Bens Del Sol Build - Now going K20

[Bencrx]

Hi guys, ive only just joined ek9.org. I drive a honda del sol SiR and im a regular on the del sol owners club and have been showing the progress with my del sol on there. I have been a big fan of ek9.org for a while, its got so many great car projects etc and its a great place for finding out new things and getting some inspiration on what to do next with the car so i thought id throw my del sol build up in the mix to add to the knowledge, maybe give some other people ideas and get feedback and stuff from you guys

Instead of starting a whole new thread and telling everything over again, ive decided to just do the lazy thing and copy and paste the stuff from my thread on the del sol forum onto here lol so some of it may not make sense lol but now that ive told you it kind of will hopefuly. Il put a gap inbetween each seperate update so it works a bit better.

Here is the progress as it was told on the delsolownersclub.co.uk :


Hi everyone i have been a member on here for a while and was doing a slow build on my green del sol import until i realised the floor pan had rotted right through. You can see the build thread of the car in the pics and vids section under the name GreenSir. I had big Plans for the car but the amount of money i was going to have to spend to fix it properly just wasnt worth it so sadly i had to set her to rest.
I was sooo desperate for another del sol and so set out on the hunt for another one, but this time for one with no or little rust. It took me a couple of months but i finally saw one which i liked the look of. If you dont know i am from nortehrn ireland and there is crap all del sols over here never mind clean ones and so i was going to have to make the trip to England to get the one i liked.
I had been texting the guy selling it for a while and he seemed genuine enough and so i decided to fly over to view and possibly buy the car. he was kind enough to pick me and my mate up from the airport and take us to the warehouse where he had been dry storing the car for the past couple of months.
I really wanted to make sure the car was clean and so that i wouldnt get into the same situation as before and so asked the guy if we could give the car a good inspection. Being a nice guy he said that was ok and he even gave us a jack and tools to use to take out seats and sideskirts etc to have a full inspection on the car.
My mate and I were looking at and test driving the car etc for about 5 hours and in the end i was very happy and so handed over the cash and the deal was sealed.
I drove the new wagon up to Holyhead and got the boat over to Dublin and the drove back up to Belfast. All in all it took a whole day to get to England, view the car and get back home but was totally worth it.

At the warehouse, just after paying for the car

At the Docks

You may have seen the car on pistonheads. The guy didnt do the best write up and was quite vague but car actually came with alot of very nice extras which i dont think he realised. The spec is as follows:

- B16a Sir Engine
- Type R Cams
- Type R Flywheel
- Paddle Clutch
- Injen Cold Air Induction Kit
- Feels Exhaust manifold
- Feels Exhaust System
- Feels Braided Clutch Line
- Feels Braided Brake Lines
- Spoon Front Upper Strut Brace
- Spoon Rear Upper Strut Brace
- Spoon Front Lower Strut Brace
- Spoon Rear Lower Strut Brace
- Spoon Gear Knob
- Carbon Fibre Bonnet
- Mugen RnR 15" Alloys
- Weitec Front Lowering Springs
- CRX Personalised Plate
- Nology Spark Leads
- JPerformance Radiator
- Tenzo R 'Spoon' Rocker Cover
- Tenzo R Steering Wheel

The first thing i did when i got home was change the Tenzo R rocker cover to my recently repainted black one. I have nothing against Tenzo but im just not a big fan of their products and like the black rocker cover better.
I also put my Blue NGKs on because the Nologys were done and put my blue spoon socks on to match.

The engine bay was one of the dirtiest i have seen, i couldnt even see the block number because the block and gearbox were covered in gunk. And I like my engine bays clean so got some TFR, a brush and a power hose and went to town on the bay!

Il show you the transition of the bay with some photos:

Before, when car was puchased (Dirty)

Before with new rocker cover (Still Boggin)

During the process of cleaning (Gettin there)

After (Nice and Clean!)

The engine bay came up really nicely and Im really pleased with it. Its amazing what a good clean can do to a car
We all love looking at photos of del sols, infact thats why im on here a lot of the time so here are some more pics:

Overall i am very pleased with the car. It has a few bodywork issues like car door dings and scrapes here and there which i want to get fixed but for a 16 year old car its in great nick. I really hope it lasts longer than the green one lol

Since the photos i have put my skunk2 megapower exhaust on so i can get the feels all polished and nice, and have put my spoon torque dampner on which il get photos of on the car.

My plans are similar to what i had with the green car. First im going to get all oil and fluids changed, get all belts and water pump changed. Then I will be getting my Hasport engine mounts and DC2 Steering Rack fitted. I would also like to get some lowering springs because i think the car is sitting far to high at the back. Then in amongst this I will be getting car bodywork touched up/fixed and hopefuly get the mugens refurbed aswell. Im also thinkin about putting my lower accessory fogs on and smoothing out the front circle lights. But only time will tell, need to get money saved up because im kinda skint after buyin a new car lol.

Oh yea and sorry for the crappy photos lol, i was using my mobile phone camera and it isnt very good. I really need a camera or somethin, or just a better phone.

 

[Bencrx]

A few parts that will be going on the car:

Hasport Engine Mounts - Bought these for my Green sol but its dead....so now they go on the new chariot!

Dc2 Subframe, Steering Rack and Anti-Roll Bar - Was also going to put this into my old Green Sol but its dead.... so now they go on the new chariot! Have been told this will improve steering and handling. My uncle has a powder coating company so the sub frame and roll bar will be heading off there to get shot blasted and coated to make them nice and new looking 8)

K&N Apollo - Seen this going cheap so thought why not? Ive always wanted a cold air feed through the bumper Have heard mixed reviews about it but its probs one of the cheapest K&N kits on the market and dont see why it shouldnt be alright since it has the cold air tubing. Il give it a go and if i dont like it then injen will stay.

Also here are some parts i fitted recently:

Spoon Torque Damper - Took this off the green car, looks nice in the bay, not sure it does much lol.

Skunk2 MegaPower Exhaust Also took this off the green car, its loud but i like it

Gave a bracket or two a spray of silver just to tidy the place up a bit cuz they were rusting.

Some more photos with Orange side repeaters fitted also

A better photo of the Feels manifold

Thats about it, the hasports and rack wont be fitted until late july and im also thinking of getting skunk2 camgears while getting my belts done, but if i buy them then will post them up. Will also post picks when the subframe is powdercoated.

 

[Bencrx]

Just a little but nice update - My mate had 68mm Skunk2 Throttle body but he has now upgraded to 70mm throttle body and skunk2 manifold so i happily releived him of his old one. Fitted it last night, there is definately alot more induction and engine noise with it but dont think i am getting the full effects and power from it because the intake manifold hasnt been port matched with the throttle body, but i think i might get this done or else buy the skunk2 intake manifold

Took a while to fit, mainly because we didnt realise the map sensor had to be changed to the b18 one but luckily we had one layin about the garage.
Here is some photos :modern big grin:

If anyone is thinkin of getting this throttle body and has any questions on how to fit this throttle body then feel free to ask me and il answer as best i can.
More updates to come soon!

 

[Bencrx]

Just a small update, decided im going to change the colours in the engine bay a bit. Going to go with a gold/orange theme.

I just replaced the spoon torque damper with a J's Racing one but also want to:
- Replace the spoon socks with Orange mugen.
- Replace spoon strut with J's Racing
- Get Gold battery tie down
- Get Gold Vtec solenoid
- Get Mugen or J's Racing Gold Oil Cap

Still undecided but might go for the Gold buddyclub cam gears instead of Skunk2.

Here are some photos of the new Damper

Also gave the car a wash after fitting the damper

Also if you are wondering, yes, ive changed my induction kit. The injen was very good but just want a change. Going to get a new one soon 8)
Comments on damper are more than welcome

 

[Bencrx]

Some more small updates. Few small things came in the post today :modern big grin:

Got this off ebay, apparently its a top fuel gear knob...im skeptical lol, but still does the job and looks nice :modern big grin:

And the new Mugen socks came, the orange/gold theme has begun!

Watch this space lol, some nice updates to come soon!

 

[Bencrx]

Got my car back from my mechanics yesterday, i didnt think it would take this long but stupid things like bolts breaking and stuff meant i had to wait a bit longer but it was worth it :modern big grin:

I got the work done by type 2 Honda in Belfast (Run by only one mechanic but hes one great mechanic) :

- Dc2 Steering rack, Subframe and anti roll bar (Powdercoated by my uncle at RW Powdercoatings)
- Hasport engine mounts
- Buddyclub Adjustable Camgears
- Skunk2 Intake Manifold (And portmatched to my 68mm Skunk2 Throttle body)
- Timing Belt, Tensioner, Power Steering belt, altenator belt, Vtec solenoid gasket, intake manifold gasket, throttlebody gasket, Main relay, Distributor cap and arm and Water pump
- AEM V2 with lower torque mount/fittings etc (thanks to muaythai-panda on this forum )
- Ek9 throttle cable (Standard del sol one doesnt look as nice, swoops round the whole engine bay)
- Goodridge braided clutch line

Now for some pictures

DC2 Steering Rack etc. The car is soo much nicer to drive with this, dont know how to explain it but just seems soo much smoother and responsive. Looks nice aswell when the cars up on the ramp.

Buddyclub camgears. Got these because they look nice lol, but also so later i can get them adjusted for best power gains. Although whenever i ordered them i thought both camgears would be orange but apparantly the set comes as one silver and one orange which i didnt realise, their advertisements etc for these are very misleading, they dont say that you get one of each colour :? but what ever they still look nice, would have prefered them to both be orange but maybe the different coloured ones will grow on me.

V2. Looks nicer than injen, i think, and i would say the power gains are better too. I have wanted one of these for ages and when one came up for sale on here at a good price i had to go for it.

Water pump, Timing belt etc. Cant feel anything from these but always good to get these things done

Skunk2 intake manifold. Go this cheap 2nd hand off ebay. You can really feel some difference with this on, power seems much smoother and bit more torque up top. Only problem was when we fitted the skunk2 throttle body on it ran like crap, like overfueling to the max and reving weird so we just put on an accord type r one on for the mean time and try again soon to put the skunk2 on.

Clutch line. Already had a braided feels one but this goodridge one means i can take away all the brackets and old piping so tidies the place up a bit

Hasport engine Mounts. Great upgrade, really makes the engine as solid as a rock. No movement when shifting at all.

Complete Bay. Almost finished

The car and the engine bay was dirty so got mike at type 2 to give everything a good clean.

All nice and spankin clean

Really pleased with how everything looks at the moment in the engine bay. I just need to get some small bits and peices to add to it, like oil cap and stuff and then i will have to concentrate on the bodywork and outside appearance to get it mint.
I still have to get the anti roll bar fitted, waiting on the bushes coming and then need to get my rocker cover cut so we can see the camgears. Will update when these are done. Thanks

 

[Bencrx]

This came in the post the other day I prefer the look of this one because it deletes the centre lights. Im not sure, maybe someone can help me out here, is this an optional bumper or facelift one or something? I think i heard this came on the really late models only or something :modern confused: Is this true? If someone can tell me that would be great lol because when people ask what bumper it is i dont really know what to say other than its a different del sol bumper. Anyway, just need to get it painted now, cant wait to see how it looks :modern big grin:

Few Pics

Also went to Jap N.I last week, wasnt the greatest turnout but heres my car at it

Will post up pics when the bumper is painted :modern big grin:

 

[Bencrx]

Couple of updates Decided i need a new oil cap because the standard one looks dung. I had my hopes set on a J's Racing one but i need to spend the money on other things at the moment...so i opted for an ebay special mugen oil cap. For less than 20 quid its actually got a good finish and decent quality. It continues on with the goldy theme

Also got round to cutting my cam cover to show off my new cam gears :modern big grin: Was easier than i thought it was going to be. All i needed to do was draw out where i wanted the cover and then just drill along the line. After this i just filed down the rough edge to tidy it up. All in all it took less than an hour to do


In the process of drilling the cam cover

Drilling the plastic cover

Finished!

Im happy with how it turned out, i probably could have done the plastic cover a bit neater but it was quite awkward to cut and file because its flimsy. I think the rocker cover may need a new lick of paint because there is some chipping of the paint along the edge where its been cut but thats not bothering me too much at the moment.

Next i want to get the front bumper painted and would really like to get my wheels refurbed because they look like crap at the moment

 

[Bencrx]

Dropped the new bumper in to a friend of a friend who does car spraying etc, on wednesday and got the bumper back on sunday morning. Was a bit skeptical because ive never used this guy for spraying before but he has done a really good job and i am really pleased with how it has come out and will probably use him again in the future. I think my car is grenada black pearl, will have to check that for definite but its black with a red flint through it so thats what colour i got the bumper and it looks good I think i like this bumper better than the las one, looks alot fresher i think or maybe thats just the new paint haha, but think i prefer the sol without the centre lights. Anyways, fitted it on sunday night, heres some photos

Before, when it was chipped, scraped and silver

After...All nice and shiny and new looking 8)

Just after fitting

Earlier today, just some quick photos, will get better ones soon

I think at the moment it looks great but i think it could do with a nice lip on it aswell, i liked the one on my old bumper (think it was eg sir lip) and would use it but its quite tatty looking because its old. Does anyone have any suggestions of what front lip i should go for?

Comments welcome.

 

[M!chael]

Nice, this is the second sent of genuine rnr's i have seen apart from my own!

Whats next for the sol then?

 

[Bencrx]

Was lookin in the sols boot the other day and thought it looked really dull so decided i would clean it up a bit

First off i took everything out of it, random crap and strut brace. Then i hoovered it and wiped it down with a cloth. There was some surface rust and scrapes etc so got the sand paper and sanding tools out and went to town on the boot.

Once this was done i hoovered the dust up and wiped the boot down again. Then i taped off the areas i didnt want to get hit like the arms supporting the boot and other bits and bobs. Then i got the grey primer out and gave the boot a coat or two of it and let it dry. Then i i rubbed down any imperfections and sprayed over again.

Then i got the tin of gloss black out and gave the boot a coat or two of it and let it dry and then again rubbed down imperfections and sprayed over.

In the day light

I think the boot looks alot cleaner and fresher now and is alot nicer to look at than before, makes the strut brace stand out more too :modern big grin: And i know i used rattle cans but the finish is actually half decent on it. Im am really pleased, i keep opening the boot for people to see haha :modern big grin:

Ive also decided i am going to strip out the interior and remove all the sound deadening at the front of the car and spray the floor pan etc like the boot is done, nothing like a good track car look haha

 

[Bencrx]

A sad update for me and my first sol :cry: I completely stripped my old rusted green sol this week and yesterday waved her goodbye as the scrap man came and took her away.

She was just too far gone to be saved...

We had good times together...

Then Andy the scrap man came

When i thought it couldnt get any worse he crushed her with his giant crane arm thing lol :cry:

Another sol lost to the scrapman


R.I.P. Green Del Sol

1992-2011

 

[Bencrx]

Well the last few weeks have been prety busy. My clutch crapped itself and so one thing led to another and i ended up doing an engine conversion lol :shock: . Basically what happened was i left my car in with michael at type 2 to just get my clutch fixed. I didnt have the money at the time so was having to wait until i could get some money in to buy the clutch and get it fitted. Then after a week or so michael offered me a b18c6 engine which he had recently rebuilt for a customer but then the customer had to sell up. I was always planning to put a b18 in at some stage but never had the money about me but michael made me a deal at a very good price and so i decided to sell up my b16 and all the parts that i had recently purchased for the car so that i could pay for the swap. This didnt bother me too much because all the parts i had to sell can be bought again, the only thing i didnt sell, was the hasport mounts because i got them at a great price. It took a few weeks to get the money wracked up but once i got the money together the engine was in the car and running in a day.
The engine was taken from a ukdm integra type r, which you will see in the pictures and has only 2000 miles on it since the rebuild. As part of the rebuild mike from type two put in new spoon ek9 pistons to raise compression and spoon endurance cams (slightly larger vtec lobe but noticeably larger non-vtec lobes). The car was dynoed at 213bhp and that was with standard intake and small exhaust manifold so i think the engine has alot more to give. I am still running a y21 gearbox (b16 gearbox) as i didnt have enough for a dc2 lsd one but i have put in a new stage 2 competition clutch and lightweight fidanza flywheel.

Here are the pictures

The teg

Goodbye b16, you served me well...

The Swap in progress :modern big grin:

The swap completed and back on the road!

I know its not the finished article at the moment, theres small things like a sticky throttle flap and things like the engine bay being a mish mash of colours at the moment, which might not annoy other people but really grinds my gears when its my car lol, i like the car to be colour coded. However all these can be changed and fixed and will be in the near future. I must say though, that the car is sooo much more fun to drive now, the vtec kick off the b18 just seems so much stronger than the b16 ever was. I am really glad that i decided to do the swap because if i didnt then id still be wondering when i would ever get it done.

Near future plans:

- Powedercoat rockercover black or pearl gold (suggestions welcome)
- Engine bay dress up parts. i.e. Gold battery tie down, gold vtec solenoid, gold radiator stay, gold washers etc
- Get either Gold buddyclub cam gears again or TODA cam gears and cut my rocker cover out.
- New exhaust manifold with 2.5 collector. Current manifold is very restrictive because it is too small for a b18. Not decided on which one yet will try and get decent second hand one.
- New Induction kit. Current one has a nice sound on it but its sucking in too much warm air so want something with cold air feed or long arm.
- Wheels refurbed in a volk bronze.
- Lower the car at the back with springs
- Remove the rest of the sound deadening and spray floor etc black.
- Protect underneath of car for winter time

Id really like to get these things done in the near future but who knows how long it will take until ive got them finished but i will keep you posted on the progress

 

[Bencrx]

Well finally got round to getting my rocker cover situation sorted out. I couldnt decide on what colour to do my rocker cover, i either wanted black or gold. So i decided to get two rocker covers done, one pearl gold and one sable black (textured satin finish).

I took them to get shotblasted to get all the grease and old paint off and then got my cousin johnny to powdercoat them at work.
I wasnt too sure on how i was going to like the gold but i actually really like it, i think it will go well with my current engine bay theme and the black is really fresh looking, almost like the oem finish as it is quite an abrasive texture to it. I will have to wait and see when they are fitted which one i like better and im also going the sand the lettering and Honda symbol back to the metal to give it a nicer finish.

Photos

Black

Gold

Im not long back from work so only took some crappy photos before i go to bed, they really dont do the colours any justice, so i will have to get some more tomorrow morning when they are fitted and in daylight.

 

[Bencrx]

Got the lettering finished on the gold rocker cover yesterday, was originally going to sand the powdercoating off the letters but this proved too difficult because the coat was quite thick so i just used silver paint to fill them in. This also proved a real pain in the arse trying to mask off tiny letters and not get paint on the cover but i got there in the end and got it fitted Also i bought some nice gold anodised washers off ebay with some alan key bolts. Worked out far cheaper than any tegiwa or password jdm washers Heres some photos

The Washers

Im still not sure about the Gold colour. At times it looks really nice and similar to the J'S Racing gold and then other times it just looks beige. And it doesnt seem to blend in, maybe if i got some nice gold tie downs and vtec solenoid cover then it would work better. I dont know, il leave it on and maybe it will gradually grow on me

I also have finished my black rocker cover, im doing the writing on it gold, it looks really nice and think it might be favoured over the gold one but il have to fit it first to really make my mind up on which one i prefer.
Heres the photos of it finished :modern big grin:

I will get some of it fitted and post them later on today

 

[Bencrx]

Got my black rocker cover fitted and have to say i prefer it much better than the gold one. Just suits the engine bay alot better and has a real nice clean finish to it, the gold lettering just makes it stand out that little bit more than the oem look. I have bought another set of gold buddyclub camgears and this time both gears are gold so i cant wait to get them fitted and cut the rocker out to show them off.

To match i went and bought some gold paint and sprayed my battery tie down gold and got my powder coated oem brace and sprayed the brackets on it gold The gold wasnt as nice as i thought originally but they still go well with the car and will do for now until i buy aftermarket ones

I also got round to taking off the front bumper and wings and side skirts and rubbing down any rust and painting over with rust primer paint just to protect for the winter. While doing this i also tucked the alarm siren in behind the wing and hid the washer bottle pipe to in behind the wing aswell, not really a full wire tuck as such lol but makes the place a bit tidier Ive also just purchased a washer bottle relocation kit to hid the washer bottle completley and will fit it soon.

Heres some photos. They arnt great quality because the lighting wasnt great and my camera phone is like the first one invented lol

Just after fitting the cover

Bumper off

Alarm siren moved to behind the wing (Used to be here lol)

Brace and tie down fitted

 

[Bencrx]

Thats it all up to date now on ek9.org il try and keep it updated as best i can. Ive got lowering springs and lower arms etc to get on the car and some other bits and bobs so will post them when they are fitted
Cheers

 

[HondaCTR]

Looks nice with the new bumper

Great job at painting the boot

But I've think the green Sol could have been saved (

 

[Bencrx]

Thanks mate I wish i could have saved it but it really was too far gone, it was mainly the floor pan and chassis legs which were the worst and prety much unrepairable

 

[Bencrx]

Its been a while since Ive updated this thread.
Sadly not long after fitting the black rocker cover the engine crapped itself. Turned out the black rocker cover I put on still had some grit in it from the shot blasting and it ended up scoring the bearings and wrecking the oil pump. I felt stupid but it was a lesson learned.
That was 3 or more years ago and since then this del sol has lay in my driveway with no engine, doing nothing but getting dirty.

However...
Now that I have a standard clean white del sol that I granny around in and won't modify, Ive decided I am going to use this black del sol to build the del sol I have wanted for a long time. A k20 swapped del sol.
I have been slowly gathering k swap parts for the last year or so not really knowing what I am going to do with them. But now that I have sold my daily and Ive got my student loan its time for me to get my act together and get this k swap on the move.

I have already got
- Hybrid racing shifter box
- Dc5 cables
- Hasport mounts
- Hasport shafts
- K swap conversion harness

I may or may not use these parts as I am going over to England next week to pick up a k swapped integra that I can swap the parts over from. Some of you may think Im mad taking the k swap out of the integra and putting it into a del sol but you will get over it haha.

Once I have the k swap all sorted, I need to sort out the del sols body work and get it fully resprayed. The paint is terrible on it now from laying out for so long and it wasn't great to begin with. The arches are solid apart from where the bumper meets the arch. The inner bracket that holds the end of the bumper on has rusted badly on both sides and on the passenger side there is a hole the size of a 10p just where the bumper meets. The sills and the underneath are 100% which is a relief so hopefully the prep and painting process won't take too long.
I am undecided on the colour to paint the car. I want the engine bay and outside to be the same colour, not a funky engine bay colour.
I would like to paint it black again but black is such a tough colour to keep nice. I was thinking either frost white or vsm silver.
What does anyone think? Any suggestions on colours?

Any way I will be updating this as of next week when the donor integra arrives. Cheers