Let the Mods Begin!

My first mod had to be a stereo. Don't get me wrong, I love the sound of the teg, but doing weekly trips between Newcastle and London end up being 6.5hrs long on a bad traffic day, one way!

Although there was a rather expensive Pioneer Jap Navigation Stereo system with the car, the Sat Nav boot CD was missing and so I could not use any functions of the system - FAIL. It was time to hunt for a stereo that would fit my needs:

• Double din
• Touchscreen
• Minimal 'physical' buttons
• Plays MP3s and videos
• USB connector
• Some sort of protection against thieves

Many stereos fit most of the above criteria. However it was the last point that pretty much determined what stereo I was going to get. I was so paranoid about having a double din stereo as you can't remove the facia like most single din units. I was convinced some twat would one day break my window and try to rip out the stereo. It wasn't so much the potential loss of a stereo but the damage to the car to get to the stereo I was worried about.

And then finally, the solution to my dilema had been found. Whilst browsing the itr-dc5 forum, one of the owners had posted up a quick review on the JVC AVX-810. It was the only double din unit with a removeable facia on the market. It met all of my criteria and so my first mod was bought

Unmissible Opportunity

The start of 2009 was upon me. I had effectively ruled out the other car choices and so I was quietly deliberating what to do about finding a Teg. Comissioning a fresh import was no longer appealing. Afterall, the economy had just collapsed and the Pound to Yen exchange rate had fallen from 230 to around the 130 mark. Oh how I wish I had the foresight to buy all my parts before then, more on this later.

As fortune would have it, I was working for a client up in Newcastle where coincidentally, Andy from 200bhpcars is based. It was at this time that a former customer of his was trading in his Teg which appeared to be in immaculate condition with some added goodies. To give you an idea of why this car caught my eye:

• Late 2004 Facelift in Championship White
• C Pack - Tinted rear windscreen and side rear windows; Rear wiper, electric power folding assist mirrors
• Push starter button
• Auction grade 5/A which in layman's terms means it's practically brand new
• Imported with only 4k miles on the clock. Two years on it still had only done 10k miles!
• Mugen Assist Meters (around £800 at the time and I believe over £1k now!)
• And some other goodies which I didn't spot at the time. More shall be revealed later.

The car was up for £13k which was an absolute bargain. Andy had said that it was still in 5/A condition and anyone that knows Andy knows that he is one of the most helpful, capable and honest Traders around. Alas for Andy, there was no interest. Afterall this was the time where everyone was in fear for their jobs. This as it happens was a big advantage for me.

It took me a while to deliberate if I should take the plunge and go for the car. I was still undecided about the whole facelift/ pre-facelift route. What prompted me to eventually take a look in person was a price drop to £12,750; the fear of an opportunity missed. Surely someone would snap this car up, it was an absolute bargain.

One late, dark and cold evening in Newcastle, I went to visit Andy's premises after hours. In his garage he had a brand new white GTR, an RX7, a couple of DC2's, an FD2 and 'some' car underneath a cover surrounded by spotlights.
The moment Andy removed the cover I fell in love. The car was in stunning condition and even the hated rear bumper of a facelift looked good. This really was a case of pictures don't do this car justice and the Teg looks great in pictures!

Outside visual check! - Stunning and immaculate condition
Inside visiual - Wow! I will hold my hands up and say the Mugen Assist Meters never really done it for me in pictures even though they were stunning. The only way I can describe why is that they always looked a bit 'big'. Seeing them in real life, they were the perfect size and when lit up in the dark provided a real wow factor.

After wiping the drool off my face we eventually went for a test drive. Andy took me out first to warm the car up and the first thing I noticed was how snug the bucket seats were and how loud it was inside the cabin. There was a significant difference between this and the CTR that my bro used to own, not what I was expecting but was very pleasing.
After 10 minutes, Andy pulled over and I jumped into the driver's seat. The experience was exhilarating, and I was a quite a bit hesitant to hit vtec as it was an icy night! The gear changes felt crisp yet so short at the time that I wasn't sure I had completed the gear change!

Once back at the garage, I decided that this was the car for me. We agreed on a slightly lower price and put down a deposit to secure the car.

A few weeks later I had taken ownership and here is how she looked back then.

Mugen Assist Meters - Water Temp, Oil Temp, Oil Pressure

Decisions decisions decisions

Thinking back to 2007, I really have no idea why I didn't take the plunge and contact Andy from 200bhpcars to find my 'then' ideal Teg (Championship white pre-facelift) and import it into the country. It may have something to do with changing companies and working 15hr days on my first project. You don't really get any time to think about cars let alone anything else!

Anyway as work really did take over life, a year or so went by with me pre-occupied and my car enthusiasm dormant.

Jump forward to late 2008 and this hibernation began to end. I finally had time to think and had decided to upgrade from my wonderful Nissan Almera 1.4GX. Yes people, GX. What a beast....

I had narrowed my choices down to the following:

• Honda Integra DC5 Type R (pre or facelift)
• Honda S2000
• Nissan 350Z
• BMW E60 530i M Sport
• Mini Cooper (Standard, S or JCW)
• And for a fleeting moment an Aston Martin Vantage (yes really)

How I came to the final decision of the teg went as follows:

• S2000 - My bro's sister in law had an insane S2K over in Toronto. Being frank, my car would always feel inferior

Lisa's J's Racing S2K. Part of R-Squadron, a famous Canadian
Car Team

In liveryed up form

• 350Z - My brother and D over in Toronto has had/ still has an insane 350Z each respectively. My car again would always feel inferior.

D's 350Z back in 2007 - President and Founder of R-Squadron

D's 350Z how it looks in 2010

My bro's old 350Z

• BMW 5 Series - "Why do you want an old man's car at your age? You're only young once and you will probably not go down the race car route after you've had this car." Case and point, some very wise words from one of my best friends.
• Mini Cooper - "WTF? It may be fun but it's a mini man." This response I got a lot...
• Aston Martin Vantage - The idea of spending £45k of my savings proved to be too much of a crap my pants factor, not to mention maintenance costs.

 Therefore all indications were pointing me to the Teg. As well as the above, the DC5 on these soils is rare and has an extra special presence.

Let the hunting begin.

I thought it was about time....

...to start capturing my thoughts, useful facts and experiences to do with my Honda Integra DC5 Type R.
There's A LOT of catch up work to bring this blog up to date so I guess I'll get cracking and start from the very beginning. I'll pre-date these posts to when these events actually happened (or as close as possible!) to give a realistic-ish timeline.

Many moons ago my brother bought a brand new facelift EP3 Civic Type R in early 2004. What a lot of people don't know is that he was seriously considering getting a DC5. The unknown quantity that was importing at that time, plus an extra £4-5k on top of a brand new EP3 list price was too risky and so put an end to that idea.

Anyway the reason I bring my brother into the equation is that he effectively introduced me to the DC5 and the rest they say is history.

Jump forward to early 2007. I'm in Toronto visiting my bro and I'm in a cafe sipping on my Mocha and surfing the net. For the past 3 years I have thought on and off about getting a DC5. Not giving it too much thought, but enough to join the itr-dc5.com forum and absorb and learn about the car as much as possible. A silent reader.
Anyway, to give some background on the direction I've taken, there are two versions (excluding colour and options etc) commonly referred to as the pre-facelift and facelift.

Pre-facelift

Facelift

Mechanically, there were suspension tweeks and the like, but let's face it. The real reason you choose between a facelift and pre is down to the looks (removing price out of the equation).
I had always been a fan of the pre-facelift as it has a more aggressive look and for me, there was a major eyesore on the facelift, the rear bumper with the black strip.

Facelift

Pre-facelift

Anyway, given that the Teg had now been out in Japan for 6 years already, the pre-facelift visually was not all that perfect either. The whole of the front was just not as slick as the facelift and the lights, predominantly the rears in my opinion had started to look outdated. If I could somehow change the rear bumper of a facelift, I think I would of had my perfect OEM DC5.
Cue looking at different bodykits on bulletproofautomotive in search of this goal. Alas I became distracted as one kit in particular caught my eye - J's Racing

I absolutely loved this kit the moment I layed eyes on it. Granted, the rear has taken some time to love, but it's all about colour coding correctly which I shall explain more in a later post. It was there and then back in 2007 that I decided, If I keep the car standard, I will get a pre-facelift. If I mod like crazy, it's got to be the J's kit and it's got to be a facelift.