PeteTheCarFreak's Fake JDM ITR Build Thread

[coolhandluke]

Low sitting rails are a wise move.

[JDMJNKY]

schweeet schweeet schweeeet score on the rails and resto on the rear brackets.

[PeteTheCarFreak]

UPDATE

It's been a while since I've posted but the car is still making progress! The suspension is still sitting crooked but I have some parts currently on the way to fix it.

Was thinking about F. UCAs today since I got a set of PCI arms from PatHidden's part out. Just to confirm since you mentioned changing height of the car. Have you loosened all the bushings, including the UCAs and re tightened with pre-load? Rubber bushings can cause a pretty big height difference if tightened at different heights like at full droop. I ended up buying hubstands to make sure I can get bushings set just right after doing work or making height changes.

I'd also check the UCA bushings closely to make sure nothing is torn or warped which could also lead to differences side to side. the UCAs should be hard to pull down with the shock disconnected, if they move easily you'll want to get some replacement bushings in there.

I'm not going to mess with them after installing I found a pic of what they looked like on the previous ITR they were installed on and it was doing the exact same thing. Buddy Club coilovers are on the way It'll be nice to have brand new suspension anyways.

Low sitting rails are a wise move.

I definitely needed them, I hate sitting super high up. It'll make things easier at the track with a helmet too!

schweeet schweeet schweeeet score on the rails and resto on the rear brackets.

Yeah I'm super happy with the rails, I feel like they couldn't be any better haha The brackets for the rear strut bar definitely needed to be redone, not putting any rusty parts on this car! Lol

[coolhandluke]

Low sitting rails are a wise move.

I definitely needed them, I hate sitting super high up. It'll make things easier at the track with a helmet too!

I agree, the OEM rails are too high for even average height individuals. Enjoy.

[Insidiouseg6]

Nice progress sir! Low seat rails ftw!

[PeteTheCarFreak]

Nice progress sir! Low seat rails ftw!

Thanks man!! Can't wait to see each other's builds and hang out again at Expo; hopefully this time I won't be up for a day and a half trying to make it hahaha

[PeteTheCarFreak]

UPDATE

The car was missing the hood cushions so I found some and cleaned them up, not perfect but they will do.




I didn't want to install it with this chipped paint here, so I went to the paint shop to get some touch up paint.




Bought a bottle of Championship White and I used a very fine brush to touch things up. I attached a few photos of spots I touched up but there were a lot more.







There was this little mistake on the hood:



Filled it:



Plus there was surface rust on the backside of the hood so I went along that.




The ground wire was out of place so I moved it to the correct spot, not sure what ground wire this is off of but I'll be switching it out.






The hood latch cable had overspray on it that drove me nuts so I got the paint off of it and cleaned it up.






Hood cushions installed the next day.




If you look back on my earlier posts on this thread you can see that my middle exhaust hangers were chicken wire because the OEM ones were ripped off the body by a previous owner and the rear was totally missing.
I took the car to Revtech Motorworks and they got some OEM hangers installed that they cut off a parts car







The paint on the new exhaust hangers isn't pretty but I'd imagine with time it'll blend in. Not like it's really visible anyways though.

[PeteTheCarFreak]

UPDATE

I bought a titanium DC2 Type R shift knob and the H pattern paint was in poor shape so I picked it out with a wooden toothpick to redo it.




Had to be precise..




Sorry for the low quality picture but it turned out good, I used a toothpick and red automotive touch up paint.






Here's a comparison to the Skunk2 weighted shift knob I put on the car when I got it, the Skunk2 knob is skinnier and heavier.




I noticed that the original shift knob nut that came with the knob is different than the brand new OEM ITR shift knob nut I bought a few months back. Not only is the original one lighter to match the knob but the area to put the area to put the wrench on is also smaller.




Turned out really good, I like how it feels and the fresh paint looks nice.



Hell yeah I've been waiting for these for a while!!! Car is finally going to be sitting straight. They are Buddy club Sport Spec coilovers




Even though these are good quality it didn't have anything to bolt the brake lines on, kinda weird. I don't like using zip ties on things like this but what do you do I guess lol.




The rear camber kit was falling apart so we put OEM ones in. Here's a pic of the bushing falling out and the other one was actually bent. They were also missing nuts to completely tighten them.




Here's the cheap subframe brace the car came with..



Here's the Comptech subframe brace to take it's place plus we took out some seriously rusty bolts and Revtech here in Nampa, ID took care of me and replaced some bolts in the suspension with OEM ones




Unfortunately we were not able to install the rear sway bar because the rear LCAs were installed backwards in the past and the rear LCA bolts were seized so we couldn't take them off without breaking them. I am planning on getting some replacement rear LCAs and then we will install the '98 spec JDM ITR front and rear sway bars.
On the up side, the car is sitting and riding great!! These coilovers really do feel nice.







Got to enjoy the car for a few days and then the clutch master cylinder took a dump (brake fluid) in the interior of my car...



Just got a replacement CMC and gasket from jp-carparts.com today. It's different on the RHD cars so I had to get it from Japan, that website had excellent service and speedy shipping.




Hopefully the car will be back on the road tomorrow!!

[coolhandluke]

It is always something. After the suspension "settles" in, I would recommend pursuing a corner balance before the alignment. It may not impact the car's handling, sometimes cars are setup near 50/50, or it could dramatically impact the balance and handling of the car if the balance is off.

[PeteTheCarFreak]

It is always something. After the suspension "settles" in, I would recommend pursuing a corner balance before the alignment. It may not impact the car's handling, sometimes cars are setup near 50/50, or it could dramatically impact the balance and handling of the car if the balance is off.

Oh I actually already got an alignment lol, forgot to post that.