1996 Acura Integra GS-R

EDIT: CAR HAS BEEN SOLD!!!

Well, the time has finally come: I am selling my 1996 Acura Integra GS-R 5MT Coupe. This is a very clean car. The original owner purchased the car in 1996 and owned it until it was sold in April 2021 to a gentleman that kept it garaged and put less than 100 miles on it. That gentleman sold it to a close friend of his in July 2022, who also kept it in a garage, putting less than 300 miles on it. 

I bought the car in August 2022, with 125,000 miles on the clock- it now has 131,000 miles on it. At the time, the car was essentially bone stock and very well maintained. Like most of you, I am meticulous when it comes to maintenance. In the past 1.5+ years I've done a ridiculous amount of maintenance and reliability upgrades:

-Gates Racing timing belt, OEM water pump & tensioner 

-Koyo full sized aluminum radiator & Koyo cap

-Moroso road race baffled oil pan (5.5 quarts) with Moroso stud conversion kit

-NGK OEM spark plugs and NGK wires

-New fuel filter

-New Radiator hoses

-I adjusted the valves and put in a new OEM valve cover gasket

-New axles (both sides)

-New inner and outer tie rods

-Goodridge stainless steel braided brake lines bled with ATE fluid and Hawk pads

-New front and rear hubs and wheel bearings (Timken)

-New front lower ball joints

-ARP 100-7711 extended wheel studs with 2 sets of lugs (both acorn and tapered)

-Multiple sets of wheels/tires (we can negotiate which set(s) go with the car)

-New OEM motor mounts (these were tough to find!)
-New Gates A/C, alternator and power steering belts

-Oil changes every 3000 miles or 6 months (whichever came first) w/OEM Honda filters

-Honda MTF transmission fluid

-New OEM PCV valve

-New front left ABS sensor

To be clear, the car drove extremely well and was well maintained when I bought it. Prior to a recent injury (injuries, technically), I was prepping the car for a local autocross league and NASA time attack (TT6) and wanted to make sure it was as reliable as an anvil on track, so I essentially replaced/upgraded everything to avoid failures under stress. 

Suspension work: 

-Hardrace rubber suspension bushings at every position, including the rear trailing arm

-Hardrace front and rear adjustable upper control arms

-OEM Integra Type R springs (tough to find!)

-Koni Sport/yellow adjustable shocks 

-Progress adjustable rear sway bar

-Whiteline front caster kit. 

-Professionally aligned at 3R Racing/Performance

Because the car is running OEM ITR springs on Koni shocks, it actually rides very well on the street. You can turn the Koni's up, but with them set about 1/2 up, I would say it rides better than my stock AP2 S2000. I have set this car up to have beautifully neutral handling that makes it a joy to drive! 

In order to help the car breathe, I installed some very tasteful, difficult to find (read: expensive) bolt-ons: 

-Comptech CARB legal header (nearly impossible to find)

-CTE (formerly Comptech) CARB legal Icebox

-Apexi WS3 cat-back exhaust (absolutely no drone to speak of)

-Hondata S300 on a P72 ECU w/jumper harness

-S300 was professionally dyno tuned and NASA certified at 163whp and 123wtq. 

Probably the expensive modification on the car:

-Fully rebuilt JDM B16b S80 Type R transmission w/OEM LSD. The transmission only has ~3000 miles on it since the rebuild and shifts perfectly. 

I will include the OEM VIN-matching transmission with the purchase of the car. 

I also have a brand new, still in the box Greddy oil cooler. No one makes an oil cooler kit for these cars anymore. This was very expensive and difficult to locate. It was never installed in the car and I would be willing to sell it with the car. 

The car still has its OEM catalytic converter and recently passed Colorado emissions with ease (yes, even with the P72 and Hondata S300!). 

As it sits, the car is extremely street friendly. I would refer to it as an OEM+ build. There are no leaks, no rust and everything works (heat blows hot, A/C blows cold, etc). The car has a clean Colorado title, in my name, in hand. 

I will include all of the stock parts with the sale of the car (pictured). 

The car's OEM VIN tags (on both fenders, both doors, inside both doors/sills, trunk, hood, under the windshield, etched into the firewall and on the OEM transmission) are all present and matching. It's my understanding that the 1994-1997 DC2's didn't have VIN tags on the bumpers (only the 1998+ cars did). The car has normal minor scratches and dings that you would expect from a car with 131,000 miles of normal usage, but overall, the body is in very good condition and well taken care of. The VIN (listed on the emissions photo) is JH4DC2398TS005484 . 

To anyone that knows these cars, you'll know, this was not a cheap build. It was built by an adult that has been wrenching on Honda's/Miata's/various other makes for decades. 

I bought this car both as a nostalgia piece to wrench on, making it into an OEM+ build and also as something I could track/compete with and have fun! Unfortunately, a recent injury has forced me to take some time off of any major wrenching and after many years, I've decided to give up racing cars (long story, listed in another thread). I have considered just keeping it as a street car, but my wife and I have 7 cars- these days, the DC2 just sits parked most of the time. I would rather the car go to someone who is going to use it and have fun with it.

More specifically, I dislocated my right shoulder about 3 months ago. I've been going to physical therapy to try and rehab it and thought things were going well... I was just informed that I'll likely need surgery (due to still limited range of motion), which will essentially mean no major wrenching for likely about ~6 months. I like won't be driving a manual for a while either and don't want to just park this poor DC2 outside the whole time. No point in having a "project car" that just sits there. 

For those that haven't followed along, I actually have a build thread for the car: 

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/the-teg-a-dc2-road-to-all-the-hondas-story/258401/page1/

I am asking $12,500 (my apologies for it being far above Challenge money!) and am located in the Denver, CO metro area (technically in Parker). 

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have. 

Photos: 

This Integra looks amazing. I would love to own it but timing is terrible as I am spending a ton of money on our house. Maybe if the price goes down a bit. Good luck with the sale, your build write up is great.

What happened to the 15*8 and 15*9 wheels?

I've followed your build thread.

Sorry to see it go, someone will get a clean car for sure.

Whoever buys it is going to get an amazing car. Good luck with the sale!

Track day sleeper, I love it.  

taborbraian said:

This Integra looks amazing. I would love to own it but timing is terrible as I am spending a ton of money on our house. Maybe if the price goes down a bit. Good luck with the sale, your build write up is great.

What happened to the 15*8 and 15*9 wheels?

Thank you, I appreciate it! 

The staggered Flyin Miata wheels are sitting in my basement, collecting dust... as are the bronze Konig wheels... and the LS mesh wheels... when the car sells, I might use the wheels as a negotiation point, but afterwards, I plan on selling them all to help recoupe the massive loss I'll be taking on this car. 

Quick rant: you know what I loathe more than selling a car private party? Selling an older Honda private party!

The car has been for sale for a week now on FB and Craigslist. I didn't expect it to sell quickly- it's a specialty car, with a very particular build, I figured it would take a while to find the right buyer... I've sold a CRX and EK hatch in the past... unfortunately, this selling experience has been no different: despite my incredibly long-winded post, a full build thread, history of the vehicle, a plethora of photos (and a video on FB), etc, I've received more messages than I can count, asking every question under the sun (many of which were covered in the for sale narrative), from tire kickers that have no intention of even buying the car. I'm about at my wits end with it if I'm being honest. 

I've sold quite a few other cars in my lifetime- the last few Miata's I sold didn't come with hardly any hassle whatsoever (Miata people are truly the best!)... selling old FWD wishbone Honda's are just the worst. Even if you're selling the cleanest DC2 I've seen in person in years. You would think I was selling a Ferrari for the amount of hassle it takes to move one of these cars! I probably should have put the Teg up for sale sooner, when I essentially stopped driving it much (which happened after I fixed everything on the BMW), and decided to take a break from racing, but in the back of my mind, I knew this was coming... I've dreaded putting this car up for sale for quite a while, only because I know how painful it is to deal with the old Honda crowd. I cannot count the number of hours I've put in over the past week, answering every (primarily irrelevant) question that I've received to the best of my ability, when they're truly being sent in bad faith, by tire kickers that have no respect for my time. FML. 

/rant

Quick rant: you know what I loathe more than selling a car private party? Selling an older Honda private party!

The car has been for sale for a week now on FB and Craigslist. I didn't expect it to sell quickly- it's a specialty car, with a very particular build, I figured it would take a while to find the right buyer... I've sold a CRX and EK hatch in the past... unfortunately, this selling experience has been no different: despite my incredibly long-winded post, a full build thread, history of the vehicle, a plethora of photos (and a video on FB), etc, I've received more messages than I can count, asking every question under the sun (many of which were covered in the for sale narrative), from tire kickers that have no intention of even buying the car. I'm about at my wits end with it if I'm being honest. 

I've sold quite a few other cars in my lifetime- the last few Miata's I sold didn't come with hardly any hassle whatsoever (Miata people are truly the best!)... selling old FWD wishbone Honda's are just the worst. Even if you're selling the cleanest DC2 I've seen in person in years. You would think I was selling a Ferrari for the amount of hassle it takes to move one of these cars! I probably should have put the Teg up for sale sooner, when I essentially stopped driving it much (which happened after I fixed everything on the BMW), and decided to take a break from racing, but in the back of my mind, I knew this was coming... I cannot count the number of hours I've put in over the past week, answering every (primarily irrelevant) question that I've received to the best of my ability, when they're truly being sent in bad faith, by tire kickers that have no respect for my time. FML. 

/rant

Best response to worthless questions.....read the ad. 

rustybugkiller said:

Best response to worthless questions.....read the ad. 

I've literally sent a couple people photos of the ad with the information they're requesting... you would think that writing out the world's longest For Sale ad would cut down on the number of constant already-answered questions, but alas, here we are. 

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. 

Sorry to hear that you are having so many issues selling this. I would love to do a fly and buy, but all of my Powerball tickets have been losers.

If we weren't buying and selling a house, I'd seriously consider buying this.  I test drove a new one in '96 with the same color scheme, but ended up buying a GTI instead.  That was perhaps my worst car buying decision, and I still regret not getting the Integra.  With the improvements you've made, it would be really nice.  Someone will see what a gem this car is.

I frequently screenshot my own ad from Marketplace, highlight the answer to a question and send it back to the person. 

It has a near 100% success rate in soliciting silence from that particular person. 

A buddy who had an Integra in high school has been saying he wants another (ole 20+ year sense of nostalgia setting in). Sent him this thread, but he's not in any position to buy at the moment. Was hoping I could encourage a bad decision.

In a shocking turn of events, the car is pending sold. After I removed the FB ad, one of the guys I had been messaging reached out to see if the car had sold. I explained the situation/my actions to him and he offered to put up some earnest money and is coming out for a fly and drive in 2 weeks. No need to remove the Type R transmission from the car it would seem! 

Spearfishin said:

I frequently screenshot my own ad from Marketplace, highlight the answer to a question and send it back to the person. 

It has a near 100% success rate in soliciting silence from that particular person. 

I like that one!

In looking for a $1000 beater end of last year, 99% of the ads I asked questions were written by the same mentality azz hats that seem to be answering ads! 
I hope to never have to post an ad. I can't take it

Ads that have "1200 miles" or MT in ad, with an AT shifter in picture... I ask a specific question; get back a text/getto speak reply, including "it's all in ad"

Uh, no. No it's not.

At least the OP has (had) the info. in the ad!

Nice setup you'd put together. I was thinking a similar suspension setup for mine : changing from GC sleeves to OEM springs on my KONIs for a better street ride ... just hoping it would still be trackable with the softer springs and the shocks set to 'full hard'.

I'll assume the buyer will take the S300 ECU? If not, please LMK ...

PS I've got identical front (and rear for a 4-door) tan leather seats lying around somewhere 

It's a shame that you had to start pulling stuff off. As someone who lives in California, those rare CARB-legal parts are a HUGE selling point. I am not really an Integra person but was starting to weigh if I should consider this when I saw the list of mods. IMO, price was perfectly reasonable considering everything.

blacksheep said:

Nice setup you'd put together. I was thinking a similar suspension setup for mine : changing from GC sleeves to OEM springs on my KONIs for a better street ride ... just hoping it would still be trackable with the softer springs and the shocks set to 'full hard'.

I'll assume the buyer will take the S300 ECU? If not, please LMK ...

PS I've got identical front (and rear for a 4-door) tan leather seats lying around somewhere 

While I never tracked the DC2 with the Type R springs, I did attend an autocross event where I turned the Koni's up to full stiff. The car felt very neutral, but I have to admit in faster transitions, I would have liked a bit less body roll. It was fast enough that I was keeping up with some gutted CRX's with B20 swaps, but honestly, that might have had more to do with drivers than setup, I can't say for sure. 

Yes, the prospective buyer requested to purchase the P72 S300. If that falls through, I'll be sure to let you know. 

pointofdeparture said:

It's a shame that you had to start pulling stuff off. As someone who lives in California, those rare CARB-legal parts are a HUGE selling point. I am not really an Integra person but was starting to weigh if I should consider this when I saw the list of mods. IMO, price was perfectly reasonable considering everything.

If I'm being honest, I received a plethora of compliments from all sorts of people and numerous messages stating the car was reasonably priced. There was a surprising lack of trolls... I had a few issues: 

1. There were a few potential buyers that were trying to sell their current vehicles to buy mine... which, its a nice sentiment, but without cash in hand, it does me no good. 

2. I had a couple local buyers reach out, respectfully saying that they only had $10k-$10.5k, saying they believed the car was worth more, but asking if I would consider that sum of money in the future if the car didn't sell. I'm absolutely unwilling to sell the car for that little with a boatload of rare parts bolted to it. 

3. A couple local buyers were also considering buying the car for their teenage children... which, the thought of it had my stomach turning in knots. I truly don't want to sell this car to an overindulgent parent that will give it to a 16 year old kid that didn't have to work for it, has no idea how much time/money/effort went into building it and would undoubtedly destroy what is an otherwise clean DC2 GS-R. Those [completely ignorant] parents have absolutely no idea what most of the rare parts on this car are. This is a much easier pill for me to swallow if many of those rare parts are removed and sold separately. I suppose there's an argument to be made if said 16 year old has been working since he/she was 14, was saving their money and working towards purchasing a nice DC2- but I met their parents, this was absolutely not the case. 

^^^I was shocked at parents with no mechanical aptitude or knowledge of cars that were potentially willing to spend $12k on a car that is nearly 30 years old, to give it to their spoiled kid. We have a 17 year old daughter- she worked prior to getting her license and we made her save up a certain portion of her money to go towards her first car, so she would at least have some skin in the game and hopefully take care of it. She ended up with a 2010 Mazda 3 with a 6-speed manual that we bought for less than half of what I'm asking for my Integra... by contrast, she has a friend of hers whose parents bought their son a 370Z (7AT) for his first car- in Colorado where is snows no less- that kid totaled it when he spun out in the rain, hitting a median and a couple other cars, within ~6 months (or less?) of owning the car... they then proceeded to buy him a Tesla to replace it... some folks have more money than they do sense. 

I probably could have kept the car for sale for a month or 2 and got my asking price locally. However, that would have come along with receiving countless messages and requests, taking up huge sums of my time, for the next month or 2. I figured I would rather pull some of the parts off of the car, price it lower for a quicker sale and not have to deal with the headache, without losing any money from my original asking price (likely netting me quite a bit more money total), as I could sell the parts on the side. Don't get me wrong, I also loathe selling old Honda parts, but that's still a smaller headache by comparison... as it turns out, it worked out just fine without having to remove the transmission. 

I think you're being a bit harsh on parents there.  Most people don't know how to work on cars, this community is the exception.  Those parents see a well cared for, Honda product that will be reliable, gets good gas mileage and is fairly affordable to buy.  It also doesn't make all that much power, especially up here, and is fwd.  What's not to like as a first car?  I know I would've been stoked to have a car like that as my first car...

In reply to docwyte :

Well, I suppose I'll show my own bias here: my parents didn't buy my first car for me, I bought it myself after saving up for months at a time- not that family wouldn't have helped me if they had the means, we were just dirt poor growing up. It probably didn't help that as my brother and I were coming of age, our mother ended up having brain surgery, which altered our lives substantially and led to us taking care of her more than the other way around for a while... Regardless of circumstance, no one has ever bought (or co-signed on) anything of substance for me (I would have refused if they tried), which is a fact I've always been proud of- everything I have in life, I worked for myself, with the only help I've received being from the Lord above, and my wife, of course. No one paid for me to go to school- I sold my soul to Uncle Sam when I was 18 years old and used my G.I. Bill to pay for it myself. I left home at 18 years old and have been reliant on only myself and God my entire life. I've always viewed that as a positive thing. 

As a result, I've wanted to pass that lesson along to our children. Financially, we're far better off than my parents were, but I believe if I spoil my kids by buying them everything without asking anything of them, that will only create a sense of entitlement, teaching them not to take care of their things because they're "free", when in fact, I have found that nothing in life is free. We did contribute to buying our oldest daughter a car, but only after she saved up a certain portion of the cost of it, to ensure she understood the cost (in the hours she had to work to save up for it), in the hopes that would help her to see the value (via her own labor) and take care of it. It has nothing to do with money, it has everything to do with principle. I spoke with the parents that were considering purchasing this car for their kids- they did not seem to share my sentiments- that's the nicest way I can put that. 

I'm sure quite a few kids would be stoked to have a car like this for a first car. One of my other issues is that it's nearly 30 years old. No matter how well-maintained it is, based on age alone, if driven regularly, it will be more prone to problems (surprisingly, and impressively, none of the seals are leaking yet!). If you're not mechanically inclined, I wouldn't recommend owning a near 30 year old daily driver, when you can buy something far newer, for a good bit less money. If the parents aren't mechanically inclined, it stands to reason that the teenager wouldn't be mechanically inclined... this is a poor recipe for such a nice DC2 in the long term. When I say I would like the car to go to someone that will actually take care of it, that's not hyperbole, I actually mean it. There aren't many clean DC2's left on the road- most of the survivors are rusted, torn apart and beat to hell. This isn't one of them. Giving it to a teenager that didn't have to work for it isn't exactly a recipe for long-term survival and it would be a shame to see something that's been so well-cared for deteriorate in the hands of an unappreciative, inexperienced owner. 

Have you put the word out at your local auto-x, track groups? I'm sure someone there will appreciate this, take care of it, and keep it in the family.

Beautiful car and great price.  I check this thread daily to see if it's found a home.

I should probably update this thread in the event someone finds it in the future: the car was sold this past weekend. Hopefully the new owner enjoys it!