Type R Club of America

Looks like a great find! Love your 99. Maybe I will get to see it in Canada one day.

Yes everything is on the opposite side. The throttle cable can bind because of the length from what I hear. A local owner has a 96 ITR (JDM).

Prices are still reasonable but that will change soon as we get close to 25 yrs. Same thing happened with R32 GTR and MK4 Supras (93 now legal in 2018).

touringteg wrote: ↑Wed Jun 13, 2018 2:30 pm Looks like a great find! Love your 99. Maybe I will get to see it in Canada one day.

Yes everything is on the opposite side. The throttle cable can bind because of the length from what I hear. A local owner has a 96 ITR (JDM).

Prices are still reasonable but that will change soon as we get close to 25 yrs. Same thing happened with R32 GTR and MK4 Supras (93 now legal in 2018).

That's precisely why I jump on one now. I have had friends pick up R32/R33s and they have just exploded in price compared to what they paid for them. Even now, if you look at dealer options in Japan, clean ITRs are going for $14k-$22k usd.

Supply of JDM ITR appears to be drying up.

There used to always be a one or two JDM ITR on CL Vancouver. I haven't seen one for months.

Been a while since the last update. By the way, to the admins, if this is in the wrong section please move it.

After waiting around 3 months I got a call from the rail yard that my car had arrived and could be picked up. I had received a condition report from the shipping company that showed a lot of small chips throughout the car so I kept my expectations low. When I showed up to the yard I saw the car sitting in the corner, covered in dust and dirt. When I brought it back home I gave it a quick wash and was able to better assess the condition.

Overall, I’m disappointed by the condition of the car. Cosmetically, it’s in rougher shape than the photos and seller’s description made it out to be.



A few interior pieces were missing, the vinyl on the passenger side door card was lifting and torn, the steering wheel was worn, and the fabric on the driver’s side door card was ripped.







The exterior was just as rough. Rear bumper is damaged (knew this already) and needs to be replaced, the front bumper was at one point cracked and repaired, the passenger side headlight, fender, and sideskirt were damaged (clearly the previous owner hit something). Didn’t really take any pics of that.

Needless to say, I have a real project on my hands...more than I wanted.

I didn’t have a lot of time to driver the car before going on vacation. When I came back 3 weeks later I had a few days to get it track ready as the last event of the year was coming up the following weekend. Started off with an oil change (amsoil 5w40) and transmission fluid (Cusco Mission Oil). The transmission fluid change was much needed and quieted down the Cusco 1-Way LSD. Brake pads and rotors were replaced with Hawk HPS and Centric Premium Blanks.

Last thing on the list was to wire in a relay to get my daytime running lights working so that I can get it inspected and registered. Took the front end off to get access to the wiring and to tuck my homemade DRL harness for a clean install.



Found out the previous owner installed two aftermarket horns. The wiring was terrible so I cleaned it up in the process.

Tried wiring the fog lights and city lights to see which one I liked more. The fog lights gave off more light but I would lose the ability to turn them off so I decided to just stick with the city light.

Fogs:


City Lights:


Took the car in the following morning and it passed inspection without issues. The shop mentioned the mechanical items looked really clean and there was no rust under the car. Took over an hour to get it registered. A new vehicle profile had to be created in their system to properly register it (vin too short). Next up was the track!

Packed up my racing stuff last thursday night and went to the track after my friday morning meeting. Cruising on the highway for an hour made me miss having a 6th gear. I tossed on some cheapo rotors I had picked up the night before and put the DTC-60s on as well. Since our track is on a decommissioned airport I was able to use part of the runway to bed in the brakes. I was impressed with how hard they bit once warmed up.

Lined up with some friends and waited for our run group to head out.





Things did not go as planned. First turn is a long sweeping left turn, to a shallow right, and then a very tight left turn. As soon as I went around turn 3 i heard the rubbing on the right side. The rubbing continued every time I took a hard left and after 3 short laps I decided to pull into the pits. Couldn’t figure out why the suspension was compressing so much on the one side and causing the tire to rub on the frame pinch weld. No issue on the opposite side.

I decided to call it quits for the day before I damaged the tire. Ended up jumping in with a friend’s built ls/v EG. That thing is a blast.



The following day there was an autocross event. I was upset that I had to cut my lapping day short and decided that to just fully send it with the ITR. The course was tight with a lot of left turns which meant lots of rubbing. The oversized Toyo R1Rs were pretty worn so I didn’t care if they were going to be cooked. It’s getting cold around here so I will be putting the car into storage shortly.

Couple of shots from autocross.



You can see how much the suspension is compressing on this side. Has anyone had this issue before? I’m chalking it up to a blown strut but it seems to ride fine on the street and has no signs of oil leaks.



I’ll be picking up a set of GC/Konis over the winter. I had the same setup on my GSR and loved it. Seems like that’s still the go to suspension for this chassis. Looking at getting 450f 350r spring rates.

Decided to give the car a detail before putting it away for the winter. What started with just a simple cut and polish turned into a full day of wet sanding, cutting, and polishing. No more splotchy white paint.


A couple of passes with some compound and it’s a night and day difference:



Cleaned out the grime under the roof weatherstripping. Before:



After:



Can see the difference in the roof as well.



All polished up and ready for sealant. Decided to replace the faded badges and decals before sealing the paint.



Oem goodies





She cleans up nicely.



Next step is to wetsand and polish the headlights once my replacement one comes in. Also need to source out a new front bumper or see if this one can be repaired. Rear bumper will definitely need to be replaced.

Swung by a local paint shop to get some touch up paint made for the rock chips. Quickly found out that there is definitely a difference between USDM NH0 and JDM NH0 when I did a small test.

Not even close. Thought it was maybe just a faded panel but the door jambs and under the hood are creamy as well.



Went back with the gas lid and got them to match it better. Did a test on the back of a business card. Left is jdm and right is usdm.

Condition is to be expected. Most of these cars just sat outside for years. Mine looked the same way. A good detail goes a long way.

Thanks for sharing!!

I am thinking the shade difference can be a result of the environment or maybe EPA paint requirements at the time. The paint codes are the same. Your pics definitely show a difference between the two. On a few pictures of yours the color looks different than my champ white. Is your car original paint?

Stin1 wrote:I am thinking the shade difference can be a result of the environment or maybe EPA paint requirements at the time. The paint codes are the same. Your pics definitely show a difference between the two. On a few pictures of yours the color looks different than my champ white. Is your car original paint?

I can tell a few panels were resprayed but door jambs, under the hood, and inside of trunk are all the same colour.

White paint can stain like white plastic with tobacco smoke. I just checked my door jambs and they appear more like your creamy pictures. My car is the same. Some panels have been resprayed. Back to your car, she is looking nice in the pics . I agree with you that the front strut may be a bit lazy.