The 'Teg: a DC2 road to all the Honda's story

Well, I went back to the smaller 32mm setup. I used SKF hubs, which accept the OEM Honda sized ARP studs without an issue. 

This has been a pretty substantial waste of time, effort and money, but I suppose that's how we learn. 

I haven't tightened everything up and put it on the ground yet, but with the car suspended in the air, going through the gears no longer produces a monumental vibration/noise, so that's a plus. I'm feeling pretty confident that it was something to do with the extra length of the RSX-S axles, but I suppose I'll never know (I don't plan on putting them back on anytime soon). 

Well, yesterday, I finally finished a few things on the DC2: 

-I swapped back to the stock sized 32mm axle setup. Technically, I would have had this done a while ago, but my last debacle involved me banging on the 36mm axles, which unfortunately, resulted in an axle seal leak on the right side... so, a couple days ago, I changed the axle seal, which, I accidentally pushed in too far... when I went to try and pull it out to reseat it, I used a plastic pry tool that tore it... come on, man. So, a quick trip to Napa, I picked up a new axle seal and took my time putting it in. Done deal, no more leaks. 

-I put in new lower ball joints... when I removed the knuckle, I couldn't get the lower ball joints to release by banging on the lower control arm, I had to use a ball joint separator. When I used the tool, it resulted in most of the grease spewing out of the bottom, on both sides. I just can't get a break lately. They're sealed/non-greasable (due to the placement of the axle a fraction of an inch above them). I popped the seals, just to see if I could re-grease them, which worked, but I couldn't re-seal them, so I just bought new ones. 

-I upgraded all 4 brake lines to Goodridge stainless steel braided brake lines. 

-I put in track pads: Hawk DTC 60 front and Hawk ER-1 Endurance pads (less torque) in the rear (I actually had them sitting in a box in my garage). I installed these with a set of Centric rotors. 

-I put in a set of rebuilt front brake calipers. 

Results: 

-The low-speed sound the car was making braking at low speeds is gone! Hurray! I have no idea what the cause was, but I truly don't care at this point. 

-The axle seal leak is fixed! 

With that said, all the wrenching and troubleshooting lately has worn me out... and has caused me to spend quite a bit of time with my physical therapist! 

Well, the good news is the NASA season is over, so you've got plenty of time to work on the car.  Maybe just walk away from it for a little bit and take a breather

That looks like good progress, though.  With a TR6 and a 2004 Miata, I'll be fighting oil leaks for the rest of my life. 

docwyte said:

Well, the good news is the NASA season is over, so you've got plenty of time to work on the car.  Maybe just walk away from it for a little bit and take a breather

That's probably pretty good advice, brother! Thank you! 

I've been driving the Integra around just a bit lately and never posted one of the first mods I did to the car... 

With that said, one of the first mods I did to this car was a cheap eBay shift knob, paired with a canted shift extender. Honestly, these were 2 of the cheapest mods I've put on the car and were probably the best bang for your buck by far. It makes rowing through gears so much more enjoyable! More importantly, it moves the shifter back towards me, which is needed since I have the seat mounted pretty far back. It helped to fix one of the biggest ergonomic issues I had with the car. 

It's not pretty, but I could honestly not care less. It is absolutely function over form. 

Looks good man.

Hopefully you hang onto her long enough to put a K series in. It really is a game changer in that chassis, not just lap times; but the overall experience driving it.

I was pretty close to selling my stock GSR, but now I don't think I'd ever get rid of it. It's in very similar condition as yours.

In reply to Blackhalo :

When you swapped over to K series, did you have to remove ABS? 

In reply to roninsoldier83 :

No.

You can keep abs, just have the move the pump a little bit. But only a few minutes to do that.

In reply to Blackhalo :

Good to hear! I was under the impression that it had to be removed.

I know they changed the ABS in the later years- what model year GSR do you have? 
 

And what swap kit/components did you use? 

So, I've been pitching the little DC2 around, having myself a good old time enjoying the car lately! 

Shortly after swapping back to the stock sized axles, I saw a spot on my garage floor (which was shocking as this car has never leaked!) that I have a theory about... something I noticed previously but didn't think to mention: when I had the K-series 36mm axles on the car, the the left/driver's side axle didn't seem to fully cover the splines on the inner half shaft. I noticed that the splines had exposed grease/oily residue on them- I'm not sure if it was grease from the inside of the axle, or grease that I maybe added sometime in the past after having a nightmare of a time when I originally removed that axle (likely sometime last year). Either way, I'm wondering if the grease/oil on the inner half-shaft was potentially just spitting said grease/oil onto the area of the oil pan? Otherwise I'm a bit stumped, as I've been driving the car, pitching it around, and there have been no new spots on my floor. 

I suppose I should just be happy and move on at this point. 

I'd check your transmission fluid level. If it was axle grease it would have flown all over the place while driving, you would see it, I think. 

In reply to Slippery :

I'll for sure check the transmission fluid level, but I'm not really referring to axle grease. 
 

On the right/passenger side of the car (opposite side from where the "leak" was) the CV axle plugs into the transmission. 
 

On the left/driver side of the car, there is a half shaft/intermediate shaft (not a CV axle) that comes out of the transmission and is actually bolted to the engine so it remains rigid while driving. The half/intermediate shaft essentially extends to the other side of the engine. The CV axle connects to that half/intermediate shaft. 
 

If I was a betting man I would say Honda did this in order for the CV axles to be equal length. The inside of the passenger side CV axle has a male end that inserts into the transmission. The inside of the driver side CV axle is a female connector that slides over the half/intermediate shaft; if that makes sense? 
 

Where I'm describing seeing fluid from previously was the connection where the half shaft connects to the CV axle. There's no real way for transmission fluid to get over there, if that makes sense? 

Edit: here's a photo of what I'm talking about: 

^^^The CV axle on the right goes on the right/passenger side of the car. The CV axle on the left goes to the left/driver's side of the car- the CV axle on the left side doesn't actually install into the transmission, it connects to the half/intermediate shaft. The poorly drawn red circle is where I previously saw exposed moisture/oil from. There's no real way for that to be transmission fluid, as that connection point is over a foot away from the transmission inlet. 

The left side RSX-S axle didn't fully cover that splined connection where the CV axle meets the half/intermediate shaft and there was some exposed oil I could see at that junction point. I have a feeling I might have lubed the half/intermediate shaft last year when I removed the CV axle for the first time- that thing fought me the first time! Or maybe the RSX-S axle's female end was lubricated to make it easier to slide on. Either way, that's the only theory as I have as of right now. 
 

Update: after wiping the CV mating joint down, no more spots on my floor! Solved! 

Since this old girl has over 130k miles, I figured I should probably swap out the PCV valve for a brand new OEM PCV valve. When I removed it, I saw dried oil caked around the PCV hole, leading me to believe there is some blockage. 

Removing it was such a treat. Dear Honda: whoever decided you needed to make the PCV hose as short as physically possible and also needed to turn the hose clamp upside down so I couldn't easily access it: f*** you. Also, my gorilla hands truly aren't made to fit into that cavern of tight fitting hoses. 

I tried to twist the PCV valve just a bit to break it free from the hose. Doing so led to the PCV snapping in half- leaving half of it inside the hose... what should have been a 5 minute job,turned into an hour long escapade. I ended up managing to get the snapped off valve out of the hose with some hose clamps and the world's smallest flathead screwdriver, after lots of profanity and scraping of my knuckles. 

When I shook the old PCV, surprise surprise, I didn't hear the valve moving inside. I suspect it was in fact broken. Got the new one in with relative ease. Hopefully it helps the old girl out! 

For the record, I suspect this would be much easier to access on non-GSR cars. The GSR's giant intake manifold (with butterfly valve) takes up far more real-estate than the LS or even the Type R's IM and the way it curves down make space down there even tighter. I know for a fact that accessing the PCV on my old D-series Honda motors was WAY easier. 

Today I picked up a set of seats from a Honda Del Sol locally for a great price! For their age, they're in great shape- no tears, no real stains, the bolsters are in fairly good condition- someone took care of these seats. 



The reason I wanted them: they sit lower than OEM DC2 Integra seats- a good bit lower. With the OEM Integra seats, my head/hair brushes against the roof of the car. I had a set of Corbeau A4 seats bolted to the ground/a bracket, which gave me the headroom I needed to fit in the car, but I never really got comfortable in them and no one could drive my car if they aren't roughly the same size as me (I'm 6'2", my wife is 5'4"- she couldn't drive the car). 

You can see the difference between the Del Sol seats vs OEM Integra leather seats: 



The Del Sol seats sit lower because of the lower seat pan: 



I heard a plethora of false rumors all over HT and other idiotic Honda forums- almost all of them were asinine and completely false. Examples: 

-I heard the Del Sol seat rails are lower than the Integra seat rails... completely false. I didn't break out the calipers to see if there's a 1-2mm difference, but my eyeballs say the height of the rails is identical: 



-I also heard that the Del Sol shares the same seat rails as the DC2 Integra and EG Civic... once again, completely false. On the Integra, one of the rear mounts is pointed downward, while the Del Sol mount is flat... on the front side, the Del Sol rail mounting hole(s) are pointed inward, while the DC2 rail mounting hole(s) are pointed outward. Unless you want to spend some time modifying the Del Sol rails, they won't work. Much easier to just swap your DC2 rails onto the Del Sol seats: 

Now, my DC2 has a tan interior... these seats stick out like a sore thumb. If I find I really love driving around in them over time, I might consider getting them reupholstered: 



^^^With that said, they are noticeably lower. I've read all kinds of rumors about how much lower the Del Sol seats are- I've seen 1 inch, 2 inches, 3 inches, you name it... the actual measurement? According to my tape measure, taken before and after, with the seat all the way back and tilted at the same angle: roughly 1.75" inches. Which, that's actually pretty substantial. Low enough for a guy my size to fit in the car with a helmet. 

There are a couple more added benefits: 

-The Del Sol seats seem to be just a tad bit thinner (the seat back portion). Translation? Just a tad bit more legroom, as I sit slightly further back from the steering wheel with the seat all the way back. 

-The cloth Del Sol seats are roughly ~2.4 lbs lighter than the leather Integra seats (each). So around ~5 lbs of weight savings total. 

My impressions after driving the car around a bit: 

-Yes, the seats are notably lower. 

-The Del Sol's bolstering is a bit more aggressive than the Integra seats, holding you in place better going around corners. 

-They're not uncomfortable per se, but the stock Integra seats definitely felt a bit more "cushy". The stock Integra seats appeared to be suspended/sprung, which seemed to isolate you from the road slightly more- not a big deal, but something to note nonetheless. 

-The Del Sol seats have just a bit of lumber support built into them that is non-adjustable... I'm not a big fan of lumbar support, so I usually just adjust it to where the seat is more flat... my stock Integra driver seat also has lumbar support, but I usually kept it fully turned down. If I find the lumbar supports bothers me, I might lift the seat cover and sand the foam down just a bit. 

Overall, this is a very worthwhile mod. These seats are tough to find, but I would recommend them to anyone in a DC2 that is trying to find a bit of extra headroom. Keep in mind, if you have cloth seats, you likely won't gain as much headroom as I gained as the cloth seats seem to sink in just a bit more. I have also read that the later DC2 seats (the height adjustable ones) sit a bit higher than the earlier cars (mine is a 1996 GSR)- I can't confirm that, but if you have the taller Integra seats, you might actually get more headroom than I did. 

Today, I decided I was going to modify the Del Sol seats. The extra lumbar drove me absolutely nuts- it pushes my hips forward while driving and I couldn't get comfortable. So, taking a lesson from my Miata days, I pulled the seat covers up a bit, grabbed a flat razorblade and started shaving until they got comfortable. 

In order to pull up the seat cover, you'll have to unzip the seat covers from the back. Once they're unzipped, there are a total of 5 hog-rings. You can probably try bending them, but I've played this game before (with Miata seats) and have no patience; so, I just grabbed some cutters and snipped the hog-rings. 

When I finished, instead of using hog-rings to pull the seat cover back together, I just used small black zip-ties, which work just fine:



Once you have the hog-rings cut off, you can just pull the seat cover up, take a flat razorblade (or cutting/shaving tool of your choice) and start cutting or shaving the seat down: 



Take your time. I wouldn't recommend going crazy with a turkey carving knife (admittedly I've done that in the past on Miata seats). Shave the places where you find the seat to be uncomfortable, then pull the cover back over it, sit in the seat and move around until its more comfortable. I went thru about 3-4 rounds of shaving and testing before I finally got rid of the excessive lumbar and the seat became very comfortable to sit in. 

I kept going back and forth between this seat and the driver's seat in my S2000- I've always loved the S2000's seats/seating position, so I tried to imitate the shape/feel as best as I could. 

Overall, this was 100% worth the 1 hour of my time it took to shave them down. Very easy, just take your time and make them comfortable. 

I forgot to take a before photo from the same angle and distance, but here's what the driver's seat looked like when I was done carving it: 



By comparison, here's what the passenger seat looks like (I did not shave down the passenger seat):



^^^You can see how the unshaved passenger seat pushes your back/hips forward to a far more substantial degree. 

There's a bonus to this mod as well: there's now just a bit more legroom as well! Since the seat is no longer pushing my back/hips forward, I would estimate I probably have close to an extra 1/2 inch of legroom! It's not much, but every little bit helps in these cars! 

So, I've been trying to drive around with the Del Sol seats, but they've been causing me a bit of knee pain, so I've been avoiding driving the DC2. I've tried to figure out the science behind why... when I had the Corbeau A4 seats in the car, there was no knee pain. I assumed this was because the driver's seat was bolted directly to the mount (no slider), giving me more legroom... but I'm not so convinced. 

I've owned the S2000 for years. The S2000 has never caused me knee pain, ever. Going from the S2000 to the Integra (with Del Sol seats), the seat bottom length is pretty similar... with the Del Sol seats, the total legroom also seemed somewhat similar... but I noted that with the Del Sol seats installed, the seat belt connector is a good bit further from the center console (oh my word that console has been scratched up by the seat belt connector and I never noticed before these seats!). This led me to believe the Del Sol seats are more narrow than the Integra seats. I can tell you for sure: the Del Sol seat bottoms are certainly more constraining than the S2000 and Integra seat bottoms... 

So, I pulled out a tape measure. 

I forgot to take photos of the S2000's seats, but they measured 20.5" wide. 

I looked up the measurements for the Corbeau A4 (wide version) seats I had previously in the car... they listed as being 20.5" wide. What a coincidence. 

I next took a tape measure to the Del Sol seats: 



Del Sol seats: 19.0" wide. 

I then pulled out my OEM tan leather Integra seats and measured them: 



OEM leather Integra seats: ~20.0" wide. 

I had no idea the Del Sol seats were so much more narrow vs the other seats. 

So, I tried a new idea. I have a set of beat-to-hell cloth Integra seats that were previously in my old EK Civic. They've just been sitting in my basement, collecting dust. 

I decided since the cloth seats typically sit a bit lower than leather seats, I would give them a whirl. But before I installed them, I figured I would try and get them to seat just a bit lower. I started off by taking a pair of vice grips and trying to stretch the hell out of the seat bottom springs... it loosened them up a bit, but I doubt it made a huge difference. So, I then got a little crazy with the zip ties! I basically zip tied the springs to the bottom of the seat pan and it actually made a difference! 

The springs were previously pulled very tight against the foam. You can now see the sizable gap between the springs and the foam: 

I then installed them into my DC2... the result? Well, with the OEM leather seats, my hair basically touches the roof of the car... with the zip tied cloth seats, I now have about an inch of space between my head and the roof! And with the Integra seats, I can now splay my legs out a bit, making for a far more comfortable seat. I drove the car around for about ~45 minutes tonight: thus far no knee pain. I'll keep driving it more regularly and monitor. 

All this time, money and effort into seating for the car... the answer might have been sitting in my basement collecting dust this whole time. We'll see. 

Like ur analysis.   Eliminates subjectiveness w ur measurements.

Was the seat foam base still pretty tough?  My 80's Honda seats are starting to get some wrinkles in the fabric.  Appears my foam is splitting underneath.  Our seat are 5-10 years in age differences.   Surely different foam material.   Wonder if there's a reinforcing patch to place over the foam like a tire patch?   Doesn't seem like you need that.  Seat bases look pretty solid

thnx for the details!

In reply to greasemonkeyreborne_5x1gs :

Yes, I would say the seat foam still feels pretty tough. In the cloth Integra seats I swapped in they feel very well worn in- pretty comfortable if I'm being honest. In my stock leather seats, they feel borderline stiff. In the Del Sol seats I removed, they feel stiff enough that they could be confused for a brand new seat. 

By comparison, I used to own a 1988 CRX Si... that car had almost identical mileage to my Integra- around 130,000 miles. Yet, the seats were absolutely shot. They were so soft and flimsy feeling that the bolsters were pretty much useless. That car was bone stock when I bought it and had spent ~30+ years of it's life with an older gentleman (he passed away) who truly cared for the car. Yet, the seats were completely spent. 

Which makes me wonder if Honda switched their seat foam/material in the later cars? 

Years ago, I was patching up a Miata seat and I thought I came across some sort of seat foam that you could spray into the cracks of a damaged seat to help strengthen it? 

Hmm, since the Acura line was an upgrade to the Hondas, makes sense ur teg seats are better (and newer).

Great find on the crx from the old man.   I've noticed my friends w older Hondas who are larger framed seem to yield the foam a little more

id assume the foam for the leather to be beefier for better support to the leather preventing crease/cracks???

I've been in the habit to not grab the seat as I sit down since those side flares around you a little to keep you in the seat.  That flare area is where I've noticed most of the foam damage on the older models.

Glad you were able to custom form your seats.  Great tip!

It's been a while since I've driven The Teg. I took her for a quick spin today and stopped to get gas. Frequently when I get gas, while filling up, I check the oil/fluids. Today, I realized she had a coolant leak... there were a few drops on the top of the transmission, just below the upper radiator hose. It took me a bit to figure out where exactly the leak was coming from, as there are a few hoses/potential leak areas right there- the upper radiator hose, the heater hose, the throttle body heater hose, the upper rad hose neck (metal w/gasket). I managed to find the culprit: there was a small pin-prick sized hole in the upper radiator hose, pretty much right underneath the hose clamp. 

For the life of me, I have no idea how that small hole got there... maybe when I swapped the transmission in it got poked in the process and just took a long time to finally wear through? 

Either way, fortunately, I had plenty of extra hose, so I was able to use my hose cutter tool and just cut this section off: 



Afterwards, I re-attached the hose, bled the system and viola, no more leak! 




This is a great little car, but I hardly drive it these days. I feel like sitting isn't terribly good for her, but I commute in my work car and have 4 cars to work into the rotation on the weekends (not counting my wife's cars). Since I've decided to step away from motorsports (for a long list of reasons listed in a separate thread: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/do-any-of-you-ever-think-about-giving-up-this-hobby/258924/page1/ ), I don't know if I really have a purpose for a 4th car (5th? if you count my work car) right now... I'm also getting just a bit burned out on maintaining so many vehicles, and I don't like the fact that either the Integra or my BMW has to sleep outside... as a result, there's a solid chance this old girl will be put up for sale soon. 

Well, the time has come, The Teg is for sale:

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/cars-sale/1996-acura-integra-gs-r/266161/page1/

I've put the OEM seats, shift knob and wheels back on (they were all just previously stored in my basement). Although technically the OEM wheel lug nut covers won't fit with the extended studs. I also removed the AEM temp gauge in the event a future owner just wanted a stock looking interior. 
 

If it wasn't for a recent injury that might result in me needing shoulder surgery, I likely would have removed quite a few more super expensive parts- the Type R transmission, intake, header, exhaust, Hondata S300, etc. Whoever buys this car will be getting a treasure trove of rare Honda B-series gold... 
 

I honestly am not terribly happy to sell this car. If I had a bigger garage, I would probably keep it- but she's such a clean example, I truly don't want her to just sit outside and eventually start to rust. 
 

The problem is, if you count my work car, my wife and I have 7 cars... 8 if you count our oldest daughter's car. Yet, we only have a 3 car garage: the S2000 is non-negotiable for a garage spot... so is my wife's ~4000 mile pristine Challenger Scat Pack... I've went back and forth on the DC2 vs the BMW, but I honestly drive the 128i probably 4-5 times more than I do every other car I own (my work car notwithstanding), so it makes more sense to put the little BMW in the garage... which leaves my beautiful little rust-free DC2 sitting outside, not being driven. While I hate to see a ton of my time, money and effort go to waste, selling the car is the right decision.

Fingers crossed I don't regret it in the future. 

I've decided to put selling the Integra on hold for a bit. I'm starting to realize that while some people understand this build and can see the value, the local tire kickers that are interested in this car don't really understand/see the value in some of the mods on the car. So, with the help of a couple of buddies of mine, I've decided to remove some of the more expensive mods, that way I can lower the price of the car a bit without losing an even more depressing amount of money. 

I started this evening: thus far I've removed the Apexi WS3 exhaust, the Comptech header and the P72 ECU w/Hondata S300. 




Beyond that, I think the only other items I'm going to remove are the Type R transmission and the CT Engineering Icebox/intake. In my current busted up state, I'll need some help with the transmission, but it would appear a friend of mine has me covered. 

I think I'm going to leave the suspension parts on the car. Obviously there's no point in removing the bushings and I can't justify removing the Type R springs- they wouldn't sell for enough to justify the effort of using spring compressors. I also don't think it's worth it to remove the Moroso baffled oil pan- I don't think it would sell for enough to justify the effort of removing it... and I unfortunately no longer have the OEM radiator, so the next owner will get the massively improved full sized Koyo. I considered removing the Hardrace upper control arms, but then I would have to pay for an alignment, which would likely eat up half the amount of removing them in the first place. Essentially, the next owner will just get a car that handles like a Type R with some upgraded reliability mods and all the deferred maintenance done. 

Good luck.  Was looking forward to seeing your build progress

In reply to greasemonkeyreborne_5x1gs :

Well, I sent this thread to the gentleman that is planning on buying the car. Maybe I'll see if he wants to join GRM and update this thread from time to time?