97 #00151 Returns

[jayhaire]

Last weekend, Cris at acuraexpressparts.com / irunoem hosted a first ever cars and coffee style meet at McGrath Acura of Downtown Chicago. The event was great, and it was really cool to meet some new faces. I believe Cris greeted me with saying I was coming out of retirement, which is accurate.

Related to that, Cris Parra (and Anthony) played a huge role in helping get this car running again. This includes parts both new, used but hard to find parts, and labor with finishing up some key touches, especially with the wiring.

The trees kind of block the skyline, but here's a photo I captured just before I left. It was nice to bring this car out to an event for the first time.

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[AndyD]

Freakin' awesome! Huge milestone!

Your car has had quite a life, and it's so satisfying seeing it back together and being enjoyed once again!

Anymore pics of it?

[jayhaire]

Coming out of retirement, round 2. I picked up the DB8R, which other than a brief time in '22, has been at the RealTime Collection Hall since Nov 2016. It's last event appearance was ITR Expo 16 at VIR. Funny enough, the pocket next to the steering wheel (larger on JDM models by the way) still had Oct 2016 fuel receipts from the drive back to Chicago from Danville, VA.

Picked it up last week, mounted new tires on the SSRs (car has been stored on stock wheels with very old tires not road worthy), and took it to WMHM / Honda Meet, which was our sibling event. My only goal was to take our son out for some touring laps since I had not prepped the car for track use.
Thanks to Jake Burke for the image:

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He brought an amazing former Spoon ITR racecar to the event.

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Also, 97 #00151 is still here. I picked up parts in it from the dealer I once worked at decades ago.

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It was nice getting out again with the car and seeing old friends. Thank you to WMHM / Honda Meet / GridLife for letting me visit and take our son out on some private touring laps. Working on the DB8R reminds of 10-15 years ago. Maybe it's time to seriously discuss a Type R Expo Reunion event?

[Dc2-ProductionS]

Nice to see you getting back behind the wheel! DB8R makes it a family fun trip

The itch is brought back so easily in an R! And a great community event makes it even better.

I check every day for an Expo update. Lmk how I can help.

[jayhaire]

Yep, it does.

There will be an email and such going out soon regarding an invite to join with NSXPO in Texas this year too.

[SlothKing]

Great seeing this thread still alive. There's still hope in finish the project cars!

[jayhaire]

Yep! I used to laugh at those project threads that turned into incomplete projects > for sale > getting out of the game.

Speaking of, swapped a proper VTEC solenoid in place of the B16 or whatever I had on there previously. Next is cam seal, valve cover gasket, and most importantly, intake manifold gasket and probably intake manifold too. There is a coolant leak that both drips as well as enters the combustion chamber near the coolant inlet. Previous owner of the engine (two owners ago) mentioned this issue and thought it was more than a gasket problem. I have a spare JDM ITR intake manifold that I can swap since I do not need EVAP on this anymore. I started cleaning up the old gasket on that spare today.

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Spare JDM ITR intake manifold before old gasket removal.

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Mostly removed and will finish next time. I am unsure if the current manifold or head are actually straight, but this should eliminate one of those issues soon.

For nostalgia...

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[Zyg]

There will be an email and such going out soon regarding an invite to join with NSXPO in Texas this year too.

Morning Jay. The CW is looking good, as is the Silver one.
Congratulations!

Got the email ITR invitation and already responded to JC about possibly helping out during the track portion in Dallas/G2 Motorsports. Ed

Time to watch the Hungarian GP.

[Stin1]

Yep! I used to laugh at those project threads that turned into incomplete projects > for sale > getting out of the game.

Speaking of, swapped a proper VTEC solenoid in place of the B16 or whatever I had on there previously. Next is cam seal, valve cover gasket, and most importantly, intake manifold gasket and probably intake manifold too. There is a coolant leak that both drips as well as enters the combustion chamber near the coolant inlet. Previous owner of the engine (two owners ago) mentioned this issue and thought it was more than a gasket problem. I have a spare JDM ITR intake manifold that I can swap since I do not need EVAP on this anymore. I started cleaning up the old gasket on that spare today.

IMG_3009.jpg
Spare JDM ITR intake manifold before old gasket removal.

IMG_3017.jpg
Mostly removed and will finish next time. I am unsure if the current manifold or head are actually straight, but this should eliminate one of those issues soon.

For nostalgia...
DSC_1127.JPG

I didn’t know they are any different on the b16. What solenoid was on there?

[jayhaire]

I thought I took a photo of both side by side but apparently not?
It's where the green connector goes. One points to the side, and the other (one I removed) points to the front. Unsure if it was a B16, B18C1, etc. I should check photos and part numbers.