My Acura Integra GS-R. Milano Red. Fully Detailed.

[ryotto]

This is my 1994 Acura Integra GS-R. I bought it about 4 1/2 years ago. It has 58,000 miles on it. The color is Milano Red and most of the paint is the original Honda Paint from 1994. I've detailed this car in the past, but never posted it on Autopia. I just got done doing the exterior. I spend about three hours on it on Thursday, from 1:00pm to 1:00am on Friday and 10:00am to 3:00am on Saturday. There were breaks in there, but I'm slow and thorough. The engine bay was detailed last fall and I took the pictures then. The Wheel wells and underbody was detailed last summer and the pictures are from then.



I used to drive this car everyday in the winter and everything. I then bought a beater vehicle and quit driving it in the winter and when it rains. I now have a company vehicle that I drive to and from work everyday. My Integra became a pleasure vehicle that doesn't sit outside very much anymore. I do autocross it however.



Here are the pictures of my car. Please enjoy. Please leave comments or suggestions.



My process:



Paint:

Wash - Meguiars Gold Class car wash with wool wash mit

Claybar - Clay Magic blue claybar

Wash - Meguiars Gold Class car wash with wool wash mit

Polish - Menzerna Final Polish II with Porter Cable 7424 and Sonus SFX-1 Yellow pad

Polish - Menzerna Final Polish II with Porter Cable 7424 and Sonus SFX-2 White Pad

* Hand polished tight spots with Meguiars Scratch-X

Sealant - Zaino Z-2 Pro with ZFX. Three Coats. Meguiars foam applicator



Wheels:

Wash...

Polished out aluminium lip with Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish

Sealant - Zaino Z-2 Pro with ZFX. Three Coats. Meguiars foam applicator



Tires - Armor-All Original protectant



Glass - Rain-X



Trim, Sideskirts, Mudflaps, Bumper grille - Mothers Back to Black



Non coated Polyureathane front lip - Klasse All-In-One



Windsheild Cowl - 303 Aerospace protectant



Lights - Meguiars Plast-X



*I used Pakshak Microfiber towels



Engine Bay:

Cleaned with S100 Total Cycle Cleaner and pressure washer along with Meguiars Gold Class car wash with wash mit.



Wheel wells and underbody:

Meguiars Gold Class car wash with old wash mit



Interior:

Plastic and Vinyl- Damp Microfiber Towel to clean and 303 Aerospace protectant

Window Tint - Plexus

Glass - Stoner Invisible Glass

Clear plastic - Meguiars Plast-X and Plexus





Results:



My car with the city of Mandan, ND in the distance.

Here my car is overlooking the Missouri River

The city of Bismarck, ND in the backround. You can see the Capital Building

Here is a reflection of my 1988 Toyota Pickup in the door of my car.

Here is my detailing supplies

Here is an old cell phone picture of my interior.

 

[unclejud49348]

Very nice job. Cool shots, and I really like the one with all the products.

No before shots to show the transformation?



And how did you like using "Back to Black"? I'm thinking about trying that out.

 

[ryotto]

Very nice job. Cool shots, and I really like the one with all the products.

No before shots to show the transformation?



And how did you like using "Back to Black"? I'm thinking about trying that out.

Thanks. My Integra wasn't neglected or very bad. My old pictures were crappy cell phone pictures. I polished my Integra once before, so it wasn't too bad before this last detail.



But heres a transformation of my polyurethane front lip.

and my Cowl:

... and if your really want to see a transformation, here my Toyota Pickup:

I do like Mothers Back to Black. Just remember to buff off the excess.

 

[dc5itr329]

wow the wheel wells are super clean! I never knew they could be that clean!:xyxthumbs

 

[ryotto]

wow the wheel wells are super clean! I never knew they could be that clean!:xyxthumbs

Thanks, that was a lot of work to clean. By the way, I didn't paint the wheel wells, that's how they came from the factory.

 

[ryotto]

It clouded up in the evening so I decided to take a few more pictures in the different lighting conditions. My camera (and image resize and compression) doesn't do my paint justice. It looks much better in person.

 

[gamby]

That is a STUNNING low-mileage survivor. What a gem. Please continue to keep it away from the ND winters--it's too nice an example of a DC2 teg to get wrecked by winters at this stage of the game.



Beautiful car.

 

[SoFreshSoCean]

Nice car, super clean!

 

[ryotto]

That is a STUNNING low-mileage survivor. What a gem. Please continue to keep it away from the ND winters--it's too nice an example of a DC2 teg to get wrecked by winters at this stage of the game.



Beautiful car.

Speaking of gem, my cars name is Ruby. I didn't name her, the original owner did (I'm the second owner). Yeah I used to drive this car in the winter. I would wash it all the time and it would get full of salt right away anyway. Now she stays in the garage all winter, away from the salt. I bought a $200 Civic hatch which saved my Integra from one winter, and then a $750 Civic sedan saved it from last winter. Now I have my 88 Toyota Pickup which will continue to take the winter abuse so my Integra doesn't have to. Thats why I wanted to clean the underbody and wheel wells very good, to get all of that salt off of it, because I plan on keeping this car for a very long time and I do not want it to rust.

 

[ryotto]

I've been playing with my camera some more. My car looks awesome and I'm trying to capture that with my Canon SD750, but it never looks as good in the pictures. If anybody has some advice more me, I would appreciate it. Anyway, here's a few more attempts:

 

[jessicah]

Nice Integra. I have a 94 LS, also milano red, but it has a few more miles on it than yours. There's nothing like a clean Teg! Are those stock tail lights, by the way?



As for the camera, it looks like you have half the picture in focus (right) and half out (left). That might be part of the reason that the pics aren't looking right. Remember also that lighting is (almost) everything; if the sun is too high in the sky, the colors are going to wash out.

 

[ryotto]

Nice Integra. I have a 94 LS, also milano red, but it has a few more miles on it than yours. There's nothing like a clean Teg! Are those stock tail lights, by the way?



As for the camera, it looks like you have half the picture in focus (right) and half out (left). That might be part of the reason that the pics aren't looking right. Remember also that lighting is (almost) everything; if the sun is too high in the sky, the colors are going to wash out.

Yes, they are the original taillights. Meguiars Plast-x makes them look new. Yeah, I noticed some parts of the picture is out of focus. The camera auto-focuses and while it looks good on my camera's LCD, I notice the out of focus areas when I get them on the computer. I'll have to read the manual and play with it some more. I noticed a lot of my pictures have washed out color. I hate how it looks good on the LCD, but not so good on the computer. My sister has an a real good camera because she is/was into photography. I should see if I can get her to photograph my car.

 

[jDizzle]

vtec crossover on a b18c has to be one of my favorite sounds ever, you're one lucky dude... good detailer too lol. nice work.. my girlfriend up until about a month ago had the same color 1994 integra, hers was an LS though, and automatic. with a nice big rust hole in the typical honda spot (quarterpannel) ..thats a nice clean car

 

[4cruizn]

Great car. Especially love the immaculate wheel wells. My dad's DD is a '95 Teg LS 5MT with 210k on it. Such a fun car to drive.

 

[quakerroatmeal]

Nice GS-R! They are really rare now and days especially stock. I like the minor add on such as the itr front lip, ground controls/koni yellow setup, rota c8's.. Why not lower her more if you have the suspension?

 

[ryotto]

Nice GS-R! They are really rare now and days especially stock. I like the minor add on such as the itr front lip, ground controls/koni yellow setup, rota c8's.. Why not lower her more if you have the suspension?

Yeah, my car was completely stock when I bought it. I slowly modified it as I owned it. Since I autocross the car, I did the suspension since the stock suspension was holding me back, now at this last autocross I PAXed 3rd place out of 35 drivers with my old rock hard tires which don't grip like they used to. I'm leaving the motor completely stock because its super reliable, gets good gas mileage, sounds good and isn't loud, and is quick enough for me.



Sure I can lowered the car more, so it compresses the bump stops and I would have no upward suspension travel, but I don't want to. I don't want to lower it more because 1) I like having suspension travel so the suspension can absorb bumps like its suppose to. 2) Lowering it anymore doesn't necessarily mean it'll handle better and perhaps make it handle worse. 3) I reduced my ground clearance enough already and I have already scrapped my front lip, any lower and it'll scrape more. 4) I don't like the look of slammed cars, to me my ~1.25" drop looks perfect. 5) With my 1.25" drop, my alignment is set up the way I want with the camber I want (~-1.5° at every corner) I don't want any less camber or any more.

 

[darkenergy]

Random question but did you have to drill anything to install the ASR brace?

 

[Mr.Cool]

Wow one of the cleanest GS-R Ive seen to date.:xyxthumbs

 

[juliom2]

great post....with great details

:goodjob

 

[ryotto]

Random question but did you have to drill anything to install the ASR brace?

The only thing I had to drill was the threads out of the swaybar mounting holes. If I ever wanted to go back to stock, I could always install new nuts. It does clear the ABS lines and everything. This ASR brace I bought new off ebay and the place I bought it from has them anodized, then they sell them. So my brace was not anodized by ASR, but whoever did it did an awesome job. If you want to know how to install an ASR brace on an EG/DC chassis heres a link to a PDF document: http://www.passwordjdm.com/Install_Notes/ASR_Brace_DC_EG.pdf