure if the mods have pruned some old threads, but there was much talk about spacers and how 'safe' they are.

It has something to do with the wheel hub turning first which turns the spacer and then turns the rim. The series of motions is unsafe, but there are pplz out there that will say otherwise and have been running spacers for a number of days/months/years/decades. I def won't recommend to u to use them on track.. the last thing u want is to crash and destroy ur car cuz of the spacers. I'm not trying to dishearten you, just be careful and be aware of the consequences spacers have.

A while ago, I was contemplating getting 17" white JDM rims but cuz the aust model got raped and so the braking system was taken off that of an S2000 so the offset was complete different and was deemed unsafe to run the JDM rims with spacers or even without spacers.

Either way, those rims look hot mate!! definitely looking after the car as you've mentioned, great to see!!