[mylydiamy]

My neighbor’s 17 years old kid bought a 99 Acura Integra 3 moths ago. The next day he told me about the mods he was planning to do on the car. I thought he was joking. But last week he finally completed his mods. He worked 2 jobs to make money for the mods. This is what he did :

1 - He changed the entire suspension with sport suspension and lowered the car

2 - He replaced entire exhaust system with performance exhaust (sounds good)

3 -BELEIVE OR NOT, he replaced automatic transmission with a manual one. He bought a used manual transmission from a junk yard. He had to replace a lot of stuff (fly wheel and many other stuff that I don't even know) to make it fit since auto and manual have different fittings. He also designed a piece for the interior part of the car to make room for stick. And off course he added the clutch. I drove the car the other day and it drives perfect. You would think it is OEM transmission.

4 - He bought tires and wheels and mounted the tires into new wheels by himself at his high school's shop. His school has a shop with tire mounting machine.

He did all this stuff on the driveway without a lift and he only had a $60 tool set from Pepboys. This kid is amazingly talented. He knows more than 50% mechanics out there whose been in business for decades.

Now hear his next project: He will add turbos to the car. He estimated that the cost would be around $2500. I am very curious how he will do it but after I saw what he did all by himself I wouldn't be surprised to see him pulling it off.

I was feeling good about myself after installing JB3 couple of weeks ago but now I feel stupid after seeing what a 17 year old kid can do

[roadkillrob]

Nice to see some kids with initiative and willing to learn to work on a car for themselves instead of treating it like an appliance!

[Kevin@AKMotorwerk]

Originally Posted by mylydiamy

My neighbor’s 17 years old kid bought a 99 Acura Integra 3 moths ago. The next day he told me about the mods he was planning to do on the car. I thought he was joking. But last week he finally completed his mods. He worked 2 jobs to make money for the mods. This is what he did :

1 - He changed the entire suspension with sport suspension and lowered the car

2 - He replaced entire exhaust system with performance exhaust (sounds good)

3 -BELEIVE OR NOT, he replaced automatic transmission with a manual one. He bought a used manual transmission from a junk yard. He had to replace a lot of stuff (fly wheel and many other stuff that I don't even know) to make it fit since auto and manual have different fittings. He also designed a piece for the interior part of the car to make room for stick. And off course he added the clutch. I drove the car the other day and it drives perfect. You would think it is OEM transmission.

4 - He bought tires and wheels and mounted the tires into new wheels by himself at his high school's shop. His school has a shop with tire mounting machine.

He did all this stuff on the driveway without a lift and he only had a $60 tool set from Pepboys. This kid is amazingly talented. He knows more than 50% mechanics out there whose been in business for decades.

Now hear his next project: He will add turbos to the car. He estimated that the cost would be around $2500. I am very curious how he will do it but after I saw what he did all by himself I wouldn't be surprised to see him pulling it off.

I was feeling good about myself after installing JB3 couple of weeks ago but now I feel stupid after seeing what a 17 year old kid can do

haha yea i did a few swaps on my crx and mustangs when i was that age, now it just seems like too much of a hassle i rather buy the car the way i want it lol

[mylydiamy]

I wisj I could do half of the stuff this kid can do...

[Sara]

I like hearing stories like these. Im glad he's spending money on his car and his time working and earning it. Much better than him getting into trouble with drugs or being a lazy kid.

[Kevin@AKMotorwerk]

Originally Posted by mylydiamy

I wisj I could do half of the stuff this kid can do...

careful what you wish for trust me, soon as everyone finds out you can do it you will have no free weekends lol

what part of jersey you from?

[tjnptel1]

Originally Posted by mylydiamy

My neighbor’s 17 years old kid bought a 99 Acura Integra 3 moths ago. The next day he told me about the mods he was planning to do on the car. I thought he was joking. But last week he finally completed his mods. He worked 2 jobs to make money for the mods. This is what he did :

1 - He changed the entire suspension with sport suspension and lowered the car

2 - He replaced entire exhaust system with performance exhaust (sounds good)

3 -BELEIVE OR NOT, he replaced automatic transmission with a manual one. He bought a used manual transmission from a junk yard. He had to replace a lot of stuff (fly wheel and many other stuff that I don't even know) to make it fit since auto and manual have different fittings. He also designed a piece for the interior part of the car to make room for stick. And off course he added the clutch. I drove the car the other day and it drives perfect. You would think it is OEM transmission.

4 - He bought tires and wheels and mounted the tires into new wheels by himself at his high school's shop. His school has a shop with tire mounting machine.

He did all this stuff on the driveway without a lift and he only had a $60 tool set from Pepboys. This kid is amazingly talented. He knows more than 50% mechanics out there whose been in business for decades.

Now hear his next project: He will add turbos to the car. He estimated that the cost would be around $2500. I am very curious how he will do it but after I saw what he did all by himself I wouldn't be surprised to see him pulling it off.

I was feeling good about myself after installing JB3 couple of weeks ago but now I feel stupid after seeing what a 17 year old kid can do

hmmm.. yeah, it's hard to believe he replaced a tranny without a lift.

[Kevin@AKMotorwerk]

Originally Posted by tjnptel1

hmmm.. yeah, it's hard to believe he replaced a tranny without a lift.

no its not, i have swapped plenty of trans without a lift

[ChrisK]

Originally Posted by Sara504

I like hearing stories like these. Im glad he's spending money on his car and his time working and earning it. Much better than him getting into trouble with drugs or being a lazy kid.

It's amazing how the world has changed. My father yelled at me for spending too much money on modding my car when I was 17 LOL

[rkick08]

nice, post some pics of his ride.

[mike-y]

working on cars isn't really that hard, imo - but it does require patience and the right tools. It's kinda like baking a cake - if you have the recipe and all the ingredients, you are good to go. Of course, the electronics in some of the newer cars make certain things a little harder to do.

And those cars are really easy to work on (I used to have one). They are great for people who are want to start learning how to work on cars because everything is pretty straight forward, and the helms honda service manual is incredibly detailed and has everything in it. I actually still use my integra service manual for my civic, since half the parts (including the engine) are from an integra. I've swapped integra engines into 3 different civics, 2 of them by myself, and the last one, I did it while eating a sandwich at the same time!

The auto to manual swap isn't really that hard on these cars, you just need the supporting parts from a manual car (trans + mount, pedal box, clutch master cylinder, computer), and add a braided hose from the hydraulic clutch line.

The suspension is pretty easy to get into as well, and they have a nice double wishbone setup (part of the reason why they handle so well for FWD cars).

$2500 sounds about right for run of the mill turbo setup. Nothing fancy, but probably something similar to what the greddy kit is for these cars. You can get the factory computer modified by hondata for a few hundred dollars, which turns it into a fully programmable ecu (via their software which is free to download). It's complete with variables for boost, nitrous, etc. There are even a few tuning solutions that are free to download (you just have to have the eprom installed by someone with a chip burner). depending on the motor in that car, he should be able to get 250-300whp reliably, as long as he upgrades the fuel pump and injectors, and gets a good tune.

I do miss mine sometimes

[mylydiamy]

Originally Posted by sexye92

careful what you wish for trust me, soon as everyone finds out you can do it you will have no free weekends lol

what part of jersey you from?

I know exactly what you mean. I am really good at construction stuff. I did my own kitchen, extended bathroom, finished my basement, hardwood floors... Then all my friends started asking me to do their houses. I did it for a while but it came to apoint that I couldn't take it any more. I ended up breaking up with friends when I finally decided not spend my weekends fixing their houses.

I am from Old Bridge

[ben410]

Reminds me of myself... and I regret it haha. Got my first car at 16, had a job for 2 years and spent EVERYTHING I made on my car, only to sell it for less than I bought it for. Now I have a 335i and not touching anything except possibly JB3 in the future. Or at least that's what I say to myself

[Kevin@AKMotorwerk]

Originally Posted by mylydiamy

I know exactly what you mean. I am really good at construction stuff. I did my own kitchen, extended bathroom, finished my basement, hardwood floors... Then all my friends started asking me to do their houses. I did it for a while but it came to apoint that I couldn't take it any more. I ended up breaking up with friends when I finally decided not spend my weekends fixing their houses.

I am from Old Bridge

yea it gets messy, i only help out a few really good friends, not just anyone anymore lol

im from south river, now living in edison.

[myfirst]

I wish I had the TIME to do mods. sigh.

[Desi]

I have a cousin like that. He too is 17 and he bought himself a '92 Integra a few months back. Lets just say this kid has never really been the sharpest tool in the shed and he had never really gotten passionate about anything. A few weeks later his clutch crapped out on him and he was moping around because he couldn't afford to get it fixed. I, in an encouraging way, started making fun of him relentlessly... telling him to man up and do it himself.

I see him a few weeks later, and not only has he replaced his clutch but he also tore down his engine and rebuilt a substantial amount of it with strengthened internals.This kid did all of this work in his Garage, had no help from anyone (his dad, for example, is one of the most automotive illiterate people I know). He also de-riced the entire thing by removing the gaudy wings and body kits and painting the more tasteful ones in his garage, and also painted his beat-up wheels a nice flat black. Dare I say it, but that is one fine looking '92 Integra. He's now shopping for a forced induction system that he wants to install himself (I've offered any assistance he may need).

He thanked me later for ragging on him and basically said that through this all he's realized that "Parts are cheap, labour kills you. Plus with the internet and manuals its not hard to learn how to do just about anything." I really couldn't agree more, that's how I basically learned everything I know about cars. I've now offered him the use of my air-tools and rather large tool collection, and the hoist I'm installing at the new house we are building; if you knew me you'd know how big a deal that is for me, I'm super protective of all my equiptment.

[jopa489]

Originally Posted by roadkillrob

Nice to see some kids with initiative and willing to learn to work on a car for themselves instead of treating it like an appliance!

Originally Posted by Sara504

I like hearing stories like these. Im glad he's spending money on his car and his time working and earning it. Much better than him getting into trouble with drugs or being a lazy kid.

Couldn't agree more.

[canrhea]

its easier done to a car that worth <$5,000 comapred to something >$40,000.. something breaks it aint a big deal

[Craig@SupremePower]

ohhh my..

[PaulBailey@ltbmw]

[Dr.phuOnger?]

Originally Posted by xPaulBaiLeyx

:eedpics:

fail

[jtsherri]

For those wishing they had the "skills:" it's really just a matter of having the courage to give such things a shot... And the brains to do the research before trying it!

Just a few years ago, I was afraid to install an upgraded intake on a vehicle... And earlier this year, a friend and I pulled two STi motors out of two different Subarus, swapped all of the accessories, turbo, etc from one to the other and then dropped the motor back in the "daily driver." The car was back on the road before 11 PM (we started around 'noon). He took things one step further and actually built the motor himself and then proceeded to tune the weekend/track car himself. Both are still running very well without a single issue.

This stuff really isn't rocket science... Like anything else, it's just a matter of doing your homework.

OP: Give the kid a pat on the back. If he's doing all of that stuff this early on, chances are he'll go a lot further with it... And it doesn't hurt to have someone like that available to help you out!