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Hello all,
Thought I would start a thread/progress blog for my Integra. I intend to simply update my first post as time goes on, forgive me for the wall of text.
Previously I owned a Milano red EP3 which although I enjoyed immensley I felt it was getting a bit long in the tooth at 133k and I felt that it was time for a change. I do still miss it at times. Before that I had a Satin Silver EP1.
Picture of the EP
I had initially looked at various different cars, Subarus mainly but was a bit apprehensive, I always kept coming back to how much I enjoyed the Civic. Toward the end of February, whilst at work, I had a glance on Torque GT's website and saw a 2004 face lift Integra, standard, in CW. I sent off a car enquiry on a whim. TGT replied with these images.
After lengthy correspondance between Tristan, Mike and myself I had agreed a trade in for the Civic, applied for a loan and paid a deposit. The car was mine.
The wait between paying my deposit and actually picking up the car was about four weeks. For various reasons this was the soonest I could make the journey from my home in Dundee, Scotland to TGT in Devon.
whilst waiting for the date of pickup I had planned for some starting modifications to get the car setup and sorted as I wanted:
Camber kit: I went for Eibach bolts and Hardrace arms for the rear, both are, as expected excellent quality.
Tyres: I opted for Brigestone Potenza RE070's in a 225 width and a 45 profile tyre. I had been assured these were excellent quality and very grippy.
FRSU: I booked the car in to Progrip in Larbet for the weekend after I picked it up.
The drive down was...interesting, I left my parents at 11pm, picked up a friend, who turned out to be hammered, in Glasgow then another friend whom I was to share the driving with in Carluke, thankfully he wasn't drunk.
The five hundred mile trip was begun.
After 10.5 hours we arrived in Ashburton, exhausted but excited to see the car! Tristan handed me the keys after an inital look around, I plopped myself down into the seat and the deal was done, the cabin is such a nice place to be, it feels low and small. Perfect.
Inside I went to sort out payment and insurance details, I had previously sorted a great deal with Adrian Flux which included a no fee transfer from my Civic to the Integra. On the phone they tried to charge me an extra £200 but I held firm and this was waived. All in this cost £350. The car was insured and taxed online, I Opted for the monthly payment option as it is only a tenner more this way. Winner.
Back outside all of our bags and various other possessions were removed from the civic. I must admit I felt awfully sad seeing it being driven away in to the yard at TGT. It was a great car and will be missed.
First impressions of the car as we drove away was that it felt special, the looks, the white paintwork the massive rear wing visible in the rear view mirror. I loved it.
I honestly cannot praise TGT highly enough, Tristan and Mike have been fantastic throughout the whole process, conversing with me over email and phone and falling over themslelves to be as helpful as possible. Fantastic company who I will definitley deal with again, although they can make the drive next time!
The next stop was Exmouth to pick up another piece of kit which so kindly had been held on to for me for almost a month! Anton1234 a member on this very forum held on to his J's Racing 60 RS back box for me. It is a wonderful piece of kit and by the looks of things his ITR was cleaner than mine!
The drive back up the road was punctuated with a brief stop off in Birmingham for the night but was otherwise uneventful.
The next morning I was afforded the oppertunity to give the car some on the way to work over some twisty back roads near Knockhill racing circuit. The car handled brilliantly! the steering was heavier than I was used to but was responsive and had tremendous feeling. The Tyres were offering my near lunatic levels of grip although I did manage to get it to step out slightly on some bends. The gearbox felt tight although a little grabby in some gears (more on this later). Overall I was extremley happy with it.
Since I have owned the car I have added some little touches such as my broadway wide view rear mirror and Teishei gear knob. the gearknob in particular tidies up the interior and makes the change much nicer.
Since then I have fitted the J's which was a nightmare in itself. I had a 2.5" unsilenced center section which I had fitted on my Civic and was assured would fit on to the Integra. However when I came to attach it the studs would not slip in to the bolt holes for love nor money. I gave up and fitted the back box to the standard center pipe instead. I was not disappointed. The J's is loud. It seems to be loudest on start up and is not too instrusive for daily driving. I also love how the pipe points ever so slightly to the drives side. I have deduced using my sherlock level skills that in order to make the center fit I will need to remove the loop from each bolt hole to form a channel (if that makes sense). This will mean I can attach it but also that it wont fall off once the nuts are on it owing to the triangle shape of the flange hopefully preventing it. I will get round to it during the summer when I have my generous six weeks off.
The car has also been in to John at Progrip, Larbert to have the camber kit fitted and a FRSU performed. The car now feels much more planted and has lost some of the initial skittishness over white lines I felt. After speaking with John I have discovered that this may be down to the tread pattern and width of the tyres. I can live with it, Just need to hold on tight! The only negative I can think of with the setup is that the steering wheel is slightly off center. I could go back to get it corrected, I will when I get some more free time.
I also bought a cargo net as items kept rolling around the boot, I never had this problem with the Civic but attributed it to the Tegs larger boot space.
As it stands I still have a couple bits and pieces waiting to be fitted to the car:
EBC Yellow Stuff brake pads - I am waiting until I can get matching rear pads and some braided lines to be fitted.
My personalised registration plate, again bought long before I had the car, Fitted just this week.
Gearbox Issue
Back up there somewhere...I mentioned about issues with the gearbox, there is a lot of noise on the overun, the clutch is high and the box can be grabby when shifting at high revs. All of this points to a worn clutch, off an email was sent to TGT who agreed. This has lead to a brand new Exedy clutch kit being sent to my house, again thank you Mike and Tristan. A testement to the service you get from these guys, the clutch isnt covered under their warranty as it is a wearable part. I will arrange to get this fitted some time during the summer along with, hopefully, a lightened flywheel.
That is it for now guys. I will leave you with my favourite picture of the car so far.
thanks
Neil
Thought I would start a thread/progress blog for my Integra. I intend to simply update my first post as time goes on, forgive me for the wall of text.
Previously I owned a Milano red EP3 which although I enjoyed immensley I felt it was getting a bit long in the tooth at 133k and I felt that it was time for a change. I do still miss it at times. Before that I had a Satin Silver EP1.
Picture of the EP
I had initially looked at various different cars, Subarus mainly but was a bit apprehensive, I always kept coming back to how much I enjoyed the Civic. Toward the end of February, whilst at work, I had a glance on Torque GT's website and saw a 2004 face lift Integra, standard, in CW. I sent off a car enquiry on a whim. TGT replied with these images.
After lengthy correspondance between Tristan, Mike and myself I had agreed a trade in for the Civic, applied for a loan and paid a deposit. The car was mine.
The wait between paying my deposit and actually picking up the car was about four weeks. For various reasons this was the soonest I could make the journey from my home in Dundee, Scotland to TGT in Devon.
whilst waiting for the date of pickup I had planned for some starting modifications to get the car setup and sorted as I wanted:
Camber kit: I went for Eibach bolts and Hardrace arms for the rear, both are, as expected excellent quality.
Tyres: I opted for Brigestone Potenza RE070's in a 225 width and a 45 profile tyre. I had been assured these were excellent quality and very grippy.
FRSU: I booked the car in to Progrip in Larbet for the weekend after I picked it up.
The drive down was...interesting, I left my parents at 11pm, picked up a friend, who turned out to be hammered, in Glasgow then another friend whom I was to share the driving with in Carluke, thankfully he wasn't drunk.
The five hundred mile trip was begun.
After 10.5 hours we arrived in Ashburton, exhausted but excited to see the car! Tristan handed me the keys after an inital look around, I plopped myself down into the seat and the deal was done, the cabin is such a nice place to be, it feels low and small. Perfect.
Inside I went to sort out payment and insurance details, I had previously sorted a great deal with Adrian Flux which included a no fee transfer from my Civic to the Integra. On the phone they tried to charge me an extra £200 but I held firm and this was waived. All in this cost £350. The car was insured and taxed online, I Opted for the monthly payment option as it is only a tenner more this way. Winner.
Back outside all of our bags and various other possessions were removed from the civic. I must admit I felt awfully sad seeing it being driven away in to the yard at TGT. It was a great car and will be missed.
First impressions of the car as we drove away was that it felt special, the looks, the white paintwork the massive rear wing visible in the rear view mirror. I loved it.
I honestly cannot praise TGT highly enough, Tristan and Mike have been fantastic throughout the whole process, conversing with me over email and phone and falling over themslelves to be as helpful as possible. Fantastic company who I will definitley deal with again, although they can make the drive next time!
The next stop was Exmouth to pick up another piece of kit which so kindly had been held on to for me for almost a month! Anton1234 a member on this very forum held on to his J's Racing 60 RS back box for me. It is a wonderful piece of kit and by the looks of things his ITR was cleaner than mine!
The drive back up the road was punctuated with a brief stop off in Birmingham for the night but was otherwise uneventful.
The next morning I was afforded the oppertunity to give the car some on the way to work over some twisty back roads near Knockhill racing circuit. The car handled brilliantly! the steering was heavier than I was used to but was responsive and had tremendous feeling. The Tyres were offering my near lunatic levels of grip although I did manage to get it to step out slightly on some bends. The gearbox felt tight although a little grabby in some gears (more on this later). Overall I was extremley happy with it.
Since I have owned the car I have added some little touches such as my broadway wide view rear mirror and Teishei gear knob. the gearknob in particular tidies up the interior and makes the change much nicer.
Since then I have fitted the J's which was a nightmare in itself. I had a 2.5" unsilenced center section which I had fitted on my Civic and was assured would fit on to the Integra. However when I came to attach it the studs would not slip in to the bolt holes for love nor money. I gave up and fitted the back box to the standard center pipe instead. I was not disappointed. The J's is loud. It seems to be loudest on start up and is not too instrusive for daily driving. I also love how the pipe points ever so slightly to the drives side. I have deduced using my sherlock level skills that in order to make the center fit I will need to remove the loop from each bolt hole to form a channel (if that makes sense). This will mean I can attach it but also that it wont fall off once the nuts are on it owing to the triangle shape of the flange hopefully preventing it. I will get round to it during the summer when I have my generous six weeks off.
The car has also been in to John at Progrip, Larbert to have the camber kit fitted and a FRSU performed. The car now feels much more planted and has lost some of the initial skittishness over white lines I felt. After speaking with John I have discovered that this may be down to the tread pattern and width of the tyres. I can live with it, Just need to hold on tight! The only negative I can think of with the setup is that the steering wheel is slightly off center. I could go back to get it corrected, I will when I get some more free time.
I also bought a cargo net as items kept rolling around the boot, I never had this problem with the Civic but attributed it to the Tegs larger boot space.
As it stands I still have a couple bits and pieces waiting to be fitted to the car:
EBC Yellow Stuff brake pads - I am waiting until I can get matching rear pads and some braided lines to be fitted.
My personalised registration plate, again bought long before I had the car, Fitted just this week.
Gearbox Issue
Back up there somewhere...I mentioned about issues with the gearbox, there is a lot of noise on the overun, the clutch is high and the box can be grabby when shifting at high revs. All of this points to a worn clutch, off an email was sent to TGT who agreed. This has lead to a brand new Exedy clutch kit being sent to my house, again thank you Mike and Tristan. A testement to the service you get from these guys, the clutch isnt covered under their warranty as it is a wearable part. I will arrange to get this fitted some time during the summer along with, hopefully, a lightened flywheel.
That is it for now guys. I will leave you with my favourite picture of the car so far.
thanks
Neil
