Type R Club of America

3-1-19
I'm starting this thread a little late in the process but I honestly had no intention of starting one to begin with, mainly because my writing sucks and it just looks like the ramblings of a madman. I have no idea if I'll even finish the project. Like most things in my life I tend to be drawn from one bright light to the next loosing interest of what was such a high priority moments earlier. To try and prevent this I set out with some simple goals. Find a lower mile (for Honda) GSR and restore it, simple as that. I may add some ITR spice here or there but basically want to build a GSR that I would want if I was the one on the assembly line in Suzuka in the late 90's.

So here it is.... My 1998 Integra GSR in Super Sonic Blue Pearl. Overall its a basket case, lots of imperfections in the body. No Excessive rust though which is nice. The sun seemed to do more damage than anything.

Pictures don't do it justice but the paint is horribly oxidized. Early on I went over the car with a paint pen and picked at what I saw wrong with the body. I wanted to know for sure if this was something I wanted to get into or just cash out and try and unload it. Both rear quarters were solid with only a little surface rust. Unfortunately, the LR quarter panel took a hit at some point and has about 1/4 inch of bondo in it, so that got to go. The RR rear took a slight hit and was creased but seemed repairable.
The front also took a hit and buckled the core support. At this point I accepted the challenge and really started digging in. I opted to get an OEM acura core support so I knew it would fit correctly and started looking for a doner to replace the rear
quarter panel.
Over the past year that I've been working on the car I tried to stay in one area start to finish. Sometimes out of boredom I'd do some work on something else but for the most part I focused on the engine bay from when the car was purchased till about August 2019. Here you can see I started on the engine bay.

Once the original engine was out I gave the car a good scrub down and power wash. I flush what appeared to be a substantial amount of volcanic soot from out of on top of the fuel tank. Further reinforcing the documented history that it was originally sold in Hawaii. Here I was wire wheeling the strut tops and frame rails. Again, lots of surface rust but no perforation. I wasn't planning on spraying the bay over because I wanted to keep a somewhat OEM look. All the rust was removed primed and SSBP touch up paint applied. I also ordered a small fortune in zinc coated hardware from Honda to replace the rusted bolts I removed. While I had the engine out I replaced the steering rack bushings and anything else rubber on the firewall. One thing I can say is stick with OEM parts. I had more trouble getting aftermarket stuff to fit than anything else. Literally every time I'd say to myself "Lets get this part because its cheaper." I'd end up pulling my hair out. The rack bushings were a perfect example. I initially got a set off of Rock Auto and they didn't fit worth a damn. I bit the bullet and went with OEM and it went together without issue. After checking the fitment a million and one times I started welding in the core support. I borrowed an Lincoln welder from a friend. It was a 120v solid wire. For the purposes of replacing spot welds it was enough. I just recently bought a new welder because I knew I'd be getting into the welding end of things a little heavier when it comes time to work on the quarter panels. I'll elaborate on that in a later post. As you can see I've already diverted from the original plan and swapped an ITR engine in place of the original GSR drivetrain. The swap is a 96-spec ITR with a Mugen 4-1 header and Spoon Sports ECM. I also picked up and new CT-Engineering air box from HeelToe. I had one on my last ITR and loved the fit and look of it. I'm very happy with the progress so far on the engine bay.

The progress of Project G.eezS.R. is further along at this point than where this post is at but I'll try and keep it updated as I catalog all my pictures.

This is a great project to follow. Thanks for sharing it!

I have a soft spot for GS-Rs, and that color is a special one.

Is that Icebox one of the new ones since HeelToe took over the original molds? It looks great!

Thanks Jay! Yes it’s the new version heeltoe is making. Can’t tell the difference too looks and feels like the original. The lid was a tight fit initially. I assembled it outside the car and let it sit in the sun so it formed to the lower half of the intake.

Wow nice job on the engine bay looks great. I love this color, I don't think it was offered here in Canada. Keep up the good work!

awesome build! looking forward for more updates

Your car is one of only 852 SSBP 1998 GS-R coupes. There were 637 built in 1999, for a total of 1,489 SSBP GS-R coupes.

Fun fact, all 1998 were cloth interior, all 1999 were black leather.

I always appreciated these models. It's awesome you are putting the effort to save this one and do it right. Keep up the good work!

GeHonda wrote: ↑Mon Dec 16, 2019 5:32 pm Your car is one of only 852 SSBP 1998 GS-R coupes. There were 637 built in 1999, for a total of 1,489 SSBP GS-R coupes.

Fun fact, all 1998 were cloth interior, all 1999 were black leather.

I always appreciated these models. It's awesome you are putting the effort to save this one and do it right. Keep up the good work!

Yea! I thought that was weird. I was trying to find those little caps for the front license plate holes on a Acura parts website. Ssbp wasn’t coming up. I realized I was looking at a 98 gsr w/ leather and that there were no SSBP with leather in 1998

7-1-2019
Now I want to focus on some of the mechanical end of this. Early I had stated I was "happy" with the body end of things and willing to deal with those problems when it came time. In the mean time I planned on making the car mechanically sound, engine, and suspension. You can see in some pictures above that I have since converted it to 5 lug at the risk of taking some originality away, but I want to make the car my own while also restoring it. I'll be walking that line in this process. I've learned quite a bit this last year but this project as also raised many questions about what honda did when making integras. So as to contribute to the Type R community, during this build I'm going to focus on differences, if any, between the dc2 and dc2r chasis. I hope to document and catalog certain aspects of these cars but start conversation about "What makes a Type R a Type R."

To pick up where I left off on the front end, when I was going back together I realized that the horn was inop. So I did some searching and narrowed down to two options, OEM Acura for $60 or a Honda specific Hella Kit for $15. Now I've already expressed my distrust in certain after market parts but its Hella so hopefully its not garbage. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality and better yet it was plug and play. Now the Integra only has a low tone horn so I put the high tone aside for now. Both connectors are the same so if you wanted to wire them up in parallel to make it hornier I guess you could do it. Long term durability I can't really attest to but if you are looking for a good value you can get these Hella horns on amazon or summit and probably many other online stores. I wanted to address the door hinges mainly because I'd be moving the car around and didn't want it slamming the striker off center and breaking something. I can't express this enough and we all know this by now, parts are getting scarce new and used. I searched a few websites for door hinges and was having some issue with certain model year integras. One thing to keep in mind is that part numbers change so just because one maybe discontinued doesn't mean there isn't anything available for your car. I actually ended up buying these from a Honda dealer. They are for 92-95 civic. Its the same thing just a matter of where they were made. In the process of the engine swap doing an OBD2A Jdm engine into a 1998 USDM chassis is pretty cut and dry. I do have a plan to make it emissions compliant but for now I just want to get the thing on the road. I have it register as a classic car in my state so its exempt from our Emissions inspection. The JDM engine use less sensors and the pin outs are the same from what I can tell. I used my usdm gsr harness. The routing was similar but when it comes to the intake manifold you may run out of length. I did have to extend the Idle air control connector. It fit but it was tight and any engine movement probably would have damaged the harness over time. Going from GSR to Type R the fuel supply line is different. The gsr is shorter and goes above the intake pipe while the ITR is longer and goes underneath it. A few of the coolant hoses are also discontinued by Acura. Your upper Rad hose and one or two bypass hoses on the rear are discontinued as well. The upper Rad hose is specific to ITR as well as certain bypass hoses. Depending on the year some Integras have the heater bypass valve come out with a 90 deg hose and latter years mount at a 45 deg angle. The one hose I had to go aftermarket with was the small 90 deg that comes out of the heater core to the fire wall. This part was a bit of a headache mostly because I would get the wrong hose have to return it and then figure out a good part number and start the search again. I wanted to keep OEM parts so that was part of the problem, but even the after market was a bit wishy washy with one hose fitment to the next. I tried to get as much of the firewall and PS lines situated with the engine out. The throttle cable is new ITR and I removed the cruise control components and plugged the hole in the fire wall for it. The nice thing about this is the cruise control cable stay is the same part for the ITR throttle cable so I didn't have to do anything different there. The GSR has a special bracket for its throttle cable that's mounted on the cowl lip and was removed at this point. All the brackets and stays I sent out for powder coating. I just went with the standard black. This can get little salty but definitely worth the investment IMO. I also swapped out my shift linkage with JDM ITR. I was in the process of changing out all the shifter bushings, O-rings, and hardware but the oem linkage was seized and I couldn't get it apart without breaking it. Luckily found someone local that had this JDM linkage. Not only was it in better shape but they're zinc coated. Fun fact I learned from the guy who had it, Del sols have a slightly shorter linkage compared to other B-series engine cars (EG/DC). When it comes to power steering, being that this engine is a 96 spec, it came with a PR3 pump. The Oem on the GSR being p72. PR3 parts are normally found on 92-98 civic and del sol. Since the p72 pump on the car was leaking I ended up keeping the PR3 pump on and using a later del sol PS high pressure line as it was the cheaper route. Again similar subframe and routing (if not identical). A key factor with a type R is chassis reinforcement. Starting at the front of the car the first thing most people notice is the front upper strut bar. Instead of the steel bar of the GSR the ITR has an aluminum bar. Having them side by side the ITR strut bar is slightly heavier but I would guess its less likely to flex in theory. I also noticed the first piece of sound deadening material in the cowl of the GSR which isn't in a ITR. So there's the first increase rigidity and decrease weight formula that honda would apply to the ITR. Now there is a lower bar on the subframe but that's same on both ITR and GSR and I think other models that have this front subframe. When the engine was out I did the standard timing belt water pump tensioner deal. I replaced the plugs wires cap and rotor. I also went a little above and beyond and pulled the intake manifold since I could get to it. I replaced every gasket and o-ring and cleaned the carbon from the intake, throttle body, and Idle air control. Once my OCD was happy I threw they engine in and with it off the pallet replaced the oil pan gasket because it appear to be leaking at some point. The exhaust I will be running is a Fujitsubo Legolis R. I had The RM01a on my ITR and love the fit and finish plus the welds are beautiful, though it did get loud at times. So I'm going try this as its seems more docile. I probably waited about 6 months for the exhaust as it was made to order.

Truth be told, after I sold my Camaro I knew I wanted to own another Honda. So I started hording parts a while ago that I knew I wanted to use prior to even having a canvas to use it on. I started by buying a 5 lug setup and rebulding it. Literally starting from the ground up. I had a set spare set of ITR wheels from my 01 ITR that were track duty. I had since powder coated them Cosmic gray. Not exact match to gunmetal but close. Picked up a set of spoon calipers and a jdm 36 MM 5-lug. While doing a 5 lug swap my EM1 I learned that the JDM cars are a bit of a bastard child. Not only do they require their own hubs bearings and axles. The entire set-up front and rear is 5mm wider than USDM ITR, CTR, and 96 spec. The difference being in the spindles and knuckles. The Usdm ITR has probably more in common with the EK9 and 96-spec in terms of suspension components.

Starting with the front I replaced the wheels bearings and lower ball joints. The wheel bearings I used 98 CRV and ball joints are Integra. Gave it a coat of Rustoleum and chased all the threaded holes with taps. I reused the hubs going back together and ordered new rotor dust shields as they were mangled. I had to order the dust shields for a 98 CRV as they are also different on the 98 spec ITR due to the larger bearings. I replaced the front and rear calipers and brake line front and rear. The rears I could use USDM calipers and rotors no problem. The Fronts however are USDM ITR rotors and 98 CRV Brake calipers and brackets. The calipers themselves are the same between 98-spec, USDM, and EK9. The main difference is in the bracket where the 98-spec is offset 5mm different. Here I'm test fitting my 5zigen wheel in the front. Fun fact I learned when ordering my exhaust. "GO" in Japanese is pronounced like "Five" and "Zigen" means "Team". So that's how they ended up with 5 in the name. At least that's what I understood. In terms of dimensions the GSR and ITR are very similar chassis wise. Looking at my frame measurements in the repair manual every mounting point for the suspension is in the same location. I used 98 spec upper control arms and ITR RLCA. Again replacing all the bushings, wire wheeling and painting them up. New hardware was used and in the process I accidently ordered bolts for and ITR and when I went to put in the control arms I had a lot of bolt left over due to the smaller rear subframe on the GSR. I cleaned some surface rust off the subframe and gave it a coat of primer and under coating. After that I installed an ASR subframe brace. Wanting to keep ABS I went about routing the GSR sensors through all that mess. It was actually quite easy. Being that the RLCA were off of a non-abs car I had to drill 2 holes in each side to mount the harness and just ran a bolt and locking nut. The harness fit perfect under the ASR bar. You can see were the harness would have gone between the shock fork and GSR LCA, it routed perfectly over top of the bolt on the ITR LCA. I used ITR fitment Koni Yellows and stock ITR springs, the fronts being on the lower perch.

Getting rear calipers for an ITR was a bit of a wait. Rock Auto had one rebuilt set. That may be and issue for future ITR restorations, though rebuilding them yourself can always be an option. Once the suspension was all together and engine it this is how it sat. Test fitted my ITR lip and headlights to the bumper openings too.

Where did you find that ITR lip? I need one asap lol.