Owning an average of 2-3 cars per year, I've never been one to build a car from the ground up. I've always been one to buy/sell, or just fix up cars as a hobby and drive them around and keep them in nice shape. I bought a 1992 Integra GSR turbo that dyno'd at 460 on Innovative's dyno (originally built by Hondatec38 http://m.honda-tech.com/showthread.p...064&styleid=14) this past December of '13 in hopes of having a super clean, fun car come spring/summer to take to the track. I've always hated DB/DA's, but the car was done so nice, made great power, and was too good of a deal to pass up. I told myself I was done dumping money into car's, it was time to buy one last, solid, fun car before I graduate college and have debt to pay off... I was wrong. (Don't mind the horrid hood pins and dump tube)
Before buying the car, I compression checked the motor, and it turned out to be a little hurt. 150, 13x, 150, 150. The car ran awesome, didn't smoke during the test drive, and cyl #2 was still within an acceptable yield, so I bought it. The car was driven home and parked for the winter, only to touch the roads twice before any snow/salt touched the roads. Finally the weather broke for a weekend, and I decided to take the car out and have some fun. Everything was fine, and even got to play around with a GTR. However, I felt the need to check out everything, so I pulled the head the next day, only to find a cracked sleeve in cyl #2. I knew I had no choice but to build this the way I wanted to.
Here were the supposed original specs of the build:
All paint and body work performed by GSAB West Chester, PA
S&W 8 Point roll cage
The color is called Amazon Green and can be found on late model Ridgelines, Pilots, and MDX's.
B16A
9:1 CP Pistons with Eagle rods
Skunk2 tuner cams with SK2 springs and Ti retainers
Blox intake manifold
ARP head studs
Original YS1 trans with Quaife limited slip
Aluminum full core radiator
Pfab T3 manifold
Garrett T3/T04E turbo 57/.63ar just rebuilt
Tial 38mm WG
Tial 50mm BOV
Ebay intercooler
Custom charge pipes
Hondata boost solenoid
3-bar MAP sensor
Tuned by IMW in Carlisle pa made 460whp and 270ft lbs on 21 psi
tein coilovers
new rotors pads all around
new front upper control arms with new balljoints
new outer tie rods
kosei k1 like new with like new tires
carbon hood has hole cut for wastegate dump tube
Full Race traction bars
I decided to ditch the 1.6L garbage and go at least 1.8L while I had everything out and apart. I found a mint GSR block and had my girlfriend's brother clean it for me at his work before sending to the machine shop to be bored to 81.5mm, decked, and lined honed. I've wanted to block fill a block for the past 5 years, so now's my chance. I don't have the money for sleeves, nor do I want to spend money on a CSS block. I'll do my own cylinder support. Moroso Block Filler FTW!
I had some B series parts laying around just in case, which will come in handy such as an OEM Honda head gasket, seals/gaskets, Supertech springs, and steel retainers, and BNIB ARP's (I need GSR not B16 now though).
Upon tear down, I noticed that the cams weren't marked with Skunk2 markings. We mic'd them with my buddy's Tuner 2's, and they were different sizes (which will help me out because Tuner 2's/Pro 1's are too big for my turbo setup anyways). The cams are marked with what looks like an "A" and "B," but aren't etched like Toda's, or have "X's" like Blox. The intake cam measures similar to the Tuner 2's, while the exhaust is significantly smaller. I will do more research and number calling to find out the specs/brand.
I also wanted to change from titanium retainers to steel for piece of mind, and to help fund this rebuild. When I pulled the springs out, I found the springs to be Blox, while the retainers were Supertechs.
Though head looks mint, and there were no problems previously, now is the perfect time for some added insurance and put in new valve seals. I've always been a fan of Ferrea's compound, so I ordered up a set for this. There are only a few thousand miles on the head (and it is apparent), but I am having my lady's brother clean the head for me too. The valve job is still mint, as are the valves, so there is no need for me to do a valve job.
I wanted the block to be perfectly straight, so it is being bored to 81.5mm. The previous motor was still only 81mm, so my pistons won't work, along with my B16 rods either. It's a good thing I just caught a killer deal on these BNIB CP's. GSR Eagle rods getting ordered tonight.
Now for the turbo setup; The motor previously made 460 whp @21psi on 93 tuned on Neptune RTP. VTEC was set at 7500rpm's due to the cams and log manifold, so I had my buddy weld me up a custom ramhorn manifold using PRL's flanges, tubing, and collector. PRL's quality is top notch, and their pricing can't be beat. They are local so it all worked out. We decided to go with a "tear drop" style wastegate placement, because there wasn't enough room to do a PRL style "T'd" wastegate. This is my buddy's first manifold, but I think he did a great job, more pics to come. (he modded the collector so I had more room for my new turbo)
Though the spool was great on my 57 trim (Garrett T04E compressor, T31 turbine "Stage III," .63 a/r) it was out of efficiency to push it any farther. I was originally going to just buy a .82 a/r turbine housing, but at that price, I might as well just sell my turbo and upgrade. Spool was important to me, because it was still a street car, and I felt it was more fun than my 35r coupe I had to drive. I was also on a budget, so luckily I stumbled across a super low mile Bullseye S259 turbo at a steal http://www.extremepsi.com/store/prod...roductid=21862 rated to 600hp to keep maximum efficiency, yet leave room to play. There is a test somewhere on here between the S259 and a Garrett GT3076. The S259 spools only about 200rpm's slower, and carries the boost much better throughout the top-end. I was instantly sold. The turbo should be here this weekend.
A lot of people have problems with ramhorns and boost creep, but the tear drop should help to improve efficiency (like most companies do now days). A lot of boost creep issues are also due to poor line sources, along with running lower boost levels, especially on decent size turbos (like Holsets, 30r's, etc). The fact that I will be running about 20 psi again, with a 38mm wastegate and proper vacuum sources, boost creep shouldn't be an issue... I hope lol.
I originally planned to run e85 to reduce temps and be easier on the sleeves, but my budget put that on hold for the time being (inline 044, etc). Though I ditched the RC 750's and am buying 1200cc Bosch-style injectors (most likely ID's) for e85 use later on down the road. ID's can still idle and run smoothly at these levels, unlike most other injectors.
The car came equipped with Neptune RTP and a Hondata boost solenoid, which was new for me, but I love it. It is comparable to Hondata S300, but is also the only software I can run on my Mac without running Windows (great for me!).
Because most likely won't be able to run e85 this year, I plan to do a high and low boost tune to help the sleeves as much as I can. I'm kind of against race gas on this car, just because I want to be able to change tunes as is, but we will see lol. I plan to break 500, and would like to see 550.
This has all happened within the past 2 weeks lol, so things are moving pretty quick, but spring break is ending, and I will only be able to work on this on the weekends from now on...
I am in no way trying to say I "built" the car, as most of it was done for me already. However, I believe that such a nicely built car deserves a chance to be saved and showed off. I appreciate all comments, input, and criticism. Stay tuned for updates!