Modifications

In this section I shall divide into segments which are modifications that I've carried out.  As I modify I'll update this post.

TINTING

I never really considered doing a tint job on the R, but its mostly due to the $300-$400 price tag as I would much rather spend the amount on mods with more functionality.  However, today after a picnic trip, I was alerted by my mate that there was tinting deal on www.grabone.co.nz.

Funny thing was, a month or two earlier, I missed out on a tinting deal on one of those one-day-deal websites that went for $150 for a full tint job.  I was discussing it with my mate yesterday while we were parts hunting for his car and today a Night Rider tint job was being offered at $180 which I thought was a reasonably good deal.  So I decided to purchase the service and will have the R tinted.  I brought it in and 4 hours later here are the results!

Before:

After:

Happy with the results!

PEDALS

Now, last night, the ricer in me wanted to decorate the R a bit.  The pedals were starting to wear and I wanted to preserve the pedal rubbers as much as I can so I decided to get a pedal kit (making excuses to go and spend haha).

I was looking online and came across some Momo's and a Razo pedal kits.  I wanted either a silver/black or a red/black theme to compliment the colour of the car.  I always liked the Momo R3000 as it's flamboyant and striking but not sure whether I could pull off that look.  Saw one online for 50 bucks so decided to grab it.  But somehow, whether through impulse or genius, I found a set of Razo pedals and bought it right away as well.  Razo's are kinda uncommon over here so maybe that was one of the things that drove me to purchase it right away.  Anyways, this is what I bought:

Momo and Razo

I was a bit disappointed with the Momo's quality but then again I may have been deceived a bit by the shop that sold the item.  Nonetheless, it's not too bad, so decided to keep the Razo's for a later time and use the Momo's for now.

Optimism Dashed

So there I set out gleefully ready to install the kit.  It's the type that needed drilling so had to remove the rubber covers.  While test fitting the pedals I found that the pedals had a substantial amount of curvature while the pedals were inflexible.  Therefore it wouldn't fit properly.  So I decided to scrap this set and turn to the Razos.  Low and behold, they were a strap-on kit! This is great since I can just fit them over the stock pedals without much hassle.  The build quality on the Razo's were far better too and at 30 bucks, I'm chuffed at the score!

Lucky Score

The only hard part is that the instructions were in Japanese lol.  But with some squinting and head scratching, eventually got around to it :D

ZOMG 

After some stubborn nuts and bolts, cursing, and good music, eventually got it done.  Here are the results:

Finished Close-Up

I think it looks subtle and decent, and great part is that the parts were flexible too so I couldn't ask for a better fitment as it's tops.  And I was also able to continue the JDM theme here by using this set.  Now this will have to satisfy me for a little while until the tints in May, and the Teins tidy up, installation and cert in June.  I shall update those posts when they are completed!

Subtle Look

As for the Momo's, I'll keep them for another project (possibly an eg Civic build as I love that model) I will have line up after I graduate in the next 3 years.  Well that's it for now folks catch you later!








WHEELS

Now that most of the important servicing are done, can now start with the modifying.  Would like to start with a bit of cosmetic enhancement, and like many others, decided to change the mags.  Now I'm not a G-Unit rapper so no chromies for homies.  Want to keep it authentic to the JDM trend so most, if not all, mods will be using Japanese branded parts.  

Now I realised that there is the new-ish "Hella-flush" and "VIP" trend going on the past few years with the deep dish/polished wheels slammed so hard that the ride is barely functional like this:

lolwtfbbq

So no to that haha the R wouldn't last very long if I drove it with this insane height especially in the the very hilly and humpy roads here.  I am more drawn to a more track-inspired look where the car is low and wheels look racy and are actually functional.  Here is a picture where I draw inspiration from and hope to achieve in a similar state with the R:

The Inspiration

Minus the GT Wing of course as I actually like the factory spoiler so that stays.  So yeah, wheels I prefer to be bronze, not heavy, and a simple design.  Volk C28N's would be awesome but that's a bit over the budget for now (1-2k omg).  Have about 800ish to burn so upon looking at Trade Me, I found a nice set of 17X7" Buddy Club P1 racing wheels which were exactly what I was looking for!  

Buddy Club P1 Racing Wheels

Excuse the picture as I lost the actual auction picture but this is an example of the wheels (but in 5x114.3 stud pattern instead).  Was selling at $799 which was within the budget so I contacted the seller and went to his place to have a look at the mags.  I managed to score it for $600 with a bit of small talk and charm lol but yup stoked as it was a good deal as the condition was pretty good with only minor curbing and best of all, it was pretty light.  After a month, I went and picked up a set of tyres and put these bad boys on the R.

Finished Product

So these are the results. Not too bad! Quite like 'em but one thing is missing though.  At +43 offset it fits nice and snug can't wait to see it in full form when it is lowered.






SUSPENSION

Suspension time! For the guide on installing the suspension, please go to the Maintenance 101 section :)  I spotted some Tein Super Street adjustable suspension for sale in the forums I frequent last June. Quickly contacted the guy and bought it on the spot for $640.  While the external condition isn't the best with some rust patches, but importantly, there were no leaks or cracks which was great.  After a few months of slacking off and pure laziness, I finally got my butt off the ground and got the Teins painted.  All up costed $104 at Autolign.  Here is a picture of the Teins before:

Here is a picture of the Teins all glammed up:

Teins all painted!

I know I wanted to change the springs right away but I decided, why not? Just give it a go and maybe it wouldn't be as low as I made it out to be.  Here were the results:

Okay so it didn't go as I had hoped.  It was really low in the back to the point half of the rear tyre was inside the rear guards!  Plus another thing is it was also on near the highest setting so can't get it much higher than this! So I went to Autolign again this time to swap the springs over.  These are the results:

Drives heaps better! However, please excuse the crappy pictures it's been raining here so I just took some pictures in the garage.

GRILL


For those that follow my blog will know I've purchased a Mugen style grill recently.  Was painted grey prior as shown:

Mugen grill at the start

Found that I'll need to make a few modifications to make it fit mainly drilling holes to put securing nuts on.  Then putting a mesh to suit.  Here are the things you'll need:

- 1x Can of primer

- 1x Can of paint colour of choice

- 1x Can/bottle of paint stripper

- 1x Small piece of mesh to suit the grill

- 1x Paint brush for the paint stripper application

- 1x Spatula to scrape the old paint off

- 1x Drill and appropriate sized drill bit

- 2x Securing pin/bolt

- 4x (approximate) 220 grit sandpaper

- Bunch of old newspapers to keep things clean

First thing and most tedious is the paint stripping process.  Apply evenly on the paint and allow to react with the paint.  You'll start to see the paint krinkle and fold.  Don't wait too long or the paint will dry up again of which you'll need to apply anther coat of stripper.  Note please be careful with the stripper! It can severely irritate skin and may cause loss of eyesight should the stripper should find its way to your eyes! So be careful, wear eye protection and even gloves to ensure you don't get hurt.

After applying the stripper and giving it some time to react, use the spatula to scrape the paint off.

After a decent amount of paint has been scraped off, allow to dry then you may commence sanding.  Sand down the surface until smooth.  As such, this will be the most time consuming process.

Once done, it should look something like this:

Afterwards, if you're happy with the surface, you may start applying the primer.  I applied 4 coats every 30 minutes and waited for 2 hours to dry after.

Then before I proceeded with the actual paint, I measured the grill mesh and cut accordingly to the shape of the grill.  Afterwards I measured where to drill a hole on each side to secure it on the bumper.

Then I proceeded to paint the grill matte black.  Applied 4 coats every 30 minutes and allowed to dry for 2 hours after.  Then to put the mesh and badge back on the grill, I used the 3M velcro straps which seems to be pretty secure.  Here's the result:

Afterwards, had it installed!

Grill is secured with 2 securing pins with some velcros as well :P

The end product!

Carbon Bonnet and Boot

Been a while.  But it's finally here! Bonnet and boot have arrived and eager to put them in :) First off, Installing the bonnet is very simple and straight forward.  Check the picture below:

Water nozzle feed

Bonnet

 Circled/highlighted in the pictures above, remove the bolts (left and right will have 2 each), nozzle and feed, then the bonnet should come straight off. Do bring someone to help ya take the bonnet off as it is heavy.

However after putting the bonnet back, I noticed a 10mm clearance between the bonnet and the guard:

Not sitting flush

So the way to alleviate this is to adjust the hinges and the bonnet latch.  For the hinge connecting on the chassis, loosen the bolts (2x) and the hinge should slide back and forth.  For my case, I adjusted it as well as the hinge connecting to the bonnet (I slightly drilled the hole more to slide the bonnet a bit further). The next way to adjust a bonnet is adjust the hood latch:

Bonnet latch

The latch should have 3 bolts to hold it in place.  You may need to remove the grille to get access to the bolts.  Loosen the 3 bolts and it will be able to slide up and down as well.  All you need to do is to adjust to suit. :)

Next up is the boot.  This will be a little harder to do as electrics are involved.  First off, because Euro R boots have the boot release feature, there'll be a motor on the boot.  Disconnect any wiring connected to the boot release motor pictured below then remove the latch motor itself (secured by 2 screws).

Boot latch motor

Next is to remove all the wiring connected within the boot. First, remove all bulb wiring from their light sockets/mounts.  The garnish lights have 2 bulb wirings each and there will also be 2 number plate lights which you'll need to remove.  Work your way around and you'll find that all the wiring is clustered together neatly.  There will be a big hole which you can see where the wiring will run through to the front.  Just slide it off and out then your boot will be free of any wiring.

Next up is to remove the garnish lights which are secured by 3 bolts each as highlighted on the picture below:

Bolts securing garnish lights

Then after you just need to remove the bolts holding the boot Then off goes the boot!

Boot hinge bolts

All you need to do is reverse the process and you can replace your boot!

Just a heads up for those wanting to do an Accord CF4 to CL1 boot conversion or vice versa, all you need to replace are the boot garnish lights (tail lights are optional but does look odd with CF4 lights), and the boot itself.  My boot was made for CF4 Accords so I had to go through this.

Here are 2 photos highlighting CL1 and CF4 garnish lights:

CL1 garnish lights (slightly longer)

CF4 garnish lights (shorter)

Wiring-wise, the bulb plugs should directly fit on the designated sockets.  However, for those who are planning to change the tail lights as well, you will have to switch the wiring around as CL1 and CF4 brake light and indicator lights are opposite.  All you need to do is flip the wiring and bulbs around then you'll be sweet!

Here are the results:

Intake


Next up I finally ordered the intake and it arrived not too long after.  Was super happy with it:

After class, I quickly shot up to Repco to grab a silicone joiner.  Eventually got a 3" straight joiner to fit the intake pipe with the closed air intake (CAI) kit from K&N.

First off, to clear off some space, had to remove the strut brace then remove the stock filter housing.  Only two bolts to remove and it pops off:

Afterwards, to remove the resonator box, you'll have to remove the front bumper:

To remove, there are 2X bolts on the top next to the grill mount, 5X bolts on the bottom, 2X clip bolts on the side and 2X small bolts under the fenders.  After all is out, just pop the bumper off (there are 2 clips on the fenders near the small bolts).

Next up is to remove the resonator box.  There are two bolts to undo.  One in front and one in a very awkward area right behind the resonator (you may need to push the stone chip wheel covers to see it).  The it pretty much pops off as well.

 
After this, I decided to remove the stock intake pipe which is just held by the bracket fastener by the throttle body.  And this should pop right off after loosening the fastener with a flat head screw.

It will then look like this:

You will need to flip some pipes around but not too hard plus it'll all get cleaned up once I do the coolant bypass mod in a few weeks.  Then it's pretty much a reverse process.  Connect the intake pipe to the throttle body via silicon joiner:

Then FML it didn't fit! So had to modify it a little and had to rush and get a 90 degree silicone joiner instead. I cut about an inch off the bottom to lower the intake pipe and voila!

So that's it, then pretty much just re-install bumper and put back the strut brace then done! Here's a before and after pic:

Before

After

Heaps more responsive now after the intake install especially with the pipe that feeds cold air from the bumper.  Can't wait for the exhaust and tune!

That's it for now folks, hope this was helpful, in a few weeks hopefully it'll finally be the exhaust's turn! Stay tuned!