Restoring #97-00012
Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2017 1:25 pm
The date is June 23, 2015. I receive a phone call from a friend who knows how much of an ITR nut I am, telling me that his boss who has a towing company is on his way to pick up a Champ White ITR with no motor, but he thinks it's a '97. 
I ask him where it's headed and who owns it, yada yada, all the details. Long story short, it has been sitting outside for the better part of 10 years at the owners mothers house and it's now time for it to go. I get an address to meet my friends boss back at his house once he picks up the vehicle.... Lol, I actually ended up beating him back to his house bc I got there so fast.
And then she rolls in. The emotional roller coaster begins as soon as I see it.... It has a JDM front...
.... It has a broken passenger window, I don't see seats in front... ... But she is definitely clean on the outside. All panels in tact and no rust. He pulls in past me and I see the '97 tails... 
I start talking with my friends boss about the caR and it's story and what the deal is currently. The caR is indeed a '97, and it shows 33k miles on the clock. 
The Story: The owner, at the time a young male, purchased the car brand new from the local Acura dealer in August of 1997. In 2000-01 he proceeded to put a turbo on the car, as well as nitrous on the original C5, and a JDM front. (
Thanks Fast and the Furious! ) As you can imagine, the motor went kaboom. Turbo, nitrous, high compression?... What could go wrong? LOL... The owner brought it back to the shop that performed the motor work and thats where the finger pointing began. Owner claimed improper build by the shop, and shop claims that owner abused the vehicle prior to break in period with added mod's and owner is at fault. The shop pulls the motor from the caR to tear it down and see exactly what went wrong. This back and forth lasted YEARS. To the point that the mechanic tried to put a lien on the car for storage fee's and unpaid work. Come to find out, the owner of the caR snuck into the shop yard, broke his passenger window, and removed his Sparco seats, deck and system. After more back and forth, the caR was removed from the shop and sent to his parents house. She is now moving and selling the house and the caR has to go. Thats where I come in. 
Here is some pics of heR the day we met.
Clean title, 1 owner, 33k miles, clean carfax, clean autocheck, and a caR that looks like they pulled the motor and stuck it in a corner. I did a few electrical tests on the pass door and window, dash components, and wiring. I jacked it up and got a good look at everything and made a deal. It took a month or so for the paperwork to all be straightened out with bank liens, and sourcing original title, yada yada, but it got done. A few weeks later, and she was delivered to my buddys house to start the tear down process. At the time I had no room to work or store heR yet, so thankfully my bud was able to help out. I immediately started tearing heR alllllll the way down to see exactly what I was working with. Here are a few shots of the day she was finally mine!
I wasted no time getting heR stripped down to get an assessment of what I had ahead of me. I was pleasantly surprised how great of shape she's in. And let me tell you.... SHES DIRTY!!! Lol
After that, it was time for that silly front end to come off. I had a buyer lined up quickly since it was a legit metal setup and off she went.
The plan is to go 100% back to OEM. I purchased a OEM radiator support and got it mated up so I can get back to the USDM front end, the right way. I was toying with buying RDOT panels for the front end, but ended up coming across a 1996 Integra RS that was clean title, no accidents, and a mint front end. I scooped it, took all the front end parts and panels that are needed (lights, harnesses, etc) and got myself looking like a USDM R again! All numbers matching, period correct front end.
Also had to get rid of nitrous lines, speaker controllers, and all kinds of toggle switches. 
It took a little over a year for me to get to a point of being able to work on the caR. Storage unit was 35 mins away, planning a wedding, buying a new house etc. etc... So it took me a while to get the time to start giving the attention she needs. I have been stock piling parts the entire time, buying as I get a few extra bucks here and there to spend. A new house with a 500sqft. garage has now changed me to about 3.5 seconds to be out in the garage, so it's time to get crackin! I've had some time in the past week or two to get moving and now thats she stripped all the way down, it's time to start the cleaning and rebuilding. I have been scrubbing and spraying and cleaning and brushing what I feel like is forever. But it's all worth it. There are some spots that are clean and spotless, brand new looking. Here are a few pics of cleaning and brushing and cleaning out the surface rust on the inside.
Earlier this week I was able to get some paint layed down inside... It's a motivator, that's for sure. It's starting to come together and come back to heR glory. Hoping to get the bay resprayed this weekend or sometime next week by a professional. I have no problem painting the parts no one will see.... 
Last... but most definitely not least, since the OG motor went kaboom and is so far long gone, I had to find a replacement. I have a JDM-R motor and that was going to be plan at first. Then i stumbled across a B18C5 long block from a '98, and was happier, yes happier than pigs in poo. That was until I found this....
Mhmmmm.... A RDOT C5 block with about 65k miles on it. Im going to use both C5's and make one perfect machine. I'm going to replace ANY, literally ANY item that even raises an eyebrow for my mechanic. I want to have a fresh, essentially 0 mile motor when it is done. I have already purchased all new windows, moldings, trims and seals, gaskets and tons of under car components including what I was told are two of the last BNIB rear trailing arms available. I think you can still get pass '98 RTA though? Idk. I got mine. LOL Full glass out repsray, all new nuts and bolts, new bushings and every little piece throughout. She will be a brand new caR when Im done with heR. I would LOVE to have heR done by Jan 30, 2018. That would be heR 21'st birthday, as Doespike told me she got her stamp of completion on that date back in the day at the factory, before it was shipped and sold to my local dealer 20+ years ago.
Stay tuned, many more updates to come now that I have finally sat down and took the time to make this thread.
I ask him where it's headed and who owns it, yada yada, all the details. Long story short, it has been sitting outside for the better part of 10 years at the owners mothers house and it's now time for it to go. I get an address to meet my friends boss back at his house once he picks up the vehicle.... Lol, I actually ended up beating him back to his house bc I got there so fast. And then she rolls in. The emotional roller coaster begins as soon as I see it.... It has a JDM front...
.... It has a broken passenger window, I don't see seats in front... ... But she is definitely clean on the outside. All panels in tact and no rust. He pulls in past me and I see the '97 tails... I start talking with my friends boss about the caR and it's story and what the deal is currently. The caR is indeed a '97, and it shows 33k miles on the clock.
The Story: The owner, at the time a young male, purchased the car brand new from the local Acura dealer in August of 1997. In 2000-01 he proceeded to put a turbo on the car, as well as nitrous on the original C5, and a JDM front. (
Thanks Fast and the Furious! ) As you can imagine, the motor went kaboom. Turbo, nitrous, high compression?... What could go wrong? LOL... The owner brought it back to the shop that performed the motor work and thats where the finger pointing began. Owner claimed improper build by the shop, and shop claims that owner abused the vehicle prior to break in period with added mod's and owner is at fault. The shop pulls the motor from the caR to tear it down and see exactly what went wrong. This back and forth lasted YEARS. To the point that the mechanic tried to put a lien on the car for storage fee's and unpaid work. Come to find out, the owner of the caR snuck into the shop yard, broke his passenger window, and removed his Sparco seats, deck and system. After more back and forth, the caR was removed from the shop and sent to his parents house. She is now moving and selling the house and the caR has to go. Thats where I come in. Here is some pics of heR the day we met.
Clean title, 1 owner, 33k miles, clean carfax, clean autocheck, and a caR that looks like they pulled the motor and stuck it in a corner. I did a few electrical tests on the pass door and window, dash components, and wiring. I jacked it up and got a good look at everything and made a deal. It took a month or so for the paperwork to all be straightened out with bank liens, and sourcing original title, yada yada, but it got done. A few weeks later, and she was delivered to my buddys house to start the tear down process. At the time I had no room to work or store heR yet, so thankfully my bud was able to help out. I immediately started tearing heR alllllll the way down to see exactly what I was working with. Here are a few shots of the day she was finally mine!
I wasted no time getting heR stripped down to get an assessment of what I had ahead of me. I was pleasantly surprised how great of shape she's in. And let me tell you.... SHES DIRTY!!! Lol
After that, it was time for that silly front end to come off. I had a buyer lined up quickly since it was a legit metal setup and off she went.
The plan is to go 100% back to OEM. I purchased a OEM radiator support and got it mated up so I can get back to the USDM front end, the right way. I was toying with buying RDOT panels for the front end, but ended up coming across a 1996 Integra RS that was clean title, no accidents, and a mint front end. I scooped it, took all the front end parts and panels that are needed (lights, harnesses, etc) and got myself looking like a USDM R again! All numbers matching, period correct front end.
Also had to get rid of nitrous lines, speaker controllers, and all kinds of toggle switches. It took a little over a year for me to get to a point of being able to work on the caR. Storage unit was 35 mins away, planning a wedding, buying a new house etc. etc... So it took me a while to get the time to start giving the attention she needs. I have been stock piling parts the entire time, buying as I get a few extra bucks here and there to spend. A new house with a 500sqft. garage has now changed me to about 3.5 seconds to be out in the garage, so it's time to get crackin! I've had some time in the past week or two to get moving and now thats she stripped all the way down, it's time to start the cleaning and rebuilding. I have been scrubbing and spraying and cleaning and brushing what I feel like is forever. But it's all worth it. There are some spots that are clean and spotless, brand new looking. Here are a few pics of cleaning and brushing and cleaning out the surface rust on the inside.
Earlier this week I was able to get some paint layed down inside... It's a motivator, that's for sure. It's starting to come together and come back to heR glory. Hoping to get the bay resprayed this weekend or sometime next week by a professional. I have no problem painting the parts no one will see....
Last... but most definitely not least, since the OG motor went kaboom and is so far long gone, I had to find a replacement. I have a JDM-R motor and that was going to be plan at first. Then i stumbled across a B18C5 long block from a '98, and was happier, yes happier than pigs in poo. That was until I found this....
Mhmmmm.... A RDOT C5 block with about 65k miles on it. Im going to use both C5's and make one perfect machine. I'm going to replace ANY, literally ANY item that even raises an eyebrow for my mechanic. I want to have a fresh, essentially 0 mile motor when it is done. I have already purchased all new windows, moldings, trims and seals, gaskets and tons of under car components including what I was told are two of the last BNIB rear trailing arms available. I think you can still get pass '98 RTA though? Idk. I got mine. LOL Full glass out repsray, all new nuts and bolts, new bushings and every little piece throughout. She will be a brand new caR when Im done with heR. I would LOVE to have heR done by Jan 30, 2018. That would be heR 21'st birthday, as Doespike told me she got her stamp of completion on that date back in the day at the factory, before it was shipped and sold to my local dealer 20+ years ago.
Stay tuned, many more updates to come now that I have finally sat down and took the time to make this thread.
