Ted's Owner
On to Integra number two!
Painted hatch cover installed. I took it out again because it still smells badly of paint. I'll probably put it back in tomorrow.
Ted's Owner is back in the Honda game -- Nick's '95 Integra LS hatchback
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Ted's Owner
On to Integra number two!
It was a busy day on the Integra today.
I got a bunch of my stuff in the mail. I'm STILL waiting on the Optima Batteries decal I ordered forever ago, but the rest of my stuff came in.
I started with the spark plugs. The spark plugs I ordered were for a '99-'00 Civic Si. I ordered these specifically because they had a 6 heat range, which I preferred over the 5 heat range the aftermarket had for my car. They were pre-gapped to .052", so I re-gapped them to .040". They made a huge difference.
Here's my old plugs.
Then, I took the hood off. You'll see why in a minute.
I also drove to Dollar General without the hood on the car. The looks I got were priceless!
I took the hood off so I could do this:
And this:
And here's the finished product.
Painting the hood the way I did used about a half a can of Dupli-Color Metalcast ground coat, about an eighth of a can of Dupli-Color filler primer, a full can of Dupli-Color Metalcast red anodized, four cap fulls of some generic gloss red paint (splatter painting), and about two rolls of painter's tape. Before I painted it, I washed out the indentations that I was going to paint with Windex and a microfiber car wash mitt, then Goo Gone and paper towels, then Windex and the microfiber car wash mitt again, and then just paper towels. Then, I sanded it with a sanding block (not sure what grit; I've had it forever, lol.), wiped it off wiith paper towels, then I started taping it off, painting, etc.
The whole process took me about 4-hours and cost me between $40-$50.
I got a bunch of my stuff in the mail. I'm STILL waiting on the Optima Batteries decal I ordered forever ago, but the rest of my stuff came in.
I started with the spark plugs. The spark plugs I ordered were for a '99-'00 Civic Si. I ordered these specifically because they had a 6 heat range, which I preferred over the 5 heat range the aftermarket had for my car. They were pre-gapped to .052", so I re-gapped them to .040". They made a huge difference.
Here's my old plugs.
Then, I took the hood off. You'll see why in a minute.
I also drove to Dollar General without the hood on the car. The looks I got were priceless!
I took the hood off so I could do this:
And this:
And here's the finished product.
Painting the hood the way I did used about a half a can of Dupli-Color Metalcast ground coat, about an eighth of a can of Dupli-Color filler primer, a full can of Dupli-Color Metalcast red anodized, four cap fulls of some generic gloss red paint (splatter painting), and about two rolls of painter's tape. Before I painted it, I washed out the indentations that I was going to paint with Windex and a microfiber car wash mitt, then Goo Gone and paper towels, then Windex and the microfiber car wash mitt again, and then just paper towels. Then, I sanded it with a sanding block (not sure what grit; I've had it forever, lol.), wiped it off wiith paper towels, then I started taping it off, painting, etc.
The whole process took me about 4-hours and cost me between $40-$50.
MiketheDyke
My job is clean toilets
The hood paint turned out really good. It matches the car well.
Sended from my phone
Sended from my phone
Ted's Owner
On to Integra number two!
8)
Thanks!
When I went outside to get the close up picture, it was quite apparent that the heat messed with the paint, because it doesn't look nearly as good as it did yesterday. I may re-do it with VHT FlameProof eventually.
Also, my Optima Batteries decal FINALLY came in.
Ted's Owner
On to Integra number two!
Today was not a good day for Alice. I went to a car meet tonight and I found out the hard way that part of my valve cover gasket was missing. I found this out when a friend spotted it. Someone wanted to hear my intake, so I gave it a little bit of gas, and when I did, a puff of smoke came out of the corner of the valve cover. I know it was oil because it smelled like it. So, when I got home, I filled the gap with some RTV blue silicone until I get paid and can get a valve cover gasket. I topped the oil off when I got home and will be keeping an eye on it this week until the new valve cover gasket is on.
Also, on the way home, I got stopped at a checkpoint and my car climbed about to the 3/4 mark on the temp gauge. I turned on the a/c switch and put the air on the first notch to kick the fans on and it cooled down, so I'm thinking I might have a thermostat on it's way out and/or a faulty fan temp switch. So, I'll be replacing those, also.
The plan now is to get the vc gasket, spark plug tube seals, vc hardware, a pcv valve (cheap insurance), new pcv valve line (current one has a kink in it; is that a vacuum line or fuel line?), a new thermostat, and a new fan temp switch when I get paid. I'll also be picking up some VHT FlameProof so I can re-do my hood and spray my vc when it's off.
I'm hoping to get my cv axles installed tomorrow. I've never done axles before, so wish me luck!
Also, on the way home, I got stopped at a checkpoint and my car climbed about to the 3/4 mark on the temp gauge. I turned on the a/c switch and put the air on the first notch to kick the fans on and it cooled down, so I'm thinking I might have a thermostat on it's way out and/or a faulty fan temp switch. So, I'll be replacing those, also.
The plan now is to get the vc gasket, spark plug tube seals, vc hardware, a pcv valve (cheap insurance), new pcv valve line (current one has a kink in it; is that a vacuum line or fuel line?), a new thermostat, and a new fan temp switch when I get paid. I'll also be picking up some VHT FlameProof so I can re-do my hood and spray my vc when it's off.
I'm hoping to get my cv axles installed tomorrow. I've never done axles before, so wish me luck!
MiketheDyke
My job is clean toilets
Good luck man. I hope you get all those fixed soon!
Sended from my phone
Sended from my phone
Ted's Owner
On to Integra number two!
I'm hoping so, too. I get paid this coming Thursday. I'm hoping I have enough to cover everything. We've had hour cuts, so instead of working 30-40 hours/week I've been working 20-30 hours/week the past two weeks.
Ted's Owner
On to Integra number two!
Well, crap. I started looking up parts so I could get the general idea of how much it'd run me, and I can't find the fan temp switch. If I can't find it, I'll do what I CAN find and hopefully that'll fix the problem. If not, then I'll continue to try and track down the switch and I'll just use my A/C switch as the fan on/off switch in the meantime.
Ted's Owner
On to Integra number two!
No I didn't. I checked the OEM Acura Parts websites and no luck.
Well, things keep getting worse.
Yesterday, I went to change out my axles. I got the driver's side taken apart down to the ball joint. It got to the point where I stripped the threads on the bottom of the ball joint, so then I needed a new ball joint. I went and got my dad and he came out to help. We got the ball joint out, went to Advance and got two new ones (one for each side, just in case), then came back and started messing with the axle. We spent a good three to four hours trying to get the axle out, and we didn't have any luck. We may have also messed up a bearing in the process. We haven't figured that out yet. So, it resulted in us putting the new ball joint in (that wasn't messed up when we started) and putting the broken axle back. I went to test drive it and it's not running right.
Full day wasted.
Ted's Owner
On to Integra number two!
Update:
My dad and I jacked the car up again and listened to it with the rear wheels chocked and the car spinning the front tires in drive at idle. We then took the car for a test drive.
It turns out that something wasn't seated correctly, and everything is fine for now until I can get it fixed properly. He also told me that it'd be a good idea to replace my rack and pinion boots as they are shot. He informed me that my driver's side front tire is slightly out of round (not a big deal) as well.
Plus, my front brake rotors are warped, so I'm feeling that instead of playing around with stuff, i'm going to get my axles replaced my passenger's side lower ball joint replaced (did the driver's side yesterday), then I'm going to do the valve cover gasket, spark plug tube seals, valve cover gasket hardware, a new pcv valve, and then I may go ahead and do the front brakes.
This will probably be spread out over a little bit of time as my hours haven't been as good at work as they have been lately.
My dad and I jacked the car up again and listened to it with the rear wheels chocked and the car spinning the front tires in drive at idle. We then took the car for a test drive.
It turns out that something wasn't seated correctly, and everything is fine for now until I can get it fixed properly. He also told me that it'd be a good idea to replace my rack and pinion boots as they are shot. He informed me that my driver's side front tire is slightly out of round (not a big deal) as well.
Plus, my front brake rotors are warped, so I'm feeling that instead of playing around with stuff, i'm going to get my axles replaced my passenger's side lower ball joint replaced (did the driver's side yesterday), then I'm going to do the valve cover gasket, spark plug tube seals, valve cover gasket hardware, a new pcv valve, and then I may go ahead and do the front brakes.
This will probably be spread out over a little bit of time as my hours haven't been as good at work as they have been lately.