Many dollars were burned to get here

Here are a few pictures of the engine swap that recently trickled in from some friends.

I did the swap in nomex socks and flip flops. All the fashionable people are wearing it.

Old motor out.

Im almost at the point that it would be better to replace all the underhood hardware with wingnuts and thumbscrews.

With the long weekend, I wanted to get as much done to the car as possible since I will only be home a few of the weekends between now and the race. We pulled the motor back out so we could swap transmissions (the one we put in at the race has shifted a little funny), power wash some of the grime off of it and install timing belt covers. Why does everybody leave timing belt covers off anyway?

Nothing too exciting but whats a thread without pictures?

We got it all back in and running. I just need to change the oil and the underhood stuff should be done.

I was pretty happy with how the brakes wore. We used about half of the pads so I am going to leave them on for the first 8 hour day. The rear brakes look like new still.

As a general rule I hate aftermarket shift knobs. Unless you spend the big bucks, you end up with some universal POS that works loose over time. The Integra came with a crossthreaded aftermarket shortshifter complete with worn bushings and a knock off pistol grip knob that was held on with JB Weld (no doubt applied after it worked itself loose).

Since MIS we swapped in a good used stock shifter and I have been on the lookout for a stock knob.

I found what might be the most awesome junkyard ever thats to a board member's recommendation (Harrys in Hazelton, PA). Its by far the biggest one Ive been in. As usual, pretty much every manual transmission was missing its knob. Im sure im not the only one trying to replace a JDM YO MAD TITE TYPE R knob. Luckily I found a donor in a 99 Accord.

I also had a hot dog from their roach coach but that's a story for another day.

Nice to see another Integra build going on. Even though yours seems track ready, mine has only started. Any plans to loose that 18b for an 18c?

In reply to Desy:

I plan on keeping the b18b1. They are cheap and easy to come by. Besides, I really dont have room in the chump rules to swap.

There is also a lot of room for driver improvement before needing the power.

logdog wrote:

SnowMongoose wrote: You had me at Alley Viper.

The colors were the source of a lot of discussion between the wife and I. Last year we realized how hard it was to see and follow a black car around the track (obvious in hindsight of course). The bright orange "Tow" sticker on the Civic became what we would look for. It was easier to see for me than the rest of the car. So we knew we wanted to go with something high viability. The yellow was ok but it is a common color so I figured it might get lost in the pack. Orange is good but it seems every Honda/Acura with orange is also done up in a RealTime livery with white. I didn't really want a solid color and I kept thinking about how I Alley Viper was my favorite because of the loud combo that stuck out from the Snake Eyes, Serpentors and Destros of the world. I went to the local hardware store to see what my options were. When I saw the safety paint for 9.99 a quart, I knew we had a winner.

how did you do the paint ? spray ? how much prep did you do ? strip the yellow all the way down ? any pics of progress along the way ?

In reply to wbjones: We rolled the paint on. The yellow was also a roll job by the previous owner. Prep consisted of washing the car, lightly scuffing it with sand paper, and washing it again. I didnt take pictures during the process. I think it took 3 coats to cover it.

This is a dented, rusty car. It looks pretty good from 20 feet away. At night. With one eye closed. In the rain.

that would be a pretty accurate description of my CRX

thanks

did you do any "trickery" to the paint … thinner (if so what) ?

In reply to wbjones:

With this particular car we didnt thin the paint, we just shook the cars and dipped the 4 inch foam rollers and foam brushes right in. I went around with the roller to get the majority of coverage and my wife went around with the brush for detail work. We did the first coat in the morning, let it sit all day and did a second coat in the evening. We didnt do the 3rd coat until the next weekend.

It did turn out better than I thought it would since I didnt follow the traditional roll on method using many coats of thinned paint with wet sanding between. I painted it like I did the car trailer. Perfect for a budget endurance car.

We are ready for Gingerman. We decided to spoil ourselves with a hotel this weekend.

Good luck!

We finished day 1 in 13th. We are very happy with it.