'95 Paradise Blue Green Pearl VTi

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'95 Paradise Blue Green Pearl VTi

Postby Car3stash » Sat Apr 18, 2015 11:34 am

After I wrote my introduction I was asked to start a build thread so here we go. :) WARNING, long text with many big pictures!
I would like to go in chronological order if I may.

So I bought the car in the middle of January from a German gentleman. Gentleman because he was over 40. In fact, the car had 3 owners, first owner in 1995 was a lady who was born in '65, sold to a guy who was born in '55 (!) and now this guy who was a real Honda enthusiast just like me. Here is a picture of what he had hidden in his garage :)
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I had to drive over 2200 kms combined and invest my whole weekend but it was definitely worth it. I went for a test drive and the car was amazing except one little thing but I'll touch on that later. It was like 99.9% perfect :) Anyways, I took my wheels there because the guy had 17 inches on and was asking 700 euros less without them...In my opinion they are enormous for a del Sol and I had black OEM EK VTi wheels which I like a lot. After we put them on we were ready for the ride back.
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We had to stop in Slovakia where I work because I left some of my stuff there.
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After I got home the car was standing in the garage till the mid of March because I still had an EG4 I had to sell in order to transfer the Insurance bonus levels I had earned to the del Sol and still had to get some money to pay the import fees because they are quite high.
Engine bay.
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Interior. (I know it's dirty but I didn't have floor mats at the time.)
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My lovely seats...I love the redesign.
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Before passing the technical :)
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Parts waiting to be installed. Thanks for my girlfriend who bought these home in her bag from the US :D
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I had brand new OEM mud guards, ITR replica shift knob, orange corner lights (indicators? not sure which is more British :P), and I ordered floor mats with green sides and a little del Sol logo on the outside of the mats :)
First time driving back to work with the car with valid Hungarian license plate :P
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And I cleaned up the interior too haha
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Here is a back shot too so I don't only show the front.
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Ordered new tires and they are freaking amazing !
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During oil changes
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I put in new PSF, MTF-3, and Eneos Premium 10w40.

Shot from down under.
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Car was never ever used during winter which I'll also stick to :)

Now, lets write some specs. It's a bone stock B16A2, never was disassembled and only has 200k kilometers which is not a lot at all from a 20 year old car. I also have service history up to 187k kms!

I only have an aftermarket muffler which I like how it sounds because it's not loud whatsoever so I clearly hear the engine above VTEC, amazing! However, I'm going to replace it because I don't like the dual tip I think it's ugly as hell.

Exterior wise, the only body part that was repainted was the driver side door, everything else is still the original paint with original values 100-110 micron. On the fenders in the arches it's a little bit more but not too serious 130 microns but it's because of rusting probably.

All electronics work, except my power door locks :lol: :oops: but I'm getting a new driver side lock this afternoon actually. Oh and it's a manual roof version. We really didn't get many with transtop and even less VTis...I had a red VTi from `93 for about a month (long story) and the roof wasn't working so I told myself I don't even need transtop, it's just 70 extra kgs or something plus if it breaks it's a pain in the ass.

I have aftermarket suspension under my car. I'm running on Koni Sports with Eibach Pro-Kit springs. Sometimes, if I don't pay attention on huge speed bumps the catalyst scratches the bottom but it hasn't happened many times. As you could see, I also just ordered Bridgestone Potenza Adrenaline RE002s so overall, it's a great driving experience when someone is hunting down the corners :P

Issues I have with the car:
  • Power steering is making a weird noise, although, working perfectly (I opened a separate thread for this before)

  • Power door locks don't work but it's being fixed
  • When the weather and the engine is warm my clutch is making a squeky noise. It's horribly loud sometimes. Noise only comes on when I push in the pedal. No, it's not the clutch master or slave cylinders, it's coming from inside the clutch. As far as my research goes about this problem, I might have to get a new clutch plate

Short term plans:
  • I would like to get a spoon replica lip like "hoppi05" user has here. Senpai pls where did you get yours from :mrgreen: ?
  • Get a remote keyless entry system
  • Get a new muffler - any suggestions?!
  • If I have to replace the clutch plate I might as well get a new clutch kit which would also be an upgrade to the OEM. I'm looking at Exedy Stage 1
  • Have my power steering checked out and replaced whatever needs to be replaced if anything to get rid of the noise
  • Put the OEM white indicators back :lol: I realized I don't like these oranges as much

That's about it so far :) I hope you enjoyed reading this post because I enjoyed writing it.

Cheers!
Last edited by Car3stash on Tue Apr 21, 2015 9:30 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: '95 Paradise Blue Green Pearl VTi

Postby Car3stash » Sat Apr 18, 2015 11:50 am

oh God, I forgot my so far favorite pictures taken by my friend!

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Re: '95 Paradise Blue Green Pearl VTi

Postby gwhoo4t » Sat Apr 18, 2015 4:10 pm

That looks really lovely!! 8)

Could the squeal on your clutch be just the release bearing, rather than the clutch itself?

I replaced all four tyres on mine not that long ago. Went for Yokohama's, and it absolutely transformed the car. It's so much nicer to drive.

Gaz
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Re: '95 Paradise Blue Green Pearl VTi

Postby Car3stash » Sun Apr 19, 2015 9:05 am

gwhoo4t wrote:That looks really lovely!! 8)

Could the squeal on your clutch be just the release bearing, rather than the clutch itself?

I replaced all four tyres on mine not that long ago. Went for Yokohama's, and it absolutely transformed the car. It's so much nicer to drive.

Gaz


Thank you sir!

No, it can't be the release bearing because if that was the case the sound would go away only when I push the pedal in. It sounds like some spring/rubber is not lubricated enough and that makes a high-pitched squeaky noise. But again, this only happens when the engine is at operating temperature and the weather is also warm...when I was driving home and it was around under 5 celsius I did not hear this sound...

Yeah man, new tyres can transform a car. IMO, they are the most important since they are in contact with the road that's why I was willing to spend quite a lot of money on these.

And my girlfriend just sent me this photo, some accessories/parts she ordered for me arrived :)

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Re: '95 Paradise Blue Green Pearl VTi

Postby gwhoo4t » Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:14 am

Fair point about the release bearing. Odd that it's affected by ambient temperature.

I like your girlfriend! :D

G
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Re: '95 Paradise Blue Green Pearl VTi

Postby Car3stash » Thu Jun 11, 2015 2:34 pm

I have had the chance to work on the car in the last couple of weeks so I am here with some updates. 


First off, I had to check my right front brake calipers because I had guessed they were seized. during hard breaking the car was pulling to the left as if the right brake wouldn't be working properly. 
And sure enough the piston was damaged so I needed to replace that. 

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While there I also saw that my pads and discs were also quite worn so I have ordered EBC Standards Premium discs with YellowStuff pads for both front and back so I'm excited to have those put on. They should be coming in next week. 

I also put my OEM indicators back they indeed look much better than the full orange ones. 
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Next up, I wanted to check why my driver side window was not operating smoothly. 
I found out that the glass was not staying in the tracker because that small piece on the bottom left side of the glass that keeps it in the tracker was coming off the glass and therefore it couldn't keep it in the tracker. 
It was a simple fix though, I just went to a body shop and they glued it back for me for free and it's still working fine since then. Here is a picture so you know what I'm talking about. 
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After I worked with/installed the accessories that my girlfriend brought from the US. 
I put on my "delSol" sticker and I just love it there. 
Back of my car before: 
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After: 
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She also bought me a couple panel lining clips because I broke mine on the left side while I was taking the panel off so I needed that and some extras in case they break again. I didnt take picture of those though but they are there now at least :D 

Last thing I did was treating the front and rear pillar seals and side roof seals with Sin Etsu grease and oh my god do they make a difference! Whenever I was going on bumpy roads my roof was making this squeaky sounds like the rubber was dried out but since the treatment they are silent. It should also lengthen the lives of my seals. I can only recommend it. 
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In order to tackle my clutch noise/problem that I mentioned in my main post, I ordered an Exedy Stage 1 set which already came in. 
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It's not installed yet though, I'll do it next Friday. I'm expecting this to be a great clutch based on numerous reviews and it can hold up to 300 HP/NM according to Exedy so I shouldn't be worried if I get to a track day or two or I install a mild turbo kit. 

Oh, I replaced my power door lock actuator and had a keyless entry alarm system installed so I sleep better over nights now. Thanks to my dad for that, it was a late nameday present of mine.
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Re: '95 Paradise Blue Green Pearl VTi

Postby Car3stash » Mon Nov 30, 2015 5:12 pm

Oh god, I haven't written here for a while so let's catch up to where we are now.

My EBC brakes, I mentioned in my previous post, came in as expected and I installed them right away. They are really great.

I also installed my clutch which is also working wonderfully, however, it didn't solve my problem which was that it's sometimes - okay, most of the time - hard to put in first gear. I assume the synchro might be going out.
This is extremely unpleasant since I drove the car a lot in the city. I can bypass this but putting it into 2nd and then 1st, then it gets in no problem, it just annoys me that it's not perfect and it won't be getting better either.
I might look for an S80 or an S9B transmission. I think it wouldn't cost more to buy one of these than buying a new first synchro from Honda...

Now, I have the car sitting in my garage waiting for Spring to come :)

I got brand new OEM rear bushings waiting to be installed before next season, and I just today ordered new Eibach Pro-Kit springs, the 30 mm ones.

I have these on the car right now but they must be worn or something because my car is sitting really low, too low for my taste. Much lower than solman's EG2 and he has the same springs...So I'm hoping the new springs will raise the chassis. If not I'll just sell them with my Konis and get coilovers.

I'll also take my PS pump apart and replace the seals and rings and whatever I can because it's making a squealing noise. I can't hear it from inside but my god is it annoying from outside at idle.
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Re: '95 Paradise Blue Green Pearl VTi

Postby solman » Mon Nov 30, 2015 9:10 pm

My car isn't going anywhere for a while now, I will turn it over and run it up and down the block to stop the calipers seizing or the tyres going bad. I'd love to have a pit to work on the car, jacking it up and sliding underneath is a right ballache.

Those eibachs will sort it out a treat ;)
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Re: '95 Paradise Blue Green Pearl VTi

Postby Car3stash » Tue Dec 01, 2015 9:17 am

solman wrote:My car isn't going anywhere for a while now, I will turn it over and run it up and down the block to stop the calipers seizing or the tyres going bad. I'd love to have a pit to work on the car, jacking it up and sliding underneath is a right ballache.

Those eibachs will sort it out a treat ;)



Yes, it's not good if the car just stands for months. I'm going home this weekend and I'll drive it around a little to make sure everything will be alright when take it out in 2016.

I don't have a pit at home but there is one in my grandparents garage and it's indeed very useful for certain jobs. Not sure what you mean by "right ballache" :oops: :roll:

I'll definitely make and post before/after pictures when I get to that point. :)
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Re: '95 Paradise Blue Green Pearl VTi

Postby Car3stash » Fri Aug 26, 2016 12:55 pm

Here I come with some updates and pictures.

Let's start with a nice picture of the booty.
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I did replace all bushings as planned, most of them were still in a good condition except my rear toe adjuster bushings, those were totally shot. Due to that I actually notice the car handles even better after alignment. It runs really smooth I love it. :)

While I was replacing my bushings I also put in my new Eibach Pro-Kit springs. As I said I thought my old set was worn that's why my front was sitting really low but turns out these springs don't hold the heavier EG2 front quite as high as they do with the EH6 front paired with Koni Yellows. Oh well...solution will be carried out during winter. See end of this post.

Also rebuilt my PS pump which was working well to begin with but made a strange voice I thought that new parts would make this go away but that's unfortunately not the case. For now on, I leave it as it is, I have no clue what the problem is there.

Now, I go onto a really unfortunate event. 2 weeks ago I was driving to a swim meet, my first one in 2,5 years and I hit a deer at night. I had no chance to avoid it, it was 11 pm at night and it was running through the road at full speed. I was driving at around 100-110 km/h and managed to brake down to 50-60 km/h in like 2-3 seconds from noticing to impact. I would say that's pretty good, thanks EBC yellowstuff :pray: After all that, this was the result...
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I think I was lucky. Only parts I needed to buy were a new blinker and the fender. Headlight untouched, front bumper the same. My door got dented in a little but that's easy to fix.

Getting a new fender was tricky, I got one but after it arrived and they tried it on I was told this had already been fixed before and not well...so I quickly got another one which is perfect. Comparison picture of bad vs good.
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And the intact fender itself.
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While I was at the body shop, they had my side skirt taken off and I saw I would have things to do during winter when I'm not using the car. There is some rust started to develop in the front side of the rear quarter panel, probably both sides, it doesn't seem that bad yet but I definitely want this sorted out.

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Unfortunately the Spoon rep front lip cannot be modified (or so I was told, it's polyurethane) so I'm gonna have to buy a Mugen one that's being sold specifically for del Sols I guess...But I'll do that after I have extra grooves made in my front shocks because currently it's too low for a front lip and after I got this idea I read about it and apparently people have been doing this for a while. I think that will be it for the next season exterior wise.
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