November 9th, 2008995 views(16)

Editorial by Ryan Jones

The tuning scene has changed over the years and for those of us that have been around we’ve not only seen the changes but we’ve made them to our cars throughout time. As times passes and people change their interests and move in and out of the tuning scene, some of the leaders and innovators of today are people that have been there throughout the years and have stuck with their passion for modifying cars. This week’s feature car does not only belong to a very close friend of mine; he is also our founder of Intuned Online; Ian Yu.

Ian’s Integra DC2 started as a labor of love when he first set eyes on the car back in the day while he was working at Konig wheels; Ian worked on graphics and designing some of the wheels we’ve all learned to love, this 1998 Integra LS was the latest demo car that Konig was going to build to showcase their products. After acquiring the car which already had numerous modifications; Ian set ahead to be different in the car scene and continued with his passion for the JDM lifestyle. Throughout the time I’ve known him, I’ve witnessed changes in paint, engines, interiors, hoods, wheels and more. Unfortunately this story doesn’t have a happy ending. A few months ago this Integra was stolen without a trace by a selfish coward that’s chasing the almighty dollar and has no respect for the time, research and effort that goes into building a car.

Fortunately we had enough photos for this feature as the car appeared last and over the years.

The exterior of the car was painted with a custom bronze color which gave it a stand out look with a low key profile. The most recent exterior included a seibon carbon fiber hatch for weight reduction and a JDM Feel’s carbon fiber hood. The carbon fiber continued through the Integra with a J’s Racing air duct and canards, as well as the Spoon mirrors. All of us JDM fanatics know how hard it is to find certain parts and the body kit was no exception; Ian’s car was equipped with a 1st generation C-West lip kit which set the car out from the crowd.

The interior of the Integra received a full JDM conversion including the door panels, cluster, clock, climate control and handbrake. Over time the seats changed from Integra Type R’s to Bride Zeta’s and Brix 1’s to F1 Spec. kevlar seats. Completing the interior was a pair of Takata belts and Miracle X bar to stiffen up the suspension.

The engine was pulled right out of a Japanese DC2-SI front end before being installed with Spoon engine mounts, and an array of J’s Racing and Feel’s parts. The Samco hoses kept all of the water flowing through the Feel’s aluminum race radiator and the heat wrapped Feel’s headers channeled the exhaust into the Mugen mid pipe and the Trust titanium exhaust.

A car couldn’t be complete without solid suspension and brakes, so for stabilizing Feel’s stress bars were used in conjunction with J-Speed fender braces. The suspension was built around the Ohlins damper kit. The braking was solved with Spoon 4 piston aluminum calipers tucked nicely behind the 16×7 Advan RG’s.

In a tuning scene flooded by copy cats and wannabe’s this car stood out in the crowd and earned respect of many people in the tuning scene whether they were JDM fans or not. It’s a shame that the car was stolen but everything in life has a purpose; we’ll continue to keep everyone posted on when and what the next project will be.

1998 Acura Integra LS

- Exterior
JDM Front end
JDM side marker
Custom gunmetal bronze paint
C-west front lip
C-west side skirt
C-west rear bumper
JDM GSR trunk
Feel’s Carbon fiber hood
Spoon side mirror
Seibon Carbon fiber trunk
J’s racing carbon canards
J’s racing carbon airduct
J-speed fender brace

- Interior
Seats: Bride & F1
Type R floor mats
Type R trunk mat
JDM Climate control
JDM clock
JDM handbrake
JDM cluster
JDM door panels
Takata seat belts
JVC Radio

Engine:
J’s racing oil cap
J’s racing valve cover
J’s racing engine dumper
Purple radiator hoses
Cusco catch can
Wedsport ground wires
Feel’s header
Feel’s radiator
Feel’s radiator cap
Feel’s stress bar
Feel’s Oil relocator
Spoon spark plug cover
Spoon spark plug wire
Trust Titanium exhaust
Mugen mid pipe

- Handling
Spoon Front brakes
Spoon Front rotors
Spoon brake lines
Spoon Rear brakes
Spoon Rear rotors
16×7 advan RG
Enkei lug nuts
Ohlins suspension
Miracle X bar

“Thanks to all the people that help me build this car, Invision Auto Imports as the sponsor, to the Intuned Team and mostly to my fiance Lisette for helping me build the way the integra should look like.” - Rozenre Ian Yu