Well, I figured I'd finally start an official build thread, so I can have a central location for the main updates.
I guess I'll start from the beginning, since that's usually how it works. I purchased my '92 VX bone stock on July 19, 2009 from a private party in Dallas. It was totally unmolested and ran like a champ, with it's 1.5 liters of fury, putting out 92 horsepower. Besides the normal dents and dings that are expected from an 18 year-old, 160,000 mile Honda, it really was in GREAT shape. It sat high as hell, and looked...well...like this:
Nothing too pleasing to the eyes, but I saw it as a blank canvas.
I said I wouldn't do anything to it while it was my daily, but that plan was quickly disregarded... Haha
The first things I did were straighten out the radiator support as much as possible, buy any trim it was missing, Nightshade the corners and (lightly) the tails, get a TWM short throw, and purchase the OEM rocker moldings. Basically taking back to completely stock condition, plus a few goodies, of course.
After that, the obscene ride height got unbearable, and since I wasn't supposed to be spending crazy money on anything, I just got some crappy eBay coilover sleeves for $40, just so I could bear to look at the car. I also got some 5% tint installed to keep the OK heat at bay.
It stayed like that for a little while, since I was using it to commute to college every day and such, but eventually I had to do something else to it to keep me entertained. I ended up taking the adjustable sleeves out from the eBay setup, so it would just be the springs. This gave me the lowest ride height I could get with this cheapo setup. I also got tired of a dent that was on the hood, so I fixed the dent and painted the hood with chalkboard paint, which added a nice touch of fun and character. To get some uber mad tight JDM flair, I got the JDM lip from the SiR-II and got some 6000k HIDs installed.
At about this time is when I was finishing my second semester of college, and I had decided not to go back for the time being. So the first thing I did was buy the coilover setup I had planned on from the get-go. Koni SP3/Ground Control combo with extended tophats all around, 650 lb. in. rates in front and 550 in back. I set them as low as they could go, and was very pleased with what I saw, except there was a tiny amount of reverse rake. The front upper control arms had bottomed out on the top of the strut tower, so I rolled like this for a while until I addressed the problem.
Shortly thereafter, I figured it was time to go all out and get my stance in check. I modified the strut towers to clear the control arms, and then proceeded to order my wheel and tire setup. Since it was my daily, I wanted something that I didn't have to worry TOO much about, but that would still be crazy and eye-catching. I turned to Diamond Racing for a set of their custom steelies, which have become very popular in the wheel fitment world. So while I waited for the wheels, I took a few last shots of the car before it would be forever changed...
After the usual 2 week turnaround time, my wheels finally arrived. I had the tires sitting in my room, so I rushed to get them mounted. It was too late to go to my usual shop, and I was turned down from several places due to the stretch, so I had the last place just mount the tires so I could seat the beads. I got the fronts seated with ease, but the rears...just weren't happening. The next morning, I went to my usual shop, where they whipped out the Cheetah bead blaster to attempt to seat the rears. It took 5 or 6 tries and several different techniques, but they FINALLY got it. And this was the result...
I guess I'll start from the beginning, since that's usually how it works. I purchased my '92 VX bone stock on July 19, 2009 from a private party in Dallas. It was totally unmolested and ran like a champ, with it's 1.5 liters of fury, putting out 92 horsepower. Besides the normal dents and dings that are expected from an 18 year-old, 160,000 mile Honda, it really was in GREAT shape. It sat high as hell, and looked...well...like this:
Nothing too pleasing to the eyes, but I saw it as a blank canvas.
I said I wouldn't do anything to it while it was my daily, but that plan was quickly disregarded... Haha
The first things I did were straighten out the radiator support as much as possible, buy any trim it was missing, Nightshade the corners and (lightly) the tails, get a TWM short throw, and purchase the OEM rocker moldings. Basically taking back to completely stock condition, plus a few goodies, of course.
After that, the obscene ride height got unbearable, and since I wasn't supposed to be spending crazy money on anything, I just got some crappy eBay coilover sleeves for $40, just so I could bear to look at the car. I also got some 5% tint installed to keep the OK heat at bay.
It stayed like that for a little while, since I was using it to commute to college every day and such, but eventually I had to do something else to it to keep me entertained. I ended up taking the adjustable sleeves out from the eBay setup, so it would just be the springs. This gave me the lowest ride height I could get with this cheapo setup. I also got tired of a dent that was on the hood, so I fixed the dent and painted the hood with chalkboard paint, which added a nice touch of fun and character. To get some uber mad tight JDM flair, I got the JDM lip from the SiR-II and got some 6000k HIDs installed.
At about this time is when I was finishing my second semester of college, and I had decided not to go back for the time being. So the first thing I did was buy the coilover setup I had planned on from the get-go. Koni SP3/Ground Control combo with extended tophats all around, 650 lb. in. rates in front and 550 in back. I set them as low as they could go, and was very pleased with what I saw, except there was a tiny amount of reverse rake. The front upper control arms had bottomed out on the top of the strut tower, so I rolled like this for a while until I addressed the problem.
Shortly thereafter, I figured it was time to go all out and get my stance in check. I modified the strut towers to clear the control arms, and then proceeded to order my wheel and tire setup. Since it was my daily, I wanted something that I didn't have to worry TOO much about, but that would still be crazy and eye-catching. I turned to Diamond Racing for a set of their custom steelies, which have become very popular in the wheel fitment world. So while I waited for the wheels, I took a few last shots of the car before it would be forever changed...
After the usual 2 week turnaround time, my wheels finally arrived. I had the tires sitting in my room, so I rushed to get them mounted. It was too late to go to my usual shop, and I was turned down from several places due to the stretch, so I had the last place just mount the tires so I could seat the beads. I got the fronts seated with ease, but the rears...just weren't happening. The next morning, I went to my usual shop, where they whipped out the Cheetah bead blaster to attempt to seat the rears. It took 5 or 6 tries and several different techniques, but they FINALLY got it. And this was the result...
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