DeLaSoul

Yeah, the rear one looks like a bit of a challenge but I will do it this weekend. Instructions that came with the kit are pretty useless I think the trick will be taking the weight off the mount, so either a jack under the sump or an engine support across the suspension turrets. I will have a go at the steering rack and shifter bushes at the same time. Looking at the Honda parts system it looks like the MC2 standard mounts are already re-enforced so maybe I didn't need to go to all the trouble of fitting the DC2 gearbox mount, but it's done now so I won't be swapping it out. The inserts are different for each side of the car, but the gearbox side kit went straight in with no mods to the DC2 mount. Fitting all the other bushes to the arms was just took a sharp drill bit to drill out the old rubber, a hacksaw blade to split the old shell (although I used an air grinder for speed ). Used a punch & hammer to knock the old shell out once it was split, and a decent vice to push then new ones in. You don't have to go all the way through the shell (and risk damaging the arm itself, just weaken the shell). Each arm took about an hour in total. For the rear arm mounts (cast bracket) I just cut the ends off the rubber mount with a hack saw blade and used 2 old sockets in the vice as a sort of press. One large socket to push against the bracket, another smaller socket at the other end to push against the inner metal tube. Put it in the vice and tighten, just pushes out. Wish I'd taken a photo now

Cheers Dom, Rear LCA's are EG Civic, but if you want to use stock shocks then no they are not a direct fit. The bushing where the shock fork meets the wishbone is 50mm wide, stock MC/MB shock fork is only 40mm. I was going to leave my shocks standard until next year so Hond-R removed the bushes for me and had the LCA machined by 4mm each side and the bush trimmed to suit. It wasn't until I noticed 3 of the 4 shocks were leaking that i decided to replace all 4 for the AVOs. Luckily for me, AVO do a 42mm and a 50mm fork fitment 110% agree with you, they have been awesome to work with, very helpful on the phone in choosing the springs and answering my questions on install/setup. The units are heavy comapred to Tein or BC Racing but they are super solid. Kit was £550 shipped plus the dreaded but I was happy with that. Only done about 60miles since I got the car back on the ground but they are really good, AVO listened to my requirements and I got what I wanted Torque mounts were okay to do. I had to drop the engine slightly to get the new ones on (if there is another trick I couldn't see it), but that was easy. Jack up the car and put it on stands, from there: 1. removed ns wheel 2. remove wheel arch liner and under tray (I was a little lazy and just pulled them back out of the way) 3. Support the engine (I used a jack and some wood under the sump) 4. undo all the ns torque mount bolts and nut from the end (2x 15mm bolts and 1x 19mm nut) 4. remove the ns engine mount bolt & 2 nuts 5. drop the engine about 20mm (if that) 6. pull off the torque mount - if it won't come off, undo the whole center bolt and seperate off the car. 7. Haynes classic - refit is reverse of removal I was told the DC2 ones were stronger and that the gearbox side ones fitted both sides. They don't directly, mine did ONLY AFTER I made up a spacer to go between the torque mount and the bolt onto the block. I think it was about 8mm. Why bother what? changing the mount or doing the car?

Looks like the Toda, but it's Tegiwa. Really impressed with the quality, and it's about 1/3rd of the price. Hopefully it will do the job. Before I fit it I need to heat wrap it and get new manifold gaskets & studs. Torque mounts were replaced with DC2 driver side ones each side, Energy Suspension mounts in each. I had to make up a spacer on the passenger side to get it all to fit, but it only took an hour start to finish. Happy with the result

Quick update, SHE'S ALIVE!!! Front lip sprayed and fitted, VTEC decal put back on and everything set as I want it on the outside. Rust has been taken care of... And I finally got around to swapping out the torque mounts. Old one "fell off" as soon as I undid the bolts Move onto the engine properly in the next few months. Had some money left over from the last lot of work so treated myself to a new manifold. Not planning on fitting this just yet, job for next month

lol, thanks John. I saved up over the last 12 months for the bits, started fitting them about 2-3 months ago on the weekends. Won't be doing too much more now until the winter, just got a few minor bits to fit & finish (and one large piece which I have to collect tomorrow on the way home from work ) As you're local you'll probably see her running around Swindon on the next week or so.

It's got a MG anti roll bar fitted, so she is part Rover

lol cheers, nickname from my school days. If I could make a living out of working on cars I would, don't think I've got all the Honda knowledge to make it stick though just yet, hence joining the forum and looking at all the cool work other people have done and asking for help/advice 1"£££$££"! Maybe one day I could have the first mobile mechanics service in my MC2

Few photos from Friday.... The offending rust

Cheers for the advice, I've got to spend a bit of time fine tuning the dampers but I will bear it in mind. I have them set to 4 (out of 12) front and rear as per Avo's advice as a starting point. With the full geo and the car set up for fast road/track she is a lot more "pointy" to drive. We spent 4 hours on the ramp on Friday sorting everything out, and she was a totally different car handling wise. Really happy with the changes, not too harsh on the springs/dampers but a hell of a lot sharper all round to drive. Once I have a few hundred miles on the tyres I can take her out on a track day and open the taps By the time I drove out to my friends garage (20 miles or so) the whole car was sitting a little lower, so we decided to raise the rear a little. I decided the front was now about right at the settled height. Car is in the bodyshop having the front lip sprayed and the rust on the rear wing/sill sorted. I forgot to take photos after all the work was done but I pick the car up on Friday so I will get some then. Only got the rear seats/trim to refit and she is finished suspension/body wise for now.

We'll check and reset the ride height on the ramp tomorrow, but I agree it does look a little high at the front. Should settle in during the drive to my friends garage in the morning so I'll now for sure when I get there

Car looks pretty normal at first glance, it's not until it's up against my brothers MB that the 1" drop stands out. New wheels are not for everyday driving though. Clear repeaters would clean up the wings for sure, quick job to change I took the VTi lip back off to paint, less work the body shop have to do the less they charge. No plans to paint the other parts, but if I did I would probably go for a colour to match the new wheels. Coilovers were smooooooooth. Springs are slightly firmer than stock, but not harsh. Ride is comfortable, but I only have the damping on 4 at the moment as recommended by Avo as a starting point. I will try the firmer settings at a later date

Job done Car goes into for a full alignment tomorrow morning, then the bodyshop to have the front skirt re-sprayed and the metal worm on the rear arch done. It'll be good to finally be able to drive the deck again properly Dave

Don't hate the player, hate the game - god that made me cringe See what they look like on the car in the morning.

Fresh rubber............

New wheels have arrived Been looking for a clean wheel with a 4x114 PCD and the correct offset that I like, SW98 fit the bill for me. Daily driving I plan to stick with the stock wheels, anything more spirited I want 16" rims and lower profile tyres. Off down town to get the a set of Toyo T1R's........

Yeah cool. I should be back on the road by next week so you'll see it driving round by the Honda factory every now and then Cheers mate, she's coming along nicely at the moment. lol, I'm a fan of Titan Silver but I'd love to respray it a gunmetal colour. Been there before though and it's a huge job to get spot on so I'm not going there on this project. Bear shell, strip and respray took me a 2 weeks last time of solid work, looked the nuts on my old Corolla but I don't think I have the patience anymore. Thank mate. Been looking through some of the other project threads and there are some seriously nice builds going on at the moment. Lots of awesome ideas floating about 1"£££$££"!

Okay, quick update. Front suspension was all finished over the weekend and the car is finally back on its wheels (yeay!) New upper arms from Buddy Club. QC could be a little better but they went on okay in the end. I test fitted everything before changing all the bushes Assembled the front coilovers and fitted everything to the car Finally, put the wheels on and check the ride height - Before After - Car is sitting 2" lower than stock at the first check so too low for what I want. The fronts adjust really easily, just jack up the car and use the C spanner - don't even need to take the wheel off. The rear is a little more fiddly but not hard. The car is now sitting 1" below stock. I've taken it around the village and it's not too harsh a ride, but is a hell of a lot sharper. This week it goes in for a full geo, so I can lean on it a bit more after that Clearing up - quick pic of some of the bits swapped this last few weekends Going to move onto the body next as I've found a little bit of metal worm around the back of the car that needs sorting, then I can re-fit the rear door decals and worry about the engine over the winter.

Cheers. Yeah I thought it was a big problem, even more so when it wouldn't start after I changed the switch but it was all good in the end. At least it's only a few screws to swap the switch out

Okay, I will bear that in mind. I have read a few forums on the DC2 airbox, good and bad. In the past I have used Typhoon kits, but built a Carbon/Aluminium heat shield in the engine bay to isolate it from hot air. Haven't decided yet which way to go.

Cheers Integra DC2 Torque mounts turned up today, as well as a Momo steering wheel & boss from eBay (I hate airbags ). I picked up a set of Buddy Club front camber arms last night so those items will take up all of Saturday to install. Once this is done I can get the alignment done - so I've taken a few days off next week and booked it in to a friends garage. We can run through all the nuts and bolts to make sure I've got it all done right, another pair of eyes and all that. New Alpine/iPod head unit is almost in so I have some decent tunes to listen to. Now debating on which Intake system to go for, AEM v2 long RAM or K&N Typhoon. Busy busy busy. I'll post up pics as I finish the next few stages

Yeah, 8 gauge wire, several packs of connectors and a good soldering iron. Difference was noticeable so worth doing. Just make sure they are all tight afterwards, I accidentally left one on the gearbox loose and the car wouldn't even turn over. Simple fix, but I thought I'd knackered the starter motor! No I didn't know about the age of the NI plate. I just like them as they don't give away the age (or so I thought) of the car and it stands out a bit from the crowd. Thanks

lol, sorry mate. I want mine to look totally stock on the outside as much as possible. I've got the decals to go back on the rear doors and from the outside she's finished. Thanks though

@ SteveMB6 - I think the thing to look for on any parts is quality vs price. I would look for any reviews on forums for a product as a starting point. I know that the ones I fitted were quite expensive but I've seen some good reviews and Skunk2 are as far as I can tell a trusted brand. I did a similar project a few years back on my old ST162 Celica and learned the hard way on some cheap bits so now I tend to go on trusted parts only. I made the earth leads myself. Whole engine bay cost £20 using audio cable and gold plated connectors. I soldered and crimped the plug on for a good solid connection. The difference was noticeable at night with the A/C and lights on at idle, no more dimming headlights. The plate is a private one, the car is a UK not an import or anything, it's just a way of hiding the cars true age The MB6 is my brothers car, completely stock. He's more into old Toyota's, the Civic is just his run daily driver. @noodels - I can PM the guys number over. He had the Mid spoiler for sure when I was there on Saturday, not 100% on the rear skirt but I think so. All in Titan silver He's based down near Slough and had a few MB6/MC2/DC2 bits.

Tea break so time for some more pics.... First job was change out all the old earth leads around the engine bay. Can't remember whose build thread I saw this on (sorry) but it looked like a really good idea so I set to work on that... Repeat around engine bay. Next, cleaned up the cam cover following the guide in the "how to" section... 1"£££$££" The car kept cutting out, at first I thought it was random or something to do with the new earth leads but then it started to do it if I started the car quickly. Turned out to be the ignition switch was worn out, Honda told me it was a common fault so off with the steering column covers... New ignition switch... and great, the car won't start at all now Call to Honda and ask if I need to have the alarm reset and they say "no, shouldn't do". Check the alarm wiring and sensor unit around the key barrel and no loose wires so I pulled the new ignition switch off. Wiring was different Apparently there are several variants of the harness for Auto's, manuals etc. Pulled the plug apart and re-wired it to work. Car started first turn and stayed on Exterior: No idea why but dad removed the front lip and threw it away. He also removed the front fog lights after getting a price from Honda to replace one of the lenses. Search on eBay found a guy breaking one in Titan Silver VTi lip and fogs ready to go on. Dave

Hi guys, Wow, thanks 1"£££$££"!! I have a few more bits coming this week so I can finish off the front suspension this weekend. I can post up some other updates later today on the smaller jobs I've been doing to get the car finished - I just need to find all the pictures. @SteveMB6 - I've just been looking at tuner companies after looking at some of the Honda tuning mags from the States - it seems there is a massive tuning scene over there for Honda. Once I worked out what I wanted I searched around the UK for suppliers, but so far Hond-R in Abingdon (camber links, LCA's and bush kit) have been a good source of parts. The rest has come from Honda, local motor factors, direct from manufacturers and few bits from eBay. @ noodels - Yeah I bought a set of those but my NS torque mount is shot to pieces so I have 2 Integra DC2 mounts on order to replace both sides. I will try them first, then drop in the Energy suspension bits. I was thinking of getting some billet machined mounts but a lot of the reviews I've found say they make the engine vibration through the chassis quite harsh and I want to be able to use this car comfortably. Dave