1996 Integra DB8 Retrofit Project - Slowest Retrofit Ever

[danteisme]

So I've had a long history with my car. This is the second time I have owned it (13 years total time now) and I just spent the last nearly 3 years restoring the car. So as you can see, I like to take my time. I sort of stumbled across some AP1 headlights for a very cheap price, and now I own them. I had always wanted to do a retrofit on this car, but the funds never allowed for it. I still have a lot of parts I need to buy to do this retrofit, but I may as well start a build thread. WARNING: This will be the slowest retrofit ever and I will be constantly asking questions. I have never done one before, but when the opportunity for the parts presented itself, I couldnt pass it up. I still have yet to break down the headlights and verify everything is intact, but after a quick look I THINK I am ok.
I tried to upload some photos, but apparently I suck at the internet today.

I hope to separate the headlights this weekend. Given how much photobucket sucks now, can anyone share some tips or threads that have working pictures showing how to separate these headlights? I think i see everything, but its always good to verify checking up on someone else's project. Not that I'm too terribly worried about breaking something external to the headlight, these headlights were sold as parts only.

[danteisme]

Finally uploaded some pictures of what i have so far.
IMG_0310

IMG_0309

IMG_0308

[ferioeh]

Pics of said such car or it didn't happen Long term projects are always the most satisfying anyways

[danteisme]

LOL, I'll get some photos I took along the way off my photobucket account and post them up.

[satrya]

I'm all up for slow retrofits.

[danteisme]

I did some work on the retrofits (very minor lol) and I thought I would put up some info and pics on my car as well. So, here is the backstory: I bought this car back in 2003 with 64K miles on it and drove it all throughout college, took it on a bunch of road trips etc..,and sold it in 2010 with 175K+/- on it when i got my "real job". Shortly before I got married, I told my wife how much I missed that car and how much fun it was (and she knows too, I met her in that car) and I wanted to start looking for another one after the wedding. Well, about 6 months before our wedding, by dumb luck I stumbled across my old car for sale on CL. So, in May of 2014, I bought her back with 214.5K miles on it. And...she was in really, REALLY rough shape. As soon as I got the car home, I parked it and started restoring. I basically replaced and / or service everything you could. Here is my run down of my restoration: I completely stripped the car and prepped all undercarriage rust areas for protection and coated the entire underside of the car with 2 coats of chassis saver followed up with a coat of rubberized under coating. I replaced all hard brake lines and fuel lines, the fuel tank, the fuel pump and sender unit, all brake calipers, brake hoses rotors and pads, replaced every single bushing, all 4 wheel bearings were replaced, new e brake cables, new tie rods, new ball joints, new axles, new radiator, all new coolant lines and heater hoses, all new vacuum lines, just about every gasket or seal was replaced in the motor, new clutch, replaced one quarter panel so far, re-did a bunch of electric items, and completed a TON of maintenance and service items. It took me about 2.5 years from the time I parked it until the time it first got back on the road May 2017.

The car is modified a bit: short ram intake, civic type r cams, bored throttle body and port matched intake manifold, 2.5" exhaust from the manifold back, and it was dyno tuned back in 2007 or 2008. The car has a little under 219K miles on it now and I've been nearly daily driving it ever since i got it back on the road.

Here is a few pics of the car:

This one is right before i sold it.


Here is the day i bought it back







And here is a few during the 2.5 year restoration/rebuild/whatever you want to call it.









And here is a couple most currently. One is at a local park and the other is out my office window. the car is still at the "good from far ,far from good" status lol





Sorry for a million pics. BUT, back to the retrofit stuff. All i really got accomplished was removing the front lenses.



I attempted breaking it down further, but I couldn't find a place to start undoing things. Is there a good DIY on how to break these down anywhere? I don't want to accidentally break something important.

[Haloruler64]

Love the car, and the dedication!

[Eddie]

GSR Sedan

Do you live in the northeast or salt belt, noticed all the usual body cancer. I don't recall anyone replacing the hard brake and fuel lines before, were they that rusty?

[danteisme]

Yeah I live just outside of Pittsburgh. I bought the car in Virginia and it was in perfect shape. 11 years of winters ruined everything under the car. The brake lines looked like something that was under the ocean for years, the fuel line was repaired in 3 places from rust and leaking, and the one metal line was gone lol. They guy I bought my car back from replaced it with a rubber line.

[gold94corolla]

It's a shame that people never take as good care of your car as you do after you sell it. That's pretty cool though that you could buy it back and work on it like that.

[danteisme]

Yeah they guy i bought it off of said he used it as his "beater" car. It was a heck of a process getting the car to this point, but it's kinda nice having a "new" 1996 Acura lol

[danteisme]

I guess we can call this step 1B?

[url=https://flic.kr/p/ZLySW7]

[^pomen_GTR^]

lol after all these years, my retro for sf5 fozzy not even started yet....

i'm fussy...and short on cash to buy all those needed parts

[danteisme]

lol after all these years, my retro for sf5 fozzy not even started yet.... i'm fussy...and short on cash to buy all those needed parts

LOL i hear ya. I'd rather take my time, get good quality parts and do it right once rather than rush through something I'll end up regretting later.

[danteisme]

So, finally had a chance to work on this project a bit. Its been a bit crazy lately, my son was born right before Thanksgiving so guess where all of my time has gone? lol

i have an extra set of headlights for the car, so i figured i would tear into these to practice my cutting skills. And if they turned out OK, i would just swap these in my good headlights. The first one was good.


The other side is junk, looks like its been leaking for a while and just ruined the high beam shield and the mounting bracket itself.


so i have one i can practice with for now lol