Type R and VTEC owners

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Thanks for the advice guys, certainly helps hearing a lot of different opinions.

So in reality, it doesn't matter how well scrubbed/treated the arches are, once they've started rusting they need to be totally cut back and redone? That sucks the major balls.

Yup. I was qouted a few £k to take out my whole rear quater, get a new one welded in, primed and sprayed. Not worth it, I'll just have mine cut out and touched up as required every 3 yrs, I'm not going to ever sell teh Teg.

Not one viewing since February!

Putting the rust issue to one side slightly for a second I think that given what he's said there, as well as other things I can potentially bring up, he'd probably take £2700 for it. Is it worth that though...? My mind is le blown.

Yup, cheap as chips. If the engine doesn't smoke and the gearbox feels good enough with no crunches then it seems like a good buy. Mine cost me £4k in Jan 2010 and I've spent £5k on it (suspension, brakes, rusty arches, belts, mounts etc etc). Although the paintwork isn't perfect and getting worse as I enjoy it up here, it's mechanically sound, has nigh on brand new suspension with a FRSU and the engine is great.

A car to enjoy!!!!

£2.7k would be cheap if no smoke in VTEC and all goof after checking her out.

Exactly the same issue on the Insights with caulking shrinking and cracking over time.... leads to a water leak.

Odd that it wasnt rubbed out and new caulking put in on the respray though!

My Teg has the same kind of cracks. Going to clean them as best as I can and spray some Bilt Hamber underseal in there to prevent any leaks/corrosion.

 

[Jonnycoupe]

You can get proper caulking to apply aswell.

 

[Zefan]

Yup. I was qouted a few £k to take out my whole rear quater, get a new one welded in, primed and sprayed. Not worth it, I'll just have mine cut out and touched up as required every 3 yrs, I'm not going to ever sell teh Teg.

All really helpful info, thanks.

What sort of £££ is it to have it cut out etc every 3 years as you say? Will help to have a figure to quote when viewing.

:Edit: I see talk of £200-400 on itr-dc2.com, could be worse I suppose.

 

[bledd]

From what I've read, people have had it done for £600 (both sides).

That looks like a well looked after car, looks in better nick (in terms of paint/body) than mine.

My arches aren't rusted, but my bonnet needs replacing, badly!

Clutch isn't £330 Muffin..

£164 delivered for a Honda one!
http://www.coxmotorparts.co.uk/genuine-honda-integra-typer-clutch-kit-p-346.html

I'd just get your nearest Honda specialist to do it, where are you based?

 

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You can get proper caulking to apply aswell.

Or I could just do this

All really helpful info, thanks.

What sort of £££ is it to have it cut out etc every 3 years as you say? Will help to have a figure to quote when viewing.

:Edit: I see talk of £200-400 on itr-dc2.com, could be worse I suppose.

Both mine cost about £500 to have metal cut out, rewelded, prepped and both rear quarters sprayed and blended into the roofline. That was @ TGM.

Should you get this car, then I would advise looking at going mental on the rust inside, chipipng away as much contamination as possible to ensure you get down to bare metal, then treat and protect. You leave cancer there and it will propagate.

 

[Zefan]

So it was mega clean, answered all the questions right and had evidence to back it up in how well it was presented and history/receipts.

Has had the interior out twice to brush away as much rust as possible, treat then seal as you described, also sanded the crap out of the exterior of the archrs prior to the respray (which ended up being done twice as they screwed the colour up the first time). Roof splits have been filled in. Has had a new bonnet .

By the time I got around to driving it was dark, so couldn't see if there was smoke on startup or on VTEC when driving - although he said that there is no smoke at all on start up or when hitting VTEC. And oh my lawd, I could not stop grinning when it came on cam bang on 6000rpm! These things are just stupidly awesome. Felt "good" but having never driven one before I have no idea what its supposed to feel like. Was engaging to drive and the gear change/clutch was very smooth. I think having not driven a petrol for over a year makes it a hell of a lot more difficult to assess, as I was working out how to drive while trying to get used to VTEC and listen/feel for issues that I'm unsure what are supposed to feel like...

Interior hard to fault but it was getting dark... so hard to judge.

Cheap tyres, front nearly need replacing. Wheels were nice, don't see what hemeans about referb needed.

He really wasn't going to budge on price. In a moment of post test drive VTEC virginity losing idiocy I very almost handed over £3100. Luckily I realised that I haven't seen it in daylight properly and it's the first one I've viewed, so my head put the brakes on over my heart.

If it makes any difference I know where the guy works, on the military base that I live on about 50 metres from my front door. Has friends in the transport section workshop so has had pretty much unlimited free use of their facilities, lift etc.

Not really sure whether I should go for it or not if when I see it in daylight there's nothing "wrong" - I feel like I'm totally unqualified to judge it as I've only ever seen one!

Help me motors, you are my only hope

 

[bledd]

I say go for it. It's been rebushed, looks well looked after.

I took the first one I looked at, being 2 miles from my house at the time had a lot to do with it. I was sold when I met the owner

Top issues are..

Needs rebush
Needs gearbox rebuild. (crunchy gears)
Smokey on vtec (I wouldn't get one with this)
Rusting arches

One massive plus is how cheap you can get awesome tyres.

195/55/15 is oem, but 50 fit too.

 

[Skilid]

Anyway of moving the Momo (from a premier ed) steering wheel closer to the driver in an EP3? Can a spacer or anything be bought?

 

[Zefan]

I say go for it. It's been rebushed, looks well looked after.

Quotes like this are bad for my head/heart balance! I think if it's all good tomorrow in the cold light of day I will just do that. He really knew what he was talking about, obviously knows the typical issues with the car and has clearly been digging all over itr-dc2.com for the past 2 years.

Hnnnnng dat VTEC

:edit: only been partly rebushed by the way, rear trailing arms specifically (which I hear are the pain in the ass to change) and wheel bearings, one front and one back.

 

[Zefan]

I'm aware I'm double posting just to bump the thread, just in case -Ad-, Muffin, Lord_ZED or anyone else have any opinions based on my admittedly sloppy summary above

 

[Jonnycoupe]

I dont know if im in the minority but I always look on full resprays as a bad thing when deciding to buy a car

 

[NathWraith]

because hybrid

 

[Zefan]

I dont know if im in the minority but I always look on full resprays as a bad thing when deciding to buy a car

Why?

Just saw the DC2 in daylight but didn't get to drive it. Tiniest puff of smoke when started. Ran at 1500rpm or so until it settled down in couple of minutes to under 1000rpm. A consistent flow of air coming out the oil filler cap when idling, an unmistakable albeit whine from what I can only assume is the LSD, general quite whirring from the transmission when in neutral (sounds normal to me but I'm an idiot so who knows), total silence when clutch dipped which I've heard is a good sign that things aren't totally falling apart in the transmission.

Looked insanely shiny, well looked after and clean like last night.

Problems I have are I haven't seen it hit VTEC with my own eyes so can't say about smoke, and I'm not sure if the whine from the LSD and the consistent but gentle flow of air from the filler cap are problems.

All in all very glad to have seen it again, just want to drive it or another one to get a feel for them. I'm going to try to arrange to see another one on my trip up country over the next 4 days to get a comparison.

 

[Zeed]

Zefan Over years of owning hondas ( Integra is my 6th) I learned that no matter what you end up spending money on a car that is over 10 years old

So if you have a look in daylight and u like. Just buy and expect to spend extra 1k in next few month on things that will need doing

 

[Jonnycoupe]

Pressing the clutch stops the gearbox turning.... that means the noise is in the gearbox not the typically 'dont worry its the clutch release bearing' myth.

Honda's pretty much always have noise input shaft bearings. Might get worse over time but its generally a grating on overun when you need to address the problem.

Reprays are just not original and at somepoint the new paint meets old paint.... like i say i dont know if its irrational or not but its just not the same finish as OEM.

 

[bledd]

Zefan, regarding the smoke. I'd only worry about any smoke after it's warmed up.

Unless it's smoking like a chimney of course. Good way of checking of smoke on VTEC. Get him to drive and follow him in your car, then get him to hit VTEC a few times. Easier than trying to look back for it.

Did 170 miles in mine this morning, reminded me why I never want to get rid of it

 

[Muffin`]

Yeah I'd follow him in your car and get him to hit VTEC up to the red line, then lift off and let the engine run down. If it doesn't smoke in both steps then you're gravy.

Mines had a respray too, I'm not sure it puts me off on something like the Teg as they're cherished by owners and have the benefit of rubbishly thin paint. If it was something like a Mondeo TDCi then it'd put me off.

 

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They creak, rattle, squeak and make all manner of noises, so sometimes it's hard to known what's contributing to the syphony! It's the crunches you need to listen and feel for, but even my rebuilt gearbox isn't perfect when going into certain gears

RTA bushing arn't hard to change, they just require some marking up, disassembly, hitting with hammer lots and ensuring the new one goes in at the correct angle. But they are the main ones to replace on the rear and are the most obvious to feel when gone off. At the age of the car you should look at replacing the springs/dampers, but Honda parts (although good) are very expensive and might be discontinued, hence why many go for coilovers.

I also changed out the front balljoints, inner/out track rod ends and put on adjustable camber arms instead of re-doing the upper ball joints and arm bushes.

Anyway, the car does sound good and for £3k you can't really complain if the transmission feels good, it drives well and the engine seems ok with no smoke. Mine is £80k old now, has done some track time in it's life, been through 7 owners, but has no smoke at all and doesn't use any oil.

If he knows your serious (and has had any viewings this year) then I'm sure he'll be ok driving it, VTECing with you following!!

From what I can read from your posts you seem keen on the car, don't let us disuade you. But think with you head, not heart. I got all loved up with VTEC and didn't get the seller to go from 4th - 5th...... Gearbox crunched. My own fault but lessons learned!

 

[Stormster]

Just had my EP3 lowered on Eibach Sportlines, used DME rear adjustable camber arms, Eibach front camber bolts, Superpro caster increase polybushes, some new track rod ends, fast road setup and an empty wallet.

I cannot describe how much better the car is to drive. Despite being lower it's smoother! It has minimal bodyroll and handles most corners effortlessly, rides lovely, feels tight and together and just drives ace now.

Makes me love my car again

 

[darrant1234]

Just had my EP3 lowered on Eibach Sportlines, used DME rear adjustable camber arms, Eibach front camber bolts, Superpro caster increase polybushes, some new track rod ends, fast road setup and an empty wallet.

I cannot describe how much better the car is to drive. Despite being lower it's smoother! It has minimal bodyroll and handles most corners effortlessly, rides lovely, feels tight and together and just drives ace now.

Makes me love my car again

Considering the fast road setup for mine in January / February when its at TDi north for a service. Does the new springs really make it more of a comfy ride? they told me at TDI last time I was there new lower springs did.