Crad008's 1997 Jdm front

crad008

New Member
Hi everybody,
I am fairly new to this site usually I just lurk the threads looking at peoples cars, I guess I have decided to become more active on this site then say other integra based websites. One thing I have noticed is the Northwest thread is kinda dead which is too bad, but oh well.
I guess I will now introduce my car.

I got my car in February of 2008 after posting a WTB add on craigslist simply cause I was tired of looking at beat up integras driven by young kids. I got a response from a middle aged man selling his wife's bone stock GSR integra, the only mod was the ugly enkei dm5 wheels. It had 107,000 miles on it with all maintenance records kept.
I jumped on the opportunity and made an appointment to look at it and give it test drive. When I ended up meeting up with the owner I found out he actually works with my uncle, who was a well known police officer in the area, so after I got done test driving the car he went and talked to my dad while I checked out the interior, wrote down the vin etc...
Later that night I called him and made an offer of $5,500, well under what the rest of integras. Most ls's in the area were posted from anywhere from 3-5 in the area.
Well enough talk lets get to the goods!

This pic is from when I went and test drove it


I loved the car and washed it as soon as I got home.




My friend has a 94 civic dx that we liked to take pics of



Now are you ready for tragedy???
After owning my car a month...yes a whole month...I was merging onto I-5 South to go to work the from the highway 14 (I guess only locals know where I am talking about) when I looked over my shoulder to change lanes and make sure I was clear when the truck in front of me decided to stop. Well I rear-ended him. Pretty much the sadest day of my life, but I was ok, my airbags deployed and saved me from smacking my head on the steering wheel, well I called my dad right away and he called and got my a flatbed.
Pics of the wreckage :(
one at the scene

at the body shop it got towed to








 

crad008

New Member
Well after the insurance company decided to total it (big shocker...not) I decided to buy it back and put a JDM front on it. I got a good check for about 7,000 and got my frame straightened out, and the new radiator support welded on for about a 1000 dollars, I bought my jdm front from Auto Adventure, a place in Portland that has just about every part for an import you can imagine, and payed 1,500 for non hid black housing front. The front was in perfect condition no scratches no dents nothing, they also threw in an itr front strut bar I did not complain. The rest of my money went to buying parts to fix the car, new airbags new fender liners, wires etc and I maid some car payments with it.
The only bad thing was the front end was white and well, the rest of the car was red.


Well my friend (the one who drives the civic) came over the night I got my car back from the frame shop and we stayed up til about 3am putting my front end together.
Well after it was all said and done we got the car re-insured and I was back driving my car again in mid April.





Well after get hassled I finally lowered it....Worst mistake I ever made, I read and read and read and read...and well you get the point DO NOT PUT COILOVERS ON STOCK STRUTS, well I did anyway thinking I have a good job this will be temporary, until I got less and less hours at my job and eventually due to the economy got laid off. But live and learn trust me I have learned my lesson.


In the meantime I ended up effing up my itr lip so I ended up taking it off cause it got so bad (stupid driving an not paying attention FTL)

Well I ended up buying a OEM ITR wing off ebay for a whopping 128 dollars! in perfect shape. However it was also white, So I figured what the hell my front ends white why not put in on too.



Well for my 19th birthday present, Christmas and 20th birthday present my parents promised to help out and pay for my car to get painted.
Well in April of 2009 my Girlfriend's uncle who mainly works on old VW's said he would paint my front end for me! all it would cost me was materials and an extra 200 for him using his shop and whatever else he used. So I got my car back later that week and put it all back together.







 

crad008

New Member
After riding on ebay coilovers and stock struts I decided to finally upgrade to Function and Form Type 1's I got from weaksauce for a really good price (so good they don't offer it anymore lol)


I got to say though, installation was a pain cause of the rear LCA bolts but I took care of that with...

A very big wrench.

Also I have hated my wheels since day 1 and as you can see they have been painted 4 times, gloss black, flat black, gun metal, and what they are now white.


I also went through a phase where I was going to shave the side moldings, so I had duct tape on the sides until I realized I never had the time and my friend who welds never had extra time to do it.
So the next thing I did was put the side moldings back on and I never actually had my headlights wired right so I had a local shop (360 imports) wire those for me, including the fog light switch.
Fog light switch


The lights


and the side moldings


One thing that my parents really didn't like about my car is my front license plate was never on, I told them it was because the holes from the JDM bumper didn't line up with the license plate holes. Well my buddy is a machinist made me a made tight JDM license plate holder at work for free which I thought was super sweet.

Front


Side


it swivels like the mad tight JDM ones y0!!!
except it was free and I didn't have to drill into my car or plate!
 

crad008

New Member
Well last month was my birthday and my girlfriend got me an oem itr lip and had her uncle paint it for me which was awesome, I installed that as soon I could.
Also my friend got me a c-pillar bar which is something I have always liked.



nothing like oem fitment.

and the bar


So I guess my current list of mods are
Engine: Bone stock, itr strut bar
Interior: stock, with a c-pillar bar
Suspension: Function and Form type 1, Skunk2 camber kit
Wheels: ugly enkei dm5
Exterior: Itr lip, Oem itr wing
Some future plans are -Asr subframe with 23mm sway (that will be soon)
-window tint, -drag dr20 or dr21 (since I'm no baller they will do fine) and eventually I will get JDM recaros or some sort of aftermarket seats.

Comments or criticism is welcome I can take it.
 


imcnblu

Resident G2 Guru of C-I
looks good :)

not a fan of the JDM front end anymore, but glad to see someone else rebuilding their car after insurance deems it worthless.
 

crad008

New Member
looks good :)

not a fan of the JDM front end anymore, but glad to see someone else rebuilding their car after insurance deems it worthless.
Yeah, I was a huge fan of the jdm front however every now and then I wish I took a different route, Id love to have just swapped the motor into an ek hatch, but I did what I did and now I am making the best of it. I love the interior and the look of the integra its a fun project to have,

nice time line, is that a scuff on the corner of the bumper already?
ohhhh the scuff, welcome to the world of girls who don't know how to park!!!!
I go to college where parking sucks and I came out from dropping of some paperwork and there where two girls standing by my car I knew it wasn't good so I walked over there and the girl gets in her car and I she rolls down the window and says "I hit your car" I was like "what the hell!?" and then she has the nerve to say "its only the front bumper" I was like "excuse me? only the front bumper!? I just got this painted not even a month ago and you hit it." Let alone she was just going to leave and not write a note or anything. I was lucky I walked out in time.
Well enough of me venting


It was actually the second time I have been hit at school, lets just say she paid out of pocket for it to get fixed
and lets just say it getting fixed meant new suspension. lol.
 


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crad008

New Member
Nice set up. Looks really clean. Yea I would be pissed too if I found mine all scratched too! But clean set up. Bump.
Yeah, I was pissed, your car is sweet (assuming thats the one in the sig, I really want a c/f hood but never bought one.

nice progress on your teg!
do you have any engine mods in mind?
As of right now, no, stock is fine with me, it's healthy and reliable.
Right now my friend is doing a vitari build is his civic ( link click me) so after he is finished that might change my mind
but for now, stock is good, I would rather get all the mods I want done before I do anything.

good work! glad you got to bring it back to life..and then some
Thanks! and there will be more
 

LSiNtegraDB7

I enjoy Integras.
Looks great man. I've always loved that color. :thumbs up
Sucks about those girls hitting it though. When I got rear ended, the girl was like "Oh sorry, at least everyone is ok. Maybe now you can get a better car.." I was thinking, uhm my pride and joy isnt ok, and better? Honda is best! haha.
 
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