TX4runner
Well-known member
Nice work. Ditto the blue cabinets looking great. Now the 2 on the left need a coat of blue paint to match the rest.
Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT Colin's Small Suburban Double 17'x19'x8'
- Thread starter Colin Len
- Start date
Workspaces sized between 265 and 485 squarefeet.
Haven't been doing much TO the garage but have been getting a little work done IN/AROUND the garage. A while back I had an idea to put some pavers in the back yard in various spots. I was going to do this in a fairly ghetto fashion but as I'm known to do things didn't work out that way. So of course I had to get the necessary road base, tamper, and sand. There are 4 areas that are gonna get pavers and so far I've excavated 3 of the 4 and laid the pavers in 2 of the 4. Going pretty well so far considering this is my first time, I don't necessarily have the right tools and I'm often short on time.
This area is right in front of the side door for the garage and used to be grass. I hated that I couldn't walk directly out of the door and around to the back of the garage and stay on pavement. Plus, I want to get rid of as much grass as possible on this property as it's a waste of water and a hassle to maintain. Excavated and road base in place.
Add sand and level
Pavers laid. I will probably want to top with sand again to try and get more down between the cracks but so far it's working out pretty well.
The second area is around a planter box I built for our herbs
Up next is the area directly around our vegetable planters. So far I'm probably 30% done with this area. It's been a few weeks since I've had time to put in any more work but I picked up another 1000lbs of sand and am ready to get back to work this weekend.
Last weekend was my birthday and fathers day so I flew up to SF to spend the weekend with my brother and father. Decided to take Monday off work - had a "me" day to finally put a little work in on my Integra. This project is moving along at a snails pace - it's been 3.5yrs since the accident and 3-4 months since I got it back from paint.
Spent the day working on the rear of the car - hatch, tail lights, bumper, fuel lid...etc.
Almost every part I would like to have for the reassembly of this car has now been discontinued
But luckily some stuff was still available. It's the little things that make a big impact IMO.
New fuel sticker for inside the gas lid
This is one of the bulb covers for the license plate lights. Left side was cleaned/scrubbed with simple green. Right side was cleaned/polished with Meguires plastic cleaner/polish. What a world of difference!
Car looks like an actual car again from the rear!
Had this gal keepin' me company while I worked
This area is right in front of the side door for the garage and used to be grass. I hated that I couldn't walk directly out of the door and around to the back of the garage and stay on pavement. Plus, I want to get rid of as much grass as possible on this property as it's a waste of water and a hassle to maintain. Excavated and road base in place.
Add sand and level
Pavers laid. I will probably want to top with sand again to try and get more down between the cracks but so far it's working out pretty well.
The second area is around a planter box I built for our herbs
Up next is the area directly around our vegetable planters. So far I'm probably 30% done with this area. It's been a few weeks since I've had time to put in any more work but I picked up another 1000lbs of sand and am ready to get back to work this weekend.
Last weekend was my birthday and fathers day so I flew up to SF to spend the weekend with my brother and father. Decided to take Monday off work - had a "me" day to finally put a little work in on my Integra. This project is moving along at a snails pace - it's been 3.5yrs since the accident and 3-4 months since I got it back from paint.
Spent the day working on the rear of the car - hatch, tail lights, bumper, fuel lid...etc.
Almost every part I would like to have for the reassembly of this car has now been discontinued
But luckily some stuff was still available. It's the little things that make a big impact IMO.New fuel sticker for inside the gas lid
This is one of the bulb covers for the license plate lights. Left side was cleaned/scrubbed with simple green. Right side was cleaned/polished with Meguires plastic cleaner/polish. What a world of difference!
Car looks like an actual car again from the rear!
Had this gal keepin' me company while I worked
ajohno
Well-known member
Paving and car looking good.
captain14
Well-known member
How do you get the 1000 pounds of paver sand delivered to your house? Bulk dump or is it some sort of tote?
The only drawback I have with pavers is the grass/weeds/whatever is constantly creeping back. Did you out some sort of weed barrier/fabric down?
I have followed your build from the beginning and you've done good work on the house and garage. Documentation is always good to see how far you've progressed.
Glad to see your security team member got a break during your day off.
The only drawback I have with pavers is the grass/weeds/whatever is constantly creeping back. Did you out some sort of weed barrier/fabric down?
I have followed your build from the beginning and you've done good work on the house and garage. Documentation is always good to see how far you've progressed.
Glad to see your security team member got a break during your day off.
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Thanks everyone!
I have the same concern about the grass and it'll likely happen. I already have multiple other expansion joints throughout the property that have grass coming up thru them. It's very annoying and I have no idea how best to do away with it for good (I don't want to use toxic herbicides). I did some reading and the posts I saw basically said using any type of weed barrier was a waste of time and wouldn't do anything. I was tempted to spread salt in with the road base but didn't. Hopefully I don't regret these decisions.
Thanks! The road base I got for free from someone on offerup.com so that was a lot of shoveling (shoveled about 5 tons loading/unloading my truck). So far I've been getting the sand at Home Depot. There is a place that's a 20-50min drive (depending on traffic) that sells it by the loader bucket full and it's a little cheaper but a bit more of a hassle. Home Depot is right around the corner and sells it in 1000lb sacks, I think they're about $27 here in my area.
I have the same concern about the grass and it'll likely happen. I already have multiple other expansion joints throughout the property that have grass coming up thru them. It's very annoying and I have no idea how best to do away with it for good (I don't want to use toxic herbicides). I did some reading and the posts I saw basically said using any type of weed barrier was a waste of time and wouldn't do anything. I was tempted to spread salt in with the road base but didn't. Hopefully I don't regret these decisions.
sqznby
Well-known member
Wow, great job on the house as well as garage.
Everything looks amazing, your attention to detail is spot on, perfect.
I also love the car, looks great. Must be a blast to drive.
Everything looks amazing, your attention to detail is spot on, perfect.
I also love the car, looks great. Must be a blast to drive.
Thank you sir!
Thanks Khevin! Pretty crazy how small automotive/garage circles can be with the internet these days - pretty cool actually. I've seen a little crossover before between this forum and G2ic and some others. I know at least one or two other G2 guys are here. In general it's also neat to see how much diversity there is here. It often feels very much more like an "old school" type forum with most people being fond of older vehicles - hot rods and muscle cars. I grew up with those guys thinking my love for "rice rockets" was ludicrous. Nice to see how much varied interest there is here and how everyone (for the most part) gets along
Spent the weekend out in the sun. Gave my Subaru a much needed wash early in the morning on Saturday and then got back to work on my pavers. Finished the pavers (3 of the 4 locations) Sunday and had just enough time to clean up and play with the dog a little. I'm sore from the weekend's work but feels good to have gotten some stuff done.
This project would have gone a LOT faster had I not been using a borrowed tile saw which wasn't meant to cut 1.5" pavers. As a result I had to make 2 passes for each one which meant double the time cutting. But hey, having that saw made the result a LOT better than just using an angle grinder which was my original plan.
Leveling sand in place - the dog loves to run through freshly leveled sand, haha!
Almost there!
All done! I'll need to sweep up the excess sand eventually but for now I'm going to let it sit there and work its way into the cracks some more. I'll need to re-sand the other areas too. Without the vibratory compactor that you're supposed to use I think applying the sand a couple times is going to be helpful.
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My girlfriend and I are big fans of the MCM (Mid Century Modern) style and a few months ago I missed out on a great outdoor fireplace find on Craigslist. Been kicking myself ever since. Randomly found another one on Offerup for cheap and luckily was able to snap it up before anyone else could. It's well weathered but it was CHEAP and overall structurally and functionally it's in great condition. From here I can pretty much just enjoy it as is or throw some time/money into it by refinishing it. I don't have a terrible amount of time I want to dedicate to this but I still think it may be time well spent.
Does anyone have any recommendations for any high temp paint that could be used to refinish this fireplace? Specifically I'm hoping for something bright and colorful, not just a black/grey/silver like you typically find in higher heat applications. Maybe engine enamel? Maybe Stove Bright?
http://forrestpaint.com/stove-bright/high-temp-stove-bright-aerosols/high-temp-aerosol-paint/
Does anyone have any recommendations for any high temp paint that could be used to refinish this fireplace? Specifically I'm hoping for something bright and colorful, not just a black/grey/silver like you typically find in higher heat applications. Maybe engine enamel? Maybe Stove Bright?
http://forrestpaint.com/stove-bright/high-temp-stove-bright-aerosols/high-temp-aerosol-paint/
idriveahonda
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2017
- Messages
- 160
Hey Colin, for your cage, did you go with a pre-built, or did someone fabricate and weld?
I assume it was in, and you had your painter do the cage at the same time?
I'm finishing up my complete suspension overhaul (everything off, getting new bushings/bearings/extended studs), then hoping to get it back on the road. Buddy going to paint it, however trying to determine order of operations.
And I feel you on discontinued parts. Would love new windshield molding...only been discontinued since like 2001.
I assume it was in, and you had your painter do the cage at the same time?
I'm finishing up my complete suspension overhaul (everything off, getting new bushings/bearings/extended studs), then hoping to get it back on the road. Buddy going to paint it, however trying to determine order of operations.
And I feel you on discontinued parts. Would love new windshield molding...only been discontinued since like 2001.
cash68
Keeper Of Rotor Hill
I think if you just blasted it/stripped it, and let it rust it might look pretty cool. But yeah, brake caliper paint is VERY high temp, issue is going to be painting it well without any runs/evenly from spray cans. That's a big surface.
Caliper paint > engine enamel
Caliper paint > engine enamel
It's not actually a cage, just a roll bar - Autopower 4pt bolt in with harness bar. Nothing fancy but it's better than nothing and was cheap [entry level] safety compared to doing a full custom cage. I bought it before I started to get more extreme with moving this car from roadworthy to pretty much track only. Don't get me wrong, it's streetable and [almost] street legal but it's a pain in the *** to drive. Loud, hot as hell... I wouldn't mind so much except around here it takes 2hrs just to get out of the city and this thing is not fun in traffic.
I originally installed the roll bar as-is and then later painted it myself with an hvlp gun from hf. It was my first time spraying something with a real gun (not Pre val or rattle can) and it actually turned out damn well!
I had the engine bay sprayed a few years back when I did an engine swap and radiator support repair then just now had the exterior and jambs painted so the interior is the only part of the car which hasn't been resprayed. I'd like to do it eventually but that won't be for a while, it's pretty low on the priority list. Actually USING the car needs to happen at some point, lol.
I'm definitely not looking for a "rustic" look so rust isnt' an option (other than just keeping it as-is for the sake of being lazy). My concern about any of the caliper/header type paints is it chipping off. I have not had good luck with these in the past. Not at all worried about drips/runs. I've painted way too much stuff with a rattle can so I'm pretty good. And actually, these days if I can use my hvlp that's my preference.
Right on! Ever since I saw mine was damaged I have been looking for another option. I think it'll be worthwhile to opt for a C-series since they have pipe jaws. In my tiny garage having one, more versatile, vise is a better option than having multiple for different uses.
Thanks for the comments/feedback everyone. Cheers!
Being the amazing woman she is my mom decided she wanted me to have a lift so gave me some $ for my birthday earlier this year. Funny timing because I'd finally talked myself out of considering any kind of "real" lift and just investing in some nice jackstands and a nice jack that could lift a little higher. Thought about it for a while and decided to use the money for a Quick Jack.
- Shopped around and found a good price at NorthernTool. After over a week I started asking about when it'd arrive since I'd received no additional updates. Well, turns out it was back ordered.
- Canceled my order with NorthernTool and ordered thru MobileDistributionSupply. Very helpful people. Even found a coupon code that allowed me to get a free tool cart!
- Shipping via SAIA was a pain. I did not receive updates, scheduling delivery took too much effort, first delivery came with only the tool cart - they'd lost the Quickjack. But then they found it and delivered it the following week.
Setting it up wasn't difficult but did take some time. Instructions were pretty good despite being a bit out of date (for an older version). Bleeding the lines did not work for me the way they explained it but I was able to make it work. Fluid reservoir also does not hold the full 2.5qt. Instead you'll want to fill to a little over 2qts, bleed the lines and then top off. All in all you'll need about 2.5qts total but if you dump all that in at the beginning you'll overflow.
The only problem I ran into was that I planned to use a battery jump start pack as power for my unit to make it more practical. Well, that hasn't gone so well so far. The battery pack I bought works to jump a car but does not power the Quick Jack. I am assuming it's some internal circuitry going into a "protect" mode - it's either trying to pull too much power or not enough power and basically just does nothing.
Hooking to a car battery via jumper cables worked fine. Based on my experience so far it seems the DC version is just as slow as the AC - it takes quite a while to lift.
As others have mentioned - it's HEAVY! Portable, yes. But not something that's easy to carry around. I'll definitely be using it in the garage and bringing jackstands and a jack to the track with me. The Quickjack is just too big, bulky and heavy to bother bringing to the track in the hatch of my car. Now, if I was towing then that'd be another story altogether. I was still a little worried that setup time and bulkiness would make this not much of an improvement over jack/stands but for me it'll definitely be an improvement:
- Yes, it's heavy and bulky and takes a while to setup. If I just need to change a wheel or have only part of the car in the air then I'll still just use a normal jack.
- For getting the whole car up in the air this is much easier than a jack. But then again my car is a pain to get 4 wheels in the air due to low ground clearance.
- I can get my car a bit higher than I could with a jack + if I get creative I can get it even higher. This will be a big help down the road.
- You can jack the car up/down in a smaller space. My garage is tiny and I'll be able to use this in the garage with the door closed. It's impossible to jack the car up with the door closed using normal a normal jack.
Because we all know posts are no good without pics
Got my daily up in the air first for testing
I want to get a semi-permanent setup in the garage so that I don't have to setup/breakdown as much. Mainly I just want to route the hydraulic lines so they're tidy - maybe have 'em hang from the ceiling. Pump unit will definitely be mounted to the wall somewhere. I ordered extra long lines so I should have more options. My intention was to have the long lines for garage use and then a set of short (standard) lines for using in portable situations. But I neglected to realize I'd need a whole second set of connectors in order to do this and that'll run me ~$150-200 depending on where I source them
Not sure when I'll get around to that semi-permanent setup but for now I got 'em stowed away pretty neatly and securely.
The next day I got my project car up in the air. Funny that this is the smallest car but the Quick Jack barely works - the jacking points are very wide on this little vehicle.
Haven't had it long but I'm sure I'm going to be happy with it. It's not a "real" lift like I would have liked to have. But a real lift just isn't in the cards for me. I'll have to wait for an expensive garage remodel before that makes sense (think - full tear down and rebuild, double size, go higher, pour thicker floor...etc).
Other than that, just put in some more hours on the track car - aligning door panels, installing some window trim/seals...etc. Really need to dedicate some more time to this thing, it's getting close to being a whole car again.
- Shopped around and found a good price at NorthernTool. After over a week I started asking about when it'd arrive since I'd received no additional updates. Well, turns out it was back ordered.
- Canceled my order with NorthernTool and ordered thru MobileDistributionSupply. Very helpful people. Even found a coupon code that allowed me to get a free tool cart!
- Shipping via SAIA was a pain. I did not receive updates, scheduling delivery took too much effort, first delivery came with only the tool cart - they'd lost the Quickjack. But then they found it and delivered it the following week.
Setting it up wasn't difficult but did take some time. Instructions were pretty good despite being a bit out of date (for an older version). Bleeding the lines did not work for me the way they explained it but I was able to make it work. Fluid reservoir also does not hold the full 2.5qt. Instead you'll want to fill to a little over 2qts, bleed the lines and then top off. All in all you'll need about 2.5qts total but if you dump all that in at the beginning you'll overflow.
The only problem I ran into was that I planned to use a battery jump start pack as power for my unit to make it more practical. Well, that hasn't gone so well so far. The battery pack I bought works to jump a car but does not power the Quick Jack. I am assuming it's some internal circuitry going into a "protect" mode - it's either trying to pull too much power or not enough power and basically just does nothing.
Hooking to a car battery via jumper cables worked fine. Based on my experience so far it seems the DC version is just as slow as the AC - it takes quite a while to lift.
As others have mentioned - it's HEAVY! Portable, yes. But not something that's easy to carry around. I'll definitely be using it in the garage and bringing jackstands and a jack to the track with me. The Quickjack is just too big, bulky and heavy to bother bringing to the track in the hatch of my car. Now, if I was towing then that'd be another story altogether. I was still a little worried that setup time and bulkiness would make this not much of an improvement over jack/stands but for me it'll definitely be an improvement:
- Yes, it's heavy and bulky and takes a while to setup. If I just need to change a wheel or have only part of the car in the air then I'll still just use a normal jack.
- For getting the whole car up in the air this is much easier than a jack. But then again my car is a pain to get 4 wheels in the air due to low ground clearance.
- I can get my car a bit higher than I could with a jack + if I get creative I can get it even higher. This will be a big help down the road.
- You can jack the car up/down in a smaller space. My garage is tiny and I'll be able to use this in the garage with the door closed. It's impossible to jack the car up with the door closed using normal a normal jack.
Because we all know posts are no good without pics
Got my daily up in the air first for testing
I want to get a semi-permanent setup in the garage so that I don't have to setup/breakdown as much. Mainly I just want to route the hydraulic lines so they're tidy - maybe have 'em hang from the ceiling. Pump unit will definitely be mounted to the wall somewhere. I ordered extra long lines so I should have more options. My intention was to have the long lines for garage use and then a set of short (standard) lines for using in portable situations. But I neglected to realize I'd need a whole second set of connectors in order to do this and that'll run me ~$150-200 depending on where I source them
Not sure when I'll get around to that semi-permanent setup but for now I got 'em stowed away pretty neatly and securely.
The next day I got my project car up in the air. Funny that this is the smallest car but the Quick Jack barely works - the jacking points are very wide on this little vehicle.
Haven't had it long but I'm sure I'm going to be happy with it. It's not a "real" lift like I would have liked to have. But a real lift just isn't in the cards for me. I'll have to wait for an expensive garage remodel before that makes sense (think - full tear down and rebuild, double size, go higher, pour thicker floor...etc).
Other than that, just put in some more hours on the track car - aligning door panels, installing some window trim/seals...etc. Really need to dedicate some more time to this thing, it's getting close to being a whole car again.
tapered-pin
Well-known member
awesome! tagged for reference/updates..
patrickg20
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2013
- Messages
- 509
Great work! I'm really liking how clean and organized everything is. The blue cabinets look great!
Honest Bob
Well-known member
Nice garage. Love the choice in vehicles as well.
M-technik-3
Well-known member
Nice updates have not look in a few months. Glad to see progress on the integra.
dummptyhummpty
Member
Awesome job on the garage, house and yard! I love the cabinets and counter top!
You must live close to my friend as your driveway, garage and backyard setup look exactly like his. He's over by the Lakewood Center.
You must live close to my friend as your driveway, garage and backyard setup look exactly like his. He's over by the Lakewood Center.
Thank you very much! Much of Lakewood has this design, it was one of the first (if not the first?) master planned community in CA. Most of the homes here were built in the 40's and 50's.
Hit me up if you're ever nearby visiting your friend, I've usually got cold beers on the ready
Pathfinders
Well-known member
I really like what you done with the garage and house.
Thank you
Figured I should do an update since it's been awhile. No changes to the garage but more progress on the house and car. Lets start with the house - our most recent project was to make some more progress on the front porch (hello curb appeal!).
Here's what the front looked like when I bought 3.5yrs ago.
Since then we'd already removed the metal picket fence, removed concrete blocks and gravel from the planters to bring them back down to grade instead of being raised, removed the bird of paradise and planted some succulents. Also, a year ago my cousin's helped me replace the aluminum posts with 4x4 redwood (which was VERY wet and so I needed to dry out for a bit and finally got around to staining recently). That gets us to where we picked up recently.
\First order was the front door. We had a Phantom screen retractable screen installed (done after pics were taken) and had my neighbor (who is a painter) paint the door the bold color we wanted. Part of making this work was replacing the glass window in the door to get rid of the hideous leading.
The idea was to try and match the frosted glass we have on the garage door. Ended up using 2 pieces of glass, one frosted and one regular. The reason for the sandwiching of glass was twofold. First, to come closer to the original thickness of glass and second so that both sides were glossy instead of a single frosted piece which would be matte on one side.
It doesn't quite match the style of the door itself so it's still a little awkward but I think the leaded window would have been glaringly out of place so I figure it's still an improvement. You can also see the house number plate we made.
The biggest part of this project was the concrete patio. With lack of more common sense or other options I opted to go with the most difficult, annoying and dirty plan possible. Of course this was also the cheapest. After some testing I found that the easiest way to remove the 5-7 old layers of paint was to grind it off. After two solid days on my knees grinding we had a fresh surface.
Fortunately or unfortunately, I didn't get any pics of the grinding process - but take my word for it, it was a dusty mess.
After the grinding everything was cleaned and a clear sealer was applied. I used some anti-skid compound in it but it's still too slick, so another layer of the anti-skid needs to be applied. Might do that this weekend actually.
After that we ripped up the planters and replanted them. Here's the final result - other than some West Elm planters we just ordered and which still need to be planted and put up.
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BoilermakerFan
Well-known member
The improvements to the front yard and house look great!
sean Buick 76
Well-known member
Amazing job on the garage, house, and yard!!! Awesome pride of ownership it really shows!!!
1/2 Cup
Member Emeritus
Colin Len Absolutely fantastic work and attention to detail all round.
Looking forward to your updates..
Looking forward to your updates..
^Thank you all very much!
I've got a little time this morning so I'll try to start catching up on progress with my Integra. When I left off last I was starting to re-assemble the car, specifically the gas cap area. Finished that off with fresh stickers and a new gas cap.
Admittedly I have been in a bit of a rush to get this car done and haven't taken as many pics as I would have liked. At this point there were a lot of hours put into aligning body panels and lots of little stuff to go along with getting the car whole again.
The doors were a pain. I've never tried to hang or adjust doors before and it was not fun. And it's not as good as it could be and I still have some adjustments to do to the windows to make sure they seal properly. This car has pillarless doors so the window fitment is critical to sealing the door/window against the car. In addition to all of this fitting I disassembled the glass to clean it up, lube the tracks...etc.
There are these small pads that help provide a safe surface for the window to rest on as it rises/falls. They were pretty matted and dirty so I cleaned 'em up. Here's a little before/after.
Another project related to the doors was to install "keyless" door handles. This can be accomplished by taking the rear door handles from a sedan and installing them in the front doors of a coupe. Again, didn't take as many pics as I should have. But here's a pic of the backside of the door handle. One is the original rear door handle and one is the modified version. The mechanism needed to be trimmed and the mounting point for the connection to the door lock rod in the door needed to be moved.
Done, no more keyholes. Although I purposefully did leave the keyhole for the hatchback in case the car battery dies and I need to gain access to the cabin.
The next project was to refinish the window trim. I spent a lot of time on this project and for the effort it probably wasn't worth the result. The result is great but it took a LOT of trial and error to get there.
These moldings are made from metal but are coated in some type of thick rubber/plastic coating. If left to degrade in the sun this plastic can crack and peel off of the metal. Luckly mine was still good other than years of scratches and what kinda look like water spots but seem to be embedded in the material.
I started off by trying to polish by hand which didn't really do much, so then I tried a power toothbrush, then my dremel and ultimately ended up using an ~5" cloth wheel on a bench grinder/polisher. In never would have guessed that this level of mechanical polishing would have been OK and thus that's why I started with the other methods. Once I figured out I could use the polisher and figured out the right technique it went really quick - just took a lot of trial and error to get there.
They have more of a gloss to them than when they were original - I think. Since you can't get new ones I only have an idea of what they looked like new 25yrs ago. But, at least they look MUCH better now. Even though this is something most wouldn't notice outright it helps the moldings not standout as beatup on the rest of the car which is otherwise refinished.
Somewhere thru this whole process I learned that after polishing I could rub the trim down with acetone to give it a more matte finish which I think is a bit more true to the original. I opted not to take it that far though - for now.
One other piece of the trim is just plastic, no metal covered with rubber or whatever. These pieces had much more sun damage and were dry and sparkly almost - very similar to what a really old roof looks like when the fiberglass becomes visible. There was no way I could find to sand/polish these back to the right condition. I happened to find one brand new one so bought it immediately - at least this could help me know what the original finish looked like. Here's a pic of the brand new one vs a spare I had which was painted with SEM trim paint. Pretty close match, not perfect but as good as I was going to get. So I opted to paint them with this product. So far I'm pretty happy how it turned out.
On a whim one day I decided to try and make some of the interior look a little better as well. Cleaned the carpet on the door panels and the speaker covers as well and then hit them with a light coat of Duplicolor fabric & vinyl paint. Technically this is too dark, darker than the original finish. But, it still looks better since the speaker covers were faded and the carpet was stained a little.
A little while after all of that I had the car back together and in one piece. Replaced the battery, got it fired up again and took it for a spin to my friend's house.
This was pretty much the first shakedown and it was great to get the car on the road again. There's been a good amount more after this so I'll have more to bring us up to date in this thread. Also, I realized I never really posted the whole story with this car. There are some pics of it coming back from paint but not all the prep prior to that. I may have to take another look back at that stuff too.
I've got a little time this morning so I'll try to start catching up on progress with my Integra. When I left off last I was starting to re-assemble the car, specifically the gas cap area. Finished that off with fresh stickers and a new gas cap.
Admittedly I have been in a bit of a rush to get this car done and haven't taken as many pics as I would have liked. At this point there were a lot of hours put into aligning body panels and lots of little stuff to go along with getting the car whole again.
The doors were a pain. I've never tried to hang or adjust doors before and it was not fun. And it's not as good as it could be and I still have some adjustments to do to the windows to make sure they seal properly. This car has pillarless doors so the window fitment is critical to sealing the door/window against the car. In addition to all of this fitting I disassembled the glass to clean it up, lube the tracks...etc.
There are these small pads that help provide a safe surface for the window to rest on as it rises/falls. They were pretty matted and dirty so I cleaned 'em up. Here's a little before/after.
Another project related to the doors was to install "keyless" door handles. This can be accomplished by taking the rear door handles from a sedan and installing them in the front doors of a coupe. Again, didn't take as many pics as I should have. But here's a pic of the backside of the door handle. One is the original rear door handle and one is the modified version. The mechanism needed to be trimmed and the mounting point for the connection to the door lock rod in the door needed to be moved.
Done, no more keyholes. Although I purposefully did leave the keyhole for the hatchback in case the car battery dies and I need to gain access to the cabin.
The next project was to refinish the window trim. I spent a lot of time on this project and for the effort it probably wasn't worth the result. The result is great but it took a LOT of trial and error to get there.
These moldings are made from metal but are coated in some type of thick rubber/plastic coating. If left to degrade in the sun this plastic can crack and peel off of the metal. Luckly mine was still good other than years of scratches and what kinda look like water spots but seem to be embedded in the material.
I started off by trying to polish by hand which didn't really do much, so then I tried a power toothbrush, then my dremel and ultimately ended up using an ~5" cloth wheel on a bench grinder/polisher. In never would have guessed that this level of mechanical polishing would have been OK and thus that's why I started with the other methods. Once I figured out I could use the polisher and figured out the right technique it went really quick - just took a lot of trial and error to get there.
They have more of a gloss to them than when they were original - I think. Since you can't get new ones I only have an idea of what they looked like new 25yrs ago. But, at least they look MUCH better now. Even though this is something most wouldn't notice outright it helps the moldings not standout as beatup on the rest of the car which is otherwise refinished.
Somewhere thru this whole process I learned that after polishing I could rub the trim down with acetone to give it a more matte finish which I think is a bit more true to the original. I opted not to take it that far though - for now.
One other piece of the trim is just plastic, no metal covered with rubber or whatever. These pieces had much more sun damage and were dry and sparkly almost - very similar to what a really old roof looks like when the fiberglass becomes visible. There was no way I could find to sand/polish these back to the right condition. I happened to find one brand new one so bought it immediately - at least this could help me know what the original finish looked like. Here's a pic of the brand new one vs a spare I had which was painted with SEM trim paint. Pretty close match, not perfect but as good as I was going to get. So I opted to paint them with this product. So far I'm pretty happy how it turned out.
On a whim one day I decided to try and make some of the interior look a little better as well. Cleaned the carpet on the door panels and the speaker covers as well and then hit them with a light coat of Duplicolor fabric & vinyl paint. Technically this is too dark, darker than the original finish. But, it still looks better since the speaker covers were faded and the carpet was stained a little.
A little while after all of that I had the car back together and in one piece. Replaced the battery, got it fired up again and took it for a spin to my friend's house.
This was pretty much the first shakedown and it was great to get the car on the road again. There's been a good amount more after this so I'll have more to bring us up to date in this thread. Also, I realized I never really posted the whole story with this car. There are some pics of it coming back from paint but not all the prep prior to that. I may have to take another look back at that stuff too.
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sean Buick 76
Well-known member
Very cool! Are those cars considered collectors cars yet?
Boosted1
Well-known member
Very nice! Well done. Congrats on getting in on the road.
Thank you!
Thanks! I'd say we're currently straddling that line. They are still quite cheap and most out there are junk. But, there's beginning to be a market for low mileage, VERY good condition examples. A 92-93 LS or GS just crossed the block at BAT for $10k which was a surprise to me. I'm really interested to see what a comparable GS-R would fetch. Unfortunately, with the modifications I've made to mine it's pretty much worthless other than for parts.
rpenterics
Well-known member
Looks good, what happened to the white wheels?
marty_p
Well-known member
Dude, you are knocking that house, garage, and car out of the park!
Keep us posted...
Keep us posted...
Thank you
I still have them but probably won't run them much. Here's my current wheel collection, some old school, some new school.15x8 +25 Volk TE37SL in Magnesium Blue - for track use (these will be my primary wheels)
15x7 +43 Volk GRN-R in white - these are a sort of nostalgia wheel for me, eventually I'll get them refinished.
16x7 +37 Enkei RC-T1 in white - I picked these up recently after finding them for cheap on craigslist. They need to be refinished and I'm thinking of going with a bright silver color. I love the white but really only want one set of white wheels.
nicholam77
Well-known member
Nice work on the front of the house!
MNSam
Well-known member
LOVE the DA. Ive had friends with a few of them. One has an Aztec Green GS-R squirreled away until he has time to build it. Another is in the midst of a fairly in depth build similar to your but with a 700+hp sleeved 2.0l. Keep up the great work.