My 'Teg...

05/25/00 - Valve cover painting

I got this car traded for an 1982 Ford Econoline V8 and $400 thrown in the mix. The bumper was crooked, no corner markers, the passenger side front fender was badly damaged and the driver side back fender was dented inward and was bathed in primer paint, and the 2nd gear scratched a little. Aside from that it is perfect: stock impeccable interior, exellent motor conditions, 92k miles, everything worked (exept the speedometer). Considering I had good connections with paint/body work, the car was a steal for me. I fixed it up considerably; I do not have a pic of the Teg in it's original condition, but I assure you it looks a hell lot better now. Right now I'm waiting to do all the final body work and paint job (a darker shade of red).

The muffler broke a few weeks ago, and when I saw how much money an original Acura exhaust cost, I decided to jump into the aftermarket scene with one of the basic upgrades. Too bad that my first exhaust was made for a 88-89 CRX and didn't quite fit. The car has some minor dings in the hood and doors (foot pressure, maybe from parking beside bars) and I have to work on the bumpers. But the real work is on the driver side back fender - I have to basically fill up half an inch of panel with metal bondo. When I have the cash I'll replace it - meaning not now :) Performance is more key.

Even more key than performance is assuring yourself that the car isn't going to break down in the woods at 1AM. So I started changing the usual worn-down pieces: shocks, rack & pinion, boots, washers, bushings, terminals, radiator, hoses, valve & block cover gaskets, etc. Now I have to change the timing belt cuz it feels a little too loose, but I'm planning on buying the sprockets and pulley and do it all at the same time.

Booty-quakin' bass

I'm in a rock band called Coabey, where I'm the lead singer and rythm guitar. So I listen to a lot of rock music on my car. More than rocking bass, I need good quality sound. So I loaded the car with Pioneer speakers, Kenwood silk dome tweeters, Laguna 400w powerplant w/crossover, Sony radio/CD, Kenwood 8-band equalizer, and a ported MTX box w/ 2 10" Crunch MTX woofers. Basically this was my sound system previously installed on the '82 Econoline, transplanted to the Integra.

Future mods: