Replied :)

I'm going to assume this is where my tach came from hahahaha! You're moving fast man I could learn a thing or 5 from you!

Lolollolol yea man... it is.

so the fd is gone to the body shop. there was a lot of cleaning to do in the engine bay with all that oil and grease and stuff everywhere. i de-trimmed the whole car and pulled all the interior panels. the windshield is coming out to fix the leak it had around the top and to fix some super minor surface rust at the seam towards the bottom. i noticed it when i pulled the wiper cowl off. good thing too... given the opportunity to spread it could of ended up pretty nasty. i looked over the whole car after finding it to make sure there wasnt anymore hiding and fortunately that was the only spot.
Attachment 616149
Attachment 616150

this is going to be the fun part of this project.... refinishing all these panels. every panel in the car actually. i will be using the same stuff i used in my integra. its been ~5 years since i re-did the panels in my integra and its still holding up fine. just as glossy and perfect as it was the day i did it and back then, i didnt properly prep the panels. i just cleaned them with a wipe and got to spraying. this time i have trisodium phosphate, detro "clean" and an adhesion promoter. these panels are going to come out looking day 1 clean. im debating on what color to do the main panels. the driver door trim, gauge face, ac panel and shifter console. i was thinking doing them in the spirit r dark gray but white and tan are also options. the paint also has a picture of an fd on it... i never noticed before.
Attachment 616151
Attachment 616152
Attachment 616153

also making progress on the engine since its completely torn down now. after tapping the holes for the studs, i still have to finish cleaning it then masking it off for paint. also torn on this as well. i was thinking the same silver i did before but also saw some shades of gray i liked. also, the oil filler neck thing came out.... i can put it back in and have it be tight but i dont think it will be making all that great of a seal. is there something i can do about this? i was going to try some silicone or glue to try and seal it but im not sure how that will hold up.
Attachment 616154
Attachment 616155
Attachment 616156

I'll be there with Jeanne courtesy of Dale.

checked on the fd and they pretty much got right to work. found out some history about the past body work... the car was white at one point in its life and has been repainted a few times from what theyre telling me. theres also this rust under the windshield. they will be pulling the glass to fix this. luckily its only surface stuff. the glass was coming out anyway since there is/was a leak in the seal above the steering wheel. its pretty much a win win.
Attachment 616016
Attachment 616017
Attachment 616018
Attachment 616019
Attachment 616020

i also stripped down the engine and charge harness. i was actually thinking about not opening the engine harness. it was in very good shape. it was flexible and not crispy at all. im guessing it was redone at some point recently. the po told me that the "single turbo conversion" was done by just cutting all the old stuff off so i wanted to open it and de-pin the unused wires. since the omp is coming out, i also wanted to do something about that big ass plug. im going to wait until the motor is back in the car to wrap it since i want to route it a little different than it was. same for the charge harness. im also thinking about upgrading the wires in the charge harness to 0 awg since its apart and why not. the AIT was moved to the cold side of the intercooler by the po. im moving it back to stock location and upgrading to the triumph sensor. i opted not to get the jumper harness with it so it came with pins and boots and you have to pin the pins on your own.

i also got started on painting the panels. its going to take a while since the po plasti dipped them so thin that it doesnt want to come off. people are saying to use wd40 but its not doing anything. i left it on a panel overnight and it had no affect. the primer im using works kind of well on making it bubble but then i have to rub it off to remove it. even using a pressure washer isnt working. im trying to find a solution to get this stuff off chemically but am coming up short. theres actual plasti dip remover but its 8$ a can and i dont know how well its going to work. i would rather use a harsh chemical and burn it off. i hate that this stuff exists and that people use it incorrectly. its an aggravating product that i hope goes away.

Attachment 616021
Attachment 616022
Attachment 616023
Attachment 616024
Attachment 616025
Attachment 616026

Good progress. Hopefully they do it right and pull the doors to paint the jambs right away. Much better quality while you already in there!

The doors are coming off. I made sure to tell them to do that. Hatch is coming off as well. Im making sure they do this right and dont cut any corners. For what im paying I would like to see things done properly.

DAMN! I'm happy to see you in the states , whats the ETA on the car ?

Wow man! Looking good so far. Hopefuly we'll both make it to DGRR!

Vince

thanks man. i wish i was back in japan. america is cool and all but its like that family member you would rather love from a distance :lol:

i checked in with the shop today just to see the progress and the body work portion of if will be done this week. i wont be able to check back in with them until friday. they were saying the whole car will be primered at the least by then. so the car should be done by next week i would imagine.the guy working on it is putting a lot of time into it since he told me the only time hes seen an fd was in fast and the furious. hes really excited to be painting it. definitely a good thing to know. i feel hes more likely to do a good/better job with it

thanks man would be cool. not sure what your driving path is but it would be nice to cruise over there with some people. i plan on going out a day or two in advance to do some of the activities there....

so a pretty nice update....

for the past couple weeks since i have been atempting to resotre the interior to be better and nicer than stock. in doing this, i have run into ONE problem and it has made this simple task incredibly expensive and time consuming. the panels were all plasti dipped by the po. for starters, i hated plasti dip from the instant i knew it existed. i hate it, what it stands for and the fact that people think its better than paint. the plasti dip that was used on these panles was used improperly and has become almost impossible to remove. i have searched the internet high and low looking for harsh chemical solutions on how to remove it and all of them failed. all of them. the one thing that did kind of work was using the adhesion promotor i needed for the dye to stick to the panels. the process has become so frustrating its difficult to talk about. just to cut to the chase, the plasti dip kept ruining the process of painting. it would absorb the promotor and turn to goop. then i would have to remove it, clean it then re-apply, just for it to happen again........ and again...... and again. i tried just drowning the panel in the promotor in hope that it would eat through it all so i wouldnt have to constantly repeat the process but that didnt work. in some cases, it wasnt until i actually applied the paint that the dip decided to react. it was hell. i absolutley hate plasti dip and everything about it. stop using it if you dont know what youre doing. i'll be documenting the process from start to finish with the one panel i have left thats getting a color change.

i can go on and on about how much torture it was to get the dip off but lets move on.......

ive dyed a lot of the panels so far and only have a few left with the rear bins being the last thing im going to do. its difficult to capture the finish in pictures but they are super gloss like they were just wiped with armor all. im doing the "cockpit panels" in charcoal. something similar to the spirit r color. i was going to leave it flat but the finish wasnt what i thougt it was going to be. it wouldnt have held up for very long. the gloss isnt bad though. its super smooth and i like it. in the process of trying to get the dip off the gauge hood, i cracked it and was forced to get it wrapped. luckily, the shop around here had a grain of vinyl thats super similar to stock. you can still see the crack a little through it but its not very noticeable. i also decided to use the RZ seats i was saving for my blue fd. i wanted a set of Gias seats but then decided those would be better suited for the blue one. as far as other cool stuff goes, i wrapped the cold side piping in DEI gold foil. actual DEI gold foil. not that knock off gold tape.
Attachment 615560
Attachment 615561
Attachment 615562
Attachment 615563
Attachment 615564
Attachment 615565
Attachment 615566

visiting the car in the body shop and progress is swift. there has been more rust uncovered. they were telling me they found it in more spots around the windsheild outside of the little spots on the bottom. luckily it was all surface and easily fixed. they went over the whole car looking for more that may be hidden and didnt find any. most of the car is primed and body repairs done. next week the car is supposed to be seeing some color. my bumper gets delivered tomorrow so i will be able to see that as well. i went with the "spec r" bumper that shine has. the glass is out for repair and re-seal. im just happy this is getting done right and im going to have a proper car.
Attachment 615553
Attachment 615554
Attachment 615555
Attachment 615556
Attachment 615557
Attachment 615558
Attachment 615559

That last pic literally made me make a sad face, lol. Glad you're taking care of her :-)

so a pretty long update.... as it looks, i dont think i will be making it to DGRR. the body shop has had and will have the car longer than originally planned. they told me 2-3 weeks when i dropped it off and planned for that but when i checked on it last monday its a stage where theres still a lot of work left on it. i dont see me getting it back for another couple weeks unless they put someone exclusively on it. its unfortunate since i am doing all this to be ready for DGRR. i will be checking in again tomorrow to see if they made any progress since last monday.

but aside from that. much progress has been made on everything. ive been spending A LOT of time on these panels and getting them just right. i have deemed it impossible given their plasti-dipped past. i had to settle on "pretty good" after the insane amount of times i had to re-do them. i wanted them to be glossy which is the finish i have but it really highlights the imperfections and the gloss didnt dry well on top of the paint i used. i tried wet sanding but it really only made it worse. i think im going to redo them but leave them flat. i somehow lost the bottom part where the arm rest/ash tray goes. if anyone has then i am in want of one. the passenger door panel came out amazing. its basically perma-gloss. like that "just wiped it with armor all" finish. i will be working on the driver panel this week.
Attachment 614665
Attachment 614666
Attachment 614667

since the arm rest was broken and sealed with 18 screws for some reason i went ahead and made an effort to fix it. a piano hinge was the most logical solution. i tried it a couple different ways before a friend of mine suggested to do it this way. this works so well its insane that this wasnt the original design. of course the fix needs to be polished a little but the function is there. i also removed the swing arm thats normally there to keep it from opening too far. the way its fixed allows it function like normal, fit like normal but open further to allow better access for people using them in LHD cars.
Attachment 614668
Attachment 614669

i got crazy with the DEI tape and started wrapping everything. some things for function and some things just for looks. i wrapped the fuel rail because i could. not for any gains, just because i could. im doing the pulsastion damper delete as well. i removed the injectors and sent them off to injector rx for a clean and flow test. not so surprisingly there wasnt much to improve on.
Attachment 614670
Attachment 614671
Attachment 614672

i also received my rocket bunny diffuser from japan. i was undecided what route i wanted to go with the rear. after seeing this diffuser on a few non rocket bunny FDs, i like the look of it a lot.
Attachment 614673

i decided to get the map pocket lid wrapped in the same vinyl as the gauge hood since i tried to paint it and i was getting same bs as before fighting with the plasti dip. it looks really nice and it opens and closes as it should. i like the way it came out.
Attachment 614653
Attachment 614654

the biggest thing about this that was worried about was getting all the gaskets i needed for reassembly. here in america the prices for gaskets are substantially higher than in japan..... by A LOT. 2-4x the price. definitley not ready to pay that premium. luckily a friend of mine in okinawa hooked it up and sent me over all the gaskets i needed. a little over 10,000Y for everything. im very grateful.
Attachment 614655

next, the motor has got some love as well. went through hell to get the old flywheel nut off as expected. a friend and i had to strap the motor to the gorilla box in the picture and with ~4ft of leverage on the breaker bar, we were able to break it. the box is extremely heavy with all thats in it so it didnt shift with all the force of trying to break the nut. i went ahead and re-torqued the studs since thats a thing to do in this situation. a couple of them were a little loose but not much at all. since i am going with an os giken twin plate, i had to install an AT counterweight and went ahead and put the flywheel assembly on. all torqued to spec of course.
Attachment 614656
Attachment 614657


after that, the motor was masked off for paint. the plan was to do a color other than hyper silver but i couldnt find another color in a high temp paint that didnt look ridiculous. so it came down to being simple. simple and safe. i used 3 coats of high temp primer and 3 coats of the silver. the prep for this was very thorough. i used a pressure washer to clean it along with a few other chemicals and scrubbed until nothing came off. VERY confident this isnt going to flake. i dont have pictures of if painted yet. i just didnt have my camera with me at the time.
Attachment 614658
Attachment 614659
Attachment 614660
Attachment 614661
Attachment 614662
Attachment 614663
Attachment 614664

a lot of cleaning and painting has been done on various engine parts. i plan on painting or wrapping every part that attaches to the engine. im pretty close to finishing and only have a few things left. the uim and lim have been painted and laced with gold. the usdm uim was a lot harder to wrap than the jdm one since it has that thing on it. i think its part of the EGR. same for the lim. it took a lot of time to do them
Attachment 614641
Attachment 614642
Attachment 614643
Attachment 614644
Attachment 614645
Attachment 614646
Attachment 614647
Attachment 614648
Attachment 614649
Attachment 614650
Attachment 614651
Attachment 614652

Attachment 614636
Attachment 614637
Attachment 614638
Attachment 614639
Attachment 614640

i have a lot more going on with a few things that i will detail in the next update when it is done. so far progress has been steady and whenever i get the car back from the body shop, i will be getting it back together faster than i ever thought possible. having a work space that doesnt close or charge by the hour is so great. this week or weekend i will be putting the motor back on the stand and will begin putting it back together starting with the oil pan. this time it will not leak and will be installed correctly.

one more thing i forgot about. the update from the body shop from a few weeks ago. a few of the panels are painted and when i got there to check in they were in the process of painting. it was the same day i went to drop off the bumper. a few things about this bumper though, its nice. really nice. the oil cooler ducts on it are insane. i opted for the carbon canards instead of the frp. with the color its getting painted, all the little carbon accents i have will really go well. moving the bumper from the front office of where i live to the garage was cool. it was almost a perfect fit.
Attachment 614626
Attachment 614627
Attachment 614628
Attachment 614629
Attachment 614630
Attachment 614631
Attachment 614632

Good luck dude! All the work you're putting in looks top notch. I too want to make it to DGRR. My car is running and all that but I won't make the trip with drag radials and I'm a bit too poor at the moment to replace them with the Toyo R888 tires that I want lol

So it will be next year for me!

As for your panels...I am seriously debating whether or not I should dye them. I really want to convert my interior to black but I'm scared it won't be a permanent job and I'll regret it in six month's time.

How are you feeling about your dye job for the time being?

Nick

the thing about the dupli color stuff im using is that its only as good as the prep work. it took ~hour to prep the door panel properly. these panels are going to out last my time owning this car. i used this stuff on my integra 5 years ago and its still holding on my panels and not flaking. just as shiny as the day i did them and the prep work i did on them consisted of wiping them with a couple of those lysol wipes. with these, im using TSP (trisodium phosphate) and an industrial wax and grease remover to clean them along with hot water. these panels are clean enough to eat off of allowing the dye and adhesion promoter to stick like its no ones business.

if the panels in my integra have held strong for the past 5 years with super poor prep work then these should last longer than the moon and stars. keep in mind, i didnt use an adhesion promoter with the integra. i just sprayed the dye on it after wiping it with a lysol wipe. this stuff is permanent with proper prep. if youre on the fence, i say do it. the key is in the prep work

That's awesome dude. You're making me want to do it. Can you list the products by name? If you're having phenomenal results then I'd like to replicate it exactly.

I've cleaned up my drivers panel already with a magic eraser but I'd much prefer a black panel over the tan.

Nick

sure man...

for cleaning:
-TSP (trisodium phosphate) - i ordered 10lbs from a seller on ebay. its a chemical that no one company sells or brands
i used the terry towels from auto zone like a rag to scrub the panels.

-DETRO wax and grease remover (Part# DET1040)
i used the circle cotton pads they sell at autozone to scrub the panels with the detro. they come in 2 packs.

for painting:
see post #37 for the products. dont worry about the clear coat.

process:
pour the tsp into a bucket and fill with hot water. stir it around to dissolve. im not sure what the actual ratio is for tsp-water so i just poured it until i felt like it was enough. you want the water to be super cloudy. use the rag and wipe the hell out of the panels. wipe until your arm hurts. you want to clean the panel to be cleaner than it was when it was made. think of how many years have passed with protectants and other things being rubbed into them. youre goal is to get that out. after you feel you have scrubbed enough then rinse with water. hot or cold, doesnt matter.

next step is to use the detro. you will need the circle pads for this. the detro is like toothpaste in a jar. scoop some out with your finger and use your hand to rub it into the wet panel. it spreads like butter. you dont need to cover the whole panel in it. next, use the wet circle pad to clean the panel again. this is the step that you will see how much crap is still on the panel. the detro will sud and do things that soap does. when youre done cleaning, rinse with hot or cold water.

at this point, you can either repeat the above process with tsp then detro or proceed to paint.

i removed all the parts from panels before i painted them and masked off the plastic part at the top where the window is. you will want to make sure the panel is completely dry and room temperature. it shouldnt be cool/cold to the touch. i let mine dry for a day and sit in my bathroom to acclimate. first step is to spray with the adhesion promoter. you basically want to mist it on. its not paint so you dont want to use it in "coats". spray it on the panel like you would windex on a mirror. do this 2 or 3 times with ~10 min inbetween.

now use the dye. it runs VERY easily so light coats are the key. its VERY difficult to fix a run so its best to just not be in that situation. you will need to do quite a few coats since it absorbs into the vinly. the first 2 or 3 coats will look like you did nothing at all. just keep going and it will being to shine. give about 15 min inbetween.

the end result will look like you just wiped armor all on the panel. that initial wet shine it gives will be the new look when you are done. im having a really hard time capturing the finish with my camera so thats the best explanation of the finish i can give.

Awesome dude! Thank you for the details. I'm going to tackle this in the coming months for sure. I'm tired of tan and I'm ready to go black!

Nick

I have used SEMs brand paint in their "Landau Black" color in the past for painting interior plastics. After drying, the color/finish/appearance is close to factory. The most important step is the prep work and cleaning, as years of ArmorAll and other protectants have built up into the plastics.