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[los02]

It all started when I saw THIS about 5 years ago!


It made me want one. NOT the magazine. The actual picture on the subscription card. (And YES I still have it!)

So I started to look for one. Found out that they are either rusted out, beat to crap or the nice ones pull in $$$$. Which at the time I did not have. But every day as part of my usual daily routine was to look on CL and type in Del Sol.

About a good year or two later my daily routine noticed the right combination.

DEL SOL SHELL AND it was 10 minutes away from me!

So I call the guy and he explains to me that the car was stolen on Thanksgiving after he had just finished building the car up with a turbo, suspension, wheels etc. but that the body was in good condition.

I go look at the car and the body is in great condition. It had a replacement hood that had not been primered or painted but I knew I could always get that done.But it had the obvious signs of a theft recovery:

BROKEN IGNITION
NO GAUGE CLUSTER
NO HEADLIGHTS
NO SEATS
NO RADIO
NO MOTOR
NO TRANSMISSION
NO ECU
SUSPENSION THAT WAS THROWN IN IT TO ROLL IT WITH ONE BOLT HAND TIGHTENED

AND THE WORSE PART OF IT ALL: THEY CUT THE ECU CONNECTORS OFF ABOUT TEN INCHES UP!!

BUT THE BODY WAS IN GREAT CONDITION!!!!!

So I left that meeting $500 poorer and needing a tow truck! Which made me a little more broke. This was around the end of '07 beginning of '08

And then the car SAT

.............................. and SAT


.......................................... and SAT



.................................................. .... and SAT!

WHY??? Because I was trying to find a complete under dash harness to replace my cut one. I know that I could have soldered on new connectors. And I actually cut several sets out of different civics. But apparently there is something unique about a 1997 SI because NONE of the harnesses that I cut off of other civics matched! Same year, different year, I tried them all TRUST ME! AND to make matters worse finding a 1996 or 1997 Del Sol Si 5 speed in a junkyard around here is next to impossible!

It wasn't until I did my weekly junkyard hopping earlier this year (for something for another car) that I spot a Del Sol. Which is no biggie!

So I walk over to it. The swap was taken out so I couldn't tell if it was an auto or manual. So I look at the cluster. 5 speed. No biggie.. see Del Sol 5 speeds all the time. Then i look at the door jam. and see /96

I say to myself "self, I've never seen a 1996 Del Sol in the junkyard". I'm slightly excited, but with a 1996 and 1997 they don't have fog lights. So it could very well be an S and not an SI. So, what I do is grab my EVO and plug in the VIN to do a search....

.................. thinking....................... thinking.........
....... bright sun glare on phone....... can't see SHAT!!!!.........
............................ loading......................................

It comes back that it is a manual SI !!!!!! JACKPOT!!!!!

So I proceed to take the next two hours and take the dashboard and everything else out so that I can pull the entire under dash harness out as a whole. The only thing cut was the passenger door wires and those were like that when I got there.

I really didn't want to do that again anytime soon plus it was hot as hell, so the car sat some more. In the mean time I bought this:



for the seats and parted pretty much the rest of it out until it looked like this:





I also bought this:


For this....


And it ended up looking like this:











And I still have some parts left over. Anyone need a GSR subframe? Pedal assembly? LOL

I also happen to buy this:



For THIS!


And it ended up leaving my house looking like THIS!


And then a few months ago I bought this:





For the headlights........... no REALLY!!!! I bought it for the headlights. As anyone that knows me. I'll buy a whole car for some random part because I know I can get my money back selling parts!!!:

And I'm going to take some other little bits off of it to get DEL SLO running. But it is currently looking like THIS:






Do you see a pattern here???

Shameless plug.... ANYONE NEED DEL SOL PARTS???



So, all this history and long ass reading an you haven't seen my DEL SLO....

INTRODUCING MY DEL SLO

well here is how it sits as of today:



From sitting the hood has rusted and has stained my bumper. The trees have not been nice to it. The paint is actually in great condition. I do wash it every once in a while and it looks great. It's about time I do that again.

I have installed seats, THREE TIMES! First, was to get something in there. They looked like boo bee doop! The second time they looked better but had rips. And the final time they looked nice and did not have any rips.

In one of my junkyard hops (I was actually tagging along with a friend that was actually the one looking) and I found a rare 8.5K redline cluster.

I pulled the ignition off of one of the cars that I parted out and got all the locks re-keyed.

I finally broke down a couple weeks ago and pulled out the dash and heater box to take out my cut up harness and install the one I bought earlier. All that I have to do now (dash harness related) is solder these 18 wires:




Anyone interested in a 1990 4 door Integra with 56K??? LOL



Once I do that I can start putting everything back together. And then the interior will be done minus installing a radio. (I'll leave the center console out for that)

Then I can concentrate on the engine bay. My next headache after installing the interior.




I have to loop the power steering. I have a manual rack, but don't feel like swapping it out just yet. Clean out whatever wasp nest is in one of my hoses. And see whatever else has been cut or damaged when it was stolen. The cruise control looks shot. Axles are done. Notice the ONE nut holding the struts in???

I did install a new throttle cable and had to replace the ignition wires as they were both cut and hacked.

While none of this may seem like any real progress, please understand my vice. I'm a car-a-holic. I have a car buying problem AND I'm easily distracted. AND to ad insult to injury I have my car dealers license. I almost bought a 635CSI and an E28 last week. But I instead bought other cars. I've been told that I never finish a car before I start messing with another one. SO, I'm going to finish this one... oooooh.... did you see that burgundy E34 in the other thread??? I want mine to sit like that.... maybe I'll order some coilovers for my E34..... no wait.... Del Sol.... DEL SOL.... concentrate on the DEL SOL..... DEL SLO... aaaaahhhhh!!!!!

musssst...... finish........ del............................ sol

Ok.... back on track here.....

My immediate goal is to get this thing on the road under it's own power! My birthday is in a couple weeks and I wish to drive it for the first time in four years on my birthday. I have two weeks! Which is one of the reasons that I have made this ignorantly long post. It will be a reminder of what I need to get done.

After I get it running, I plan to drive it to get any bugs out. Both literally and figuratively! Once I'm satisfied that it is a solid car. I will order up some 16x8 wheels, camber kits and a REAL suspension. At the moment, I'm just going to take the suspension off of the purple Del Sol which looks to be Ebay. But it's closer to the ground and rode decent when I drove it down the road.

But my first major goal is to get it running!!!

So I have to:
solder 18 wires
install heater box, dash support bars
install dashboard, steering wheel etc.
install drivetrain
install radiator
install headlights
check wiring
fill fluids

...... turn key and start car that has been sitting for about 4 years!!! RIGHT????

[DannyE32]

that looks like a night mare to me.

why not just fix the rear of the purple one and swap for a Bseries and start with the sweeter E34?

just saying

[D&W]

will be watching this!

[los02]

Originally Posted by DannyE32

that looks like a night mare to me.

why not just fix the rear of the purple one and swap for a Bseries and start with the sweeter E34?

just saying

Because with this one the only body work required would be the hood and the bumper. I would be a couple grand into the purple one trying to repair it. Then either try to color match a color I don't have paint codes for or repaint the car. Which would involve more money. I would have to deal with the salvage title, setting up an appointment and getting it to pass inspection. Also, the purple one no longer has a door, fenders, bumper, targa top, hood and other parts that I have sold off of it.

And if you saw the condition of the paint and body on the white on in person when it is actually clean you would better understand.

[ChristopherJason]

totally watching this. seems like a great build !

[Obscevator]

watching! too bad the purple one is so banged up it's a really nice colour... but good luck on this nightmare! I'm sure it'll be stunning when it's done!

[los02]

Originally Posted by Obscevator

watching! too bad the purple one is so banged up it's a really nice colour... but good luck on this nightmare! I'm sure it'll be stunning when it's done!

Thank you.


I had some time to tackle the soldering. Here they are soldered and covered with heat shrink:


And here it is loomed up.


I was going to install the heater box but the mosquitoes were in abundance. So I plan to get to that tomorrow.

[KürBFèéleR]

Great story, i enjoy reading stories like that on here with pictures an what not.lol. i been craving a del sol so bad but cant afford another car. I cant wait to see what comes of this, good luck with everything

[los02]

Got a chance to do a little work today:

Heater box installed and mostly bolted in.
Plugged heater box to under dash harness.


Support bar installed:


I started late today and now it's getting dark. I hope to get an early start tomorrow and I should have the dash back in tomorrow as long as I don't run into any unforeseen issues. That air duct on the bottom left is being blocked from lining up properly by the wires underneath it. So I have to move them around so that it all fits easier.

[HooWybrow]

I admire your determination, hopefully it pans out for you.

I was once a Honda boy, and everytime I see a full-on build I shed a tear inside

[Ifield]

I admire your dedication mate, can't wait to see how this turns out. Have a bit of a soft spot for Hondas, my first car was an old Civic

[DannyE32]

still looks like nightmare, but there you go.

are you working on the E34 yet?

[los02]

Originally Posted by DannyE32

still looks like nightmare, but there you go.

are you working on the E34 yet?

No. E34 is not a priority right now. It is working 100% and drives so smooth. It's the car to take the LA-DIES out in.


So, today I decided to try to get some work done. For some reason Honda decided out of all their Civic's to put an additional ground wire on the back of a Del Sol dashboard. This is not found on any other dash board that I have taken out.


That being said, I forgot about it when I pulled the dashboard out and did this:


And this:

So I had to fix it before I put it back into the car. My workbench for the day was my Integra. Another project that is on the back burner for now.

I decided to make the wire longer in case I ever need to take the dash out again that i have some slack to disconnect this ground wire and not have it happen again. I used this piece of wire that I took out when I was sorting the wiring mess out last time:

Here I cut back some of the tape to have more space to solder:

I forgot to take pictures of the wire soldered and heat shrunk. But nothing spectacular. Look at my previous post if you want to see wires with heat shrink:

Put the dash in and started to bolt everything up. Connected the various harnesses.


Installed the combination switch and steering wheel.

Left side done

Right side done

Decided to connect my jumper box to to the fuse box see if anything would work:



JACKPOT!!!




This is the first time I have EVER seen anything light up on this car in the 4 years that I have owned it!

I also connected the horn and the horn works. I tried to turn on the heater fan but that didn't work. Not sure if it has to have the engine harness in to complete the circuit considering it uses some sensors and relays. But I will deal with that later.

All that I have left on the interior is the center console which I will leave out for now until I get the car running.

Tomorrow I think I might swap the suspension off the purple Del Sol onto this one and/or start taking care of things in the engine bay in preparation for putting a motor in it.

I also have to make a phone call and pick up an OBD2a to OBD1 ECU harness or find a P72 OBD2a ECU.

I might just take the drive train out of the purple del sol and put it in this one (even though it burns oil) just to get it moving. I'm undecided and I have a few days to figure out which motor I will put in it.

[Art[of]Fitment]

hey. i just want you to know, i ALMOST bought that black da integra for my first car. like literally im not joking, THAT one with the primer on the fender/primered hacth. i remember it like it was yesterday.

[los02]

Originally Posted by Art[of]Fitment

hey. i just want you to know, i ALMOST bought that black da integra for my first car. like literally im not joking, THAT one with the primer on the fender/primered hacth. i remember it like it was yesterday.

Well, if you had bought it you would NOT have been disappointed. The car has never let me down all the years the I have owned it. The only thing I had to do to it was replace the distributor and the exhaust. And I've driven it well over 50k plus miles since I bought it.

[C-Hutch]

you seem to be going the scenic route with this build, but good work so far

[KamiLowther]

Have a bit of a soft spot for Hondas

[G535]

This IS one effin nightmare! Hope you get it all together and stanced at somepoint. At least you wont ever have it sitting waiting for parts when something breaks

[los02]

I was able to get some minimal work done the past few days. I planned on working all day today but had to help a friend out and drive up to New Jersey.

So the car looked like this:


So that I could swap the no name suspension off of the purple Del Sol on the white one. (going with a different setup in the future)


And then I was invited to dinner so all I got done was the front


And this is how it sits for tonight. I forgot to take a before shot. But I can definitely tell the difference.
And this is without the motor and transmission in it.


I also learned why my brake pedal goes straight to the floor. Someone cut one of the front brake lines. So I'm going to have to replace that and bleed the brakes before I can drive it.

Since my personal deadline to get it running under it's own power is almost here. I think instead of dealing with the rear suspension tomorrow, I will instead try to throw a motor in it instead.

[LaMaR-]

Nice man cant wait to see it running and a set of wheels on it lol

[G535]

I wanna see that spare wheel tuckin....

[los02]

Tried to get it in the garage. The radiator support wasn't having it!



So I decided to give it a wash.

[dav3design]

Looks like it is crying

Can't wait to see this progress!

[los02]

OK, so I tried to make some progress and get the engine installed. But first I had to address some things in the engine bay. Such as removing the AC and PS lines since I will not be running those.

A word of advice to anyone that takes the heater core out. If you remove the rubber seal on the firewall replace it BEFORE you install and bolt up the heater box. Otherwise, it is a royal PITA to try to get it in there AFTER everything is bolted up! Ask me how I know!


The car had a kinked clutch line that looked like this:


So I replaced that and now it looks like this:


TODAY'S GOAL- GET MOTOR AND TRANSMISSION INSTALLED

I went out and bought a new fuel filter, coolant hoses and fuel hoses in preparation for installing the motor. I pulled the swap from a running wrecked car so I know it runs. So, I started looking the swap over seeing if I needed anything else. I go to grab my engine mounts that I bought a few years ago to test fit and come to realize that the mounts I have are for a CABLE TO HYDRO set up (bastard ebay seller got me), so the passenger side mount won't bolt up to the transmission.

Luckily I had another used set that I bought a few years ago. But this set requires me to change the motor mount that bolts up in between the timing belt. But it has a third bolt that I can't access without taking the timing belt cover off. And my compressor/impact wrench don't have the balls to remove the crank pulley! FML

So, I roll the swap back into the corner as there is nothing else that I can do with it right now. NOT A HAPPY CAMPER!

So I decide not to let today go to waste, so I decide to do this:


And this:


So that I can get to this:


I swapped the left rear suspension out and tightened everything up. One bolt on the right rear of the purple one is stuck, so I've put PB blaster on it and I'll let it soak over night. Hopefully, I can get the bolt out without breaking it!!!

So, out of boredom I did this:


And that's how it sits as of right now. It's suppose to rain tomorrow so I don't think I'm going to be able to get much done.

I'm suppose to meet up with a guy later to get an ECU conversion harness since the guy that has the actual ECU that I want to run isn't able to meet up anytime soon.

Since I have to take the crank pulley off to get to the last bolt for the engine mount I am debating just rebuilding the complete motor. Although, I might just sell the cable to hydro set since they are brand new and pick up the exact ones that I need. And have the engine installed sooner.

I'm also going to have to figure out how to get the car to sit lower. I know that the front coilovers are all the way down. Maybe if I take the rings out. But that will only buy me maybe half an inch.

But the motor is also not in it yet!

[Jacob]

What are those wheels? I'm a Euro guy, really, but I'm digging those.