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Run_Away
Run_Away GRM+ Memberand Dork
9/5/22 8:48 p.m.

When the valve cover was off, did you verify mechanical timing? If the timing light is showing correct around the middle of the adjustment range, the intake cam is okay (because it drives the distributor) but the exhaust cam might be off.

 

solfly
solfly Dork
9/5/22 8:52 p.m.

Should be able to drop pins in both cams to verify.

Cooper_Tired
Cooper_Tired HalfDork
9/5/22 9:11 p.m.

In reply to Run_Away :

Do you mean if the intake and exhaust cams are timed correctly together? If that is what you mean, then yes. Both cams had their "UP" markings following the same positions throughout the rotation 

Cooper_Tired
Cooper_Tired HalfDork
9/9/22 6:05 p.m.

Update: 

Rock auto delivery of new NGK wires arrived today while I was at work. The team waited with bated breath for the update. I had to be in the office today so I couldn't sneak out and wrench on lunch. 
 

Got home and commenced to tearing into the box 

NGK makes a damn nice plug wire. 
 

turned the key and....

 

 

so far no sign of the misfire! Ran it for few minutes and runs smooth. Put it in and out of gear, still idling fine. Checked exhaust temp and cyl1 now ~ 10 degrees hotter than cyl4. Previously 4 was ~ 100F hotter. Did a few restarts and still going. 
 

Cautiously optimistic it's resolved. Lesson learned. Don't trust a plug wire is good just because it ohms well
 

now it's on to the funnererer part: the upgrades. 
 

have the eBay cat back to install

full energy suspension bushing kit

All new motor mounts


more to come! 

Slippery
Slippery GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
9/9/22 6:50 p.m.

YAY!!

XLR99 (Forum Supporter)
XLR99 (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand Dork
9/9/22 7:19 p.m.

Excellent news!!

Cooper_Tired
Cooper_Tired HalfDork
9/10/22 4:59 p.m.

Not a progress update, but took it for its maiden voyage around the neighborhood and back roads. Ran great. Did a WOT pull to 60, it reved up to 7-8k without missing a beat. Should be fun to thrash

Cooper_Tired
Cooper_Tired HalfDork
9/16/22 10:41 p.m.

Small update. Life has been getting in the way, but slowly chipping away at the remaining tasks. 
 

got the eBay cat back installed. Very impressed with the fit for $138 shipped. 

As it's running now, went ahead and tagged/insured. 
will keep chipping away at the upgrades and start logging street miles to make sure it's still happy

Cooper_Tired
Cooper_Tired HalfDork
9/18/22 8:16 p.m.

Another Sunday wrench session in the books. 
 

Tim and Dave took a shot at the shocks and struts while I worked on the motor mounts. 

Unfortunately we didn't get fully wrapped with anything before running out of time, but did make some progress. 
 

Learning a new yoga pose "Downward facing integra" was required to get at the rear motor mount. Got all broken loose except DS back bolt. Could not get enough torque at the right angle to get it turning. Going to snag some wobble extensions from Tim and try again. 
 

Tim and Dave got almost all of the rear suspension bolts broken loose, and we set to drilling and burning out the old lower shock bushings. 

got all of the old bushing out, except for the outer metal ring before stopping. Seems like the ring has to come out for the new bushing. Going to work on that this week and shift to reassembly. 
 

more to come. 

84FSP
84FSP UberDork
9/19/22 10:47 a.m.

Needs moar Downward Facing Integra!

eastsideTim
eastsideTim UltimaDork
9/19/22 2:20 p.m.

If anyone knows a good trick to getting the parking brake cable freed from the very rusty bracket on the caliper, without breaking something, we'd appreciate it.  It'd allow us to drop the rear suspension and work on it somewhere other than under the car.   We pulled the retaining clip, but everything is still stuck together, and the bracket is too big to pass through the hole in the trailing arm. Otherwise, it is looking like only a few of the poly bushings will get used this go around.

Cooper_Tired
Cooper_Tired HalfDork
9/19/22 4:59 p.m.
84FSP said:

Needs moar Downward Facing Integra!

My best angle, really

Cooper_Tired
Cooper_Tired HalfDork
9/24/22 2:01 p.m.

Finally some progress on the rear suspension. 
 

Got the rest of the LCA bushings we want to attempt burned and cut out. Cleaned and pressed in the new poly bushings

We also decided it couldn't hurt to buy a little more life with the trailing arms by window welding the tired bushings. 

 It'll be a few days before we get back to it which should allow the window weld to cure, but got the used shock/spring set up cleaned for install as there was some rust and pitting on the shafts 

Work schedules will make progress this week tough but hope to get the rear suspension all buttoned up and it back on the wheels next weekend so we can knock out the front 


 

 

84FSP
84FSP UberDork
10/2/22 11:59 a.m.

Great progress this week guys!  CooperTiredwas even kind enough to find me a radwood tshirt!

eastsideTim
eastsideTim UltimaDork
10/9/22 9:06 p.m.

Today's progress report:  There was a Window Weld incident...no hootuses involved, thankfully.

Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter)
Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) Dork
10/10/22 6:45 a.m.

Your test drive with the 7-8k RPM event made me wonder about the timing belt. 

I personally have a timing belt policy, if you can't prove to me beyond doubt when it was last changed, then it's due for immediate replacement, end of discussion.

But, I am a worrier by nature.

84FSP
84FSP UberDork
10/10/22 8:29 a.m.

Great progress guys!  We're painfully close to having a functional race car!

Cooper_Tired
Cooper_Tired HalfDork
10/10/22 8:25 p.m.

Long overdue update. She lives! 
Did upgrades to the worst of it (Some bushings, shocks and springs, end links, filled motor mounts). Had to get creative to get it started after sitting so long

We punted on a few upgrades due to risk of breaking bolts we don't have time to fix (trans mount, lower rear lca bushing) and because rock auto sent the wrong one (ps motor mount). Those will be sorted post challenge.

Got it all buttoned up and took her on a longer drive. Seems happy and the suspension is much more planted. Also confirmed the fans are working. Dave started the first rounds of paint clean up and she's got some shine. 

Also took a stab at some rattle can clean up of the valve cover, wiper arms and bumper bracket. 

 
 

 

 

 

Next steps are alignment, full on cleaning, wheel time and prepping for the trip down

84FSP
84FSP UberDork
10/11/22 8:06 a.m.

A bit more polishing time should yield some decently shiny paint that we can then cover in vinyl graphics.  Very interested to learn the ways of the GRM budget string alignment from Sensai Tim.

Can't believe no shiny valve cover pictures after your efforts?

Cooper_Tired
Cooper_Tired HalfDork
10/11/22 7:26 p.m.

Took it for a 30 minute run today including some curvy back roads. 
 

I now get all the love for the double wishbone Hondas; this thing is a blast to drive. 

It went, stopped and idled like a champ. 
Aside from the radio code not working, no complaints. 

Also the previously inop e brake seems to be working again after we disassembled, cleaned and reassembled. 

Excited to flog it at the challenge 

eastsideTim
eastsideTim UltimaDork
10/14/22 8:37 p.m.

Since it was in a garage (for the first time since purchased, I think - all the earlier work has been done in a driveway) with a relatively flat floor, I drove over with my highly sophisticated alignment tool set, and 84FSP and I did a quick alignment on it.  After a significant rear toe adjustment, stability/predictability in handling has improved.  We got lucky, and front end alignment was already in good shape, so no changes there.

We're closer to ready.  Which is good, since we have a week.

Cooper_Tired
Cooper_Tired HalfDork
10/23/22 2:07 p.m.

Team LoPrep made it to the challenge and competed in GTN$.  Our best runs were 52.9 on the auto x and 17.5 on the drags 

 

We also unveiled our "REALTAME" racing challenge livery 

Cooper_Tired
Cooper_Tired HalfDork
10/29/22 6:00 p.m.

First post challenge weekend update for the type aRgh. 
 

Few things I feel I have to get off my chest

1- the challenge was amazing and I am very glad we were able to participate. If you are reading this and on the fence whether or not to go, just DO IT. Seriously, we had the 3rd slowest car and had a friggin blast. Totally worth the 26hrs of driving to attend. 
2- the aRgh placed 21 overall which was better than we expected. Very happy how this turned out and more happy we didn't break. Thank you Honda for the 90s engineering team

3- GRM folks are the best. Seriously, thanks so much to everyone we talked to who shared advice, or just made positive comments about the aRgh. The first time attending an event can be intimidating but everyone was incredibly welcoming. I was worried the "real tame" graphics might not resonate with folks but shockingly everyone we talked to thought it was as funny as we did. 
I can't single out every one who was awesome  but:

pimpm3(hope I'm getting that right) thanks for the advice on intake set ups and sharing your Integra experience. 

Blair and Dave with the green GSR- thanks for the sway bar, the advice, the auto x ride along and all the BS sessions. Looking forward to catching up again when we pick up that GSR transmission 

All the patrons of Stampies bar, including stampie and stampie's mom- thanks for the chats over beers for all 3 nights. 

 

All of this cemented my decision to keep the aRgh post challenge. I also plan to keep it in budget for 1 more challenge. I want to bring it back even cleaner and with a bit better acceleration. After that, it's full spend and full send. 
 

I made a Facebook post after the challenge about our adventures and the previous owner's wife saw and asked if I could bring it by. I took it by this afternoon and he was floored. He couldn't believe it was the same car, and asked if he could get some pictures. Apparently the car was his fathers for a long time (the dad was the second owner) before he got it, so he still felt some connection to it. So I thought I'd share with you fine folks a pic of the aRgh with the PO

 

 

Cooper_Tired
Cooper_Tired HalfDork
4/16/23 7:41 p.m.

Long overdue aRgh update. 
Ended up putting the aRgh on DD duty for a few weeks while my wife's car went down and it didn't miss a beat. I put over 1200 miles on it before putting it in the garage for some winter projects. 
 

I started amassing parts for the manual swap, and for future beautification; patch panels for the rusty parts, full GSR interior, 98-01 tail lights and a set of blades. 

Unfortunately actual progress was glacially slow and aside from some stripping and prep work, I didn't get the needle moved on and of the upgrades. 
 

Fast forward to today. There must be some wired gravitational field as another challenge price Honda fell in my lap and I pulled the trigger. 

it's a one owner, 100% stock 97 CX 5-speed. 264k miles but a full maintenance log. It's not rust free but it's not awful. It runs great and is challenge priced. Not sure how stock 90s Hondas keep finding me, but who am I to turn them down. A build thread is coming on this one.

That leaves me with the sad decision to part with the aRgh. It's been fantastic to me, but I'm a one Honda kind of guy. 
Im doing some last minute clean up before putting it on marketplace, but if any GRMer wants it I'll cut a deal, and can even work out a price to include the manual swap parts I pulled together. 
you can Email me at gc99mx5 at gmail dot com
 

 

 

eastsideTim
eastsideTim UltimaDork
4/18/23 10:10 a.m.

Really wishing I was in a position to grab the Integra, but my driveway is overflowing as it is.  The Civic looks like it'll be fun to play with, even after only getting a few minutes to look at it before the rainstorm hit us.

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